Gertsovka The Cornerstone

[Ricky B]

Tide1 is playing this one with the benefit of having played it before - hence he could go to where the enemy units are, even if only in general, and see the areas they can spot.

The raised rail (or road?) blocks LOS across it, and the terrain to the south of it can block LOS also. Lots of terrain, along with dense stacking units, etc, can block LOS in this game - it was covered quite a bit by Strela in the Teaser thread. Also, I learned in trying this one numerous times (and getting beat up in it) that smoke can be very useful to block LOS when needed.

Rick

[Tide1]

Tide1 is playing this one with the benefit of having played it before - hence he could go to where the enemy units are, even if only in general, and see the areas they can spot.

The raised rail (or road?) blocks LOS across it, and the terrain to the south of it can block LOS also. Lots of terrain, along with dense stacking units, etc, can block LOS in this game - it was covered quite a bit by Strela in the Teaser thread. Also, I learned in trying this one numerous times (and getting beat up in it) that smoke can be very useful to block LOS when needed.

Rick

What Rick said

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn Two
17:30 4 July 1943, Normal Conditions, Day, Visibility 3Km (12 Hexes)
Russians reorganize defense. I have highlighted two units which are the same company. The riflemen have moved back into the bunker along the road on the outskirts of the village. The MG unit is left on watch in the bunker on the embankment. The first German troops appear. They are a pair of engineer companies. The Russians greet them with howitzer and mortar fire. Six German men are lost.

Dog Soldier

---

Wondering how you can tell if your units can be out of LOS here?

How does the deer know you are watching it before you decide to take your shot?

In reality, you really cannot be sure if you are being observed. In PzB it is the same. Strela covered this in the competition & Teaser thread. Notice there are no Russian units revealed. This the persistent concealment feature at work.

Dog Soldier

[GerryM]

I understand. I was confused initially by Tide's statement as I couldn't see how he would know he was out of LOS. There are not many LOS obstacles in his approach.

Curious how a building hex affects LOS. Take for example the hex just S of your unit on the rail embankment. Is the 250m-hex considered to be full of buildings and no LOS gets through. Or is it just the building graphics that block LOS such that some LOS through it is possible.

Thanks,

Gerry

[Tide1]

Turn 3

I got my Germans up to the jump off area and got them out of thier vehicles.
Next turn it's into the minefields.

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn Three
18:00 4 July 1943, Normal Conditions, Day, Visibility 3Km (12 Hexes)
Russians continue to prepare for the eventual Axis assault. Axis engineers move up but remain out of LOS. Axis infantry take their place and pay a similar price to view the Soviet outer defenses.

Time to set up the Assign Opportunity Fire (AOF) settings for my troops. I do not want them firing before they can do real damage. Note the dialog box below. This is an earlier version of the one in your game. At the time this game was played PzB: Kursk was still being developed.

Note you can set Short, Medium, or Long ranges. Or you can choose Never if you want to maintain concealment. You can set these settings by the class of unit for all units, then tailor it for individual units by clicking on those units before setting their AOF. You can also click first on a few select units and set the AOF just for them. Since the Russian defenders on the railroad embankments will be spotted soon anyway, I will set them to fire at short range where they can inflict more damage.

This is an image of the new AOF included in the final game release. Note you have more unit types to choose from to set at different levels. This gives the defense more flexibility.


Here is the view front the Russian lines at the end of the turn.


Dog Soldier

[Tide1]

Turn 4

The Germans took some arty fire moving up to the railroad embankment but didn't take
any serious losses.
My engineers moved into a minefield and are clearing it under cover of smoke.

[Dog Soldier]

Russian Turn Four
18:30 4 July 1943, Normal Conditions, Day, Visibility 3Km (12 Hexes)
The Germans use smoke to cover their engineers from fire. The smoke placement is not very effective for the engineers. The smoke is covering the approach of other German units. To be effective, smoke has to placed between the opposing units.

Russian guns work the engineers over. Russian units in the bunkers protecting the road cut in the railroad embankment open up on the engineers also. While causing casualties the engineers grimly remove the mines to clear a path for the first wave of assaulting Axis infantry.

I set the AOF for the Guards infantry in the bunker blocking the road to short range for all soft targets. This way they will not waste shots and give way their position until their fire can be the most lethal.



Here is a shot of the Victory Dialog at the end of Russian turn #4. The Germans have taken few casualties due to Tide1's careful approach.


Dog Soldier

[Tide1]

Turn 5

My Germans took eleven casualties from op fire and arty but continued clearing mines and attacking the bunker in hex 3,8.
I also managed to move two platoons into a minefield in hex 5,9

[GerryM]

Hello:

Wondering about the platoons moving into 5,9. They are not engineers I think (I cannot see a green side strip). What kind of casualties did they experience?

Thanks,

Gerry