AAR OVERLORD (135 Turns) Timian (Allies) vs OrderInChaos (Germans) D-Day to Falaise

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 4 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 3 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase


Utah Beach area


And my moves planned for the turn. Nothing spectacular happening on this side of the map at the moment. Just consolidating position.

Utah.png (2.75 MiB) Viewed 206 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 4 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 3 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Supply, Ammo, and Replacements Turn 7 running total - really have to pay attention to this I feel

SupplyAmmoReplacements.png (114.7 KiB) Viewed 205 times

[OrderInChaos]

End of Turn 4

Really enjoying the game on how things happen during the turn. (A+ enjoyable in my book) I still have some reservations on how the Victory Points are awarded but I am going to let this play out to see if my current thinking is misgiven. Plus the turns really don't take that long once you get used to them. With my current Army takes about an hour to do a decent turn and I am sure this will go up a bit once the counter density becomes larger.

Thank you for looking and reading.

[Timian]

Allied End of Turn 7 Planning (Night / 6 PM / 7 June 1944)

Apologies . . . I forgot to make screenshots of the Allied Turns 5 and 6. Will try not to be so absentminded again.

Second night turn of the game. Best, at night, to not move or attack (except if you really, really, need to and/or the attack is at very, very good odds; like 15:1 or better).

Why? There’s a penalty for non-night units to attack or shoot artillery. As well as simply moving. And as a unit's Readiness gets below 80% it's ability to use Shock (Armored Effects), as well as it's attack and movement ratings decrease.

Night units are Allied Airborne Units (except Artillery and AT Unis), Divisional and Regimental Engineers (both Allied and German), Allied Commando or Ranger Units, and all Recon or Recce Units (again, both Allied and German).

FYI, the screen shot immediately below is from the Tutorial.



“Heart” = % Readiness
“Fist” = % Strength

The Black Circle on the Right Side of the Counter = Out of Supply / Can’t Trace Supply to it’s Division Headquarters or a Secondary Supply Source, like it’s Corps Headquarters. (If it could track to a Secondary Supply Source, the circle would be Yellow.)

Just to close the loop, if you right click on a counter, you can bring up the window with a detail description of its status.
In addition, night is when units best recover their Readiness (“Heart”). Any turn a unit Attacks or Moves - or just sits in its hex - its Readiness decreases (especially at night). Best, if possible, to keep units Readiness at 80% (Green) or better. In addition, whether day or night, a unit’s Readiness Level impact on its ability to inflict casualties and absorb them.

Needless to say, Elite or Veteran (Quality = 5 or 4) loose Readiness slower - and recover it quicker - than Green or Conscript Units (Quality 2 or 1).

With all that in mind, that’s why I decided to move or attack just a few Allied Units.

On Utah, I elected to give 4th Infantry Division Fuel so I could “by truck” (via the Blue Movement Arrow) the 1st and 3rd Battalions/22nd Infantry Regiment from near the Northeast corner of Utah (i.e., the hex where the American Tank Battalion is) to a hex just Northeast of Carentan (were 22nd Infantry’s remaining battalion is).



At Omaha the Big Red One is attacking to clear the last German Strong Point.



Between Gold and Juno, one of the Brigades from the 51st Infantry Division (with Artillery and Engineer support) is also attacking to clear a German Strong Point + two of the 51st’s 25 Pounder Batteries are saying “Hello” - with an 8 Point Barrage - to a Panther Company from the 12th SS Panzer Division.



On Sword, the 4th Special Service Brigade (or Command Brigade) is attacking to clear the last German Strong Point near the center of Sword Beach.

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Execution Phase

Timian jumped ahead to Turn 7 for Allies but I will fill in Turn 5, Turn 6, and Turn 7 of the Germans . I believe Timian was a bit exited to get it posted ;-P I just finished Turn 8 and sent it over to Timian so the AAR will be pretty up to date once I get the German side up to date. Now let's see what Turn 4 execution phase has in store for the Germans and bring this AAR up to turn 7 for Germany.



Here is the snapshot and you can see I was able to pull out all the Germans from my forward marching last turn. I figured out you have to use "delay" in the game & to retreat through units with the delay, then move those units. Easy to say but hard to understand without visual. When I get another one I will show if anyone would like to see this in action (please post in the AAR if you do). Needless to say the moves went well but I suffered three times the readiness loss on the units for moving though because it was night, but necessary

Caen Area T4 Execution.png (2.32 MiB) Viewed 155 times

The Brits decide to night attack my artillery units I was trying to withdraw (yellow box on the map. I lose 2 guns and 16 readiness but I am finally off the front line with these guns. They did take 51 Brits with them though

attack near Bayeux.png (116.27 KiB) Viewed 155 times

Night Artillery has not been worth it for me as Germany, yet. I attacked at night and I don't have the quantity of guns needed to make an impact it looks like... Here is a typical result I have been getting at night, which is horrid to attack in in the first place at nightime, in the pink box area.

Bombardment.png (109.27 KiB) Viewed 155 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Execution Phase

Omaha Area

Everything here is in decent shape. I have key bridges blown and working on the last one.

Omaha Area.png (2.38 MiB) Viewed 150 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Execution Phase

Utah area

This area is pretty quite also. Not much happens at night besides Germans running to the front as quick as they can. All of the German reenforcements come in at night with two dry turns (day turns)

Utah Area.png (1.41 MiB) Viewed 148 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Caen Area

Snapshot below I am getting the 12th SS to the Bayeux area in force taking position between Caen and Bayeux (blue lines). I withdraw another hex closer to Caen consolidating my position using towns and villages to negate the effects of Armor in the line.

T5 planning Caen.png (2.17 MiB) Viewed 134 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Omaha Area

I have been playing wargames for a long time. I have to say that the area I marked in pink is one of the dumbest moves I have ever done in any game I have played. I should have checked more thoroughly the Allied order of battle for their bridge builders having been under the impression they didn't come in until turn 7 or 8ish. But oh well live and learn and see how it plays out as I try to extract my head from my rear area in a few turns. (I don't mind losing but losing because of my own stupidity is horrid)

Basically I should have left a defense on my side of the bridge...

T5 Omaha planning.png (1.02 MiB) Viewed 133 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Utah Area

Some more fixed units are released to the west of Cherburg which I start marching to the front lines. Did a few repositions. All in all pretty quiet here so far.

T5 Planning Utah.png (1.58 MiB) Viewed 131 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Artillery Fire

I like this visual of where I have my guns firing for offensive fire, yellow box with yellow arrows, and defensive fire with green arrows.

Artillery.png (1.95 MiB) Viewed 130 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 5 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 4 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Victory Points

Here is the Victory Points so far in the game. The allies points have come strictly from killing all of my "ZERO" point moving units stuck in place Except for 3 points for St Mere Eglise

I am still winning this turn!!!!!! But reality sinks in that I still have, "One Hundred and Thirty" turns left to go until it is official... Looks grim. Anyway here is the VP screen

VP T5.png (210.51 KiB) Viewed 129 times

St Mere Eglise VP.png (8.43 KiB) Viewed 129 times

[OrderInChaos]

So far I have to say this has been one of the most enjoyable wargames I have played. I do believe the WEGO system to be superior to the traditional "I go, you go" game. The fluidity of the game is just so immersive . On to Turn 6!

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Execution Phase

Caen Area

12th SS makes good on their night march and is in between Caen and Bayeux for the majority of their units. The allies continue to clean up the Beach area of units (more free VP's ....

Execution T5.png (1.63 MiB) Viewed 64 times

The only notable battle in this area is to the south east of Bayeux. Here is the result of this engagement.

Bayeux.png (131.43 KiB) Viewed 64 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Execution Phase

Omaha

Only the Allies cleaning up the strong points on the beach during the execution phase.

Omaha T5 execution.png (1.99 MiB) Viewed 63 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Execution Phase

Utah Area

Turn 5 execution sees the Americans attacking up the coastline marked in yellow. I feel until the Americans link up they are not going to be able to push hard towards Cherbourg.

Utah t5 Execution.png (1.42 MiB) Viewed 60 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Caen Area

My idea here is to have at least a specific number of defense points in each hex while trying to adhere to not losing to much integrity on unit cohesion. I move 12th SS forward to take up a position a few hexes northwest of Caen. Always in the back of my mind is the bombardment by Warships and Artillery so I really don't like being in open hexes . But currently I am going to play in the open and see what comes. I then set up defense artillery for units across the map here, but it seems the Brits and Canadians are just taking their sweet time to get to the front, which is "A OK" with me. Buys me time for more of my reinforcements to get on the map and to rest from all the marching

T6 Planning.png (2.18 MiB) Viewed 54 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Omaha Area

Trying to blow the bridge marked in yellow. Of course the light blue area behind the bridge I don't have any residual defenders to ensure if the bridge is repaired to at least contest a crossing. My total noob move of the century.

Omaha T6.png (1.26 MiB) Viewed 52 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Utah Area

Moving more released fixed units to the front.

Utah T6.png (2.56 MiB) Viewed 45 times

[OrderInChaos]

Turn 6 (Execution Phase (this is execution of phase 5 planning by both the German and Allies)

Planning Phase

Supply/Ammo/Replacement

This is my Supply, Ammo, and replacements I have stockpiled at the moment. I lose over 50% of what is in the top left corner every turn. So I have to know what I spend these points on.

SupplyAmmoReplacements.png (187.05 KiB) Viewed 45 times