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Excellent work DK!
This is by far the best bit of work I have seen and the bonus is, watching two vets slug it out and the players sat by the ring side can pick up handy tips :)
Well done and keep up the good work :bow:

I don't even play CM and i am enjoying this AAR. :)

DK,
despite all your time and effort put into this excellent DAR, you still find the time to beat me solidly !

Great report on the infantry situation. Very detailed !

Yes good work DK.

And those forces sitreps make interesting reading. You normally only gat a rough 'feel' for how each side is doing, but those paint a much clearer picture, (although as you say, the situation could change very quickly!)

Thanks guys!

Minute 22: Here we have a shot of Herroberst's two spotters in position. Both of them are on the second story of different light buildings. The one on the right has already counted down and artillery is falling where his yellow target line is. The other spotter is still counting down.



But something goes terribly wrong for the spotter on the left - suddenly Walkure's vet JPz IV begins area firing the light building he is occupying. The expensive vet spotter tries desperately to crawl out of the building...



But he doesn't make it - the building is a light building and crumbles after only a few shells - it was already weakened by Walkure's earlier artillery strike. A big blow for Herroberst! He was counting on that other FO to take out some of Walkure's infantry.



Herroberst comments: "Oops, lost the FO... not so good." But he knows it's much more than an "oops" - it could be a gamebreaker...

Why did Walkure target that building? Was it his sixth sense? This picture from his point of view may reveal the answer. Walkure does not see the enemy FO at all, but he does see the M5 halftrack hiding BEHIND the building. He figures bringing down the building might damage or destroy the open topped vehicle. Ironically, the halftrack wasn't damaged at all.



How about Herroberst's other spotter? His artillery is falling pretty effectively, although some of it is hitting his own men.



From Walkure's side, we can see the damage that is going on - many pinned and panicked men. A building comes down with two MG42 teams in it, destroying them both. But if Herroberst would have targeted his two FOs together on this spot, the effect would have been more like a nuclear blast.



Walkure rightly sums up the state of the foot soldiers on each side:

"starting to think that his men are exhausted and out of ammo, at least my men still have bullets , but just as bad shape"

With 11+ minutes to go Herroberst's powerful Company HQ led flanking squad continues to make it's way around behind Walkure's forces unseen. This super-platoon contains three SMG squads and two pioneer squads, all fully loaded. Herroberst's hidden ace!

"Cat and mouse"
Three minutes of building blasting and small arms exchange later we are at minute 25. Both generals have become conservative with their heavy AFVs, realizing they each have only two left. Neither wants to risk his now precious armor in a possible game deciding confrontation. Here Walkure tries to go for a low risk knockout. He runs two of his schreks into position in the main flag rubble to nail the buttoned up T34 up the street once the smoke clears. (unlike heavy MGs and mortars, you can run schreks quite a ways without tiring them)



But the wiley Herroberst is not going to cooperate with that plan. He moves his T34/85 at the only speed they should be moved in town: fast. The T34 zips across the road before the frustrated schrek team gets a chance to aim and fire.



To the South, Walkure tries to get an AT team around behind the other T34, but Herroberst's M5 Halftrack spots them in the open and sprays them with MG fire. The helpless team ends up plastered against a fence.



Here at the close of minute 25 we can see the front lines of each force. Herroberst's front line is pinned and faltering despite being stocked with SMG troops. Why are they having so much trouble? The reason is Walkure has position three MG42s in the light buildings to the North - they have almost unlimited ammo and long range - they are firing within the orange triangle, and preventing the SMG troops from advancing any further. In fact, they are causing so much trouble that Herroberst has no choice but to order his two T34s to fire at them in an attempt to silence them. Towards the back of the map we can see Herroberst's supersquad approaching.



Meanwhile to the Northeast...Herroberst loads his second 57mm ATG back onto transport - so far it's been useless out there - he's got to get it into the fight. Hopefully for the Russkies it will perform better than the first one did!

Minute 29: There are 4+ minutes left and Herroberst appears to be running out of options. He has failed to advance any of his bruised and battered remnants of squads into the zone of control of the main flag. His men to the South lost a critical battle in the woods to Walkure's men and have either been gunned down or are running for their lives. Not only has Herroberst bogged down, but Walkure has managed to cross the street and get into the buildings once occupied by Herroberst. We can see how many of Herroberst's men are pinned or hiding just by looking at all the generic icons on his side - very few Russians are firing now.



Things are critical for the Russians now - Herroberst must get that super-platoon into the action and close enough to at least neutralize the central flag. But he's running out of time. He's also got to figure out a way to get that last 57mm ATG positioned on those JPz IVs. His infantry screen in front of his T34s is evaporating fast - the tanks are buttoned and blind and and it will soon be necessary for him to back them up or lose them.

Stalin is becoming agitated: "Enough with this indecision! I don't want to hear about bad luck - Herroberst must make his own luck now or suffer the consequences!!"

THE LAST POCKET

Lt Katukov hunkers down in a small patch of woods. He and his men are the last surviving platoon and Herroberst's only hope on this side of the map. (They are listed as surviving/killed-ammo left) Beside him a regular T34 continues to fire at the tormenting MG42s in his support but the tank is now down to only 5 HE. The Germans are busted up too, and can't advance much further, but they don't really have to - they are already sitting on the flag. Even from the Russian view it appears the Germans have total control of it- it doesn't even appear neutral. Herroberst's other T34 on the ridge is also down to five HE. Walkure's vet JPZIV is out of HE but his green one still has 25 HE.



Herroberst's Company HQ led super-platoon is moving towards Walkure's rear but they are still a good 350 meters from town center. He has them all walking at this point.



Looking from Walkure's side, we see he has two HQ led MG42s in place guarding that rear 100 point flag. It's hard to think that the Russian super-platoon will get much farther once those MG42s spot them and start firing. Too much open space and no HE support.



How about Herroberst's last 57mm ATG? It has been mysteriously sitting idle for the last couple of minutes. Did Herroberst forget about it? Looking farther out, we see Company HQ Kuliev walking towards town. Has he been sent ahead on foot to find a spot for the gun? Since the gun would likely take 2 minutes to set up once unloaded, it's almost no use to try to move it now.



Stalin begins work on the papers to transfer Herroberst to Siberia.

Another Good report Comrade. :)

Minute 31 0f 33+:

Here is a screenshot from Walkure's view of the downtown area. The smoke on the right is from a building Walkure's Jpz IV just knocked down - it was unoccupied. The smoke on the left is from a building Herroberst's reg T34 just knocked down that had a MG42 team in it. All of Walkure's men in town have cover arcs like the one shown on them and it is obvious he's content for them to sit out the clock where they are. His men on the right are still making a push for he right 100 pt flag and the buttoned vet T34.



This same T34/85 to the south has been ordered to area fire the house which is filling with Germans, but look - there are friendly squads too close to the target pinned in the rubble, so the big tank just sits there. It seems like nothing is going right for the Russkies.



Herroberst's super-platoon continues towards town unseen on "walk" and his 57mm ATG is still sitting idle, loaded on transport.

OK armchair generals - what would you do if you were Herroberst right now? He still has 2 good T34/85s and 2 good M5 Halftracks.