DAR - Assaulting Leto (sigh - cant think of a clever title)

[Colonel Talvela]

Playing a mirrored axis minor assault against Leto. I am pretty excited about the settings.

-Oct 41 - early war.
-Unrestricted units, but as the attacker you can only pick units from one axis minor country. As the defender, you cannot pick T34 or KV tanks.
-1000 point assault
-20 turns fixed
-clear weather
-We loaded the map below with units as follows:
Attacker
- 2 Crack 150mm SP guns
- 1 Conscript 170mm artillery spotter (20 ammo)
- 2 TRPS for the attacker
Defender
-1 mg bunker (wooden kind)
-2 TRPS
-4 wire
-4 anti-inf mines
-4 daisy chain mines
-2 trenches




The reasoning for unit is - axis minor dont have any big HE. And really, what is more fun than 150mm SP guns and huge artillery - but in QBs they never get selected because of rarity. On defense, CMBB actually counts fortification units against your final score, but I personally think they are a blast to play with. So we give each side the same defense units and that keeps it even.

1000 points isnt nearly enough troops to cover this map, but 20 turns isnt enough time to attack it either. So it should be a brutal fight with lots of big bombs and rushed action.

The map has two big flags in the middle back, and six small flags (circled in yellow). the reasoning here is we figured lots of flags will allow somebody who advances slightly further to get a little bonus.


Dont know how detailed of a DAR I will do on both games. But hopefully I will show some highlights, and I will definitely get to make fun of Pete.

[Colonel Talvela]

Turn 6 Orders
email from Leto:
You need to be more worried about getting downfield than killin… there will be enough killin for both sides I’m sure…

Although you can never trust anything Leto says in an email, this actually got me thinking. And when I started thinking, I had to pause and evaluate how the game was going.

Below in red shows what was going to be my main thrust - down the scattered trees to the back of the map and then try to assault both of the big flags. But Letos email made me realize that wasnt going to happen in 15 turns, and I got in a bit of a panic.


So after a bit of thinking I calmed down and got my bearings. I dont have to get the entire map in 15 turns, I just have to get those back flags. Leto seems to have setup his defense to guard the scattered trees, so I am adjusting and going more to the right (see the next pic). Over here on my left, I am just leaving three platoons, and they have 15 more turns to get the two flags circled. So I can take my time with these two. I should be able to get the front one on the right and get close to the back one - depending on how his defense is down the left map edge.
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My new thrust will be right down the middle, between the blue lines below


In my setup defending this map, I have no troops between those blue lines. There has to be a soft spot in Letos defense, and if he is guarding the scattered trees, there is a good chance this is the soft spot. So I am pulling in 6 platoons. this is the only spot where I really have to go fast, and I have enough troops to handle it (Sissi troops with plenty of satchels). I am also bring my 8 BT7 tanks into the mix over here to support.
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On the right I have 4 platoons, and they dont have too far to go, so again, no rush.


At this time, I am not really planning on trying for that back flag on the far right.

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Note - this is one area that I think allows me to win a lot of games - that I take some time to assess the situation and adjust my plan. It is tempting to just sit down and press forward with the inf or tanks a bit, but for me assessment and adjustment is key.

[Colonel Talvela]

Turn 11 Action
email from Leto (right after watching some of his ducks of death get mauled):
Those were too unbelievably good turns for you. I just don’t get it why I can’t get any luck at all. Can’t kill a BT-7 with a side penetration? ARghH.

What he is talking about regarding the BT7 is shown below. and flame tank of his and one of my BT7s (circled in blue) ended turn 10 targeting each other. My BT7 fired first, but missed. his flame tank fired and got a side penetration on the BT7, but only shocked it and caused a casualty. The BT7 fired right back and you can see the result below.



Even if the BT7 had died, his flame tank was probably not going to live through the turn. In blue at the bottom of the pick is a full Sissi squad in command about 20m away that "should" have thrown a satchel or a grenade bundle and killed it. I also had two other BT7s that were racing to get LOS on that flame tank. So although I did get lucky, the end result wouldnt have been much different for the flame tank.

A couple of other interesting things to note in teh pic:
1) In purple in the foreground is a half squad that I decided to race past of row of houses to see if he could get to the large heavy building. He did. That is really good for me, especially if he lives next turn because it means I probably found a soft spot in his defense.

2)The gun selected in game ends the turn having fired once between the buildings (it missed, but will be firing again really soon) at one of my crack 150 sp guns with a full ammo load. That is a crazy sight line.

3) His units in green in the middle are some units I am just going to try to avoid. They are green smg units, but I dont think I have to go through there. I am going to try to follow the brown lines and get to the big flags fighting as few troops as possible.

4)the red X in the middle is a dead flamer tank of his

[Colonel Talvela]

Turn 17 Action
email from Leto:
Oh… you are NOT going to like the next couple of turns…

I lost three tanks this turn. Not really a big deal. they arent doing much anyway. I do need the tank at the bottom of the pic below to make it to the end of the purple line and KO those MG bunkers.



My inf in blue walked to the woods shown. Hopefully he will launch a satchel and take out a pill box. If so, the floodgates will be open and my inf should be able to pour in.

I havent taken any small arms fire in a couple of turns. I think all his inf are gone.

the white dots are smoke that is falling from 81mm mortars