R2V The Arverni Gambit - Combat Mission: Fortress Italy

A fun little battle with a nice map and good objectives. Between the forests and town, the terrain is quite closed in with engagements typically occurring at less than 200m. The battle seems to favour the Allied player due to superior vehicle support as follows:

1) Numbers - a company (~9 IIRC) of Stuart tanks vs half that number of Marders plus a couple flak trucks.

2) Protection - The Marders and flak trucks are vulnerable to small arms fire whereas the Stuarts proved resistant to anything other than the 75mm gun of the Marders.

3) Mobility - The Stuarts are fully tracked and faster than the German AFVs across most of the terrain but particularly in the wooded areas.

4) Firepower - As turreted vehicles, the Stuarts were very quick to engage targets over 360 degrees whereas the Marders were very slow and could be easily outmanoeuvred. The canister rounds and multiple MGs on each Stuart were also able to decimate opposing infantry.

The easiest way to balance the battle would be to reduce the number of Stuarts to an even half dozen.

Not a huge fan of meeting engagements.

weapon2010Not a huge fan of meeting engagements.

I agree with some of Stonecutter's comments, I would add once the German infantry entered the buildings 1st, almost impossible to dig them out.My Marders luckily spotted the Stewarts 1st most of the time and destroyed all but 2.Nothing can be done with 2 Stewarts to counter the Germans in the buildings.

A good map with a decent spread of forces but although the briefing gives the impression the German force is assaulting the river crossings, its more like a strong allied push. The german AFV's are totally outclassed in this battle where if you try and stand off with your AT weapons they cant see or hit anything but are dead meat as soon as you try and close. A good challenging battle but favours the allies.

I have always played as the Allies, so I can't judge balance fairly. Most reviews say it tends to lean toward the Germans, but I think it leans toward whoever controls the hill.

Good scenario. 8 Veteran Stuarts make the scenario slightly pro Allies but still very entertaining

Altought the germans have more firepower the allies have more tanks and they can move faster so it is very difficult if the german lose some destroyer very early.

The geography made it difficult for both sides to gain an advantage.

The hill top became a reverse slope defense. No one could really hold it and repel the opposite force without taking a major pounding. Rather holding it meant hugging the reverse slope.

The town is a tough fight. The Allies have flamethrowers. Most of the cover is here. The Germans have to get to it quickly in order to get their foot in the door. Otherwise, they will lose the battle all together.

Controlling the flanks is important as well. Because of the geography, it is inevitable that probings of the flanks will occur.

Overall, I think the Allies have a slight advantage. They have better armor, more units, and more transports. The Allied armor can sustain small arms fire whereas the German elephants and truck-mounted 88s have weak protection and cannot expose themselves except at a distance or with the use of cover. The Germans have to look for the best angles to cover the field of battle without risking their destruction. In my game, I lost an elephant early while contesting the hill and then I had another lose the ability to use its main gun making it worthless for much of the scenario. In my other elephants, a couple of the crew received wounds.

Despite their starting location, the Allied mobility gives them the ability to rush and seize their objectives (which my opponent wisely did). The Germans have only two trucks and have to rush their objective as well. In the game I played, blood was drawn early and it became apparent that one would take heavy losses if they exposed their units to the enemy in order to hold an objective. If you do, your units will become broken. I think this hurt my opponent as well.

A problem for the Germans is that they cannot get the numbers they need to each location in order to repel the Allies and win. From a German perspective, this fact combined with the geography and the slightly better Allied armor makes it harder for the Germans to clear the Allies from enough victory locations in order to get an outright victory.

It is an interesting scenario. And maybe if a player launches a large attack in one of the contested areas they might be able to turn their opponent. Then again, they might get slaughtered suggesting that some caution is necessary.