Main Event V: Owl vs. Der Kuenstler

[Joonny]

Dk and Owl are advancing at a pace. I'm a few turns behind with the DAR, i will endeavour to try and get at least one turn per day done but I am busy up until next friday so i may slip behind. But i still want this DAR to be as detailed as possible so I won't skip the detail to catch back up.

Turn 7:

In the east DK still has the upper hand, Owl is taking casualties here but hasn't broken yet. DK's flamethrowers are trailing behind, if he had kept them close to the rest of his in he could have finished this little engagement by now. Dk also shows no signs of spreading his Inf about, this means his left hand Plt is being overly suppressed by the pinned down opposing plt.


Casualty figures for DK Healthy/Casualties


KG-B continues to split up



Owl is moving KG-D round the edge of the woods, he looks like he's got a good chance of flanking DK here, he is also moving the StuGs in support



DK does have a hold of the logging camp though with 1 squad and the Bn HQ. He is pushing the rest of TF-A through the woods and is also moving his recon force out.



This is the turn where the priest got took out, looking at it again i may have been a bit harsh on DK, when he issued the orders to the priest the PzIVs did not have a sight on its destination, moving it buttoned up was a mistake IMO though. DK does manage to level the playing field later on though, stay tuned.

[Joonny]

Turn 8

And DK gets revenge for his Priest!

First Owls PzIV's commander gets sniped





Then DK moves one of his Sherman(76)s up, he shoots, and scores! Another crew member down. And bailing out



But the sherman isn't done and fires another one to take out 1 more crew member



Here is the situation in the east

Numbers represent healthy men/casualties



Numbers here represent healthy men/casualties/casualties this turn



From the above we get

German Casualties:11

American Casualties:13

Germans Left:22

Americans Left:77

So we can see while owl has inflicted slightly more casualties he is massively outnumbered! I'm suprised none of the squads have broken yet, fanatics possibly?

We can also see DK is moving an entire company in tight formation up towards this area. He must be pretty confident that Owl has no artillery! Still this could be painful for him if any HE starts flying in

Her we see KG-B is continuing its split, the panzergrenadiers are going to back up the other PzGr getting ready to assault the quad of heavy buildings (there is no Allied forces there yet) And it looks like the Jager squads are heading off to form a blocking force on the western flank.



Here we see both sides front lines



Seems pretty even for the moment though owls left flank is looking precarious

[Joonny]

K i'm a little busy for the next week or so but turn 9 was pretty uneventful so i'll post a quick update

Owl has opened up with the big guns, are firing one of his 105mms right into the middle of TF-D, DK gets lucky tho most of the shells miss and don't cause any casualties, the panicking units you see were already panicking at the start of the turn, the HE fire just kept them that way.

Looks like DK is moving some of his armor up to his right to deal with KG-A, I don't think they will get their before KG-A collapses tho.



The view from Owls side, we see he has one unit pinned and one panicking, no more major casualties taken here however. Owl is making a run for the quad block of heavy buildings, it will be extremely difficult for DK to dislodge any Inf in here with his 76mm guns and this complex offers good LOS over the open ground between DK and the flags.



In the west DK keeps pushing up through the woods, blissfully unaware KG-D is quietly slipping around the back of him. Looks like he is moving a pair of FTs to beef up the garrison at the logging camp.

[Joonny]

PS I am using a home made mod (i didn't make it, credit for that goes to will- Roadiemullet) that abbreviates all the warning labels.

Here is a glossery

Sh:Shaken
P: Pinned
*: Panic
**: Broken
***: Routed
Ammo: Low Ammo
B Out: Bailing Out
Ab: Abandoned
KO: Knocked Out


There are a few others but this should be all you need for now.

[Ratzki]

Could you post the mod or a link to it, so others could use it if they want, I think it is a great idea.
Thanks for the good job here.

[Joonny]

If anyone wants it just email me :)

[email protected]

[Ratzki]

:)Thanks

[Joonny]

Turn 10

On DKs Right he is continuing to push more inf towards the railroad tracks. Owl has continued his area fire from one of the StuH and it's started to cause problems, we see a few panicking and broken squads.

We also see DK targetting the building the StuH is hiding behind.



DK is taking his time here, and this has allowed Owls infantry to rally slightly, he is also moving up his JgPzs up in support, if DK doesn't make a move here soon these will make any movement much harder.

Owl has got a platoon of inf into the quad heavy building block, will be hard to get them out of here with the measely 75mm guns.



The Jager platoon i thought Owl was moving up to provide a blocking force on his right rear flank actually appears to be heading for the town square. Owl has spotted DKs recon plt moving up though so this might change his plans as he already has 2xplts at the town square.



DK has uncovered KG-D moving through the woods. DK rushes up a halftrack, presumably to link up with the forces on the other side of the woods but it rides straight past KG-D. They open up with panzerfausts



But they miss!



They fire again, manage to hit the track but the halftrack just keeps speeding on.



The halftrack escapes!, KG-D's position is exposed though! DK only got sound contacts but he now knows he has infantry right up his rear.

DK has been area targeting a light building with his M10 but it is down to 4 HE shells and is still standing, DK must be lamenting the loss of his priest right now.

[Joonny]

Some comments from DK

OK from what I can tell Owl has a platoon of Panzer IVs and a platoon of Stugs. He must have maybe a platoon of Grilles from the sound of the guns. Unfortunately he took out my HE resource - a big blow - I was planning to take down those Eastern buildings with my Priest. The worst timing ever for me - he moved his tanks the same time as I did - nothing I could do there. But I did get one of his panzers for revenge - so he's not invincible - he can bleed.

I've run into his strongest point with mine in the East, which I didn't want to happen. But he can't be strong everywhere. My main force may have to play the role of keepng him occupied there while I probe his northern flags - his fixed carriage vehicles will have to point somewhere - perhaps I can get in an arse shot if he's getting surrounded.

[Joonny]

Turn 11

DK gets revenge!

The building that Owls StuH is hiding behind gets blown up and the crew instinctively reverse



Unfortunatly they reverse straight into the LOS of one of DKs Shermans.



Buttoned and with an inexperienced crew they never even see their enemy.



A second shot flies in to finish the job



Here we see the frustrations of fixed carriage AFVs. Owls StuG spots DKs halftrack and locks on.



The Stug Rotates round but just a fraction too slow, it lines up a shot, but just as its about to fire it loses LOS and carries on hunting.



One strange thing I have noticed about Owl is he's hiding his AFVs, i didn't think this gave any advantage?



In the center looks like Owl is moving his Jager plt to block his right hand flank. He is also trying to regroup his out of command StuG with the rest of the plt. This could be tricky as there is the woods and a lot of enemy Inf between him and the rest of his plt.



Here is DK's right, he is still moving up towards the railroad tracks, progress is slow tho.



Owl has repositioned KG-D into defencive position, the StuGs moving up in support.