Random chatter...

[Jim von Krieg]

In the East, Pawel's Red Army troops have gone into stealth mode... He has been giving me the rope-a-dope most of the battle... Slap my infantry around at long range and slide away.. then a furious fight as I crossed the bridge... Only to slide back into quiet time...

Only when I forced the bridge did he really put up an effort to engage me toe to toe... We were in a slugfest up until the point I cleared the treeline and smashed his local defenses...

However, the casualties were severe on my part... I had a couple of lapses and one "ah ha" moment when I realized I made numerous tactical errors and a strategic miscalculation...

My biggest mistake, I assumed he'd fight this battle as I would fight it, aka force mirroring... but alas that was not the case... I wasted precious time on closing to the fight as I was maneuvering across the snow to establish multiple crossfires and make it extremely painful if he tried to come after me as I moved up... A result of not being familar with the scenario or the opponent... I moved a tad bit slower than normal and not quite as aggressive as my typical fight...

Once I realized the deal, I attempted to pick up the pace and subsequently got pummeled as my light forces went for the bridge before I was fully set... So much for underestimating Pawel... He's a wiley one...

Now, with the bridges on the far river blown I don't have much of an option to force a decision in this game... I'm always loath to do this, but it appears I have to go head on into what I can only deduce is going to be a massive Red Army tank reception committee as I crest the ridge to overlook the small town at the heart of the Red Army defense... There is no way to get LOS down in there without getting pasted by whatever is waiting just on the other side... T34/85s, ISU-152s, SU-100s and lots of rocket launchers...

Little bites of this problem... Control the treeline... Drive what's left of his infantry back... move my infantry up to see the massed T34s/Shermans sitting just below waiting on me...

I put the heavy armor in place... See if they like King Tigers at point blank range with a height advantage... and guess what, they don't... I lose a King, but soak up most of his OPFIRE... Then the Panther rush to point blank range... They definitely didn't like that...

Oh it's a blood bath... Underneath the burning King Tiger, a lot more T34s and Shermans burn... Not as many as I had hoped, but now its a points calculation as the bleeding contributes to the victory conditions... I have to dishout more pain than he does for the next few turns... I expect to get pummeled next turn as the disrupted and reduced King Tiger sits explosed before a large number of enemy tanks...

I made a critical tactical error as I forgot something very important... Too long away from the electronic front... I don't think I have enough time to recover from the oversight.. It would lock this game down for me because it doesn't look like Pawel's accounted for it... Should of, would have, could have...

Oh well, it's water under the bridge... LOL... With only a few turns left, its grind it out now...

We're locked in a tight battle on the crest of the north end of the treeline we've been fighting for since I crossed the bridge... His counterattack destroys my King Tigers... However, it took a big chunk of his firepower to do it... He also engaged the exposed Panzer-Grenadier platoon in the smoke overlooking the village and the low ground which is whittled to nothing...

His T34s charge up into my domain on the high ground where my wiped out PG's had been... My OPFIRE does nothing, but then he doesn't get much out of it either.. He disrupts two AAA SP platoons that I had brought up to shoot up infantry...

He pulls most of his armor back down out of LOS... Also, he's back in the tree hex I just recently cleared and is pushing through the treeline to see into the open space behind...

Way back there, his T34s behind the village seek the high ground to gain LOS and shoot at my exposed infantry... Panther OPFIRE disrupts him...

My push through the southern end of the treeline is cut down by well placed engineers, artillery, and SU-152's firing into my panzer-grenadiers as they emerge from the tree line... Need smoke, but it's a matter of priorities and this infantry push is going nowhere so no smoke for them..

I had ended the previous turn with a Minor Victory and his counterattack has slapped it back down to a draw.. We have been teetering back and forth in the middle of a draw... Only now are the points beginning to swing the battle to my favor... However, Pawel's troops are fighting hard to stem the SS onslaught...

As I survey the battlefield, I don't think I have any chance at another VP hex that the Russians control... Too many Russians, too far and very little time remaining... I think it's all about holding the two exposed VP hexes I have and attrition... With the Russians having the last shot at this, I'll have to lock down the VP hexes in question or risk fighting this to a draw...

As my troops stare down the barrel of T34/85 platoon, the PGs and flammen-panzers/tracks assault over the top of the lone T34/85 occupying my smoke hex... Don't you just hate it when your opponent takes advantage of your smoke laying operations...

After the destruction of the T34s on the high ground, my Panthers surge forward into the smoke to absorb more Russian OPFIRE... not even a scratch on the paint... Results are not quite as good as I had hoped, but every little bit helps as more T34s and SU-100s burn on the low ground...

In the newly Red Army occupied treeline, SP Arty, SP Mortars, MGs and PGs massacre and drive out his ground pounders... the Panthers wipe out a few more M4s...

After this round, I drove the victory conditions back to a Minor Victory... I'll have to see if I can hold on to it this time... A little bit of a cushion, but its tight and every casualty is going to make a difference in this fight...

I also see that my flight of fantasy move is covered as I see T34's moving in the distance... Not that rushing the blown bridge to the south, dropping smoke and attempting to build a foot bridge to the uncovered VP hex was anything but a long shot... Probably as smart as driving a scout jeep through a VP hex under the nose of a King Tiger was in one of my other battles...

Regards,

Jim

I left myself open to getting shot at hoping he would surge forward to fight it out, but alas Pawel was too cagey for that... He slips back, taking a few pot shots at my infantry as his armor slides out of sight... Well, that pretty much precludes a major victory here... I moved too slow and Pawel fought too well for me to lock that down... It is good to win, but I had serious doubts well until the end that this was going to be anything other than a draw...

As the last turn opens, my artillery thunders getting excellent results on his defenders in the village... they are disrupted, reduced and driven back...

On my left, a lone armed halftrack races to the two closest objectives with supporting fires from the ridge... the enemy is driven off and as my track takes the last objective, a Russian AT battery unmasks leaving nothing but burning wreckage on the final objective... Another halftrack races forward to scout the area and bumps into SU-100s and infantry waiting to counterattack... He slams the gears into reverse and backs away from the poised Russian forces...

Supporting fires erupt from my Panthers and King Tigers, stripping away what I think is the last of his armor fighting it out in the near treeline that we've been wrangling over for many turns...

It also destroys two of the SU-100s lurking back there.. the other platoon is driven off, but I'm sure it will be back... My Flamepanzers make short work of some broken infantry and a lone T34... My Panthers rake the distant treeline to reduce and drive off one of his mortar batteries...

I attempt to shoot up one of the exposed and broken engineer units behind the blow bridges, but they just disrupt and run all over the battlefield... No joy...

Here I sit with a major victory by points, but when Pawel plays the last turn that will evaporate as his T34s return to get in the last shots...

A most excellent fight from a strong opponent...

Jim