PBEM AAR - First Attempt

[JeremyCupit]

Hi All,

Here is my first attempt to put an AAR up on the web. Comments are welcome.... smile.gif

http://www.btinternet.com/~cupit.hayes/combat_mission/hells_hill_aar.html

Enjoy,
Jeremy

[YankeeDog]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up, Jeremy!!

It's always nice to read others' AARS. . .

Cheers,

YD

[Sgt Steiner]

Hi Jeremy et al

Nice AAR thanks for the effort

Cheers

[JeremyCupit]

Thanks for the comments.

Hopefully as my PBEM games progress over time I will build up a history of AARs, with the idea of learning from my past mistakes.

Jeremy

[Webs]

Serves you right for taking 20mm as a ground weapon. There's a reason it's a flak gun. The 20mm will only really do damage to delicate machinery, like airplane wings or halftracks. There's not much blast and against infantry it's like a very slow HMG.

[Murph]

Well done Jeremy!

Loved the AAR, it seems like an eopic battle, very evenly matched and extremely bloody! I really enjoy AAR's with pictures, it brings you into the game almost as much as the game itself!

My only beef was that it was split up into 10 turn increments, so a lot of the specific drama of each turn gets left out, but if that means that you have time to make more AAR's, then bring it on!

One last suggestion: Like tons of people around here, I've moved on to CMBB, and don't ever go into the CMBO board, I just happened to see your post by chance. Yet everyone loves AAR's so maybe next time you can do a quick post on the general forum to let us know you posted? You would get a much larger and appreciative audience that way.

Thanks again!
Murp

[SpineRipper]

Nice job, Really liked all the vissuals.

[jtcm]

Nicely done. But how careful was your recon for both assault groups ?

Also, perhaps better to concentrate infantry and armour in a concerted effort. rathe than parcel it out evenly

[JeremyCupit]

Originally posted by jtcm:
Nicely done. But how careful was your recon for both assault groups ?

Also, perhaps better to concentrate infantry and armour in a concerted effort. rathe than parcel it out evenly You're quite right. My recon was almost non-existent.
Also I agree with you about using a concerted thrust. If I could do this battle over again, I think a strong inf/armour thrust on one side of Hell's Hill while only keeping back enough of a force to defend the opposite flank could have been a much more successful tactic. But then hindsight is great. Then again with hindsight I wish my 2x20mm flak guns had been 2x75mm inf guns instead... :D

Jeremy

[Dave H]

Originally posted by JeremyCupit:
Thanks for the comments.

Hopefully as my PBEM games progress over time I will build up a history of AARs, with the idea of learning from my past mistakes.

Jeremy Trust me, there isn't a player on this forum who isn't still learning from past mistakes. Some of them in the all-too-recent past. Like yesterday. Great job on your first AAR.

[OG_Gleep]

Great stuff. The screen shots really set it apart from most text based AAR's that I have read. Really let you see the action.

I am waiting for CMBB to arrive in Feb. so if your still looking for a PBEM in CMBO, let me know. I need to practice before I get CMBB.

bo.humphrey@attbi.com

[ January 28, 2003, 07:54 PM: Message edited by: OG_Gleep ]

[jtcm]

The pictures show that it was a real butcher's shop in the last few turns.

If I may (as a rather mediocre CMBO player, but ones who's been accumulating defeats since the 1999 demo):

Eyes go first: sniper, then half squad, then rest of plt in whatever configuration suits you best (base of fire + manoeuver element, etc)

Mass (does not mean throw everything together, but mass fires)

JasonC, thread on "How to Attack Like a German" is v. instructive

best wishes and keep it coming

[Murph]

Hey guys:

If you're into AAR's with lots of pics (as the one above), I posted one a while back, the link is below. Mind you, it's a CMBB AAR.

AAR: The Storming of Brailev island (http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=005268)

Cheers,
Murph

[JeremyCupit]

Originally posted by Murph:
Hey guys:

If you're into AAR's with lots of pics (as the one above), I posted one a while back, the link is below. Mind you, it's a CMBB AAR.

AAR: The Storming of Brailev island (http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=005268)

Cheers,
Murph Murph, yep that sure is one good looking AAR, far more comprehensive than my attempt. I don't know where you find the time ?

I have enough trouble finding the time to play CM let alone write up the games afterwards. :cool:

Jeremy

[Shosties]

I will have to do my own AAR one of these days just to keep myself honest about the mistakes I make. Thanks for reminding me about JasonC's post jtcm, the ensuing discussions in addition to his posts make it one of the best threads I've come across on the board... so I bumped it. smile.gif

[Flesh]

If anybody is interested, I've uploaded two CMBO AAR's to my webspace. They both cover the same battle (a PBEM ME QB). One is by me, the other by my opponent, Skeg. The AAR's are each addressed to the respective opponent. They were done as part of our post game "debriefing".

Here's the URL for Skeg's AAR, a word document: http://dave.zirconiumdns.net/aar/Flesh v Skeg AAR.doc

Here's the URL for my AAR: http://dave.zirconiumdns.net/aar/Skeg_vs_Flesh_AAR.html

Warning: My AAR is quite long and contains lots of *HUGE* images. Also, it was a 5000 pt game with the "Large" map setting. As a result, the map was so large that I couldn't get all of it on one screen in the game to take a screenie to do an overhead shot of the entire battlefield.

Also, you should probably read Skeg's AAR first as it's shorter and has smaller images.

[Murph]

Hey Flesh, thanks for sharing, that was a really cool AAR. I NEVER play battles that large (I shudder when I see the word battalion!). How do you deal with all the micromanagent? Your turns must take a long time to plan/plot.

Seems like a good battle. If anything I would say you were too slow/tentative on your left mechanized attack, had you timed it better you would have won more points (but at a steep cost, because he had tons of infantry left over). From your account it would seem like he never dropped arty on you, which would seem off for a battle this size.

By the way, the link to his version is not working for me, is it still posted.

Thanks again,
Murph

[Flesh]

Okay, I know what the problem was with Skeg's AAR. The spaces in the filename were causing problems. I've renamed it. You should be able to download it now. Here's the new URL: : http://dave.zirconiumdns.net/aar/Flesh_v_Skeg_AAR.doc


Murph, the reason why I advanced slowly with my mech force on the left was that my opponent had informed me before the game that he intended to defend against my forces, as he knew I was going to buy lots of vehicles and attempt a combined arms "blitzkrieg". So, I expected to run into some kind of ambush. In fact, he did attempt to ambush my forces, but on the right, not on the left.

Also, you are correct in your observation that Skeg did not buy any arty. He admits that this was a mistake in his AAR.

BTW Skeg likes to buy lots of infantry. I like to buy lots of vehicles. As you've probably guessed, I'm really looking forward to our first CMBB PBEM... ;) *evil laugh*

On the subject of micromanagement and large battles, here's how I deal with it.

1) Use the "small hills" setting. This gives you lots of covered approaches and "dead ground". You can then advance your forces in safety out of your opponents LOS.

2) Divide your forces into groups and give each a separate task. Some groups (esp. mech ones) will advance. Others (esp. infantry groups) will defend or form a screen.

3) As a result, you have mech groups rapidly advancing out of enemy LOS. You don't really have to micromanage these much. Screening infantry just sit there and hide one they reach their defensive positions. You end up with a fast paced battle that is action packed and doesn't take too much micromanagement. smile.gif

Thanks for the interest Murph. Maybe this will get you interested in large battles. If you want, I could challenge you to a large CMBB battle and we could post our AARs. Just a thought... smile.gif