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  Multiplayer: Meuse Team Grand Campaign Finished - Axis Minor Victory!
Posted on Mon Feb 15, 2021 10:00 am by webmaster
The Longest Day The Meuse Team Grand Campaign started 31 October 2020 has ended 12 February 2021. After more than 400 multiplayer battles the Axis achieved a minor victory on 18 May Midday Turn 2, Allies surrendered on turn 19 May Night. More than 400 battles were recorded and livestreamed, most of which you can replay at the Meuse Playlist on YouTube. Many of the battles could be watched live from both German and French perspective.

Allies

Axis
MOOXE  Pzt_Crackwise
KG_Loki RD_Viceroy
Marinesku13 Hedgehog
Gallows Mad_Matx
Blitzkrieg irishwolf75
RD_Tigercub RD_Steiner
   
   
   
   
   

 

Allied Plan

Grand Strategy - Four key strategies were employed by the Allies. The first strategy was to make it as painful as possible for the Axis to advance west. Axis had overwhelming odds with the massive amount of infantry and equipment, Allied defeat was inevitable, winning attrition was the Allies only option. Defending the bridge maps as long as possible was key to the strategy. Once a defensive positions was untenable, Allies would pull back or do a one team disband. The first strategy remained the same after losing the bridge maps but more emphasis was put on tactics in order to preserve infantry as the Axis began to break though the centre. Towards mid campaign the second strategy was employed to move battlegroups from the south to the centre in order to dull the breakout. Miscommunication errors resulted in battlegroups attacking, retreating or abandoning maps that they were not ordered to. To counter the AI making unplanned moves for the Allies, some movements were cancelled in favour of staying put. Eventually the centre collapsed with elite Axis battle groups crushing the Allies, most notably the Axis IR GD unit. The third strategy was an attempt was made to establish a defensive line in the north along the Sombre river bridge maps, Berlaimont/Maubeuge/Thuin/Charleroi. A defensive line was created with severely depleted Allied units but this defensive line was not attacked. The fourth strategy was a counterattack in the south. Spawning the newer and previously disbanded French battlegroups in the south over the final two days to capture maps behind the Axis front line. This was abandoned due to movement errors and Axis advances. Once the Axis occupied all the depot maps in the south, and made it to western edge of the map cutting our forces in two, the Allies surrendered.

Top French hero who survived with more than 10 kills.

Vehicle Tactics - The Allies had many light tanks of the H37/H38 variants. Light tank were effective to hold infantry down and could also take many hits from Axis tanks and survive. The S-35 and D-47 medium tanks were effective vs Axis tanks but in too few numbers and only in select few BGs, they would not make much difference. The Char heavy tanks were the biggest deterrent to Axis making advances. Typically the heavy tanks when paired, or grouped with smaller tanks could advance freely on a map and easily dispatched Pz3 and Pz4s. The tactic of tag teaming was not widely used here, having two or more tanks team up on one, as the maps were more confined in general. Many of the available tank strength were lost in the first half of the campaign, only the 28/1 and 4DCR retained armour that could be used effectively until the end. Allied vehicles were very few. The armoured MG tanks and 81mm mortar cars did not make a difference in the campaign. Support was applied to all maps with Axis medium tanks.


Infantry Tactics - Ambush techniques were the most effective way for Allies to deal with Axis infantry. Generally Allied infantry were weaker, less experienced and had lower morale. In close quarter combat Axis infantry could beat Allied infantry. Early in the campaign it was learned that firefights from house to house are a waste of ammunition, especially considering Allied forces were without supply so often. To counter the Axis strengths and Allied own lack of ammo, Allied infantry was forced into ambushes. Typically an ambush would be a couple of teams hiding in the back of a building and another team watching the approach. Once Axis infantry began crossing the approach (usually a road) and filtering into the occupied house, the Allies would drop mortars and bring up their infantry to the edge to fire on the Axis infantry suppressed on the street. This was an effective tactic if the Allies did not let too many Axis infantry get in the house. Consequences of letting Axis into the houses were annihilation and surrender. More or less mid way through the campaign and force pools were dwindling it became essential to manage casualties in battle. Infantry teams who sufferered 50% casualties were pulled back for second line defense. If the player kept the losses at no more than 50% the team would get replacements after the battle was complete. If the team received more than 50% casualties, they were used as "dead" teams. The dead teams could assault or hold first line defenses as they were going to be lost after battle anyways.

Axis Plan

Grand Strategy - The Axis came in strong attempting to cross the bridges, taking large amounts of casualties. Not long into the campaign the Axis began attacking bridge maps from the north or south bypassing the actual bridge on the map. This was the most effective method to crossing a bridge map. It effectively turned the map into an Allied island without supply. Nouzonville held out for days in this condition. Houx held out until the end, but was also bypassed by Axis units fighting through the exit VLs. Once across the bridges many of the Axis units has been so badly depleted the general advance stopped until fresh units spawned to take over. These new units took over and began an assault through the centre around and through Brognon/Aubigny, the Allies who were so badly depleted they could not hold up for very long. The breakout began in the centre around mid campaign and expanded into the south closer to the end of campaign. On 18 May midday turn two, after more than 400 battles and no strong Allied units available to stem the onslaught, Axis achieved minor victory. The subsequent turns made the Axis victory even stronger as no Allies units could stop the elite infantry and vehicles pouring through.

Top German hero who survived with more than 10 kills.

Vehicle Tactics - Axis force pools contained many vehicles. Machine guns cars, halftracks, light and medium tanks. In general tag teaming was not able to employed by the Axis in most cases. Many vehicles were not used in the early days of the campaign in favour of taking strong infantry squads. This led to some Axis battlegroups having very few infantry but up to 20-30 vehicles. Vehicles were used more often towards the second half of the campaign in support of infantry. Beginning mid campaign the Allies had few anti tank weapons to stop vehicles and breakouts were accomplished by Axis mechanized battle groups. Support was applied to all Allied battlegroups that had Char tanks.


Infantry Tactics - Ambush tactics were used on defensive maps the same way Allies used them. Early on it was realized teams with 50% casualties needed to retreat and let full teams carry on the attack in order to beat attrition. Using this tactic it was not uncommon for the Axis to lose almost nothing from an attack, which widened the imbalance of infantry teams vs the Allies. Against weak Allied infantry, Axis sometimes just assaulted through while the Allies melted or surrendered. The initial grenade volleys and follow-up close combat wiped out the Allied teams. Firefights occurring across streets were won by Axis as they had stronger small arms and higher experience. Axis infantry could win anytime in close quarter, but lose when they were pinned in the streets. Blitzkrieging was done with the infantry.

Lesson Learned

Allied 75mm guns were effective against all Axis armour.
Mortars are extremely deadly vs infantry on paved roads, not on fields.
Mortars were effective against open topped vehicles.
Taking a diverse forcepool into battle was key to preserving a battlegroups integrity.
Elite Axis infantry units spawn around the half way mark and are almost unstoppable.
Destroying battlegroups was more important than conquering maps.
Cohesion and fatigue did not heal for any battle group.
Sections that lost 50% in a battle, who were not changed out for the next battle, could survive if you did not lose 50% of remaining men. For example, if a seven man team lost three men in the first battle they would survive. In the next battle if you kept the team which now has four men, you could lose another two.
Abandoned vehicles and guns needed to be captured if you wanted the enemy to lose them.
French 25mm guns were only useful at short range and took many shots prior to knocking out German armour.

New and Old Tactics Used

Retreating teams with 50% casualties to ensure survival to next battle.
Repeatedly one team disbanding dead battle groups in order to reduce enemy cohesion and fatigue.
Capturing abandoned vehicles and gun so the enemy would lose them.
Taking red experience teams to get them more experience for follow-up battles.
Back of the house defence.
Engaging troops on the streets only, avoiding firefights.
Bait vehicles to expose enemy anti-tank gun positions.
Bridge blocking.
Airstrike applied only to maps with heavy or medium tanks.
High features scouted for gun placements.

French Heros





German Heros



























"Meuse Team Grand Campaign Finished - Axis Minor Victory!" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment | Search Discussion
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Re: Meuse Team Grand Campaign Finished - Axis Minor Victory! (Score: 1)
by Pzt_Kami on Wed Feb 17, 2021 2:17 pm
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Congratulation to both teams for the good job :)
Regarding the BG cohesion ,I think this feature should be removed as it doesn't work logically and as mentioned "Cohesion and fatigue did not heal for any battle group." !


 
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In August of 2004, Zappi, Homba, Bambam887, RedScorpion and MOOXE all pitched
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