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[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 Allied



Elsenborn I used artillery against the 12th SS infantry units and the Pioneer unit in the north. The 38th Cav pulled back leaving the 1-394th to guard the road. 

The 39th HQ was left to its fate.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 Allied Spa

Well I can't get my text under the picture so I'll just stick it here.

2-36th pulled back. The PAK group hit with artillery before it fell back but little damage.

I used a lot of artillery on his infantry but held back from firing apart from the 32nd Tank Bn and the 1-120th. The 1-120th was very lucky as there was NO return fire from his King Tigers in Spa.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 Grandmenil - La Roche

335th held back. 333rd on move with British Household Cavalry in lead. Divisional artillery  following on. 

Engineers to Erezee to repair bridge. Blown prematurely. Not a great road but if mud clears up then maybe quicker than using the Clear hex crossing at Dochamps.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 Werbomont

740th Tnk unit advances and tackles the Sturm Panzer knocking out 2 and killing 3 of the 116th infantry. 31st Tank Bn (7th AD) gets disrupted moving to support (night movement) and is left adjacent in T mode.

2 other units get disrupted due to Commando movemnt. (D/31 TNK/23Arm Inf)

3rd RTR move forward and easily beat the Assault Gun unit. 

The US TD units move up and don't disrupt due to night moves. 

My artillery targets his spotted unit and counter battery takes out 5 Nebelwerfers....I think.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 Bertogne

82nd falls back but the 101st holds its positions. 1-502nd and 3-506th do pretty well against his infantry but it looks like these are company sized units. His tanks/assault guns do not fire?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 South

In the south I just used artillery against his advancing units then pulled back the 25th Cav. The spotted unit was also targeted. I have plenty artillery here and some of it is stockpiled. (22 men of 5th FJD taken out with 2 barrages from 105mm M7's) I even rested two batteries.

And I think this is what made Michael give up. The incessant losses to his mortars from counter battery fire plus the steady drain of men and tanks. I sympathise with him because there were times at the start of the game when I felt like giving up. 

[Plain Ian]

Well the good news is that Indragnir has stepped up and will replace Michael as German player. In fact he has already posted his first turn to me.....I still have to open it. 

The bad news is that I will be havering on a bit longer. Not sure how much longer as Indragnir says it will be a tough struggle. If it gets too tough then I'm happy for the game to end....

Will look at file tomorrow night but won't be able to do much as I'm going to a Billy Joel concert............its a tribute singer not the real thing......I'm not that rich and I don't think Billy Joel does many concerts now? Check out Elio Pace, he's really good. 

I'm starting a new game with Michael in the desert so may post bits of this as well if I find time.

[Crossroads]

Great AAR guys

I have been reading Beevor's Ardennes book this and previous week, and re-read this whole AAR while at it. Your pictures are better, and the story at least as exciting.

Looking forward to see this campaign to its bitter end.

[Plain Ian]

Great AAR guys

I have been reading Beevor's Ardennes book this and previous week, and re-read this whole AAR while at it. Your pictures are better, and the story at least as exciting.

Looking forward to see this campaign to its bitter end.

Not sure if it is that exciting at the moment. I should have started on Turn 1. That was when the ground action happened. Now its mostly artillery duels and some 'sniping'. I've spent more time manoeuvring in the last few days than real fighting. It feels like I'm playing Railroad Tycoon or something sometimes. Scheduling units around the map.

Will have to see if the game will reach the end. Indragnir seems reasonably optimistic but it is early days. 

I'm just about to post his results.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 53 German 

I'll do the body count first.



Mmmh well a pretty good start. I'm back to the casualty levels of a few turns ago. Fresh mind fresh results. 90% of my losses are down to artillery and there were several cringe worthy moments whilst watching the replay where the artillery went on and on and on..........Its been a while since I watched the same unit going from healthy green to sickly orange and 100's of men taken out. You'll see this when I post the pictures. 

Victory Point Table



Indragnir has increased the VP by 79 points to 12,306 keeping it above the 10,000 Draw level. If I can get the same results as my last turn I will be happy. 305 men 9 tanks 9 guns. I was going to take it easy the first turn to allow Indragnir to find his feet. We will see.