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I can't stay on for long, but I'm kind of at a loss on how to formulate my orders. Attack stance, proceed until we reach Quotroflob? How to react to enemies? I suspect that once I make contact, I can't sneak around them even if I withdraw.
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Feb 20, 2017 19:32
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| # ? May 3, 2024 11:21 |
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Guys, I need your opinions on a new plan. Let me preface it with my observations about the situation at hand. Our forces in the eastern part of the map - understood as the area east of St Croissant - are overmatched, but should be capable of stopping even a fairly dedicated push. We now have MGs and artillery set up, while the French will need a while to recommit their guns forward and they never had that many machine guns to begin with. Their lead brigades must be quite out of Div HQ range, so we have the initiative right now. Plenty of their foremost brigades are battered, bruised, and bloodied, and not that far from breaking or no longer being an effective force. If they fail any more morale checks, or command checks, and they end up attacking piecemeal, we should be good in the area in the short term. The situation in the western side of the map is still in flux. We see the French moving towards Quatrepourts with at least one brigade, probably two. But most of their forces are parking on Clemenceau or attacking our eastern flank. This means if we act quickly and decisively, we may obtain local short-term superiority in the SW corner of the map. If we succeed at that, we may be able to secure objective Q, or at least prevent the French from getting there by controlling Dejeuner Ridge. From that point, we may be able to refocus our advance on maintaining interdiction of further French aid for Q long enough for us to hopefully win. This logic leads me to assert that in the long term the east may be tenable or not, but it is not worth it in any case, and we should reorient our line on a south-north line running from Q through G to the north of Pasteur Ridge.  The colours correspond to specific brigades or brigade groupings and are mostly for you to more clearly orient yourself in what your brigade is going to be doing as its part in the plan. The exceptions are blue and pink, which correspond to the intended long-term positions of 19th Division and 43rd Division, respectively. The lines turn to dashes to dots to indicate increasing levels of factual and temporal remoteness. So here's what it's about : The Jagers are, so far, the only group that everyone seems to agree on a mission for. Their job is to run like hell to Q, staying out of French artillery range. At the very least, they should secure or contest Dejeuner. If possible, and there are no French in Q because ???? (presumably we were superfast or something and they goofed and reoriented and I don't know), they can even take the place and camp it. If they see anyone in there from Dej, they should wait for the main advance force to arrive. 78th Brigade shall withdraw from its positions west of G and move into the gap between G and Pasteur Ridge. That way they will get their heavy guns back and will be able to position both themselves and the cannon to stop any French pushes in that direction, as well as anchoring the flank of 4th and 5th Brigades. Don't worry, as you can see, we will have troops moving in to cover west of G. 4th and 5th Brigades will form a coherent line together to protect our flank. That is, however, only temporary, their positions are too far forward as it is and the situation is well enough in hand that we can dare to try and fix that overextension. They will be conducting a fighting retreat to the west, where they will be shifted to 19th Division's command as soon as it arrives in Paradise. Our brigade in Baguette Woods (you know who you are) should just Break Off pronto and RUN like hell. Try to save as many of your men as you can, they're no use to us dying in that wood. You have a good shot of coming out of that with a brigade command and even those few companies and guns will be invaluable in the fight to come. Jaguars! has little to do, but plenty at stake. He must hold G at all costs. Fortunately, this should not be hard. Once you swat away those French leftovers, just clear the outskirts so that you can't get shot at with artillery. Can someone send him an engineer to entrench him? The red group - 76th and 77th Brigades - will proceed with all due haste to occupy 78th's current position and form along the road to the west. From there, if no new enemies arrive to engage them, they will cross on to Dejeuner Ridge, firing at any random Frenchmen along their way, but not engaging, secure the ridge, deploy their artillery over Q, and - if they encounter one or two enemy brigades - will engage them with artillery support while the Jagers either assist or help artillery cover the rear. While this final stages are happening, the rest of our force will be shifting westwards, compacting our line, allowing the artillery to better cover as much of the area as possible, and putting Div HQs in safer areas. 43rd's HQ shall fall back to Brioche when feasible, while 19th's should either take shelter in G or further north in Veine. Questions, comments, suggestions? ___________________ Remember, men. We are here on the field to fight the greatest war of Europe's history, and we shall fight like our dignity and humanity compels us to. We shall fight with the bravery of the warriors of old, and the civility of the soldiers of the new. Remember our enemies are human, too, and men of great dignity and valour themselves, I believe. Remember to give them the honour of fighting and dying in a fair battle, on their home soil, in defence of their fatherland and rights, as we may as well. For at the end of they day, when the guns are silent and the battle is won or lost, when the decisions we make today are only fodder for histories, we will stand eye to eye with our enemies, and we will say, and we shall say it proud: "gg no re"
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Feb 20, 2017 20:49
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ALSO, if you are not in Roll20, or do not visit it too frequently, here's something useful: current fields of fire of French artillery batteries. Try to stay out of those! (the dashed area is just horse artillery, which is far less effective and only numbers a few very mobile batteries, so it might not even be there in a moment.)
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Feb 20, 2017 21:14
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Allright, I have to sleep, and I'm not sure what the deadline is, so here are the orders for Trin to consider legitimate if the turns start before I get up again: Regular travel formation: Bicyclists in front, Infantry center and MGs in the back. Afterwards, deploy with BCs and infantry forming a line and MGs behind them, center. As shown on the black arrow, the Jägers will move in maximum speed Attack formation around the fighting, attempting to stay out of French artillery range - to the top of La Oeuf. If there is no enemy contact, they will then continue down to Quatreprouts and hold the town. They will dispatch a runner at enemy contact, and if locked in combat, break off a 2/3 casualties. Sighting attackers, defend. Sighting inactive enemy: advance with rifle fire where possible, but do not pursue breaking enemies.
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Feb 20, 2017 21:18
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As far as my jurisdiction goes, I agree that I. should try and salvage as much of his command as he can, and have already encouraged him to do so. The great mass of units north of St. C. looks like it's going to be a logistical nightmare to align into something useful, but it has to be done, and it has to be done right away, so o disagreement there. However, I don't understand the decision to swap the brigades forming the W and E flanks, instead of just reshuffling them at their current posts (plus sending one additional brigade West)? I mean, we are sending a brigade to a spot occupied by another brigade ATM, and sending the latter brigade to the current position of its replacement? Right now the troops stationary at the western flank can at least give the vulnerable Frenchmen some licking from an advantageous position, instead of losing precious turns to moving and (un)limbering.
steinrokkan fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Feb 20, 2017 |
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Feb 20, 2017 21:56
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I wanted to grab it instead, but it's Perestroika's brigade, which has all the heavy guns attached to it. They're already on the edge of the command radius and I think we need them more on the defence here than on the attack - if the French are only moving with infantry brigades, they are unlikely to have any guns at all to contest us until they move off Clemenceau.
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Feb 20, 2017 21:58
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That makes sense, I suppose, but wouldn't it be wiser not to do this complicated dance in the middle of a French assault? Wait until they get blunted, and then optimize asset allocation? Those guns are more useful stationary even if positioned optimally than moving while the French are still shooting at their comrades.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:01
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Believe me, I'd rather, but it seems there's no better time than now. The map in this thread shows this a lot worse than the one in Roll20, but this is the eye of the storm, where calm reigns. The French south of G are chopped up and scattered, Ikasuhito's path of retreat is nearly clear, and the closest force the French have to those guns is 14 inches away (from Ikasuhito's 10cm guns, 28 inches from guns on the STC-PAR road) and either shot up, engaged, withdrawing, or a gun line that will need to limber up to move. If we wait, the French may engage the fresh brigades and by then it will be too late. Particularly considering the delay in issuing orders. E: also 78th [PERESTROIKA] will not move until Turn 11 at the earliest. They will still have time to gently caress the French up before packing up to get the hell out of dodge.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:10
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Alright I'm convinced. As per your orders/recommendation I will begin pulling my men back to some location north of croissant. I'll have my orders up later tonight.
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Feb 20, 2017 22:18
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Also a reminder:  We have a brigade in need of a commander! The three guys we had that were without a command so far have not yet reported, which is why (unless Trin objects) I am willing to give the unit over to one of the Brigadiers who's lost his unit. If any of you are looking for a second chance, speak up!
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Feb 20, 2017 22:31
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I do not object, and I would also reiterate that I am open to allowing the 4th and 5th to be transferred to steinrokkan's command (subject to a time lag and some dice rolls) so he's got something to do for the rest of the battle.
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Feb 20, 2017 23:52
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Like I said, I'd like to do that as soon as he's in Paradise.
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Feb 21, 2017 00:05
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So in all likelyhood those French 75's on the hill are going to be manhandled forward into range of my troops fairly soon. Is there a way to withdraw out of range when they do so? I haven't got anything to really dish out hurt except my MG's. For what it's worth I think the current plan has too many moving parts and our atry needs to concentrate on putting down fire rather than shuffling about.
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Feb 21, 2017 01:32
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The post office in Saint Croissant somehow manages to receive a telegram from the French-held area of France, addressed to the Corps Commander with the compliments of General Mon Pere.quote:RECEIVED YOUR MESSAGE STOP You spend several hours wondering whether this is supposed to be funny. PS: Reminder that the deadline is tomorrow at 5pm GMT
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Feb 21, 2017 01:35
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Alright men, you've more than done your duty today. Useing some vile trickery the cowardly French launched a surprise attack on our flank that threatened to destroy us, and not only did we survive, but we charged forward and scattered those fools to the wind! After such an act of unparalleled courage there can be only one appropriate follow up.  All units are to fall back to the point shown as best as they are able.  Should they manage this they should take up a position as shown. (or as close as they can manage.)  Change to standing Orders If engaged by the enemy use Rifle Fire Ikasuhito fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 08:05
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If I get a runner opportunity, this is my orders: 79th Brigade Orders: Mission: to defend St Croissant. Bring brigade HQ back into the center of town and replace the MGs at the front with Infantry Have the MG companies in the second line so that they can fire through the Infantry. Move my trench mortar about 4" north and about 1" west so that it's about level with the north side of town. If the infantry takes 3/4 casualties, All units are to move back into the town proper so that they cannot be seen from outside. Cavalry to dismount and defend if they haven't already. Artillery: Move the horse arty to this spot here, which I calculate to be out of range of their artillery.  Engineer: Entrench from the NE corner of St C towards the Ferm de Beurre. Standing orders: Engage with rifle fire When an enemy retreats, Do not pursue Auto Break off: Fight to the last man! End of orders. To my fellow commanders: My feld kannon are still to the NE of St C, where they will fire on the enemy. But if you need to move past them, do so, as your brigades have more firepower. I can always move them after if needed. Perestroika, I could definitely do with your brigade remaining in place until 1200 to help dispatch the second group of french infantry and spread the casualties. Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 08:10 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 08:07
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Just dropping a note that I will still get my orders in before the deadline today, so not to worry. Just gonna have to get through a math exam first. 
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Feb 21, 2017 08:24
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Maths, the true enemy of the infantryman 
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Feb 21, 2017 08:34
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I was thinking about what to do with the cavalry. I'd like to have them stay and defend until about 1200, when we should be in a more stable situation. My telephone cutting mission turned out to be impractical as they'd cut the last cable about midnight. However, we could do any of the following:
I could also disguise the movement by going the long way around goonville wood, taking an extra turn or two, popping into the enemy's view somewhere unexpected.
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Feb 21, 2017 08:46
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Exam sucked, so it's time to vent my frustrations on some frenchmen! Since I'm not entirely certain when the runner will come around these are a bit conditional-heavy, so let me know if they're too vague to be useful. As usual, feel free to yell at me if any of this is terrible idiocy  78th Brigade Orders General Orders/Conditionals: -The execution of these orders is to be delayed until 1200, to allow the other brigades to maneuver securely. -Any piece of howitzer artillery that is currently shooting at enemies when these orders would go into effect, or that has been firing in either of the preceding two turns, will belay the following orders. Instead, it'll stay where it is and keep on shooting. -The brigade switches to Attack Stance, if it is not still in that stance.  Infantry, MGs, Brigade Command, and Trench Mortar Retreat backwards into the woods in good order, continuing to present the formation's front to the enemy. Once no longer under fire, wheel about and move over towards the east of St. Croissant. Anchor the line of 79th's artillery on both sides without interfering with their field of fire southwards, and establish a line through Ferme the Beurre and eastwards as shown below. If there aren't enough infantry companies available to fill all indicated spots, first ignore the positions on the west flank indicated by the green dots. If there are still further missing, take off those at the very rightmost flank indicated by the red dots. If there are still further missing, remove those directly in front of the MGs. Howitzer Artillery Unless affected by the conditional order above, re-limber at 1230 (or alternatively one turn after the infantry started moving, whichever happens later) and wait for the infantry to come by. As soon as the infantry comes by, follow and take up the positions indicated below, staying the minimum 2" away from friendly units directly in front and unlimbering there. Under no circumstances is any howitzer to move ahead of the infantry. If any (or all) of 79th' 7.7cm FK batteries have been destroyed or displaced, AND if there are no enemy units north of the road, a 10cm Howitzer battery will take its place as indicated by the dotted blue line. If any howitzer batteries remained stationary as per the conditional order above: If any of these batteries in question did not fire for two consecutive turns at any point during these orders, they are to re-limber and move to their new positions like the rest. Desired final positions:  Once all positions have been reached, switch to Defense Stance and dispatch a runner to report these orders fulfilled. Standing Oders When sighting an enemy in attack stance, keep moving along original path When attacking the enemy, use rifle fire When an enemy company Breaks Off or Retreats Suppressed, do not pursue Break off automatically at 3/4 casualties Perestroika fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 13:44
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Commander of Jäger bn is probationed again, gotta love that light infantry fighting spirit e: I have no runners so lemme just lend my spiritual support to III Corps commanding general's plan and pretend I went off to look for cacti again. aphid_licker fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 13:53
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Reinforcement Bde Orders. Stay in defend stance, fire upon targets of opportunity. If no targets are in range of the MG or rifle fire and the Bde is taking artillery fire withdraw a max of 8 inches total from current positions NNW maintaining formation as much as possible. Standing orders ------------------ Engage with rifle fire When an enemy retreats, Do not pursue Auto Break off: Fight to the last man! Saros fucked around with this message at 15:17 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 15:15
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The adjudication is now underway
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Feb 21, 2017 19:39
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Preemptive Oh God
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Feb 21, 2017 19:54
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the internet in my house stopped working last night, i am posting from a coffee shop. -go wherevver aphid_licker tells me to -if you don't hear very much from me in the next day or so, the rest of my orders stand: infantry in front, screening the machine guns, big guns two inches behind. Fire on the enemy but do not pursue without further orders, I want to maintain -break off if we receive half casualties and try like hell to regroup HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 23:39
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This battle hasn't generated nearly enough terrible art.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:48
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How does work?
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Feb 22, 2017 00:03
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Needs more nihilism. God is dead, and we killed Him. E: I guess that stuff is more for once the trenches set in rather than now
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Feb 22, 2017 00:10
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my roommate tells me that things are still not fixed at home, so if I don't post very much in the next few days, assume I'm scrounging internet from coffee shop to coffee shop
HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 00:20
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Crazycryodude posted:Needs more nihilism. God is dead, and we killed Him.
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Feb 22, 2017 02:10
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aphid_licker posted:Preemptive Oh God Oh yes. Yes indeed. Before reading this update, I invite all German players to click the question mark under his av and check out his recent posts. Do you see any runners being dispatched? I don't. Guess how many orders in 43rd Division actually went through? Well, if you were relying on getting a runner who was going to be sent on an upcoming turn... Turn 10: 1130 German initiative The first thing that happens is that a runner reaches the victorious 15th Brigade, but in the chaos and hell of combat, Brigade HQ's orders fail to reach the men. Instead, they attempt to execute their original plan of forming a defensive line between the Bois de Baguette and St Croissant. And that's just the start. Meanwhile, far away from all these shenanigans, the Jaegers are happily digging a nice big hole.  Back in the interesting bit, 76th Brigade has no authorisation to execute its new orders, so what actually happens is that it heads out further west, into the Bois de Gooneville. 78th and 79th Brigade are also left patiently waiting for authorisation from HQ and cannot move in the meantime; speculation runs rampant that the General is busy with some French mademoiselle.  77th and 5th Brigades, responding to authorisation given on a previous turn, begin heading east. Sadly, both brigades have been ordered to the top of Pasteur Ridge, and the ridge is only big enough for one. Happily, Oberst Hegel went into Battle Order one turn earlier and is able to advance first in order to get his beach towel firmly in place.  The 15th's artillery gets to work reducing the main French gun line.  Unfortunately, it responds in kind.  The French continue charging into St Croissant, with shouts and great action, while their own artillery begins pounding the new-orders-less 15th. Things look grim for the equally orders-less 79th.  German machine-guns open up on the charging Frenchmen. Things look considerably less grim when they've had their say; over half the charging companies are cut down and killed.  The combined rifles of the 15th, the 79th, and the 78th repel all the remaining chargers who made it to the outskirts of St Croissant; the survivors fail a morale check. Offscreen, the 78th has also stood up very well to a plastering from the French cavalry, losing only one company to its combined rifles, machine gun and arse hortillery.  The reinforcing 4th Brigade takes casualties, but inflicts more than it takes on the French.  The end-of-turn situation is still far from desirable, but it's also far from a complete disaster.  Turn 11: 1200 French initiative Without orders from its Divisional HQ, the 76th tries to figure out what to do. It's supposed to be in the place now occupied by the 78th. It examines its orders carefully, sees that the 77th was supposed to be on its right but has apparently gone off somewhere else, and so decides to take up the position originally allocated to the 77th. Meanwhile, the Jaegers move past Brioche and approach Dejeuner Ridge.  The 15th again fails to get its new orders distributed, and instead continues manfully trying to take up its originally-specified positions.  The 5th, unable to get past Oberst Hegel's towel, settles for advancing alongside its comrades of the 77th. It has trouble moving without masking the 15th's guns.  The French guns up on Clemenceau have an absolute turkey shoot with the poor doomed 15th.  They, of course, epic-fail their morale check and rout. Better news from the north-east, though! The 4th is taking heavy casualties, but has just forced one French brigade to fail a morale check and retreat suppressed. Another one is rushing down off La Cote to face them, though...  General Steinrokkan arrives in Bouclecourt to find that he is now a divisional commander in name only, and immediately begins the bureaucratic procedures, expedited as far as possible, to transfer the newly-arrived 4th and 5th Brigades to his command.  The landscape is beginning to look suitably apocalyptic. Turn 12: 1230 German initiative The intensity of the battle is beginning to die down somewhat. Most of the men in the killing zones are either dead or fled as the 5th moves up alongside the 77th, now busy unlimbering its guns.  I'm pretty sure, in fact, that the fled outnumber the dead, though I haven't counted.  Would you want to count that? And now here's some bad news; the 76th has settled down next to the 78th without trouble, and the Jaegers continue up onto Dejeuner Ridge...but it seems that French cavalry has got there first!  This might not end well. In the east, the 4th takes another pasting from the newly-arrived French brigade (Brigade HQ can just about see a runner sprinting agonisingly down the hill after them, just unable to reach them in time), and loses two of its machine guns, although they take a pound of flesh from the French before being put out of action.  The last remaining in-range units in the west are being picked off on both sides. Those four FKs have really punched above their weight, compared to a French gun line that now numbers about 10 soixante-quinze batteries.  The French in front of the 4th are forced to morale-check, which they pass (of course).  Turn 13: 1300 French initiative The French appear to be experimenting with a bold new question-mark formation. The Jagers manfully attempt to advance uphill against the waiting French cavalry; the combination of machine-guns and arse hortillery is a difficult one to make progress against.  Pretty much everyone else is at the end of their orders, or has switched to Defend stance, and does not move. Good news for Oberst Hegel, whose artillery opens up and gives the French something to think about.  And then the 77th's machine guns fire for the first time, alongside those of the 5th, absolutely making up for lost time.  Seven dead companies, one failed morale check, and that's all she wrote east of Baguette. Meanwhile, the only other thing happening is the 4th and that new French brigade exchanging fire. They take yet more lumps out of each other, and then both pass morale checks.  It is a quarter past one, almost exactly halfway through the day. You have now lost 119 companies; the enemy has lost 105, and it could easily be worse for them if not for all those checks they didn't whiff on. News of runners to follow tomorrow. Next deadline is 5pm GMT, Thursday 24 February. You may wish to know that the Jaeger Battalion is the only one not on Defend stance.
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Feb 22, 2017 02:21
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Also important to note that one french brigade has disappeared in the direction of La oeuf (and it's guns are probably moving right now) and the one near Clemencau is def well entrenched by now.
Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 02:38 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 02:36
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Whelp thats me out of the game, at least we went down fighting. All things considered I think we did alright this turn.Trin Tragula posted:
Their orders were to fight to the death! There are going to be a great many court martials in their future. 
Ikasuhito fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 02:38
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Are you interested in taking over the 5th? We still need a permanent commander and I'm going to make sure it happens one way or another before the next turn. Anyone else who wants it, speak up now!
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Feb 22, 2017 02:48
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Has everyone on our side got a chance to lead? I wouldnt want to screw anyone over.
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Feb 22, 2017 02:50
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whoever's to my left, watch your left flank and reform! 
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Feb 22, 2017 02:51
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Ikasuhito posted:Has everyone on our side got a chance to lead? I wouldnt want to screw anyone over. The opportunity's been on the table for the better part of a week now, I think people have had a fair amount of time to grab it if they want it.
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Feb 22, 2017 02:54
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If it's not automatic, send a runner back to say that we are holding and, in fact, battering the enemy, but the guy next to me should watch his left flank
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Feb 22, 2017 03:13
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Suddenly I understand better than ever why they all thought the war would be over in a few months. These losses are atrocious.
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Feb 22, 2017 03:18
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Doubleposting because Trin yelled at me to post ITT: We can probably tidy up the east, then just dig in and wait for them to come to us if we want to play it safe. We've got Croissant solidly in hand, and while charging of for Q-town gets us the win if we can hold it, it also possibly over-extends us. If we go for Q I'm sure the French will figure out it's our objective if they haven't already, and they can probably just call in a whole bunch of fresh reinforcements right on top of the town to take it back or prevent us from getting it in the first place. Honestly, I think digging in roughly where we're at is the best course of action. Maybe shift the line west some to shorten it up north and better protect any route they'd take to the top left (which I'm pretty sure is their objective). TL;DR they beat us to Dejeuner, so taking Q seems off the table. Move the guys up north back out of their gun range, shorten up the line, and start digging. Thoughts? Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Feb 22, 2017 |
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Feb 22, 2017 03:52
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