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Looks like the Civilization games had it right, sometimes a proper cavalry charge really will see off armoured vehicles. 
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Mar 13, 2017 22:00
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The next few turns are going to be VERY interesting.
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Mar 13, 2017 22:13
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Once again, people charge blindly into towns. Edit: Istvun posted:We didn't shoot quite as well as I'd have hoped. It was really more of a mutual blundering action. Green Intern fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Mar 13, 2017 |
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Mar 13, 2017 22:21
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Honestly it's AMAZING that it took the Germans so long to formulate orders. They have two units on the field and literally only one possible course of action - if they don't take Steth, they can't do anything else. The fun thing is the British are now looking at a dangerously real possibility of being literally wiped off the field (until the third brigade arrives in two turns). Let's see what Team Central Powers does. The most pivotal action the British could take would be to realise they're facing two brigades and immediately withdraw due west - and that would not be fun to watch.
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Mar 13, 2017 23:20
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Sixkiller posted:My units cut down most of their cavalry, so XTH should have a easy time. This will be fun to watch. They seem eager to charge the town, and I don't expect xthetenth, of all people, to back away.
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Mar 13, 2017 23:22
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If the Germans receive a charge in the town they're probably gonna get absolutely mulched, unless I'm forgetting a rule. If they counter-charge the British cav, it's Xthetenth who's likely to be cut to shreds. The next two initiative rolls are going to make or break a lot of things, I feel. Also, the whole not realizing there's a second brigade in the town is going to lead to some top quality "oh gently caress" moments.
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Mar 13, 2017 23:27
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The German player explicitly confirming that they can't see anything North could result in some chaos. The Germans might end up marching some stuff straight into Gold Team's view.
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Mar 14, 2017 01:23
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Speaking of Gold Team, Pater Meus makes a highly cromulent point in Roll20.quote:my dad (GM): The plan is working pretty much as intended. All that is left to see if we pay for not comitting fully to it. One extra AC would have been important here, and we're in serious danger of our forces fleeing by orders while already being commited and taking casualties but before they can deliver the killing blow. What was that I was saying about eggs and baskets? (The Germans confidently predict that there's no way at all that the BEF could possibly want to attack, and strongly consider re-jigging 2nd Brigade's defensive deployment. The BEF is unanimously agreed that yes, that cavalry brigade is indeed going to attack; and nobody has yet suggested that there might be a second lot of Uhlans lurking inside Stethoscope. Is it Wednesday yet?)
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Mar 14, 2017 02:47
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These map names 
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Mar 14, 2017 08:55
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From the Entente thread:Loel posted:I count 10 cav chits still on the map, plus the five we killed. Things I notice: So close, and yet so far.
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Mar 14, 2017 22:27
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Trin, could you tell us if the armoured cars actually are tougher than, say, a cavalry MG company? Because the Germans seem super angry at their existence and believe they have to be some sort of a super unit they can only kill with heavy weapons.
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Mar 15, 2017 14:31
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They literally are just a turbocharged MG chit. What I think's misled the Germans is the sudden and clear appearance of a rule that hasn't really been obvious before; a company which is charged has a house-ruled small chance (improved by being in a trench or the sunken road) of resisting the charge, and an MG gets another bonus to this attempt on top of that for being an MG. (IIRC one of the MGs in Quatreprouts repelled about three enemy units before being overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers.) Since this time there was only one cavalry company that survived to close combat, there was no chance for the success of another company to obscure its failure, and they're (not unreasonably) inferring that the repulsion must have had something to do with it being an AC, not because it was an MG. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Mar 15, 2017 |
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Mar 15, 2017 18:29
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hey Trin, look how bored I was   
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Mar 15, 2017 22:29
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Oh, you didn't  Update is up. British German And here now is Observ-O-Vision, starting with Turn 9:  Turn 10:  Turn 11:  Turn 12:  And Turn 16: here's the situation as the BEF sights the Germans and exits, stage left:  and the overview  So, here's my instant takeaway. The Germans are currently sitting upon the carpet and telling sad stories of the death of kings and the British are feeling extremely smug about how things have gone so far. Here's the thing: the German plan to sneak 3rd Brigade over the stream by having steinrokkan build a bridge for them is absolutely a good and cool one that will poo poo the Entente up good and proper and I'm quite certain it's going to work, even if the BEF deploys the 8th to defend the south, they'll gently caress up and defend the fords and not the whole map. The question is, will the German nerve hold? Right now I see them going "okay, let's devote everything to well and truly winning back Stethoscope and then try the fords in the morning with indirect fire", which I'm pretty sure is exactly the wrong thing to do. Secure the southern road and hold that and their erection overnight as a bridgehead, that's the correct play, but of course they lack much of the information they'd need to be sure of it. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Mar 16, 2017 |
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Mar 16, 2017 00:19
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 Well, I guess if anything can be expected of WWI it's horrific bloodbaths Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Mar 16, 2017 |
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Mar 16, 2017 00:28
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Dice are still pro-Allied, I see. It's amazing how many little things there are that could create a butterfly effect and make this whole engagement go the other way (as it probably should have!), but time after time the dice say "actually, no."
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Mar 16, 2017 00:39
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Wait, am I correct that the allies receive no further reinforcements until tomorrow? Because if so - and if the Germans grasp that the plane told them the southern fords are virtually unprotected, the British will be utterly hosed and the Effin' Zeroes could easily reach Blob before sundown.
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Mar 16, 2017 00:59
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Tevery Best posted:Wait, am I correct that the allies receive no further reinforcements until tomorrow? Because if so - and if the Germans grasp that the plane told them the southern fords are virtually unprotected, the British will be utterly hosed and the Effin' Zeroes could easily reach Blob before sundown. You're quite correct, but the Germans* are too busy going "oh, it must be equal forces" and inventing spurious extra brigades of armoured cars all over the place because "why would they split their cars 8/2 like that???" You have no idea how hard I'm having to resist the urge to go "yeah, that's what I said!" * It's actually just mossyfisk in Roll20, love you honey, thanks for playing, nothing personal, but you're on a hella hot streak of being completely and totally wrong about literally everything right now  edit: for fairness, the British Roll20 is currently tying itself in knots over Pater Meus's proposed cutting-out expedition to La Dand. Which is hilarious, but they absolutely shouldn't do it because the only thing it'll achieve is sticking the Germans into one huge lump on the east bank, and when they finally do get back over (and believe me folks, they will get back over) they'll be encouraged to use everything at once in one big lump instead of penny packets. edit edit: on that note, remember what I said about evenly-matched forces and eggs and baskets? 1 brigade vs 1 brigade in Steth, but the German brigade fails to bring all its firepower to bear at once. That's why they lost that one. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Mar 16, 2017 |
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Mar 16, 2017 01:41
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So, for the folks who have a far better handle on this game than I do, which team seems to be (admitteldy as super early as this is) in the better position for things at the moment, both with general plans, forces already on the board, and spirit as far as thing sgo and do they feel is better positioned for things to come?
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Mar 16, 2017 05:22
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wedgekree posted:So, for the folks who have a far better handle on this game than I do, which team seems to be (admitteldy as super early as this is) in the better position for things at the moment, both with general plans, forces already on the board, and spirit as far as thing sgo and do they feel is better positioned for things to come?
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Mar 16, 2017 05:32
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I'm starting to think the next map should not have [Place][Forest of Place] on it, too unwieldy.
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Mar 17, 2017 17:48
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I would've loved it if the English went through with their idea to attack Le Dand while the Germans pulled their whole bridge in the night routine, but I guess it was not to be. It would've been a whole wacky switcheroo.
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Mar 17, 2017 22:37
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We're up, and night's fallen. German thread British thread There's not much insight to be gleaned from Observ-O-Vision, but here's turn 18:  and turn 24:  Operation Sneaky Bridge is very much go; even if the BEF scrambles something round there, it's highly unlikely that they'll be able to spot the bridge or anyone crossing it.
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Mar 17, 2017 22:45
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Got to say, the Central Powers' plan is actually looking interesting and a nice use of mobility on the battlefield.
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Mar 17, 2017 23:27
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Yeah, I find myself more and more astounded the BEF thought a Stethoscope offensive was a good idea. I mean, what happened was not the best-case scenario for them, but there are very few ways it could have gone better, and the loss of at least a significant part of all forces committed to that manoeuvre was certain unless the Germans literally started with a single brigade on the field (and many in the Allied thread believed that!). Now they're stuck in a forest with a remnant force too weak to stop the enemy.
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Mar 17, 2017 23:35
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It was a weird sort of meeting engagement with both sides having high mobility troops and the BEF trying to get aggressive early on and thinking they could push back or disrupt the head advace and messup the timetables. Early play aggression can be good, but in a game like this where they lost some of thier early forces didn't go well. Fun watching so far!
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Mar 18, 2017 00:27
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Operation: Sneaky Bridge is hopefully gonna cause some top quality moments when the Brits wake up to a brigade or two on the wrong side of their river.
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Mar 18, 2017 00:50
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Tevery Best posted:Yeah, I find myself more and more astounded the BEF thought a Stethoscope offensive was a good idea. I mean, what happened was not the best-case scenario for them, but there are very few ways it could have gone better, and the loss of at least a significant part of all forces committed to that manoeuvre was certain unless the Germans literally started with a single brigade on the field (and many in the Allied thread believed that!). Now they're stuck in a forest with a remnant force too weak to stop the enemy. You can't blame them for trying to aggressively bottle up the Germans, especially under the assumption that the sunken road had been designed as a defensive line to anchor the Entente's first line of defense and would therefore be a reasonable objective for them to achieve.
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Mar 18, 2017 00:56
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It definitely was very bold of them to try to stave off the taking of Stethoscope right from the start, probably bad memories of St. Croissant ringing in their ears. If they could've made it work better, the intent might've been to keep the Germans from even reaching the middle of the map (although if that was the idea, why set up shop in the forest?). I suppose they figured that barbed wire could slow them down enough if they came from one of the southern fords, while the forest was an advantageous point to have a battle, but none of that's going to mean anything when the Germans bypass any of the fords with their sneaky bridge. The British chose the exact wrong strategy for what the Germans were doing. The only question is, what happens when, not if, the Germans break through? Loel posted:Given current positions, what bridges can we see at night? They're not going understand the difference between a ford and a bridge until the Germans show them, are they?
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Mar 18, 2017 01:45
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Really enjoying all this headlight strategy being discussed by British command.
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Mar 18, 2017 22:15
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If I were in charge I would totally abuse the system to flick out a rude message in morse or something.
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Mar 18, 2017 22:43
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What's the final word on the sight of those cars with headlights on? The players seem to assume that the headlights would help them see, which to me seems strange. The current sight in darkness is 4 inches which is 240 yards. When I drive my car in the night, I can probably see a bit more ahead but those are modern lights... for cars from 1914, I guess those 240 yards sound about right - ie. no improvement over having no lights at all. Or is it just me?
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Mar 18, 2017 22:57
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Trin Tragula posted:If you wish to be spottable at 40", then by all means use your headlights. Trin Tragula posted:No, then the cars go back to unmodified spotting. The cars would be extremely visible, and allow for regular spotting rules.
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Mar 19, 2017 00:33
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Entente players don't expect the headlights to help them see, the point is for them to be seen. The idea is to either to trick the Germans into thinking they have more forces down there than they do, or to be canaries in the coal-black darkness. If the car dies, then something must be there to shoot them. It might well buy them some time (given that the Germans are envisioning whole armies of taxicabs) but they're still going to be awfully confused as to how the German forces got across the stream.
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Mar 19, 2017 01:35
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What can I say, I just can't resist the urge to say "...sure!" when my players want to do ridiculous things.
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Mar 19, 2017 02:22
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All this talk of flooding the map in the British thread. It must have been brought up in Roll20 because it seems like it came out of nowhere.
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Mar 19, 2017 16:47
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Yeah, it's hilarious to watch them suddenly panic that the Belgians are going to flip their poo poo any minute and just flood the area. Also the weird fetish for telling the Germans exactly where their cars are.
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Mar 19, 2017 17:06
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But seriously though, what's the deal with all the flooding chat?
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Mar 19, 2017 19:28
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From what I gather it's mostly Bacarruda having a panic attack and then denying it once it spread to the rest of his team.
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Mar 19, 2017 20:47
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Apparently it was one of the special conditions the entente were told at the beginning.Trin Tragula posted:The local government might, in extreme circumstances, be persuaded to flood the northern part of the map, so that the battle is constricted to an area approximately 25" from the southern border of the map, in order to facilitate some kind of daring last stand. You are unaware of the precise requirements for triggering this last possibility. Seems pretty defeatist if they're thinking it's going to go into those circumstances already. Sure, they failed to maintain control of Stethescope, but they're not out of this yet. Even when the Germans inevitably flank them, they're not out of this yet. ...and it makes their decision to defend in the north all the more confusing, since that's the area that's going to be flooded.
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Mar 19, 2017 20:47
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