St. Lo

[crushingleeek_slith]

ORIGINAL: Franklin Nimitz

Thanks! I hope to play it soon, once I get caught up at work. Stupid job gets in the way of my recreation.

Sure thing, I'd love to know how everybody's battle turns out, so don't be shy with the feedback.

[AKCLIMBER]

Thanks! Looking forward to giving it a try. [&o]

[ulisin]

Thanks! I hope to play it soon!

[Prince of Eckmühl]

ORIGINAL: crushingleeek

Sure thing, I'd love to know how everybody's battle turns out, so don't be shy with the feedback.

Wow, this is really great. It's terrific to have folks interested in building maps/oob/scenarios for the game. The CotA modder's forum could be a pretty lonely place, so I really appreciate your participation and hard work.

A suggestion regarding file management...

When you use custom graphics, like that for your bocage terrain, you may want to give it a name other than DEFAULT. For example, BOCAGE or HEDGEROW would do nicely. Then, designate the correct graphics set in the MM utility. That will allow players to play your scenario without fiddling with the graphics for BftB. In effect, users can have as many sets of scenario-discreet graphics files as they like, and have them associate automatically rather than through renaming/substitution of the DEFAULT graphics folder.

[crushingleeek_slith]

Great suggestion Prince. I made a Graphics/Map/Bocage folder. (Previously it was Graphics/Map/Default, and I left it up to you to backup the original default folder.) I've now linked the map to the new bocage folder, so for those who haven't downloaded and want to, or want to preserve your default folder without any manipulation, simply extract this zip file into your parent command ops BFTB directory and it should be ready to play.

[AKCLIMBER]

Thanks for this scenario! I've just started day 9 as the exhausted Americans and I'm finding it quite a challenge. At this point, unless the Germans unexpectedly crumble under the weight of my arty and air strikes, I'll be happy to end up with a marginal victory (and enough of a toe hold in St. Lo to deny the Germans undisputed control of the objective point). Terrific map that really gives an idea of the difficulties of fighting thru hedgerows against a determined opponent (and it looks great too!).

Cheers!

[crushingleeek_slith]

ORIGINAL: AKCLIMBER

Thanks for this scenario! I've just started day 9 as the exhausted Americans and I'm finding it quite a challenge. At this point, unless the Germans unexpectedly crumble under the weight of my arty and air strikes, I'll be happy to end up with a marginal victory (and enough of a toe hold in St. Lo to deny the Germans undisputed control of the objective point). Terrific map that really gives an idea of the difficulties of fighting thru hedgerows against a determined opponent (and it looks great too!).

Cheers!

Thanks for the praise AKCLIMBER. Glad you are enjoying it. It was a lot of fun researching and putting it together. Like you mention, it gives some idea of how overwhelming American firepower met with stubborn crack troop resistance and hastily put-together albeit quality German armor

[chamberlain]

Hi Crushingleek,
Again, thanks for making the St. Lo mod for BFTB. (I'm Chamberlain here, but Broadsword on the Battlefront forums)
I'm only just starting Day 1 and making my initial plans, so I don't have much to report on my experience with it, yet except:
*Love the bocage patterned terrain.
*What a challenge this looks like for the US player.
My plan:
At first, I was attracted by the idea of trying to break through the German line W of Hill 192 somewhere between La Luzerne and St. Andre-de-l'Epine, using the full weight of the 29th and 35th divisions, with 3rd Armored as a reserve/exploitation force. But then I realized, as I considered moving 3rd Armored to that central sector, that the Vire River prevents this and its bridge at Pont Hebert is an even more important immediate objective. Once I have a secure river crossing, I'll have better E-W linkups between my divisions, my forces will be able to mututally support each other much better, and the Germans will have a tougher time if they lose the E-W highway.
So, Phase 1 will be a Day 2 dawn attack on Pont Hebert by 119th Infantry Regt + Co. E CCB/3rd AD + 105th Engineer Co/30th Div., preceded by a hellacious 15 min. artillery barrage. To divert attention from that, 137th Intantry regt/35th Div will make an aggressive probe south along the E bank of the Vire into St. Giles. I'll also put a lot of artillery and (if available) air support on the highway E. of Pont Hebert to block/harass any German effort to reinforce Pont Hebert from the east. The rest of the army will make weak probes all along the front, just to get intel and keep Adolf guessing.
Hopefully, the commotion around Pont Hebert will distract the Germans' attention to the west, maybe even leading them to weaken the center. That's when it's time to unleash Phase 2 (the 3 division attack and breakthrough W of Hill 192). Cutting off and enveloping Hill 192 this way seems preferable to attacking it frontally and uphill. I could try enveloping it from the East, but I don't like that option for 2 reasons: I have fewer forces on the far east end of the map, and it would give the Germans the opportunity to wage their defense from the coveted "central position."
The only thing that worries me a bit is that heavy German armor on the far west end of their line. I'm going to have to keep at least some of 3rd Armored Div in that sector to protect the 30th Infantry Div.
What do you think? Stay tuned to see how it played out...

[crushingleeek_slith]

Thanks for the praise!

At first, I was attracted by the idea of trying to break through the German line W of Hill 192 somewhere between La Luzerne and St. Andre-de-l'Epine, using the full weight of the 29th and 35th divisions, with 3rd Armored as a reserve/exploitation force. But then I realized, as I considered moving 3rd Armored to that central sector, that the Vire River prevents this and its bridge at Pont Hebert is an even more important immediate objective. Once I have a secure river crossing, I'll have better E-W linkups between my divisions, my forces will be able to mututally support each other much better, and the Germans will have a tougher time if they lose the E-W highway.

Your considerations are very similar to what the 1st Army high command was thinking in early July.

So, Phase 1 will be a Day 2 dawn attack on Pont Hebert by 119th Infantry Regt + Co. E CCB/3rd AD + 105th Engineer Co/30th Div., preceded by a hellacious 15 min.

spoken like a true yank! pound the area to a pulp!

To divert attention from that, 137th Intantry regt/35th Div will make an aggressive probe south along the E bank of the Vire into St. Giles. I'll also put a lot of artillery and (if available) air support on the highway E. of Pont Hebert to block/harass any German effort to reinforce Pont Hebert from the east. The rest of the army will make weak probes all along the front, just to get intel and keep Adolf guessing.

good plan, but don't expect the krauts to stay stagnant, be prepared for some probes of their own (i think)

Hopefully, the commotion around Pont Hebert will distract the Germans' attention to the west, maybe even leading them to weaken the center. That's when it's time to unleash Phase 2 (the 3 division attack and breakthrough W of Hill 192). Cutting off and enveloping Hill 192 this way seems preferable to attacking it frontally and uphill. I could try enveloping it from the East, but I don't like that option for 2 reasons: I have fewer forces on the far east end of the map, and it would give the Germans the opportunity to wage their defense from the coveted "central position."

American intel at this point already knew of the fallschrimjager division in defense of hill 192. Both sides understand the importance of this hill for the main St. Lo objective! be prepared for stiff resistance especially here (says your intel officer)

The only thing that worries me a bit is that heavy German armor on the far west end of their line. I'm going to have to keep at least some of 3rd Armored Div in that sector to protect the 30th Infantry Div.

[:D]

[patchogue]

Remember to thank Monty for distracting the bulk of the German armour...mostly by bouncing Shermans off it!

[ETF]

Hi Guys!
This looks amazing. What do I need beside the base game to get started with MODs such as St.Lo.

Thanks!

[Lieste]

Nothing - to play you just need to place the files into the correct folders*. You need no special software to modify or create things either, but a spreadsheet or DB to organise stuff is useful.

*Some authors will require manually moving the files to their correct locations, others will have packaged the files to allow simply unzipping into the BFTB folder.

[ETF]

Ok thank you. I guess I will D/L the St. Lo and take a look at the instructions. Assuming there are any

[Magpius]

[font="times new roman"]@ETF, time to move BftB into your top 5 sig? + Is your #2 that good? (worth a purchase?)
@crushingleeek, [/font][font="times new roman"]Excellent St. Lo. Scenario, are you working on others?
[/font]

[freeboy]

wow,
20000 rounds a DAY
???
I know that was over an area... how large was the area refered to the Gerry Korps held during this pounding

[Lieste]

Two Korps.

20,000 rounds is about 10 batteries expending a single unit of fire - not much above what we commonly use in scenarios of this size.

[freeboy]

its probably me thinking 20k bombs... I have been running some air campeigns in wite and witpae and probably struck me as terrifically high,, my misconception. I can see how that would be a reasonable, high but reasonable figure for an multidivisional assualt...
thanks for the response
another ?
is there a scenario center for these mods, There was one years ago that covered multiple games but it is loing since abandoned? thanks again
 

[Lieste]

Actually, I think I'm one level of support 'out'... it would be 10+ Bn/Rgt of artillery, each firing one unit of fire, or roughly 1 unit of fire from 30 bty.
A fairly high concentration of fire, but not out-of-the world, and nothing compared to WW1 artillery expenditures.

Although a bit later, the break-out phase had 1000 guns available to the US forces under Collins - so a 20,000 round per day expenditure would average less than 1/4 of a standard load, but fired from more guns... [X(]
Now That is a lot of guns.... though I'm not sure how many of those could range into the Cobra sector. Ammunition was noted as being in short supply though - which may not be surprising when you have that many tubes to feed.

[Joubarbe]

You should put your main link (without the DEFAULT issue) into your first post.
Thanks for this scenario.

[wodin]

ORIGINAL: crushingleeek

Welcome to hedgerow hell!

My hedges aren't green but black with what looks like small graphical errors in the shape of coloured pixels.

Anyone help? I did install the bocage map folder.