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CS I Changing of the Guard


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Counterstroke kicked off this evening, with the 334th Guards Tank Division rushing forward to relieve the remnants of 1st Guards Tank Division as NATO attempts to cross the river to their west and establish a line east of the city of Rastatt.

334th got to their initial positions in good order as 1st GTD traded blows with advancing NATO elements, who pushed deliberately and did in fact end up on the east side of Rastatt.

Sean and Sabot_Ready took the brunt of things, doing between them all of the killing that needed doing while 9erRed (remembering how I managed to lose a company in something like three minutes during First Clash) told me essentially to 'go here and stay put' while he serviced NATO targets with artillery.

I didn't get to kill anything, but 334th overall seemed to have things pretty well in hand. For their part NATO seemed happy with their progress, despite not having any artillery support (I gave them tubes, but no ammo).

The fight progresses now to the southern part of the map; two weeks from tonight NATO will try there to meet or maybe exceed the gains they made in the northern part.

Sean will be posting an AAR of the fight shortly.

See you in two weeks.

Shot

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Enigma, I'm trying to get you some screenies. Be advised that I presently, for reasons which poor, benighted me cannot effectively address, cannot take screen shots from an AAR.

I'm trying to find someone who both can and will.

Shot

Appreciate the effort Shot but don't expend the energy. I was just wondering whether anyone had and was going to post them. Don't waste your time on this.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Played the SW sector part of this fight tonight, and it was every bit the blood bath that the NW sector.

NATO and 334th GTD traded even in vehicles, which actually worked out for NATO as all of our losses were tanks. Sean will be posting a link to the AAR file shortly, and I'll be posting a shot of where the respective Boundaries for each side are tomorrow or the next day.

Thanks to Sean for hosting, and to GaryOwen and 9erRed for the work they put in to help me make this happen. There were a lot of delays getting this one going, but the fight was worth the wait.

Come one come all for next time, which will happen (hopefully) on 19 Apr 08.

See you then.

Shotskiy

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Here's a look at where both sides stand with respect to each other at the end of the first scenario. NATO has effected a penetration of about six kilometers at their easternmost penetration; the Soviets have given ground, but in doing so have afforded themselves some excellent defensive position.

The respective traces for each side aren't parallel due to the conditions under which the boundaries are drawn. Boundary determination is mainly a function of where the forward-most functional AFV of both sides are at the end of a mission, so while NATO has pushed at most six kilometers into Soviet-controlled territory, the Soviets themselves don't have anything functional and armored for another 2 km or so further east, creating that interesting no man's land gap in about the middle of the map.

You can imagine the furball that's going to cause, should both sides try to occupy that gap.

Look at the southern part of the map, that's not just forest, but hilly forest. Taking it from 4th CMBG was no picnic during First Clash, it's not going to be any easier for NATO to take it from the Soviets in Counterstroke.

Most of the fighting has so far occurred in the southern section, where NATO made a determined push for some bridges just east of the Soviet trace. NATO didn't get the bridges, but they got a lodgement which overlooks them and is on the eastern side of the river. The Soviets weren't happy about that.

In that area was some of the hardest fighting, too. NATO sent something like a company, they ran into T-80s positioned in and around the town west of the bridges (on the Soviet maps, it's a strongpoint called Vodka). The fight raged back and forth; the company from 188 Panzer Battalion took the town and the bridges as elements of 2nd Squadron 1st ACR came northeast to support the push.

334th GTD kicked them out eventually, but NATO still got across and now have that lodgement.

I'll post some better shots in a bit, and point out some other 'interesting' moments in the fight.

Shot

56e83c6779160_CSEoStrace.JPG.4944f233189

56e83c6779160_CSEoStrace.JPG.4944f233189

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Here's a better shot of the fight for the bridges. The picture pretty much says it all, note the pile of armored corpses on the autobahn southwest of the bridges. Note that most of them are Soviet.

It was all about the timing, that part of the fight. We were feeding grist to the mill just fast enough to keep the Germans from establishing themselves in force, and it was still a close fight.

Note the dead German panzer in the upper left corner; it and a bunch of T-80s tangled, it eventually died but it bought a sizeable honor-guard all by itself.

Note that single T-80 playing kitty bar-the-door. That tank all by itself saved the day, at least insofar as preventing any more Germans from getting to and across the bridges. Close fight, and the Germans still got themselves that lodgement I was talking about at the top of the image.

Shot

56e83c677d1dc_FightfortheBridges.JPG.4ae

56e83c677d1dc_FightfortheBridges.JPG.4ae

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This shot shows another part of the fight, where 1st ACR and Bundeswehr units tried to take the objective marked on Soviet maps as Gin.

Most of the dead Soviet tanks you see to the west of the town are mine. F Company's T-80s ran into the flank of the NATO northeastern push, and paid the price. It turned out to be worth it, as we tied up a lot of NATO units who were heading for the high ground in the southern part of Gin. That's a really good spot from which to observe and impede the enemy; if you look at the upper left corner of the image you'll see four dead tanks and a platoon or so of dead Brads.

The tanks were M1, picked off from units sitting on the high feature and shooting HEAT. Those shots were about 2.5 km long, by the way. You don't often get to see Soviet armor doing long-range sniping, and getting away with it.

NATO wanted the high ground as well; they pushed a lot of armor into the area too, and eventually cleaned us off the hill. There was more fighting in the town itself, and in the orchard to the northeast. Ranges were knife-fight close, both sides were consistently surprising each other at distances of -in some cases- less than a hundred meters.

There are actually more dead tanks in the shot than can be seen; in all 334th lost something like a battalion in that area, and pushed in Echo Company only in the last few minutes of the game.

Great fight all the way around. Great job by both commanders, great play by all players. I can't wait to see what next time brings.

Shot

56e83c677f6a1_TheHighGround.JPG.f40e185f

56e83c677f6a1_TheHighGround.JPG.f40e185f

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, they are. If by 'playable' you mean that they are capable of absorbing gunfire.

For that matter, they were (you should pardon the expression) rat-bastards in the last mission.

Your proletariat ass should, for that matter again, trouble itself to show up for a game.

Shotskiy

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Well, my eyes are sharper than appear (despite my glasses:cool3:), so from what I can see, there was a shredding. Unbelievable how many pieces of cannon fodder you can stuff into a small space! I'm still a junior member and have never been online with this game, but as soon as I have Teamspeak up and running, I'll try to be ready for whatever will be thrown at me. Well, that's all I have to say.

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