The Coil steals Leto's playbook, puts a hirrting on him...(No peeking Leto's, please)

[Maakt Droog]

Coil, enjoying as always the colorful DAR.

Out of curiosity, concerning your plan to try to take advantage of the slow turret traverse speed of the TDs: did you consider driving your AC through the TD's line of sight? Can't tell from the map whether there was enough room to make it worthy of an attempt, but the thinking would be to get the TDs to traverse farther away from where your Panzers will show up by getting the TDs to "chase after" the AC, all the while hoping the speed of the AC protects it from getting hit.

Again, can't really tell from the map, but it looks like moving the AC forward and stopping won't get the TDs to traverse much, especially if they nuke it with a lucky first shot.

Of course, I know the sad ending, as Leto has posted the next turn already, so I hope this doesn't sound too much like Monday morning quarterbacking. It just struck me as an interesting option, although, there may be a number of good reasons for not trying it here, e.g., ending up with the AC too close to Leto's advancing infantry.

[RedDevil]

Cheers on a decent AAR/DAR

[The Coil]

Turn 8:

My plan springs in to action. What's going to win, the tank fist or the cleverly spaced panzers? It's sort of a mixed bag...

3 seconds in, I realize I've screwed up.



I gave cover arcs to all the vehicles...including the AC! Bad move - without a turret, it rotates to cover the arc, meaning it's going to have to rotate back to go down the road, which means it's going to get started a few seconds later than it's supposed to. Not a good start. However it gets down the road just ahead of the Panzer, and draws 3 of the TDs, all according to plan.



Unfortunately, the fourth TD draws a bead on the Panzer next to the AC. As MD alludes to above, the result is a bit unhappy for me:



However, seconds later, my other Panzers get off shots, resulting in a moment of happiness to alleviate the despair:



2 hits out of 3, not bad at all, even makes up for that Panzer getting hit by the lone TD. The lead TD continues to roll forward, probably not KO'ed, but at least shocked. A few more rounds are traded without incident and Letos TDs pop smoke; a mortar round buttons one of the remaining TDs at the end of the turn, hopefully shocking it. At the end of the turn, Leto's tank pack looks like this:



My assesment of the damage to the pack: one definite kill, on the TD in the back. The lead TD is still alive, but probably shocked, as it hasn't reacquired a target, and is in LOS of my panzer in the middle of the map. Other 2 TDs are out of LOS of my Panzers, maybe one shocked from the mortar round. I'd hoped for a little more...hopefully I can pot the lead TD before it recovers...

Meanwhile, in the village, Leto moves a bunch of men up into the rough on the right, getting close to my FJs-lite in the woods:



Once his infantry settles down a bit, time to freeze 'em in place with my infantry, then bring up the Grilles...

[The Coil]

Coil, enjoying as always the colorful DAR.

Out of curiosity, concerning your plan to try to take advantage of the slow turret traverse speed of the TDs: did you consider driving your AC through the TD's line of sight? Can't tell from the map whether there was enough room to make it worthy of an attempt, but the thinking would be to get the TDs to traverse farther away from where your Panzers will show up by getting the TDs to "chase after" the AC, all the while hoping the speed of the AC protects it from getting hit.

Again, can't really tell from the map, but it looks like moving the AC forward and stopping won't get the TDs to traverse much, especially if they nuke it with a lucky first shot.

It just struck me as an interesting option, although, there may be a number of good reasons for not trying it here, e.g., ending up with the AC too close to Leto's advancing infantry.

Yeah, that's a pretty fair assessment. I thought about just running the AC through, but worried about getting too close to the infantry, which is going to be a problem in a few turns in any event unless I get the armor out of there (the lack of infantry in my OOB is going to start being a problem...). Also I was figuring it wouldn't be a bad thing if the TDs got a few shots off, and I could hit him with the panzers while they were reloading. Plus, on the off chance all the TDs missed, I wanted the AC to have a chance to shoot back.

All in all, it worked out OK, the AC did draw the fire of 3 TDs. If the remaining TD would've missed my panzer, I'd have been in great shape. As it is, their attention was diverted pretty well from the remaining 3 panzers, who got some licks in.

Of course, I know the sad ending, as Leto has posted the next turn already, so I hope this doesn't sound too much like Monday morning quarterbacking.

Bah, don't believe the Leto spin. This little scrum was a worst a draw. Not unhappy how it turned out, especially once you see the next turn (which maybe you have, if he's got that up already...).

Leto is a master of spin - take everything he says with a grain of salt. When I get a chance, I'm going to put together a post of email psy-ops techniques, using Leto's emails during this battle as an illustration. He's always trying to make you think something is better or worse than it is...might work on lesser players, but not on former Blitz ladder leaders like me.

[The Coil]

Turn 9

The fact that the pesky Coil is rejoicing over a plinked TD or two is evidence of how desperate he is to find any bit of hope in this battle. He has wandered his little tank force right into range of my impending pincer movement, where the combination of TDs on his left, infantry up the gut, and my sneaky Sherman/Priest armor mob on his right about to finish up his little panzer force for good.

Yeah, that's going to be a problem in a turn or two, but methinks I have a plan to deal with that...

I move the two panzers down the road up a bit, hopefully to get back in LOS of the TD pack - it's 3 to 3 now, with at least one of his guys shocked, and another behind a smoke cloud. I quickly score 2 hits on the lead (shocked?) TD, and knock it out...



Leto's remaining 2 TDs back out the way they came. Leto in his email (and, if MD's comments above are any indication, in his DAR as well) tries to frame this as a victory for him - he knocked out 2 panzers and an AC vs. my hitting 2 TDs. Don't you believe it for a second. He got a lucky gamey flank sneaking edge hugging cowardly back shooting little snipe shot off at my first panzer, killing it. But in the actual battle that followed, he lost 2 TDs to my panzer and an AC - clear advantage me. I mean after all, it was his guys who turned tail and ran at the end, not mine...

Don't listen to a word The Coil says. I'm absolutely crushing him. It was my plan all along to lose those TDs, to sucker him into my trap. I'm winning, I tells you. How could anyone with my absolutely gigantic ELO lose to a pathetic wretch like The Coil? Trust me, everything is going exactly according to my master plan.

Anyway, Leto creeps a Sherman and 2 Priests up on the left side of the village, angling in on my Panzers from their right flank.



This is going to get a bit sticky in a turn or two, as Leto's infantry makes it closer to my tanks, and he starts bringing armor in on both flanks. I've got the sniper, an HQ unit, and a mortar on the far left to try to pick up the infantry, and Grille deep behind the panzers lobbing HE in on any infantry he can get LOS to, but it's about to be decision time...

I'm debating between shifting a Stug or two to threaten the flanks of Leto's flanking armor and backing the Panzers out of dodge while I move up on Leto's right with the Stugs and Grilles to try to do some damage to the infantry in the town, which seems relatively unprotected by armor right now, since the only thing I've spotted over there is the Priest which Leto has since pulled for the flanking manuever. It's reasonable to assume he's got some armor out of sight behind the village, but he can't have too much back there...

[The Coil]

A brief aside: You'll note over here in my thread, we don't resort to cheap sensationalism and oblique attacks on the character of esteemed members of the Blitz in order to attract a higher view count, as I've heard some other DARs do. Nope, here you just find straight talk about sound and proven CM tactics. And full frontal attacks on non-esteemed members of the Blitz such as [hirr]Leto. If you appreciate this hard hitting approach, for gosh sakes, click on my DAR 7 or 8 times every time you visit.

Anyway, on to turns 10-12

Not a whole lot to see - some brief skirmishes as Leto's infantry moves up on the right, and gets harassed by MG fire from my tanks and the HQ and sniper hiding in the brush.

I move my Stugs and Grilles left and forward, and drop another building in the village that seems a likely hiding spot. That little dude in the first building I dropped keeps running around - from a crater in the road, to a building across the street, and then back into the rubble of the first building. I'm kind of curious about what he is - I'm of two minds about him. On the one hand, he could be an arty spotter or something, that I'd really like to kill. On the other hand, he could be a half squad. Leto is running him around pretty carelessly in full view of my Grilles, so I'm sort of thinking he's a half squad that Leto is using as a HE sponge. Actually, if I had to guess at this point, I'd say all the infantry I've seen thus far is designed to draw fire and soak up HE - I wouldn't be surprised if Leto had his real main force at the back of the village somewhere, waiting to move up after he's bled off a bunch of my ammo.

I start backing my Panzers off on the left side - not liking how close Leto's infantry is getting, and I don't want them to get caught between the TDs and his Sherman/Priest pack. The plan is to regroup them at the back, and then move them up the road on the left flank of my Stugs and Grilles.

Here's where things stand at the end of 12:



Going to have my work cut out for me dislodging Leto's infantry from the village, but assuming I can keep the Panzers alive, I should have enough HE to do it. The second half of this battle is where my lack of infantry is going to start to be a problem...

[The Coil]

Turn 13

The Coil appears stymied, or at best confused. His armor out front of the village is wandering around, his Panzers have split for the back of the map, his meager infantry force is stopped cold. I am the king of the world!

Never fear, just luring Leto into a false sense of security by doing nothing for a bit. Well, waiting for my Panzers to make it back to the middle of the map, anyway. Takes 'em a bit to make it back out of sight of the TDs and head up the road. I'm just thinking about how nice it's been not to bog any armor thus far, when the bog monster strikes:



Dang! That Panzer out front gets stuck in the mud. If anyone has ever tried to tell you that vehicles in reverse don't bog, just show 'em this. Lucky me, it frees itself about 15 seconds later and continues on its merry way. Don't let anyone sell you on various 'unbog' techniques, either be it cancel orders, bump it, give it reverse orders, or whatever. They all work about the same, which is to say not at all. Mr. Random decides if your tank gets out of the mud.

While I'm waiting for my Panzers (and their 120+ HE rounds for anti-infantry work), I shift my Grilles and Stugs left and forward, which takes a while, given the lack of turrets, and me not wanting to present too many tank flanks to Leto at once. Going to try to level the left flag with HE first, move infantry on to it, and then go for the right flag. It'll take 4 or 5 turns to get everything in place - time is starting to worry me a bit.

On the right, Leto's Priest lobs some shots at my infantry, along with some mortar and small arms fire.



Scares my greenie half squad a bit, and gives my other boys the jitters. Nothing too serious yet, and they have a bit of time to recover morale. But I don't want Leto to get too comfy plugging away at my infantry. I'd love to throw some counter-fire his way, but he's got them nestled into a good keyhole.

[The Coil]

Turn 14

I realize one of my Grilles has LOS to the building next to Leto's Priests who are dropping area fire onto my infantry. It's a bit of a tricky shot - through the woods, in the door, out the window, off the side of the building...



Bugs me a bit that I had this shot last turn and just didn't see it. Oh well. Also, the Grille is in the middle of reloading, so he's probably only going to get one shot off this turn. But it's worth a try. A 150mm round going off that close to the Priests could easily cause them to abandon. It'll at least make Leto reposition.



Alas, the Grille catches the doorframe and leaves the shot short. Leto is bound to scramble his guys away next turn.

Over to the right of the village, my infantry continue to take a beating, this time from his Sherman.



Nothing for it but to take their shots like men. Not many casualties, but my boys are starting to have real morale issues.

[The Coil]

Turn 15

Going to make these next few turns brief - I'm behind in the DAR, Leto's probably waiting for a turn, and what with the newborn baby and all, free time is not what it once was...

I figure Leto's going to back his Priest/Sherman armor pack away from the building I lobbed a Grille shot at last round, but it's worth a try to keep shooting.

The Grille gets another shot in while Leto's command delays are counting down, and lo and behold, it's right where I wanted it:



Take that, Mr. Priest.

No luck, though. Shortly after impact, the Priest wheels around and drives out of sight.

At the end of the turn, here's where things stand:

The blue oval marks my Stug/Grille pack, still shifting left and forward for the assualt on the town. The blue rectangles are my panzers and Grille, heading back to the road into town. Red ovals mark my my infantry platoons - 4 squads in the woods on the far right getting nuked by area fire, 2 squads in the center, 2 on the left, getting in position to advance on the flags. Sniper, HQ and mortar on the far left are shifting right to try to intercept Leto's infantry if they try to head from that flank back to support the village.[/align]

[The Coil]

Turn 16

Not much of note happening this turn. I keep moving the panzers to the village. My infantry on the right, mercifully freed of the area fire by Leto's redeploying Priests regains morale state except for one routed half squad. Leto moves some infantry forward in the village. I area fire some infantry positions with the Stugs - I want to save the Grille HE for the main assault at this point.

Leto starts firing smoke everywhere:



Maybe he's getting panicky as he sees me lining up to attack. More likely, he's covering his routes as he moves infantry up. I'm a bit worried that he's sneak a gun or two into position behind the smoke, but I still have decent sight lines into the village. I'm a bit worried in that there is more smoke appearing than I can identify shooters for, which means Leto definitely has some guns or armor I can see yet...