Jobu88 vs RNLTiger ( Tiger - no peeking!)

[Jobu88]

A picture is worth a thousand words, but video is better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbODBjb5ebQ


If you watch closely, you'll see that my rear Panzer lines up his shot and fires a split second before being hit, while the front panzer's turret just moves to begin aiming as the fatal 85mm shot arrives.

Video is a bit grainy, I'll have to look into how to make it appear cleaner using FRAPs.

[Jobu88]

I think my mistake was selecting the end destination for my boys about 10-12 meters farther forward than they needed to be. I could probably have stopped before the edge of the pine forest and still seen through the corner. Not sure it would have mattered, Tiger's T-34s were already there and might have shot first anyway, but it didn't help.

[Jobu88]

Here's my AT team doing its thing & taking out the SU-76. He never saw it coming....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNtRpPrF0gA


Still a bit grainy and choppy :angry:, I'll have to keep working on my video production skills.

[Jobu88]

Turn 18 of 25+ and the game still hangs in the balance, only because Tiger is apparently a bit hesitant to send all his armor over to one side.

Here's the situation at the start of the turn: Tiger has one T-34 with almost LOS to my StuH42, the T-34's buddy is still in his overwatch position from two turns ago. And his infantry are still hunkered down in their holes, they haven't hardly put in an appearance since getting to the woods. Based on all the tanks Tiger has, I am guessing that he is light on infantry over on my side of the map.




As expected, Tiger moves up the overwatch T-34 to re-join his mate, but he also sends a loner screaming down the road towards my lines. This guy must have lost a bet or something, he's pretty exposed and deep in Indian territory.




Despite the obvious peril of driving through woods that haven't been cleared yet, this guy actually STOPS to admire the scenery! He is exactly 30 meters from two of my squads, including one with a Panzerfaust-30, and he stopped at the :40 mark, but all my boys could bring themselves to do was hurl one single hand grenade, which exploded harmlessly next to his track.




So, here's the skinny at the start of turn 19: Two T-34s grouped together in the woods, the one loner surrounded like Custer at Little Big Horn, and three more T-34s still milling about smartly over on the other side of the map.




I will try to chip the paint on the two in the woods with my StuH42, who has almost-but-not-quite LOS to them. So area fire will be employed. One platoon of infantry is also in position to slide over and try to sneak up on the two T-34s, and they all have either a Panzerfaust or a grenade bundle. My tank hunter team is closer, but has only two ordinary hand grenades remaining.

[Jobu88]

Turn 19 is a bit more satisfactory than the last couple turns...

First, Georgi Custer met his end at Klein Grosse Geweih, escaping from the immediate threat but succumbing to a Panzerfaust a moment later. He rolled a good 40 meters after getting killed

[Jobu88]

Elsewhere on Turn 19, I made use of my newfound knowledge that tanks crews count extra if you wipe them out, and the SU-76 crew was exterminated. It pays to read the Blitz board !






On Turn 20 I will continue trying to sneak around behind Tiger's 2 T-34s and Panzerfaust them in the shorts. I spotted some infantry covering them, but seems to be positioned to stop my tank hunter coming from the other direction, so hopefully my SS boys can sneak in close for a shot before being spotted.




Finally, in preparation for an infantry assault to drive Tiger's boys away from the flag, I am getting two platoons, one infantry and one engineer, into line prior to assaulting. Two flamethrowers will prep the battlespace, having just enough range to put their flames where I want them. By the time they're out of fuel, my boys will be ready to assault into the trees. I used 2-D graphics for clarity.

[Jobu88]

Oof. Some good, some bad on Turn 20.

First, my flamethrowers unloaded most of their fuel into the woods & I heard some foul language in Russian coming from that area, so I think / hope my fire was effective.




But, Tiger very deviously mortared the very same woods where my boys were massing, an 81mm mortar judging by the shellburts and the fact that damn near every German in the woods is hugging the earth. I had some squads firing at the mortar in an attempt to pin him, but he was unaffacted and he blasted me good for 60 seconds. Fortunately, both of the HQs commanding the assault have positive morale modifiers.







Finally, my brave tank hunter got smoked by overwhelming Russian fire. Might have been better to retreat him to safety as he was out of AT weapons, but he was drawing combat pay & his job was to keep fighting. At least he kept the Russians' attention while my platoon crept through the woods.

[Jobu88]

After further study, observe the good news from Turn 20!

My StuH42's second shot lands square in between Tiger's two T-34's. Each of them had fired their main gun earlier in the turn while killing my tank hunter, so I know their guns were functional at the start of Turn 20. But this 105mm shell and a later one must have damaged both T-34s' guns !! They never fired again, despite one of them having red-line target on one of my squads.





Observe that at the 0:35 mark, the T-34 draws a bead on my advancing squad.




But he loses target lock at 0:47 despite still having LOS, and never fires. The second 105mm shell can be seen exploding next to the stationary T-34 in the frame at 0:47.

[Jobu88]

Turn 21.

1. luck
Pronunciation: \ˈlək\

Etymology:
Middle English lucke, from Middle Dutch luc; akin to Middle High German gelücke luck
Date:
15th century
1 a: a force that brings good fortune or adversity b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual
2: favoring chance;

Friends, observe the power of luck. In the space of two consecutive turns I went from near despair at my chances for pulling out even a draw, to being in good shape for at least a minor win. Turn 21, as I told Tiger in my e-mail, may be the single luckiest turn I have experienced in all of 2007.

First, my SS squad advances and drills a Panzerfaust through the grill of the first T-34, knocking him out ( although the crew didn't bail until halfway into Turn 22). The T-34 has target lock by 0:18, but never fires. Never fired his bow MG either....odd.

[Jobu88]

Then, and most amazingly, the other T-34 slams the gears into reverse and starts backing away from danger. He can be seen passing in front of the T-34 that is about to absorb the Panzerfaust:



But Holy Divine Intervention, Batman! He backs into what must be the most unlikley keyhole ever-- through trees on both ends, smoke, dust from the destroyed house---and right into the sights of my StuH42. Note that at the 0:34 mark, the T-34 targets my StuH. But he never fired, supporting my theory that the 105mm shells had damaged the gun on BOTH T-34's on the previous turn.




And now, to conclude the Luckiest Turn of Year 2007: observe my StuH's ammo load.....a single, lonely round of hollow charge!!! Nothing else but HE and smoke.





But the gunner calmly aligns his sights, just like he learned in the Panzer School at Paderborn, and he throws a fastball right down the middle of the plate!! One shot, one kill, with no room to spare!!



And so, from a balance of 2 Pz IVs and one Stuh42 dead for two T-34s and an Su-76 dead, I now have knocked out four T-34s and an SU-76! And my ability to control my flag with infantry just went up dramatically, as Tiger's tanks won't be able to molest my infantry for at least a couple more turns, hopefully until it's too late.