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1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general? Very good. We have time tables this time! 2. How confident are you in the plans and orders that you personally have laid for this battle? Phase 1 is solid, going to the Croissant and bombarding it. After that, it's a bit more complicated. 3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander? Objective 1, very confident. Objective 2, unlikely. 4. Is there any one aspect of the battle that seems to you will be most critical, on which success or failure is most likely to turn? Effective coordination in the early game. 5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? Croissant conquered, troops on the NW mountains. 6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? Everyone dies at Croissant
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Feb 16, 2017 03:17
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| # ? May 3, 2024 15:55 |
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The 55th's orders are complete. 1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general? Splendid, splendid. 2. How confident are you in the plans and orders that you personally have laid for this battle? A work of art; a masterpiece. I anticipate that my orders will be taught for generations to come as an example to all other would-be brigadiers. 3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander? The idea that we might not fulfill the objectives is both ridiculous and insulting. 4. Is there any one aspect of the battle that seems to you will be most critical, on which success or failure is most likely to turn? Who gets there the firstest with the mostest. 5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? The Germans will break upon our magnificent ranks like waves on the rocks of La Manche. 6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? The restaurant in baguette will be out of duck and brandy, and the veal will be overdone.
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Feb 16, 2017 03:23
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Trin Tragula posted:1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general?  Trin Tragula posted:2. How confident are you in the plans and orders that you personally have laid for this battle?  Trin Tragula posted:3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander?  Trin Tragula posted:4. Is there any one aspect of the battle that seems to you will be most critical, on which success or failure is most likely to turn?  Trin Tragula posted:5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be?  Trin Tragula posted:6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? 
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Feb 16, 2017 03:25
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Feb 16, 2017 03:27
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Lmaoooooooo
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Feb 16, 2017 03:33
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1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general? We have prepared for several contingencies however all of them require a successful push on St. Croissant. If this part of the plan fails due to overwhelming force from the Germans, the entire battle is surely lost without reinforcements. 2. How confident are you in the plans and orders that you personally have laid for this battle? I am fairly confident I am following the general plan laid out by the commander of 22nd Division. As to whether they are the right moves, we will not know until we receive the recon from the scout plane. 3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander? I feel it could easily go either way depending on how aggressive the Germans are. 4. Is there any one aspect of the battle that seems to you will be most critical, on which success or failure is most likely to turn? Assault on St. Croissants. I have not examined the plans of 6th Division or the Cavalry Brigade in detail, however I believe they should be assisting our brigades in the initial attack on St. Croissants. If everything is in place and the Germans have set up their forces inside of artillery range, they will be annihilated shortly after my brigade makes contact with the enemy on the St. Croissants outskirts. 5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? German High Command is full of incompetent fools who attack our fortified positions at La Cote, trying to get behind our lines. They underestimate the value of St. Croissants and do not know of our objective at Faibleimpot (or believe it will be held easily), and send only one or two brigades to hold St. Croissants. These forces sit at the outskirts ready to fire on approaching brigades, and reveal their positions by firing on my brigade. The large assault in the center combined with their losses to the East prevent them from providing adequate resistance as we hold both objectives. 30-40% of my brigade is destroyed, but remain effective in combat to the end. After moving to Bois de Gooneville, the enemy is unaware of our presence up until the artillery is in position. 6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? The enemy has massed artillery ready to fire broadly over the entire center horizontally early on. 6th Division cannot get any men to the West, and 22nd division is picked off by rifle and artillery fire as they move between objectives so heavily that the entire division becomes ineffective. AbortRetryFail fucked around with this message at 04:29 on Feb 16, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 04:26
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Official Historian's Survey: Turn 0 1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general? Overall, well. There's been some confusion about a few minor rules and which planed we'd settled on -- but that's all been cleared up. As a team, we've communicated well and have planned very effectively. 2. How confident are you in the plans and orders that you personally have laid for this battle? I think we're advancing very aggressively, which could go very well for us or very poorly. I think our plans account are solid enough. They account for most eventualities and they coordinate our forces well. 3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander? I think we have a good chance to making a successful assault on Saint Croissant and the Bois de Gooneville, although I think it will be difficult for us to take Faimblempot from German control - given the terrain they control on Sanglante Femme and the long distance we have to go over beaten ground to get there. 4. Is there any one aspect of the battle that seems to you will be most critical, on which success or failure is most likely to turn? The assault on Saint Croissant by 22nd and 6th Division. We're committing 4-5 brigades to that assault,. If it's defeated - our army will be gutted. If it succeeds, the momentum of battle will turn to us and we could badly-damage the enemy's morale and strength. 5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? We secure Saint Croissant, the Bois de Gooneville, and La Sanglante Femme. The battle's over at that point due to losses and time limits. 6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? Our assault on the center is executed in a piecemeal fashion - we get cut down by German fire from the village and the woods. Bacarruda fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Feb 16, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 04:29
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Trin Tragula posted:Official Historian's Survey: Turn 0 1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general? Pretty good. Some things were unclear about the rules, but I think that's been sorted by now. 2. How confident are you in the plans and orders that you personally have laid for this battle? The great Napoleon himself couldn't have done better.  3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander? Fairly confident. There are some critical points, but even if something unexpected happens the situation should be salvageable. 4. Is there any one aspect of the battle that seems to you will be most critical, on which success or failure is most likely to turn? Securing Saint-Croissant. 5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? We secure Saint-Croissant, Sanglant Femme and Pasteur Ridge. Then it's on to wine and croissants in Berlin. 6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? The Germans will overwhelm us at La Cote, then outflank us. France is lost, Paris will fall, the Élysée Palace is turned into a sausage factory. 
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Feb 16, 2017 10:19
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My only regret is not answering the questions in such a way that the first letter of each answer spelled out HUBRIS.
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Feb 16, 2017 12:40
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 The Commandant seems to have left a survey on his desk, so I made myself a copy while I was cleaning away the bottles of Beaujolais and Calvados. 1. How do you feel the planning for this battle has gone, in general? The Commandant was swearing tons, and I estimate he spent twice his usual monthly bottle budget over the last forty eight hours. Though I am no choir boy, I have learnt new curses from each of the département of France when the leadership of the cent vingtième went AWOL. 3. How confident are you in fulfilling the various objectives set by the Army Commander? With god's help the supply line will hold and the commander's chef will be able to deliver his hot meals on time. 5. Thinking optimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? Glorious victory over the Boche, with myself and the commandant chasing them back to Berlin 6. Thinking pessimistically, what do you think the likely result of the battle will be? Glorious victory, with myself unable to take any sort of credit. Possibly being passed over for the Légion d'Honneur. [/quote]
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Feb 16, 2017 16:13
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 4th Corps orders
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Feb 16, 2017 17:17
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Made a tiny edit to my orders because work stuff meant I haven't had a chance to slightly amend my maps, apologies.
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Feb 16, 2017 18:19
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It is the hour before dawn. Many of you are already on the march. General Mon Pere grabs a few hours of sleep, an ADC sitting by the telephone. The men's spirits are light; your junior officers have kept them calm and reassured, and slightly drunk on glory and victory and pinard. Your plans are laid as well as they ever will be, and now it is time to put them into practice. After all that, the calculation of the odds, the sifting of the probabilities, and then the fear... Your fate is now, for the moment, out of your hands.  It is in mine.  France wins the initiative. Game on! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt7xJdKfIMM  THE ADJUDICATION HAS NOW BEGUN. NO FURTHER ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED. edit: The game has reached Turn 4 and halted for the night. Neither DHQ is eligible to send runners. Update pending. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 19:26
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Trin Tragula posted:France wins the initiative. Game on! Elan is now experimentally proven with the most modern methods of science!
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Feb 16, 2017 19:37
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Feb 16, 2017 19:47
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*starts rereading everyone's orders* *glances over xteneth's post* *does a double take* *in a very delayed OH poo poo moment* Wait, wait, wait, wait, I don't remember you making a map on Roll20 that involved going in marching formation into shooting range of Saint Croissant. I thought you were unpacking on the crossroads? Uh, here's to hoping that the Boche deployed far to the NW, because, uh... 
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Feb 17, 2017 02:29
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Well that post makes me feel a lot more nervous about it all.
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Feb 17, 2017 02:36
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Trin Tragula posted:
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Feb 17, 2017 02:37
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Well, that all took much longer than it should have, but it sorted itself out just as soon as I started using my clever system the way I designed it instead of trying to take shortcuts. I'll hopefully come back later and make this look nice, but for now I urgently need to do something else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HkJHApgKqw Turn 1: 0700 French initiative Y'all march onto the field, companies tripping over each other every which where and loose. In pretty short order I realise nobody's getting on the field if I don't quickly suspend the rule about no company being allowed to share another's space until the space issues sort themselves out.  See what I mean? I'm not spending another 45 minutes shuffling chits around to get everyone their 50 square pixels of space and then doing it all over again for the next three turns. There's still mist covering the battlefield; you see nothing of interest. Turn 2: 0730 French initiative The mist has almost completely dissipated. The Cavalry Brigade dimly sees 3 enemy cavalry troops and one machine-gun troop as it comes over Pasteur Ridge and makes for Saint Croissant. Two other German cavalry troops appear atop La Cote, fire wildly, and turn to flee; everyone is far too surprised at nearly blundering into each other in the fog to be able to hit anything. Were the enemy supposed to be coming from over there?   (The cav outside Croissant and the second troop on La Cote got accidentally switched off and I'm far too shagged out now to switch everything back off for the sake of showing two cavalry chits instead of one...) Turn 3: 0800 French initiative The mist clears. Your spotter plane flies over its target; it will take a few hours for the pilot to return to General Mon Pere. The cavalry spots something very odd as the four Uhlan troops disappear into St Croissant; what seems to be about 500 Germans frantically riding bicycles towards them. Your troopers swap off-colour jokes about bicycle saddles and pneumatic tyres.  They then ride up to St Croissant in marching order to see if the Germans have got a welcoming committee there yet.  Hmm. Meanwhile, the men on La Cote have found something. Good news, it's not the cavalry from earlier. Bad news, you've found where they're retreating to.  Welp. That's a lot of blokes. Oh yeah, and then the firing starts. Turns out there's a cavalry unit hiding in the outskirts of St Croissant. He misses.  The German arse hortillery does not, and you have taken your first casualties. There is a comedy "tyres squealing" sound effect and binka-binka-binka leg-pedalling from the horses as they attempt to flee back to the crossroads. Turn 4: 0830 German initiative The cavalry attempts to make good its escape, but the enemy arse hortillery claims another victim, and then a third troop is suppressed by a machine-gun firing out of St Croissant.  The headless troop belatedly goes into Battle Order, engaging Operation Merde. Meanwhile, around Baguende, 6th Division has the best part of two brigades atop La Cote. They have an unobstructed view behind Pasteur Ridge. It is a picture that will paint far more than a thousand words. The terrible poetry alone...  That's a full-size image for y'all to chew over while I get some sleep. To be continued! edit: just noticed that a bunch of stuff is turned off, I'll fix it, LATER PS: Division headquarters arrived without mishap and are now connected by telephone to Corps HQ. Neither is eligible to send any runners yet. Trin Tragula fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 02:52
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my dad posted:*starts rereading everyone's orders* We rerigged it to there specifically so I could immediately marching order right the hell back out of there if I saw enemies, because I don't think it's possible for them to be established in there by turn 3. Or maybe that's wrong and I'm actually a ghost. Edit: drat. I had thought I had provisions if I spotted enemies that close, I must not have written down the case for spotting there. Edit 2: Grr. I'd thought I'd remembered to put in provisions for fast troops west of croissant and didn't. Welp. Okay in character the only possible explanation is that I was far too bleary eyed and had a garter hanging off my hat and blocking my vision. Also, all those machine guns are terrifying, but let's hear it for: 
xthetenth fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 02:52
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HEIN MERRRRRR-
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Feb 17, 2017 03:06
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oh mon dieu.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:06
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Now time for a quick glimpse into our chat: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. How do they have so many machineguns?
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Feb 17, 2017 03:08
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this was the least likely deployment scenario, case purple. our plans have hit some serious snags very quickly
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Feb 17, 2017 03:08
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This is the one where they're close to us but not necessarily forced right into our jaws. Also the one where the differences between our road net and theirs are most readily apparent (see also my poor dead horsies). Two turns and another to deploy is just nuts, I was looking at five. The only upside is it looks like I failed to retreat far enough to get out of arty range so I may be able to start shooting back against a formation that seems to have less arty.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:09
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The thing that could make this a glorious victory or a crushing defeat is whether those soldiers are dug in or on the march. E: Okay, they're marching. We're not in a fantastic position to exploit this but we've definitely put the cat amongst the pigeons here. They must be making GBS threads bricks. Tehan fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 03:12
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Even though we mostly dismissed it as unlikely, I'm glad my projections for Case Purple seem to be almost entirely on the money.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:36
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yeah after some sober (drunk) introspection the opinion of the command staff is changing from 'disaster' to 'opportunity' I count 8 - 10 enemy brigades - depending on the strength of the forces currently occupying Saint Croissant and whether the Bicycle companies are attached to another brigade we cannot see.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:37
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Unexpected. I regret my caution to some degree, we could have smacked them hard in the flank. But, still, they're being incredibly reckless here, and will probably pay for it. As soon as I am notified about what our Hobbiton crew can see, I am ordering Lenoon's brigade to cut off their NE roads and communications.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:38
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Okay, so.  Definitely dealing with Case Purple.  Tehan posted:Even though we mostly dismissed it as unlikely, I'm glad my projections for Case Purple seem to be almost entirely on the money. Spot loving on. Well done.  I count two divisions, we'll call them Alpha Bloc (red) and Bravo Bloc (blue) Red appears to have four brigades, each with 12 infantry and 3 MG. Artillery is not identified. Therefore, Alpha Bloc (red) has 48 infantry and 12 MG. Blue appears to have three brigades of similar composition - I think it's safe to say there is a fourth brigade we are not observing. If we assume they do not change orders, their avenue of approach appears to concentrate on Saint Croissant. My question to the thread is, assuming our orders do not change, what happens in the next two turns? edit: Based on that, are there any orders we need to change? And what happens if we do not succeed? edit: Also! Based on what we see, what can we estimate they see of us? Do they know we have troops on Clemnceau as well? Loel fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 17, 2017 03:42
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Much depends on how the 55th execute their orders, and what the German autoresponses will be. If the 55th 'spot' an enemy and go into defensive position and freeze up, it's going to tie up our artillery doing little of use for a while. But if they deploy for their planned attack on Baguette and no German lunatic has standing orders to bayonet charge anything that looks at him funny, this could be a brutal pounding for the Germans as guns that were meant to fire on Baguette instead turn on the German formations and give them hell from just outside machine gun range.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:50
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quote:La Cote - Roncevaux quote:La Cote - Roncevaux quote:Roncevaux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Roncevaux_Pass nominative determinism, my old arch-enemy.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:50
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I also have some concerns for my own 96th brigade. Their orders were assuming it likely that there would be enemy troops in Bois de Gooneville, but as it is it seems like I'm going to end up charging in their unopposed and leaving the 98th woefully unsupported for their attack on the town proper. Then again, depending on how disrupted the Germans are by us appearing on a hill on their undefended flank like loving Gandalf and the Riders of Rohan at Helm's Deep, there might not be much resistance in the town itself. We'll have to see.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:54
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Tehan posted:Much depends on how the 55th execute their orders, and what the German autoresponses will be. If the 55th 'spot' an enemy and go into defensive position and freeze up, it's going to tie up our artillery doing little of use for a while. But if they deploy for their planned attack on Baguette and no German lunatic has standing orders to bayonet charge anything that looks at him funny, this could be a brutal pounding for the Germans as guns that were meant to fire on Baguette instead turn on the German formations and give them hell from just outside machine gun range. Eh. They're given a combat formation, into which they'll deploy as the "defend" unless Trin is feeling especially malicious wrt interpreting orders and keeps them in a block. I'm mostly worried our artillery will deploy juuuust outside of range due to poorly timed spotting.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:56
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It also doesn't seem like they've currently got eyes on our big guns that are going to be setting up to fire on the Baguette-St Croissant road just as their infantry lines start to reach it. That could be great fun. The more I look at the situation the more hopeful I feel.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:57
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Tehan posted:It also doesn't seem like they've currently got eyes on our big guns that are going to be setting up to fire on the Baguette-St Croissant road just as their infantry lines start to reach it. That could be great fun. Yeah, unless their orders can switch to MOVE AWAY, in the dark, in a rush, we'll have guns set up in ~2 turns. Then we just pound their formations.
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Feb 17, 2017 03:58
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Also, I'm worried that the riflemen won't have enough sense to move 2" away from the guns without a change of formation or something.
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Feb 17, 2017 04:03
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quote:this. this is the point that historians look at and go "here, the various generals began to get an inkling that something was fucky"
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Feb 17, 2017 04:05
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 German High Command at the moment
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Feb 17, 2017 04:45
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| # ? May 3, 2024 15:55 |
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Predictions: 6th Division mostly just sits there and does nothing because of overcaution, primarily to be blamed on me. Causes a lot of panic among the German team because of what could have been, but is a huge wasted opportunity. The Germans will redeploy into combat stance in safety, unless they're specifically ordered to march into Croissant from the East, no matter what happens. Maybe they'll bayonet charge into our defensive formations, but I doubt it. Hilarious for the observer thread, no doubt, either way. 22nd Division shells the crap out of anyone trying to to enter Croissant from the East, but fails to capitalize on the West because of a deployment error and incomplete orders. We are at serious risk of losing the game if the enemy objective is Quatreprouts because we've got nothing on Dejeneur ridge. The cavalry debacle may prove to be a saving grace since it may be possible to send them to secure it. We are in an advantageous position to move in NE,  their telegraph, and block their roads.Some of this is me looking at the entire board and thinking what to do, but I can send the reserves to flank them as soon as I'm notified of the sighting to the North. I'll have to wait for notification to arrive from the cavalry runner in order to tell them what to do because *don't know* what's going on there until they do. I am open to suggestions about what is to be done. Please take into account 8-10 turns of delay plus orders-related clusterfuck between input and output here. Loel posted:
The thing is, they have good reasons to panic, but it's possible that we won't exploit it at all. I will, however, greatly enjoy reading these turns in the observer thread one day. 
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Feb 17, 2017 04:57
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