Bulge 16.01s alt

[Crossroads]

Following this with great interest. Thanks again for this great DAR

[Plain Ian]

Following this with great interest. Thanks again for this great DAR

Thanks. I'll keep it going. Its slowed down a bit but thats because I find it difficult sometimes to sit and watch the replay over and over. 

I'm still trying to find the perfect style for displaying turns. I'm a big map fan and love looking at military maps. Thats what I'm trying to depict. When I go on holiday the first thing I buy is a map. Give me an Ordinance Survey map and the Highlands and I'm in heaven.

Thanks actually should go to Indragnir (Cesar) who has been prety patient with me. He does his turn in a day or two then has to sit and wait over a week sometimes for my turn to come back. I don't think a lot of players would do that. 

At times there doesn't seem to be a lot of action happening, so the AAR must look a bit boring. I think this is due to Cesars clinical playing style and my careful pedantic style. He took over the game at a difficult and has had to adopt to another players strategy. But its safe to say that he has now stamped his own strategy on the game. I'm conscious of the fact that its Turn 80 of 162 so I have 82 turns left to get the game to a Marginal US victory..........or keep it at a Draw. 

I'm just about to start the US turn. It will be mostly artillery and I'll try to get it back to Indragnir tonight.

[BigDuke66]

Yes thanks for the AAR, especially the maps as they tell a lot. Most players even if doing an AAR don't work on screenshots.

Regarding replay, ever thought of recording the replay?
Maybe FRAPS or some other recording software could record the replay, after that you can jump to the spot you wanted to watch again and don't have to watch the complete replay.

[Plain Ian]

Yes thanks for the AAR, especially the maps as they tell a lot. Most players even if doing an AAR don't work on screenshots.

Regarding replay, ever thought of recording the replay?
Maybe FRAPS or some other recording software could record the replay, after that you can jump to the spot you wanted to watch again and don't have to watch the complete replay.

Actually yes I do use a secondary software to record the PzC replay. I use screenpresso which records the replay and can be saved in various formats. Its easy to pause and step through the turn but it still can be tedious. However when watching it you are just looking to see what happened and note losses from particular events eg assaults or artillery. I can easily find out total losses by opening the previous turn and comparing units from one turn to another. 

I'd recommend screenpresso to people who want to record the replay. Its fairly easy to use and yes it does allow you to check things which will be missed in the PzC replay. I probably wouldn't use it if playing a normal pbem game but then again if playing a very good player like Indragnir you can learn a lot from his moves.

I'll post my turn results.....

[Plain Ian]

Turn 70 Allied Results - Night 10pm



A reasonable turn for me again. I lost 4 vehicles (1xM4, 2xM5, 1xarmoured car) and 56 men. Most of his losses in men were due to artillery, and the two guns were counterbattery. The 3 vehicles weer SS Recon armoured cars.



Turns losses shown above. Apart from my losses in tanks it was a good turn I suppose.



Totals above. Somehow I've just about levelled the number of Victory Points this turn despite losing the 15 tanks.

[Plain Ian]

80 Allied – Night 10pm – North



Sorry its a 'high level map' but there wasn't a great deal of movement and it was mostly artillery and a few selective units firing.


The 277th VGD was targeted by my artillery in the Hoes Venn. Only 19 men and one 75mm hit. I did also try heavy artillery against his Tiger Mortars but gave up after 2 misses and 2 Fatigue hits.

The 12th VGD received heavier fire but the best I could manage was 27 men against one of his Bn’s. He has three Bn’s digging in here. I couldn't really stop them. His 3 units are probably in the range of 400+ each and are all B morale. No point in trying to assault with two US Bn's (1,095 men) when one of the units is a C morale due to fatigue. 

The 745th Tank had some success against his SS Recon unit knocking out 3 armoured cars but lost an M4 to return fire. The 1-517th and 291st Engineers attacked the 12th SS infantry accompanying the SS Recon unit taking out 21 men. Artillery added in another 6 losses to him. 

North of Stoumont the two British Tank units (107th RAC/9th RTR) moved away from his Panthers. I He might follow as he probably has moved in 75mm units in the road hex to hold this hex. (his S.O.P.) I've put the 23rd Armd Inf Bn on patrol to check this. (in hex behind Chession)  
The 4th US Cav was moved as well to make room for the British. Artillery and the 24th Cav hit the 62nd VGD Bn but the 24th lost an armoured car to return fire.

Behind the lines I brought up the 73rd AT (24 x 17 pounders) and 30th Field Co. The 30th Field Co ran into some Yanks in a jeep who directed them the wrong way........the Brits couldn't really ask them who won the World Series could they? Well at leat the A/T units got through.
 
The Belgian Fusileers have finally recovered (I think I’ve been calling them French in previous posts?) and have started moving up. I’m short of infantry in this area and they are a reasonable C morale unit with 301 men. (75%)

At Chession I moved the 740th Tnk Bn into the town for protection and also pulled the 31st back.

And that was about all I did up here. I’ll rest and wait for morning. There is a good chance it will be snow tomorrow and the ground will freeze. That will increase my options up here a bit. 

[Plain Ian]

80 Allied – Night 10pm – Manhay - Nadrin



Not much action here. basically I have two full US Diviisons stalled between Manhay and Nadrin, the 75th and 84th. Admittedly they are up against the 9th SS and the 2nd Panzer supported by a few Bn's from the 560th VGD. The 9th however is actually a C Morale unit although I think its infantry units start about 600+?

At Odeigne he has a Jagdpanzer Bn and a Panther Bn. The Jagdpanzers are broken down into 4 Kompanies and digging in. I used heavy artillery against all 4 but the best i could achieve was fatigue hits on two. 

I've moved up two Bn's of elite Paratroopers, the 1-325th (B) and the 1-505th (A) to bring pressure on one of his 9th SS units. They are going the wrong way but I need some half decent units to help the 75th/84th.

At Nadrin I've let sleeping dog lie for the moment.  

[Plain Ian]

Turn 80 Allied – Night 10pm – Bertogne - Magerotte



At Bertogne I hit back at the 26th VGD and ignored the 15th PGD. 

North of Flamierge I inflicted another 40+ loss on the FBB infantry unit. 

At Magerotte I show what happens if you do a turn a whilst drinking a few beers. I opened up the turn the next day to continue and....mmmh. I can't remember making these moves? Well ok maybe they were the best I could manage after a few San Miguels. Ok so I was trying to retreat my units away from the 2nd SS.

So I had shuffled the 244th Engineers forward to allow the 327th HQ to move forward and this allowed me to move the 2-327th to move forward to join the 1-501st. (the shuffling was to allow me to keep the TRENCHES intact) The 2-327th disrupted. The 1-501st engaged in a firefight with the 2nd SS and lost badly. (I inflicted 13 losses and took 20) I then used artillery to even things up.
In order to allow the 3-104th to fall back I moved up 735th Tank Bn and it also disrupted.
The 3-501st fell back and did not disrupt.

So whats the problem with the moves I had made under the influence? Well the problem is that he will probably assault the 3-104th/735th Tank Bn and when they retreat the AI won't pick the empty hex behind but probably one of the hexes either side........and the unit won't be able to retreat. 

I keep making the same mistake. The best defense is either no units or one unit which can retreat. Stacking a lot of weak units doesn't work if you don't control retreat paths. 

Anyway lets see what Indargnir does here.

[Ricky B]

If there is ONLY 1 valid retreat path due to enemy zocs and stacking limits, then the game will never cause a failure to retreat and extra losses due to the overstack. It will always start with trying to retreat to a random selection of valid retreat hexes and if there are none, then you suffer the penalties. If you ever have an example similar to the above where you are assaulted and it doesn't retreat to only valid hex, please share the details/save game if you would, as that would be a bug that I have never seen happen.

Thanks, and keep up the AAR!
Rick

[Plain Ian]

If there is ONLY 1 valid retreat path due to enemy zocs and stacking limits, then the game will never cause a failure to retreat and extra losses due to the overstack. It will always start with trying to retreat to a random selection of valid retreat hexes and if there are none, then you suffer the penalties. If you ever have an example similar to the above where you are assaulted and it doesn't retreat to only valid hex, please share the details/save game if you would, as that would be a bug that I have never seen happen.

Thanks, and keep up the AAR!
Rick

Yes you are right. I'm probably confusing myself with situations where the AI HAS retreated my units but not to the best retreat place. If given a choice it seems to pick the worst one? 

In which case maybe I've done the correct thing by not giving it a choice. 

I think Indragnir wants all the wood hexes in this area (hex with 735th/3-104th and hex with 1-501st/2-327th) and Magerotte as well. That gives him a good position and means I have to approach and attack from clear terrain. 

By taking the hex with 735th/3-104th it will become difficult to hold the wood hex with the 1-501st/2-327th. So its a domino effect.