Belisarius vs. Scharfschütze - Steel Dawn

[Scharfschütze]

The Fallschirmjäger came over the hillcrest, guns blazing. The lone heavy MG gunner rattled of a hail of bullets, but could not stop the attackers.

On Ruby Hill, less then a kilometer across the valley, the Wolverines turned their turrets. A steady stream of 76mm grenades and .50 cal tore into the Fallschirmjäger, who dove for the rift that split Emerald Hill to take cover. They found another 12,7mm MG waiting, sealing their fate.

Another squad had tangled with AT teams on the northern side of the hill, where yet another HMG and a 85mm Flak gun had a clear field of fire on them. The AT teams finished them with their pistols.

"This is Lt. Zhdanov on Ruby Hill. The enemy infantry attacking our position has weathered the 50mm mortar fire and has destroyed a scout party. Direct assault is not recommended. Awaiting orders"

Colonel Lucashenko evaluated the situation. His artillery had put up a smoke screen several hundred meters long to northwest of Ruby Hill, effectively obscuring the enemy tanks lying in overwatch. It was time to strike!

"This is Lucashenko. The enemy is overextended. We will attack now! Codeword Obsidian! All units, Obsidian is ordered! Attack! For Stalin and the Motherland! Crush the fascist invaders!":mad:

From the forest northeast of Ruby Hill, tanks moved forward, firing at the german infantry and halftracks on the base of the hill. Without the Panthers and Stugs covering them, they were easy targets for the Wolverines. Alongside the TD´s, halftracks were racing towards Obsidian - the hill to the north of Ruby Hill with the central objective below its eastern slope. One of the M5´s burst into flames after taking an 88mm hit, but others kept pushing on, Heavy MG fire reached out for the AT gun, killing even more of its dwindling crew. Behind its position, 152mm shells were falling on the western slope.

The pendulum was in full swing, and the outcome of the battle would be decided here.:rolleyes:

[Belisarius]

I've had it!

I decided to quit this, I can't do anything.

Panther moves, recieves 5 conscutive hits from a Wolverine, while not striking home even once!

Yes, overwatch and stuff plays in, but a Panther D has Fire control/range finder of 6/6 while a Wolverine has 4/3. Does that mean anything?

StuG moves, *kbam* dead

StuG moves *kbam* dead

StuG moves *kbam* dead

I'm in no mood to fight Wolverines with 100% hit accuracy while not having infantry nor artillery nor (accurate) panzers to fight with.

Wolverine fires from 16 hexes away into infantry IN smoke. Kills many. Wolverine fires at stationary infantry a bit closer - FIVE dead, then TWO in the next salvo. Bah.

[Scharfschütze]

You know, Belisarius, the reason why the Wolverines turned into your Nemesis? They didn´t move very far, just two, three or four hexes. That way, and with a targeting of 2, they opfire nicely.

The devastating efficiency of its .50 AAMG was quite a discovery. I had this "5 casualties" report twice, not something I had been counting upon!

The gun has an excellent PEN and good accuracy, as your Stugs can testify.

Lend-lease crap indeed!:D

[Belisarius]

Yeah, they got me by surprise. With that thin an armor I thought I could get them soon, but they kept destroying everything. Well, except the Panthers, but that was just a matter of time I'm sure.

I must admit I'm impressed by your initial assault on Ruby Hill. Those OTs took me out completely. One would think you'd have a rougher time, but you swept me off in 2-3 turns.

You were also helped ALOT by being able to toast all my movers. I had two operational 88's just sitting there! Otherwise this was a frustrating game of stumbling blindly over clear wide open field. Did you have as much problems with spotting as I had? Even FO's, scouts, snipers couldn't pick anything out despite the visibility.

The center hill was held by the 88 and a single platoon all through the game, so you could have assaulted it any time...

I HATE Wolverines

[Belisarius]

1 HQ

2 Rifle companies + 3 snipers

6 Recon teams

2 FOs

1 Motorcycle company

2 Panther D platoons (Oberlt. Telner's boys )

2 PzIVg platoons (worth crap, apparently)

1 88 AT platoon

1 Prime mover platoon (SdKfz 11)

3 FJ platoons
}-- loaded into 8 JU-52. One platoon survived..
1 MMG platoon

2 Hvy mortar companies (120mm)

1 Ammo truck sect. (2 trucks)

1 105mm OB battery

Reinforcements:

2 StuK platoons

1 StuH platoon

2 Mech. Rifle companies

Losses were overall in a 5:1 ratio, in Scharf's favour...

As said, I should have bought heavy arty instead of the tubes. Or smaller tubes - I really missed not having 82s around.

I should also have taken the armor on top of Ruby Hill in the first wave, not waiting for the infantry to establish positions...

[Scharfschütze]

I was rather aware of your units, courtesy of my partisans. I knew pretty much throughout the game the exact location of your tank forces. Only in the intitial phas of my attack on Ruby Hill my troops overlooked a recon team and an AT team, the one that caught the HT.

Maybe I could have assaulted the central hill (Obsidian) anytime, but holding it required destroying your Panthers. Therefore I delayed my assault when you didn´t burn them in my ambushes and was preparing an all-out attack. The M10´s that caught your Stugs were only recently arrived from the northern front, were they were my reserve. Also my Katyushas were still reloading... :rolleyes:

My forces:

SO HQ

2 FO´s

2 platoons of M10 Wolverines (10 tanks)

2 platoons of OT-34 flame tanks (6 tanks)

2 Guard infantry companies with 12,7mm MG´s and Mol-P AT teams

2 AT companies of 1 12,7mm MG HQ and 6 Mol-P teams and 3 PTRD teams each

3 sections of 12,7mm MG´s (love ´em):D

2 sections of M5 HT´s (4)

4 sections of 85mm AA guns (yes, they were meant for an AT role)

3 sections of 57mm ATG´s

3 Snipers

4 Recon á 3x 4-men patrols

1 Katyusha BM-13 platoon (4)

1 152mm Btn

3 SU-76 SPA platoons

2 Ammo Dumps


Reinforcements:

4 more recon patrols

1 HT section

1 Katyusha BM-13 platoon

1 SU-76 SPA platoon


Colonel Lucashenko leaned back in his chair. The Germans were withdrawing, leaving his troops in possession of the battlefield. The destruction of their assault guns had convinced them that victory was not possible here. They had paid a high price here today.


Casualties:

German/Soviet

Men:505/118
Arty:7/0
Soft:1/0
APC:7/2
AFV:8/0


All in all, very light losses for me. I´ll be chided by my superiors for being to mild on my men:rolleyes:

[Scharfschütze]

I did another hypersnap of the area where the fiercest fighting raged with the units in their final postions, and have added some text to make things more clear. Enjoy!

[Belisarius]

Good pic!

Needless to say, those crater holes are all his doing :rolleyes:

The only good approach I had to the M10's on the east side on Ruby Hill was to take the trip round Obsidian Hill to bear directly from the north east - and thus exposing my rear/flank of the tanks to his CLOAKED AT's sitting on a ridge to the right. Bummer.


I wonder what had happened if I hadn't dropped the FJs on top of the SU-76 and OT-34 park... :p