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Hausser's Last Charge
Who has played Tankertony's EF scenario Hausser's Last Charge? What did you think? How do you think it balances out?
First, I'm slowly coming round to liking larger scenarios. I've never been a big fan because they take so much time and concentration. However, lately I've been playing some gigantic monsters. I have grown to like them because they offer so many options to both sides and usually really test your tactical and operational skills. Another fact that I think I like is that they require maneuver and reconnaissance work that are less important in the smaller scenarios. I love the dance of the recon units. It is how I shape the battle.
Next, I (the Germans) just wrapped up this battle against Zap (the Russians). I salute him for an excellent fight. At the end it was crushing defeat for him, but what a battle it was to get to that point. It was one of those matches that it was almost painful to await the next turn with so much anticipation. Of course, Zap's a great opponent that turned things quickly so this long scenario sped by much faster than I expected. He was always probing for weakness and exploiting it where he could.
As to the battle, I moved out smartly implementing my plan. I rapidly raced forward in multiple columns with recon sweeping ahead to grab what it could. As the map is so vast, my recon is out there to determine just where the scrimmage line is going to occur. If my disposition isn't flexible, I could be in for some very trying times as your forces struggle against the Red Horde. My recon elements were also out there to ID any large enemy formations/defensive positions.
It was going pretty much like clock work. Well that was until Zap's swarm came after me with a vengeance. Our recon tussled and at first I was winning that hands down. But, the German recon couldn't stand up to the T34/85 which is IMHO probably the best recon vehicle in the game as it has great speed with superior firepower.
At that point, my recon had to lay low, turn off their OPFIRE and lurk. A few would race around, but many just went into observation mode. They were watching from key observation positions to gather as much info on concentration and disposition of enemy forces as possible without getting vaporized.
Some lived, some didn't. A few were surrounded in the heart of enemy formations racing to the front. It helped me get a pretty good handle on Zap's initial surge, but it was also hard on the reconnaissance corps.
As I moved up and was starting my concentration for offensive ops, a swarm of T34s struck my right flank assembly area. Panthers and King Tigers at close range quickly dispatched several waves, but all across the front I could see the enemy advancing.
Here I'm going to mention some of planning considerations that arise from the extremely large map with the forces allocated.
One of the operational dilemmas of Tony's scenario is that it is difficult to maintain mass for offensive operations. If you mass in a few large formations, you create gaps/seams across the entire front that you could drive an armored division through and as a result will be unable to maintain security in rear operating areas. Not something pleasant to consider as there is a large artillery, HQ park, and VP hexes that you need to protect. Of course, the more units you expend to screen the rear areas, the fewer you have to seize objectives.
At the other end of the spectrum, if you spread yourself to cover the entire front, you are weak everywhere. This is a real problem when faced by the overwhelming numbers of the enemy armor. By being spread too thin, you will lose the initiative as you won't have the forces or firepower at any point to establish dominance.
To deal with these issues, I had three major formations formed around my King Tiger, Tiger, and Panther battalions with infantry support. For screening operations in the seams, I had a large array of Mk-IVs and JagdPanzer III/IVs. These screening formations could also seize VP hexes and use long site lines to fight off any enemy probes. Over the course of the battle, this concept worked fairly well, but on several occasions came close to disaster in dealing with large and mobile enemy formations.
Here is where flexibility paid off. With multiple combat groups holding the seams, reconnaissance and continually assessing the threat many turns in advance is key to quickly moving nearby units to the sound of the guns. On several occasions, Zap's mini-offensives were driving back my forces to the point of collapse. However, in each instance nearby forces arrived just in the nick of time to stem the tide.
One of the most ferocious fights was in the vicinity of the central 300 VP hex. I initially seized it with my recon elements and was bringing in some Mk-IVs and 88's to solidify my grasp on the position. As I hit the base of the hill and started up, it became clear I had lost the race as T34s and enemy infantry swarmed the position.
Having lost the race for the high ground, I deployed a platoon of 88's with limited panzer support. Unfortunately, due to my allocation of all infantry to the three main assault columns I had no infantry forces in the combat groups covering the seams.
Seeing that I was in trouble, I started flowing second echelon reserves and nearby panzer, Jagdpanzer, and Anti-tank (88's) forces to reinforce the zone. At this point, I had no hope of offensive operations in this sector. My troops had to serve as blocking forces.
Initially, I was good if they came off the high ground and wheeled to the left. I had additional 88's, Mk-IVs and JagdPanzers that I thought could stop any advance cold.
However, I had to flow additional forces to establish blocking positions if they came off the high ground and wheeled to the right I had a relatively small force to stop that. As a result, I moved my Jagdpanzers and Mk-IVs into position to use OPFIRE to cover the route to Zap's right.
Later, this would get me in trouble as my long range shots to engage enemy elements wheeling to the right would expose me to flanking fire from his forces that followed the ridge line to drop down to nearby overwatch positions. While, I had a few elements to prevent that, they were unable to deal with the infantry moving up as well as the T34s firing away at my Jagdpanzers. After I broke up one attack, my open carriage Jagdpanzers were decimated by the T34 fire.
Pulling back, but maintaining good LOS and fields of fire, I was able to keep him pinned on the ridge. Nearby SP Arty could fire from great distances to slap the infantry units around. Mk-IV OPFIRE also made any venture to shoot down on me a risky proposition. Meanwhile, the right wheel blocking force is forced back with numerous casualties.
Nearby reinforcements slow the enemy advance, but I'm going to need even more because there are IS-2's, T34/85s, T34s, SU-85s(?) moving forward. Racing on a road parallel to the front, more Mk-IVs arrive just as the blocking force is forced back and the way to a nearby VP hex appears open.
Once again as the battle teeters, his advance is broken up by OPFIRE. Disrupts and losses appears to be hindering Zap's advance. Just south of this threatened VP hex more T34s appear. I'm down to a reduced Jagdpanzer platoon and a scout. This is definitely not looking good. T34s are very close, but the combination of mobile 88 and scouts destroy the initial surge.
Here is where the interlocking combat groups along the seams in the right terrain made an impact. As enemy forces push forward they are engaged by very long range fires from additional JagdPanzers working with KG Tiger (Main combat assault formation formed around Tiger battalion). Also, nearby Tigers maneuvering into assault positions on the 200 VP airfield divert to engage T34s advancing on the threatened VP hex.
All this was just barely enough to stop Zap's mini-offensive. He kept pushing until the point of exhaustion. With the reinforcements on hand and diversion of combat power from assault on the airfield, the 300 VP hex fell to a much larger strike force than I had originally intended to secure this position.
My casualties were tremendous. I lost many Jagdpanzer and Mk-IV platoons and only the timely arrival of nearby forces kept Zap from tearing a gaping hole in the middle of my front.
This was just a small fight in a much larger battle. This small fight kept sucking in reserves for most of the battle. Here is where the OODA loop came in handy: Observe what's happening, Orient on the problem, Decide what to do, and Act.
I haven't even mentioned my main offensive operations, my text book ambush that went wrong which opened a swirling fight as I scrambled to prevent red armor that got around my right flank from seizing a key position that had spotters, artillery, and headquarter units of KG King Tiger and Panther. This forced me to rapidly backtrack a sizable combat force to deal with the insurgent T34/85s. Then there was the KG Tiger and KG Panther 2 assaults.
Tony's scenario is a tough fight. I think he did an excellent job with this. I'll talk more later about my main offensives which could be solo scenario in themselves. Last Charge is so large that there seems to be multiple scenarios built into it.
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