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Great site links, thanks. Hadn't seen them, in fact.

As far as winning goes I'd guess you won't have to fight them off Bastogne - could be wrong, and you certainly need to block those lead elements heading that way right now, no? - in which case 50 points are yours to start with. If you keep them well out of Foy and Noville (outside the VP circles, so you have possession) then you'll have 70 and win.

Enjoying it.

Day 8am

As the morning of the second day dawns, the situation has changed a lot, battle lines are blurred or pretty much non-existent, and the situation looks very confusing. I want to sum up my planning for the day ahead to those following this AAR. This is pretty detailed but I just wanted to illustrate my thinking for anyone who happens to be new to the game.

First, let’s recap my objectives -

I still have two more days and one more night to hold out. My primary objective, Bastogne, affords me 25 vps upon completion, and 25 vps for occupation. Clearly I can’t afford to let the enemy to get in a position to even contest the objective.

I also have 5 active minor objectives, each worth 10 vps for occupation. I don’t think I can hold all five with my remaining forces. I decide to abandon one, and focus on the other four. Two objectives lie close to Bastogne and will form part of the Bastogne defensive circle – the other two are villages further out to the north, which will also be defending as long reasonably possible.

Next, let’s review my remaining forces, and what I intend to do with them. Each force is marked on the map with a corresponding number, for easy location –

1. Task Force Cherry : around 450 motorized troops and 25 tanks. Currently stuck on the Longvilly highway east of Bastogne, with enemies ahead. I’ve ordered them to launch an attack in conjunction with paratroopers coming in from the east in a pincer movement, in order to force their way through the enemy lines. Green lines show movement of my forces.

2. Task Force Rose : Scattered and lost in the north. Captain Rose is leading a few stragglers back through the woods behind enemy lines. TF Rose has been written off.

3. Task Force Harper : Dug in at a road junction. They are pretty much surrounded by enemy forces. I order them to stay put and fight. Escape route will be to the south, if they are overrun.

4. Task Force Booth : split between two locations, blocking the highway and holding high ground near woods to the north. I order them to hold position for now.

5. HQ elements, bases and artillery : these remain in place inside Bastogne.

6. Team Desobry, 450 men, tanks and tank destroyers, an important and sizeable force.
Holding out at the village of Bourcy. I now order them to abandon their objective and begin an orderly withdrawl to Noville to the west, as I fear they are getting surrounded.

7. My main reinforcements consist of 5 battalions and 2 HQs with attached support from the 101st Airborne division, which are all due to arrive early in the morning. I’ve coloured their instructions in blue so you can follow them on the map. I have ordered one battalion to launch an attack at Mageret to support Team Cherry. 1 battalion is ordered to defend the village of Bizory, 1 battalion is ordered to dig in on the road and hill immediately east of Bastogne, 1 battalion is ordered to defend Foy, (a company from this battalion is dispatched further north to Noville to reinforce the engineer platoon there, making sure the village remains in our hands until Team Desobry can reach it), and the last battalion is my tactical reserve, who I keep in place in the centre of Bastogne, ready for emergencies. I order the HQ elements to spread out and cover some of the dirt tracks leading into Bastogne from the north east.


Enemy dispositions –

The enemy is now spreading all over the map, but hasn’t yet breached my Bastogne perimeter. His only sizeable strength near the town is attacking from the very south, but I’ve put them under heavy artillery fire and they are about to be attacked from two directions by paratroopers and Team Cherry. A large bulk seem to be north, attacking Team Desobry, and swarming around and past Team Harper.

Update - epic conclusion to come at the weekend! Have been somewhat distracted with XCOM recently.

I'm looking forward to your conclusion. Enjoyable read !

Thanks
rick

Day 2 8am-1pm

For most of the morning a fierce battle rages around the village of Magaret, as 1st Battalion 101 and Team Cherry attack the incoming German columns, who are rapidly flooding out of the south.

Further east, Task Force Harper is smashed and overrun by heavy German armour, who envelope them on all sides. Team Desobry are under heavy fire, and begin a running battle to try and withdraw from Bourcy before they are surrounded and suffer a similar fate. By lunchtime they successfully break out towards Noville, with accurate artillery keeping the German fire to a minimum.

As the morning goes on, the combined attack by the 1st Battalion 101 and Team Cherry is being beaten back by the heavy presence of German armour. The lightly armed paras, though fierce and quick, can’t break through and are taking heavy losses. I decide the attack isn’t going to succeed and the enemy is too strong. I give the order for the paras to withdraw past the first defensive line and regroup. I also order Team Cherry to swing off the road and try to get safely behind my lines by going Northwest cross-country. Most of my final defensive wall is now in place and the men are busy digging themselves in.

Day 2 1pm-5pm

The afternoon sees the successful disengagement of 1st battalion 101 and Team Cherry. Especially important is that Team Cherry have now reached my lines – they and Team Desobry and my only remaining armoured support. Their few Shermans and tank destroyers will be vital in strengthen the line held by the 101st, who of course lack any armour. The enemy begins a strong probe to Bastogne by dusk, at the very south of the map, with only a single battalion in his way.

The most important piece of news during this time are observations from my northern line that the enemy columns there are seen completely avoiding contact and swinging north and north east – this doesn’t make sense – they are moving further and further away from Bastogne. I expected them to swing south and to hit Team Desobry at Noville, but they haven’t!

This puzzles me – but upon reading the history of the engagement in the links I provided earlier, I realise that this must be part of the enemy force that has orders to bypass Bastogne and push on, out of the map! Crucially this means the enemy MUST be getting vps for exiting his units off the map somewhere to the northwest. I had no idea he might be trying to do this – I decide I must send some scouting units further north to harass him and slow this process down.

Somewhat amazingly, Captain Rose has led a few dozen stragglers back through the enemy lines, frequently taking fire, but by the evening they are safe and sound in Foy and enjoying a well earned rest and a warm cup of Bovril. Most of the armour from Task Force Booth has also managed to sideslip the enemy advance and get back behind my defensive wall.

Day 2 5pm-8pm

My forces begin to hunker down for the final evening. Sandbags are in place and weapons have been sighted, ready for the inevitable German onslaught. Blocking positions are marked in green. Enemy infantry probes the southern defences but do not commit to an all-out attack in the dark – it is clear they are heavily fatigued from pushing on cross-country during yesterday.

Using engineer platoons and Stuart tanks, I’ve now formed a new observation screen on all major routes leading to my defensive line.

I’ve also sent a recce jeep squadron from 101st HQ up to the northern end of the map, where the red question mark is. Hiding in the nearby village and holding fire, they send reports back of heavy enemy movement. I keep the road under intermittent shelling to disrupt the German movement. I also decide to send a squadron of Shermans from Team Desobry to act as backup and a more solid deterrent.

Day 2 – 8pm – Midnight

The evening and night of day 2/3 is relatively quiet. Small German patrols continue to harass the 1st battalion of the 506th defending Bizory, but not in strength, probably probing their positions for the morning assault. The rest of the line is quiet and the cold woods of the Ardennes seem empty, and my units get a well earned rest in preparation for the final day.

Day 3 1am-7am

The heavy clanking of enemy armour starts up in earnest early in the morning of day 3. Weapons are checked and anti-tank guns loaded by the men, shivering in the early dawn. As the first rays of light come up, the men of the 2bd battalion 501st, dug in on the most southerly point of the line, see a terrifyingly long stretch of German armour all along the main highway, heading right for their position. Battle is joined and they open fire.

In the north, my blocking position reports increased enemy movement attempting to get off the map. I designate some heavy artillery fire to disrupt this activity.

Day 3 7am-1pm

At this point in the battle all l can really do is sit back and watch the enemy attack unfold, reacting where I can. In reserve I have 1 parachute battalion and the Shermans from Task Force Booth and Team Cherry, who I was able to rescue. The enemy strikes hard to the south but my line holds firm. With the paratroopers unable to shift the heavy panzers sat in front of their positions, pounding them with high explosive shells, I launch a counter attack with my armoured reserve to drive them back. Withered by heavy fire, a large portion of the enemy attack sideslips to the north, trying to get around my blockade through the woods. The battle is intense.

In the north, my light blocking position of jeeps and tanks is in trouble, as it appears a full German division is trying to move through their little village!

Day 3 1pm-4pm

The enemy attack in the south is beginning to peter out. Withering fire has decimated and thrown back most enemy units, although in desperation they continue to fling themselves forward – my line holds solid, and my armoured counterattack has halted the spearhead of their assault. Enemy units are seen disengaging and slipping further north, attempting to come at Bastogne from the north or escape off the map.

My roadblock in the far north has unfortunately been decimated – too late I give the order to pull back, and massed ranks of Panthers rout my units. My single squadron of Shermans is knocked out one by one, but they have bought vital time in delaying the enemy escape. The enemy assault has failed, and he has no time to enact any other plans. The battle is drawing to a close.

Day 3, 6pm, After Action Report

A decisive victory! Very pleased with this, especially as things looked quite hairy during the 2nd day. The enemy was driven back from Bastogne and has withdrawn to lick his wounds. He has managed to get some of units off the map, but not enough. I have managed 100vps to his 43. Casualties are about equal. My wall of paratroopers around Bastogne held firm.

Conclusions.

1 - The early delaying actions by Task Force Rose, combined with heavy usage of artillery on his columns, played a key role in causing a knock on effect of delaying the enemy, forcing him to march through the night, resulting in exhaustion by the 3rd day, blunting his attack.

2 – The enemy movement was however very rapid, once he got going! I imagined he would drive right up the main highway, getting blocked at each defensive point. However, the AI was clever, and felt no problem in completely disregarding a low value objective and going straight past it if it was heavily guarded. I did not expect him to side slip so quickly cross country. Only about half of my roadblocks were directly engaged – the rest had to withdraw before they were surrounded and attacked from the rear.

3 – The enemy objective of trying to get troops off the map in the north west was unexpected. An important point to note that you will not always know what the enemy is trying to achieve from the game briefing. You have to keep your eyes open with scout elements, and see what his units are doing in-game – pretty much like in real life!

4 – The one big mistake of the AI was trying to take both of his big objectives. Upon finishing, I loaded up the game from the German position. He had two main 60 vp objectives – Bastogne and getting his units off the map. Clearly he tried to achieve both, but failed. In his place, I possibly would have focused exclusively on taking Bastogne first, then exiting my units towards the end of the third day, once Bastogne was secure (or at least contested!).

5 – My screening forces worked very well as my eyes and ears at the many different road junctions. Platoons of engineers and stuart tanks formed a vital role as intelligence on enemy movement. Without them I would have missed much of his advance around my roadblocks.

6 – Harassing artillery fire along his movement routes significantly slowed him down, even at slow ROF.

Really enjoyed your AAR...Great stuff...

Are you planning on getting the COTA expansion? If so alot of those scenarios would make great AAR's..

Great stuff. Nice AAR. Thanks. Really enjoyed reading it. It's the telling of the story that really brings the game to life, I think, and you told it well. We should all do more AARs, maybe - it forces your imagination into gear.

Maybe it's a good job you didn't know he had a northern exit objective. It split his forces, but it would have forced a slightly different plan on you too, perhaps, forcing some kind of defensive split, which might have let him slip into Bastogne, or at least get nearer - it might have put a nice big hole in the middle, even, if you'd known (though on this map the Axis doesn't have any room to get behind Bastogne, really)..... Interesting.

Doing AAR's really is a great way to get immersed and your imagination to flow.

That was a well written and explained AAR, very enjoyable Thanks! ...I look forward to more.

ORIGINAL: wodin

Really enjoyed your AAR...Great stuff...

Are you planning on getting the COTA expansion? If so alot of those scenarios would make great AAR's..

I've played a bit of COTA - but really interested in the scenarios of BOTB at the moment.

Glad you all liked the AAR. It took quite a bit of time to finish because I have a habit of running the whole game at the slowest speed, sitting back and watching things unfold with a beer!

I try an play at a slow speed..I find you end up appreciating the game more than if you rush through it. When I have played a scenario at a fast speed it leaves me unfulfilled.