Adventures with Brian In Italy

[larryfulkerson]

Brian ( General Patton ) and I want to restart our StBP game using the newest version of the scenario, the one with ships. Brian is going to be the Axis and I'll be the Allies again. I say again because I have a game going on right now with Ian ( devoncop ) and I'm the Allies in that too. Which is fine. What tricks I learn in one game will apply to the other most likely.

The first thing I usually do when I get a turn is to check out the aircraft and make sure thay are in the best positions and have the right mission for the needs of the war and to rest all the tired ones. Stuff like that. So I cut and pasted this list of the squadrons and I'm looking up the info on the right side of the table, the proficiency and the plane type. This is the kind of info I'll need to post the aircraft to the proper airfield because I want the best stuff out front and the next best stuff close behind and the worst stuff I'll leave parked on Malta so it doesn't get killed.

I'll be using the red green yellow rule so if it turns yellow it gets rested. Red units cannot shoot but they can move as long as they are moving to a higher supply area. Yellow units cannot shoot but they can move. Green units are free to do what units do.

This will be my first trip through this scenario version so I'm going to go back to the baskcs and apply the rules of thumb I've developed over the years.

[larryfulkerson]

I've decided that I need to trim the ranges of the bombers and fighters so I will
get better performance out of the planes. So instead of 189 hexes I'm aimig for
coverage of Sicily and maybe a little of the toe and that's about it. For now.
I'll change them again when the action moves to the mainland.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the plans for conquest. I'm thinking that the British will establish a perimeter
to push out the footprint to permit maneuver room and to convert the roads and rails and
get ready to push north. The Americans are underhanded right now so they will concentrate
on getting a perimeter set up to prevent surprise attacks and when the second wave units
arrive send them on their way north to cut off the flow of troops from the west part of the
island to Messina. Also, to act as the left flank of the British push heading north, to
act in syncronisity with the British so there's no gaps if possible. The British are to
grab whatever airfield they can for the CAP folks to park on.

[larryfulkerson]

I've been moving units and have found some German defenders and in the west I'm pushing
out units to clear the terrain and convert the hexes and start the search and destroy
missions. Recon to find them and the heavy guns to kill them.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's the start of turn two and I've had a game engine paradrop near some bridge
and I needed to move something up north to protect him and I moved some armor up
next to him. I don't really need that bridge I don't guess so I'll bypass that
and see if I can't make some headway going north along the rail path to Messina.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looked like as I was ending the turn. I mopped up one of the two
German stacks in southeastern Sicily. One more to go. I'm getting the different
bridgeheads connected so the supply can flow freely.

The British are up to the river already and are ignoring their left flank because
the Americans are supposed to be covering that but they aren't there yet. D'oh.
So the British have deployed a light screen and have crossed their fingers.

It looks like everybody is trying to pull back into a perimeter around Messina.

[devoncop]

Hi Larry

're the paradrop...are you saying the location was out of your control? If so that's a bit of a shame because you may have made better use elsewhere and also the Germans can be ready for a predefined drop ..

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

I’m looking forward to seeing how this progresses differently from your battles with Ian.

Good luck,

[MikeJ19]

Ian,

Good point!

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19

Larry,

I’m looking forward to seeing how this progresses differently from your battles with Ian.

Good luck,

The difference is that Brian knows what he is doing [:)]

[sPzAbt653]

ORIGINAL: devoncop
Hi Larry
're the paradrop...are you saying the location was out of your control? If so that's a bit of a shame because you may have made better use elsewhere and also the Germans can be ready for a predefined drop ..

I'll butt in [:)]
Operation Fustian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fustian

But as far the pre-determined game engine drop - giving players a free hand with paradrops often results in silly things [:-]

[devoncop]

ORIGINAL: sPzAbt653

ORIGINAL: devoncop
Hi Larry
're the paradrop...are you saying the location was out of your control? If so that's a bit of a shame because you may have made better use elsewhere and also the Germans can be ready for a predefined drop ..

I'll butt in [:)]
Operation Fustian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fustian

But as far the pre-determined game engine drop - giving players a free hand with paradrops often results in silly things [:-]

Ah...okay then historically it's accurate (unsurprisingly) but it still allows a German player to move forces on turn one to surround the drop zone. Still, it's a very long scenario and so one encounter certainly won't swing it [:)]


Thanks for the explanation.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like at the end of turn three. I'm almost up to the MLR next
to Mt Etna on the east and probably on the west side as well. I think Brian has
withdrawn most of his defenders toward Messina.

EDIT: Yeah, the paradrop location was pre-determined. Luckily I was able to save
it in time. He was about to get killed.

[MikeJ19]

Larry,

It looks like your air force is leading your advance. What would happen if the Germans attack the airfields with their ground forces? Looks dangerous to me.

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: MikeJ19
Larry,
It looks like your air force is leading your advance. What would happen if the Germans attack the airfields with their ground forces? Looks dangerous to me.

I'm trying to think of an excuse to justify my parking those aircraft there and I'm coming up empty.
My thinking at the time was that it was important to get the bombers on the island and trim their
range so that they just cover the island and I ran out of airfields to park planes on and I had
some unit, some ground units on some of the airfields so I started parking planes on them and I
thought that if the Germans overrun the hex the planes will just fly away. But now that I think
about it they are vulnerable to arty raids, etc. and putting those planes there is extraorginarily
risky. German units would have to leave their emplacement to attack me and that would eliminate
their investment in being dug in and I'm thinking that might be something he might not want to do.
For them to give up their emplacement and attack me would bring them out in the "open" and give me
opportunity to kill them. Maybe he knows that.

[MikeJ19]

Or he might not see your planes on the airfields... although unless you have cloaking devices it would be fairly obvious to see the planes arriving...

[hingram]

I think the planes move if you trying to attack them but maybe you can artillerize them?

[larryfulkerson]

ORIGINAL: hingram
I think the planes move if you trying to attack them but maybe you can artillerize them?

Artillerize? You do have a way with words, hingram dude. But yes, that's a risk that
my planes are in. The Germans can do an arty raid, move in, bombard, retreat to safety.
The Marines do it all the time. I thought maybe they wouldn't do that though because
that would disrupt their emplacement, all the digging in they have invested so far. I'm
hoping Brian will ignore them altogether.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like in turn four. I heard railroad noises during the playback
and I think it's Italians moving along the coastal road to the east, toward Messina.
I'm thinking that Brian is going to make his MLR around Mt Etna north and south.

He's flown his aircraft to the mainland and he doesn't have any sea movement cap or
he would have been evacuating Germans I'm pretty sure.

[larryfulkerson]

Here's what it looks like just before I ended the turn. The British are pressing
north and the Americans are pressing north and west and the perimeter is expanding.