Assault on the Sauer - Axis

[Mahatma]

Settings: Realistic order delay. Historical weather, normal reinf etc.
Rules: 1hr real time for 24hrs game time. No reloads.

I'll let my super graphics do the talking. Red arrows are enemy moves/attacks. Blue arrows are friendly moves/attacks. Red stuff is axis blood. Blue stuff is allies blood. Green arrows are axis plans. Apart from 1st picture, that was an experiment.


Plan is simple.


Where are my bridges?! 1.423 get butchered by artillery and will not be much use now.


1.988 and 2.988 stuck facing a Bn or two. 987th planning behind enemy lines nastiness.


987th stalled by armour. Entenbach a warzone. Objectives are being taken but only 8%ish of enemy dead. I expect a counter attack shortly. Being dug in is super.


Slow progress. II.988 still stuck fighting stagglers overnight.

[Mahatma]

Terrain is awful for los. Counterattack commencing I fear. I thank the Fuhrer for the Penal battalion, they are doing great on my eastern flank. West flank starting to capitulate badly. Forgot to use the 3 x hvy TD coy that were attached to corps, could have attached these to Div HQs to provide much needed AT as I have nothing of significance available to me. So many objectives still to obtain! The bridges weren’t build quick enough as only two engineer units were available, so there are some lost VP. I’m watching it unfold as I type. If the Div HQs are orders to move, what moves with them? 276 in the NW could plug a gap somewhere, anywhere, instead of what they are doing now. 1212 Shit I see enemy reinforcements. Armour, lots of it moving towards Entenbach. Some AT dugin on the town edge might see them off. Mullerthall was the problem, if that had been captured there wouldn’t be easy access to the highway from the west. Now they are about to pile into Enterbach. Oh it’s ugly out here. The Fuhrer didn’t give me what I asked of him. Lots of garbage and not enough Werfers.

2h30m remaining.

[Mahatma]

1811 Not much to report. Mahatma is waiting patiently for an opportunity to counter attack after the wave of assuaults has been soaked up. 987 asleep and up early at 0400 should be enough to take Merthal.
1855 423 moving east to relieve Entenbach. Metermach recaptured by 6.986. Oh there are no more reinforcements at all now. Almost no armour, a penal battalion and fortified enemies in my way.
2031 Those AT companies mentioned earlier are supporting Entenbach. There is a killing field SW on the highway but the allies are not obliging.
2200 So how can this be recovered? The army has stalled it seems. No! Negative thinking will not help the situation. A full night attack! Brilliant! 4xBn south via the forested valley. Start at 0400. Ugh that’s desperate. The ticker is 50% so maybe this is an overreaction.
2333 Speed Ops is stressful. Speed 2 with 24hrs game: 1hr real time gets hectic around midday with the constant gunfire and artillery shells.
0019 Amazing the 276 have taken Savelborn in the west.
0045 SE can remain dugin until D5 then rush south to exit.
0221 999 Penal have done a great job even without any form of training except criminal use of firearms.

[Mahatma]

Not a good day. West flank collapsing under the weight of armour. Push through the forest stalling so 4 battalions thrown at the problem. East flank is looking ok. Enterbach secure and a lunch towards the exit looks likely. Supply a mess, OOB a mess. VP for bridges changed for some reason, it was 0/16 occupy/completion but changed to 8/8. Ticker is 55% so maybe I'm panicking again. Note to self: fight until the end. Does anyone want the arrows back?

[Mahatma]

Progress! Ticker around 70%! Only 20% of enemies killed, where are the rest?

[Mahatma]

Huzzah! A marginal victory, a few hills and bridges gained at the loss of over three thousand good Germans. Doesn't seem worth it upon reflection but orders are orders. Fatigue, crap diet and mulled wine hindered me greatly but not a bad effort imo. Allied artillery is hellacious, must move infantry under cover of darkness. I couldn't make the exits and had to settle with the objectives just north for the VPs.



I hope at least one person got something from this. Entertainment at least, maybe some good ideas.

Night all.

[dazkaz15]

Good job mate.

You have played a game in one night that would have taken me 6 months!

Its great to see that the game can attract the fast paced RTS style of players, as well as the turn based ones.

I do occasionally play faster, it just depends on what kind of mood I am in, but never get the kind of results or reward that I do from slow paced games.

Anyway I liked your AAR thanks for posting it [:)]

[Mahatma]

Thanks! Should I put the arrows back in? I think they convey more information than many words.

Playing under time constraints changes the game dramatically imo. It now becomes much more important to trust your AI subordinates to carry out orders as intended, and without time to micro orders need to be clear, simple and effective. There is more reliance on upper level orders but not so much that individual companies can't still be controlled when needed. I've given myself unlimited time before scenarios to rearrange the OOB, meticulously assess the situation and issue complicated orders. But once the game starts there are no pauses except for coffee breaks and MSPaint. If I don't set myself such conditions, my games drag on forever because I faff around on speed 1 which takes about 4 realhours for 24 gamehours, or I get frustrated and reload from an earlier point, which is pathetic. To give some idea of the time it would take to finish all BFTB scenarios, Markshots spreadsheet has the total gamehours for all scenarios as 2854, or 119 days. That's about 120 hours realtime on speed 2 or 480 hours realtime speed 1. Then add the planning! I'm a bum but I don't have 480+ hours to spend on command ops.

[dazkaz15]

Yes the arrows help a lot to see what's going on.
If you could also just add some text along the line to say what HQ it belongs too that would help a lot as well.

I'm in no hurry to finish Command ops, because what then?
Start again on a different speed, or look for another game?
Where would I find another war game as good as this?

Hours of play V Start up cost, this has got to be the best value game I have ever bought, and I'm not young [:'(]

Sure some of the minor bugs are annoying, but the fact that the dev's are still working on them speaks volumes for the series, and I'm looking forward to better releases of the game engine, so I can enjoy the scenarios even more.
Probably at an even slower pace [:D]

I love that we are approaching the same game from different angles though, and both having fun [:)]