Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ A Walk On The Beach

Sergei put out a request for someone to playtest an Op for him and since he hooked us up with some maps for WC4 I couldn't say no. Here's an overview...

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A Walk On The Beach Discussion Thread


Obviously this is nothing but spoiler after spoiler so if you don't want to know what happens in the operation I suggest reading no further.


Initial thoughts:

Okay, this one is HUGE. About five times bigger than I usually play. But I'm not going to let that deter me. I've been itching to play a bigger battle for a while now so this is good. I'd rather be the Finns than the Soviets but it's all good.

I've got about 13000 points at my disposal for all 5 battles. Gonna have over 2 battalions of infantry, tons of arty, T-34s and more at my disposal. Oh, this should be a treat.

Since I'm playtesting I'm going to leave setup as default and see how it goes.


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Turn 1:

I order all my platoons to move up using Move to Contact. I know that the Finns are out there, I just have no idea how close. Up near Jyrinmaki there is a bunch of barbed wire in front of the place which will make my infantries lives a bit harder. My guess is that I'll find an MG or two near there.

Unfortunatly in the center is a big swamp so I don't have much choice but to push forward through the wire and take whatever casualties I have to. I'm loathe to waste men so if I can find some other way I will.

On my left flank, on the other side of the swamp I have a single platoon. They are also given a Move to Contact order. Their eventual goal is the flag near Saarenmaki but I'm sure they'll meet resistance before they get there.

My goal for battle #1 is to get at least to Maksimoff with my right flank and scout out near Saarenmaki with my platoon on my left. I am not holding my breath about my left flank though. They'll need reinforcements if they are to push ahead too much. I'm sure the flag is defended.

Turn 2:

Nothing too much of note happens. My men slowly move forward but spot nothing. I have a few Maxims move up and take some positions that should provide some cover fire if necessary. The problem is that with all the grain it's hard to get much of a field of view.

I do order my platoon of T-34s to move forward towards Kaukola. They should be able to provide some protection for my infantry that is making their way forward.

Turn 3:

CONTACT!!!!

From 1500m away, on the far side of the lake a gun opens up on one of my T-34s. It responds as well, which sort of irks me. I doubt that the gun will be KOed by the tank from so far a range. And I don't want my tank wasting HE on a gun 1500m away when I'll be soon facing Finns at a much, much closer range.

Some bullets come flying in, targetting an MG crew. I have no contacts as to where they came from but I'm pretty sure it's from the buildings ahead that are protected by wire.

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Turn 3:

On my left I make contact with a platoon of Finns. They are actually right about where I expected them to be. Some fire has been exchanged and so far I've only had one squad get pinned. Only two of my squads and the HQ have LOS of the enemy so I'm going to be moving my other two squads to the side and up a little to try and fire from different angles.

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Turn 4:

On my left flank things aren't fairing too well. One of my squads advanced forward only to lose half of it's men. Two of the other squads have lost men as well. My fourth squad is moving up to the right of the dug in Finns but I think it'd just be better to withdraw and try to go around.

On a plus note one of my T-34s KOed the gun on the far side of the lake. I wasn't expecting it but am not complaining either. Now I can worry about some sound contacts I have coming from some rough area ahead.

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Turn 5:

I order my left platoon to withdraw from the Finns. My guys are taking casualties and are shaken/pinned. I have my guys pull back and regroup. I'm going to attempt to send the M3 Scout Car across a whole bunch of soft ground(praying for no bog) to lend MG support to my platoon.

Also I'm attempting to have two AT guns set up. I'm not sure if they'll have LOS or not but it's worth a try. The HE will make a difference.

Turn 6:

I continue to have my infantry move forward through all the wheat fields. As one of my platoons moved forward they came under MG fire from the buildings ahead and also now have artillery falling on their heads. So far no one is panicked but it'll happen if I don't get them out of there. So I'm going to attempt to give them advance orders away from the area where the arty is landing.

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Turn 7:

My men were slowly making their way through the wheat fields toward their first objectinve. However there was sporadic MG fire coming from up ahead. Fed up with a MG that I suspect is located in one of the larger buildings I have my T-34s demolish the sucker.

Unfortunatly the MG fire didn't stop.

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Turn 8:

The platoon on my left flank had earlier run into some trouble with a dug in Finnish platoon. I needed some MG support to help suppress the Finns. So I order my scout car to head along the soft ground that runs through the swamp to go and lend support.

As the M3 Scout Car heads through the swamp there's suddenly an explosion right next to it. My crew spots a light gun up on a hill with wonderful LOS of the entire swamp. They start to take aim at the gun with their machine guns to fire back...

Turn 8:

...but it's too late and a shell hits the Scout Car causing enough damage to force the crew to abandon.

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Turn 8:

The building was destroyed but the MG wasn't. As my soldiers continue to progress forward they are suddenly diving for cover again. And much to my frustration still only a sound contact. I cannot wait to find that guy and make him pay for slowing my advance.

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Turn 9:

When the light gun fired on my Scout Car I don't think he realized what kind of danger he was putting himself in. My T-34s, noticing the gun firing up on the hill start sending some HE at the Finnish gun.

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Turn 9:

The gun never got off another shot as the crew was quickly pinned and then abandoned the gun. Doing their best to get as far away as possible.

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Turn 9:

As my men move forward they suddenly spot a bunch of trenches on the other side of the barbed wire. That's going to make my objective very, very hard to achieve. There isn't a lot of cover as I move forward and so I'll have to do my best to make sure I have a lot of firepower available.

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Turn 9:

As my tanks move forward I get a contact in the trenches as a panzerschreck takes a shot at my tank. If the Finn had waited until I'd gotten close it might have been a bad thing but taking a shot at 185 meters is suicide.

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Turn 9:

My tanks quickly respond to the anti-tank thread and quickly neutralize it.

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Turn 11:

Turn 10 is spent pretty much the same was as turn 11, moving men forward. From time to time my guys would be fired on from some unknown Finn unit up ahead. All I'd ever get would be sound contacts and so I could do nothing but keep pressing forward.

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Turn 12:

Turn 12 starts with the Finns trying to start a little offensive push or something. A couple units advance out of the cover towards my men firing. But it's only a few units and quickly a mass of Russian fire power drives the Finns to ground or causes them to flee towards the safety of their lines.

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Turn 12:

This unit came out of the wheat down near the lake. He didn't run forward for more than two seconds and then quickly started to run backwards.

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Turn 13:

I decide to have another go at the left flank. I had moved a Maxim into position on the other side of the swamp that had some limited visability on where the Finns were dug in. So I ordered my men to advance forward.

At first things seemed to be going well but soon that changed as I took several casualties in about 10 seconds. Soon the Finns were causing my guys to become shaken and pinned.

At the end of this turn I order my guys back once again and let the Finns keep their position for now. Their time will come soon enough.

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Turn 14:

While not the most effective thing to do I'm frustrated with that dang MG. And so I decide to call in artillery on the position of the trenches. I know it probably won't do too much but I'm hoping it'll rattle the defenders a little. My men are starting to get closer to the trenches and I'm hoping to be assulting them in a few turns.

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Turn 17:

Slowly my men continue forward. As my guys get closer they are being fired on more and more and it's making the progress forward take even longer.

Here's an overview of my forces as of turn 17. Green is infantry platoons, purple is MGs, blue are the T-34s and the red was my objective as I started the battle. But I'm thinking that it'll be hard to take that at my current rate of progression. I'm just hoping to take the trenches at this point.

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Turn 19:

Found the son of a bitch! After firing on some of my men I suddenly got a positive ID on that MG that's been burdening me since the beginning of this fight. I plan on making them pay dearly.

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Turn 19:

I make an error in issuing some orders and one of my squads runs right through the barbed wire. What's worse is that there is another light gun on the hill that takes aim on my men as they are stuck slowly making their way through the wire. One of my tanks takes aim on the gun but they will still be able to get off a few shots and make my guys sorry they tried to go through the wire instead of around it.

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