CM: BS DAR Gnarls vs. Artemis258: Art begone...

[gnarly]

is it just my browser that doesn't display the images? 

Gah! Stoopid Image URLs.....

Recoiless team firing

 

Target BTR

 

End of turn 57-56

Can someone confirm they can see these?? Seems I can't directly embed Google Drive images, have to upload them..

Edited February 9, 2016 by gnarly
Replaced image links with Imgur links, worky?

[gnarly]

Minute 56-55

A few more team-sized infantry contacts among the Medium Ridge woods, suppressed by the IFV's with some airburst crossfire from a 2nd platoon tank.

2 BTR's are briefly spotted reversing from the copse of trees on the west base of Big Hill; they are lost before they can be fired upon.

My tanks are putting down area fire on any vehicle contacts, with the hope of at the least forcing them to retreat and perhaps revealing themselves, if not actually damaging them. A missile detonates harmlessly in the trees in front of 2nd platoon.

[Wicky]

Nope no images showing - looks like you've posted them on a FGM which requires a log-in and isn't showing them publicly.  Try free image hosting like photobucket or similar.

[Bud Backer]

Nope no images showing - looks like you've posted them on a FGM which requires a log-in and isn't showing them publicly.  Try free image hosting like photobucket or similar.

What he said

Sorry, Gnarly! 

[gnarly]

@Wicky and @Bud_B, I've re-added from imgur, does that work now?

[A Canadian Cat]

is it just my browser that doesn't display the images? 

I'm not seeing them either.

[Bud Backer]

@Wicky and @Bud_B, I've re-added from imgur, does that work now?

Yes! Yes, yes, oh yes! 

Sorry, got carried away there..  That was meant for Ken's AAR when he...er...recaptures The Hill Which Shall Not Be Named In Polite Company. 

This post still doesn't have working images:

 

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/121917-cm-bs-dar-gnarls-vs-artemis258-art-begone/?do=findComment&comment=1654570

 

just FYI 

 

Edited February 9, 2016 by Bud_B

[gnarly]

Yes! Yes, yes, oh yes! 

Sorry, got carried away there..  That was meant for Ken's AAR when he...er...recaptures The Hill Which Shall Not Be Named In Polite Company. 

This post still doesn't have working images:

 

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/121917-cm-bs-dar-gnarls-vs-artemis258-art-begone/?do=findComment&comment=1654570

 

just FYI 

 

Thanks Bud.

 

Unfortunately these forums don't allow you to edit your posts perpetually; not sure if there is a timer, or if it occurs as soon as someone quotes a post, but I lost the ability to edit those links by the time I read your original heads-up about the links. (which means you cannot do the classic trick when starting a new thread, of posting rapidly thre times, as placeholders for future content...)

 

Which is why I had to embed them as new followup posts...

[gnarly]

I'm not seeing them either.

See my post above; I've reposted the images a bit further down the thread @IanL

[Wicky]

All three pics now working *thumbs up*

[gnarly]

I got the next turn back from Art in the wee hours, and the action is starting! A preview: 

 

[John Kettler]

gnarly,

If I were you, I'd save my artillery, which isn't responsive at all, being the slowest in the game, and use it for something major later--at the point of decisive battle. If all you've got to deal with is a single house, may I suggest you engage it with DF of some flavor instead? If it's wood, even LMG fire is a threat, never mind anything like 12.7, 30 mm, RR, tank cannon or ATGM. You probably don't wish to say, but your current artillery orders strongly suggest to me you have no Krasnopol type rounds (which UKR does make; I've seen the pics), else you'd fire one or two rounds, whereupon the house would disappear from the Earth. Nor do I know whether you have any flying eyeballs, which would help considerably, with or without guided shells. There are discourses on how to use artillery in CMBS, and you'd be well advised to read them. Believe one such was in the Beta AAR where the RUS player was using old school 152 mm HE to wreck the forward defenses in a town.  I recall, too, there was some sort of drill in which you'd pick the target, call the mission, then keep delaying the firing. this way, you didn't have to go through the agonizing delay of a fresh call for fire. I've not yet gotten to use tube artillery of this caliber in CMBS, it being difficult to do when your FO vehicle is a flaming charnel house! 

I like your clear, crisp presentation of information, and those are some great pics you've provided. Marking down a very modern thermal equipped BTR-82 with an ancient RR is quite the feat, and I congratulate you. Your remark about prehistoric (I left out the parentheses) Bulats was amusing. Your confusion about smokes and seeing is understandable, and I have to remember that BMP-2s and such don't have the broadband stuff. No idea why. And I still don't understand why there is no such artillery/mortar smoke. Seems to be that if you can put DPICM in a shell, or kick out WP wedges from the base, it ought to be doable to take smoke cartridges of the tank persuasion and put them in a shell. The problem, though, with the tank variety is persistence on the order of 30 seconds. Horrifyingly short. WP will put a dent in even US thermals, sometimes at the rip your hair out level of LOS blockage, and it will be far worse than that against the Russians, whose thermals are nowhere nearly as good.

Regards,

John Kettler

[gnarly]

@John Kettler,

 

Many thanks for your comments, there is so much to learn!

 

-> Re the arty, I had actually bought 3 TRPs, having learned the hard way in previous games, that without these, the call times are almost unusable to deal with a dynamically changing modern battlefield. Thus my call times are actually about 3 minutes around the TRPs (one of which is on the minor objective) and no spotting rounds are required. In fact, they impact in the next minute of action, as you will see shortly.

 

-> Re the house, yeah its overkill with the arty (and now I've looked, its wooden too...). I actually hedged my bets; an anti-tank IFV has been ripping up both buildings this turn already.. Anyways, its only a few shells.. !

-> My second lesson is that I am always 'hoarding' arty , and invariably finish the match with a significant quantity of shells up my sleeve. So I am trying to actually use them, rather than never use them at all

-> I'll need to check into whether I actually have many precision shells; I must admit I didn't even think about that when I purchased the arty battery up front. I just wanted the biggest BOOM! I could afford....

-> No airborne eyeballs; game rule was no air of any kind. Hence I wasn't too worried about precision shelss; the chances of getting the FO onto a viable target for such was slight...

-> I am actually tempted to run a linear mission along the treeline atop Big Hill, where  a few BTRs have been seen; I think there are a few ATGM teams amongst the trees there (1st & 3rd platoons keep getting lased), but it would be nice to have some visuals first. But we'll see.

[gnarly]

Minute 56-55

Much excitement amongst the men!!!  Surrounded by the 6 limp bodies of his devastated squad (and here I thought it was a scout team...!), the lone surviving Russian in the northernmost part of the Medium Ridge woods surrendered!

Putin's finest... BAH! More like conscript scum....  Never bring an assault rifle to an IFV gunfight!

 

Which leads me to think that the other contacts in the middle of the Medium Forrest are also likely a full squad (somewhat reduced by now...)?

 

The IFV (of the Antitank Platoon) pictured above in fact spent most of the turn hosing down the buildings at the minor objective (also to be the target of my arty barrage). The gunner was so preoccupied, that it took him some time to realise he was getting targeted (aka 'plinked'...) by a BTR atop Big Hill (the second one as spotted briefly back in minute 58-57).  Angrily he slew the turret around, and  made short work of the BTR.

Never bring 14.5mm to a 30mm gunfight Russkies!

And whilst we are talking about always having the biggest gun at a gunfight (and likely much to John Kettler's amusement), a few rounds of 152mm HE arrived on that likely (wooden!!) house OP at the minor objective (which I'd already been hosing down with the IFV above...).

 

I sooo hope there was someone in there....

 

 

Edited February 10, 2016 by gnarly

[gnarly]

Lastly, there had been a vehicle sound contact amongst the trees on the northern slopes of Big Hill; my tanks had been hosing the area down for a few turns. The smoke screen dissipated to reveal another destroyed BTR. Nice!

 

So at this point I've seen:

    Medium Ridge - likely 2 squads on infantry (1.5 of which are neutralized). Therefore I reckon there is another squad plus HQ somewhere near abouts; i.e. a whole infantry   platoon. Likely anchored at the trees either side of the northern ford...

    Big Hill - 5 BTR's (3 neutralized, 2 OK at western base), 1 neutralized ATGM team. Did he deploy a weapons/antitank platoon over Big Hill?

Graphically represented below, where:

  Red = Dead

  Green = Alive

  Yellow is somewhere on the way to being dead.....

 

[gnarly]

So aside from trying to find and mop up that 2nd Russian squad in the mid-Medium Ridge, and some area fire on the 2 live BTR locations and the copse of trees on the east side of the northern ford, I've planned a special gift for the other likely ATGM teams locations up the hill in about 3 minutes...

 

Edited February 10, 2016 by gnarly

[John Kettler]

With the glacial response time you have on FS, buying TRPs was wise indeed. Meanwhile, I have great news! If you are getting your FS from 2A65, 2S19 or 2S3M, then you have 6 rounds of Krasnopol-M with which to wreak havoc. This should greatly aid your war effort while making life miserable for your opponent. You seem to be a fine job taking him apart so far. I wonder, though, how many, say, T-90AMs he has squirreled away just waiting for the right opportunity? As you know, decisive action can unfold in seconds. As for the house, the realtor would say: "it's a bit of a fixer upper with real potential."

Regards,

John Kettler

 

Edited February 10, 2016 by John Kettler

[gnarly]

With the glacial response time you have on FS, buying TRPs was wise indeed. Meanwhile, I have great news! If you are getting your FS from 2A65, 2S19 or 2S3M, then you have 6 rounds of Krasnopol-M with which to wreak havoc. This should greatly aid your war effort while making life miserable for your opponent. You seem to be a fine job taking him apart so far. I wonder, though, how many, say, T-90AMs he has squirreled away just waiting for the right opportunity? As you know, decisive action can unfold in seconds. As for the house, the realtor would say: "it's a bit of a fixer upper with real potential."

Regards,

John Kettler

 

 

Yeah, since I think I've thus far encountered components of a both an anti-tank and infantry platoons, I have no doubt Art has a platoon of T-90's squirreled away in sneaky hull-down locations.  No doubt at least a couple somewhere to the back on his right flank... Especially as BTR's are cheap; Art has a philosophy that APC/IFV's are really just mobile transport that go boom very quickly, so he would rather have quantity over quality. So he has spent the points elsewhere....

 

And the predicted arty barrage onto the Medium Ridge has just begun; stay tuned. I think I may have to pull the crew served weapons back into the IFV's for a few turns real quick smart....

Edited February 10, 2016 by gnarly

[Bud Backer]

Something I always check and is a determining factor in my artillery purchases is whether they have Krasnopol (or the UKR equivalent) and some FOOs that can guide them. Definitely something to look for when you do your purchases next time

 

[gnarly]

Minute 55-54

Area fire from my right flank destroys one of the two BTR targets at the west base of the hill. The company HQ tank spots the other:

 

 

Light artillery fire starts to drop over the medium ridge. My northermost pixeltruppen come under fire from I think the woods east of the northern ford, possibly MG fire.  An ATGM crew member is incapacitated.

An inbound missile misses one the nearby IFV's; it looks like the Russian ATGM team I thought neutralised, may not be. Area fire on the location from multiple vehicles should rectify that oversight.

 

Edited February 11, 2016 by gnarly

[c3k]

Nice! You've weakened your enemy's will. NOW is the time to STRIKE! Move those amphibious vehicles across that river! Show him you are not cowed by the prospect of death. His whimpers will be reward enough.

Or, you can keep on as you're doing. It seems to be working pretty nicely. Small movements, covered by others, with plenty of smoke. Artillery suppresses, smoke blinds. (Unless they have thermals.)

I like.

[gnarly]

@C3K Not quite weak enough...  

 

The downside of this attack and area fire from 'fixed' locations, is that, well, I'm in fixed locations.... 

[gnarly]

Minute 54-53

And so the worm turns!

Lesson #1 - When you have an ATGM near-miss, do not presume you think you know where it came from, unless you can see it!

A second ATGM destroys the anti-tank platoons 1st IFV, though the gunner escapes. It looks like Art has another ATGM team positioned in the lower band of trees on Big Hill, in this case precisely in-line with the ATGM team I'd previously neutralized higher up...

 

 

Art's barrage is starting to do more than just pin down my pixeltruppen... A round close to the destroyed 1st IFV finishes off the previously lucky gunner..

 

Lesson #2: Remember to apply/enact the order's you intended (in this case, pulling men and materiel back from the forest..)!

Another round drops right behind the anti-tank platoon's remaining IFV, killing the gunner.

 

Fortunately the driver, and more importantly, the anti-tank platoon leader, manage to bail, escaping into a shrapnel-strewn environment...

There are additionally a small number of injuries among the other infantry teams cowering from the shell bursts.

My armour spends most of the turn putting down area fire on the presumed neutralized ATGM team's location (which I thought had fired the ATGM end of last turn). Some additional Russian crew-served weapons are spotted; aside from the location of ATGM team that took out the 1st IFV, another is spotted in foxholes on the north side of the hill, and a grenade launcher is seen in foxholes on the west flank.

 

[gnarly]

Minute 53-52

Sustained fire from my tank guns knock out the northern ATGM, and most likely the other two weapon teams as well.

Gun lines, tracers and explosions just never fail to excite, eh?!!

 

 

I've mostly pulled-back the troops from the northern half of the medium ridge; the continuing barrage there merely converts the forest into wood chips.... Looks like 4 guns.

Couple more BTR's spotted on Art's baseline, including a 30mm armed BTR-80 (the rest have been 14.5mm BTR-82's I think). A single trooper is seen fleeing east from the medium ridge; I think the remnants of that 2nd squad.

 

Edited February 12, 2016 by gnarly

[gnarly]

Minute 52-51

Two more BTR's are spotted and rapidly dispatched, this time in the NE (Art's right flank), including one behind the buildings way up the top NE corner. If Art's got tanks, not sure where he is hiding them?? That's 9 BTR's so far, with 7 of them Kaboomed...

Another ATGM team takes a shot at my advanced 3rd platoon tanks, and will bear the anger of 2 Oplots and a BMP shortly...


With my arty barrage beginning on the hilltop treeline., it time to advance just a little.... So 4 tanks will deploy smoke (grey lines) and then the 2 Oplots of 2nd platoon will sprint up to the next tree line (blue line):

 

 

Edited February 12, 2016 by gnarly