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Grah -> Excellent AI (10/19/2000 4:57:00 PM)
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I'm playing a WWII campaign 8/41 as Russians. Third battle is an assault. There are four objective groups a good way back in the German's rear and the terrain is plains. I think I have a 1600-2000 pt force. I have a core of
1 tank company (BT7s),
1 composite heavy tank company (upgraded from BT7s) includes T28's, T35's, KV1/2's
A couple of independent KV2's
1 Engineer company
3 120mm mortars
4 76mm AT guns.
1 Recon patrol
1 FO
3 tankedesante(?) squads
4 12.7mm hmg's
I added Katusha's, a 203mm btn, and a company of t34's as well as another tanktdesante platoon, and two armoured cars.
I placed my AT guns near the front line to act as support in the initial advance. I loaded up the heavy tank company with some engineers and the FO and preceded them with the AC's.
I loaded up the tank-riders and hmgs on the T34's and sent them left flank.
I kept the BT7s in reserve.
What really impressed me was the aggressive stance taken by the AI in setting up its defences. A low ridge about 10 hexes long ran along their start-line. This was a good 15 hexes in front of the objectives and I didn't expect it to be heavily defended. I was wrong. My first AC hit a mine on the road that ran past this ridge. The following heavy tanks were fired on by lots of dug-in infantry and forced to button up. The engineers atop the lead KV2 were routed by the small arms fire. I dismounted the engineers on the following tanks and moved the tanks forward to engage the infantry. Boom! I lost a KV1 to another minefield. They then dropped a 150mm barrage on my tank company and that lot were in deep trouble. Crews started to panic and bail and they were shot down as they leapt from their tanks. Rallying was almost impossible and I hadn't pre-targetted that hill so my artillery was slow in arriving. On the left flank the T34's ran into similar trouble. There was a 'field' about 10 hexes square through which I thought I could approach a hill near the objective area covered by the line of trees to my front. I got about 4 hexes away from the far end of the field and an infantry force opened up again, routing some tank-riders. Again I moved T34's forward in support and lost one to a minefield. A second was disabled. I still hadn't actually seen one single enemy unit. Then Germans started dropping 81mm mortar rounds onto the T34/tankedesante force and the occasional 150mm barrage. I brought up a KV2 and that, along with some 120/203mm artillery finally suppressed the enemy infantry and allowed me to send in engineers to identify mines and clear their positions. I got one T34 throught the mine belt and mopped up a couple of mg34's but when it moved into the tree-line at the back of the field it immediately came under fire from at least two 88's, neither of which I actually saw. It survived one hit and was able to scurry back out of sight. Back in the centre, I have dropped more artillery onto the ridge and cleared some of it but their own barrages are still preventing me from getting infantry and engineers forward to try and identify the extent of the minefield belt.
This battle is pretty desperate.
Things I have learned from this battle:-
Have more leg-recon.
Have more infantry.
Select pre-registration targets closer up to the front line. I chose hills, villages closer to the objectives in the rear for use later on in the assault. There's a good chance that I won't even reach those in this battle.
Consider using smoke barrages before identifying enemy positions. My main mistake here.
Have more FO's. My one guy is overwhelmed with support requests. This is probably quite historically realistic but one part of our hobby is to see if we can learn the lessons from our predecessors so I'm going to have more FO's in any support forces, especially for assaults.
Consider using the smoke abilities of any tanks to mask off positions once identified. That way the infantry and engineers can move forward unmolested, to identify and breach the minefield belt.
BT7's are crap.
Ditch the Katyusha's. They are rarely in contact and are very inaccurate. Buy something like 82mm mortars instead for their smoke capabilities as well as their supression effect. Spend any saved money on leg recon.
Slow down. I went charging off on two fronts and ran into trouble straight away. Unless the scenario is only a few turns long you should have time to probe with the recon, identify defences and concentrate your forces to overwhelm one area. Once you're aware of a defence line, blast it with artillery, plaster it with smoke, rush your infantry/engineers forward to pick a way through any minefields and then follow up with the armour.
Consider purchasing a mine-clearing tank.
I am going to persevere with this battle. I will consolidate my hold on the 'field'
and re-organise my tankedesantes and engineer groups. I will switch what's left of my central heavy tank force to move south, link up with the BT7 company and try and practice my findings as above, to identify and breach the minefields there.
Grah
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