That Damn Setup - AP103

[von Marwitz]

For quite some time I am now looking at AP103 "That Damn Bridge".

I am the defending German in this one. I think that coming up with a good setup for the German is a really brain-whacking puzzle.

First of all, there are a number of terrain alterations, that can still be visualized easily by using VASL (see map below), with hedges being Bocage and the funny looking things along the western bank of the river being Marsh. There is a 4 Factor AT-Minefield beneath the wreck of the M4 tank.

The setup zones are complicated but somewhat visualized (yet not completely) in the VASL map as they do overlap in some cases. The Germans and US can be very close to each other at start and the US is not far away in hexes to the VC buildings with at least some of his units.

Range of the weapons needs special consideration (especially MGs) as does the placement of German fortifications.
Where to place FLs? Some inviting spaces could possibly be overrun (too) soon. Others might work well if they can be established but LOS could be blocked by the three 81mm US MTRs that are "Elite" and thus have WP9. How many of the German long range weapons should be assigned to the suppression of the US long range weapons? How many to the hordes of US infantry. How much effort shall be put into the prevention of a US dare-death option, which, if successful, will turn all Americans Fanatic?

The Germans have ELR:2 which can spell disaster against US firepower and high ROF weapons and can't really afford to trade shots with the US at shorter ranges. But if placed too far away from the US, the G.I.s might just shrug off German long range fire and charge right into the victory buildings.

Etc., etc.

It has been a long time since I have thought so long about how to tackle a setup. Probably, well, likely I am overthinking things, too. Frigging puzzle... :hmmm:

View attachment 52435


von Marwitz

 

[BigAl737]

FYI, I'm working on a VASL SSO for this one. As far as set up advice...you don't want set up advice from me. I'm not the set up advisor you are looking for. I can go about my business. Move along

 

[bendizoid]

Apparently there is a constriction point so clog it with a half squad and cover it with Fire. Turn you pillbox to face the wreck hex but give the American kill stacks the +5 side to shoot at. HIP the mortar to put smoke on the wreck hex so you can advance a 1/2 squad in and stuff it for a turn. Try a kinda reverse slope defence.

 

[Perry]

I don't think the Germans can get to the bridge if tHe Americans don't let them.
PB/HMG on the board 46 hill, and another on the board 40 hill but don't let the US MG in the CA. Use them against forward infantry (not the US MG) for encircling fire.
Lots of open ground at the front door of the village so be sure the back door is covered well.
Dont give the DD hero any low hanging fruit, but don't obsess about him.
Try to keep the US from clearing the mines but don't lose anyone over that.

 

[von Marwitz]

Apparently there is a constriction point so clog it with a half squad and cover it with Fire. Turn you pillbox to face the wreck hex but give the American kill stacks the +5 side to shoot at. HIP the mortar to put smoke on the wreck hex so you can advance a 1/2 squad in and stuff it for a turn. Try a kinda reverse slope defence.

As Perry said, I don't believe that clogging the Bridge with a HS would work. The US moves first, starts with 11 squads across the bridge and 5 more led by a 9-2 that must cross eventually before the tanks can safely do. Then there's very likely 2x HMG and a .50Cal all with ROF 3 in normal range of the Wreck hex. Quite a tall order for a German HS.

The +5 NCA of the PBs and their invulnerability to small arms are definitively one key to the German defence. Depending on where they are placed, they might even endanger US rout paths. Gotta carefully weigh whether to put one into a somewhat exposed and isolated position with FL potential, forcing the US to deal with it against the invitation of a potentially too early/easy dare-death overrun with MG-loss and fanatic morale-boost for the GIs.

Not yet sure whether to HIP the German 81mm MTRs within or outside Trenches. Might be easier to re-man them when in trenches and maybe easier to get them "unsmoked". On the other hand, the Trenches might be seen as likely places for HIPing them.

I had the reverse slope thought as well to keep outside LOS of the US HMGs, .50Cal and 81mm MTRs. Will also make it somewhat more difficult getting SMOKED and there will be some time until the tanks can move up. Other US troops will be forced to fire at them, which will either prevent them from moving or divide their assault fire a bit.

von Marwitz

 

[von Marwitz]

I don't think the Germans can get to the bridge if tHe Americans don't let them.
PB/HMG on the board 46 hill, and another on the board 40 hill but don't let the US MG in the CA. Use them against forward infantry (not the US MG) for encircling fire.
Lots of open ground at the front door of the village so be sure the back door is covered well.
Dont give the DD hero any low hanging fruit, but don't obsess about him.
Try to keep the US from clearing the mines but don't lose anyone over that.

Hello Perry,

a nice puzzle you have created with your design!

Probably you have to go for the lvl. 2 Hill positions. After I had constructed a nice position combining the bd46 lvl. 1 hill with the 46J5 building, it struck me, that the Bocage running along the bd46 Q-road has, of course, a lvl. 1 height and not only 1/2 level of a hedge. The drawback of the bd46 hill is, that it will very likely be SMOKED and could be in normal range of the .50Cal. Once broken, it is not easy to hide for the Germans. And, of course, any inherent Infantry FP will be long range or completely out of range from there. Depending on where on the hill one sets up, one might manage to be beyond 16 hexes of the US HMGs east side of the river, which would reduce even the .50Cal to long range fire and require leader direction to fire at that range while treating the target as being concealed.

One thing that will have a high impact on the scenario is the SMOKE placing performance of the three Elite US 81mm MTRs (thus WP9). With some ROF while keeping WP, things can look all the world differently than with these loosing WP quickly. Chances are, that they will get their good share of SMOKE but the German might have in mind while setting up that it must not be easy for the US to SMOKE everything they would like and thus force difficult decisions on him.

As the US is so very close to the "front door" of the village, this will probably be the focus of German attention. The Germans can't afford to have the US in stone buildings with good TEM or in CC.

I reckon, that it will be difficult to prevent the US Dare-Death element to eventually being successful. A morale boost is just to good not to invest in it. The 9-2 led Rangers would, by this means, effectively become Good Order Berserkers - or in other words "carry their stone building with them".

I agree, that keeping the AT-mines in place for a while is helpful for the Geramans, as it will hold back (or very likely kill) the tanks while being in place.


Now "all" that remains is congealing these considerations into one unified concept covering as many of them at the same time. That puzzle, which can justly be called the pre-game game for this one.

von Marwitz

 

[Robin Reeve]

I played it as the American, and botched it going Gung Ho at the first turn with the hero and his zerkers.
The German had most of his pillboxes and positions out of LOS of my mortars, but still made things difficult with some pesky units on his right, near the river, which made rout awkward.
I should have pushed on my right, around the hill.
Once the minefield at the end of the bridge cleared, the Shermans would have blasted the way for my infantry.
There is a lot of long range fire, which adds to the interest that the scenario represents.

Typically a scenario that has good replayability.

 

[GeorgeBates]

For quite some time I am now looking at AP103 "That Damn Bridge".

I am the defending German in this one. I think that coming up with a good setup for the German is a really brain-whacking puzzle.

First of all, there are a number of terrain alterations, that can still be visualized easily by using VASL (see map below), with hedges being Bocage and the funny looking things along the western bank of the river being Marsh. There is a 4 Factor AT-Minefield beneath the wreck of the M4 tank...

Damn, von M, your setups are always so... organized!

 

[von Marwitz]

Damn, von M, your setups are always so... organized!

Being German, I gotta live up to the stereotypes. Probably for the same reason, I just have not reached the stage, where my defensive setups have become an art but still are science complete with overthinking and overengineering... :clown:

von Marwitz

 

[von Marwitz]

Big cheers to BigAl737!

He was so kind as to create a SSO for board40 for AP103 which makes the terrain nicer to look at and to visualize:

Especially note the Marsh along the river and the shellholes not interfering with Crestlines.

Since the SSR changes the riverbank-hexes to "Marsh" with no further specification, which is normally not Inherent terrain, the Marsh artwork is created with outlines similar to Dense Jungle, because treating it as Inherent seems the only reasonable approach as it would be impossible to "guess" a non-inherent outline.

Because the SSR'ed Bridge would have counter-form and thus be inherent terrain, it has not been added to the SSO to avoid confusion of it being possibly considered "printed". The SSO has not changed hedges to bocage on board40, but as hedges are bocage on all three used boards, this will be implemented when you make the terrain changes for the other boards in one step anyway.

After some final testing, bd40 with the new SSO will soon become available.

View attachment 52588View attachment 52589

You can compare the appearance of new and old (with improvised draggable overlays) above.

Again, thanks to the map-elf BigAl737.


von Marwitz

 

[von Marwitz]

Meanwhile I am done playing this one. Here is the short AAR:

Interesting Scenario in which a force of US infantry has established a bridgehead on the "hot" side. They have some truly awesome support from a HW company on the friendly side consisting of 3x 81mm MTR, 2xHMG and 1x.50Cal. The whole force is Elite for special Ammo puposes, meaning the MTRs have WP9. However, this WP-SMOKE is badly needed. The Germans may set up in very good field fortifications, some PBs inclusive. US reinforcements including 2 Shermans have but one Bridge to cross the river. BUT - on the "hot" side of the river, there's a 4AT-Minefield that needs to be cleared if these Shermans want to have any reasonable chance to cross. The German infantry is 2nd line and has an ELR of 2, so is brittle. As yet another twist, the US have a hero that can entice units that set up with him to make a Dare-Death charge like the Chinese. If successful in CC, this will raise the morale of the US force by one. The US guys need to grab two buildings which are so close (within 1 unhindered MPh) of parts of the US setup-area and yet so far due to German MGs and some difficult ground to cross. So much for the setting.

For the German, coming up with a setup is a game before the game. The German setup requires very careful consideration and will decide your chances in this one IMHO. Without doubt, WP-Smoke by the US MTRs, the tanks and the sMs of the latter are crucial. Then the US has to decide which path to take to get to the VC buildings. The German setup will, of course, play a part in that decision.

In our game, I played the defending Germans. I believe that my setup was decent. I was helped a lot early by my Sniper going on a killing spree on the US HW support killing 2 crews, the leader and breaking two more crews (by means of multiple attacks, RS, and LLMC). Then my opponent was not exactly lucky with his WP. Basically, my Germans managed to stand their ground, tried to stay out of LOS of the US as good as possible while taking a toll of the Americans when they closed in.

At the end of US Turn 4, it became apparent, that the Americans would run out of time as they would have needed more than one turn to reach the victory buildings even not considering German fire and one extra turn to clear them.

Recommendable.

At the moment, ROAR has it in favor of the Germans but it might be too early for a final appreciation yet with the current number of playings.

Map at the end of our game end of US turn 4:

View attachment 53110


von Marwitz

 

[Perry]

Great synopsis of the scenario. Thanks.
Sounds like you had fun. I hope so.
The German setup is important, but I have seen a number of variations work.
No "perfect" setup yet.
Way too soon for ROAR to provide meaningful balance information, IMO.

 

[zcrater]

FYI, I'm working on a VASL SSO for this one. As far as set up advice...you don't want set up advice from me. I'm not the set up advisor you are looking for. I can go about my business. Move along

My VASL v6.3.3 with board 40 v6.2 does not list the AP103 SSO. Where might I pick up the board 40 that includes the AP103 SSO? I read that board 40 v6.1 did have the SSO.

Zeke

 

[BigAl737]

My VASL v6.3.3 with board 40 v6.2 does not list the AP103 SSO. Where might I pick up the board 40 that includes the AP103 SSO? I read that board 40 v6.1 did have the SSO.

Zeke

Hmmm, interesting. I'll check into it tomorrow.