Phew, bit of a slog. Obviously there's more stuff that could go in the conclusion but it already works out to about 25 minutes and I would like to finish it at some point.

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No Man’s Land Part 2

Welcome back to Combat Mission Fortress Italy and the second part of the No Man’s Land mini-series. In the first battle, Unremarkable Sunray’s Brits and my Germans came out of the starting gates, grabbed some ground and had a couple of sharp little fights, but we were effectively just moving to contact.

For the second battle, now that we’ve established a frontline of sorts, we can really get stuck in.

Situation

I’m starting out with control over the village in the centre, the wooded valley on the left and the village ridge and the edge of the forest on my right. Unremarkable punched right last time, so he’s starting with control of the southern map edge, including a bulge that incorporates the South Bridge objective and Hill 57-2.

In terms of objectives, things are a little bit up in the air. We each randomly rolled up two objectives in the first battle. I successfully secured one of mine, the North Bridge, but I didn’t hit my secondary, which was to touch Hill 56.

Obviously we’ve now made contact and the situation has changed, but I think these remain pretty good calls. Holding the North Bridge means holding onto the village, which is not only a good central position, but could prove a good tar pit if Unremarkable tries to kick me out.

Hill 56 is certainly a long way away, but it’s also some key terrain. Unremarkable’s new deployment zone isn’t actually very deep, especially for vehicles which are going to be squeezed between the village and the bog. If I can get punch the right and seize Hill 56, or even go so far as Hill 57-1, I’ll be able to totally cut off the entire British position across the river.

Now, this might not matter in strict Combat Mission terms, but it’s the kind of thing we might be able to hash an effect for in subsequent games. If nothing else, it’ll put the pressure on and if Unremarkable is focused on the South bridge area then I might be able to hit him where he’s weak.

Plan

So my plan here is to keep hold of the village and to take and hold Hill 56. These are pretty complementary aims. The most sensible avenue of attack on Hill 56 is via the right flank, exploiting the woods to get forward. Holding onto the village will both secure the left flank of my advance and, along with the village ridge, provide a support by fire position for one side.

We’re still playing a tiny quick battle so I only have the budget for a single infantry company. That’s three platoons, with one platoon in the village and one platoon attacking Hill 56 I’ve got one spare.

I think the only sensible thing to do with it is to keep it in reserve. Focusing on the centre and right does mean that I’m leaving the left open and Unremarkable probed the wooded valley in the first game. It’s a logical area for him to continue attacking if he wants to solidify his hold on the South bridge.

But if I take my last platoon and set it up there, I’ll be spreading myself too thin. This isn’t a small map: between sheer distance and the hilly terrain, going left, centre and right at the same time will mean that my infantry won’t be able to mutually support.

It also means that I might struggle to allocate my heavy weapons. In the first battle, my mortar and heavy machinegun teams were able to operate from a solid, central position back up on high ground and my infantry were concentrated enough that they were able to rapidly switch support to whichever platoon needed it.

Here I don’t only want to support my main effort of punching to Hill 56, but bring the mortars and MGs forward to exploit that flank once I’ve secured it.

That means keeping them relatively central and far forward. The positions they were working from in the last game are probably too deep and definitely not secure enough. With the enlarged deployment zones, it would be very difficult for me to stop Unremarkable infiltrating a few scout teams into the woods behind me to go heavy weapon hunting.

So I’m set on keeping my last infantry platoon in reserve behind the village ridge where it can shift left or right as necessary.

In the event, that was the company’s 1st Platoon. They’ve got one of the 81mm mortars attached. 2nd Platoon is holding the village with one of the MG sections which can cover the facing slope of Hill 56 and the road. 3rd Platoon with another mortar and another HMG team is standing by to advance up the gully at the end of the village ridge and go up into the woods towards Hill 56.

That leaves one more HMG team, which I’ve set up on the village ridge, and two extra mortar teams, which are stashed in the edge of the logging camp woods behind them.

Force

Despite some messing around, I’ve actually ended up with the same force I took last time. The base Panzergrenadier Company eats so far into my points budget I just don’t have a lot of options, so all the logic from the last video still applies. That explains the two extra 81s, I’ve also fallen back on taking two Marders.

These at least have the benefit of being mobile. One of them is going to hang back on Hill 47 to provide some antitank cover over 3rd Platoon’s avenue of attack, the other is going along with the attackers to get up on or around Hill 52 on the right, where it can cover the other flank.

The Marder on Hill 47 is going to be a little vulnerable up there all on its own, but it’s got the speed and manoeuvrability to get out of trouble or relocate if it needs to.

With a couple of points left over, I decided to bring along a Target Reference Point and some foxholes. I’ve even remembered to actually deploy the TRP this time- it’s near the South Bridge where it will help me control that chokepoint. It’s not just a known-location I can use the mortars to hit without line of sight, it also functions as a known location for direct fire units so if I get eyes on some targets down there with the Marders, HMG teams or even infantry, they should be able to engage more accurately.

The foxholes are there primarily because they’re cheap enough to fill out my last fifteen points. I’m still a little worried about that wooded valley on my left and right up to the last minute I was intending to split off a squad from my reserve platoon and leave a screen there to at least delay Unremarkable if he pushed that angle again.

I ultimately decided against that, but left the foxholes there to hopefully delay him a little. If he sees the foxholes in the woods, he might assume they’re occupied and hit the brakes. It’s not uncommon in CM to spot foxholes and other fortifications before you spot the troops manning them and I had a whole platoon in that area last time. A little deception can go a long way if you’re lucky.

In a similar vein, I’ve got a turn one plan for my mortars to dump all their smoke. We’ve got very windy conditions this time, which means that the smoke isn’t going to be very useful for actually concealing or masking anything, but by dumping it in between the wooded valley and the road where Unremarkable ended up last time I might be able to make it look like I’m about to attack over there instead of on my right.

That should help convince him that he needs to go firm over there where I’ll be able to trap him when I seize Hill 56.

Kick Off

There isn’t any kind of first turn contact. 3rd Platoon head off up into the woods on the right while the mortars dump their smoke. Obviously it’s impossible for me to tell if the smoke-based deception is working, but it’s not half as obvious as I would like. It’s so windy the smoke is getting blown out before it can bloom properly.

At least I factored the wind in though… something I paid less attention to is the heat. It is 36 degrees C today, which means that running up hills sucks even more than usual. The pixeltruppen quickly start to tire out.

I’ve sent 3rd Platoon’s attached weapons teams further right up to Hill 52. From there, they’ll be able to provide a little security for Marder One which has led the way forward, and be in position to support 3rd.

When the HMG team staggers up to the summit, they provide my first glimpse of the enemy. There’s a line of contacts approaching, strung out between the 57-56 ridge and the right map edge. I’m not sure exactly how many Brits I’m looking at. It looks like a lot of small contacts, so it could be a single platoon split down into teams, but we’re about five minutes in now, I haven’t seen anything else and from Unremarkable Sunray’s point of view, this is a concealed avenue of approach in relation to my deployment zone.

Regardless of exactly what’s going on, I now have to deal with at least a platoon’s worth of enemy infantry almost on top of my objective and closing in on 3rd Platoon. So the HMG team immediately engages and I start moving the 81 following to join in while splitting 3rd platoon into teams and spreading out on line in the woods beneath Hill 56.

With a bit of luck, Unremarkable will concentrate on my teams engaging him from Hill 52 and rush for cover in the woods where 3rd Platoon can ambush them.

The Fight on the Right I

He has clearly seen my HMG team- they don’t even have time to set the tripod up before British 3in mortar bombs start ranging in on them. Combined with some accurate Bren and rifle fire, it’s not long until Hill 52 becomes untenable.

And not just because Unremarkable is able to concentrate fire on it. I can see contacts going firm on by Hill 56, presumably as a base of fire, while more keeping advancing on my right and start crossing the road. 3rd Platoon’s wood slopes down from the valley sides and they can’t cover the far right… with Hill 52 suppressed, there’s nothing to stop British infantry from hitting that flank and enveloping both 3rd Platoon and Hill 52, not to mention threatening my forces behind the village ridge if they get so far as the railway huts… which they did in the last game.

I have a choice here. I can abandon this flank before it all goes sideways, or I can reinforce it. If I abandon it, I’m giving up the whole right flank. I’ll have to disengage down slope towards the village or the logging camp woods with Unremarkable hot on my heels. I’ll have to completely reorient because my positions behind the village ridge will be overlooked and compromised.

But reinforcing the right, I feel like I’ve got a reasonable chance of putting the hurt on. 3rd Platoon remains unengaged and in a good position: being forced to pull back from Hill 52 may well serve to draw at least some of that British infantry onto 3rd’s six machineguns. And I still have 1st Platoon in reserve: I can send them up the slope between Hill 52 and the railway huts to stabilise that area.

I decide to get stuck in. It’s not a great situation- primarily because my supporting mortars are going to find it difficult to target the Brits as long as they stay back from the crests on the right flank, but I’m sure things will be much worse if I choose to withdraw.

So 1st Platoon starts up the valley side and 3rd Platoon waits for the targets in the woods.

They don’t have to wait long. There are plenty of 3in mortar bombs dropping on Hill 52 now, enough that Unremarkable seems to think it’s safe to advance his base of fire. As they come out from behind Hill 56 and move down to the road, 3rd Platoon start to engage them.

Line of sight is patchy, so it’s not clear how effective their fire is to begin with, but soon there’s a whole British platoon rushing into the woods. I’ve no idea whether that’s because Unremarkable is trying to close the distance as fast as possible or because 3rd Platoon has managed to stay hidden, but either way they’ve got a target rich environment.

Too target rich if anything. Despite casualties, the Brits are able to close here and there. I only have two of 3rd’s three squads up… mostly to keep some dispersion and a local reserve but I suspect there’s also some poor mental calibration on my part. I’m playing these turns at the same time I’m chewing through Platoon Patrol runs in Shock Force 2 and I might be overestimating the firepower I have available. Sure, I’ve got some MGs, but 10 of the 12 men in these squads only have bolt action rifles.

The Realisation

I’ve definitely been underestimating Unremarkable’s commitment to this flank. The horde of British infantry contacts engaged with 3rd Platoon is threatening to envelop them on their right, so I have to commit 3rd’s reserve to head them off.

More Brits crest the summit of Hill 52 and advance down the railway line and I’m only able to stymie them because I threw 1st Platoon up the valley side.

At the same time, more contacts come over the 57-56 ridge and start to advance down the valley towards the Bog and the South Bridge. The HMG teams I’ve stashed in the village engage them, but the range is long and they’re probably not that effective.

It’s abundantly clear that Unremarkable’s main strength is on the right. Each of these efforts is at least platoon strength and they’re supported by some mortars I haven’t spotted yet. That’s a whole company with support and I’ve basically run slap-bang into it.

So well done me: I’ve now got two separate platoon sized engagements on either side of Hill 52 and my fire support is too far out of position to get stuck in effectively.

My infantry are at least holding their own. The casualties are starting to pile up on both sides, but 3rd Platoon were ready and waiting and 1st just about managed to get into position to fight a defensive fight rather than a meeting engagement against the flankers on the right.

From Bad to Worse

It doesn’t take much to tip the balance though. Unremarkable throws a Sherman into the fight in the woods. I’ve been forced to pull Marder One back from the Hill 52 lest it get swarmed by infantry, so the approach up the right flank is uncovered. Marder Two on the far side of the valley might have gotten some line of sight as the Sherman came out from behind Hill 56, but it had been attracting mortar fire and I’d made the call to pull it back at exactly the wrong moment.

3rd Platoon has no answer to the Sherman. It drives into the wood, hull MG blazing, and starts to shoot up the German fire teams with total impunity. It even crosses the entire front of the platoon, blasting away with its 75mm gun.

There’s nothing I can do about this, my infantry have no antitank weapons, 3rd are quickly shattered and I have no choice but to pull them back. If I’m lucky, I can reposition Marder Two and use 3rd’s retreat to the lower edge of the wood to lure the Sherman into the Marder’s field of fire.

But as Marder Two heads off to the high ground further up the left to get some more altitude and a better view, a second Sherman appears. This one is just below the summit of Hill 57-3 on the left where it can fire across the valley, engage 1st Platoon’s positions on the right near the railway huts and, worse, get eyes on Marder One.

Things are rapidly starting to go sideways.

Marder One dashes downslope to get out of danger. The second Sherman gets a shot off that barely misses low, but the impact of the round underneath the hull takes Marder One’s driver out, forcing the commander to take over.

The tank destroyer gets away, but only by the skin of its teeth.

At the same time, the first Sherman leaves 3rd Platoon’s wood, drives over Hill 52 and gets stuck into 1st Platoon. Now sandwiched between two enemy tanks- the second Sherman shooting them in the back- 1st start to crumble as well. They’re just not in a tenable position, they can’t deal with the British armour and I have to get them out of there.

Marder Two, meanwhile, has managed to climb the far left map edge and swings in to gets eyes on the second Sherman. Unluckily for me, the Marder gets into position just at the end of a turn and Unremarkable is able to rush his tank to safety over the crest it was hiding behind before Marder 2 can get a shot off.

Falling Back

That at least takes some of the pressure off 1st Platoon. They still have the first Sherman bearing down on them though, so I start pulling them back behind the crest on the right and manoeuvring Marder Two on the far left to threaten the Sherman.

This seems to work. Unremarkable stashes it behind the little rise near the railway huts. It pops out once or twice to try and engage Marder Two, which manages a comically bad miss in return, but the immediate threat to 1st Platoon and its supporting weapons teams is countered for now.

Both 1st and 3rd Platoons have lost about a squad’s worth of men each and I’d like to think they gave better than they got, but at the same time they’re clearly on the verge of shattering. They’ve not only taken a severe kicking to their morale state, but slogging uphill and fighting in the sun they’re close to knackered as well.

They’ve both managed to successfully disengage, but they clearly can’t stay where they are waiting for the Shermans to come back and finish them off.

So I start to bring both platoons and their supporting weapons teams back down the slope. Conceding the high ground on the right means that my jumping off point between the village ridge and the logging camp woods is probably only a few minutes away from turning into a deathtrap.

So 3rd follow the woods down and slip left down a small dip to regroup in the village under 2nd Platoon’s protection. 1st streams back down towards the logging camp woods to occupy the treeline and offer some reverse slope resistance to any enemy infantry who crown the heights.

It’s only taken about 15 minutes to get to the point, but it looks like Unremarkable is as content enough to avoid further contact, reorganise and manoeuvre as I am.

So both platoons successfully evacuate the right flank. This in turn frees up the Marders, which I try to keep out of sight and shuffle about to positions where they might hopefully be able to deal with the Shermans when they reappear.

The Counterattack

And they do reappear. Sherman Two had disappeared into the wooded valley and pops up again having crossed the South Bridge, transiting across the front of the village to get into 3rd Platoon’s now abandoned wood.

A few turns later, British infantry starts to creep onto the high ground on the right and the first Sherman rushes out from near the railway huts, downslope and into the logging camp woods.

This is terrible news. Not only could neither of the Marders cover that approach, but I don’t fancy their chances going after a turreted vehicle in the wood. I sent Marder One in there to cover the Logging Camp itself in case Unremarkable tries to bypass and go deep, but the Sherman manages to spot it through the trees and get a hit in.

Amazingly Marder One survives. The incoming round went straight through the left rear drive wheel instead of the hull and although the gunner caught some blast or shrapnel, the vehicle is still up and running. The crew are definitely shaken though and they reverse out of trouble.

Meanwhile the second Sherman is approaching with infantry support down the trail of 3rd Platoon’s wood, muscling in on my infantry on the right while more British infantry engages them frontally from the railway huts and the first Sherman lurks on their right flank.

It’s clear that Unremarkable is making a move.

I can at least deal with the infantry. I have plenty of mortar ammunition left and I’m eventually able to scour them off the high ground with 81mm HE. A scout team approaches the village from the direction of the south bridge and is quickly dealt with by 2nd Platoon, and when more enemy men leave 3rd Platoon’s wood and start to approach around the end of the village ridge they run into a storm of MG fire and get hit in the flank by my HMGs in the village.

But I can’t stop the first Sherman enfilading the treeline and chewing up 1st Platoon and I can’t stop the second Sherman coming over the village ridge and blasting away at them from the other side.

I have managed to somewhat close down Sherman Two. Both tank destroyers are in or close to the woods on the other side of road, Marder Two lying in wait to cover the logging camp side of the village ridge and Marder One manoeuvring round on the village side to catch it if it falls back.

But it’s tricky. Unremarkable is doing a really good job of keeping Sherman Two masked from the Marders behind the central lump of the village ridge and he’s got a few teams out on the right where they can threaten to shoot into the open rear of Marder Two.

Eventually the Sherman makes a dash forward- Marder One gets a spot, but not only loses it before it can get a shot off, but repeats the same process a few seconds later.

What’s left of 1st Platoon in the woods at least escapes any major pain as the Sherman rolls past to link up with the one on the right, but that’s because I’ve pulled my infantry deeper into the woods.

By now, it’s clear that we’re both running out of momentum. The only part of my force with any offensive potential that hasn’t been broken is 2nd Platoon and there’s no way I’m sending them out of the relative safety of the village while those Shermans are still hanging around. On the other hand, it looks like Unremarkable’s British infantry have also had a really bad day and although he’s still got the two Shermans, sending them off into the woods alone with no infantry support is probably a bad idea.

So we decide it’s time to ceasefire.

Endex

In the final analysis, I don’t think I’ve come out on top here. I lost more men- 66 casualties to the British 53- and basically ended up back where I started. Unremarkable Sunray smashed up my threat to his left and between following up and extending into the wooded valley on his right has finished in a position where he’s got the village surrounded on three sides.

Something obviously went wrong here. In fact, a few things obviously went wrong here.

First and foremost, while I don’t think my plan was necessarily a bad one, I was far too focused on the second half of it. I was thinking a little bit too far ahead about how grabbing Hill 56 would allow me to dominate the British side of the map… and I was concentrating a lot less on exactly how I would seize it in the first place.

So my spare fire support elements were not set up where they could easily support 3rd platoon in a fight over the crest on the right. They were down in the valley because I was more concerned about bringing them up once Hill 56 was secured. This kind of thinking is most obvious with the TRP. I put it on the South Bridge for phase 2 of the plan… it would have been considerably more helpful on the reverse slope beyond Hill 56 or even in 3rd Platoon’s wood where it would have helped with phase 1.

The second glaring disaster here ties into force selection: I got taken apart by Unremarkable’s armour. Without any kind of infantry antitank capability it was all down to the Marders and they did not stack up here. A good deal of that is to do with how well Unremarkable handled his Shermans and how I casually got my infantry into positions where the Marders couldn’t easily support them, but it’s also because the Marders are just flimsy tank destroyers.

I’d have been much more comfortable with a couple of Panzer IVs- not least because they could have supported 3rd Platoon and wreaked havoc on the right- but I just didn’t have the points budget to take them.

We’ve got a force selection format here where we each pick an infantry company and then build around it… because we’re playing Fortress Italy in July 43 there’s only one option for the Germans, it’s expensive and I just don’t have a lot of points left over to back it up. The Brits, on the other hand, have comparatively barebones infantry companies and thus more to spend on support.

Excuses, I know, I don’t want to take anything from Unremarkable Sunray here. War’s a competition of incompetence, he was a lot more competent than I was this time. Now that the village is almost surrounded, we’ll have to see how things pan out if we get round to Round 3.

That’s it from Italy for now though. If you’d like to see these videos early and support the channel you can do so via Patreon and Youtube memberships. Whether you do or not, thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.