Caen grand campaign

[deshrex]

Does anybody have any thoughts on the grand campaign versus a human opponent?

My sense is that the English player has to push through the relatively unsupported German infantry units and more or less run the entire campaign map very quickly. If the English player fails to move rapidly, he will discover he is faced with lots of German heavy armor, and that any continuation of the offensive is out of the question if the flanks of the attack are going to be assailed by this armor and the lead elements of the attack are at risk of being cut off.

Yes the English player will succeed in picking off a Panther or Tiger here and there, but generally the kill ratios strongly favor the German heavy armor.

In my current grand campaign, the German player has never had less than a minor victory, while I have lost initiative, and have to stand back now and see how bad the German counterattack is going to be.

Just as a matter of history, I would ask why did the English start their attack in stormy weather if doing so grounds air strikes, perhaps the most valuable tool in their tank busting arsenal?

[Cathartes]

My sense is that the English player has to push through the relatively unsupported German infantry units and more or less run the entire campaign map very quickly. If the English player fails to move rapidly, he will discover he is faced with lots of German heavy armor, and that any continuation of the offensive is out of the question if the flanks of the attack are going to be assailed by this armor and the lead elements of the attack are at risk of being cut off.

Your perception is exactly what happened during Operation Epsom, and it's the primary dilemma facing the British. My advice would be to push quickly south and don't be worry about getting cut off initially. Early gains are what matter most.

Yes the English player will succeed in picking off a Panther or Tiger here and there, but generally the kill ratios strongly favor the German heavy armor.

Yes. Find these tanks and outflank them if possible with wolfpack tactics. There is room on the maps to do this. Also, if you can get the Germans to counterattack in specific places, contain him and take on their tanks on with your 6 pounder AT guns, they are quite effective overall and historically helped stem the tide against German armor during Epsom.

Just as a matter of history, I would ask why did the English start their attack in stormy weather if doing so grounds air strikes, perhaps the most valuable tool in their tank busting arsenal?

1. Pressure was on Monty to break out of the Normandy lodgment and one storm had already delayed the offensive.
2. Since the British had an impressive amount of artillery at their disposal, air support was not viewed as a critical ingredient to success.
3. Weather forecasting was good for the era, but not what it is today.
4. The weather would clear eventually.

[STIENER]

cathartes....nice to see u still alive and kicking. any ETA on an update to ur LSA GJS mod?

deshrex...are u having any lobby connection issues with GWTC? or game crashes when using air strikes in multi player GC games?

[deshrex]

Hi Steiner,

The game is working fine on a technical level. My opponent and I have a freeze every now and then, but not enough instances to merit a complaint. Any thoughts on the GC versus a human?

[STIENER]

Hi Deshrex
interesting that ur H2H GC doesnt have the same problems as allot of GWTC players IE: the airstrike crashes and truce crashes.

my thoughts on the GC vs Human.........i would agree with your analysis.
the allies must push hard and then fight off the german counter attack. bypass german units at the start if you can and cut them off. the german heavy cats will always be hard to counter, especially with the BUG / GAME ADDITION of tanks and guns not being able to hit the broad side of a barn IE: missing allot of 1st and 2nd shots. even if you get surprise and the 1st shot off, you will have a very good chance of missing the kill. im sure u have already incountered this. [&:]
having an advantage in heavy arty support should help the allies. good luck [8D]

[deshrex]

Well, I had to concede in my GC as the English player. No question of victory. The victory level went from minor to major in the German favor after the last battle. That one was typical of the fighting after the arrival of the German heavy reinforcements. In it I had two armored platoons and some support units - scouts, a 6 pdr and some leaders. The German player had at least 5 Panthers. I got one with an airstrike. I may have immobilized another with a Firefly. But in the fighting I lost every duel. When I conceded the battle, I had lost one Firefly and at least 5 Sherman Vs.

I agree that the 6 pdr can be a fiendishly good weapon - hard to spot and capable of taking on the Panthers. But with the German heavy units my opponent is careful to always bring at least one mortar half track. So he is usually able to give these guns a good pasting after he has spotted them with his infantry.

I do appreciate the size of the maps. The increased size of the maps is one of the best features of these new CC games. But even with added space, I'm not sure if Wolfpack tactics offer much hope. If the German has just one or two heavy tanks, then perhaps yes these tactics have some value, but with a full roster of Panthers and maybe some Tigers thrown in, I don't see how the English player can do more than hunker down and hope for the best.

Steiner I agree the missed first shots are irksome. Are they meant to reflect green or nervous crews? Poor weaponry? Whatever the case, the English tanks have much less chance of surviving a missed first shot than a German heavy tank.

Is the M10 coded correctly? I think all my M10s had only one kill - a Tiger. I would say from observation that the M10 has only slightly higher AT strength than the Sherman, and obviously is much more vulnerable to mortar fire. The Firefly is the real English bulwark, but they are sparse and the armor is poor. They have to shoot and scoot unless things are really going in their favor.

I guess the history is that the English made little progress after the June landings. The Americans were able to break through at Avranche, survive the Mortain counterattack, and then come up behind the German units facing the English, thus forming the Falaise pocket. But this kind of progess took until the latter half of August. Like this game shows, if the Germans were willing and able to commit heavy armor to a battle, the English really were not going to go anywhere.

Just on a fun historical note, the 42nd Highlanders, the 'Black Watch,' fought at Carillon in 1758 (or Ticonderoga, as its known now), not too far from where I live.

[STIENER]

not being able to hit the broad side of a barn is something matrix said they added to the game sinse LSA. i believe they said it was to add playability or some such nonsense. it isnt supposed to reflect anything but a bad decision on matrix's part. doesnt matter how many of us complain, there not going to change it. which is just lame.

are u going to switch sides now?