Swamprat
Posts: 129
Joined: 8/30/2005
From: Shrewsbury UK
Status: offline
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Ok I've just finished a test game against the AI, and my balanced army beat the top equipment army.
I played Soviets. AI had Germany. July 1943.
Played on a completely open field, no terrain whatsoever. Visibility was set to 96, which is almost the full width of the map. 25 turns long. 5000pts.
Picked the most gamey army I could think of on the spur of the moment:-
14 Ferdinands (+10 xp)
8 Nebelwerfers (42's)
2 Ammo dumps (1 per 4 Nebs)
A Full Mechanised SS Company inc. SPAA's.(+10XP)
Forward Ob
4 Early Tigers
2 88mm Flak AT guns
For the Russians I picked the opposite:-
1 Company Conscripts
3 Companies Guards Infantry
3 120 mortars
8-9 81 mortars
No ammo resupply
Forward Ob (no preselected barrage)
1 Company Lorried Infantry
5 Stuart tanks
10 T70's
10 T34 76's (Guards)
Platoon 12.7HMG's
8 57mm AT guns
4 76mm AT guns
3 Plt's of scouts
Might have been others - much more complex than the German force. Heaviest arty piece was the 120 mortar. Heaviest AT gun was the 76mm.
Meeting engagement. Outcome of the battle:-
Soviet Union... 12960 points
Germany........ 2801 points
Minor victory to the Soviet Union.
Soviets lost 333 men and 23 AFV's. Germans lost 314 men and 13 AFV's. Actually all that remained of the Germans at the end were the nebelwerfers and ammo dumps and one crew, rest were destroyed or abandoned.
An Account of the Battle for those who want to know:-
Soviets started first. Victory hexes were in standard positions for Meeting Engagement. Both sides in possesion of three V-hexes.
Soviet battle formation consisted of three fronts; North, Middle and South. North and Middle Fronts had a Guards company each in Two Up formation (Two platoons forward, one behind in triangle) with a skirmish screen of scouts and conscripts. Behind them were a platoon of AT's and 50mm mortars.
Southern front was set back, leaving a gap. All tanks and trucks were right at the back, keeping as quiet as possible. There was no opening bombardment.
All troops and guns set not to fire. Everything was unspotted except the lorries of the mounted infantry. Hastily the troops disembarked and ran forward a few hexes.
German tanks in full view but out of range of everything. 120 mortars set to bombard the ammo dump that could be seen in hope of suppressing nebelwerfers. North and Middle skirmish lines and infantry sent walking forward.
German AI charged forward, as it does. In spite of being elite troops, did not spot mine, except trucks. Nebelwerfers bombarded them.
Germans reached V-hexes well before Soviet troops. My AT guns began long range fire (1-2 shots each), four guns aiming at same target. Accuracy was abysmal. Nothing made contact. 81mm mortars failed to catch the speeding Ferdinands or Half-tracks with troops.
Ferdinands almost ran right into conscripts, still not seeing them. AT guns and 12.7HMG's kept up their fire, suppressing but not destroying anything. 76mm Infantry guns joined in. Eventually, as range closed to 15 hexes, a half track was destroyed. This was the pattern for the battle. Infantry mixing with the enemy tanks, support weapons firing to suppress. No smoke dropped yet. Tanks and reserve infantry remaining unseen as they never fired a shot. 80% of the German tanks destroyed were after they had been forced to abandon. Outright kills were rare. Anything that moved on the Soviet side however received an instant 88 shell in their lap.
When German Infantry dismounted more soviets were spotted. Conscript squads were flattened. HMG's pinned the SS troops, keeping them back from the tanks. AT shells pinged continuously off the German armour, which was slowing down. They were still deadly against my vehicles, but still not seeing most troops. Rifles and everything fired at the Ferdinands, keeping the pressure on. All middle V-hexes taken by Germans. Southern Germans turned north to Russian V-hexes (which remained in Soviet hands the whole game). 57mm AT guns and HMG's on southern front opened up now for first time, hitting the tank flanks. 3 Tanks pinned and eventually destroyed.
On the northern front, an opening. Ferdinands had smashed the conscripts and infantry and moving into soviet line, four of them, plus two halftracks, seperating out from the rest. Smoke was layed for the first time now, behind these vehicles, cutting them off from support fire of their comrades. AT guns focused savagely on first one, then another. HMG's suppressed. Infantry charged in, taking losses but crawling forward. Ferdinands were disabled then abandoned. Halftracks were destroyed.
Light tanks were then sent forward to assist this effort in the north, but it was too early. 88mm's picked them out at long range and destroyed eight by the next move, the rest the next move.
German infantry and tanks were getting suppressed and halted, but they still rallied too well and it was difficult to get anything close. Nebelwerfers dropped among my troops and vapourised whole squads. It was starting to look like the Germans might rally and I was running out of stuff to pin them with. Mortars were out of ammo and AT guns were starting to run out too.
The tipping point was on move 15. Germans began bailing out of disabled tanks. Their crews were offered vodka and chocolate. Actually no, they were shot with everything that could still fire. A conscript squad assaulted and destroyed an advancing Tiger. The infantry were superb, achieving the impossible (and this is in the much maligned version 8.4)
The T34's were unleashed on turn 18. By then the Ferdinands were buttoned or disabled and facing the wrong way (still impervious to AT rounds). SS infantry roamed, isolated and half strength. Smoke from burning tanks and barrage carpeted everything. Reserve soviet troops marched forward past decimated squads and ammo-less guns.
The last Tiger went down to a lucky shot from the T34's (the only tank they would destroy). Everything russian surged forward, racing beyong to the final V-hexes. 88mm Flak guns were knocked out. Game ended on move 23 before the Soviets could get their hands on the Nebelwerfer crews. Atrocities clearly not tolerated by SPWAW engine.
The results speak for the themselves. Strategy works. In fact, the less terrain there is, the more strategy you need, because there's nothing else (literally and figuratively) to hide behind.
Combined arms. Rock - Scissors - Paper.
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