Huzzar! AAR (Narsus vs Facman)

0644

OK, now is a good time to mention that Facman has this jeep that has been roaming about the map, first he squeezed across the main bridge and drove right by my Puma going around the back way, my Puma didnt even see them until they were around the bend. Now the jeep has crossed back over the main bridge and appears to be hunting the hunters.


My Anti-Tank team, with one faust left, creep closer to the last known location of Facmans Greyhound.

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While Facmans jeep hunts for my Faust team.

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0645


Facmans jeeps fires on my Faust team as it is crawling down the line of the hedgerow, killing the team leader.

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One of my 20 Millimeter halftracks had managed to withdraw from the encounter with Facmans Stuart and turns to fire on the Jeep, killing all on board.

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My Puma on the south side of the river moves into position. First target, the Stuart my two halftracks just tangled with near AZ2.

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0646

Facman's Stuart at the Main Bridge lays down fire into the hedge, killing my Anti-Tank Infantryman.

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Not far, on the south side of the river my PSW 234/2 moves into position and lights up Facman's Stuart near AZ2.

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0647-0649

The last element of Facmans Recon force are destroyed with the destruction of his last Stuart at the Main Bridge. I believed he had one more Greyhound but have seen no evidence of this.
In anticipation of my main forces arrival recon units have been sent out to the west, back to the Alternate Crossing and to Farm House 4, far to the North East of the map.


The last Stuart, the second hit knocks him out.

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Farm House 2, The trap is set. This force will not be able to hold against a determined attack, but they will slow down any advance. With a little luck I can get some much needed fire power to the north side of the river before the fighting begins.

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East Side of Tracks Overview

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West Side of Tracks Overview

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Awesome, just awesome... I find myself rooting for a successful springing of the trap.... DONT SHOOT UNTIL YOU SEE THE NETTING ON THEIR HELMET!!!!!!
 
Thanks Fredrocker, my men have strict orders to hold fire until they see the whites of their eyes!


0650

My Main Force has arrived, well most of it anyways, still waiting on some mortar and infantry to show up. I have alot of ground to cover and with both bridges blocked or partially blocked its going to be a long ride.


On the East side of the tracks I receive two platoons of StuGs. For now one platoon will cross the river and reinforce the area around Farm House 2 while the other is held in reserve. I also have sent my PSW 234/2 to the North side of the river to help with the ambush.

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On the West side of the Tracks I have an even larger force coming in through the country side. I send two Panthers east to the Village, one will set up on the Railroad tracks, protecting the vulnerable back way into Farm House 2, the other will hold in town as Reserve.
My other two Panthers I am sending to defend the area round Farm House 1 but I fear they might be too big to squeeze past Facmans Knocked out Stuart near the bridge at the Alternate Crossing so I send them to ford the river just below Farm House 1. I have not tested this ford, hopefully they can pass here.
I have also received infantry, well equipped with 2 shreck teams and infantry, They will ford the river even farther west and if finding no resistance will begin setting up defensive positions around Farm House 2.

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0651

Near Farm House 2
Sherman spotted, something else behind it, don't know what it is yet.

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0652

The lead Sherman has stopped, waiting for his team to catch up it looks like. I have done all I can, Panthers are inbound, ETA 3 or 4 mins to lay fire down the tracks.

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Unfortunately I can't get my StuGs across the river yet. Shermans spotted at Farm House 4 and near AZ2, could be going a number of places, don't want my StuGs caught with thier pants down so they are going to cover Farm House 2 from across the river until I can get a better picture I where and what Facmans forces are. I have sent my other platoon of StuGs to lay in Ambush at the far eastern crossing, the most likely point of destination for the Shermans spotted at Farm House 4.
 
0652-

This turn had my blood pumping. One of the Shermans on the main road turned off into the Hedgerow. Pieces are still moving into place and Facman has decided to check out Farm House 2.


Drivers for the half-tracks abandon their vehicles and hide as the rumbling of Shermans grow louder.

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HOLD!

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Facmans Sherman stops right before the cross roads and just in range.

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Its a Hit and the crew bails! My last 20 Millimeter Half-track loses its duel with a Sherman on the other side of Farm House 2 and the men flee into the safety of the bocage.

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0653

Recon unit falls back as Facman lays fire into the their position

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The Anti-tank team repositions here and lies in wait for a Sherman that moved off from the Main Road earlier, now heading through a field. Last faust, the smaller kind, dunno how good they are

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0653-0654


The smaller Panzer Faust hits but doesn't penetrate.

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The tank then wheels in toward the hedgerow my men are hiding in, shoots, and then blows up, I was baffled. I chalk it up to good luck and figure the faust hit did penetrate and set off some ammo somehow.

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In the command phase I go to order my men to retreat, I am going to use my demo charges to blow a hole through the adjacent bocage when I see my team no longer has demo charges. "what the hell?!" then it hits me, thats what those two huge explosions were that destoyed the Sherman. I guess they slapped them on there through the Hedgerow or tossed them, I don't know, but these guys are pretty handy. I retreat them behind the hill where the StuGs can cover them from the other side of the river. Good job troops!

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Farm House 2 over run, my Panthers show up too late to have any line of sight. Who ever could has began retreating to the river, many could not make it out and are hiding in the area.

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The infantry arrives. I feel a push coming on, I have men at Farm House 2 to rescue!

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Well, this battle is getting too big for me to both play and enjoy, and report on properly so I believe this is a good stopping point for this DAR. I will write a final thoughts comment when the game is through.
 
Yeah love those screens.

And for the democharge thing. This was an thread were someone (I believe it was DasTiger) wanted to know if infantry uses the democharges on vehicles.
Well we got the anwser right here :p
 
Well, The game never got far enough for me to try and rescue the few remaining men on the other side of the river. At the Main bridge my StuGs had the dominating position and repelled an assault of combined forces.

From the East Facman came with some Shermans, catching my StuGs there by surprise and almost slipping into my rear, luckily it was not in force and my last StuG stopped any further advances.

In the West I brought all my reinforcements up through the Fords on the west side of the 2nd crossing and after catching Facmans lead Sherman off guard, went about setting up in the Bocage North of Farm House 1, first stopping Facmans advancing Shermans, then pushing them back.

I just found this discussion going on over at BFC forums, raising alot of question on how balanced this scenario is. Looks like the general consensus is that it is, with favor being on the German side after the recon phase. I have to agree on some of the points. http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=99752

Thanks to everyone who followed along and a special thanks to Facman for the game.
 
Thanks Narsus. This was an interesting AAR to read after the fact. It clarified and answered a lot of questions I had, about what had just happened to me. I must admit that I rarely saw any of the infantry that was stalking me. Often times, my only inkling that they were nearby, was the blowing up of my armor. If you ever want to live a nightmare, troop through the bocage with armor only. In hindsight, I shouldn't have moved from my startline until the infantry arrived. To find out he had at least 4 Panthers, makes my decision to pull back all the more reasonable. I had only seen one during the game, but feared for there even being just 2 of them.
While I didn't particularly care for having my arse handed to me as thoroughly as it was, ~salute~ to my opponent for taking the time to school me.
 
I started playing this scenario which looks a good one , but my Pbem player went AWOL :-( Does that ring a bell Victor ?
 
Good luck, its a long scenario to get through with hard to navigate terrain. And yes, it has a slight ring to it :p
 
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