L'Emmerdeur v Hank2

[L'Emmerdeur]

but you're maybe behind schedule. I don't think your opponent is sweating too much, but there are sections where you are well set-up and he is in a bad situation. And many artillery units are still not dug-in - is the enemy not counterattacking at all, is that why you play it coolly?

Dicke, I agree, I thought I would be much further advanced at this point (at least compared with playing this scenario against Elmer). I really struggled early on because he destroyed a lot of bridges and it has taken ages to get around that problem, also he has set lines of defence very close and limited my ability to manouvre.

It has taken me a while to get the message about digging in artillery

I am surprised he has not counter attacked as much as I expected but I don't know why that is - does he have reserves waiting or is he having problems of his own?

Anyway, as this is the first time I have ever wargamed, Im having a blast. The good thing is I can say that if I were to start the scenario from the beginning, I would do a lot of things differently.

[Dicke Bertha]

Dicke, I agree, I thought I would be much further advanced at this point (at least compared with playing this scenario against Elmer). I really struggled early on because he destroyed a lot of bridges and it has taken ages to get around that problem, also he has set lines of defence very close and limited my ability to manouvre.

It has taken me a while to get the message about digging in artillery

I am surprised he has not counter attacked as much as I expected but I don't know why that is - does he have reserves waiting or is he having problems of his own?

Anyway, as this is the first time I have ever wargamed, Im having a blast. The good thing is I can say that if I were to start the scenario from the beginning, I would do a lot of things differently.

All that you say sounds pretty sound and we've all been there before! This one is still to be won, but you will have to stay off women and beer for one week! Keep following your marrow feeling and post here for harsh replies and you'll soon top the ladder!

[L'Emmerdeur]

Turn 6 atached. Starting to make some ground against Caen and hopefully some movement up north to flank his units or at least force him to respond.

[Heinz57]

Your situation near Caen looks pretty good, but he has enough armor in the area to slow you down should you engage to win through combat. Continue working your breakthrough as much as you can with primary concentration upon wrapping around and extending his flanks. Build a line of penetration to Vimont - wrapping it toward "the Ridge".

South of Omaha, you'll simply need to keep pounding away - and whenever a portion of his line gives away, concentrate on using movement to take the hex, dig in with a unit, and see if you can get another unit or two into the hex beyond...etc. Leap frog...

On the Utah section, reinforce to the north - what you have there could easily get bogged down by his shifting just a few units.

You are doing better with getting your units dug in - but you can still use a greater portion of your artillery either dug-in or in tactical support.

How many combat rounds are you averaging per turn now?

[L'Emmerdeur]

I am starting to get 3 to 4 rounds now (since the last turn or so). Bascially I was getting only about 2 in turns 2 to 4 but have been playing Elmer in the same scenario and trying out things and using the attack planner to work out timing and that has helped a lot. The artillery that is still not dug in is primarily due to the turn ending or me just having trouble keeping tabs on all of the units.

At this stage, I think my opponent will win because I think I will run out of turns. Basically I did not do enough in turns 1 to 4. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and at least I have learnt a lots. I am playing a game against Elmer and I am up to Turn 9 and am about to take St Lo, most of Caen is in the bag, Carentan is taken and the peninsula is almost cut off.

If I was to start again now against Hank, I would do a lot of things differently - but I guess that is what the workshop is about. I also suspect he is not a wargaming virgin like me

[L'Emmerdeur]

Turn 7.

I did not think I played this turn very well and made a stupid mistake at Carentan isolating some bridging engineers. They probably will not survive the next turn but I think he has withdrawn lots of units from around Carentan and I should be able to break through next turn. Getting a breakthrough in the bocage and a hook up with forces hopefully taking Carentan should be possible.

Made some more ground towards Vimont. Trying to stretch his lines as much as possible whilst making sure mine remain solid. In this way, I hope to have him pulling units of his lines to try and patch holes or anticipate where I might breakthrough. At the moment, plan is to sweep down around Vimont and outflank Caen. If he pulls units from Caen to deal with the threat, I will shift the emphasis back to Caen. Either way, I should be able to achieve something down there (famous last words).

Up north, not sure where is the best emphasis of attack. Any ideas? Should I aim for Cherbourg or aim to cut off the peninsula. Either way, his lines are thinning as he pulls units to make defensive positions further inland and to reinforce further east.

Man the learning curve is steep. I really feel I have let him bog me down and that i should have advanced far quicker than I have.

[Heinz57]

A quick test...

[Heinz57]

Having serious problems with my computer....probably too late to respond to your turn, but -

Reinforce your forces in the north driving toward Cherbourg as I mentioned 2-3 turns ago and you would already be in Cherbourg. You have a number of engineers not fixing the broken bridges South of Omaha Beach. Use your big armor units to try getting automatic overruns on the 1-1's and concentrate on movement. Continue as you are near Caen, watch for overexposure.

Generally, it looks like you are still trying to go through the enemy instead of around him and exploiting holes in his lines. You make comparatively few VP's for generating enemy losses, securing objectives is what earns the primary victory points. Anything that gets one unit one hex closer and/or facilitates getting another unit one hex even closer to the objectives is what will make or break your game in the early stages.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Here is my turn 10 - missed a couple in this thread. We are taking turns a lot quicker now basically because of some email problems that were causing delays in turns being received etc. That is now fixed so we should finish the game in the next week or so.

Ive taken Carentan. looks like Cherbourg will fall in the next turn or so. He does not seem to really have much left on the Cotentin. I really want to get to St Lo but I do not think I will be able to do it before the game ends. Trying to move around and flank his forces in Caen but Ive committed a number of mistakes in the whole east section resulting in too much of my forces being stuck in lines against his forces.

It looks to me like he will win because I will run out of time. Basically he played well in the early turns to prevent me being able to manouvre.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Our game is over, Hank won. We've posted under the observations thread in the main section.