MAIN EVENT VII! Ratzki vs Joonny....

[Der Kuenstler]

Now a look at Ratzki's setup. The big surprise is he's put NOTHING up above the seacliffs. He has basically given all that area up to Joonny without a fight. Looks like he plans to avoid any roads with his T34s and head straight for town. They are all loaded with troops. His ISU 152 has no one on it and will probably hang back to use its HE later. His IS-2 has no riders either - he's alone on the dirt road to the South. He has two jeeps positioned to tow his 45mm ATGs to town quickly. All of his troops are spread out fairly evenly on the red start line.



Here's a shot from behind Ratzki's T34/85s. Notice the looming storm clouds ahead. The gradual slope ahead of them will help protect them as they fly towards town - until the German armour peers over the seacliffs above.



Here is a shot of the jeeps and ATGs. The jeeps are both green so I don't expect Ratzki to have them do too many turns due to the long command delays.



And finally, a shot of Ratzki's 82mm mortars and 82mm FO. Beyond them is the seawall, which might have been an ideal spot for them to view the valley. They would have been nearly invisible in those cliffs with a good stealth commander.



It seems that neither commander has done the obvious and put an ATG gun or two in those cliffs. Perhaps that's why - it was too obvious. It will be interesting to see how this plays out...

[Der Kuenstler]

We'll begin minute one with Joonny's side - he had no troop riders on his armour to start with and he chooses to keep all of his armour still the whole minute, except for his three AFV's to the North. (He has them hunting forward.) Being still, this armour above the seacliffs quickly picks up Ratzki's T-34s which are racing towards town with their riders. 42 seconds into the battle, the first shot is fired from Joonny's Panther. A total of six shots are fired from this bunch of AFVs before the minute ends, but every one misses!



Joonny chooses to run his troops the entire first minute towards the woods by the seatown. That is usually no problem, except they had to run uphill part of the ways, which is more tiring. Now all of his troops are tiring and at least one squad is tired.



From Ratzki's side. we can see his T34/85s are flying along on "fast", still not responding to the threat on the seacliffs. An impact from one of the shells of the German AFVs can be seen landing in the grass dangerously near one of the Russian beasts. These Ruskies may be better off to keep going as fast as they can to the cover of town and not try to stop to fire from this disadvantaged position.



In contrast to the German sprinters, Ratzki's Russian troops were all ordered to walk to the flags. At their present pace with all of those woods ahead to go through, there's no way they can get there ahead of Joonny's men!



Lastly, a shot of Ratzki's gun towing jeeps. With a top speed of 65 MPH, they are the fastest units on this map, and are really booking down that dirt road, but cresting the ridge ahead are two Stugs and a Panther.

[Der Kuenstler]

By the end of this minute Joonny's Northern armour force of two Stugs and a Panther have hunted comfortably into a nice overwatch position. You can see from the sight line pictured that the Panther can clearly see the ridge where Ratzki's men are coming as well as where his T34's are due to crest. These AFVs can also clearly see the dirt road that the Russian jeeps and towed guns are traveling on.



But on the south side above the seawall, Joonny has neglected his men - he keeps them running the entire second minute. Now all of them are tired and could soon be pushed to exhaustion, making them almost worthless until they've rested....



Ratzki's ISU-152 is in trouble already. Its conscript crew is moving on "fast" over wet ground for one thing. I'm surprised they made it out of the brush patch without bogging, but now they've come broadside to Joonny's Southern armour force up on the seawall. The conscripts have no clue how to react quickly to the threat - it's too bad - that 152mm gun fires HE shells with a 303 blast rating and will be missed.



Ratzki brings his T34/85s to a halt just below the center ridge overlooking the seatown. His riders disembark and start running over the rough ground nearby. They are already coming under scattered MG fire from the German AFVs on overwatch and are getting pinned down.



Ratzki plays it safe and halts his jeeps and towed guns before they can crest the hill. He saved them from the German threat beyond, but now what are they going to do? Decisions, decisions....



And now a little commentary sent in by Ratzki:

"I see that he has placed some tanks up on the ridge. He will have to move along it in order to get a shot at my t-14's. This should give me a couple shots at the sides of whatever it is that is up there. I do not plan on staying here behind this hill too long though, but I at a litle loos as to what to do next. I can sit and wait for the flank shots or I can start the treck around the hill or over it and into the town. Now town and tanks never really work well together but I mighht be forced into doing so as I don't know how many tanks he has up on that ridge. The good news is that once I figure out what to do I will be able to effectively remove them from the game by giving them nothing to shoot at.
I also see 1 tank comming down the road and another couple on the crest of the hill near Jonny's setup zone. I am thinking that he has gone a little armor crazy during the purchase turn. This is great news as I have a company of infantry heading to the Flag in the trees and two companies making their way to the town. Armor heavy means infantry light, or al least poor quality infantry. I want to get those two guns set up in town for a good flank shot asap while I have the chance, so they might have to run the gaunlet a little to get into position.
My SU 152 is in a little peril at the moment, being Green made him get off the start a little late now he may pay the price as there are a couple tanks with LOS ranging him in. I have movement orders in but he is moving a little slow.
All in all, my plan is to get into town with my infantry and wait for Fritz to come in and have to dig me out."

Good plan, except Fritz is running to town while Ivan is walking....

[Der Kuenstler]

First a shot of Ratzki's central force in distress - we can see the German AFVs to the North are targeting the poor Russian troops who are trying to get through the rough ground to the seatown. It is having quite an effect - one of the bursting shells even managed to kill the commander of Ratzki's lead T34/85 hiding begind the ridge.



Joonny's central infantry force has reached the safety of the woods and will likely make it to the flags intact, especially with the German AFVs peppering the Russians and delaying their advance. This entire force is tired, though, and unless stopped for a break they will fight less effectively.



In this overhead shot we can see where Joonny's infantry is compared to Ratzki's. Even though Joonny had his men running, he tired most of them out doing so, with the result that they are only slightly closer to the flags than the Russians. But the Russians will still be late due to all the woods they have to get through vs. the Germans' clearer ground.



Joonny's central armour forced has already entered West side of the seatown and his Panther has found a target -one of Ratzki's struggling infantry squads on the hill.



Meanwhile, here's the end of the conscript ISU-152's story. This prompts the normally quiet Joonny to crow: "I think that makes first blood to me : )"



I heard a total of seven shells slam into the hapless vehicle, not counting the numerous ricochets and ground bursts. Needless to say, the poor schmucks never got to fire a shot. Only one battered crewmember was able to crawl away. Reminds me of a certain gruesome scene from the end of the movie "Bonnie and Clyde."

[willow]

It's not looking good for Comrade Ratzki. At this rate I can see a major victory for Joony.

[Der Kuenstler]

It's not looking good for Comrade Ratzki. At this rate I can see a major victory for Joony.

I'd say so - and it doesn't look much better this turn. Minute four begins with Ratzki ordering his jeeps over the hill. He sends them into the grass hoping the houses ahead will shield them, but it doesn't work - shells start falling everywhere from the German AFVs perched up on the far hill. You can see the guns that the jeeps are towing already show "pinned" and "panic" as the shells fall....



Here the rear jeep skids out after a shell burst and the driver and gun crew fall out on the ground - they've had enough. Surprisingly, the forward jeep has run the gauntlet and is still going, though its gun crew is now routed....



The forward jeep screeches on the brakes behind the nearest house and the gun deploys - the gun crew is routed and will be useless for the next several turns, if they survive at all...up on the ridge I've written in what the Germans are probably going to do next - the jeep is hiding behind a light building.



Meanwhile up on the hill, Ratzki's infantry are turning to mush under the constant HE coming from the German AFVs on overwatch. Not one unit is in good condition. Joonny's tanks outnumber Ratzki's 14-7 and they are really dominating the field right now...



From Joonny's side, his central AFV column looks like it is in a parade instead of a battle - they are meeting no opposition at all. We can see that one of Joonny's forward squads has reached the trees heading towards one of the large flags.



Here Commander Ratzki comments on his current dilemma:

"Boy what a map this is, hate it already. I am in a little pickle at the moment. Jonny has LOS from the hill at his set up zone as well as from the ridge to pretty much everywhere on the map. With that stretch of woods on my left going from the ridge to about 1/3 of the map, there is no way for me to get any tanks through or around that way. Right now I am in a little hollow on my side of the large hill in the centre of the map where I can't get shot at for the time being. I am very glad that I did not put anything up there on that ridge as the Russians don't have anything that can deal with what looks to be STuGs and Panthers head on and from that long range. I remind you that I do not manually target with units that are out of Command, and I do not select any enemy unit to gather information. I try to get the information from the unit graphic and the sounds that it makes when firing. Just a little quirk of mine.

I am going to continue to try to get that rifle platoon into the town, more to give Jonny something to shoot at and buy some time so I can get my FO into position to lay down some smoke and then I will order my men, after they all arive, over the hill. I will just have to deal with what happens when/if I get to the other side and into town. I seem to think now that Jonny is very short of infantry as I have seen narry a axis soldier at this time. This is good through the trees on my left, I hope that I get there before him and that my Company with MGs will be able to handle whatever he has going for those two flags. In the town, it looks like I will have to abandon the thought of getting there 1st and make plans to dig his troops out of the houses. Again, with what I hope is a infantry advantage in numbers, I feel confident that this is possible.

Depending on where I can get that smoke screen down, I will decide if getting my tanks over the hill is a go. This might be a last minute decision. So at the moment my plan is to get shot at and keep his tanks happy doing just that and not moving untill I can get my men to the crest of the hill, lay down some smoke, and run like a wild man into the town. Being on that hill in his setup zone from the game's start is a very large advantage, I wonder if Jonny has any idea how huge a deal it is..."

I'd say Ratzki is right - he has a large infantry advantage and needs to make use of their peculiar skills. He's got to get them into the woods and buildings where they were meant to fight. Joonny has already seen the T34s so I would keep them hidden - they will always be threat that way and keep Joonny cautious. Too bad Ratzki didn't put two or three crack 57mm L/73 guns up in his cliffs at the start of the match - that would have given those German thugs on overwatch something to worry about...

[Bert Blitzkrieg]

Of course, the Stugs do not carry a very large amount of shells, so the hail of suppressing fire form the cliffs must subside if kept up. Ratzki has to hope he still has something to fight for/over when that happens.

His other hope is smoke. Don't know if the map and the position of all the units give him the possibility to hide his approach to flags/town with a good smokescreen.

[Der Kuenstler]

Good points, Bert - and the infantry pictured above represent only a small portion of Ratzki's total force. As we can see here in minute six, he is getting a company sized group around the North end by the seashore by going through the trees, making them invisible to the German AFVs above. He also has an 82mm spotter going that way. It will take him a while to get through the trees and he is green, but eventually he can call some smoke in.



On the South side by the seacliffs, we can see Ratzki has another large infantry force that is heading into the woods towards the church intact.



Back towards the rear of Ratzki's lines, three maxim teams are exhausted and running the opposite direction. They were already out of command and came under fire from some of Joonny's AFVs up in the cliffs. I doubt if they'll be worth anything useful for the rest of the battle. But Ratzki has other maxim teams moving around the seawall and through the woods intact.



Ratzki lost his jeep and ATG when Joonny blew up the house they were hiding behind. His other jeep is knocked out on the hill but his ATG is still alive up there, although broken and in the open ground. Joonny appears to be a little overconfident with his Panthers, running them up the streets without infantry support, but so far it hasn't cost him anything as Ratzki's boys haven't yet made it to town.

[OWL]

Back from holliday and noticed the start of a new Main Event Battle!

In my opinion the game is aleady over and i predict a tactical victory at least for the Axis, because:
1. Axis infantry will be earlier on the victory locs and the Allies don't have sufficient fire power to get them out.
2 Axis will win the tankbattle (14x long 75mm versus 6x 85mm + 1 slow firing IS II tk) and then the axis can spray all the Allied infantry with multiple 75mm HE shells.
3. The 45mm ATG can not even scratch the axis armor (frontal)
4. Allied forcemix is perfect for a defensive battle, not for a swift and fast ME!

greets Owl

[Der Kuenstler]

In my opinion the game is aleady over and i predict a tactical victory at least for the Axis...

It certainly looks like it's going that way. Here in minute seven Joonny decides to have his AFVs blow down the church. This was actually a mistake, IMHO. The church was empty for one thing, so bringing it down did not kill any Russians. Secondly, it is a heavy building so the smoke will hang there a long time, blocking Joonny's view and allowing Ratzki to run his Russians in there. What I like to do in this situation is shoot the building until it is ALMOST going to fall, then let it sit there. That way the other guy will be afraid to run his troops in, because another shell or two would bring it down.



Here is a shot of Ratzki's last ATG getting finished off. The Huns up on the hill are having a great time, shooting pretty much at will with no return fire.



Ratzki here orders one of his T34/85 platoons back down the hill and around to the North, but even that doesn't go smoothly - the rear tank bogs in the wet seaside ground...



Because Ratzki elected to give all of the Southern cliffs to Joonny without a fight, Joonny is now able to see behind Ratzki's lines with his sharpshooters up there. This picture is from Joonny's side - notice he can see clearly what the T34s are doing and so Ratzki's hope for surprise is gone. Notice the T34/85s here are showing up as regular T34s because of the FOW.



After seven minutes Ratzki has done nothing significant to injure Joonny - I'm afraid the whole battle so far can be summed up with this shot:



But Ratzki has only lost a conscript AFV and a couple of 45mm ATGs, which weren't worth much anyway against Hun armour. He still has about 85% of his infantry in good shape. We'll just have to see what he can pull out of his hat...