Scottish Corridor Part 5: Mondrainville (+bonus!) is out for Patrons! (Patreon)

What a slog :/ This campaign is tough!

There were about 2 minutes of post-battle analysis that I recorded but couldn't really fit in. Going back and grabbing even more footage, making more diagrams etc seemed like too much... just putting the audio in and having a boring slow-fly-by or series of screenshots seemed like too little, so I cut it out.

I'll tag the script for the missing section on the end of this- so spoilers ahead!

The War Room is next up, then the next Scottish Corridor mission (attacking across open fields, great!) and that'll actually take us up to the end of 2022 without the annual winter turn by turn. It's still coming- it's still winter after New Year's after all- and it'll be good, but bit weird not doing. And even weirder doing it in the desert...

"Ultimately, I couldn’t bring enough firepower to bear to make the move decisive. That’s in part the familiar experience of playing with British infantry- though the Daimler being unable to brass up the hedgerow was a serious disappointment.

But… the German line was only thinly held before their reinforcements arrived about halfway through. The battle may have gone very differently had I been faster off the mark. Not only would a smaller enemy force on that bocage line been much more manageable, but catching the AI trying to push halftracks full of infantry across the Marian orchard with a few armoured cars would have produced a very different result.

So, could I have attacked faster? Could I have gotten up to the edge of Marian in force before the 30 minute mark? It’s hard to say. One of the things that stands out in this battle in particular is that instead of mounting a company attack, I pretty much mounted a series of platoon attacks. Like trying to get to Tourville in the last mission, I attacked on a narrow front and once the lead platoon was chewed up, I simply passed another one through it and pressed on.

More width in the attack could have paid off. In the initial push, having another platoon on line- on either side- would probably have allowed me to flank onto the knots of resistance in the first phase, or have more available troops to take advantage of the enemy falling back.

Later on, the 50mm gun that caused so much trouble- ultimately inflicting 18 casualties and knocking out the Staghound- was- was child’s play to dispose off, once I actually looked into a wider flanking movement. Granted, as the 50mm established itself as a major problem I was still expecting enemy reinforcements to approach from the Grainville road in that direction, but the point still stands.

Obviously this is easier to point out in hindsight. At the start of the battle, not knowing the dispositions of the enemy, pushing another platoon forward into an open field, exposing them to the potential of an MG42 in every window… sounds like a bad move. And an MG42 in every window is not a huge exaggeration- even at the end of the battle, the German infantry line in Marian still had 7 up and running.

Trying to find a balance between speed and security when even tiny teams or individual soldiers can inflict disproportionate casualties and obstinately refuse to do anything but fight to the death… is immensely frustrating."