| Unternehmen Sonnenblume: Operation Sunflower | ||||||||||||
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Italy now in the second half of the campaign desperately needed a victory, a major one, if they hoped to win this early desert war and they anticipated they arrival of promised German armor support. Britain on the other hand was quite satisfied if not complacent with it's gains thus far, with a comfortable lead in campaign points. The British objective was to block all roads, prevent Italian and German units from escaping off the Eastern edge of the map and of course eliminate as many units as possible. Nothing too much to be asked of if they were only facing Italian foot units. I debated with the British initial deployment and decided to place them all on the Eastern ridge opting for a higher quantity of road hexes blocked inside limited terrain and still managing to keep at least most of the Northern area there protected with A.T. crossfire capability with a small detachment isolated further South for at least the sake of spotting for the 25-pdrs. The flaw of this plan was that it left the two central hills unoccupied and the Italians were able to get their trucks with the 105mms and mortars loaded to temporary safety and set up within firing range at 13:15/turn 2. The Italian trucks were also able unload foot units between hills before becoming scrap metal. The British respond by combining 25-pdr and 3-inch fire together forcing an Italian HMG step loss and subsequent demoralization, drawing first blood but were going to have problems thereafter with the Italians being able to get cover the next turn and the ones following until they could organize a coordinated attack. The panzers and armored cars advanced ahead smoothly and immediately began to threaten the Isolated Southern post along with some Italian motorcycle platoons. At this point the British realized they had blundered with their deployment again and had their 40mm AA gun and bren carrier in easy range of both direct and anti-tank fire from the deadly combination of PzIIIFs and PzIVEs grouped together. So a desperate attempt was made to relocate those units before they were easily eliminated leaving the Southern post even more detached from the main defending force. This folly made play very entertaining for a few turns as the bren carrier drops the 40mm off in an even more vulnerable area outside of limiting terrain and both units are no longer dug-in. Once again, both units are exposed to direct and anti-tank fire with the panzers out of range of the 25-pdr's A.T. capabilities. Then a small miracle occurs followed by another; first off, then bren survives 4 shots of A.T. fire from the PzIIIF and the 40mm is only disrupted from the PzIVF's direct fire then the British actually gain the initiative next turn and both units get moved to safe hill areas further North. Midway through the scenario both sides rack up almost equal amounts of step losses with the Italian 105mms duelling it out with 25-pdrs from hill to hill, neither one entirely wiping out the others indirect fire capability (no OBA in this scenario) though Britain keeps the advantage by being dug-in. The main Italian battle group gets organized and advances but are not able to carry out any assaults by plays end. The motorcycle groups spend most of the game disrupted. However, one shining moment for the Italians occured when they were able to dismount a 47mm in the face of direct fire and actually take out a bren carrier and not get eliminated afterwards. Other than that, most British step losses are generated by the panzers. In the end it became an axis victory as all German armored units were able to casually drive off the map along with most of the motorcycle units virtually uncontested though the PzIVs paused for a moment to spray direct fire on the British units and brave A.T. fire just before taking a bow and making a graceful exit. However, this was no axis rollover and the scenario was won with just 18 VPs, most gained from exiting units, far from the degree of the victory required to catch up with the British lead in the campaign but a win nonetheless. So the campaign points overall so far- Britain: 217 Italy: 175, with three scenarios remaining ... |
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| 6 Comments |
Are you playing with your own leaders or are you just playing the scenarios?
I'm using the leader characters throughout the campaign and thanks for asking. So far, now in the middle of the 'Tobruk Again' scenario, none of them have died yet but a few came very close. They make play a little more interesting but keeping up with them does slow down play a bit. It makes play a little more competitive not only against the opposing sides LCs but within their own ranks and also you have to keep a balance in play, keeping the victory conditions in sight but also striving to gain (or recover) as many LPS as possible.
My Italian LCs are a lot of times just doing whatever it takes to stay alive in some scenarios, even if that means abandoning units that are outnumbered and outflanked. So only one of them has actually been promoted to Capitano and walked out of most scenarios with positive LPS and occasionally an upgrade. The other two Tenentes have both been seriously wounded along with one being reprimanded facing a court martial due to compund demoralization. However, in the current scenario they are finally in a positive LP status after being in the red zone even though they may likely lose this one battle overall.
My British LCs are doing much better of course with two promoted to Major already, one of those is almost too powerful in a sense, as long as he is spotting for indirect fire. With the mortarman/artillerist skill combined with the forward observer skill he gains a +2 bombardment modifier when he activates an indirect fire unit as long as fire is focused on one hex and he is spotting for it. However, the other Major, who probably shouldn't of been promoted started off with low attributes and after being seriously wounded has dropped down to a (0-7-0) rating and is at present demoralized in an assault hex with only a step of INF so perhaps I'll be rid of him soon and will be replaced by a more capable lieutenant. That is another aspect of play here, as a cardboard general there is no rule preventing you from placing bothersome and inefficient leaders in the most perilous locations. Yes, it may be cruel but in the worst case they might actually accomplish something other than just staying alive. I was actually not pleased when this upstart Major passed his leader casualty outcome roll. Well, okay, that is my answer to the original question: yes, using leader characters in campaign play.
Cool, I wasn't sure from your AAR. I have played with C&C1 and the leaders got hammered. A lot of bad self morale checks. Once they get behind in the LP's its tough to get them on the positive side.
Well, I just finished the 'Tobruk Again' scenario and even though Italy lost that one all their leaders managed to come out with positive LPs and not get wounded, even if one was just one point above zero; two started off in this scenario with negative LPS. It is difficult to keep their personal morale up especially when using them in assaults. The reason my one British Major is doing so well, having earned just about every combat skill available is that he just stays with indirect fire units with personnel units close by in case his position gets threatened with an assault. It may be harder in the long run for him to get his Military Cross that way or get promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel but with a (1-10-1)rating is quite formidable and capable at present rank. I am trying to keep mention of my leader character's actions in these scenarios at a minimum as they are bit more personal and that others, if they play this series will have different results with theirs.
I would go ahead and mention them in the AAR's. I believe that people playing the C&C games are not going to do these as straight scenarios, but with leader generation. It is nice to see how others play the leaders too.
I think once the campaign is finished I'll write a nice epitaph or eulogy concerning the leader characters and perhaps even mention them by name when I complete the Halfaya Pass scenario. Then I will put 'The King's Officers' on pause for the later Desert War campaign while I finish up with 'Desert Rats' and start on 'South Africa's War' and then continue. With that I will likely generate entirely new LCs for both sides because I don't like the idea of converting Italian leader characters into German ones. Besides, it is much more difficult to earn the first German medal, the Infantry Assualt badge (actually owned one of those in my youth)than it is for the Italian leader character to earn his Croce al Merito di Guerra. Thanks again for your input!