HerrTom

Looking at the trailer you posted, that is some beautiful cinematography and intense (and probably illegal in the west) practical effects. Really shows the different way of thinking, since the Soviet filmmakers got paid regardless of whether the movie blew the box office or not. Primo! W.r.t. propaganda and media: since capital comes from the people in the west, you hear and see what the people want to hear and see in film. Capital that comes from the state shows and says what the state wants. Something something about money and evil....

My piloting experience is limited to Cessnas, but is it possible that the pilots don't necessarily know that that one brown building is a hospital or an apartment block versus the other one next to it which may have some rebels in it? Combine this with an CEP of 25 meters, and it's possible to hit the building next to it if you're unlucky. Beyond that, comparing Coalition-caused deaths to what's going on here is also a little off, seeing as the situation on the ground is very different, perhaps more is in common with Stalingrad than Fallujah. Not to defend their methods in earnest, though. The Russians and Syrians definitely are revisiting Grozny on Eastern Aleppo, though in the second war, as far as I know, it did work, to an extent. I agree, the Russians probably don't really care too much about what they hit, as long as it causes some kind of military benefit, be it concrete or denting the enemy's morale. The Russian military is equipped to fight a total war, just like the Red Army. I really doubt they would care much about German citizens during Seven Days to the Rhein, and the apparatus hasn't really changed to significantly.

That thing looks remarkably like a BTR and an Bradley had some kind of nasty love child to me.

I'm pretty sure that'e exactly a bug, the launcher can't be used even if it can be dismounted. It appears all missile armed vehicles have a similar bug. Note I haven't tried it myself, I'm holding off upgrading until I'm done with my current DAR.

0916-0917 A few snippets. Drone footage captures 1st squad, 2nd company moves into staging positions near Aushev's platoon. Russian infantrymen dart through the wheatfield while fire pours both ways. 5th platoon's tanks engage infantry in one of the tall office buildings in the centre of town. One of 5th platoon's tanks responds to a poorly aimed RPG-7 round. In other news, spotting rounds for the barrage on the housing complex have started landing. Hopefully Aushev can guide these in with haste so we can get into the action of the assault! A new plan to accommodate for the changing situation on the ground should be coming soon, as soon as I can get to drawing it.

I'm no expert in the situation, but Assad's Wikipedia page may be informative. I can honestly see the Russian view of the 'devil you know,' and it makes a lot of sense. Especially so due to Tartus' port. I do question in these power structures whether Assad (or Putin, for that matter) are really calling all of the shots. There's so much power in the ministers and pre-extant government that it makes you wonder. It's like the USSR after Stalin. The General Secretary had power only inasmuch as the Supreme Soviet allowed him.

I thought the MT-LB crew was only two, unlike the BMP. Driver and commander/gunner, like the M113. I'm with kinophile here, though. MT-LBs seem pretty abysmal at seeing things.

Of course, once I say the next few turns will be uneventful, I turn out to be a big fat liar! 0915 T-72s from 5th platoon engage infantry dug in in the western side of town. A Konkurs slams into the explosive reactive armour, which swats away the warhead leaving the tank unharmed. The platoon quickly turns to engage the new threat. Having revealed itself, the ATGM position is hammered by two MTLBs, both tanks, as well as 4th platoon's AGS located far to the left! It is suppressed but not destroyed. A second missile streaks over 5th platoon and lands in the treeline behind it. 5th platoon continues to engage the ATGM. Meanwhile, four 120mm mortar shells land on that office building, finally knocking out that pesky ATGM team. Aushev's view of the carnage.

This is some next level smack talk. Gave me quite the chuckle. I'll be interested in how those ATGMs handle the tanks. My experience is they always get turned into a fine pink mist by Abrams before they cause much damage. Perhaps I could learn a few things. I request (no, demand!) video of those exciting artillery barrages.

0914 Not a particularly interesting minute. The next few may be similarly uneventful. I probably won't do a minute-by-minute for the next few turns until something worth reporting happens. Aushev's platoon continues to engage enemy infantry in the buildings. Aushev observes the town while plotting the artillery strike. 5th platoon is in position. They're going to hunt forwards until they can start engaging the entrenched enemies in the housing block. 2nd company is also now in position. They're going to wait here until the artillery barrage starts in a few minutes. The overall situation. Not much has changed, except the position of the reinforcements.

Oh there's no doubt about that. A+ for the imagery. I was mostly responding to this bit, which I admit I should have quoted in my first post! I haven't seen this one, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

While I agree with you on the most part, panzersauerkrautwerfer, I'd to point out that Soviet filmmaking (especially in the 80's) wasn't always sympathetic to the government or always did what the government wanted. One that immediately pokes out in my mind is Afghanskii Izlom, which plays into some of the tropes you mention in Fury. If I recall correctly, the director Liberation had some issues early on in including the mistakes of STAVKA, but eventually got to film what he wanted a number of years later. Though a large part of both of those may come from the effects of perestroika.

0913 I continue to show my incompetence! The duel with the psychic BTR in the farm complex ends... poorly. The last MTLB on the eastern side of town gets punctured by 14.5mm bullets. I'm honestly surprised that I didn't nail him, since he wasn't even looking at me and I was hunting for him (target arcs and all!). But as he stops, and starts to aim, the BTR turns and pumps lead into him. Такова жизнь. Airburst artillery shells come out of the blue and injure most of Aushev's 3rd squad. 5th platoons tanks continue to make their way to the battle. 2nd company has almost resolved their traffic jam and are arranging themselves around the complex. Man, I completely screwed up everything on Strygin's side. I should have just let that damn BTR stay where it was, but I got this vendetta in my mind, and now I'm short two vehicles and Strygin's entire squad, and Byvshikh is also down quite a few men. I'm sure that BTR crew will be honoured in Kiev. The only good news so far is that one of my machinegunners finally managed to take out one of the ATGMs on the office building. In the meantime, we'll keep trading fire and waiting for everyone to get into position. It has also come to my attention that I actually have a small stock of precision guided shells. I'll be sure to put those to good use on hard-to hit positions or vehicles. I really should've used them way earlier to knock out some of those BTRs or ATGM positions, but I wasted my time spotting rounds for a regular barrage.

0912 That ATGM that I thought 4th platoon had knocked out? It just moved (remarkably quick!). A well aimed shot slammed into 4th platoon's MTLB and exploded it to kingdom come. Spotting shells are landing for the artillery barrage on the building, so hopefully this damn obstacle will be gone soon enough. 2nd company is having some traffic issues in getting to the front, though 1 Platoon, 2 Company has reached its staging position by this time. It's no big problem, it just means that the tanks will be delayed somewhat. Aushev's platoon engages infantry dug in around the housing complex. The wrecks of two MTLBs overlook the first few spotting rounds landing in the town. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about this battle, even though I lost another APC. A whole company is going to cause a lot of pain, though the city fight will be a bloody slog. Byvshikh has also taken three casualties to the BTR, which has done a wonderful job at suppressing them. The MTLB is going to cross the river while it is distracted and destroy the thing once and for all. Spotting shells are landing closer and closer to the ATGM office building, which hopefully should wipe out those well-placed teams. 2nd company has a little traffic jam to deal with, and the tank platoon is advancing. Aushev's AGS has managed to take out a couple of RPG teams near the bridge Aushev's platoon trades fire with the town as the MTLB gets destroyed. Please forgive the temperature, I forgot to turn off f.lux as I recorded it! It's strange that it doesn't look this warm on my own screen, though. Maybe pretend that it's sunset?

Oh no! Competition! I'm going to be watching this with bated breath. I can't seem to get myself to do these epic battles, though I love to read about them!

Haha true. That would prove bothersome at best!

0911 Byvshikh's MTLB lays suppressing fire on the BTR's position. 30mm tracers fly through the air behind Byvshikh's team as they maneouvre to attack the BTR. Unfortunately, it sees them as the first team approaches the riverbank and rakes the squad's marksman with machinegun fire. The squad dives for cover and fumbles for their antitank weapons. The MTLB crew sees what's happening and prepares to advance to attack the BTR from the side. 4th platoon's extra MTLB knocks out the final BTR in the south side of town, exploding its fuel tanks. Not to be distracted by the impressive explosion, they quickly identify an ATGM on an office building on the far side of town, pointed straight at them! 30mm HEI shells explode across the rooftop. They have a better angle than their comrades in the reconnaissance platoon and manage to knock it out! 2nd squad, 2nd platoon, 1st company comes under fire from a machinegun and return fire with small arms and an RPG. It falls short, but manages to knock out another machinegun in different building. Good news at last! 2nd Company has arrived, but they took a wrong turn and ended up at the wrong side of the river. Time to adapt, though I don't want to completely abandon my plan of rolling the town up from the south. Since the other ATGM on the roof is still there, it's probably for the best, anyway. 5th platoon, under command of Lieutenant Chaikin will move its tanks to Shelgunov's position. and suppress the enemy infantry positions in the housing complex in the south side of town. The entirety of 2nd Company. will move into positions next to 2nd platoon and use their amphibious capabilities to ford the river, under cover of the tanks, which are going in better positions to support them thanks to the navigation error. 2nd platoon will stay in place for now, then move to capture the western and northern bridges as 2nd company assaults the town. This should prevent any Ukrainian engineering teams from destroying the bridge before the 32nd Motor Rifles can cross in force. The assault will require some staging and suppressive fire, and I plan to again stick to my original plan of saturating the town with steel. Aushev is calling artillery fire from 2nd Company's mortars on sheaf N:3 in an attempt to make the river crossing uncontested. The plotting is estimated to take around 9 minutes, so the meantime will be maneouvre into positions and direct fire on the town. In other news, another BTR was discovered near the western bridge. It's not in a threatening position yet, though I may use the T-72s to knock it out. If I were to do this again, it may be interesting to try another tack in the assault by flattening N:4 and pushing the entirety of 1st Company through the (presumably) weaker defences in the far West, and hooking around to attack the city from the north, whilst bringing 2nd Company in from the west whilst the enemy is reorientating to defend from the north. If this can be done with enough violence, it may be possible to catch the enemy completely unaware... Hattori, I like the strategy. I, too, try to avoid casualties. Especially in my armoured assets for pragmatic reasons, since they are incredibly useful as fire support platforms. I try to avoid putting ATGMs in obvious places like on roofs, especially since they always get knocked out before they can do anything. I'm amazed that team survived to begin with, let alone hit something! I guess it has to do with the angle you're at. If they have to be relatively close, and you're above them enough, the building provides better cover. If you look at 4th platoon's performance knocking out the other ATGM, they're higher up compared to the building than Minaev's APCs were.

Thank you for the kind words! It's simply having too much free time and access to handbooks on the USSR's topographic map conventions! Honestly, writing these is almost as fun as reading them. I'm pretty glad I got on this track.

I drew the map myself, but wasn't quite sure how to do good grid squares. I think you can make out the elevation marks if you right click on the maps and open the image in a new tab. I see now that the downsized forum view makes those pretty hard to read! Edit: I'd like to imagine it's pretty close. I mostly traced off of the top-down one I used in the first few posts. Here you can see them overlaid. I got tired of drawing individual buildings, so I did combine a few into blocks.

Not much happened in this dull minute. As such, there's no new map today. Refer to 0909 for the situation. But I can't let you guys go without pictures! 0910 Aushev (right) looks over the town. The burning wrecks of four BTRs can be seen in the background. To the left, an AGS lays fire down on Ukrainian infantry located in and around the buildings. Aushev's men in the treeline return fire to infantry located in some buildings near the western bridge. Byvshikh moves along the river to get a firing angle on the BTR in the farming compound. The MTLB will attempt to distract it by firing HEI shells into the building nearby as Byvshikh moves up.

Man, I keep making bad decision after bad decision! 0909 Auschev's platoon continues to advance to the treeline, taking sporadic fire from the buildings. They can't quite see that one BTR yet, but Auschev has his hopes up. Shelgunov and the MTLB reach the gas station and begin to dismount. The MTLB is going to attempt to hunt the last BTR on this side of town after dropping off its cargo. Meanwhile... Strygin's APC takes fire as it attempts to cross the river. The crew panics as shots ping off of its armour. And a lucky shot penetrates the MTLB's thin armour and ignites the ammunition stowage, blowing the vehicle sky high. Strygin's entire squad and the vehicles crew are lost. I can't afford to take losses at this rate! For now, I think I have no choice but to hunker down and keep exchanging fire with the defenders, but any more aggressive action will have to wait for reinforcements. I'm running dangerously low on firepower, and with the loss of Strygin and his squad, the eastern side of town is going to be a challenge to neutralize. The forward scout detachment is now under the control of Sergeant Byvshikh (what a strange name... hope he doesn't become his namesake!). They're going to attempt to engage the BTR with handheld AT weapons. Airburst artillery shells landed near Minaev, panicking the squad. The barrage seems to have been a short one, though.

Glorious! It brings a tear to my eye to see such highly-engineered machines!

Pete, that's entirely correct. He's a clever bastard, too! AtheistDane, I'm running the game on an NVIDIA 970M and and i7-4790 at 3.6 GHz, 16 GB of RAM. I've also got a graphics injector called Reshade running, which is explained a bit more in my posts in the unofficial screenshot thread. I also recently added an SSAO shader, which is why the 9:08 turn looks slightly different from the previous ones. I think I like it, but there's one big glaring bug in using it. Tree leaves and smoke aren't rendered in the depth buffer, so the SSAO and depth of field don't behave correctly with them! Erwin, kind of yes and kind of no. I've been following Soviet doctrine to an extent, where there are multiple echelons of forces in an attack. The first element advances to contact to identify and engage enemy positions. Once the Schwerpunkt has been identified in the enemy lines, the second element arrives with heavier firepower to assault the position and produce a breach in the lines. Finally, follow-on formations will exploit the gap and conduct deep operations on the enemy's supply lines and support assets, disjointing and demoralizing the defenders while causing large encirclements. I definitely played it too aggressive with Minaev's APCs, as clearly seen by their destruction without much to show for it. I don't intend to assault the company+ force the Ukrainians have garrisoned in the city with the forces I have on hand. That'll be a job for the two to three rifle platoons and tank platoon that is in 2. Company with my current force's support. Strygin is in a good position to continue advancing forward without undue risk, and I think that the entire recon platoon minus the weapons should have followed. There's only a BTR and possible infantry in his way, and they're far removed from supporting fires from the town. If I can eliminate them and get closer eyes on the town, I can identify other important strongpoints to hammer with artillery before the main assault. The same goes for Aushev, though his force is a heavier one which may be able to knock out much of the resistance that would meet a bridge crossing.

0908 From the fragmentary information coming through the radio, Strygin is beginning to regret leaving the rest of his force with Minaev. Even more so, he's beginning to hate that Ukrainian ATGM position. The second and final MTLB on Minaev's position gets knocked out by an ATGM from that same damn gunner! Why won't he die?! In 3 minutes, 120mm mortar fire is going to level that building. The mortar fire finally lands on the other machinegun position, wiping it out. Auschev's platoon advances to the treeline behind their MTLBs. An RPG misses the one pictured and injures two men. (This is becoming a theme...) The RPG's source is engaged by the MTLB, which quickly pivots to engage a new BTR. Auschev's platoon engages an enemy BTR. Not much of a change in the overall situation. 2nd platoon has advanced further forward, and Strygin's APC is about to ford the river. Artillery is going to shift from sheaf N:2 to the ATGM position. I have to take that out to prevent it from wreaking havoc on 2nd company. Shelgunov and the MTLB from 4th platoon are making their way to the gas station. A spotting shell landed in the forest south of Minaev's position. They'll have to move within the next few minutes to avoid getting bracketed and hammered by Ukrainian artillery. It's only 8 minutes into the battle, and I've already taken some fairly serious casualties in my advance force. I know I've inflicted some hurt on the Ukrainians, but I estimate that there's somewhere in the realm of a company, maybe even a reinforced company, defending the town. For now, I'll play right from the classic Soviet doctrine, right according to plan. 1st company will continue to identify problem areas, pin the enemy in place, and exploit any opportunities that arise. Second company, once it arrives, will smash through the enemy defences. I think I overestimated the amount of damage that 1st company will and has been able to achieve so far, which may mean a less aggressive drive into town by 2nd company, replaced instead by a more deliberate assault across the bridge. Bonus Video Mark II! Minaev definitely got the short straw today.

Thanks, Ian. I'm having lots of fun writing this up, too! hattori, I'm interested in hearing about it when we're done here! 0907 Things begin to go south for Aushev. The BTR hammers Kabitskiy's MTLB as the crew bails. A lucky 14.5mm round punctures the fuel tank and ignites the vapours, causing fire and smoke to pour out of the open hatches. The other two BTRs are unable to locate the enemy vehicle, but suppress the area with autocannon fire. Strygin's assault team crosses the field to the waiting personnel carriers unmolested. Minaev moves into the forest from the road while the first spotting rounds land in the background. That pesky Ukrainian ATGM is miraculously still active and lets off another shot while under heavy grenade and autocannon fire. I've got to give the man credit, he's one brave sucker! ... and one damn lucky one, too! The missile hits true, piercing Rudakov's upper front hull, killing the driver as they bail out. This ATGM gunner deserves a medal for guiding the missile while this is happening around him and actually hitting. He also deserves a kick in the arse for missing the three previous shots! Back to Strygin: Above is the current situation on Strygin's sector. Strygin will adjust the assault plan slightly, leaving 2nd squad and an MTLB to engage the BTR which has popped up in the near side of the farm complex while he boards the other MTLB to cross the river and assault across the field. Overall, this wasn't a good minute for my forces. Two APCs knocked out, with not much to show for it. Yavorskiy is going to send a PKM and MTLB to take position in a gas station and support 2nd platoon. 1st and 3rd squads in 2nd platoon are going to cross with the remaining MTLBs to the treeline and begin to lay down the pain on the western town. We don't want them getting too heartened from taking out an APC now, do we? Spotting shells have finally arrived on sheaf N:2. The full fire mission of 8 shells should land in the next minute or two. I may have to shift it again to take care of that pesky Kevlar ATGM team in the office buildings. At least it appears the PKM in the other office building has been knocked out! My forces are getting spread thin, which worries me, and 2nd Company is still 20 minutes away. If I can secure the bridge approach, I should be able to provide better mutual support between Aushev's and Strygin's platoons. The current force trade so far has been: Russian losses: 2 MTLBs, 1 crewman and 1 machinegunner Ukrainian losses: 3 BTRs, 1 machinegun, 1 ATGM. 6 crew and an RPG team also are suspected dead.