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Final Thoughts Not a typical game for me by any stretch of the imagination, but a highly enjoyable and rewarding one nonetheless. I played much more cautious than normal, due in large part to Priest being an unknown opponent, trying to avoid any *major* mistakes; something I succeeded in I think, but which resulted in merely a competent game rather than a brilliant one. Priest commented also on the 'new opponent' effect and felt it wasn't typical of his normal style of play either. We both felt the next game would be more indicative of our styles and abilities. We exchanged a few emails at the end of the game discussing the fought battle and I will include some snippets. Priest: Most likely because my armour is close to my infantry on the front line and that I am not using my infantry as my core for my combat teams, I use my armour. I have heavily played with multiple ideas but I am fascinated with armour. Ron: Hmm, from my experience I would have to disagree about the emphasis on armour. Almost invariably my force selection has fallen into the 30-35% armour, 15-20% artillery and the rest infantry/support model, and it has been effective and successful in almost all situations. Yes, you know as I do there are certain things that 'work' in CM, infantry, arty and armour wise. However infantry and arty can be forgiving in the execution while armour generally isn't I find. I attribute it to 'luck' because even after doing all the 'right' things to get the best result it can still go the other way. Sure having local gun superiority is desired and should be strived for, but even having accomplished that the result still isn't guaranteed. Priest: There were also some smaller snafus but nothing that really affected the overall game itself. One other note, throughout the game you attributed certain things to luck. Most of what you accomplished on the armour front was because of the basic principle that I talked about on the forums, you brought local gun superiority to the engagement. It is really that plain and simple. Still I do find it interesting that you still believe that luck has a lot to do with armour in CM. In part yes, as luck affects everything in CM to some degree, but your approach to the armour duels in our game was basic yet effective, especially since I was an idiot this game. The only suggestion I would have is that your space your armour better and use multiple approaches. Priest: Your infantry plan was brilliant and well executed. Your armour plan was basic and had a major flaw, that of being to closely grouped together. This is something you can get away with when you use the Germans, mostly because the Tigers and Panthers attract so much attention and can absorb the damage. If you did the same with the Allies it would mean you would be basically making it easier for the Germans. My three errors where as follows: 1.) I used the Challenger, for the first time. I was less than impressed and it amazes me how well CMBO models weapons systems, if the sucked in real life the suck in the game. Still I should not have experimented when facing a new opponent. 2.) I overcompensated with my armour against your infantry. Your final infantry push could have been averted by one properly placed tank, but throughout the game I was putting too much into the anti-infantry role and not enough attention was brought to seeking out your armour and destroying it. 3.) Lastly I tried to use the Allied weapons in a standoff role. This is not what I should have done, but instead pushed forward on the flanks forcing you to react. Again something that normally I do not do but hey the curse of the "first time" strikes again. Ron: If you had used Allied tactics you would have bagged all the German armour groups? You had more and better tanks (sans armour which is overrated) by far than the Germans in this one, I prefer mobility most of all. The mistake I think was not Allied or German tactics but not using them against 'something' effectively. For me I think the turning point was the two infantry/armour charges which hit empty air then basically sat there. Whether right or wrong I was comfortable with the situation at that point as I knew where you were from then on. I think the one oversight was not putting *pressure* on the Germans through your maneuvers and actions, apart from the wild Cromwell charge at the end I was never forced to react to your moves. The one opportunity you had of throwing the Germans off-balance wasn't taken, ie. on your right flank after the aborted attack up the hill (Hill 1) you had sufficient infantry (3 platoons) and armour (3) to sweep the Germans clear and cause major havoc in the rear. Of course you didn't know that but that area remained passive for a large part of the game.
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