Bulge 16.01s alt

[Plain Ian]

That's a very nice result against the armoured cars. Your own armoured cars have a HA of 6 and his have a defense value of 5.

Yes it must have been right at the top end of that Bell Curve of results. Either that or I've made a mistake writing down the result? I think the 5 is correct as it was one of those "whoa" results that jump out at you when playing PzC!

The recce/2HCR unit which "sidestepped" to make way did in fact end up Low Fuel. However, that was the only unit in this area which did. 

I think I had 4-5 Low Fuels and 1 Low Ammo in total on the map but that was just a quick check. As usual the Low Ammo was in a front line unit, and one of the Low Fuels was a Corps Engineer unit within spitting distance of the Corps HQ. But you explained how the test is done so it was just unlucky I guess.

Will maybe do a quick map showing Low Fuel/Ammo and Global Supply, although the 2 things are not really related.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 54 German Losses and Points




Not as bad as last turn. Again my losses were due mainly to artillery, particularly in the south where one unit lost 95 men. Indragnir has admitted that he has no shortage of artillery in the south and will use it at every oportunity. I've only lost 3 tanks but I think I got off lightly there.
His losses were 52 men which is about the same as his last phase.



He gained 64 points this turn.

[Plain Ian]

Turn 52 German north 



Since there was no action at all at Elsenborn, I've combined the map of the north with Global supply values to show supply level of US forces. Its all pretty healthy. 

3 units are highlighted in red. 2 of these are artillery unavailable, and only one unit failed its supply test and went Low Fuel. This was the 1-39th, whose Regimental HQ was destroyed last turn. 

However good news is that the 39th HQ respawned this turn! I'm a bit amazed as previous destroyed HQ's took several turns to come back.

The other news I forgot to mention is that SNOW is back! Despite only a 20% chance of snow predicted last turn, we have SNOW! So my HQ's and artillery trapped in Marshes/Swamp are now free to move again.

Last Weather Report Turn 53


Visibility is 1 hex.

[ComradeP]

Wow, those supply levels are pretty spectacular, I'd even say they look somewhat overrated.

[Plain Ian]

Wow, those supply levels are pretty spectacular, I'd even say they look somewhat overrated.

Mmmh yes they are a bit embarrassing because the poor German player has 70 set for him in the PDT file. Mines is 95. 

The 4 units showing 87 near the top right are obviously drawing supply from the supply source at top of the road. (2 woods hexes at -4 each?) If he advanced to here then they would have to trace back to the next road behind them.

The worst units are still showing a pretty healthy 84. The one in red in the east is the 1-39th Bn which is showing 84 but the nearest road is 2 wood hexes and 4 clear hexes away if you trace from unit to road? Doesn't quite add up.

I guess the good thing about high values is that I have less chance of my artillery becoming Unavailable. 

Will post Turn 53 (Mud) with global values just as a comparison.

[Plain Ian]

Supply Values

Not very exciting and a bit nerdie but here is the same map area showing supply values over two turns with Mud then Snow. Yes I know it doesn't get much more exciting than this. Not much difference?

It does however show how difficult the terrain is in this area.

Turn 53 Mud


Turn 54 Snow

[Plain Ian]

Turn 54 German - south



Well the evil twins came back again. 212th and 352nd VGD. They have obviously recovered from their disruption. They successfully moved adjacent this time without disrupting AND without receiving any opportunity fire from my troops.........I guess my boys thought they were the undead or something and bullets wouldn't stop them anyway. 

Well after the Mortars and artillery finally ended I was left 95 engineers dead down and a disrupted unit which had gone from 0 fatigue to 79.

There were red faces at allied HQ. An engineer unit patrolling when it could have been digging?? 

Cesar also tried a bit of counter battery fire but thankfully caused no damage. 

So food for thought. How will I counter this tactic. Run away with infantry and dig in and hide behind tanks? 

One thing I can't do is compete in artillery. I have only 9 units available to fire this turn but only 3 can target the 212th/352nd as its virtually all 4th Armoured units holding the line at Boevange.

I see two spotted artillery units. The Luftwaffen blue one is within Nebel range? (5-7 hexes?) Is there a Luftwaffen nebel unit in Bulge?

[Plain Ian]

Turn 54 German - south of Bastogne



All was fairly quiet apart from the sound of frantic digging coming from the Germans south of Sibret. They managed to dig to IMPROVED in one turn??? I've told Cesar to give them all Iron Crosses 2nd Class with crossed Shovels. 

At first glance it looks like the FBB have been reinforced as hex A now has 3 units. In fact thats what I thought until I noticed that all 3 are Digging in? So he has gone for a breakdown to try to increase his chances of digging in? 

The 1-104th got a rude awakening. They lost about 16 men in total to artillery and disrupted with the second barrage! So much for D class units. Cissies.

The 735th Tank Bn stacked with them were also unlucky. The quarter master general obviously doesn't like them, and they have gone Low Ammo. Ah well break out the shovels for the tankers. The Divisional HQ has a range of 9 hexes and is just 8 hexes away stuck in traffic..... 

The 818th will have to load up HE and try to disrupt a few FBB company units. Probably best to hit one badly to stop him recombining.

South of Margerotte it was pretty quiet. Too quiet. 

[Plain Ian]

Turn 54 German - Bastogne



Last map tonight. 

Not much rest for the German as the sound of more digging echoes in the night. Now if only I could attack in the morning to add to their fatigue.

2-423rd prove that D class units shouldn't stand next to PzIV's even if there probably are only about 15 of them. (maybe they are Ammo Low) It loses 16 men and disrupts.

The 3-508th watches as the sky rains metal on them and thanks High Command for sending them into Clear terrain. The German High Command has mentioned in his email that he wants this road as well. The 26th VGD stubbornly refuse to fall back. Is it me or are the pictures of the soldiers on the 26VGD units looking meaner...........

Well he might just get it as I'm not trading A class men for B/C class men of the 26th. 

In the south his 2nd Panzer group also stands firm and switches target to the 1-502nd. My return fire is impressive. 2 men from about 4 shots. 3 No Effects. Hmmm definitely a good tactic putting hard units with infantry to deflect return fire. 

And thats it. Will do Spa tomorrow night. Grandmenil to Stoumont was quiet-ish. Well I lost 3 M4's and a few more enginers and armoured infantry but hey this is the Ardennes in 1944! Night.

[ComradeP]

You seem to be worried about infantry losses, and have been for a while, but is a loss of 95 men in a single turn really that bad? From what I can tell, it's between 1/5 and 1/6 of the strength of the unit, and if that's all he did in that sector, swapping units at some point should counter the tactic.

A single unit/stack being hit like that each turn shouldn't be nearly enough to force you to withdraw, considering what you have in the area.

It is common that players are concerned about losses that seem high, but at one point you have to think "I lost 95 men, so what?" as it doesn't endanger the integrity of your defences by the looks of it. When defending, some units have to take it on the chin for the greater good. He has no chance of winning a war of attrition on the long term provided you keep hitting back.