Round 5 AAR's

[SlySniper]

You are free to post and discuss Round 5 battle at this time.

Not sure what i want to say is the key to winning this battle for either side.
But I would say it did not matter which side did it, but aggressive play with moving was what appeared to be the key to the most successful players.

 

[MeatEtr]

Well this one is probably my least liked out of the five this time around. Im a bit biased though as I usually dont like night fights anyway. But this certainly wins the award for the most different or unique battles.

The first half of the battle felt like I was searching for needles in a haystack. @Cargol did a good job sneaking around and falling back when need be. He did manage to KO one of my ACs with a PIAT. Also destroying 2 of the 4 ammo dumps. Both times I had no idea where the FO was. But did figure it out eventually and I think killed them both.

Good game cargol!

 

[JTimo]

Having no idea what direction @sspoom 's guys would be coming from, I started the game by making as many forward listening posts as I could. I figured the Kiwis would be using the closest woods areas that existed near my supply dumps, so I concentrated on those. Most of these posts were created using my single man truck driver units, and in two cases I used my two AC units. My two turreted AFVs were kept back as a mobile reserve.

One thing I did not anticipate was the use of indirect fire attacks against my supply dumps.

Early on, one AC became immobilized due to a crater in the road (guess it busted an axle, something I have never seen in my 22 years of playing this game), which left him vulnerable to a threat from the woods next to the road it was on. It later took a PIAT hit from a unit in those woods. The other suffered weapon damage from an unknown source in some woods about 300 m to its front.

I was also surprised by how poorly my listening posts spotted. They were often engaged and suppressed before seeing or hearing anything. This inability to see anything was also the case in situations where the Kiwis crossed open fields. I'm sure some of this had to do with good tactics employed by Poom as well.

When I finally figured out what was going on, I ramped up my aggressive tactics, but it was probably too little, too late.

In the end Poom managed to destroy all but two of my supply units

Poom's been a tough opponent for me, and this game was yet another case of his excellent play.

 

[Monty's Mighty Moustache]

A quick AAR from my side.

I identified areas of interest for my Kiwis to investigate and sent them off scouting around the map. It will be no surprise that the NAIs were all the built-up areas (or anywhere with a building tbh) and also a big patch of wood with a suspicious clear patch with a path for access that looked like a prime spot to hide some supplies.

I actually chose to stay well away from any woods and out in the open fields as much as possible for two reasons: 1) that's where I would expect an infantry based force to be and 2) the sight-lines in the open were much better. I spotted the railyard depot and the one in the middle right of the map reasonably quickly, it took a while to get into a position where I could actually call in artillery on the latter but they both got hammered. I also didn't want to get too entangled in any engagements so if contact was made the plan was to hit as hard as I can and then scarper. My FOs were worth more to me alive than taking out a few Italians.

My team that were sent to investigate the north end of the big town stumbled on one of Sly's patrols and shot some mortar-men in the back, they then pulled back but the non-FO dude in the FO team got hit by a mortar. He was my only casualty from that engagement. I tried to work them around the top of the map to get into a position to call artillery on where I now guessed one of the remaining depots were located but the act of running away wore them out and they didn't get into position in time.

On the left I sent a team over to investigate the woods with the clearing and they must have got spotted as an armoured car soon showed up and started spraying some shells about, they all missed but it was clear Sly knew they were there. I also saw a platoon moving up to the area so I got everyone to stop, put some cover-arcs on and waited. The car did a circuit around my troops and eventually the PIAT team got the spot and started firing, so I let the snipers who were covering the approach open fire too and we took at least 2 of his guys out.

I did have a spot on the big built up area and time was running out so I called in a mission on what I could see and hoped to get some splash damage on the depot he had set up over there. I also realised with about 10 minutes to go that the way that Sly was set up I was going to really struggle to get eyes on that clearing (a process of exploration and elimination made me think my hunch was correct), so I moved a team into a position where they could call a linear barrage diagonally across the woods and would hopefully hit the clearing. The spotting took too long and they only called for fire for effect in the last minute, as the game ended there was a shell falling straight at the clearing but it was too late.

Thanks for the game and for organising the tournament @SlySniper, I always play scenarios blind anyway but truly blind really is fun.

 

[Lethaface]

Without knowing the decomposition of the kiwi forces I decided to try and ambush them. Spread out Italian troops on the move would be easy prey for kiwi squads was my thinking. Also I didn't have much energy to put in much effort and this way of playing suited that situation .

My drivers were send on contact duty and the AC and platoons waiting for opportunities to attack/ambush. That sort of worked but didn't prevent the FO from destroy half of my supply bases. I never spotted them afaik. I caused some casualties and used the ACs to provide suppressive fire against spotting contacts. @Hilts did a good job of sneaking around.

When the first mortar rounds were accurately falling on one of my supply bases I realized I should probably have been actively patrolling with my inf platoons. I tried some of that but it was too late to really make an impact.

I think the concept of the battle was interesting but in our battle not much was happening, I guess partly because I wasn't moving around much.

 

[dkchapuis]

“the decomposition of the kiwi forces”

does decomposition increase or decrease combat effectiveness