Semi-Interactive AAR: Return Road to Kharkov

[Erik Rutins]

Ok guys, I'm out of time for more turns tonight. Give me your advice and feedback for the next few turns. What do we do with the Panzers at this point? Is it time to press into the village with all three platoons of infantry?

[junk2drive]

My advice play it on a small screen so that us poor folks can enjoy it.

[RocketMan]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Ok guys, I'm out of time for more turns tonight. Give me your advice and feedback for the next few turns. What do we do with the Panzers at this point? Is it time to press into the village with all three platoons of infantry?

It looks like your tanks are in position to cover the town as your infantry advances. You probably outnumber the defenders in the village, so you should attack the village with all your squads simultaneously. Some of them won't make into the village, but enough of them should get close enough for you to spot the enemy units, at which point your tanks can shoot up the buildings they are in.

[Kineas]

Congrats to the other T-34. These PzIIIs kill them quicker than my PzIV longs in PCK.

I'd start advancing the infantry, while using the Panzers cautiously (=long range support only). The infantry should advance till victory - or a higher casualty threshold...
Area firing into buildings is also an option - I wonder how effective is that in this game.

[Tophat1815]

Move the MG42 team up to cover 3rd platoon moving into the 2 buildings closest to it. Have 2nd platoon move up behind 3rd in the wood-line. Have first move up in woods on other side of 2nd platoon.

Tanks cover 3rds move into the buildings closest to 3rd.If all goes well 3rd will get into those 2 buildings and draw fire from Russians so the tanks can start clobbering them.If 3rd gets into buildings 2nd and 1st flow through into town proper.If it falls apart,tanks prepare the way and 2nd and 1st try after softening up.

[Erik Rutins]

Ok, looks like we have consensus on moving all the Panzergrenadiers in to assault the village! I'll make sure the MG-42 is in a supporting position.

The Panzers will provide long range fire support as the infantry move in.

Here are the infantry plots. I tend to toggle the terrain map on from time to time just to make sure I know the precise lay of the land. Note that the 3rd Platoon's plots are in a magenta color. Those tell me that I've plotted them to move into those buildings. Once they get close enough, they'll enter them automatically, no need to wait to "mount" in the next phase as it was in Panzer Command: Kharkov. I clicked on each building to check what its stats are. The closer one is a Heavy Double Level building that can hold 2 Squads. The farther one is a Light Double Level that can hold 2 Squads. If there is already a Soviet squad or team inside these (as I believe there is in at least one of them), we'll have a very close quarters fight.

[Erik Rutins]

Here's the spot I've chosen for the MG-42 team.

[Erik Rutins]

Here are the plots for the Panzers. The one near the infantry is moving up as far as it can while hopefully still being out of sight of the T-34 on the other side of the village. I've checked the LOS and it looks good to me. We could probably move a bit further forward with the buildings as cover, but I don't want it to get within close assault range (25 meters) of any of the Soviet infantry.

[Erik Rutins]

Orders Phase of Turn 23...

More Soviet infantry shows up on the road. Our flanking Panzers are putting fire on them.

One of 3rd Platoon's squads is pinned by Maxim MMG fire coming from one of the buildings ahead. The 82mm Mortar barrage catches the flank squad of 2nd Platoon and causes some casualties and suppression. The Panzer supporting the infantry takes a hit on its left track from Anti-Tank Rifle fire. Things are definitely heating up!

[Erik Rutins]

I target four of the five Panzers (the fifth is still moving into position) on the road with Area Fire orders to suppress and hopefully destroy the advancing Soviet infantry there. Four of the six Panzergrenadier squads from 3rd and 2nd Platoons are still advancing and I let that continue. When the other two recover, they'll resume the advance too. You can recover from suppression in one phase, but once pinned, you recover to suppressed and only after a second recover do you get back to normal - so the pinned squad has at least two phases of recovery if things go perfectly. If the MMG continues to target them, I'm fine with them hugging the ground for safety while the rest advance.

[Erik Rutins]

The Panzers are doing a good job on the road. The Soviet infantry there is pinned or suppressed and taking some casualties.

The Maxim MMG meanwhile suppresses another of our advancing squads, but we are fortunate that all of our squads recover one level of suppression, allowing us to get all but one moving again. The MG-42 is unloaded and its halftrack withdraws a bit. The MG-42 should help us suppress that Maxim. Right now, we still just know that it's "in the building", we don't have a clear target yet but we can see the tracers when it fires.

[Erik Rutins]

We are continuing to keep the Soviet infantry on the road suppressed and pinned while we gradually whittle away at them. We have enough HE that it's ok to continue this a bit longer.

However, the Maxim MMG is continuing to do a great job of suppressing and pinning whichever of our squads it sees as the most significant threat. The T-34 that we spotted earlier then joins in as well. 3rd Platoon is going to have a tough last 75-100 meters to those buildings.

[Erik Rutins]

I'm not sure if I already mentioned this, but if not... Area Fire now gives you a nice 3D box to show the area of effect. With the Soviet infantry on the road pinned down though, I'm going to switch to some targeted fire.

Any suggestions on what to do about that T-34 if anything? Unless I hear otherwise, I'll continue to have the Panzers focus on supporting the infantry until they get into the village.

[Erik Rutins]

A view from the road... not a great place to be! You can also see here that casualties are now represented visually as well. It's a bit hard to make out from this picture, easier to see when you're in the game, but some of those two man ATR teams have one man dead and the other still active. I've marked the casualties with a red line. With squads that are represented by five men (that's the default limit in the game, but it can be set higher with modding), one man drops when they take light casualties, three men are down when they've taken heavy casualties and all five are down when they are destroyed.

[Erik Rutins]

The plot thickens!

We now spot TWO (2) T-34s on the other side of the village!

The Maxim MMG fire must be coming from another spot as we ID the unit in that building as a SMG squad - quite dangerous up close. The good news is that we can now clearly spot and ID the unit in the closer heavy 2 squad building as an ATR team. If we can get in there with our infantry squads, they are toast and we'll have a good protected foothold in the village. In the meantime, that ATR team has been taking close range pot-shots at our supporting Panzer - looks like they are the ones that scored that track hit on it.

I'm going to post this pic and wait a little while to see if anyone wants to change their advice now that we've got two T-34s over there. If not, I will press on!

[Erik Rutins]

The lead squad of 3rd Platoon is getting close to the building with the ATR team in it, but both T-34s spend the last turn firing at it and the result is that we take heavy casualties. The squad recovers from its suppression though. Those that are left are ready to move ahead! Taking heavy casualties will make it much less effective in that close quarters fight, but staying where we are now is not a great idea either!

One of our flanking Panzers is getting low on HE. It may be time to consider moving them in closer now that the Soviet infantry on the road has been largely disrupted. A few more Soviet SMG squads show up on the map edge though - it looks like reinforcements are still coming in!

[heinrich55]

You are right, things are heating up fast.

Keep one of the panzers covering the road to slow up the Soviet rush. Move the others in to help the infantry into the buildings.

Eventually those T-34s will move in to support their infantry, so get ready to ambush them if possible.

The infantry under the T-34s fire have to charge or they'll be chopped up to nothing in another turn. All the other infantry must get up in line to provide support and suppression.

[Mad Russian]

How easy is it to toggle all the units movement and fire orders in PCO?

I see all the different orders and fire lines in that SS.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Erik Rutins]

It's just a key toggle - the "U" key switches between displaying the lines for the current unit, current platoon or current side.

Regards,

- Erik

[Stridor]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

How easy is it to toggle all the units movement and fire orders in PCO?

I see all the different orders and fire lines in that SS.

Good Hunting.

MR

Cycle Key: U