Murphstein v. Rickie (Road To Rimini)

[murphstein]

Just a couple of thoughts while I'm waiting for Rickie's first turn to arrive.

I've been played Elmer a couple of time, and noticed him doing things I can't explain.

1) Elmer doesn't pre-emptively destroy the LW on Turn 1 (which he's perfectly capable of doing). Any idea why not? Do they really just not matter?

2) Elmer doesn't even try to maintain formation cohesion. He's got Poles and Indians and Canadians and British and Nepalese stacked together all over the map. What is this costing Elmer? Put another way, if my opponent keeps his formations together for better support (or not), will it make any difference in this scenario? And how would one tell?

3) I really don't want to cycle thru the unit report for each Allied unit, so is there any way to tell if any of his units have air-drop or amphib capabilities?

4) Ditto for units with Major Ferry capabilities (other than engineers).

5) Is there a reason my arty cannot direct-fire on his naval unit when it's in range, and do not support the defenders that are being shelled during his half of the turn?

6) I've been using Flak units as tank-destroyers; would I be better off digging them in and hoping they do some damage to Allied interdiction air strikes?

Thanks,

dpm

[JAMiAM]

5) Is there a reason my arty cannot direct-fire on his naval unit when it's in range, and do not support the defenders that are being shelled during his half of the turn?

I'll let others answer the rest of your questions, but this one is due to a game engine restriction. Regular artillery must be adjacent to an enemy naval unit to be able to fire at it. Only Coastal Artillery units (both icon types) can fire at range at naval units.

[Telumar]

1) Elmer doesn't pre-emptively destroy the LW on Turn 1 (which he's perfectly capable of doing). Any idea why not? Do they really just not matter?

In this case they really just don't matter.

2) Elmer doesn't even try to maintain formation cohesion. He's got Poles and Indians and Canadians and British and Nepalese stacked together all over the map. What is this costing Elmer? Put another way, if my opponent keeps his formations together for better support (or not), will it make any difference in this scenario? And how would one tell?

Well, usually he does. I can imagine that in this scenario it will look like it's all mixed up due to unit density and space limitation together with objective track overlapping. But to give you a definite answer one would have to take a look on it in the editor.
What is this costing him? Depends on formation cooperation settings. In this scenario the units with the brown background can cooperate only very poorly with those on red.

3) I really don't want to cycle thru the unit report for each Allied unit, so is there any way to tell if any of his units have air-drop or amphib capabilities?

4) Ditto for units with Major Ferry capabilities (other than engineers).

Air drop and amphibious capabilities are dependent on the unit icon and nothing else.

Units with the bridging engineer symbol should have major ferry capability, but it is dependent on the unit's equipment/type of squads. So any unit could in theory have major ferry capability. Just trust the designer's common sense.. sometimes scenario designers add ferry bridging teams to divisional HQs. Sometimes the 'normal' engineer units have major ferry cap., too.

6) I've been using Flak units as tank-destroyers; would I be better off digging them in and hoping they do some damage to Allied interdiction air strikes?

Both deployments will serve your purpose.

In fact it doesn't play a role where you deploy your Flak if you want to damage some interdicting aircraft. You could well use them in an AT role and still inflict damage on enemy aircraft on interdiction mission (but only if the interdiction strike aims at the Flak unit itself i think - maybe someone other can tell more). Flak in AT role performs rather poor on the attack. You will have to let yourself be attacked to achieve better results, preferably in fortified deployment. But note that a lone Flak unit will most probably be subject to a RBC (retreat before combat) due to the high proportion of 'passive defender' equipment in those units. You should back them up with more 'active defender' equipment: Infantry, engineers. Actually it's vice versa then..you back up your infantry with some '88s against british armour..
Another use of the Flak, now that AA fire works, is the classical role: Anti-Air! ...i.e. to protect your artillery from air strikes intended to push them out of their supporting deployment. You'll have to find a balance by yourself; and it's (as usually) very situation dependent.

Happy toawing! Feel free to ask any question you like - there are no silly questions, just stupid answers.

[murphstein]

===================
Rick (1) vs Dan (2)
After-Action Report
===================

New Player Workshop
Road to Rimini, v1.5
TOAW III, R3.2.29.26
Start: Sep 12, 2007

==========
Assessment
==========

My strategy for the German 10th Armee is to trade lives for time.

If the Allies haven't gotten thru or around the Gothic Line by Turn 5,
even if the 1st FJD, 278th ID and 71th ID are pretty much chewed up in
the process, their attack bogs down and my fresh reinforcements (26th
Pzr Div, 168 Inf Div, 198 Inf Div, 5th Geb Div) can establish and hold
strong defensive lines south and north of the Conco River. These will
deny him the VP hexes around Rimini he must capture to gain a victory.

I need to stay balanced, prevent a catastrophic breakthrough, keep
some units for opportunistic counter-punching, and be careful not to
let an early turn-end catch me with units not dug in, exposing me to
an attack that breaks my line and gives him a battle of movement. I
cannot afford to have a significant chunk of a division annihilated,
so defense in depth is key to preventing an exploitable break-out.

The Allies have overwhelming air superiority so my reaction range is
going to be limited. I need to turn the battle into one of attrition
on a static and deeply defended front. My units will need to absorb
one attack after another, giving ground slowly if at all. Retreated
units have to be replaced and moved back to regroup and then return
to the fight.

My tactics will be to fight a delaying action between the Foglia and
Conca Rivers.

I have time in the first turns to block the roads and destroy all the
bridges to slow down and channel the Allied advance. Allied bridging
units will be a key target of opportunity and efforts will be made to
prevent an Allied crossing of the Folgia below Montecalvo. I plan to
use the super-river line to effectively shorten my line, which should
allow me to get more units at his points of attack to offset his high
unit densities.

Limited counter-attacks w/ arty support on his red over-stacked hexes
seem to run up the Allied loss penalties faster than they can take VP
locations and this scenario seems to encourage (require?) that he use
over-stacked hexes on our front lines.

I must be alert for late-game end-runs, especially around our right
flank in the mountains. Since the enemy lacks amphibious or air-drop
capabilities in this scenario, Rimini has to be reached overland and
while the short path is up the coast, the path of least resistance
may turn out to be thru San Marino.

[murphstein]

========
Rick 01a
========

Rick's first move was, as expected, infantry attacks on 1st FJD and
71st ID units on the Metauro River at Saltara by the 1st and 2nd Can
Inf Bdes and the Brit 128th Inf Bde. In the 1st FJD sector, 1 btl is
routed (3/4th); in the 71st ID sector, 2 btls routed (1/211 and 2/211
Inf Btls), one of which fractured, and is unable to disengage.

=======
Dan 01b
=======

I see no value in defending the ground between the Metauro and the
Foglia Rivers, but doing so raises a considerable risk of the 1st FJD
and/or the 71st ID being cut off south of the Foglia and destroyed in
detail.

Our first line of defense will be behind Foglia River, and I will use
the super-river to free up resources to thicken my line elsewhere. I
moved the 1st FJD to put it's left flank on the sea south of the river
at Pesano (4th Rgt and PzJg Btl) with the rest of the division digging
in behind the river from Pesano to Montecchio, inclusive. The 71st ID
will defend the center of the, behind the Foglia, starting on the 1st
FJD right flank in Montecchio and extending through the "Foglia Ford"
hex (first non-super-river hex), with orders to hold that hex at all
costs. The 278th ID will defend behind the Folgia River from "Foglia
Ford" to the exclusion zone at the west end of the Gothic Line (both
exclusive). The 76th Panzer Corps PzJg, Tank, Pioneer and Flak units
will be the Corps reserve, and start being positioned behind the 71st
ID initially, until his schwerpunkt is revealed.

[Note: do I need to attach a map or a gamefile to these AARs? dpm]

[Foggy]

========
Rick 01a
========

Rick's first move was, as expected, infantry attacks on 1st FJD and
71st ID units on the Metauro River at Saltara by the 1st and 2nd Can
Inf Bdes and the Brit 128th Inf Bde. In the 1st FJD sector, 1 btl is
routed (3/4th); in the 71st ID sector, 2 btls routed (1/211 and 2/211
Inf Btls), one of which fractured, and is unable to disengage.

=======
Dan 01b
=======

I see no value in defending the ground between the Metauro and the
Foglia Rivers, but doing so raises a considerable risk of the 1st FJD
and/or the 71st ID being cut off south of the Foglia and destroyed in
detail.

Our first line of defense will be behind Foglia River, and I will use
the super-river to free up resources to thicken my line elsewhere. I
moved the 1st FJD to put it's left flank on the sea south of the river
at Pesano (4th Rgt and PzJg Btl) with the rest of the division digging
in behind the river from Pesano to Montecchio, inclusive. The 71st ID
will defend the center of the, behind the Foglia, starting on the 1st
FJD right flank in Montecchio and extending through the "Foglia Ford"
hex (first non-super-river hex), with orders to hold that hex at all
costs. The 278th ID will defend behind the Folgia River from "Foglia
Ford" to the exclusion zone at the west end of the Gothic Line (both
exclusive). The 76th Panzer Corps PzJg, Tank, Pioneer and Flak units
will be the Corps reserve, and start being positioned behind the 71st
ID initially, until his schwerpunkt is revealed.

[Note: do I need to attach a map or a gamefile to these AARs? dpm]

Not required - it's a small mapYour plans look good - just dig in deep
for his artillery will pound you soon

[General Staff]

Actually I'd love to see an SAV File to get an idea of what Allies have been discussing and plotting. Usually teams discuss and come up with an agreed common strategy which- aside from the odd maverick who decides that the best way forward on Operation Sealion 1940 for example is to follow in Bonnie Prince Charlie's footsteps in 1745 by dropping paras in the Highlands of Scotland and heading south- is usually fairly closely followed.

[murphstein]

Explain how to create a SAV file (specific TOAW format or just a JPEG/GIF screen-shot?), and I'll post one tonight when I open his turn 2, assuming the replay isn't hosed up again; see further at:

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?t=70216

[General Staff]

Explain how to create a SAV file (specific TOAW format or just a JPEG/GIF screen-shot?), and I'll post one tonight when I open his turn 2, assuming the replay isn't hosed up again; see further at:

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?t=70216

Once you're past the replay and into your turn, go to File->Save As, select a file name and save- the system handles the extension (.SAV which is specific TOAW and if you've got extension linked to app it can open it automatically). You can then bundle it into a ZIP file and upload using Advanced->Manage Attachments here.

With an SAV we can see all the information exactly as you can- sitrep, replacements, losses etc...- as opposed to a GIF/image file where it's just a (hopefully) pretty picture.

If you look at my Elmer game you can see what I've done as an example. Download this to your TOAW 'Saves' directory and load using File->Resume Saved Game and you'll get an idea of what I mean.

[murphstein]

Attached are SAL files for turn 2 start and end-of-moves (no combat initiated) for the German side.

Rick surprised me a bit by not attacking my main line anywhere; instead he maneuvered his units, with the Canadians going after the 3 btlns he routed in the turn 1 near Saltara. This turn, he surrounded and evaporated the 3/4th FJ Btln, attacked the 2/211th Btln and routed/retreated it again, and left the 1/211th fractured, mobile and hopelessly cut off behind his lines. He only had the one combat round, after which he moved his units some more and ended his turn without a 2nd combat round.

He is being much more aggressive about bringing up his arty behind his main units than Elmer was in the games I played solitaire, and seems to be keeping his national groups together more than Elmer did or than is required (as I now think I understand)...Brits, Canadians, Indians, Nepalese (all tan backgrounds) can cooperate with each other, but less well or not at all with the Poles (red background).

Having committed to putting my first line behind the Foglia before the Tips & Tricks thread suggested otherwise, I spent this turn splitting up my units, setting up combined-arms strong-points, dodging strafing runs, and trying to get some depth into the defense all along the line. I tried to create sector reserves (1 inf and 1 Flak or PzJg) behind the discussed axes of advance, to plug holes and contain break-throughs.

I'm pretty sure I got everyone dug in except for a couple of units that took interdiction hits, and maybe an arty unit that got dug out by the turn-end interdiction strikes. Those strikes don't look random to me...it hit my arty much more frequently when it moved, after passing on several chances to hit my moving, split-up infantry.

Used the split-move-recombine-split technique to spread out the effects of interdiction strikes, as recommended, and recovered a couple of "retreated" units into mobile status for subsequent dig-in, per rule 8.2.9 or whatever.

Since the 1/211th is already split up and cut off, I tried to maneuver them in different directions, hoping he'll either get sloppy about them and give me a shot at some of his rear area units, or will re-task some of his units to chase them down, surround them and eventually try to eliminate them. These and the 2/211th now hold 4 adjacent hexes, and have ZOCs into a couple more.