Subject: Combat Mission Afrika Korps AAR disaster

While looking in the store if Highway to the Reich had arrived (it 
hasn't and is not even on EB's list here in Canada), I saw the latest 
version of Combat Mission and bought it, although I am a bit 
disenchanted with real-time tactical games (OK, CMAK is Igo-yougo, but 
anyhow...

Since I had not played the previous two incarnations of Combat Mission 
for a very long time and played a LOT of other games since (I buy about 
2-3 a month), I decided to try the tutorial to refresh my mind.

This tutorial is a straightforward assault by the British Long Range 
Patrol on an Italian radio relay station protected by a few machineguns, 
a cannon, a mortar and some infantry. I didn't bother to read the 
tutorial text (read on to find out how I fared when I did read it...). 

OK, piece o' cake... I lined up my half dozen machine gun-armed  scout 
trucks loaded with a coupla soldiers each, parked them in the starting 
zone, drove my mortar some distance towards the objective and unloaded 
it, and away I went. There are two jeeps, one holding the Lieutenant 
commanding the operation and the other the platoon sergeant. As soon as 
my trucks on "move" slowly appeared over the crest -oops, I hadn't 
notice that there was a convenient ridge there, behind which my trucks 
could hide before the attack; I shoulda tried inspecting the terrain 
with a low-down view- they were taken under fire by the AA cannon, who 
dispatched four of them in the first minute - bad start. The jeeps fared 
no better. There were a couple of machine guns on the two floors of the 
objective building, one on each flank of the building some distance 
away, and some infantry hidden in a building to the side and in a clump 
of trees some distance in front of the objective. The collectively cut 
my units to pieces, and none of the trucks made it more than halfway to 
the objective. They all had a big celebration with wine and dirty movies 
after they wiped out my attacking force, and I was spared a humiliating 
court martial by being mercifully killed by my own mortar. 

OK, so I had better read the tutorial instructions. Hmmm, it says I 
gotta soften the cannon up with the mortar BEFORE going over the ridge. 
Ohhh, of course - piece of cake.

This time I moved all my trucks in a line on the right and center right 
before the ridge, while the mortar disembarked to the left and the 
Lieutenant disembarked a short distance ahead to serve as spotter.

Oops, the Lieutenent is too far behind the ridge line and can't see the 
target. So while the mortar is setting up, I move him forward. Oh s**t, 
now the mortar is too far behind and out of command. so I order the 
mortar to move forward. Now he is back in command... Damm! The 
Lieutenant still doesn't have the enemy gun in his line of sight, so I 
have to move him forward again... Grrrrr! Now the mortar is out of 
command again, so I move him forward again, further this time, but he 
against loses his setup. Finally the Lieutenant has a line of sight to 
the gun, but only if he doesn't hide. As soon as he stands up, he is 
taken under fire by 3 machine guns. Cripes, all I need now if for my 
spotter to be killed...

Fortunately the Italians are cross-eyed from laughing, and they miss. By 
the time my mortar is set up, almost 10 minutes have gone by. The men in 
the trucks are having a game of cards near their trucks. A couple are 
writing letters.

Finally my mortar starts to shoot. I zoom in on the gun position, and a 
half-dozen of the shots fall right on the cannon. The manual says that 
four or five hits should be enough, and that now I should hit the mortar 
position right behind it. I do that while I order my trucks forward. 
Maybe I shoulda told them to go fast, but they cross the crest and move 
slowly forward while my mortar pounds the enemy mortar, then shifts to 
one of the machinegun nests to the side.

Oh nooooo!...The #@?((*&$# cannon is not dead, and I hear the dreaded 
thump-thump as it begins to knock off my trucks. Quickly I shift the 
mortar back to the gun, but in the meantime it dispatched 3 of my 
trucks. I order the remainder to go fast to the objective, where my 
soldiers will disembark, and as the manual says, "easily take care of 
the disheartened occupants".

One truck makes it, but as soon as the occupants disembark to enter the 
building, they are fired upon by a machinegun from inside the building 
as well as from the machinegun nests on both sides. They are quickly 
killed. No other truck makes it anywhere near the building, and I spare 
you the description of the rest of the battle.

...Next try, I take no chances and put a full two minutes of mortar 
rounds on the cannon, which is silenced forever. Now my trucks race 
forward. A couple are disabled by the machineguns, but their crews 
mostly survive and help to suppress the machineguns. One truck makes it 
to the side of the building and the occupants enter the bottom floor and 
engage in a firefight with the occupants. A second one arrives and joins 
the fray. Soon the building is flying the British flag. An enemy squad 
is spotted fleeing behind the objective and machinegunned.  I send 
trucks towards the two machinegun nests to the side while grounded 
soldiers suppress the occupants. When they get close enough, the 
Italians throw up their hands and surrender. 

My soldiers grab some bottles of wine before they blow up the relay 
station and disappear into the desert with their prisoners.

Piece of cake...  ;-)

Henri