Metz help- s bridgehead!

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Mckeed
Private First Class - Wehrmacht Inf
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Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by Mckeed »

My first post. BA a great game- well done guys! Bought Metz and having great problems with this scenario. One track that my tanks can't move off, a nasty artillery piece blasting my GIs with and to cap it all a bunch of 88s that kill my tanks before I can get to them. I manage to kill the 88s by turn 10 by which time I hit the last village an run bang into a jagdpanther and supporting tanks. Time then runs out. How do you kill the 88s early? Must be some way! Help appreciated!
Old_Warrior
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by Old_Warrior »

I locate them by crossing the stream and using scouts or other infantry. Then I use the Priests and other direct fire weapons to take them out.

Does not always work out that way ....
Mckeed
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by Mckeed »

Ah thanks- I always get the priest a little too late, probably cos i force the bridge vp too late. I guess you get the Priest after forcing the crossing...
LandMarine47
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by LandMarine47 »

This was an incredibly difficult mission (beta was even worse) and is possibly the 3rd or 4th in difficulty. As said before pound those 88's with some Arty, then rush them (infantry first) and finish them off with some Shermans.
michaelguth
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by michaelguth »

I must have tried this a dozen times before getting a bit lucky. First, I hit the small isolated house in the south west quadrant with a first turn P47 strike. There is usually a 75mm AT gun in the house and a Pz IV in front of it. I got lucky one game and suppressed the tank and killed the AT gun.

You only have 12 turns, at least in my version of the game, and this is a real problem. I haven't been able to get the Priest in before about turn 7. I don't think you can wait that long to start hitting the 88's. So, you have to some Shermans. Once in a while you will hit one of the 88's with a lucky shot. Then you put about 3 Shermans onto the other one and keep it suppressed.

The town to the North with the 88mm guns in front has an AT gun, one or two infantry units, and a Jagpanther, or a Panther AND a Puma and a PzIV. I hypothesize that there is no way you could possibly take those tanks out frontally with any of your armor. So, the main thing you need to do is get some infantry around the flank of the town so that they can eventually seize the objective, and an Engineer into the buildings in front because they have a chance of killing the tanks. The Priest is going to be busy helping to clear out those buildings.

There is German Infantry in the woods. I've sent my non-motorized infantry into the woods to keep them off the armor.

The armor splits into two columns, one to the left of the central village, firing into it on the first turn, and the other column to the right to start taking on the 88's. I don't see how the Greyhound survives. That's how I find the 88's.

The game I won there was only a 75mmAT gun in the western town, no Jagdpanzer. I was using the last two P47 strikes to try to damage it. My foot slogging infantry had reached the town by turn 11 and managed to cross the bridge to the objective.

I don't even want to play it again.
acarhj
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by acarhj »

LandMarine47 wrote:This was an incredibly difficult mission (beta was even worse) and is possibly the 3rd or 4th in difficulty.
I strongly disagree with this statement. This is THE hardest scenario of the whole game. Bar none! :D

All of the other scenarios I've played so far have not given me this degree of difficulty. I am still experimenting with this particular scenario to figure out how to win it on a regular basis. Part fo the problem is the German artillery. It will cause havoc among your own infantry. Someone said that you can blow up the German armor in the town with a priest. Easier said than done. So here is how I cross the first bridgehead.

1) Start by locating the 88s. You can do this with your scout car or by doing an airstrike on the town. hit the building at the end of the road and you will usually take out the AT gun there AND sometimes ill supress the jagpanzer.
2) Use 3-4 Shermans to actively engage the German 88s. As well, you will need to get some infantry down the hill and close to the 88s for scouting.
3) Once the 88s are supressed, use your infantry to close in and take a point blank shot. You will usually get hit by german fire coming from the building but you can use the rally ability to get them back in order and shoot. The halftracks will be good for supressing the bulding.
4) At this point, you can use your infantry to destroy the Jagpanzer and possibly a puma. Hope there is nothing ore than a PZIV waiting for you. Occasionally it's a Panther instead.

On the other fronts,
1) use your remaining infantry to hold the woods. Don;t advance. Let the Germans come to you. You can ambush them.
2) Attack the nearest town with a scout, infantry adn the Assault Sherman.
3) Engage the Halftracks, PZIV and farmhouse with your tanks and newly arrived reinforcements. They arrive on turn 5.
4) On the low road you will have to clear the way with tanks and infantry. The small woods sometimes has a unit hiding and the swamp area beyond as well as the nest will have something. At this point, keep hitting the big town with the newly arrived priest, and whatevr firepower you can muster. Use the air strike to hit the far end of the bridge and hopefully take out or supresswhatever is there.

This strategy works for me about 20% of the time on difficult level.
MartyWard
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by MartyWard »

acarhj wrote:
LandMarine47 wrote:This was an incredibly difficult mission (beta was even worse) and is possibly the 3rd or 4th in difficulty.
I strongly disagree with this statement. This is THE hardest scenario of the whole game. Bar none! :D

All of the other scenarios I've played so far have not given me this degree of difficulty. I am still experimenting with this particular scenario to figure out how to win it on a regular basis. Part fo the problem is the German artillery. It will cause havoc among your own infantry. Someone said that you can blow up the German armor in the town with a priest. Easier said than done. So here is how I cross the first bridgehead.

1) Start by locating the 88s. You can do this with your scout car or by doing an airstrike on the town. hit the building at the end of the road and you will usually take out the AT gun there AND sometimes ill supress the jagpanzer.
2) Use 3-4 Shermans to actively engage the German 88s. As well, you will need to get some infantry down the hill and close to the 88s for scouting.
3) Once the 88s are supressed, use your infantry to close in and take a point blank shot. You will usually get hit by german fire coming from the building but you can use the rally ability to get them back in order and shoot. The halftracks will be good for supressing the bulding.
4) At this point, you can use your infantry to destroy the Jagpanzer and possibly a puma. Hope there is nothing ore than a PZIV waiting for you. Occasionally it's a Panther instead.

On the other fronts,
1) use your remaining infantry to hold the woods. Don;t advance. Let the Germans come to you. You can ambush them.
2) Attack the nearest town with a scout, infantry adn the Assault Sherman.
3) Engage the Halftracks, PZIV and farmhouse with your tanks and newly arrived reinforcements. They arrive on turn 5.
4) On the low road you will have to clear the way with tanks and infantry. The small woods sometimes has a unit hiding and the swamp area beyond as well as the nest will have something. At this point, keep hitting the big town with the newly arrived priest, and whatevr firepower you can muster. Use the air strike to hit the far end of the bridge and hopefully take out or supresswhatever is there.

This strategy works for me about 20% of the time on difficult level.
Once you spot them, can't you just keep the 88's suppressed and forget about actually taking them out until you need to?
LandMarine47
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by LandMarine47 »

The 8th mission with the mud and 88s was mine! Pure hell followed by Fort Driant
acarhj
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by acarhj »

MartyWard wrote: Once you spot them, can't you just keep the 88's suppressed and forget about actually taking them out until you need to?
The idea is to get them suppressed and close in for the kill.

Also, I thin I've cracked it to where you can win reliably. Suppress the 88s and kill them. Sbeak an infantry unit south of the town, just south of the road. You will have cover all the way to the back edge of the board. If you do it right they will be inpostion to grab the flag on turn 8. This area is the biggest problem with the scenario simply because you have to fight a jagpanzer, a puma, a 75mm gun and a PZIV...sometimes a panther too! So sneaking around these vehicles instead of fighting them is the best course of action. Lemund is easy enough to take if you are methodical. I agree now that the first air strike should be on the farm house next to the fields on the road to lemund.

On Hard difficulty, this is a tough scenario to complete all 4 sub-objectives. In can be done with a little luck. I have not had such luck though. :D
acarhj
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by acarhj »

So here is a reliable solution for the S Bridgehead on hard. I will call Acerville south and Lemund north (did I get the names right?). The first assault should be primarily aimed at taking out the 88s and crossing the river as quickly as possible. The number of tanks in Ancerville are usually not there. There are some infantry/MGs and an AT gun. Sometimes there is also a JagPanzer IV. One infantry should skirt up south of the town avoiding contact with the town proper. 2 other infantry should move left of the road. Use your surviving tanks to surpress the buildings and their occupants.

Leave a holding force in the woods and use your 105 Sherman to surpress any enemies A) in the nearby town and B) that approach on the woodline. You may also want to leave 1 sherman to help deal with the approaching PZIV and half tracks.

The second wave will eventually arrive. Use your second air strike to hit the lone building out in the fields. there usually is an AT gun there. From there you should be able to work your ay up the road with your new tanks. Use your scout to spot enemies hiding in the fields and cut them down with sherman fire. Advance on Lemund from 2 directions destroying/surpressing any targets of oppertunity. You have to play it smart using infantry to probe and spot hidden enemies. At this point, 2 PZIVs and/or possibly a panther will be advancing into Ancerville. If you've done your job right, you should be in position to ambush them with anti-tank grenades from infantry and gun fire from your shermans positioned along the road.

3rd wave arrives. If the 88/wespe is not taken out by this point, you can use your priest to take care of the problem. A better thing to do is to use the priest to bombard Lemund and points north. There could be another JagPanzer IV guarding the approaches and even an AT gun. If things went well in Ancerville, you can bring in your fast moving Hellcats and flank the PZIV at long range.

This won't guarantee you getting all the achievements but it will get you a hard fought victory.

John
MartyWard
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by MartyWard »

acarhj wrote:
MartyWard wrote: Once you spot them, can't you just keep the 88's suppressed and forget about actually taking them out until you need to?
What I meant was since they can't move and aren't near any objectives if you suppress them then move past them they are useless. There really isn't any need to actually kill them.
Old_Warrior
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by Old_Warrior »

Sorry that I (the developer of the module) am just getting to this but I am sort of in "mobile HQ mode" right now having moved from Idaho to California and have not yet set up a perm. HQ location for my PC. I use the library and my laptop for now and time has been an issue.

Suffice it to say that what has followed is great advice. I usually use my armor to wipe them out using halftracks to draw the 88s and then use the tanks to suppress them. Close in to complete their destruction.

The ground was too soft to support armored vehicles historically so all movement for vehicles is restricted to the roads as a result.

Big thanks to Mike and all of you for helping out! :)
LandMarine47
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by LandMarine47 »

All we need is a strategy guide for the last Scenario (seriously, I've been trying to get a perfect rating and it's impossible!)
Old_Warrior
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Re: Metz help- s bridgehead!

Post by Old_Warrior »

The Metz city scenario? I think I was able to get all of the objectives and so on for that one. Cannot load it up as my PC is in storage. Will see what I can do later on in the year maybe.
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