Italian Long Campaign

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Turn 2

Spotted EN tanks parked at the bottom edge of the map. This is going to be 3rd Company's sector. Even though my tanks are under 1st Company command, I'll probably move them to support 3rd Company later.

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Turn 6

2nd Company is beginning to engage the EN infantry company in their sector. I deploy the heavy weapons to support the advance. Note the HMGs and 60mm mortars.

L platoon will continue to push down the road while N and M platoon will advance directly into the EN company.



Turn 8

The EN resistance is swept away. Fighting here is short and sharp.

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Turn 9

1st and 3rd Company are moving along the road and preparing to advance into their respective sectors.

I expect more resistance in 3rd Company sector, with the EN tank section spotted in that area.

J platoon has found and destroyed an EN ATG. H platoon will seek and destroy the EN mortars.



Turn 12

3rd Company is ready to advance into their sector.



Turn 17

The battle in this sector is near over. The EN tank makes a late appearance.

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Battle Report

Another breezy Advance battle. The terrain was ideal for an Advance battle. There was alot of open space and E-W roads.

The E-W roads allow for speedy movement towards the EN rear. The open space allows for long fields of fire once I spotted the EN force.

If I was playing Delay on this map, I don't think I would have done well too. Maybe strongpoint the buildings with a company and ATGs.

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I made some changes to my infantry platoon set-up, basically upgraded my platoon commander to using molotov type of AT weapons. Each platoon has some improved AT capability, though the majority in the platoon still have to rely on using their hand grenades for close assaults.

Next up was a Defend mission. The map looked much improved over the previous battles. As usual, I bought the Heavy ATG emplacements (90mm) and a couple of tanks for mobile AT capability.

Guiding principle for defend battles is always plan with depth in mind. The general concept is that you want multiple lines of resistance to slow down and attrite the EN force so that when they finally reach the main line of resistance, they are no longer combat capable to overwhelm. To avoid being destroyed in detail, you must always be ready to pull back over exposed screening forces.

My Heavy ATGs are emplaced in a strategic ridgeline near the centre of the map. I also set up some minefields to prevent EN infiltration along the flanks of the map.

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Early EN bombardment, the heavy smoke obscures my HMGs LOS.



By the time some of the heavy smoke lifted, around turn 5, the EN is fast approaching my screening force. Here is the main EN mobile force in 2nd Company sector.

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The main battle in turns 6 to 15 were largely focused on 2nd Company.

Some of the faster EN armour finds themselves in the minefield.



Turn 11

My medium tanks are unable to keep up with the EN's advance and are slowly overwhelmed by numbers.



Turn 14

Approx. 6 EN tanks are left running and fighting. My AT Rifle team takes out 1 tank and sends another 2 routing off the map.



Turn 22

The EN tank advance has been stopped and I start to concentrate 2nd Company to advance, reclaiming the objective flags.

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Turn 11

1st Company was the secondary sector of the battle. The EN advance was largely infantry led and was stopped by the combination of HMG fires and mortars.



Turn 22

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Battle Report

Once the EN force was heavily attrited, they started to break. I moved J platoon to cut off the line of retreat.

The battle was largely decided once the EN tank advance exhausted itself. There were a few turns where the EN had penetrated 2nd Company's screening force. My tanks were lost quite early on, while there were at least 6-7 EN tanks still running around.

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Next up another Defend battle against UK.

In the last battle, I found my tanks were not as effective, as the EN's heavy bombardment isolated their position and they got overrun by the EN's fast moving tanks.

In this new defend battle, I decided to buy a pair of 75mm ATGs instead.

Here's my set-up.

I decided to strong point 2 positions. 1 with a trio of 90mm ATG emplacements and the other with a pair of 75mm ATGs. I also bought some 20mm AAs to help cover the flanks of the strongpoints.

3rd Coy takes the centre, with 1st Coy in the south and 2nd Coy in the north.

Minefields are laid to cover most expected approaches. I expect the early battle to be fought by my HMGs, and as the EN tanks approach to within 1.2km, to be engaged by my 90mm ATGs. My 75mm ATGs will engage closer to 600m. The difference in range engagement is due to the PEN of the primary weapons. 90mm ATGs have a PEN of 14, 75mm have a PEN of 9.

I usually try not to defend every objective, especially when I know the EN still has running tanks.