Another Tricky Day - Time on Target 33
Attractions - Norway, 1940 - for some of us, nuff said. Germans get 81mm OBA and a balanced infantry/armor force (including the Neubaufahrzeug land battleship) with which to achieve the usual interesting ToT VC's - basically the farther they progress up bd 40, the more VP they get per unit. Brits get a standard infantry force backed up by two Hotchkiss 25LL ATG's and a 76mm MTR. Since this is the snafu'd Brit adventure in Norway, they get 248's to man the Guns instead of 228 crews, and the Brit 51mm MTRs are tragically without HE ammo (damn quartermaster). Snow and Ice make the bd 40 river into open ground.

Tim Wilson had the Germans, and I always seem to roll well against Tim's armor. This was no exception, as 4 of the 5 German tanks were afire after three turns (not just wrecks, but blazing wrecks, when the final To Kill #s were like 6) and the last one was immobilized. That pretty much tells the whole story; a brutal dicing at the hands of the Hotchkiss 25LL's. Ah well.

The 76mm MTR goes well on the elevated road in the rear; it'll stay in the game forever and has LOS to most of the board. Watch the minimum range of 6; it can't go too far up front. I'd have liked to put a Hotchkiss back there for the same long-lifetime reason, but I feared that would draw some OBA fire, and besides, I figured the ATG's could take the German armor if they were both up front. That was right. One went in the building in R1 and another went in a sangar in N0. Both boresighted the C6 bridge.

Other Sangars went in O4, O6, S1, and T1. Since I've played Tim a lot and I usually put Dummies up front, I crossed him up this time and set up strong on hill 520. The 8-1, 248/MMG, 457 went in i8 (with the MMG having a nice boresight to G10), a 457/atr went in i7, and two 247's with an 8-0 went in i10. These front-line guys did well against the Germans coming up to the F8 area, but eventually felt heat from the massed German infantry and armor as well as the OBA observer who had gotten to C2 (still concealed). The Brit 51mm MTR's are only good for smoke, so put 'em in the center of the board behind the wall where they can smoke out any German firebases that develop.

The game was 90% decided by the Brit ATG's feasting on the German tanks, and the last 10% was decided by a bad German OBA scatter which placed Harassing Fire in h8, perfectly blocking the German infantry route through the 10 hexrow and funneling the attack into the open ground on the 5-side of the hill. It was then a shooting gallery, with the firelanes from the Brit LMG's coming in handy.

The Germans seem to have the tougher time in this one. They need to use their tanks, but the tanks are pretty vulnerable to the ATG's. I'd bring the land battleship on on turn 1 and have it sit around D5 and just keep on firing broadsides. That s9 from the 75mm MA should come in handy. The OBA observer around C2 should be able to lay down some nastiness on the wooded hill, but I wouldn't lay Harassing Fire which could completely stifle the German infantry thrust along the 7-10 hexrows like it did in our game. The Germans need to take the hill, and they have the infantry numbers to do it. There's an interesting possibility of trying a German AFV trail break in J10 - a nice way to break some armor into the Brit rear.

Other than that, though, it's conceivable that the German armor needs to lay back and support the general infantry assault instead of trying to lead from the front. Armored assault and sD6's are nice, but two 25LL's with ROF of 2 (by SSR) can do a lot of damage, and the VC's make the German armor very valuable. I'd be tempted to keep the German armor out of LOS from the 25LL's and just do cmg/IFE fire support until the ATG's were neutralized.

All in all, an interesting and OK scenario. I can see the Germans having a really hard time if the OBA doesn't come in. And the Germans have more opportunity to screw up if their armor tries something it shouldn't - a problem I often have with armor.

Tom

Com. Repetinen wrote:
> Tim Wilson had the Germans, and I always seem to roll well against Tim's
> armor. This was no exception, as 4 of the 5 German tanks were afire after
> three turns (not just wrecks, but blazing wrecks, when the final To Kill #s
> were like 6) and the last one was immobilized. That pretty much tells the
> whole story; a brutal dicing at the hands of the Hotchkiss 25LL's. Ah well.

Tim is the 'daring devil' - type? I think it is no good to do John Wayne things with the tanks initially. Bring them in safe and hide most of them. The Neubaufahrzeug comes in on the left side and gains height to deal with what comes in sight. A smoke shot vs. the backgroung MTR is one of it's tasks. Use the other vehicles to backup the infantry and maybe turn OG into safer terrain. Try to bring in the OBA spotter concealed. He will be a prime target for the british player. If you sneak in some concealed two high stacks (use whatever you think superfluous initially) by using AM and APh. You keep the british player guessing, and increase the chance to get off the OBA. The german will need the OBA sooner or later (better sooner).

I don't have the board here, so I can give only vague references to the map. There are several possibilities to consider. At least a small detachment of the german should go on the extreme left. Don't risk too much. There are some decent wood spots here with big chance to hold an ATG. You will need those guys to take them out later. If you move frontally to the hill you will face quite murderous DF. But once you are half between the entry and the hill things go better. Try to get the british unconcealed. Then use the infantry plus tanks to dig him out.

Play conservativley, but keep in mind that the british is easy eaten once you take out the Guns. Even one Gun killed is a plus. Mind that capturing a Gun scores VPs too. Thus if the british player sets them both up frontally on/near the hill, they will dish out murderous fire to the tanks, but if you deny them the targets, they are worthless against infantry and easy prey on the long run, since he will not be able to reposition them. Otherwise if the german boldly comes in, putting them up front can really pay.

You can bet that at least one is boresighted on that bridge, so think twice before entering it.

Note that the german armor is very valuable, and that the end-run will pay lots of dividends, so play carefully. Being patient is a major virtue with the tanks. The british player has tough stuff, but he has to cover rather a broad front. The german just needs to whittle him down on one point and the floodgate is open. Once you break trough it is not easy for the british player to recover and get a second position.

When playing this one always take care for the famous end run in this scenario. Using SFF blocking technics (you can't fire at units further away than other enemy units in your LOS), smoke, armored assault, concentration OBA FFE etc. etc. will greatly help you.

Interesting is the decision if to use harrassing fire or normal FFE. While harrassing fire will do much lesser damage, it can virtually paralyze the british player. Noone wants to move a lot in airburst terrain! During one of our playings I was able to use that plot against my opponent. The SR was hovering around, and then I used the two hex widecorridor to run like hell. I faced some defensive fire, but the british was unable to react. My next MPh was a cake walk, as I actually penetrated into his rear. When the OBA lifted he faced being somewhat pincered on his hill. Otherwise it was interesting to hear that the german blocked his own path with a harrassing mission. :-)

For the british the MTR behind on the elevated road is a must. It has also good chances vs. AFVs, it pops smoke, and has big FP and ROF. There are two hexes that are good to place it, and one is better for a reason I cannot remember without seeing the board. Try not to be involved in fire duels, as you most probably will lose them. Take good shots vs. the germans, then go out of LOS, pop up new concealed units. Try to keep your menpower! Even if you kill lots of germans you will lose if you have not enough units to counter the german 'waves' during the final stage of the game.

I like this scenario. For the british it is quite straightforward with nuances, but for the germans it will need experience to lead them well. The whole scenario is a nice guessing game that has chess-like elements. You know - the "if he setup unit x here here I will go there, but wait, maybe the ATG is over there, so I come in here......". Lots of concealed units, low unit density makes this a very fine, rather quick to play scenario featuring delaying tactics on the british and combined arms assault on the german side with interesting VCs. Note that being greedy here should be NA. Better keep the force intact and score less with more units than lose a tank far behind because it has no cover by infantry.

But number one is:
German: Keep AFVs intact and take the Guns out.
British: Keep Guns HIP, cover the approach routes to them and hope you will buy units and terrain for time to make'em AFVs come.

BTW, I never got the Neubaufahrzeug into the VC areas, as it was so busy to blast all that positions, and is such a cumbersome slow chest. But it dishes out impressing fire and has awesome armor - at least for 1940 :-) It is not easy to handle this softskinned beetles.

Fritz Tichy

> Tim is the 'daring devil' - type? I think it is no good to do John Wayne
> things with the tanks initially. Bring them in safe and hid most of them.

Actually no, Tim didn't even have a chance to be daring or not-daring with the armor. They all went down within 7 hexes of the board edge, a few while still in the big orchard. The German tanks are channeled pretty effectively by the hill (with the exception of the possible Trail Break in J10), so both Brit ATG's were placed with LOS down the wide open corridor from hexrows 1-6. There's really no place for the armor to hide, and the ATG's have the ROF to quickly build up To Hit numbers of 8 or so. Then with To Kill #'s of 6 against 4 of the 5 tanks, it's pretty easy to score against the tanks as soon as they come onboard.

> The Neubaufahrzeug comes in on the left side and gains height to deal with
> what comes in sight. A smoke shot vs. the backgroung MTR is one of it's tasks.

Hmm. An interesting idea. Certainly his s9 is important. But entering on the German left means that he'll have to brave the ice (drowning on a DR of 8 or more) in order to advance up the board. I think he's got the armor to withstand coming across the bridge on the German right; just stick him out of Deliberate Immob range and have him fire broadsides. "Load Grapeshot, Mister Smead!"

> Try to bring in the OBA spotter concealed. He will be a prime target for the british player.

Yep. This guy goes well in 40C2, concealed. He's hard to hit; by the time he becomes a target for the Brit MTR in the rear or the Brits on the big hill, there's a lot of OTHER targets right in front of the hill that need to be taken care of. Tough call.

> Play conservativley, but keep in mind that the british is easy eaten once
> you take out the Guns.

With only 6 turns to get about halfway up the board, there's not a lot of time to play conservatively. The thin-skinned armor shouldn't give the ATG's easy targets, but the infantry and the land battleship need to get moving. I don't quite agree that the Brits are "easy eaten" once the ATG's go down; they've still got the big MTR in the rear and some SW (ATR, MG's) with which to hit the thin-skinned German tanks, and the terrain is good for defending.

> Note that the german armor is very valuable, and that the end-run will pay
> lots of dividends, so play carefully. Being patient is a major virtue with
> the tanks.

Yep. Either run from or go hell-for-leather against the ATG's, depending on where they're situated.

> The british player has tough stuff, but he has to cover rather a broad front.

Um, are we playing the same scenario? The front is 10 hexes wide, and the big hill covers half of that. Then the walled area around P4 covers another 3 hexes, and the last 3 hexes are a wide-open shooting gallery. It's pretty good defensive terrain.

> Interesting is the decision if to use harrassing fire or normal FFE.

Yeah. Real tempting to nail a lot of Brit defenders on the wooded hill, but it turned out that the 5-hex width of Harassing Fire just channeled the German advance too much.

> For the british the MTR behind on the elevated road is a must. It has also
> good chances vs. AFVs, it pops smoke, and has big FP and ROF. There are
> two hexes that are good to place it, and one is better for a reason I
> cannot remember without seeing the board.

I think Z1 is better; better LOS than AA2 and can hit T1 if necessary. I thought about putting an ATG in BB8 just to keep it in the game forever, but it seemed just a little too far in the rear with too many hindrances. The ATG's do well if they can support each other, so keep 'em relatively close together. Mine did well in N0 and R1; putting one on the hill around i7 is an interesting idea, but the German armor is going to have to bypass the hill anyway, so why not just site down the open alley along hexrows 1-5.

> I like this scenario. For the british it is quite straightforward with nuances,

For some reason I especially like how the Brit 51mm MTR's can only fire smoke. The Germans have a hard time assembling nice firebases in this one, and it's really gratifying to smoke them out after the German works so hard to put 'em online.

> But number one is:
> German: Keep AFVs intact and take the Guns out.

Yep. The ATG's can take the German armor out of the game, and the Germans need the armor VP's to win, so the ATG's are top priority targets. The sD6's are really tempting to use, but only if you can afford to lose a tank. I'd keep the armor in motion and behind cover if necessary.

> British: Keep Guns HIP, cover the approach routes to them and hope you
> will buy units and terrain for time to make'em AFVs come.

I think the 25LL's should be firing until the tubes melt, as soon as the German armor comes on. The To Hit and To Kill numbers are very doable if you open up right away. I wouldn't Intensive Fire as often as I normally like; the ATG's are just too important to break.

Tom

AAR 2:

British OB: 7x 457, 5x248, 3xLdr (1x -1), MMG, 2xLMG, 2xLtMtr, ATR, 3-in. MTR, Hotchkiss AT, 6xSangar, 8x "?" set up on/north of row I.

German OB: 548 (A.E.), 7x467, 2x248, 2x228, 127, 4xLdr (2x -1), 2xMMG(dm), 2xLMG, LtMtr, 80+ BMOBA (HE only), Neubaufahrzeug (rare AFV; 75*/37L, 9redMP, 3/2 AF, s9), Pz IIA, 2xPz IB, PSW 221 enter on/after turn 1 along S edge (A hexrow)

All Stream and water hexes are flooded and frozen, ground snow, bldgs= wood Guns may only be Emplaced in sangars, but may HIP regardless of terrain 248 may use Guns w/o Captured mod.s, but ATs are -1 ROF & +1 TH; the LtMtrs fire s7 only. OBA Extent of Error is halved (FRU)

I took the British, my friend Kurt Litscher the Germans - looking askance at my eagerness to defend... British set up:

• The 2 25LL ATs went in Q1(w/sangar) & R1, the 76* MTR in AA2(sangar), with Boresights in B6, D7, & J6 respectively.
• The other 4 sangars went in Z1 (alt. MTR position), S2 (alt. AT position), and P4/P5 (fallback for infantry, since I had no better ideas)
• The 8-1 & MMG I placed in O5, as a good central position. The ATR sqd was in I9 (though this probably should have been an Hotchkiss location).
• The remaining infantry was scattered about- I8, J7, N0, O8. The LtMtrs were mostly an afterthought in L0 & O4; I was more worried about losing the HS manning them than laying Smoke.
• My set-up left the ATs vulnerable to OBA, and possibly being Smoked; but, with one AT being visible (under ?), Kurt might not expect both there. And in any case, I really expected him to be terrified of moving his AFVs near the river: the ATs might never get a decent shot, but would scare the tanks into going through the J10 woods.

German 1:
All of the tanks enter/move along hexes #'d 8+, while the infantry come on in a long skirmish line. The MMGs and LtMtr come on around A8. The tanks park S of the stream. The infantry NAM/MO get lucky in DFF, and the one shot by the Q1 25LL, at its BS hex, misses.
The Germans AFPh against units concealed on the hill is a big FG w/ the dm MMG & LMG. The IFT DR is 12, and RS takes the LMG and a MMG.

Brit 1:
In the RPh, the dmMMG is disabled. Kurt begins whining. My PFPh sees my first attack, by the MTR, score a CH against a sqd in D4 (icebreaker? No, just sqdbreaker); then it breaks another sqd; the MMG breaks a sqd+8-1 and the AE squad. Now, nearly half of Kurt's infantry is shot up, and the tanks are in LOS of just 2 ? stacks (in I7- a Dummy- and I8). These skulk, and the MMG adv. to O4 for more LOS/targets.

Germ 2:
No PFPh, the Germs move up to row G, crowding the hexes #'d 7+ to hide from the MTR/MMG. In DFPh the 76* malfs.

Brit 2:
The MTR is repaired and in PFPh takes the Germ rally point (C3, because of LowCrawl) under fire. Of the 2 sqds & 8-0 in the hex, only a HS(DM) is left alive. More skulking on the hill.

Germ 3:
Feeling pressed for time, Kurt sends the Pzs towards the hill; a PzIB crosses fine, moves into I8(byI9), and I decline a PAATC; the other enters J10 (no Bog), goes on to K10. The 221 enters I7(byI8), revealing the Dummies. The Neubaufahrzeug (big N to us) heads for the C6 bridge, thinking it has a better chance surviving 2 ATs than crossing Ice (at a weight of 23.5 tons, this seems right). Both ATs fire on it, but each rolls 11. The PzIIA tries to cross the stream, rolls 11, & says bye-bye! Now the infantry get moving; Kurt is STILL trying to run infantry up the hexes #'d 1-2, in the face of my MMG; this works brilliantly, as the MMG malfs right off. In his AFPh the Germ scores his 1st CVP, when the sqd in I8 breaks twice before routing out. The ATR sqd in I9, having whiffed vs. the PzIB in H9, is also broken- but the Germ movement has left it a rout path to I10!. The Germs then adv adjacent, expecting to collect some easy prisoner VP.

Brit 3:
The ATR sqd Self-Rallies. In PFPh the 25LLs continue firing on the bigN, who's now in D5/motion. The 4th hit, by the 2nd AT, rolls a 3 & kills it... it never fired any weapon. The ATR sqd AMs adj. to PzIB. Its DF creates a Hero out of the sqd - Kurt is holding his head in his hands at this point! As an aside (really!), the Germ *finally* rolls for Radio Contact, then draws Red. This is an aside, because Kurt DID do his OBA in the proper sequence, but had up till now always forgotten until too late in the Phase. [Kurt is a stickler for following the ASOP, but is terrible about OBA. In Red Barricades as the German he avoided buying OBA for this reason!] The ATR Hero fails to hit the Pz, and can't talk the sqd into CC.

Germ 4:
The Brit MMG is repaired. The Observer rolls an 11 for Radio Contact. The PzIB in K10 backs up to L9, the Pz in I8 crunches into J8 (full MP). The Germ infantry creeps into the J hexrow (J1, J7, J9), and in AFPh breaks the sqd with the Hero; they are finally captured - total Germ CVP= 5. They then adv. into CC with Hero; he wins Ambush, and withdraws to K10 - adj. to Pz... In another CC, the Germs adv against concealed 457, who refuse to attack, and survives a 1:1 -1.

Brit 4:
The concealed sqd AMs out of CC hex, but is broken. An HS (the survivor of the Germs' 1st CVP) AMs with its 8-0 adj. to the Pz in L9, whose DF is ineffective. In APh the HS passes its PAATC, and joins the Hero in CC. The DR is a 3, and the IB is no more.

At this point Kurt resigns. With two MPhs left, he would have to suffer no losses to gain enough bonus VP (for being in/N of hexrow N) to win; and the Brits were not providing CVP, either.

Clearly, the lack of OBA decided this scenario. Kurt simply failed to use it. Looking through the draw deck, after the initial Red were 4 Black, plenty to hose the Brit defensive positions. On the other hand, I refrained from firing on his Observer, who was marked early on - the 8-0 who had not been KIA'd, as long as he wasn't calling in his Arty. Why remind Kurt if I didn't need to?

The Brits caught several breaks also. The ATR squad rallying, then producing a Hero who eventually was instrumental in knocking out a tank. The PzIIA crapping out on the Ice, and the good TK vs. the bigN were key.

A big hassle for the Germans is the Ice, esp. for the bigN; it pretty much needs to use the bridge, which is just too obvious a target. But, using the Assault Engineer to move to D6 and toss Smoke into D5 (the bridge exit hex), the bigN may be able to scoot across, along with the other AFV. Having OBA in place to provide a +1 Hindrance is another possibility.

Given the danger of moving AFV up the road (the 76* MTR can hurt the light stuff pretty easily), trying the J10 Trailbreak route is almost mandatory. If the infantry can flush out the hill defenders, esp. any 25LL hiding there, the tanks have time to smash through and get into the M9 orchard mass.

Kurt did not make any use of his LtMtr, and didn't even try to establish a firebase. While I don't think this is bad [EXC: not using the Mtr], trying to NAM/MO is a horrible choice. the ground snow does make both the I8 AND the C1 hills a pain to cross, but it's still better than letting the defense chop your troops up!

I liked the scenario a great deal, and the entire TOT issue 3 as well. The scenarios are interesting - Mark Neukom definitely strives for originality in his designs - and the articles are decent, particularly the interview with Thomas Jentz.

Tom Mueller