I started a battle with CDavid – our second one – an Allied attack in CMBN v4.03. CDavid (Allies) chose a great map, in which I am defending a village surrounded with hedgerows somewhere in Normandy in June 1944. It is an Allied Assault with medium-sized forces. I let my opponent know that I wish to write a DAR and asked him to stay out of this thread until the end of our game.
So, what do we have here?
There is only one terrain objective – the village itself – occupies a central position in the map. The map goes deep on my side but the objective is relatively up front, so the rear is only good to keep reserves safe before deployment. If my opponent manages to break through, he will be able to occupy the objective fairly quickly. There are buildings (up to two stories), hedgerows and trees to provide cover to the defenders, but the view from the top floors is poor - which is probably a good thing. Many hedgerows have wide openings, so there should be no problem with moving units as required.
My opponent sets up in the north – along the northern edge of the map, I assume (right side of the picture). Regarding possible avenues of approach, the most obvious feature on the western side (top of the picture) is an arrow-shaped wood patch ("Arrow"), pointing menacingly into the heart of my position. My setup zone allows me to place troops around the perimeter of the patch, but not on the patch itself. The rest of the approach is open fields that lack cover for infantry but invite the use of armor. The map slopes gently to the north, so my opponent will be fighting his way uphill. There are curious mound-like features in his likely setup zone – looking quite unnatural – that the map designer placed here apparently to give the attacker some reverse slope support positions (yellow circles). I will watch these closely through binoculars of snipers and mortar team leaders.
The Arrow points at what probably is my best defensive position - the "Cluster" - a group of buildings in close terrain, hard to get support fire at. Too predictable, if you ask me. I don't think I will take it.
The weather is overcast, warm, dry ground, heavy winds. I can’t tell more about the battle conditions using the map preview mode, so let’s proceed to the key decision of the game and assemble our forces. I decide to rely on support weapons - my defense will not have "classic" infantry. In a perhaps risky move, I decide not to purchase any vehicles, either. My defense will rest on machineguns - yes @Rico, on German machineguns - which I see as the best value for money if you want bulk firepower that you won't be moving around much. They will be supported with a powerful AT gun force and 81mm mortars. This is my choice:
1. Crack Grenadier battalion (other modifiers left to “typicalâ€), of which I retain
I spend the few remaining points on three sniper teams. No mines, off-map artillery or fortifications. No foxholes, which, on second thought, is a mistake. But I've already sent the file back to my opponent.
So it is nine AT guns, twelve HMGs, six mortars and three snipers (plus a bunch of HQ teams) against whatever my opponent is going to throw at me, which I expect to be a reduced infantry battalion with armor and artillery support. Let’s see how this plays out!
So, what do we have here?
There is only one terrain objective – the village itself – occupies a central position in the map. The map goes deep on my side but the objective is relatively up front, so the rear is only good to keep reserves safe before deployment. If my opponent manages to break through, he will be able to occupy the objective fairly quickly. There are buildings (up to two stories), hedgerows and trees to provide cover to the defenders, but the view from the top floors is poor - which is probably a good thing. Many hedgerows have wide openings, so there should be no problem with moving units as required.
My opponent sets up in the north – along the northern edge of the map, I assume (right side of the picture). Regarding possible avenues of approach, the most obvious feature on the western side (top of the picture) is an arrow-shaped wood patch ("Arrow"), pointing menacingly into the heart of my position. My setup zone allows me to place troops around the perimeter of the patch, but not on the patch itself. The rest of the approach is open fields that lack cover for infantry but invite the use of armor. The map slopes gently to the north, so my opponent will be fighting his way uphill. There are curious mound-like features in his likely setup zone – looking quite unnatural – that the map designer placed here apparently to give the attacker some reverse slope support positions (yellow circles). I will watch these closely through binoculars of snipers and mortar team leaders.
The Arrow points at what probably is my best defensive position - the "Cluster" - a group of buildings in close terrain, hard to get support fire at. Too predictable, if you ask me. I don't think I will take it.
The weather is overcast, warm, dry ground, heavy winds. I can’t tell more about the battle conditions using the map preview mode, so let’s proceed to the key decision of the game and assemble our forces. I decide to rely on support weapons - my defense will not have "classic" infantry. In a perhaps risky move, I decide not to purchase any vehicles, either. My defense will rest on machineguns - yes @Rico, on German machineguns - which I see as the best value for money if you want bulk firepower that you won't be moving around much. They will be supported with a powerful AT gun force and 81mm mortars. This is my choice:
1. Crack Grenadier battalion (other modifiers left to “typicalâ€), of which I retain
- Weapons company of a Grenadier battalion minus one mortar platoon (6 x HMG, 6 x 81mm mortar)
- Three machinegun sections of the rifle companies of the same battalion (6 x HMG)
I spend the few remaining points on three sniper teams. No mines, off-map artillery or fortifications. No foxholes, which, on second thought, is a mistake. But I've already sent the file back to my opponent.
So it is nine AT guns, twelve HMGs, six mortars and three snipers (plus a bunch of HQ teams) against whatever my opponent is going to throw at me, which I expect to be a reduced infantry battalion with armor and artillery support. Let’s see how this plays out!
