George MC

Thanks, @MOS:96B2P and @Warts 'n' all pleased youse enjoyed it. The testing and write-up you did on C and C @MOS:96B2P in CM has revolutionised how I play, and for me, it has added a challenging and enjoyable layer where now as much of my fighting is ensuring I maintain good C and C between units. In the above wee story, the one bit I omitted was the charging PzIVs had info about Soviet units defending based on intel my recce scouts had garnered and which had been shared via their company CO who was parked up in his command 250/3 next to the panzer company CO unbuttoned in his command tank. This meant they spotted the Soviets in their positions quicker and could suppress em. Just no-one had clocked the concealed pair of 45mm PAK in the keyholed positions on the right...

An example of friction during combat... This outside RAKOW. So backstory - so far my attack has pretty much rolled forward much as it did on the 11th August 1944. My advancing armour has come under fire from hidden AT guns. I've lost a few PzIVs to this fire but I've been IDing the hidden PAK. Two main nests have caught my attention and as yet there appears to be a hidden nest which is slowly exacting a toll on any panzer daft enough to let me order it forward. There was wee scrap on Hill 251 to clear off some pesky Russkies so I could establish a FO OP. This meant I could now bring my arty to bear but as I'd poor spots on the enemy PAK i thought I'd go for smoke so I could make a dash across the bridge and into town. So... PzIVs (part of one zug in overwatch) Smoke starting to fall from my arty. My arty spotter OP on Hill 251- you can see the smoke starting to shroud the approach across the south bridge into RAKOW (ignore the burning PzIv on the distant far left. The end of a tentative Plan A...). We're off! And the first panzer makes it across. Into RAKOW. The rest of the zug follow close behind. No shots, save some grenades and rifle fire from defending Soviet infantry but the tanks are buttoned and moving at speed. At this point my recce light SPW are now moving fast right behind, currently unbuttoned but they will be ordered now to button up. At range and unbuttoned they are using area fire at some houses on their left flank. Smoke and dust shroud the right flank. But... as I commit to charging across I start to notice some gaps appearing in my smoke screen. Not large gaps but crucially around the bridge... Then the smoke dramatically clears around the bridge. The lead SPW is hit at close range by what looks like a 45mm Pak firing from their right flank concealed amongst some hedges/bushes. It rolls on and comes to a rest. all the crew killed. Following behind at a 15s interval speeds the following SPW, who is also hit coming onto the bridge. This is when i realise there must be two as no way could a gun reload that fast... The third SPW crashes into the second, stalls and not long after is hit again killing all on board. Luckily the turn ends and I manage to stop the rest in the cover of some buildings a few hundred meters up the road. So now I have a platoon of PzIVs running about in RAKOW with no close infantry support. What could possibly go wrong... My timing to move units into concealed positions to enable them to make a dash in took time. Meanwhile, I'd to lay a long enough smoke screen to cover the approach and protect from long range fire from multiple PAK nests. I had thought my overwatch had suppressed the enemy defenders, but these light PAK were keyholed and out of LOS/LOF of my overwatching panzers. Co-ordinating all those took a bit of time which meant my SPW were making their dash just as the smoke screen was starting to fade at key places. So poor combat recce and coordination on my part led to eighteen pixel grenadiers and their rides being taken out. Tough gig being a panzergrenadier in my command...

Great to hear thanks Someone went down the highway?! Hmm, I wonder how that went? I'll need to track down their AAR. It certainly would be adventurous! Cheery!

Ach weel that buggered up my productivity first thing on a Monday morning! Excellent video thanks. Great to see this being played. Your video was a masterclass in applying the principles of maneuver, mass an economy of force. And a superb cinematic experience. Thank you.

@MarkEzra is the QB map Jedi.

Cheers ta! Aye interesting articles but after finding so many inaccuracies in the attacking two bridges AAR I’d take em with a large dose of salt!

Thank you @Sgt.Squarehead Still, early days as just finished the map and initial deployments. No AI plans as yet - just running through playing as germans to see how the terrain and initial Soviet deployment influences things. I'll then tweak the Soviet deployment and start creating an AI plan accordingly. My scenario creation timelines are a bit glacial just now due to family and work commitments. One of the gratifying things about doing this one is I pretty much achieved the initial Soviet response to the German attack with two panzers KO'd and one burning. Pretty much as the AAR recounts. I was weirdly chuffed with that!

The village of RAKOW, Poland, around 40km SE of KIELCE. This is VILLAGE Z in the AAR report at this link: http://www.allworldwars.com/Small-Unit-Actions-During-German-Campaign-in-Russia.html#2212 The map above (kindly sourced by Hugh Davie from Soviet AARs) shows the general dispositions of the Soviet forces in this area during August (RAKOW = PAKYB). The German attack came in from the west along the line of HILL 251.3 View from HILL 25.3 looking east towards RAKOW. The context of this AAR is the German effort to reduce/eliminate the Soviets Baranow bridgehead in Poland during early August 1944. I should note whilst I was researching this action, whilst this AAR appears super detailed a significant number of key facts are incorrect - unit make up, commanders, and Soviet opposition. The same action is described in the book 'Armoured Bears' on page 240-241 and whilst having slightly less detail, more or less ties in with the actual German OOB (and listed commanders) and TOE at the time, although again its vague as to the Soviet opposition. I also have access to Soviet AAR reports (which Hugh Davie who used to haunt these forums very kindly translated for me) and they provide an intriguing ins-sight into the fighting in this area. Whilst they confirm a German attack, and the numbers of tanks and light SPW involved are 'broadly' consistent with the size of the German kampfgruppe involved, they diverge on other details such as German losses, the actual direction and the objectives of the attack. All in all though none of the sources dove tail perfectly!! Still, they all agree that Soviet artillery eventually stalled the attack from moving beyond the outskirts of RAKOW. German Panzer IVs moving up in the early dawn. Approaching RAKOW and taking fire. "Three German tanks were immediately disabled, one of them catching fire. Hauptmann Zobel (commander of the 8/II/Pz.Rgt 6) ordered the two platoons to withdraw."

There are hundreds of QB maps that could easily be used as the map basis for a scenario - or then tweaked for your own scenario. You could even check out the QB AI Plans and use the QB AI Plan as the basis for your scenario AI Plan - just make sure you allocate units to AI groups.

He’s got a great series of videos. Well worth checking out.

The King is dead! Long live the King!

The designer can assign preplanned (AI Plan) arty fire on AI 'Friendlies'. And when the scenario starts AI will bombard and massacre its own units. Just paint the area required.

It’s not that cold although winter this year been bit rubbish being really warm. @Sgt.Squarehead you just gotta keep moving!

TBH bit cold usually for flowers!

Yup - and a wee headband!

I've been serializing the panzer grenadier one on my twitter feed - link below.

I had thought crewmen were classed as infantry hence thinking if you have a 'refit' some KIA crewmen might be replaced. As discussed 'repair' only cover the actual vehicle that is certain. I wonder if crewmen are just not covered? Hhmm...

Cool - cheers for confirming my hunches! I'm more a seat of the pants designer! Aye good point re confusing nomenclature by designers in briefings. Yup and in CM campaign scripts they are two VERY different concepts. I forgot to add for 'repair' that immobilised and bogged vehicles have a chance of coming back into action - again depending on the 5 chance the designer sets. As an aside, I've not noticed badly wounded or KIA crew members be replaced in damaged vehicles no matter what % 'refit' set to. You any take on that?

My <understanding> is the following: Refit - this refers to replacement men and equipment including vehicles. Repair Vehicle - refers to repairing vehicles NOTE: repairs are binary i.e. fully repaired vehicle rather partially repaired vehicle Resupply - all units are equipped with ammo (NOTE: fuel load outs not tracked in CM) Rest - how much units get to recover. The actual % is set by the designer and TBH I've not tested them. I've tended to go 'feel' through a campaign via testing and what I think is a 'realistic' value e.g. if campaign covers consecutive days then I'd tend to set the first two to 0 and most everything to a very low %. It's binary so refit set to a high % will mean everything gets refitted to that % how the game engine works this out I've no idea. As i said I just set what i think is realistic and then check that behavior produces the required results in game.

Excellent great work mate Oh and to all those modders and their superb work that services the desires of all us - their mod slut b#######s!

Yup use that method BUT it's not very reliable IMO. I'd echo @benpark 's take which reduces the chance of the AI botching the set-up.

You are not guaranteed you will get a different AI Plan though. Currently, designers nor players can select which AI Plan to play against. So I can create three to four AI Plans but no guarantee you won't end up playing the same one on subsequent occasions. In scenarios, you can at least open the scenario and select which AI plan in the editor. You can't do that in a campaign.

I think you'll find it an interesting tactical workout then. It's interesting to see why they use these tactics and how surprisingly effective they can be. Or not if... It's a fine balancing act!

Nae worries mate - more than familiar with the work/game time balance demands! That's very kind of you thank you. I'll upload it to CMMODS with full accreditation of course to your good self. It's a brill mod BTW Thanks again! Cheery!

Hi @Heinrich505 Thanks for the brilliant and detailed AAR. Good sum up of the tactical challenge I think in this one – “you are screwed if you go too fast, and you'll lose if you go too slowly”. Aye it does pay to read the brief. Just for ****s and giggles I’ve playtested going up the GREEN route… The BMPs are really effective at taking out enemy units but are very fragile. Whilst the tanks are a bit sturdier but take a few more shots to KO enemy but also throw up a lot of dust etc. As in RL combining the two does mean mutual support and making the best use of the advantages of each weapon system. It’s too easy to leave the strongpoint troops to fend for themselves. I’m very guilty of doing that. It was a balance re their ammo loadouts as there is not that much granularity in the editor for choosing their loadouts. It’s not quite all or nothing but one setting gave them enough to fight off all comers whilst the other setting leaves them a bit ‘light’. Still, I found I have to keep a weather eye on the strongpoint troops. Aye CMSF2 does a great job of simulating dust and smoke from combat. I’ve found that in this scenario this can be a useful effect to take advantage of, although the downside is enemy tank hunter teams can also use the cover of the dust etc to get close. That was good going getting to everyone in that time and establishing new defensive positions. The question of whether to stay or withdraw does really depend on how effective your initial attack is. I’ve several AI triggers in operation at this juncture so if you have conducted an effective attack and set-up effective overwatch then you are in a ‘good place’! Which with a tactical victory you were. I’m really pleased you enjoyed it. Also good to hear (as per other feedback) that the reduced time limit has not involved an increased pressure to rush. As I’d hoped the pressure to move fast comes from the tactical situation, not the clock. Also good to hear the AI triggers work – I was looking to recreate an enemy force reacting to a situation and by the sounds of things that does appear to have worked, with the ebbing and rising “battle rhythm” (just seen that buzz phrase on twitter!). Thanks for your kind words about this – although I think that the new CMSF2 goes a large way to providing a very different and immersive experience than the original did (although when I first became involved in CMSF it was a bit of a wow experience, especially when working with the beta’s and coming from CMX1 and WWII!). Cheers for the positive feedback and kind words – really appreciated ta. Cheery!