Running AAR "Manhay Crossroads"

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I hope this will go better than my last attempt of sharing my take on "Peiper´s Race for the Meuse". I will now give situational updates at set six hour intervals(0000, 06000, 1200, 1800). In these I will describe the current situation, my assessment of what the enemy is doing and my plan for the upcoming six hour period. The scenario will run onrealistic time delay, and I will mainly give orders to my battalion commanders.

I had a hard time sleeping last night so I spent a couple of hours analysing my mission, preparing the battlefield and sizing up my forces. This is however a along way from a real mission analysis. You could possibly spend days planning the execution of a scenario in BFTB. I do however have other things to take care of, like a life. The slides below is to be honest more form than function. Lets just call it immersion into the role as divisional commander.

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The background for the scenario gives away alot of information that the historic commander never had at his disposal. I now new what units that will arrive to reinforce my enemey. One good piece of information that might easily be overlooked is that the battle already has started, I have the initiative and the enemy is on the run. Yhis is of course something that I will use to my advantage.

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This is the order given to the unit I now command, the 2nd SS Panzer Division, also know as "Das Reich". I always feel a bit uneasy when I am on the side with a SS unit, but I will focus on the warfare part, for the moment turning a blind eye to the dark history of the SS.

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I know now what is expected of me. Its now time to look at the resources I have at my disposal. As always, time will be of the essence, so I decided to draw a timeline over the scenario plotting my reinforcements.
I of course wanted to know more about when the enemy get his reinforcements to be able to tell how long I will be at an advantage in numbers. I can however see that I will have a lot fire-power amassed just before noon on day 2, with additional panzers and two full artillery battalions.

The weather is also an important factor for any operation. Always ask yourself what the current weather actually mean. Heavy rains will for example mean poor visibility and slow-go off-road due to mud. In my case, I could have been better. Well at least its Christmas eve. [:)]

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This is the Scheme of Manoeuvre for the division. It contains movement corridors, phase lines as well as objectives. The estimated enemy positions is also present. The phase lines will be used when ordering my battalions to advance.

PL N3 will need to be stretched north because I (it was late after all when I did this) missed that the enemy could reinforce from all the northern roads. Those roads will be vital to block off, as stated in the order given to me.

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So this is the picture before I press play and start the scenario. I have the basic tasks for my units present on the slide.

This picture also represents a feature that I always miss in wargames. It is the ability to construct and/or import overlays upon the game map. I have encountered it in its most basic form in a few naval sims, but that is it. The possibility to draw a line on the map, mark a suspected enemy position or just the ability to scribble down random notes would add so much to a game like this.

[jomni]

Nice one.  Truely authentic operational planning.

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0000

I have made some small changes according to the initial plan. I decided that I really wanted to make short work of any reinforcements trickling down from north along that highway. I sent the entire III.3 Bn up there to setup a defensive positions and start to dig in. I am contemplating to let them use the ambush function since I have not tried it out yet. The few moving units along the road are however bombarded with mortars at the moent.

The operations down on the southern part of my AOR where a total disaster. I decided to let the regimental HQ lead the advance since I threw in some more additional support units into the task. All units on this venture did however freeze up (a reported bug) and a lot of valuable time was lost in the process. I consider this to be the result from a a series of vauge orders from the regimental staff in combination with engine breakdowns and poor map reading skills (i.e no need for reloads since because these things can happen). The units started to move once the Bn HQ took over the task. I also positioned a flak unit to cover their northern flank over the plains.

Enemy Assessment:
I have no real new intel regarding the enemy

Upcoming 6hrs of operations:
I will push forward aggressively routing the enemy out of defensive terrain. Setup own defensive positions and hold off any counter attacks. It is vital to disrupt any reinforcements entering the area. I then need to rest up and led my own reinforcement continue the drive against the enemy.

[jonreb31]

Great AAR. I still haven't dished over the $80 yet but I'm getting tempted..

[PirateJock]

Looking forward to next SitRep

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I have been swamped with work and away from home for a while now. I then also updated my BFTB, making my saves useless. I enjoy the game but have no time at the moment to do any elaborate AAR:s (I hardly have time to play it).