Regular Monday SOW HITS games

Martin makes the game, guess it will 3 to 1 odds against us! LOL Looking forward to the game!

That's the spirit, Mike.  The greater the odds, the greater the glory!

Martin (J)

LOL

Just like last Monday!?

Well that would be telling.....

4 signed-up so far, which is fine for this scenario as it's designed for play vs the AI. We could certainly fit a few more in though, as it would help boost the team's recce capability.

Martin (J)

Hi Guys,

Hope to be with you. Have to go and pay the tax man then just have to reload SOWGB and all the mods etc. back onto my laptop and change all the settings again. Providing its all working I'll sign up on the Moodle for tonight. If run out of time today, or things not working by then, should be back to normal (but poor - see above) by next Monday.


Hurrah!

PhillWP aka Baldrick

Have just heard you've managed to get set up. Bravo sir. That makes 5 of us I think.

Martin (J)

Can't make it tonight. Have a good one

Mike

Too bad Mike.  Another time.

We haven't settled on a time yet.  Everyone seems pretty flexible, so shall we meet on T/S about 19.45, with a view to a prompt start at 20.00 (UK time)?

The scenario is planned to last about 3 hours, but we may be able to call it before.

Martin (J)

Yes Mike sooner then later, I really miss your pure British sense of urgency.

1945hrs it is!

With 5 players, we have enough for a corps commander, three divisional commanders, and an additional player, commanding a regiment.

Given the situation, he might be most useful commanding a cavalry regiment and doing some recce? Perhaps the five-squadron 2nd Dragoons, in Zastrow's large division? In any event, I should probably take that role.

Martin (J)

Great scenario today Martin!!! Very very awesome!

I agree. Fantastic scenario with lots of tension and confusion. As I said in TS it was more like a mini-campaign than a battle as the 3 hours encompassed at least two separate combats with much manoeuvring between and after. The whole idea of not pitching into an enemy wherever you find him, but observing him from a distance then moving to avoid him was really fresh and new.

Glad you enjoyed it guys.

This was not easy for the human team, but overall they did well.  

Everything in their intel was accurate, but it was replete with gaps.  They were indeed outnumbered somewhat (c16,500 vs 22,500), and the reported positions of the most powerful Red division and their main cavalry force were correct.  As also predicted, the Red corps was rather disorganised.  In practice this meant there were numerous smaller detachments quartered in various places.  But that very dispersion made it more likely that Blue would be unable to avoid the some Red troops, and reach the key bridge without a fight.  Which eventuality would actually have been something of a downer in game terms   .

As CinC, Kevin elected to make a long circuitous march, in the hope of avoiding the known main Red concentration.  This worked pretty well.  I did wonder whether he would use one nimble division, perhaps temporarily moving along the Mosberg Strasse, to draw Red’s attention, whilst moving the other two towards Landschut by hopefully now clear roads.  Instead he kept the corps concentrated on one road, which gave us the strength to fight Red wherever we might find him, but did make for a column several miles long.  And of course Red then attacked the rear!  Morsey was in command here, and did well to break off, albeit with some losses.  At about the same time, our vanguard under Digby bumped into another large Red force.  He managed to hold superior numbers at bay for much of the game.  This stand allowed the rest of the corps to catch up and then pass by him on the main road towards Landshut.  

Phill’s division was by now leading the advance, and secured the vital bridge.  Our engineers had suffered a few losses on the march, but most had survived and as dusk fell were already hard at work repairing the key bridge.  The way is therefore clear for the corps to cross in the morning, and join in the advance of our main army E of Die Leider.  This was achieved at the cost of about 2,000 men, which in my view represents a creditable performance, and means it remains combat-worthy.  Red losses were very similar.

More serious was the loss of perhaps 2/3rds of our baggage in various incidents.  This will seriously impact on the corps' ability to make a full contribution to operations E of Die Leider.  I think therefore we must say that this particular loss converts what would otherwise have been something of a triumph of manoeuvre to a more marginal success.

Martin (J)

Firing squad assignments have been drawn up and the officers responsible for the baggage debacle shall have a meet and greet with them at sunrise.

This was a tough assignment is for no other reason than my first instinct is to concentrate my units on a portion of a known enemy force, destroy it and give myself a numerical advantage in any subsequent fights. However, since my orders were to arrive at Landshut with a ready fighting force and repair the bridge, the corps had to try and make its way through enemy controlled ground without becoming bogged down in an all out battle.

Since we knew the location of only a portion of the enemy force, I felt it important to keep our corps as concentrated as possible in order to force passage if necessary. The last thing I wanted was to fight three separate battles with the divisions. As it turned out, we fought two. Morsey's division became entangled with the known Red division on the Mossburg Strasse. Its commander had decided to move west to try and locate us. This was unfortunate as it was our rear division. I was loathe to order any other division to reverse direction and come to Morsey's aid as it would delay our travels and also allow the filthy Reds time to likewise concentrate. With encouragement, Morsey was able to break free and continue the march to the NE.

That delay enabled another Red force to move up to Gibers Kirchen and threaten to cut out planned line of march to Landshut which was along the Dingelfing Strasse. Digby's vanguard division did good work in keeping the enemy from interfering with the march and the other two division were able to slip past the battle and on to the city and commence bridge repairs. I was sorely tempted to order Phil's division to pitch into the enemy flank rather than bypass the battle, but again, it would have caused an even larger delay when trying to break contact and might have brought even move Red barbarians into the fray.

All three division commanders did well in carrying out their assignments and I shall miss them, but their date with severely shortened future must be kept. Digby's cavalry commander, Martin did excellent service by keeping the corps informed of the whereabouts of nearby Red forces. However, this mere colonel had the effrontery to communicate directly with me not once, but twice. One time was to inform me of the approaching sunset. He too is joining the division commanders in their journey to Valhalla. I now have several senior slots to fill. Applications are being accepted.

Uncle Billy wrote.........

I was sorely tempted to order Phil's division to pitch into the enemy flank rather than bypass the battle, but again, it would have caused an even larger delay when trying to break contact and might have brought even move Red barbarians into the fray.

I think that was the right call.  I tried to tempt a couple of your division commanders into this very move.  There was even a gully which allowed a hidden approach to the enemy right flank & rear.  They both kept the main mission in mind however.  Even a substantial victory over Winterfeldt's Corps would have had little effect on the main campaign, and would almost certainly have substantially weakened your own corps.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

X Corps under General Nadasdy is looking for replacement officers at all senior levels.  Key requirements for these coveted positions include a thick skin, and a severely introverted disposition.  Successful candidates will need to be accompanied by at least 30 wagons, fully-loaded.

Martin (J)

Wow off with my head.  Good thing I am like a lizard and can grow it back.  

In my defense when my wagons were passing the river a monster sucked them into the river and eat them.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Great game. I agree with Digby. It was more like a mini campaign with some hard tactical thinking required than a simple line them up and fire. Many thanks.

I think it was me that lost the wagons. :-( I know I had them when I set off. I have a feeling some enterprising young officer sold them off at a huge profit to the Reds. Anyway. I don't think it will have an unduly negative effect on the ability of the army as the said nine wagons only carried my personal campaign wardrobe and spare hats and cheese for emergencies.

Phill
aka
Baldrick

No! Not the cheese! We are undone!

That's worryingly spooky, Diggers.  I had exactly the same reaction!

Don't worry, Phill.  Every division lost wagons

Probably helped by the fact that I made them skittish, and prone to panic.  But every time you read about them in battle, that's how they were.

Martin (J)

Phil I have some home made farm cheese wet and dry that I confiscated from the local Milk Maids before Kevin ran them off with his best Charles Manson grin. You are more the welcome to join us at camp.

I am not sure if I can make tonight's game so I figured I'd rather ask in advance: any plans for tomorrow evening? would be cool...

I'm up for a game tomorrow at the usual time, if anyone else can make it.

A combination of tuning-up my PC, and reinstalling the game, has achieved miraculous results, and I believe I can now run Waterloo without any difficulty.  So I would therefore be quite keen to play that, if that meets with approval.

Martin (J)

In a stunning reversal of plan, the new suggestion is to give the new Sikh Wars G/burg mod a test tomorrow.

It certainly looks interesting and unusual, and comes with 2 new maps of early 19th C India.  For some further details and screenshots see here http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/modifications/69652-coming-soon-into-the-lions-mouth-the-anglo-sikh-wars

If you're interested in trying this, let me know and I'll send you links to the mod and maps.

Martin (J)

wow - quite a turn of events - are you ever going to try out Waterloo?

I love it though - sounds excellent!