TTKGW 5, Bullets and Bee's - Combat Mission: Battle For Normandy

Probably a lot like I suspect fighting in the bocage really was - repetitive and deadly with lots of attrition from mortars and hidden machine guns, best part was fighting over the flanks.

An interesting array of force compositions. The Germans have the better quality soldiers, the better AFVs, and the largest mortars (120mm). The Americans have more soldiers and they are able to occupy and defend 5 of the 7 objectives early on....if they want to. The terrain is very interesting and provides lots of LOS challenges. Small bocage-enclosed fields litter the battlefield, and it is a challenge to try and outflank your opponent while they hold a bocage line. I really enjoyed this infantry-heavy battle and it had enough indirect firepower and AFVs to make it interesting.

It is difficult on the German side, it has less infantry and no possibility of destroying bocage. This is a key issue for the movement of tanks.

Stuarts versus STuG's with 105mm guns? Seriously? Between the 'fausts and the German AFV, my little Stuarts were cannon fodder.

You've got a large map with objectives that are pretty spread out. The Allies start out with better position (church tower), the Axis with better armor (StuG and StuH vs Stuarts), although the ground conditions are wet so the Axis armor can't be driven just anywhere. The map has a lot of interesting tactical angles and lines of sight.

If you are playing Axis and you win the armor battle but your armor bogs, it becomes an infantry grind. Good luck!

Excessively there are a lot of units for such small map.

I felt that this scenario was by far in the Allied favor. It was easy for the Allies to seize the majority of the objectives early on. The map was primarily designed with right angles that favored the Allied ability to to ambush the German approach.

I also felt that while my troops may have been of better quality, without the ability to outflank the right angles and the use of explosive charges to destroy the bocage my advanced stalled. For example the entrance to the farm favored Allies though the bocage. Without being able to blow a hole through the walls, my assaults were exposed to multiple enfilade angles even after I committed close artillery support (which I must say was inaccurate even when I had a clear line of sight and was pinpointing my target - my artillery could not hit the broadside of a barn). My smoke was off by a mile...

I did not think the StuG III assault tanks gave the Axis an advantage considering how few armor penetration shells they carried. While the tanks were accompanied by infantry support, the fact that the right angles of approach were in the Allies favor prevented me from exposing my tanks except to hit positions where the Allied infantry revealed itself (while maintaining a distance in order to prevent ambush). On top of that and much to my chagrin, the cannon on one of my Stug III's was damaged within 5 minutes of the battle starting as it tried to turn a right corner in order to give flanking cover for my infantry advance. I have never seen Allied tanks use grape shot before and indeed this ability surprised me to a devastating effect when revealed in the game.

I felt that this scenario was by far in the Allied favor. It was easy for the Allies to seize the majority of the objectives early on. The map was primarily designed with right angles that favored the Allied ability to to ambush the German approach.

I also felt that while my troops may have been of better quality, without the ability to outflank the right angles and the use of explosive charges to destroy the bocage my advanced stalled. For example the entrance to the farm favored Allies though the bocage. Without being able to blow a hole through the walls, my assaults were exposed to multiple enfilade angles even after I committed close artillery support (which I must say was inaccurate even when I had a clear line of sight and was pinpointing my target - my artillery could not hit the broadside of a barn). My smoke was off by a mile...

I did not think the StuG III assault tanks gave the Axis an advantage considering how few armor penetration shells they carried. While the tanks were accompanied by infantry support, the fact that the right angles of approach were in the Allies favor prevented me from exposing my tanks except to hit positions where the Allied infantry revealed itself (while maintaining a distance in order to prevent ambush). On top of that and much to my chagrin, the cannon on one of my Stug III's was damaged within 5 minutes of the battle starting as it tried to turn a right corner in order to give flanking cover for my infantry advance. I have never seen Allied tanks use grape shot before and indeed this ability surprised me to a devastating effect when revealed in the game.