AAR: Balkans N. Africa Leg

[Imp]

Every time I think we are getting there another one shows up, counting foxholes thats 11squads & a sniper to date. Mainly they have been dealt with by a mixed bag of MkIII, sniper, MMG & HQ with slight support at times.
The force moving on the oasis has taken out the mortar & I have given up trying to guess where everyone is even a couple of trucks are running flat out across the dessert in an atempt to wind this up. So much for mad dogs & Englishmen in the midday sun, I think the guest house offers other services than room & board & they are partaking.
Thought the MkIIIs would struggle with the bunkers but slices through the last two, still cleaing mines so infantry move up first through buildings then across the pavement. 2 more squads are found & we lose 3 men to them & another to the mines but there is a path so tanks move up to give support. The Brits are now heavilly outnumbered again a recieve a hail of fire ending in 3 tatered squads & one intact one. Due to the restricted access half of this force is loading up & moving to support the oasis as we only have 3 flags to go here & 2 of them I control the area
AIT> HQ group planes killed 2 HQ & sniper got one each only 1 squad is up for a fight this go. Elsewhere the Brits show there hand & are on the move.
To the North of the MF the crew I had just evacuated to a supposedly safe spot can see a MkVIc heading for him, typical.
At the oasis a rag tag bunch of 3 MkVIc 2 A9s & an A13 are running along the back of the NE section of wall, magic move 50m they are in my sights then the smoke I plotted comes down, minor cursing.
T29
Tank & MMG open up to no effect & sniper cannot get a shot as remaining squads are on level 1 so he moves to crest line. HQ takes the plunge & finds another squad decide its best not to fire. AA open up despite range to pin as much as possible. Luckily with few available targets some mortars are plotted here.
SF is moving as fast as it can & has just reached the trees at the North end of the oasis, tanks are not risking running on due to mines & ambush possibility.
Infantry move forwared SW of oasis & see another A9 & A13, I have 4 MkIIIs in the area & a MK II, the MkII is distant at just over a KM but opens up on A13 causing it to fire its discharger. The other tanks split & go either side of the smoke 1 on each side getting targets & damaging an A13 at about 500m
MF> We take quite a few casulties some to yet more mines & caused by the fact infantry is having to move onto level1 unsupported finding another squad in the process. All enemy are cleared though exept 3 squads on level1, the Ram & pioneer are trying to clear a path to the furthest flag.
A MkII & Mk III are going after the VIc while the rest break for the oasis.
AIT> HQ group MMG loses another man he has to back out now as nearly dead but a path has finaly been cleared through the mines. Arty means all routed except one.
See 2 more MkVIcs up North & a major armour exchange occurs at the oasis with both sides having a tank recieve damage.

[Imp]

HQ tank fires & routes so sniper & HQ move up looks like its coming to a close 2 are running & 2 left in holes but one is nearly dead, Ram heads for oasis having cleared the mines.
The thin armour of the Brit tanks seals there fate an A9 & A13 are quickly dispatched the other 2 have moved behind the smoke & require a slight risk. The tank furthest away moves into view & draws some fire then 2 near ones come round the smoke, all fire at them misses & they destroy & damage one before a 231 runs up to it & delivers the kill shot. A13 remains behind its discharger but if it moves 2 tanks will have a shot & one of them is stationary MkII decides to fire on another VIc forcing it to use its discharger. Infantry finaly recieve fire from a squad at the gate but my battery is about to hit there.
MF> 3 tanks that have LOS open up & squad with ATR uses his shots, sniper gets in position & routes the other before 3 squads on hill move forward. only 2 squads survive now & ones running. Think we are done here only one flag to take & the pioneer will do that but will leave a few units incase reinforcements turn up, the charge for the oasis is on.
Still chasing MkVIcs
AIT> All tanks miss but North ones closed the range nicely, no new units discovered but arty drops on my units, 1 squad only has 2 men left.

[Imp]

T31
Sniper has a field day before HQ takes over, Brits have 5men left
MF> The sole squad still fighting takes a great deal of persuading to run, due to this the other squad may escape off map. MkII kills a VIc & MkIII damages one before smoke is poped.
At the oasis the A13 is damaged then destroyed before the remaining tanks are destroyed in quick order. MkII & HT open up on squad we are arriving in force now from the west but no fire is triggered. Forces are also arriving from the North & squads arleady there are starting to work down the wall.
A scout taking up position to watch for reinforcements finds the HQ & 2 HT attack it reducing to 3 men.
AIT> MkII gets another VIc & his arty kills my squad
T32
HQ group finnish up he has 13 kills now, HT & scout kill Brit HQ, MkII kills last VIc, pioneer takes last flag just oasis ones left, squad escapes.
another 4 squads appear at the oasis but its a done deal severly outnumbered. Exept for mines of course there are more, 2 men down. half a dozen tanks taking up position in case reinforcements arrive.
Turns out its a inf company but quicly wiped out, I lose 2 men to fire & 2 more to mines, it ends on turn 37.
Decisive victory
Men 89>631
Score 6178>449

Missed a few bunkers but AI must have spent loads on mines, fairly boring game as not enough enemy & armour was totaly outclassed.
Partly my fault did full width as meant hills were in enemy zone but this meant he was to spread out & mines made transit slow

[Imp]

Eastern Front is not available yet so Western Dessert meeting first since the Poles
Not worth giving you the map a few small steep rough hills 3 in centre 250 x 500m that could be used as cover, also 250m round hill behind North Flags Otherwise dead flat with the odd strip of high grass but not wide enough to be a vision problem unless looking along it. Flags equaly spaced 3 groups running N>S placed slightly closer to enemy than me but central group is furthest forward & near to central hill group.
Its very sunny vis 88

Force only change both platoons with pioneers swaped one squad for pioneer LMG to give them covering fire.
Support 2x 110s along for the ride
Lets hope the AI does not just field cruiser tanks or it will be a turkey shoot.
Going to Russia next battle but may well come back here for a bit once Allies equipment improves.
Simple plan close & destroy, to this end all arty is forming a smoke screen at the end of turn 1 just east of central hills. it will run from North flags to roughly halfway between central & South flags. Arty transport has been borrowed & all vehicles will head flat out for the smoke screen, they will drop pasengers then head for cover behind hills or retreat to hide behind the anticipated dust cloud they should kick up.
HQ & 223Fu are to the South & have a clear view of those flags for arty direction, hope is if 223 does not move it won't be seen.
The smallest force is going after South flags, C Company - 1 platoon 3 MkIIIs & the ATGs
The Rest are spread out across the other 2 objectives, the idea role these up hopefully getting behind while C Comp perform a holding action.
231s, MkIIs & Rams will hide in dust till troops sighted when they will assist in encirclement & destruction of leaving MkIIIs free to kill vehicles.
My AA poses a problem as its vulnerable & the dust clouds cause real headaches but initial thoughts they are going to move forward for 2 turns then hold position.
If possible my 2 planes will hold off till I am in a position to exploit breakout when they will start looking for arty & AA in the rear area.
Try to knock out in 20 turns

Turn1
Most of the smoke comes down ok a couple will need a second mission but most of my smoke was used battery dumped the lot & most just have a few rounds remaining
Before it comes down we see 4 groups of vehicles from N>S
Some A10s further back than other groups
4 Daimler Dingos heading for N flags, small dust trail
Several Marm HerIII & A10 heading for C flags
15 Rolls Royce AC & 5 A10s heading towards S hill in central group.
Movement of 150m or more produces dust & no arty fire was recieved

I realise the flaw in my plan at the start of turn 2, these Brits might be coming at me with nothing more than MGs & ATRs but they are coming fast, to fast infact troops were going to unload at smoke screen but if they do that tanks will be buried in a huge cloud of dust. Transport sorts into more distinct groups so there are dust free areas, scouts in 3 motorbikes run up to locations for a look.
A Co moves behind mainly North of the central hills
B Co some risk moving to smoke line as only Dingos are heading that way
C Co drops off at the bottom of central hills & will work SE towards flags, ATGs drop here close to the smoke.
As initial contact will be with AC MkIIs & 231 get a shift on, by turn 3 231s take up position in gaps between the hills, 2 cover the South gap as I think thats the larger force. The other covers the North sets range to 15 gets the first kill as Marm Her goes down.
Turn 4 & tanks are still moving forward most flat out but a couple have gone to combat speed, the MkIIs move just North of central hill & I decide to risk leaving the 3 Flaks in the area there because they are stationary & about 600m back from the smoke. Transport is now pulling back, I will cover initial probe in AIs turn at the start of turn 5 but arty 5 troops of 25Pdr plus one onboard plus about 5 3inMTRs.

[Imp]

Appologies for any errors might miss one, CS9s have dischargers RR do not.
The main push was on CF by 5 Marm Her heading just north of central hills. 2 were damaged by the 231 before bursting through the smoke 300m from MkIIs,
These & a platoon (5) of MkIIIs further back opened up but as moving flat out they missed. the Flakwagens though damaged one & killed another.
As I need the MkIIIs to move up the MkIIs engage killing 3, takes 2 hits to kill on average. The flakwagen with AP remaining kills the other then most tanks move forward, won't mention again unless muck it up but dust trails mean a bit of thought is needed. Several troops are now on hills & can see Morris CS9s coming in on the same path a bit over 1/2k away. There could be closer stuff behind the smoke, a MKIII & Ram move to support the North facing 231.
Through the South gap a MkIII kills a RR AC then its platoon & the other Ram move to support the 231s here. Wanted to keep a couple stationary but dust prevents. 231s turn down there range & this force needs to make quick work of the RR AC then move to support the SF as slightly South of the RR but well back A10s & Val IIs are visible.

NF> Two Dingos came through the smoke the first being killed by a MkIII. it tries its luck again but miss & Dingo pops smoke, it is suppresed so squad moves up & assaults, strike 2. All but one of the MkIIIs in this platoon move up as i know 2 more dingos are inbound & troops fan slightly. We are placed slightly South of North flags & my FOO is the furtest North unit trying to keep some distance between himself & the Dingos, At a bit over a Km several MkVIcs can be seen to the NE & A10s are trailing half a klic back.
SF> Troops are moving on foot SE to flags & to increase range from the force bearing down on the bottom of the hill.
ATGs are in place behind smoke & will most likely get some contact with RR ACs, the 3 tanks are just behind them.
Transport here is going for cover behind the hill & generally its just trying to hide & stay alive though artys stuff is heading back.

AIT> arty was better last go than the previous game it guessed where my mortars are & hit a few & only just missed ammo trucks who are scattering, this turn hits mortars & places some smoke rest avoided.
NF> MkIII misses Dingo but squad assaults it, the other one decides to stay where it is, a Morris CS9 appears & tanks get it right this time.
SF > ATG damages RR at 100m as it comes into view just killed it as makes writing easier.
MF > Did not start to well as missed then N 231 got a kill & 2 CS9s poped smoke, two made it past the 231 & ran into the clutches of the MkIIs who killed the closest & damaged the other. The 231s covering South got a kill & several damage results. Pretty sure a MkIII got a damage result to & there is one Dingo here that poped smoke helping to cover several units.

[Imp]

Unless state otherwise most vehicles are still moving fast, trying to rack up tank kills so arty is not being plotted at present.
NF> Smoke was dropped here by AI hiding tanks coming from NE so move to get past it, 5 VIc now back in sight but range nearly a Km so don't fire. take a shot at Dingo damaging
CFN> MkIIs kill 2 CS9s & overtake infantry taking position to engage others MkIIIs &231 do the same taking half the central flags in the process. Light armour will then fall back as A10s are coming.
CFS> Both 231s move forward to stand directly in path of RR & both get another kill. MkIIs here are following as quick as is practical.
SF> Already mentioned one ATG last post killing RR the other 2 kill a RR & the lead A10, 2 MkIIs get another RR each & the 3rd one moves just in front of the ATG to absorb any fire. Troops here continue SE to flags, 2 ATGs might have to move as wrecks are blocking LOS.
AIT> Arty dies down stops on my mortars, soldiers moving for South flags have been detected 2 Spits attack, reasonably spaced though so even with bombs only lost 2 men. MkII bags another CS9 & in the South 2 RR fall to 231 & a MkIII. More shots were exchanged but either missed or no effect.
Turn7
NF> Daimler Dingo & CS9 finaly succumb eliminating everything in close proximity.
The MkVIcs are continuing West perhaps in the hopes of swinging in for my arty, fire at kills one & forces 2 to use Discharger.
Troops here are now moving out towards North flags
CFN> Troops here move out after local vehicles are killed MkII gets one MkIII another then MkIIIs move into smoke finding 2 more which are also killed.
MkIIIs are now in position to move past smoke & engage A10s that are a Km away, The IIs & 231 are heading in direction of MkVIcs. They can either hunt if escape or go after troops heading for N flags.
CFS+ SF> 231s kill 4 RR then head to join MkIIs, MkIIIs kill the last of the RR & one kills an A10 as does an ATG. Remaining A10s will be covered by wrecks next go I think & Vals are still about 1.5Km away so kill is not on the cards. It occurs to me Spits may have been going after ATGs not troops.
My AA is more set up to cover middle & North, hard to know where to put it as needs to be back from tanks but as still pushing forward arty might well come down where tanks were. Lets test my luck & move slightly off those positions.
You might have noticed I treat meetings as advances generally pushing forward not just sitting there waiting for the AI to come to me. I will do it if opportunities for an ambush are there or heavily outnumbered but my objectives are the flags.
All mortars are loaded & mobile heading for the hills
AIT> Only arty was 3"MTR near S flags, one MkIII in middle was hit by A10 but range is still to large to worry about. The main action happened up North as 2 more VIcs are destroyed, 3 are left but think they have all used dischargers now. An A10 was engaged as well killing 3 riders

[Imp]

NF> Two MkIIIs open up & kill VIcs the rest engage the closest A10s at about 700m, takes a few hits but kill 3 they all have riders. At least one A10 has made it behind AIs smoke screen. All but one tank closes range.
CF> takes on the middle group of nine A10s, if these had riders they perished along with 4 tanks. Would have been higher but platoon moving from area where MkIIs were discover the terrain there blocks the view so only 1 tank in the platoon gets targets. One of those anomolies height zero but restricts view from certain angles, could be drifting invisible smoke. The 3 MkIIIs that came South round the central hill & are engaging this group cannot move any further without giving flank shots to tanks further South, not droping smoke as hope to eliminate central force next go.
SF> Moving forward to try & get targets & both MMGs which do have targets hose down a few tanks, no riders.
AIT> A bit of arty but it does not hit anything, very close to one Flakwagen though.
Nice thing about quite a lot of WW2 tanks is you don't have to worry much about AP ammo as they carry loads so jst blast away. Shots were exchanged & a few MkIIIs were hit but all fire was from the front. Several A10s were damaged & one was destroyed in both the N+S forces. The central force A10Cs poped smoke. Its a shame AI does not maintain better force cohesion if all the vehicles arrived together things would have been a bit trickier.

Turn9
Vals are now visible in the North force & it consists of about 15 tanks. The first foot sloggers have come into view 3 flanking the central force & 4 moving towards S flags. There are also 4 squads that have lost there rides in the North group.
CF> goes first killing the 4 tanks there just the A10CS remains but its behind smoke, as it only has a pen of 2 Ram is coming out of hiding while MkIIIs move towards the North group
NF> Platoon here engages but range is still to great they kill 2 tanks but it takes several hits so they are closing by moving NW that way the MF is aproaching from a diffrent angle
SF> ATGs crawl forward trying to grt some space between them as grouped & MkIIIS take out both remaining A10s before continuing SE closing range, a platoon of them from CF is rushing to assist.
All troops do not engage as max or out of range but close on enemy troops, the front ones slow to 2 hexes. As centre is clear MKIIs 231 & HTs are heading for troops to hit them hard, arty has been told weapons are now free its show time. Half the mortars deploy this turn the others will next go.
AIT> Very little arty mainly 3"MTR around South flags, little to report from tank exchange but enemy troops took fire mainly from MMGs & a few tanks losing a bit over half a dozen men. Up North as suspected an A10 managed to use the now fading smoke screen to get behind my tanks. The southern Vals have turned for the flags increasing range from MkIIIs that were moving to support.
In the dessert my extra experience should pay dividends vs enemy troops, I should spot them easier & my long range fire all other things being equal should hurt more