berto
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Joined: 3/13/2002
From: metro Chicago, Illinois, USA
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We have reached a pivotal point in the battle, the point where Crossroads begins his assault in earnest. The choices I make here and now will decide whether we, Jordan, will win or lose The Crossroads (the scenario, the Battle of Jenin and beyond).
Crossroads (my opponent!  ) is an experienced PBEM player. As an aficionado of solo play vs. the A/I, I am not experienced at human-to-human PBEM play. If I am to erase the humiliation of my previous defeat at the hands of Crossroads, I need to step up my game. I need to think good and hard about my moves, my fires, my tactics, my strategy. Here is some of my current thinking ...
In general, and as mentioned before, I am looking to conserve my forces. If that means giving up territory, and even Objectives, so be it. As much as possible, I am trying to achieve: an eye for eye, a tooth for a tooth. If I can stay even, or better than even, in terms of SP and VP losses, I will draw and even win this fight.
Making close study of the terrain, and by carefully studying my unit capabilities, and his, I need to get in as many unanswered shots as possible. Offer him no easy targets. A "shoot-and-scoot", defense-in-depth, fighting withdrawal. Make no mistakes! As few as I can, at any rate.
Fortunately, the new-and-improved Campaign Series (Middle East) gives me some tools to hone and "perfect" my tactics and techniques. (And/or makes accessing those tools easier than ever.) Toggle ON (hot key '.') the Elevations display. Make frequent use of the Display hot keys. Reference the Unit Viewer. Pay special attention to the Units settings. And so on.
quote:
ORIGINAL: berto
Campaign Series: Middle East -- the thinking man's war game. 
In the screenshots following, I carefully (!) consider what to do with my Armoured (Infantry) 61 B unit at hex 43,31 (hot spot hex, turquoise square).
In the screenshot, I have toggled ON (hot key 'v') Visible Hexes (turquoise hex highlights). (Note: By means of the Options > Hex Highlights > Hex Shading option, you can select the traditional dotted mesh map shader "highlight" as you prefer. I much prefer the new colored hex highlights.  ) Potentially, that one selected Armoured 61 B platoon is visible from every one of the turquoise highlighted hexes displayed. Wow! That's a lot of exposure. Not good. I'd like to move that unit to a safer, less exposed hex, the bunker (BK) hex 42,31 (green circle) just to the SW, for instance. By studying the elevations, I can see that the Israeli tanks at the magenta-circled hexes, at most, can hit me at the bunker hex, without their moving. By studying the elevations, and from my experience playing earlier turns, I believe that the other uncircled tanks will not be able to fire at the Armoured 61 B at the bunker hex (unless they move to a better position first).
(Ideally, I'd like to show the Visible Hexes highlights at the bunker hex. But I can't, because I don't have any units there! This is a new "feature" of the enhanced Extreme FOW in CSME: You can only see visibility from friendly occupied hexes. Unlike before, where you could just click anywhere you please on the map and see visibility to/from any hex, friendly occupied or not. With the new rule, it is much more realistic. And much more challenging!)
Can the Armoured 61 B move to the bunker hex 42,31 (green circle)?
Toggling ON the Reac(H)able hexes (hot key 'h'), the turquoise hex highlights change as shown. (Note: You can select your preferred hex highlight color via Options > Highlight Colors.) Yes, I can move the Armoured 61 B to the Bunker hex 42,31, and even an additional hex (two hex movement total) farther away, if I so desire.
But I desire to shoot at that troop of Israeli Sherman tanks just to the northeast, at hex 44,30 (magenta circle) before scooting away in the opposite direction to the bunker hex. Can I?
Yes, I can. With the Armoured 61 B selected, at the ToolBar, I toggle ON Save AP's for Firing (or I could just as well use hot key Ctrl-F, else the menu option Units > Save AP's for Firing). With the toggle selected, note the newly displayed Save AP's for Firing icon (yellow circle) in the right sidebar Unit List. More importantly, note that, even though the Reac(H)able extent has diminished, because the bunker hex 42,31 (green circle) is still highlighted (in turquoise), I can still reach it after firing.
With that one unit, I will do exactly that: shoot at the tank unit at hex 44,30 (magenta circle), then scoot back to the greater safety of the bunker hex 42,31 (green circle) -- safer, because less exposed, also because a bunker is better protection than a trench (the Armoured 61 B is currently in a TRench hex, if you look closely).
Of course, both by shooting and by scooting, I raise the probability of return Opportunity Fire from the mass of Shermans to my front. But if I'm not just going to retreat, if I want to get in my own shots before I retreat, if I want to destroy Israeli SPs in my fighting withdrawal, it's a risk I will have to take. A close-range, adjacent-hex shot at Israeli Shermans is as good as it will ever get for Jordanian armoured infantry (against enemy armour, anyway). I will take the shot! But by both shooting (especially) and scooting, the Armoured 61 B might not make it safely to the bunker hex at all!
Whew! All that careful consideration just for one unit! Planning my moves to the max!
Not everybody will like to play the Campaign Series in this fashion, of course. Many fast-action players will just want to "get on with it," to move quickly and fire quickly and the Devil may care.
But I am not that type of player. 
< Message edited by berto -- 1/22/2016 8:03:19 AM >
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The Crossroads -- 6/5/67 - DAR (no Crossroads) - 
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