AAR: Return Road to Kharkov - RocketMan vs. Mad Russian

[RocketMan]

This will be my first PBEM game of PZCK, and since I am still learning the PZCK game system, I'm sure I will make numerous mistakes in the game. However, an AAR tends to force you to plan better, so hopefully that will help me out a little.

My initial forces are two platoons of Sd Kfz 250 Halftracks (3 per platoon) and 2 platoons of SS Pz Grenadiers (3 squads per platoon). I have placed my Halftracks in a V formation, with the Grenadier squads behind them ready to mount on turn 1 as shown in the picture below. My plan is to approach the town, where the two flags are, from the Southwest, keeping the line of trees that between my units and the town as shown in the second picture below.

I will get another platoon of Halftracks and Grenadiers, as well as a platoon (5) of Pz IIIL's on turn 2 (and one Halftrack on turn 15, what's up with that?). I am assuming they will appear on the road in the Southwest corner of the map. I will probably have them follow the other units, but I will reevaluate that based on the battle conditions at that time.





Also, as can be seen from the first picture, I need to find a way to add a grid to the snow maps!

[RocketMan]

Turn 1's orders plotted as shown below. I have used an advance order for all units. I wish you could use waypoints so I could make the right hand turn without having to stop and replot, but waypoints ane not available in PZCK.

[rickier65]

RocketMan - this should be interesting - thanks for sharing.

You do know you can, or least should be able to, load your infantry into the HT's during setup? Although I'm not sure there is any advantage to it.

Thanks,
Rick

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: Rick

RocketMan - this should be interesting - thanks for sharing.

You do know you can, or least should be able to, load your infantry into the HT's during setup? Although I'm not sure there is any advantage to it.

Thanks,
Rick

I always enjoy a good ARR too Rick. And if I start making stupid mistakes, hopefully people will point them out to me [:)]

I tried to mount the infantry into the HT's during setup, but the mount command was not available. I might have been doing something wrong, but like you said, it doesn't make a real difference if they are mounted during setup or immediately on turn one.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: RocketMan
I tried to mount the infantry into the HT's during setup, but the mount command was not available. I might have been doing something wrong, but like you said, it doesn't make a real difference if they are mounted during setup or immediately on turn one.

It's not a huge time-saver, but it could help. During setup if you just "place" and infantry unit on top of a halftrack, it will automatically mount it.

[RocketMan]

Thanks Erik. I found out that you "mount" units in buildings the same way during setup.

On to the game. The PBEM sequence seems kind of odd. You recieve two seperate files from your opponent, and then you have to merge the first one, play your phase, exit, load the second, play the next phase, exit again and then email both files to your opponent. I'm sure there is a logical reason for this sequence, I just can't figure out what that reason is.

I recieved my turn 2 reinforcements just where I thought I would and I have ordered them to "rush" after the leading elements of my force. No enemy sightings at this time.



Note the movement path of the lead Pz IIIL. For some reason, the game decided to plot its path through the woods. I tried to use "pathing:fast" instead of "pathing:direct" but the path was even worse. Again, I wish PZCK had waypoints to aleviate problems like this.

[Mobius]

Hmm, Is the Mad Russian reading this?

You might consider making shorter moves as you get closer to the objective in order not to blunder into some lurking Russians. Halt at regular intervals to take a look around.

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: Mobius

Hmm, Is the Mad Russian reading this?

You might consider making shorter moves as you get closer to the objective in order not to blunder into some lurking Russians. Halt at regular intervals to take a look around.

The Mad Russian I have known for a long time is not the type of person who would do that. And besides, it is mainly a learning experience for both of us in how to both play the game and play it by PBEM, so even if I get slaughtered I'm not really concerned.

And thanks for the advice Mobius. I had also planned on disembarking my lead infantry platoon at some point to scout forward.

[Mobius]

Now the game has a Bound order, and this is fine and good when a single platoon is working alone.   But if I have several platoons on the same route like you do here I will bound by platoon.  Move one forward say 100-150m while another overwatches (Defends).   When the first one halts at the end of its move I will Rush the rear one up to join the first or a little ahead.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: RocketMan
On to the game. The PBEM sequence seems kind of odd. You recieve two seperate files from your opponent, and then you have to merge the first one, play your phase, exit, load the second, play the next phase, exit again and then email both files to your opponent. I'm sure there is a logical reason for this sequence, I just can't figure out what that reason is.

It lets you get through two phases per exchange, which halves the number of e-mail exchanges you would normally need. Since it's a WEGO game, you can always merge whatever you have both sides' files for and then jump one phase ahead to your next orders/reaction.

That last Panzer III plotted through the woods because there wasn't any room left to plot him in the clear without driving through the rest of his platoon. He's trying to keep separation so he chose what seemed to him to be the best part of the woods to go through.

I think you'll find as you keep playing and get into combat that waypoints become less critical. I agree they could be useful in the move to contact stage though.

Regards,

- Erik

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: RocketMan
On to the game. The PBEM sequence seems kind of odd. You recieve two seperate files from your opponent, and then you have to merge the first one, play your phase, exit, load the second, play the next phase, exit again and then email both files to your opponent. I'm sure there is a logical reason for this sequence, I just can't figure out what that reason is.

It lets you get through two phases per exchange, which halves the number of e-mail exchanges you would normally need. Since it's a WEGO game, you can always merge whatever you have both sides' files for and then jump one phase ahead to your next orders/reaction.

That last Panzer III plotted through the woods because there wasn't any room left to plot him in the clear without driving through the rest of his platoon. He's trying to keep separation so he chose what seemed to him to be the best part of the woods to go through.

I think you'll find as you keep playing and get into combat that waypoints become less critical. I agree they could be useful in the move to contact stage though.

Regards,

- Erik

Unfortunately, the way the files are exchanged makes it easy to cheat. I missed a couple of screenshots I wanted to take for this AAR, so reloaded the files I sent Mad Russian and the ones he had just sent me and replayed the two phases. However, I already knew what was going to happen during the execution of the reaction phase of the turn because I had already played it once. I didn't change the orders I had given based on this knowledge, but an unscrupulous player could easily use the knowledge of what his opponents forces will do during the reaction phase to modify his orders during the reaction phase plotting.

As long as both players realize this, it is not too big a deal.

More comments on waypoints will follow in my next post.

[RocketMan]

By the end of the reaction phase of turn 2, my reinforcement halftracks, which were rushing, caught up with the other halftracks, which were advancing, and they all got caught in a clusterf**k as can be seen in the image below.



At the end of the orders phase of turn 2, I could tell this was going to happen during the reaction phase, but the only thing I could do to stop it would have been to issue a halt order. It would be nice to be able to change a units movement speed during the reaction phase.

At the end of the reaction phase of turn 2, I have spotted 5x T70's advancing Northwest along the road that starts on the East side of the map.



Since my PZ IIILs easily outclass the T70s, I decided to turn them early (using rush orders) to close with the enemy. I also have plotted my halftracks to concel themselves at the end of the patch of woods directly in front of them using engage:move orders.



It would be nice to have waypoints to plot around the patch of trees to my Panzers right and then have them turn right so they could advance towards the T70s directly rather than obliquely. But alas, waypoints are not available, so I did the best I could with what was available.

The view my units have of the T70s is shown below.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: RocketMan
By the end of the reaction phase of turn 2, my reinforcement halftracks, which were rushing, caught up with the other halftracks, which were advancing, and they all got caught in a clusterf**k as can be seen in the image below.

Ouch - with a little more practice, you should have an easy time avoiding those kinds of jams in the future.

At the end of the orders phase of turn 2, I could tell this was going to happen during the reaction phase, but the only thing I could do to stop it would have been to issue a halt order. It would be nice to be able to change a units movement speed during the reaction phase.

Give it a couple more games, I think you'll be able to plan a little further ahead once you get a feel for how fast units move on Rush vs. Advance orders. Advance is really pretty slow movement but with good fire opportunities and sighting, so it's a great "close to combat" order, whereas Rush is basically pedal to the metal so they were going to hit. I would have halted them in Reaction personally, you can always readjust in the next Orders and if the platoon ahead is Advancing they won't get too far ahead in any case.

Since my PZ IIILs easily outclass the T70s, I decided to turn them early (using rush orders) to close with the enemy. I also have plotted my halftracks to concel themselves at the end of the patch of woods directly in front of them using engage:move orders.

It would be nice to have waypoints to plot around the patch of trees to my Panzers right and then have them turn right so they could advance towards the T70s directly rather than obliquely. But alas, waypoints are not available, so I did the best I could with what was available.

You can always Rush or otherwise Move them to that open area past the first group of trees, then issue another move type order the next turn after that to get them faced exactly how you want them.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: RocketMan
Also, as can be seen from the first picture, I need to find a way to add a grid to the snow maps!

RM,

Sorry to interrupt ... I'm going to write a quick tutorial on how to make a grid pattern across your entire map, with no breaks in the grid.

If I can make one for your scenario map you're running now I can PM you a quick JSGE zip using your cross-grid hatch, if you want.

The screenshot below is my Singling map with a basic grid on it ...

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: Mraah

Sorry to interrupt ... I'm going to write a quick tutorial on how to make a grid pattern across your entire map, with no breaks in the grid.

If I can make one for your scenario map you're running now I can PM you a quick JSGE zip using your cross-grid hatch, if you want.

That would be great Mraah!

[RocketMan]

Turn 3 Reaction Phase:

By the end of turn 3's reaction phase, my halftracks have made into the cover of the trees. One of them was targeted by one of the T70s, but no shots were taken and all of them are now hidden. My Pz IIILs rushed towards the enemy and two of them have spotted two T70, but the range is still extreme (almost 600 meters).



Turn 4 Orders Phase:

As can be seen from the following screenshot, I have plotted my Pz IIILs to close with the T70s using the engage:move order. I will stop them when the patch of woods to their left is between them and the village, which will hopefully keep any possible enemy guns and/or tanks in the area of the village from targeting them. When they reach the end of their plotted move line, the range will then be about 450 meters, which should allow my shots to easily penetrate the T70s without their shots being able to penetrate my Panzers.

I have ordered the halftracks to form up in a better formation using the advance order. I don't want to move them along the tree line just yet because I don't think there are enough trees in the way to keep them from being spotted by the T70s. I will probably start advancing them next turn (turn 5) when the T70s are busy with my Panzers.

[RocketMan]

We have had some issues with game version number. Mad Russian and I were not using the same game version and, since MR is also playing Erik Rutins, who is playing other players, we had to decide how to handle game updates. It looks like all of us are going to update to 1.01f and hope nothing breaks. It shouldn't, but you never know.

More game updates to follow when we get this whole issue sorted out.