Italian Long Campaign

[sigeena]

Turn 5

After the initial EN bombardment lifted, our scouts spotted a company sized force of EN tanks moving towards our positions. There were at least 12-15 heavy infantry tanks, of the Valentine and Matilda variety. These have good front and side armour. Probably only my 90mm ATGs will be able to destroy them. The EN tanks were coming towards 3rd Company, while the lighter EN armour is speeding towards 1st Company.

2nd Company is likely to be a quiet sector.

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Turn 8

Our 90mm ATGs start to engage the EN tanks. We try to score hits on their flanks as they come.

Our 75mm ATGs remain silent as they need the tanks to close to within 500metres or so for a likely penetrating hit.

Also note that the EN artillery has torn up lots of ground



Turn 12

The 90mm ATGs are doing very well. Alot of the EN tanks have been wrecked and now our scouts spotted the accompanying EN infantry. There's easily 3 companies worth.

Also worth noting that our trio of 90mm ATGs only have about 30 AP rounds each, with each scoring every 3rd round or so, we can probably only engage 30 EN tanks before we run out of AP ammo.

We plot some of our own artillery bombardments to slow down the EN infantry advance.



Turn 22

In around Turn 19 or so, we spotted fresh EN Valentine tanks reinforcements. My 90mm ATGs have just run out of AP ammo and my 75mm would only be able to penetrate from 500m or so.

The EN infantry renew their advance.

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Turn 34

Once our 75mm ATGs fall silent to the EN infantry, our only hope of destroying the EN tanks is with our own infantry. To do this effectively, we need to isolate their tanks from their accompanying infantry.

Here, 1 of the Valentines is immobilised by our mines.

We bring up our remaining heavy weapons to disrupt the EN infantry.



Turn 40

A combination of heavy weapons and mortars impede the EN infantry and probably not more than a half platoon is supporting the EN tanks.



Turn 43

The EN tanks split their force, with 1 lone tank heading north into 2nd Company and the other pair heading into 3rd Company.

We lay some smoke, and expect imminent close assault with the EN tanks.

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Turn 49

Shortly after destroying the EN tanks, our infantry are able to advance confidently. We plaster the immobilised EN tanks with our artillery and push forward with our reserve infantry.

Most of 1st Company, which were hidden by a small ridgeline along the EN flank sprung to life and pushed fast into the EN line of retreat.

[sigeena]

Battle Report at Turn 54

This was a real long battle. I was very surprised by the number of infantry tanks. Usually, our 90mm ATGs would have taken out all of them by turn 15-18 and it will just be an attritional exercise with their infantry before sending our infantry at the right moment.

In this one, the EN tanks just kept coming and once our heavy ATGs are out of ammo, we could only take them out via close assaults, which are harder to plan for because the EN infantry tanks move so slowly.

Perhaps I need to rethink the use of my own tanks. I didn't buy them this time round and opted for the 75mm ATGs. But once again, I feel that the 75mm ATGs have been a waste of points. They are too large, so were easily spotted and their PEN is unable to engage Valentines or Matildas.

Up till Turn 43, I wasn't sure I had this battle in the bag. Was probably counting on timed objective points to score me a marginal victory.

[sigeena]

Next battle was a rare Assault mission on UK.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take more screenshots in the initial phase and so I wasn't able to show the map as a whole.

The main thing to note was that it was a low-light fight at around 6 hexes. Low visibility often cedes the advantage to the attacker, especially since the AI doesn't really deploy with the assumption that it will be fighting at 6 hexes away.

I brought along 2 platoons of Engineers, 2 platoon of motor transports and 1 section of Armoured Cars.

We went in with 1st Coy along a road axis, supported by 1 platoon of Engineers and the Armoured Cars. 2nd Coy was behind 1st Coy and after the initial fight to the first objective, 2nd Coy was expected to passage of line through 1st Coy and fight to their objective located around 500-600 metres after 1st Coy's objectives.

3rd Coy had no road axis, but they were also supported by the Engineers and motor transports.

I like to move fast, so my Engineers will be mounted on the transports. I fire smoke in the 1st turn to obscure EN observation and dismount my Engineers near where I expect to breach EN minefields.

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Turn 3

This was 3rd Company sector. I dismount my Engineers in the smoke, just before the road running N-S.

The motor transports will do a ferry service of sorts and move the rest of the company to support the Engineers.

The Engineers are intended to detect any minefields, and breach them, so they will lead the company. If we push through say 10-15 hexes of EN held land without coming to mines, my Engineers no longer need to lead the company.

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Turn 5

1st Company sector. The engineers found and breached through the mine fields along the road. As they continued to push along the road, they came under fire from EN dug-in infantry.

My HMGs z-fired to suppress the EN, and I moved my armoured cars to lay down more suppressive fire before my Engineers pressed on for point blank assault.

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Turn 10

3rd Company sector. There wasn't any minefields in this sector but there were more EN infantry.

We dropped some mortars and with heavy z-fire from my HMGs, suppressed the EN before maneuvering my infantry closer to force the EN out.



Turn 15

We're approaching 3rd Company's objectives, in relative good order. Based on the EN's dispositions, we can expect an EN counter attack coming from the south later. P platoon will establish a block, while the rest of the coy continue their advance.

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Turn 10

1st Company sector. After the initial contact, it was pretty uneventful for the rest of the advance. 1st Company is now positioned to advance towards their objectives. Engineers are leading once again, with Armoured Cars and an infantry platoon in close support.



Turn 15

We've secured 1st company's objective and spread the guys out in all round security.

2nd Company starts their passage of line through 1st company towards their objectives. The Engineers continue to advance with the armoured cars in support.