Operation Turnscrew CG I

Gunner Scott

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Howdy-

Randy and I decided to give this CG a whirl over the labor day weekend with us getting to German turn 5 on the 24 AM date. I am the Germans and trying to defend against a strong British thrust to both the south and middle. So far we are both digging this CG, it has a very good RB feel to it, not overly complicated nor overly counter dense, mainly an Infantry vs Infantry affair. The Germans receive around 250 FFP's on the initial date, so I invested heavily in Forts and strong points in my upfront positions. With The 45 CP's given, I bought as much infantry as possible and arrayed them upfront to try and blunt Randy's attack.

During the first few turns, I did manage to hold back the brits, but one major mistake I mad was not having enough troops down south. For some strange reason I was under the impression that the Brits could only attack north in the initial CG but found out the hard way they are free to attack all along the west edge. Live and learn plus I really did not want to start over, so I'll just lose a little ground and try to shift units south during the game. Not a big deal. By turn 4, all my front line positions are now in brit hands along with a couple of valuable HMG's, I thought about trying to hold on to the point where my HMG's were, but if I did, I would end up losing a couple of squads and crews and decided to break and withdraw. To the North, I am having some success pushing Randy's brits back but the south is still a precarious situation but I think I can hold the key points possibly.

In retrospect, and having tried this CG for the first time, I think it might be better for the Germans to fight a delaying fallback action and have the forts and strong points more in back then in front. Reading some of the idiosyncrasy's of the CG rules is also important, they are not crazy insane like say FB or KGS but do require some reading and thought. The Snipers the Germans get are not tough rule at all and can be a real pain for the brits in the long run. Buy lots of boots for this CG if at all possible, only when all boots on ground are exhausted do you buy the toys.

All in all great CG.

Scott

ot attack vs randy.jpg
 

FrankJ

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Scott, Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this CG, and the pic. Really nice map. The building graphics really give a good feel for Western Europe, built up town. The Brits have some serious FP, but the German's seem to be keeping good lines of communications. I have not seen those type of sniper counters in a long time!
 

Eagle4ty

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Scott, Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this CG, and the pic. Really nice map. The building graphics really give a good feel for Western Europe, built up town. The Brits have some serious FP, but the German's seem to be keeping good lines of communications. I have not seen those type of sniper counters in a long time!
Knew there was a reason I hung onto those old SL sniper counters!:cool:
 

Gunner Scott

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One of the many things I like about this CG is that there are different types of attack and defense. The brits can try to punch a hole in the middle, try to outflank the germans or attack on a wide front. The Germans can go for and indepth defense or they can go for an upfront defense and try to blunt the initial brit push or the germans can try and attempt to counter attack the Brit flanks.

Alot of choices for both sides. And something that only RB and VotG seems to also do successfully.

Scott, Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this CG, and the pic. Really nice map. The building graphics really give a good feel for Western Europe, built up town. The Brits have some serious FP, but the German's seem to be keeping good lines of communications. I have not seen those type of sniper counters in a long time!
 

Gunner Scott

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Hi-

Got another Turn of our Rees CG today with the Germans losing both HMG's along with two leaders and a squad going berserk and charging to their deaths.As can be seen from the pic, the Brits are putting pressure on the German southern flank. Up north, I have managed to put a little pressure on the Brit northern flank, but I'm sure my poor conscript will get blown outta the water when Randy fires into him. Hopefully I'll get lucky and my poor squad full of old men and children will survive and dish out some pain on Randy's broken guys adjacent to them.

So far casualties are kind of heavy for bothsides with the Brits suffering 12 CVP's and if the Prisoners I have survive, I can tack on 2 more CVP's for captured guys. The Germans for their part have suffered 16 CVP's. So both sides are not doing great in trying to minimize casualties. Very brutal battle but loads of fun.

Scott

rees vs randy ger 6.jpg
 

Vinnie

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I enjoyed this one. I think the Germans have a much harder task than the British, partly due to having to react to the attack. You cannot defend the while board and in a counter attack situation, your fortifications are no help.
 

=FC=Gorgon

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Agreed it seems hard on the Germans, but I'm curious how the Combat Exhaustion SSR will come into play. Another friend is playing this and he said it gets really harsh as the CG progresses. The British pretty much have to declare an Idle date or risk a large portion of their force being CX or TI for a large portion of a day. Well, I guess the same is true for the Germans but since the Brits are on the attack, it probably affects them more.
 

Carln0130

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Agreed it seems hard on the Germans, but I'm curious how the Combat Exhaustion SSR will come into play. Another friend is playing this and he said it gets really harsh as the CG progresses. The British pretty much have to declare an Idle date or risk a large portion of their force being CX or TI for a large portion of a day. Well, I guess the same is true for the Germans but since the Brits are on the attack, it probably affects them more.
Since the British are normally attacking, they usually eat the extra +2, side selected Attack chit in the previous date modifier.
 

Ganjulama

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Since the British are normally attacking, they usually eat the extra +2, side selected Attack chit in the previous date modifier.
In our game the Brits went Idle during for the night CG. The Combat Exhaustion DRMs are just brutal if they continue to attack through the night (+4 on Turn 1, > = 9 results in Combat Exhaustion). I'm the Germans in this one but I can roll a 9 with my eyes closed :mad:
 

Gunner Scott

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Playing this as both the Germans and the Brits. As the Germans, which this AAR is concerned with, I feel like I am getting crushed. I am also playing this as the Brits vs Bishop and even though we are only two turns in the first CG AM date, I think the Germans are having some problems. The Snipers are nice, but they can be hit or miss, the strong points are helpful but I also think the Germans might have to set those up further back. It is a cool CG and one I hope MMP picks up and repackages.

Scott
 

Sparafucil3

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I am not going to let on about my strategy at the moment. I am bleeding a little more than I wanted to, but I am not far behind where I expected to be at this point. There is a method to my madness. -- jim
 

Sparafucil3

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So, my plan for the Day 1 DEFENSE. Looking at the map, what the Brits can bring on, and why I have at start, it seems clear to me, the Germans need bodies on the front line. The other thing that is clear is the Germans will have a VERY hard time with leadership and rallying. There just isn't enough leader's to go around and the leadership DRM the supply just isn't very good. With that in mind, my 24AM purchase were: Volk Sturm Coy (on board for 15 of my precious 30 CPP), Volk Sturm Coy (enter on turn 1 for 9), BN MTR for 5. That leaves a single CPP. I debated on spending this for the added 15 FPP or a pre-reg to up my card count but in the end, elected not to do so. Luckily, none of my purchases were depleted. Unluckily, I got one Hungarian HMG and one Hungarian MMG. In these Coy's, they don't come with an Infantry crew and any MMG/HMG not fired by a crew has its break down increased. My FPP were spent on 2 Road Blocks (allowing me to cross roads to shift troops unmolested), a couple of HIP units, Trenches for the late game, 40 "?" to sew some confusion, 8 Fortified Buildings, 3 Fanatic Strong Points, and some Trenches for the late game (Trench purchase can only have at two points in the CG so plan ahead).

My plan was to set up a screen force up front to hopefully make some impact before simply melting. In the middle, I placed 3 Fortified buildings up front to provide some beef to it. My whole goal is to slow his forward progress as much as I can. The rest of the Fortified buildings and Fanatic Strongpoints are in a second "belt", 3 - 5 hexes behind the first one. My plan for today is to try and take 8 VP's from this (W20, X17, V16, Q17, R7 and at least one strategic Location West of the road). To win the CG, I need to collect 40 across 6 dates. I also collect a point for each 25 EVP of Brit's eliminated which I figure I *might* be able to squeeze 3 - 4 points out of. That means I have to find 36 points of VP across 6 dates and the more the Brit's pressure, the harder it will become to make that happen. Banking an extra two points up front, will help later.

With all of that in mind, my Conscripts set up front and died in droves for not much in return. I think on the first two turns, I lost 3.5 squads of Conscripts for a 7-0 and a 2-4-7. My OBA dropped on my Left, stopping the attack there for two turns (until I 6,6'd the contact DR) but by then, it was turn 5. I shifted my Sniper's to that end of the map in upper level Locations and they started to blister the Brits, picking leaders and units holding key SW's for the Brits. As a result, I was able to fall back in good order and still be in control of a good number of Strategic Locations West of the road. In the Center, my 5-4-8's played a Shell Game with his 10 -2. Shuffling concealed units in his face while falling back one hex at a time. The Fortified Locations served their purpose by slowing the attack down a turn. All the extra "?" counters further sewing confusion and compelling the Brits to self-break on occasion (HtH is an option if you are ambushed so sticking around next to a concealed unit is playing with matches). Again, I was able to hold off West of the Road by Turn 5, although in my half of 5, I was going to jump across the road as I was out of room to play with. In the north, I was falling back from an avalanche of Brits, but the terrain in that half of the map favors the defender so I was able to hold onto the bahnhoff and have more units (of very poor quality) that the Brits did.

Most of the success I had came from the Sniper SMC's. Pick a hex, 1 in 3 for an affect. I seemed to be zeroed in on his leaders. When I got them, they tended to die (I killed 5 or 6 Brit leaders like this) which then broke units on the resulting LLMC. In the middle of my turn 5, the Brit conceded when I zapped the 6th leader and broke another kill stack in Prep Fire and was setting up to surround and kill that stack for FTR. It was a close thing as my actual units never seemed to manage anything. My OBA didn't even get a single result, but it did deny portions of the map to him. I was still in pretty good order. All my 5-4-8's and 4-4-7's were still in the game. And I still had a lot of Conscripts sitting in Fanatic Strong Points with Elite SMC's for the bonus. IMO, the German's were riding a razor's edge at this point, one good shove away from becoming a rout. The dr for end of the date at the end of my 5 was going to be a huge roll. With a 1/6 chance to end it, and a 1/2 in the next turn, I was not too optimistic I could hold what I had, especially in the North. -- jim
 

=FC=Gorgon

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In the middle of my turn 5, the Brit conceded when I zapped the 6th leader and broke another kill stack in Prep Fire and was setting up to surround and kill that stack for FTR. It was a close thing as my actual units never seemed to manage anything. My OBA didn't even get a single result, but it did deny portions of the map to him. I was still in pretty good order. All my 5-4-8's and 4-4-7's were still in the game. And I still had a lot of Conscripts sitting in Fanatic Strong Points with Elite SMC's for the bonus. IMO, the German's were riding a razor's edge at this point, one good shove away from becoming a rout. The dr for end of the date at the end of my 5 was going to be a huge roll. With a 1/6 chance to end it, and a 1/2 in the next turn, I was not too optimistic I could hold what I had, especially in the North. -- jim
Did your game end on 24AM then?
 

rdw5150

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Most of the success I had came from the Sniper SMC's. Pick a hex, 1 in 3 for an affect. I seemed to be zeroed in on his leaders. When I got them, they tended to die (I killed 5 or 6 Brit leaders like this) which then broke units on the resulting LLMC. In the middle of my turn 5, the Brit conceded when I zapped the 6th leader and broke another kill stack in Prep Fire and was setting up to surround and kill that stack for FTR. It was a close thing as my actual units never seemed to manage anything. My OBA didn't even get a single result, but it did deny portions of the map to him. I was still in pretty good order. All my 5-4-8's and 4-4-7's were still in the game. And I still had a lot of Conscripts sitting in Fanatic Strong Points with Elite SMC's for the bonus. IMO, the German's were riding a razor's edge at this point, one good shove away from becoming a rout. The dr for end of the date at the end of my 5 was going to be a huge roll. With a 1/6 chance to end it, and a 1/2 in the next turn, I was not too optimistic I could hold what I had, especially in the North. -- jim
You have had way better luck with your Snipers than I, I recalled a tank, but, that was an error (leaving it CE) that will not be repeated by Burnie. I think I have wounded one other leader, that is about it.

Peace

Roger
 

rdw5150

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In our game the Brits went Idle during for the night CG. The Combat Exhaustion DRMs are just brutal if they continue to attack through the night (+4 on Turn 1, > = 9 results in Combat Exhaustion). I'm the Germans in this one but I can roll a 9 with my eyes closed :mad:
The Burnie went idle on the night date as well. There almost no reason not to. The mods are just too brutal (for either side, bur especially the Brits). that CE rule is just too brutal. Though we have yet to have it happen.

Peace

Roger
 
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