B
Breaklight
Guest
One of my first battles in years after having re-discovered CM
The parameters :
2000pnt Meeting
All weather random
Rarity none
forces/quality etc unrestricted
Map random generated
Moderate tree coverage
Village
Small hills
Always a bit of a gamble to purchase your units with out actually having seen where your going!
I spend my 2000pnts on:
1x SS Bat Recon41 inf [vet]
1x platoon sturm IIIG's [vet]
4x SPW 250/1 [vet]
1x 81mm halftrack [vet]
3x pak38's ATG [vet]
2x quad 20mm flaks [con]
2x snipers [crack]
2x kubel cars [con]
I made a mistake with the SPW 250/1 because i actually wanted to have a HT (halftrack) with squad transport capacity.
The 250/1 only has team! Remeber that one next time you want to get vechiles to make a platoon fast and mobile.
The basic idea behind my selection here, without having seen the map yet, is to have a certain element of flank protection against armour, otherwise early warning of incoming infantry.
The ATG's [Anti Tank Guns] and Quads would do this fine)
At the same time keep these guys mobile should I need to reposition them. (The primary role for the 4x 250/1's)
Little did i know i picked HT's that dont have the passenger capacity!
The inf bat with the platoon of tanks would be the main force.
Minus a sort of QRF (quick reaction force). I wanted a platoon of inf in the 4x HT's to serve as reserve for the whole action. Being in HT's you can then move round faster, plus the HT's can support the inf as mobile MG platforms with their boardweapons.
The snipers would recon forwards on the flanks, maybe being brought forward fast to a drop off point by the kubel cars.
Although maybe called gamey by some, i then tend to use the kubel cars as recon assets. Letting them drive fast down the roads, 1} you get an idea where the enemy is, 2} not in ME's but otherwise you can check for mines
Primarily these cars are cheap assets to use when you need your ATG's or quads moving about, or a sniper drop off in front of the lines.
The 81mm is always nice to have, useful for area fire of located enemy ATG'S
So we click done or go or whatever the button is, and we move on to the next stage
Finally we see the map.
I'm thinking not to bad. With subtle rolling hills and mod trees there's enough cover. Flags are pretty much central, and these only four to worry about.With mulitple flags i tend to make a choice by seeing what is the largest flag and with which one have i got the most chance of taking and holding!
The village is also central with access roads running both ways.
(and it even looks pretty much like a village!! Some radom maps come up with village's where the local planning commision was either drunk or on drugs! lol)
Good thing about my end of access road is a nice bump just before the village, giving me fast access without coming into LOS
The flag on the left is on a small hill, whilst the village appears to be in a slight depression.
Thick pine woods cover its right flank.
The flanks have planty of open terrain and nice LOS.
View towards the left flank
(Axis side is to the left in this picture)
View towards the right flank
(Axis side on the right in this picture)
The Battleplan:
My plan is to split the bat[batalion] into three.
Each coy [company] of inf forming the central unit of a kampfgruppe.
The MG's I split of to the center group, where i can i take their section leaders and put them to the ATG's and quads as command unit.
The main idea being to rush for the village and secure the center flag.
The heavy church being the focus of the defense.
The other coy's of inf will go around, and counter attack on the flanks. Supported by a tank and the HT's.
One of the coys will also take the second flag from behind, hopefully surprising cargol.
As secondary task the flank coy's are there to engage any flanking movements by cargol's forces.
I'm expecting him down the middle, although i dont suspect he will rush the flag.
I'm putting the HMG's in the village, and hiding the two tanks that i use to transport them, behind the large church.
Looking left and right. The HMG's can deploy into the church quickly from there
2x ATG's i put on the bump in the road towards the village, there they can cover the access road from cargols direction, and should tanks advance into the village from the left, hopefully hit them in their side. They also can cover the sec flag somewhat from there.
I also take 1 quad into the village to hide as a nasty surprise. The arty spotter also gos along into town.
Generally, my plan looked like this :
The Action:
We deploy pretty much with out problem. The units are quick into the village, where i put them into hiding with defensive cover arcs. Hopefully they will only open up when cargol gets real close, where our firepower is greatest.
I think somewhere around turn 4 Cargol mentions something in an email about what a lousy thing it is to have thick fog and how that can really screw up your day....
Now thats something i did'nt check!!
Basically bang goes the flank proction and the large fields of view for the quads and ATG's!
Lucky i have the HT's to redploy them.
And now i know why we havent really seen each other!
I run one kubel down the road which by turn 6 give's me a good idea where Cargol is coming from.
A while later i send in the second kubel for an intel update
I redploy as best i can the ATGs and quads. I move 2 into the village.
My kampfgruppe west move s round and encounters enemy infantry. After a nasty firefight they are succesfull and move on.
I send a HT and the 81mm to support them.
I havent realised the 81mm is useless, visiabilty is down to 80(?) meters, and the min range for the 81 is 100m!!
My LMG sitting at the left flag, engage and destroy the jeep that cargol sends in to recon.
At the village, Cargol comes in with inf from the right, advancing thru the woods.
I get my arty to drop on them, and i send a platoon in to hold the line in the heavy pines.
My whole platoon gets slaughtered!! At this point i just thinks its bad luck...
Some of you have probably already correctly guessed that i ran smack bang into a russian SMG platoon!
Also he brings his armour asset down the road.
I try to get the east kampfgruppe to counter attack in his flank, sending the inf thru the woods, and the tank and HT's on the edge.
Needless to say they are slaughtered, and my tank on its own fairs no better.
Its now I learn about the lethal russian SMG platoons when Cargol mentions it in his email.
(Btw thats also the moment i learnt about the FGM site... at least something positive happened there and they did'nt die in vain!)
The leftovers of Kampfgruppe East, view towards russian lines
Having lost on the right flank, i sit tight and wait for his attack on the village.
On the left flank, the west kampfgruppe has booked some success, but as they move round towards the village, they first get their nose bloody, and then halted.
I regroup them, pull the ATG's by and take on a defensive line.
Back in the village, i get slaughtered!
I make the mistake again of moving single pieces's of armour forward.
Cargol hits the building which is most obvoius, the heavy church, with tank fire and mortars.
Not forgetting the little patch of woods at front.
Inch by inch he moves in. Without AT assets, i pretty much get slaughtered, and pull my troops out.
Also the lethal SMG squads at short range make mince meat of my recon41's.
In the end it goes like this.
The triangles with deaths head are units destroyed.
I hold only the flag on the left.
The view of the village after the heavy fighting
I suffer a major defeat as Cargol celebrates his victory down at the village pub, which amazingly suffered no damage during the fighting!
Lessons Learned :
So, for us newbies and rookies, and maybe as a reminder for the old folks, heres a list of some points which come out of this battle
1 CHECK THE WEATHER!!
2 BE CONFIDENT YOU KNOW WHICH VECHILES YOU WANT/ NEED AND THEIR +/- QUALITYS (TEAM/SQUAD TRANSPORT?, SLOW/FAST TURRET? NO TURRET?)
3 SMG SQUADS ARE LETHAL...
4 DONT MOVE ARMOUR ALONE, KEEP'EM TIGHT AND TOGETHER!
5 THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, TRY NOT TO HIDE IN THE OBVIOUS PLACES
6 TRY TO ANTICIPATE WHAT THE ENEMY WILL DO, WHAT ACTIONS CAN HE UNDERTAKE TO INFLUNCE YOUR DECISIONS? WHAT IS HE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
7: oh yeah, and check the weather....
Congrats to Cargol
Regards Breaklight
The parameters :
2000pnt Meeting
All weather random
Rarity none
forces/quality etc unrestricted
Map random generated
Moderate tree coverage
Village
Small hills
Always a bit of a gamble to purchase your units with out actually having seen where your going!
I spend my 2000pnts on:
1x SS Bat Recon41 inf [vet]
1x platoon sturm IIIG's [vet]
4x SPW 250/1 [vet]
1x 81mm halftrack [vet]
3x pak38's ATG [vet]
2x quad 20mm flaks [con]
2x snipers [crack]
2x kubel cars [con]
I made a mistake with the SPW 250/1 because i actually wanted to have a HT (halftrack) with squad transport capacity.
The 250/1 only has team! Remeber that one next time you want to get vechiles to make a platoon fast and mobile.
The basic idea behind my selection here, without having seen the map yet, is to have a certain element of flank protection against armour, otherwise early warning of incoming infantry.
The ATG's [Anti Tank Guns] and Quads would do this fine)
At the same time keep these guys mobile should I need to reposition them. (The primary role for the 4x 250/1's)
Little did i know i picked HT's that dont have the passenger capacity!
The inf bat with the platoon of tanks would be the main force.
Minus a sort of QRF (quick reaction force). I wanted a platoon of inf in the 4x HT's to serve as reserve for the whole action. Being in HT's you can then move round faster, plus the HT's can support the inf as mobile MG platforms with their boardweapons.
The snipers would recon forwards on the flanks, maybe being brought forward fast to a drop off point by the kubel cars.
Although maybe called gamey by some, i then tend to use the kubel cars as recon assets. Letting them drive fast down the roads, 1} you get an idea where the enemy is, 2} not in ME's but otherwise you can check for mines
Primarily these cars are cheap assets to use when you need your ATG's or quads moving about, or a sniper drop off in front of the lines.
The 81mm is always nice to have, useful for area fire of located enemy ATG'S
So we click done or go or whatever the button is, and we move on to the next stage
Finally we see the map.
I'm thinking not to bad. With subtle rolling hills and mod trees there's enough cover. Flags are pretty much central, and these only four to worry about.With mulitple flags i tend to make a choice by seeing what is the largest flag and with which one have i got the most chance of taking and holding!
The village is also central with access roads running both ways.
(and it even looks pretty much like a village!! Some radom maps come up with village's where the local planning commision was either drunk or on drugs! lol)
Good thing about my end of access road is a nice bump just before the village, giving me fast access without coming into LOS
The flag on the left is on a small hill, whilst the village appears to be in a slight depression.
Thick pine woods cover its right flank.
The flanks have planty of open terrain and nice LOS.
View towards the left flank
(Axis side is to the left in this picture)
View towards the right flank
(Axis side on the right in this picture)
The Battleplan:
My plan is to split the bat[batalion] into three.
Each coy [company] of inf forming the central unit of a kampfgruppe.
The MG's I split of to the center group, where i can i take their section leaders and put them to the ATG's and quads as command unit.
The main idea being to rush for the village and secure the center flag.
The heavy church being the focus of the defense.
The other coy's of inf will go around, and counter attack on the flanks. Supported by a tank and the HT's.
One of the coys will also take the second flag from behind, hopefully surprising cargol.
As secondary task the flank coy's are there to engage any flanking movements by cargol's forces.
I'm expecting him down the middle, although i dont suspect he will rush the flag.
I'm putting the HMG's in the village, and hiding the two tanks that i use to transport them, behind the large church.
Looking left and right. The HMG's can deploy into the church quickly from there
2x ATG's i put on the bump in the road towards the village, there they can cover the access road from cargols direction, and should tanks advance into the village from the left, hopefully hit them in their side. They also can cover the sec flag somewhat from there.
I also take 1 quad into the village to hide as a nasty surprise. The arty spotter also gos along into town.
Generally, my plan looked like this :
The Action:
We deploy pretty much with out problem. The units are quick into the village, where i put them into hiding with defensive cover arcs. Hopefully they will only open up when cargol gets real close, where our firepower is greatest.
I think somewhere around turn 4 Cargol mentions something in an email about what a lousy thing it is to have thick fog and how that can really screw up your day....
Now thats something i did'nt check!!
Basically bang goes the flank proction and the large fields of view for the quads and ATG's!
Lucky i have the HT's to redploy them.
And now i know why we havent really seen each other!
I run one kubel down the road which by turn 6 give's me a good idea where Cargol is coming from.
A while later i send in the second kubel for an intel update
I redploy as best i can the ATGs and quads. I move 2 into the village.
My kampfgruppe west move s round and encounters enemy infantry. After a nasty firefight they are succesfull and move on.
I send a HT and the 81mm to support them.
I havent realised the 81mm is useless, visiabilty is down to 80(?) meters, and the min range for the 81 is 100m!!
My LMG sitting at the left flag, engage and destroy the jeep that cargol sends in to recon.
At the village, Cargol comes in with inf from the right, advancing thru the woods.
I get my arty to drop on them, and i send a platoon in to hold the line in the heavy pines.
My whole platoon gets slaughtered!! At this point i just thinks its bad luck...
Some of you have probably already correctly guessed that i ran smack bang into a russian SMG platoon!
Also he brings his armour asset down the road.
I try to get the east kampfgruppe to counter attack in his flank, sending the inf thru the woods, and the tank and HT's on the edge.
Needless to say they are slaughtered, and my tank on its own fairs no better.
Its now I learn about the lethal russian SMG platoons when Cargol mentions it in his email.
(Btw thats also the moment i learnt about the FGM site... at least something positive happened there and they did'nt die in vain!)
The leftovers of Kampfgruppe East, view towards russian lines
Having lost on the right flank, i sit tight and wait for his attack on the village.
On the left flank, the west kampfgruppe has booked some success, but as they move round towards the village, they first get their nose bloody, and then halted.
I regroup them, pull the ATG's by and take on a defensive line.
Back in the village, i get slaughtered!
I make the mistake again of moving single pieces's of armour forward.
Cargol hits the building which is most obvoius, the heavy church, with tank fire and mortars.
Not forgetting the little patch of woods at front.
Inch by inch he moves in. Without AT assets, i pretty much get slaughtered, and pull my troops out.
Also the lethal SMG squads at short range make mince meat of my recon41's.
In the end it goes like this.
The triangles with deaths head are units destroyed.
I hold only the flag on the left.
The view of the village after the heavy fighting
I suffer a major defeat as Cargol celebrates his victory down at the village pub, which amazingly suffered no damage during the fighting!
Lessons Learned :
So, for us newbies and rookies, and maybe as a reminder for the old folks, heres a list of some points which come out of this battle
1 CHECK THE WEATHER!!
2 BE CONFIDENT YOU KNOW WHICH VECHILES YOU WANT/ NEED AND THEIR +/- QUALITYS (TEAM/SQUAD TRANSPORT?, SLOW/FAST TURRET? NO TURRET?)
3 SMG SQUADS ARE LETHAL...
4 DONT MOVE ARMOUR ALONE, KEEP'EM TIGHT AND TOGETHER!
5 THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX, TRY NOT TO HIDE IN THE OBVIOUS PLACES
6 TRY TO ANTICIPATE WHAT THE ENEMY WILL DO, WHAT ACTIONS CAN HE UNDERTAKE TO INFLUNCE YOUR DECISIONS? WHAT IS HE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
7: oh yeah, and check the weather....
Congrats to Cargol
Regards Breaklight