Overlord - AAR (Game turns 1-25)

[MartNick]

Scenario: Overlord

Game settings: All optional rules

Landings for all of the airborne forces went quite well, not to many casualties. My strategy was to give the airborne troops 18-19 game turns to disperse and capture as many victory hexes as possible, but creating a defensible perimeter as they went. When the main landings started all airborne troops would then 'dig in' where they were and wait to be relieved and reinforced.

101st and 82nd (Game Turns 1-25) This shows the extent of the USA airborne attack. Ste. Mare-Eglise fell easily. The perimeter goes to Colomby in the west and Ste. Come du Monte in the south, I did'nt manage to capture the two bridges just north of Carentan, I'll have to wait for reinforcements before going for those. German reinforcements are beginning to appear to the North of Carentan and Neuville au Plain.

[MartNick]

6th Airborne (Game Turns 1-25) The British airborne attack has captured Sannerville in the South, and Franceville Plage to the North. The Orne river bridge is occupied and is being fortified as is Merville. No significant German reinforcements yet, but I'm sure the 21st Panzer is about somewhere.

[MartNick]

The main landings began on turn 19 at Utah Beach. I used the naval artillery give the whole coast line from Utah to Sword a good pounding and covered it in smoke as the troops landed and a few game turns before as well. I decided not to use too much of the airpower as I want this available when I breakout from the beaches.

Utah Beach (Game Turns 1-25) Picked up some heavy casualties on 'Victor' Beach initially but managed to breakthrough quite easily, tanks are moving through to Herbert to link up with the 101st and 82nd. Plan to sweep North and South of Utah Beach as well to clear the coast of Germans. Used naval artillery to pound the German defenses and keep them covered in smoke as the landings went on. Engineers will be busy removing mines and Obstacles for a while.

[MartNick]

Omaha Beach (Game Turns 1-25) Again kept the whole beach covered in smoke and artillery as the troops landed. Pointe du Hoc has fallen. I concentrated my troops at the points of the German defence where the concrete defenses are and attacked them with engineers as soon as possible. Quite heavy casualties all along the beach, but have broken through the concrete defenses in 4 places, so starting to move inland.

[MartNick]

Gold Beach (Game Turns 1-25) Same strategy on the landings with naval bombardment, but broken through quite easily at Les Roquettes and Hable du Heuretot. The main problem with the landing is the lack of Engineers to clear mines and obstacles, so have quite a traffic jam on the beaches.

[MartNick]

Juno Beach (Game Turns 1-25) Same naval bombardment strategy. Haven't broken through yet, same problem as with Gold Beach, not enough Engineers to clear the way but have created a continous front.

[Temple]

MartNick, is this you versus the AI? How long does it take for the AI to process it's turn? And could you post a screenie of the jump map? Darn, I just knew this would happen, I'm getting excited over a scenario that I just don't have time to play.. [;)]

[MartNick]

Sword Beach (Game Turns 1-25) Same naval bombardment strategy. Have broken through pretty much all along the beach front, not looking forward to attacking Ouistreham though, plan to send an armoured column down to the Orne river bridge as soon as possible to link up with the 6th Airborne before the 21st Panzer show up.

[MartNick]

Hi Temple

Yes I am playing against the AI. Not sure how long the game turns take as I run my business from home and have the game running a machine on the network. I just pop back now and then and see whats happened. Which jump map do you want to see? I didn't start the AAR from the beginning so what I'm putting up now is just an overview of the first 25 game turns.

A little tip for anybody wanting to play the scenario. Because of the volume of troops on the beaches it makes sense to move the landing craft away as sometimes you can't see all the units in a hex, don't want to leave any valuable troops hidden on the beach!

[Elwro]

I'm not sure if it's not a stupid question, but do you use organisational movement?

[MartNick]

I never really use it, I prefer to move the troops myself and not let the AI make too many decisions. Especially with the concealment rules I'd get angry with the computer, keep running into ambushes. At least if I do it its my own fault [:(]

[Elwro]

Yeah, I agree, but I just wanted to roughly estimate the time one'd have to spend to play the scenario. With 7000 Allied units.. even if there are never all of them present, it'd still be a turn a day maximum for me, I think (given my time constraints). So - about 4 years if I played rigorously .

[Jason Petho]

Unfortunately, the AI isn't really a tough opponent, .. to really see this scenario come to life, you need to find a dedicated opponent.

Good luck!!
Jason Petho

[MartNick]

Not sure I would live to see the end of the game tho Jason [:D]

Check out my other thread, I did a little photoshop thing with the date/time in the top right corner of the interface for a datestamp.

[british exil]

Hi glad to be able to read how you're getting on.
Man 7000 units is a lot of movement and time.
Really appreciate the time you're taking for the AAR.

Would like to hear your thoughts as to what actions you plan and why.
A bit of tactic and strategy perhaps.

Cheers mate.

[Titanwarrior89]

Nice AAR. Enjoying it.

[MartNick]

As I'm getting well into the first day of Overlord I got to thinking about the turns which would be night turns. Now as the allies do have overwhelming artillery and air support I could simply just keep pounding away day and night which I think would be unrealistic. So I've decided to self impose sections of time that artillery and air support cannot be used, to simulate night turns between 9.00pm and 6.00am. Assuming that the scenario starts at 12.00pm with the allied air drops, the days break down like this.

1 - 62 Day 1 (includes six hours 12.00pm - 6.00am for allied air drops)
62 - 90 Night 1 (Artillery/air support excluded)
91 - 135 Day 2
136 - 162 Night 2 (Artillery/air support excluded)
163 - 207 Day 3
208 - 234 Night 3 (Artillery/air support excluded)
235 - 279 Day 4
280 - 306 Night 4 (Artillery/air support excluded)
307 - 351 Day 5
352 - 378 Night 5 (Artillery/air support excluded)
379 - 423 Day 6
424 - 450 Night 6 (Artillery/air support excluded)
451 - 495 Day 7
496 - 522 Night 7 (Artillery/air support excluded)
523 - 567 Day 8
568 - 594 Night 8 (Artillery/air support excluded)
595 - 639 Day 9
640 - 666 Night 9 (Artillery/air support excluded)
667 - 711 Day 10
712 - 738 Night 10 (Artillery/air support excluded)
739 - 783 Day 11
784 - 810 Night 11 (Artillery/air support excluded)
811 - 855 Day 12
856 - 882 Night 12 (Artillery/air support excluded)
883 - 927 Day 13
928 - 954 Night 13 (Artillery/air support excluded)
955 - 999 Day 14
1000 - 1026 Night 14 (Artillery/air support excluded)
1027 - 1071 Day 15
1072 - 1098 Night 15 (Artillery/air support excluded)
1099 - 1143 Day 16
1144 - 1170 Night 16 (Artillery/air support excluded)
1171 - 1215 Day 17
1216 - 1242 Night 17 (Artillery/air support excluded)
1243 - 1250 Day 18

I'm also going to self impose a 'no advance movement' and 'no offensive attacks' by the allies at night as well. I think movement behind the front lines to reorganise, and engineers clearing obstacles etc will be allowed.

The Germans obviously wont be bound by the same rules. I'll let you know how it works [:)]

[british exil]

What will you if the germans don't stick to "your" rules?

Been surfing around to see if i could find anything on night fighting.

All day long US Mitchells bombed the enemy especially around Battipaglia and there was not a great deal for us to do. No doubt the enemy decided to take cover with so much air activity. At night the battleships out at sea fired their big guns over our heads and on to the German positions and from time to time we could see the huge red hot shells streaking across the sky. Many years later I learned that they really shook the enemy troops.

And at midnight the artillery started, our artillery I think it was French and British and American artillery. It fired all night long into the town and into this monastery up on the mountain

Could only find accounts of fighting in Italy.
But I reckon the Arty boys did harassment firing in France.

So maybe you can bend the rules a little then without feeling to guilty.[;)]

Mat

[MartNick]

Hi Mat

I think maybe support fire from Mortars if the situation became desperate, but Naval and Airpower I think would be almost impossible to plan accurately at night.

The night turn moves from RS will be a great addition to scenarios like this [:D]

[freeboy]

i saw this scenario at the blitz, said it came with western front, but it is not in my matrix edition set files??? unavailble for download at the blitz.. so whats up? Is this supposed to come wwith the matrix game?