steinrokkan posted:

Capturing the objective isn't an auto victory. There is a TIMER, of an undisclosed length, and it would be naive, imho, to assume that Trin would just end the game because of a technicality.

The units can start moving in earnest in a couple turns when the French are guaranteed to be soundly repelled. I'm not proposing staying in current positions forever, just not getting ahead of ourselves.

If the French start pouring reinforcements onto the map, to stream south of St. C. to wherever they may be needed, then a hasty advance on our side to capture Q solely to satisfy the win condition will get torn to pieces. If they don't, we need not hurry that much. Either way, a consolidated effort is needed.

steinrokkan posted:

Just so we get as much time as possible to consider this, I'd like to present the fundamentals of Sandman's plan (he should expand on this later in his own post, as mentioned above), which he very thoroughly drafted in Roll 20 chat.

Well, basically we have this situation on our eastern flank
- Saros' brigade is too weak to do anything but support another unit
- Sandman's brigade is in a fine fighting shape, but critically LACKS ANY ARTILLERY
- Hey Gal's brigade is currently ordered to retreat, and because she is the only one up there with any long range guns, her leaving would force everybody else to follow, just to keep the French from picking them off with impunity.

So this is the plan, as I would understand it:
- The French have positioned substantial artillery near the town of Baguette.
- This artillery is vulnerable to an ambush, thanks to the various terrain obstacles in front of them. Their ability to see our forces, including Sandman, is limited at best.
- Therefore we can use Baguette as a staging grounds for a counterattack.
- There are multiple ways to go about this - we can move cavalry from Croissant to Baguette. This would put them into charging range of the French batteries, giving us an opportunity to strike with unseen units.
- We can also stealthily put as many companies from Sandman's brigade into the outskirts of Baguette, where they would be difficult to spot, and let him ambush advancing Frenchment, hopefully including their artillery.
- However, in order to protect this counterattack in any scenario, it would be optimal to have Hey Gal stay in her general area, where she, with Saros' help, would be uniquely placed to protect our flank from the French brigade(s) that are known to be loitering in the North, as well as to provide artillery fire at the gap between Baguette and the nearby forest, thus supporting defenders of the town against survivors of initial fighting in the area.
- Personally I think Hey Gal is absolutely a pivotal player in this gambit even if she shouldn't remain under the same command as Sandman for long, since she, once again, has all the significant artillery in that sector. Otherwise, I think it's a good idea that gives us an opportunity to clear by far the greatest threat to the stability of our flank, and I support it, albeit it's a dangerous plan for those involved as well.

In conclusion, even if this doesn't get approved, I'd like to thank Sandman for continuing with his creative planning, he's been a real MVP this game.

Perestroika posted:

78th Brigade Orders



Infantry, MGs, and Brigade Command
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 westwards towards Brioche, swinging a bit northerly. Once directly north of Brioche, split up and move to the indicated positions. Any unit shown adjacent to the city is to take cover in its outskirts.
Conditional: All units are to stay out of the range of the french artillery on La Ouef or Dejeuner Ridge. If that artillery moves northwards or new batteries appear at a more northerly position, all shown positions outside the city are to be shifted northwards until they're back out of range of that artillery.

Howitzer Artillery
Limber up and join the infantry's advance in roughly the same formation as the regular batle order. Under no circumstances is the artillery to move ahead of the infantry, when in doubt they're to slow down to let the infantry pull ahead. As shown below, two 15cms will take up position adjacent to 76th BDE's 7.7cm popguns northeast of Brioche, the other two will take up mirrored positions northwest of the town. The 10cm guns form up a line west of that. As usual, 2" of clearance are to be maintained to any units directly in front of the guns. If the infantry is shifted north as per the conditional above, the guns will follow suit, maintaining the same relative position to them.

Desired final positions:

(Batteries with a red dot indicate 76th BDE's guns)

Once all positions have been reached, switch to Defense Stance, start entrenchment, 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

Trin Tragula posted:

He can certainly try!

aphid_licker posted:

Can we send the French a runner telling them that we wanna call it a draw? And for gently caress's sake let our reservepixels chill in the rear echelon. This is seriously getting to me IRL.

HEY GAIL posted:

since i'm the only one up there with longrange guns, i see myself as the anchor/guard for any movements, am i correct?

quote:

p cool song u made

we have song too
here
4 u but about us

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ESEvXiMPw

HEY GAIL posted:

yo my internet works now

edit: let me make sure we're on the same page: in your opinion, it's more important that i move quickly and less important that i am stealthy?

Trin Tragula posted:

Inquiries reveal that General Kuno may be able to send you one more regular brigade. It would arrive at about 2030. You would be able to choose infantry, artillery, or cavalry.

Jaguars! posted:

Cav wise, I think the best thing to do will be to simply hightail it down to reinforce Cryodude's artillery. They can be within range in four turns so if the BEF attacks they'll arrive in time to hit them before they reorganize.

Edit: WRT to last post, this also opens the way for wirecutting shensnigans tonight

aphid_licker posted:

steinrokkan posted:

If Tevery calls in a reserve brigade, and agrees, I allow you to stay put (refer to this post in your orders then). If not, follow what has been posted so far.

Right now, however, that isn't planned, so it seems unlikely.

steinrokkan posted:

I would be in favor of it, but I wouldn't like to cause our rating to go down if everybody else disagrees.

The Sandman posted:

HEY GAIL posted:

Saros posted:

Perestroika posted:

HEY GAIL posted:

77th Bde Orders


Vacate your trenches and get onto the Saint Croissant road in marching order heading south/southwest as fast as possible.
Leave the road before you get to the town and continue overland, bearing south. Try to avoid Bois de Goonville and the farm Fraise-Champs. Our aim is speed.
Form up into battle order once you get level with the farm.
Continue until you meet up with the 78th. Reinforce them against an attack from the south.

Same battle order as before: infantry in front, machine guns in back, big guns behind that.

(front = top of picture)

Standing Orders
When sighting an enemy in attack stance, halt and fire on them.
When attacking the enemy, use rifle fire.
When an enemy company Breaks Off or Retreats Suppressed, hold position
Break off automatically upon receiving 1/2 casualties.
If flanked, refuse the line and fire at the people firing on you.

The Sandman posted:

So, another thought: even if I just fall back to the trenches Hegel's leaving, I should probably wait until nightfall or at least until hill spotting goes away to do so, because that way the French can't be sure that I've actually left Baguette.

And I'll probably want to leave one company in Baguette anyway to serve as a picket.

Come to think of it, picket duty is probably what Saros should do with his brigade at this point; send each of his infantry companies out to a likely line of approach, with an MG attached to each, to warn us if the French are coming and force them to open fire (thus exposing themselves for our artillery).

Might even be worth it to call in an artillery brigade rather than an infantry one and then use my guys as pickets too.