LN59
Posts: 204
Joined: 1/28/2016 From: France Status: offline
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ANNOUNCEMENT (non-market, of course!) - Notice to the friendly "Tigers on the Hunt" community. Good Morning All ! Hope You are doing well and all those who are dear to You ... On Saturday August 16, I'm offering You here a three days mini campaign on one of the fiercest battles that took place in the "Hautes Vosges" ie. the highest part of the ridge culminating at 1423 meters (4669 feet), during the cold and rainy fall of 1944. In which we will discuss the achievements of the “6ème Régiment de Tirailleurs Marocains” (6e RTM, 6th MTR thereafter), one of the toughest units belonging to the First French Liberation Army commanded by General de Lattre de Tassigny, regiment which landed on mid-September in Marseilles. It was quickly designated to take over a disputed promontory called "Le Haut-du-Faing" located near the town of Cornimont and immediatly east of the Moselotte valley, a tributary of the Moselle. Two allied mountain infantry battalions hardened during the fighting in Italy have to attack a German defense formed around a disciplinary battalion, the 291. Grenadier Bataillon z.b.V. "zur besonderen Verwendung" which means for a special deployment; that came to support rather motivated troops who held the "Winterlinie": the 338.ID, CO General L'Homme de Courbières, a very competent one of French Huguenot origins, an unit attached to the XIX. Armee (Heer), C.-in-Chief General Friedrich Wiese, another good German commander that managed a 700 km retreat from southern France, with no rout and being able to re-establish himself on an improvised "Hauptkampflinie" of his own. That defense line (width: 10 to 12 km) stood just in front (west) of the Vosges ridges, thus protecting the "Vaterland", including the famous and fiercely contested Alsace, again annexed to the Reich since 1940. This mini campaign is a tribute, first and foremost to Peter Fisla, the game's creator, but also to Paullus and all those who have brought it to life since its release four years ago ... Through sharing their creations, great tips, help notes, maps, mods and scenarios. Of course, I'm thinking of our "super champions": Hailstone and Rico21 on the scenario side; but also of Asl3D, decaf, Deepstuff3725, fran52, KhanDam2, Raubkater1 and Richie61 for maps or mods; BigIvan and UP844 for their kind and always constructive criticism. My apologies to all those I could have forgotten! What is on the menu? A completely new 40 x 50 hexagon map depicting the terrain of the confrontation as closely as possible. It is located between 600 and 1 000 meters asl (1,800-3,000 feet); at scale 1/5 000, with 1 hex <=> 50 meters, located in a 2 km by 2.5 km (5 km² or ~1235 acres) rugged, humid and forested area[1] in the mountainous part of north-eastern France. Maximum units (200) almost reached (for the two camps combined) but very few vehicles[2]. It is above all a combat of infantry [3] ... and artillery! Yes, the big guns (OBA) will be a serious nuisance for You but a great asset to the AI's - as it was in reality for the Germans, due to the accurate fire from a battalion of Hummel; and despite theoretically balanced means attributed within the Editor (same OBA for each side except for their order of appearance) ... Former CG gameplay issue[3]: slowdown in the game from Day 2 on, ie. Turn #12 and following (a around 10 seconds at worst between each unit's movement) but the losses increasing due to the effects from the German 150mm shellings and the reinforcements decreasing rapidly (especially among the French), things will stay (or return) in an area bearable for the most impatient! [That fine-tuning & issues fixing work was still in progress on August 14 ... ] LN59 - July & August 2020 [1] "Le Haut-du-Faing", what's that? "Faing" is a Lorraine word for "Fagne", just like "Hautes Fagnes" in Belgium ("Hohes Venn" in German) which, for their part, are located in the Ardennes-Eifel area. A landscape made of an entanglement of pastures, peat bogs, birch groves and coniferous woods, all among a steep-sided relief. In addition, from October 1944 on, the weather was cold, rain and sleet. Add to it the mud and the German heavy guns: a hell worthy of the Hürtgen Forest 300 km distant (~185 miles) further north but 400 meters above sea level lower (1,200 feet lower) ... Last linguistic details: "Col" means pass; "Droit de..." a tax-free public timber subdivision; "Canton de..." a logging plot officially delimited on the administrative maps and tax registers; "Xoulces", like "Soultz" (German: Salz, English: Salt) another locality in that region, refers to a stream with slightly saline water; "le Grand Ventron" is for the Big Belly, a kind of rounded top (very eroded summit) common in the Vosges. [2] Release note (August 16) about the Slowdown Issue from end of Day 1. The total number of units has been slightly lowered in an attempt to eliminate the well-known "interminable waiting time between each action of each unit" bug. A lag that occurs when units are too numerous and the visibility too great ... The result may not be yet perfect, but some beta-tester(s) were still able to masterfully win in a reasonable time. [3] The mini-CG Name: "Neither Fear nor Mercy" was the 6th MTR's motto. In French "Ni Peur ni Pitié". Below: non-contractual image. The final map will be slightly different in some details ... (To be continued ...) Map realized, scenario tested & played with the excellent [ASL 3D (sept. - oct.) Automne Mod] by Raubkater1.
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< Message edited by LN59 -- 8/16/2020 4:00:06 PM >
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"On ne passe pas !" The French soldiers' motto (Verdun, 1916) "One does not pass! The Covid-19 even less." Years 2020, 2021 motto, 2022 distant memory
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