After considerable chiding and sniggling at Dave, I have finally forced him to pick his uber kit of German death and destruction.
My logic was as follows: being that I am a total fruitcake, no amount of contemplation on his part would be useful in augering some kind of helpful analysis that would provide him with insight into my defensive parameters, ploys or preparations.
I, on the other hand know exactly what Dave is going to bring to this party and where he's going to bring it... well, not exactly, but kind-of-ly... make that perhaps-sually.
Being a creature of habit, he will opt for a solid attack pattern, not trying to be overly tricksy like I have been. I expect to see a couple of battalions of infantry out there, as Dave has already bled it several times that the map is too large to cover all the angles.
I also expect to see a few large bore gun carriages, but believe he may opt for STuG 105's or maybe even a brumbar or two.
His attack will be as follows:
My flags are separated into two distinct groups, and an apparent weakness is the middle. A good commander should exploit this, as there is good cover and the ability to move large amounts of units through this area. Dave will attempt to overwhelm with infantry, using artillery, and mortars to pave the way. He'll keep his mobile howitzers back somewhat so that they do not get nailed by a hidden gun, letting his buttload of infantry do the heavy lifting.
Yes, call me Swami Leto.
This is what Dave will be facing:
ROMANIANS!!! YEEEE WHOOORE!!
Yep, I bought an entire battalion of Romanian Cavalry. They are effectively equivalent to a German rifle squad:
10 men, 44 ammo, 6 rifles, 1 LMG and 2 PPSH with a 40m firepower attack of between 160 and 190.
This Romanian cavalry squad has something that the Germans do not:
60mm mortars. I get eight of them in the mix, as well as 8 very good ZBG heavy MG's.
Each one of the 60mm mortars is capable of taking out two squads each, or one squad and a gun, as they have a 35 ammo load. They are great suppressive fire weapons, but concentrated, they will usually break a squad in two turns of shelling.
But not to be outdone by his previous SMG rantings of the last game, I had to buy a company of SMG troops myself.
I also wanted a bit more mobile of a defense, and after watching Dave's T-34/85 in action last game, I decided to buy an entire platoon of them. They won't be split and will travel as a mobile defense, counterattack wing (hopefully he isn't coming with a platoon of Tigers, as that would put these guys on ice, but I can't see it).
Using the Romanians, I found that for another 10 points over the ZiS 76mm AT gun of the Soviets, one can buy a GERMAN 75mm L/48 PaK, but under the rubric of a Romanian designation. Same gun though. I splurged on 3 of these.
Various other playtime sundries were purchased as well:
1 concrete MG bunker (only a tank gun can take this puppy out... and it's got 250 ammo load... in the right place, it's a lead spitting whale... especially if you stick a GUN on the same hex... tank moves up to take out pillbox bunker, AT gun blows tank away.... insidious, I know....)
1 FT
2 ATR (just in case he brings a few softies)
1 CRACK sniper (I have to steal some strudel... payback is going to be a bitch)
1 TH (frustratingly comes with 2 MC's! Absolutely useless except for scouting now).
With the above, I have:
8 Romanian platoons (3 squads each, 60mm mortar, and ZBG HMG)
3 Soviet SMG platoons (2 Maxims)
3 75mm PaK L/48 AT guns
3 T-34/85's
Okay, it may not seem overly impressive, but I suspect it is a much better kit than Dave had... and I admit, that I am considering the fact that I got to see Dave's defense purchases before mine.
Lastly: I did not pick any fortifications other than the bunker. Why?
Well, my propoganda has already kicked in, and I have started a thread on mines being superior to wire (what Dave uses explicitly in all his defense picks) and have hopefully got him thinking that he's going to run into some.
Honestly, 70 points in mines atm is a bit too rich for my kit, as they are seven points compared to wire's 4 points... which makes wire quite good IMHO... but I do stand on the point that wire often betrays a defense, and it very much did in our last match. I was very aware of Dave's defense capabilities once I saw his wire lay out.
That's all for now... I will give you my set up after Dave takes a few fear ridden steps forward. But I'm absolutely positive that you guys will be quite blown away (or think I'm a complete wingnut) for laying out my defense and planning my strategy as I have.
Cheers!
Leto