A
Abbasid111
Guest
Time to relocate that mortar team now there location has been revealed I think
Following with interest
Following with interest
Drifter Man vs CDavid DAR
- Thread starter Drifter Man
- Start date
Absolutely - and I believe I made that point in the report. I wouldn't suggest that one should select a QB force based on this assessment only.
Thanks! There's a lot of mortars, and I'm afraid that the one you meant (?) just got hit
Turn 18. CDavid now goes all in on the left flank, pushing the Sherman and the M10 into the opening. An M1917A1 HMG joins in, which I had managed to keep suppressed before. Two 60mm mortars are now installed on the U.S. line and a third one is seen moving in. That's a lot more firepower starting to hit me now, and although just one casualty was taken here in this turn, my guys are getting suppressed. The two MGs will come out of hiding - I need all the firepower I can get.
On the center right I do a stupid thing and move the elite sniper back too early. To top up, I move in an 81mm mortar in an attempt to hit the U.S. mortar position in the rear. This is an ultra-stupid thing to do, because I expected these very mortars to attack the sniper right there and that's exactly what they just did in this turn - only it happened one turn later than I thought it would. For now I lost a third man in the mortar team (two have already been lost to MG fire), but more shells are on the way.
The second sniper finishes the job of the first one, though, and leaves a neat pile of bodies of the U.S. rifle squad at the crossroads. This squad is eliminated to the last man - everyone is accounted for. There still is one guy from another unit in the building.
Confirmed casualties are at 45 U.S., 30 German. Things are coming to a head.
On the center right I do a stupid thing and move the elite sniper back too early. To top up, I move in an 81mm mortar in an attempt to hit the U.S. mortar position in the rear. This is an ultra-stupid thing to do, because I expected these very mortars to attack the sniper right there and that's exactly what they just did in this turn - only it happened one turn later than I thought it would. For now I lost a third man in the mortar team (two have already been lost to MG fire), but more shells are on the way.
The second sniper finishes the job of the first one, though, and leaves a neat pile of bodies of the U.S. rifle squad at the crossroads. This squad is eliminated to the last man - everyone is accounted for. There still is one guy from another unit in the building.
Confirmed casualties are at 45 U.S., 30 German. Things are coming to a head.
Yes. That's what I have in mind for that last guy in the building. I don't like those pale green icons littering the battlefield. I want the map to be clean.
Ordnung muss sein!
Genau!
Turn 19. While "Napoleonic warfare", now joined by a medium tank, continues to rule the left flank, my opponent appears to be developing a second push against the center right. At the same time I am assembling a counterattack force to strike right in between - where I judge my opponent is weakest.
Not withdrawing in the face of the Sherman tank was a good move - at least that's what I think now. In this turn, my machineguns reign here again and keep U.S. heads down. There seems to be few infantry left on the opponent's side of the hedgerow. The main target, however, are his 60mm mortars. I think that two of them are close together to the right of the M10 (in the image below; to the left from my perspective) and I hit that position with my own 81mm mortar. A third 60mm mortar is clearly visible further back in the field and one of my MGs can see it well - but its fire is mostly blocked by the M10 that is shielding the mortar. Although deployed, the 60mm mortars are not seen or heard firing. Are they too suppressed? Or does my opponent have another plan for them?
Meanwhile, the Sherman picks one MG and pins it down with its own MG fire. The M10 adds a few AP shells. But that's it - one MG may get suppressed, but the rest is enough to keep the Americans in cover.
A U.S. HQ unit and two 81mm mortar teams - the ones that attempted to deploy against my left flank early in the battle but came under mortar fire and never actually fired - are seen moving along a hedgerow in the back towards the center.
Interesting things happen in the center, too. Pioneers make a second breach further in the back and then apparently join an MG unit (M1919A4) coming in through the first breach. These guys seem to be following the footsteps of the first rifle squad that was eliminated here. Again, what is he up to? Why does he use an MG team for an assault - is he running out of normal infantry? My sniper has been hiding from a mortar strike but survived well, and now that the shelling has stopped, he should be on the job again in the next turn. In addition, I've covered the opening the unlucky rifle squad had used by a crack HQ team, whose MP40 should be deadly at this range. So I don't think this will end well for the Americans.
Nevertheless, CDavid mentioned in an email to me he had originally planned to make a second breach for the 5th AFV (M10) that was instead destroyed at the first breach (my rule - never talk to your opponent about the battle until it is over!). Has this second breach been just made for a 6th AFV?
The first breach is covered with an MG and an ATG. Both fire at the U.S. MMG team passing through it. You may remember that the MG42 spent the rest of its ammo belt to kill the commander of the M10 and then could not hit the pioneers retreating through the breach. They spent 30 seconds reloading, now they fired a whopping 5 rounds at the MMG team... and are reloading again I declare this is due to a jammed weapon. The ATG fires a HE shell, which is blocked by the destroyed M10. I hope the explosion still had some effect.
A tank crew member is seen moving through the field - a leader of my disabled mortar team (3 casualties) engages him with his MP40, then gets shot at by the U.S. HMG stationed further back. Hard to tell if this tank crew is just fleeing or if my opponent wants to use him as a scout. He does seem to be following a movement order.
Confirmed casualties: 46 U.S., 30 German.
Bonus... an uncomfortably close shave for two riflemen of an MG team located in a two-story building at the objective. These troops have been exchanging light fire with U.S. infantry in the woods for some time, with little effect on either side.
Not withdrawing in the face of the Sherman tank was a good move - at least that's what I think now. In this turn, my machineguns reign here again and keep U.S. heads down. There seems to be few infantry left on the opponent's side of the hedgerow. The main target, however, are his 60mm mortars. I think that two of them are close together to the right of the M10 (in the image below; to the left from my perspective) and I hit that position with my own 81mm mortar. A third 60mm mortar is clearly visible further back in the field and one of my MGs can see it well - but its fire is mostly blocked by the M10 that is shielding the mortar. Although deployed, the 60mm mortars are not seen or heard firing. Are they too suppressed? Or does my opponent have another plan for them?
Meanwhile, the Sherman picks one MG and pins it down with its own MG fire. The M10 adds a few AP shells. But that's it - one MG may get suppressed, but the rest is enough to keep the Americans in cover.
A U.S. HQ unit and two 81mm mortar teams - the ones that attempted to deploy against my left flank early in the battle but came under mortar fire and never actually fired - are seen moving along a hedgerow in the back towards the center.
Interesting things happen in the center, too. Pioneers make a second breach further in the back and then apparently join an MG unit (M1919A4) coming in through the first breach. These guys seem to be following the footsteps of the first rifle squad that was eliminated here. Again, what is he up to? Why does he use an MG team for an assault - is he running out of normal infantry? My sniper has been hiding from a mortar strike but survived well, and now that the shelling has stopped, he should be on the job again in the next turn. In addition, I've covered the opening the unlucky rifle squad had used by a crack HQ team, whose MP40 should be deadly at this range. So I don't think this will end well for the Americans.
Nevertheless, CDavid mentioned in an email to me he had originally planned to make a second breach for the 5th AFV (M10) that was instead destroyed at the first breach (my rule - never talk to your opponent about the battle until it is over!). Has this second breach been just made for a 6th AFV?
The first breach is covered with an MG and an ATG. Both fire at the U.S. MMG team passing through it. You may remember that the MG42 spent the rest of its ammo belt to kill the commander of the M10 and then could not hit the pioneers retreating through the breach. They spent 30 seconds reloading, now they fired a whopping 5 rounds at the MMG team... and are reloading again
I declare this is due to a jammed weapon. The ATG fires a HE shell, which is blocked by the destroyed M10. I hope the explosion still had some effect.A tank crew member is seen moving through the field - a leader of my disabled mortar team (3 casualties) engages him with his MP40, then gets shot at by the U.S. HMG stationed further back. Hard to tell if this tank crew is just fleeing or if my opponent wants to use him as a scout. He does seem to be following a movement order.
Confirmed casualties: 46 U.S., 30 German.
Bonus... an uncomfortably close shave for two riflemen of an MG team located in a two-story building at the objective. These troops have been exchanging light fire with U.S. infantry in the woods for some time, with little effect on either side.
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Turn 20. I decided not to rely on further divine intervention and relocated that MG team to bring in more firepower. The MG weighed in against the perpetrators of this accurate fire, hitting one and forcing the other to take cover. This action also covered the advance of my scouts towards the hedgerow previously held by the Americans.
My "counterattacking force" is now assembled and ready to go forward. The scouts have reached their first objective without enemy interference. I expect the woods of the "Arrow" to be mostly empty, or defended by a few units weakened by casualties from previous fighting, but I will have to take some risks to outflank the force attacking on my left.
No dramatic new developments on the left flank. The two enemy AFVs now moved fully through the openings, so my opponent is about to confirm I have no antitank defenses left. Both vehicles seem to have spotted the AT gun that barely survived earlier mortar shelling (but remains inoperative), as they turn their turrets against its position at the end of the turn. Although the Sherman fires its machineguns almost all the time in this turn, the Germans take no casualties - only a fair bit of suppression. I continue to shell the U.S. light mortar position with 81mm mortar fire. My mortar team has spent its allocation of 32 HE but another ammo bearer and a second mortar of the same section are on the way.
And finally, at the center, a second wave of U.S. forces is trying to cross an area under heavy fire with insufficient cover. It is like feeding them into a meat grinder. Five men - probably two Weapons HQ support teams that my opponent used initially as scouts - try to pass the breach made earlier by pioneers. The breach is now covered by a sniper and an MG (now "unjammed") and none of the five makes it. A three man MMG team loses two. Five pioneers are spared from taking further casualties in this turn and are ducking in the corner. I'm going to reshuffle some forces here because I'm mindful of the 81mm mortar threat from the U.S. rear, but otherwise we're holding the Cluster.
Confirmed casualties: 56 U.S. / 30 German.
Turn 20 - update. While the mortar on my left flank is waiting for HE ammo, I will try to hit the M10 with smoke. I feel my opponent will not move the M10 in the next turn to make sure he can take out the ATG for good. And a smoke round landing in the turret compartment should be enough take out the vehicle just like a HE would... if I get lucky.
I wouldn't want their job ... even if they paid me!
Are you sure about this? I've never seen it happen... but then again I rarely use smoke. My feeling is that only WP smoke rounds could do this, and I've never ever seen even WP cause casualties.
I've definitely had WP rounds do damage before, in one game a month or so back my opponent knew the position of my armour but couldn't directly see them, so he fired smoke rounds from his shermans in front of my armour (Marders), one of the rounds directly hit one of the Marders purely by sheer luck and it immediately brewed up! I believe sherman smoke rounds are WP, although they are not listed as such.
If you use the smoke command on the 2 inch mortar they will use WP rounds first, if they land close to enemy troops they do occasionally cause casualties. I haven't noticed the actual 'smoke' rounds cause casualties though, some testing may be needed...
Just ran an impromptu test, firstly it's very difficult to hit a vehicle with a WP round from a mortar, even when said vehicle is stationary and not shooting back, and you cannot directly target a vehicle with them.
Secondly, WP rounds make a distinctive 'thump' sound when they land, smoke rounds do not, they only make a very small sound - almost like a richochet, and only if the camera is close to the point of impact.
If you use the smoke command on the 2 inch mortar they will use WP rounds first, if they land close to enemy troops they do occasionally cause casualties. I haven't noticed the actual 'smoke' rounds cause casualties though, some testing may be needed...
Just ran an impromptu test, firstly it's very difficult to hit a vehicle with a WP round from a mortar, even when said vehicle is stationary and not shooting back, and you cannot directly target a vehicle with them.
Secondly, WP rounds make a distinctive 'thump' sound when they land, smoke rounds do not, they only make a very small sound - almost like a richochet, and only if the camera is close to the point of impact.
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I think some Shermans have WP, others have regular smoke.
In any case, in this situation, the mortar only has regular smoke rounds. I doubt they can do any damage.