THE MAIN EVENT! Walkure vs. Herroberst

[Jobu88]

Almost incredibly, on second 53 of minute 8, Walkure's lead regular JPz IV gets hit by a chunk of flying debris and becomes gun damaged. The unlucky JPz IV was parked about 35m from the blast zone, and the gun of the vehicle was seemingly protected by the corner of the heavy building - but no - it wasn't.

:mad: Item # 37 on my list of Things that Really Piss Me Off: large caliber guns wreaking damage through concussion or flying rocks or just through black magic, i.e my tank was behind a building and still took damage. I have had it happen to me more times than I can remember. Especially when facing Russian 152mm guns.

[Ratzki]

I had a T34/85 bounce a shot off a Tiger and take out another T-34/76 that was 30m+ away and trying to move into a chance shot at the rear of the Tiger.:(

[Jobu88]

Walkure himself pulled off a beauty against me in a huge Normandy fight we were playing about 2 years ago. 12th SS vs Canadians, can't remember the name of the operation. I had three M-10's in a nice position behind a small rise. Perfect for peeking up, taking a shot, backing down. Nice long open field of fire. He lobbed in a shell that landed near one of them, killed it and set off a chain reaction that got all three M-10s. I only had about 15 meters between them which was stupid of me.

[fluidwill]

Re: the armoured duel, isn't it likely the JgPz will crap out and reverse after being hit twice? He's green after all, whats his morale state at turn end? I see its ok at the 33rd second?

[zeke]

Here's a nice veteran tactic - "keep on shooting and something good might happen." Herroberst continues to have his SU-122 area fire on a pile of rubble where a few busted up German infantry are trying to crawl away. Almost incredibly, on second 53 of minute 8, Walkure's lead regular JPz IV gets hit by a chunk of flying debris and becomes gun damaged. The unlucky JPz IV was parked about 35m from the blast zone, and the gun of the vehicle was seemingly protected by the corner of the heavy building - but no - it wasn't. This results in a most colorful and entertaining outburst from the shocked German commander:

"FRUCKing SHIITE !!!! my tank guns get damaged from a HE hit about 40 yds away............" - Walkure

I know it hurts to be on the receiving end of these kind of events, but you gotta love this game!

Heck, I'd pay good money for this kind of entertainment!

A great AAR so far. Can't wait for the ending.

[Der Kuenstler]

Picking up our street duel where we left off - Walkure's green Jpz IV didn't cower, perhaps because of his hulldown position. Maybe with another shot he would have, but Herroberst's T34 never got the chance to fire again. Walkure's next shell KOs him, and the following penetration causes a tremendous explosion - no Russian crewmembers will be crawling away from this!



Elsewhere Herroberst's tanks have finished demolishing the downtown area - smoke rises where heavy buildings once stood, and the few cowering German squads left in the rubble are going to be facing the hordes of Russian SMG troops shown which are almost in attack position.



Time for plan "B." Frustrated with one of his 57mm ATG's lack of opportunity to shoot, Herroberst reloads it on transport to tow it elsewhere, but the time he's lost cannot be replaced.

[Der Kuenstler]

From the Axis Commander:

"At present i'm trying to isolate the city blocks.... trying to setup tank and MG fire down the streets to limit any lateral shift of his troops"

(Walkure is trying to maneuver some of his best assets - those feared MG42s, into the fight.)

From the Allied commander: (before the T-34 is tragically blown sky high)

"Still moving to reinforce my center and I see I didn't get a flank shot at that PzIV/70 in the road so may lose a third T-34... but maybe not :)"

Herroberst has now lost three AFVs. Walkure has lost one to gun damage. Herroberst still outnumbers him in AFVs 5-4.

[Der Kuenstler]

Here is minute twelve from Walkure's point of view. The fighting has accelerated in the center of town with lead flying in all directions through the billowing smoke. Walkure attempts to squeeze his Flammpanzer between a wall and a building in order to toast some enemy infantry. He smartly sets his area firing line before he arrives - but wait - for some reason he is not respecting the fact that there in an SU-122 pointing at him - buttoned and blinded, his flammpanzer shoots 2 or 3 squirts of hot flame at a cowering Russian squad in the woods. He must have intended for the JPz IV to cover him but it never arrived in position. Boom, boom - the second blast from the SU-122 damages his gun. Now the Flammpanzer is wrecked!

Walkure says: "-d-mn i screwed up the orders for my torch tank.........he was suppose to move further forward to make room for my P70. That d-mn Su 122 has to die! First stupid move of the game goes to the Germans.............that should look good on the board. too bad i can't put any explicative......LOL"



To the south, Walkure's only veteran JPz IV - the platoon leader - swings around the southern flank to take on the area firing T34/85s. (He passes behind the green JPz IV that has just scored a kill the previous turn.) The vet Jag must get the pressure off of his center. "Let me show you how this is done!" the commander shouts to the greens and regulars. He sights a T34 as the minute ends.



Pushed too hard: Walkure has pushed his footmen beyond their limits to get to the center of town. Did he forget to take into account the extra effort required to jump all of those walls? At any rate, almost all of Walkure's approaching men are now very tired, stumbling forward, gasping for air and still exposed. As the minute ends, Russian small arms open up from the woods, as indicated by the red arrow - what the - how did they get in there first? But they did - one German squad is already pinned - it won't take much more to exhaust and panic the rest!



Tired men can't fight or move nearly as effectively...

[Der Kuenstler]

Bad time to conserve AP ammo: Here Herroberst's SU-122 has one HC shell left to finish off the gun damaged Flammpanzer, but instead he fires another useless HE shell.



This gives Walkure's JPz IV enough time to get LOS and - bam - one dead SU-122.



The Flammpanzer is no longer able to use its main gun but its coaxial mg is still working as this Russian squad finds out...



To the North, Herroberst is able to back all of his AFVs out of LOS of Walkure's vet hunting JPz IV - he has no desire to go toe to toe with those things anymore....perhaps some flank shot opportunities will come...



From the Grassy Knoll: Herroberst's men in the woods don't look as scary from his side - these are just the busted up pioneer remnants from walkure's artillery strike - they aren't even in command, and, as you can see, Walkure's tired men are ducking behind the walls out there and turning into generic icons. But they are still stuck out there.



Herroberst puts the FLANK in "flank": Look how far this lone company HQ led uberplatoon is away from the action - will they ever get into the fight?



So far I'm surprised that neither general has tried to get his halftracks' mounted MGs into the fight - that's a lot of anti-infantry firepower just sitting idle back there. Perhaps we'll see them later....

[Der Kuenstler]

Our two proud generals have been notified that this thread has over 1500 views and could end up being the most viewed DAR of all time here. Messages coming in seem more tense. Walkure, for example, says:

"i remember when i defended my dissertation , it gave me a knot in my stomach. i starting to get that same angst about the critic.....LOL i am 46, have three degrees and eight kids, have being divorced twice and married now for the third time and i'm getting butterflies at my critic? Well i guess that means the games still excites me, BTW i have being lucky so far that my tanks got into place first..." - Walkure

These two fighters at the top of our ladder are realizing that their every move is being watched by the CM community - not only here but from other sites. Neither wants to look bad - not here - not in this game. But, as in real life battles, unforseen events happen that can change the very result of the battle.

For example, here we see Herroberst's T34/85 area firing a building. His surviving SU-122 sits idle without a target.



Suddenly the smoke around the flag clears. Within a few moments Walkure's deadly JPz IV on the other side targets the T34 and begins to pivot for a shot. The T34 begins backing up. The SU-122 now has targets and begins firing at the soft infantry in the woods beyond the rubble.



Strange: Herroberst's Pioneer squad in the woods has thrown a demo charge into the building indicated by the white arrow and blown it up. All the resultant smoke will block his men's view to Walkure's tired men in the open ducking behind the walls, effectively allowing them to escape the trap.

This is turn 14 and the match is almost half over. Nothing has been decided. But Walkure has expended all of his artillery and everything he has has been seen by Herroberst. Herroberst still has 2 120m spotters and two hidden 57mm ATGs he hasn't used yet. Quite an interesting fight.

Herroberst reveals his plans for his wide flanking platoon:

"My left flank platoon will continue to circle into his rear flag objective. If he hasn't garrisoned it with much it will be mine late game I think."