Bil Hardenberger

Probably shouldn't tag Baneman in this thread... Nothing sensitive has been posted yet, but it could make him accidentally click on something he'd rather not see.

John, Baneman will be starting his own thread when he is ready.

there is one in every crowd... the map is about 1500 meters by 2350 meters (give or take) Heh, I apologize ahead of time. I'm sure Baneman will post many lovely full color screen shots.

Affirmative. I'll be breaking down the scenario in my upcoming METT-T analysis posts starting this evening. In the meantime, here is the scenario briefing, provided by the incomparable @George MC. It really wasn't necessary for George to add this briefing, but he is a perfectionist. BRIEFING This Tactical Area of Responsibility (TAOR) consists of agricultural land, small wooded plots and orchards set in rolling terrain crisscrossed by deep irrigation ditches. The WADI BARADA runs east/west and is crossed by the causeway at DUMAYR. DUMAYR is a small regional town with one main street running its length north/south (Highway 2). The approach to DUMAYR is dominated by HILL 40.0 with its large monastery. All farms, villages and DUMAYR are believed to be unoccupied by civilians. The ground underfoot is dry. The forecast for the next 24 hour period is hot with clear skies, winds are NW, strength light. Phase 1: ATTACK: Your advance guard and attachments is to defeat enemy elements within its TAOR in order to allow the main tactical group to advance along Highway 2. Tasks: 1. Eliminate or neutralize enemy anti-tank elements from positions of overwatch within range of the highway. 2. Eliminate or neutralize all enemy combatants in the TAOR. Enemy Casualties 40% 125 pts Enemy Condition 25% 75 pts Enemy Ammo 30% 50 pts Phase 2: SECURE: Your tactical group and attachments to clear and secure the following objectives: Tasks: 1. CLEAR (Touch) the following objectives: OBJ DIAMOND 50 pts OBJ RUBY 50 pts OBJ SAPPHIRE 50 pts OBJ GARNET 50 pts 2. SECURE (Occupy) the following objectives: OBJ GOLD 500 pts OBJ SILVER 250 pts OBJ BRONZE 100 pts OBJ STEEL 100 pts OBJ COPPER 100 pts Your tactical group to maintain continued combat effectiveness for future operations by maintaining: Friendly Casualties 25% 125 pts Friendly Condition 80% 75 pts Friendly Ammo 50% 50 pts Your combat group travelling in extended column is split into three main elements: SCOUTS – in TAOR ADVANCE GUARD – ETA 5 minutes MAIN BODY – ETA 10 minutes REAR GUARD – ETA 15 minutes Exact location and disposition of enemy armored units is unclear. Estimated to be tactical group equipped with armor and IFVs. Main built up areas in the TAOR is a combat area between competing local fighter and combatant groups. Some of whom are ‘friendly’ to the REDFOR. Your scout units currently in the TAOR will move out at 0700Hrs.

MAP ORIENTATION Following is the base Topo map I created for this action.. notes: Grid squares are 100 meters square Red area is approximately my starting setup zone Blue area is approximately Baneman's starting setup zone Numbered triangles refer to the camera views posted below this map. The camera is at the junction of the two long sides of the triangle viewing towards the short end. Outlined shapes indicate a high elevation view Solid shapes indicate a ground level (or close) view I hope this helps you get oriented to the battle space. Click on the images to view them in more detail. Screenshots - (disclaimer: ALL screenshots in this AAR thread unless otherwise specified will be taken with the Movie Mode turned on):

For this game we wanted to show as much as possible, and yet provide an entertaining and challenging game. We decided that each of us would take two nations, and some UNCONs and Fighters and duke it out man on man, steel against steel (or Chobham as the case may be)... the only constraint was that whoever chose the US would also have to field the Syrians as the US does come with some advantages (Javelins etc.). I gave Baneman first choice and he went with his own folks, the UK and partnered them with the German Army. He suggested that I, as an American should take the US, so what choice did I have? As for force purchases we adhered to the following: These constraints will apply to EACH nation we choose (purchase must be 50-50): Light troops - one platoon of mounted recon (or light armored recon) or two platoons of dismounted recon Armor - either two tanks (1st class: M1, Leo, or Challenger) or one platoon of second class tanks (anything Syrian, Leo 1 (Canada) Infantry - either one company (mounted) or two companies dismounted troops Artillery - whatever comes with our purchased units, plus: one battery of medium howitzers (one from each nation) UNCONs - will let George select and deploy for us No air We then sent our purchases to @George MC who provided a gorgeous map for us to fight on, and he set us up.. George also selected and setup the UNCON force for us and deployed them.. neither of us knew the force composition or the locations of our irregulars. George identified key objectives for us also and really this game could not have happened without him. So, THANKS GEORGE!!! I will get into the details of my force pick and what I suspect Baneman is bringing to the party in a later post... should be interesting, this is a Meeting Engagement with the following forces arrayed against each other: BANEMAN - UK and German - UNCONs including some Technical (gun truck) support) ME - US and Syrian - UNCONs including some Technical (gun truck) support) The next post will have some pictures. I will show some map highlights and include a topo map that I am using to track the action in this battle. I will run through my METT-T analysis as quickly as I can in order to get to the action... the first of those posts will probably go up tonight. Bil

Here it is folks.. the time has arrived for the CMSF2 BETA AAR. I will be adding to this thread later today,, but wanted to get the thread started. My opponent? My nemesis from the CMFB BETA AAR, Baneman ,agreed to a rematch. I really do owe him a more thoughtful game than I gave him the last time. For those of you who are unfamiliar with that game, Baneman beat me rather soundly. Hope that doesn't happen again! This game is well under way, we have completed 16 minutes of action, so there are a lot of turns to come in relatively quick succession and the Blood Board™ is filling rather alarmingly. For those of you who were following my "Lesson in Defense" AAR in the CMBN forum.. sorry about not updating that thread for a while, but I can really only do one of these at a time, and this one takes priority., Once I started this game it took up my full attention. More anon. Bil LINKED CONTENT MENU: OVERVIEW & SCENARIO PARAMETERS MAP ORIENTATION SCENARIO BRIEFING METT-T - MISSION METT-T - ENEMY METT-T - TERRAIN METT-T TROOPS METT-T TIME INITIAL SETUP, ORDERS, & INTENT MINUTE 1 MINUTE 2 MINUTE 3 MINUTE 4 MINUTE 5 MINUTE 6 MINUTE 7 MINUTE 8 and 9 MINUTE 10 MINUTE 11 MINUTE 12 MINUTE 13 MINUTE 14 MINUTE 15 MINUTE 16 TACTICS & BATTLE PLAN DISCUSSION MINUTE 17 MINUTE 18

I do have one for CMRT.. I have never uploaded it though, as I rarely play that game so never developed it as far as I should have. I may upload it to my Blog for you to play with.

This is a rather comical back and forth. You two should take this show on the road.

He might have connected you to that campaign by the "Highland" part in its name and then distracted by what you have under your kilt...

I agree with the square-headed Sarge here... not that I'd want to lose any armored assets in a situation like this, but I would rather have my T-72s on hand as they are far superior in combat power to the BMPs and infantry.

Fascinating stuff. A lot of potential here for some creative uses... I can see a scenario with two main components, a scout component where the goal is to identify enemy units and formations... and then a combat component where you are tasked with destroying the enemy force. It would be fun to have a different player take each role, though the boundary between the two could be blurred as it often is in reality. You do the most interesting research.

All good points Ken. Rule of thumb that I use: the lower the visibility or the closer the terrain, the more eyes I send out, and closer together as well. Recon is meant to identify enemy contacts, not to fight... once they uncover the enemy route(s) of advance they can be recalled. Firm contact is not required.. sound contacts alone will tell you a lot. I'm sure these two fellas don't need us to continue on about scouting though, even if it is part of the lessons learned from this AAR... I however could talk on the subject for a long time.

This is brilliant Miguel. I should have you post this attack and your inspiration on my blog as a guest poster. Interested?

I finally had a chance to watch these videos last night.. very interesting, and I love the presentation @General Jack Ripper and I'm very impressed with @BletchleyGeek's tactics. In fact I would say that the assault on that objective is the best example of infiltration tactics that I have seen in a CM game. Well done Miguel. I would say, as far as the scouting goes that you made two major errors: You left way too much distance between waypoints. When I scout I move forward two, maybe three action spots, then pause for 10-15 seconds. It is better to move in short segments more slowly, than to give your teams long movement paths.. that is very dangerous in the face of an unknown enemy. You can assign long movement paths if you feel relatively safe, but as you start to get closer to probable contact you need to slow down and shorten your movement. Your lone scout team had no support. You should always try to scout with at least two teams... I know I don't always follow my own advice.. but with at least two teams you can have one team moving while the other is stationary. This is good stuff.

If you haven't heard, Bud is prepping for the CMFI-R2V module BETA AAR. I expect he has his hands full with that.

I apologize for the delay on this AAR.. when I started this project I had nothing else going on, but now I am suddenly swamped with a few other projects so I have to fit this in when I can and it is the lower priority right now. I will get an update posted this week I can promise you that.

Patience grasshopper... I have more than one iron in the fire these days.

Why thank you young man ... I applaud your efforts, it takes effort to put forth an AAR of this quality.

I'll get into my approach to the objective in the next installment.

Well, the intent of a spoiling attack is twofold: One: Take the initiative away from the attacker and Two: Force him to react and divert combat power from the main attack.. Whether I will be successful in either has yet to be seen. I do think he is too committed to Axis Red at this point to be able to provide much help to his Support by Fire troops... so number two is a forlorn hope, but still a possibility. I could have stayed where I was, soaked up the fire from the SBF position and had another platoon to throw in the way of what is coming up Axis Red, but that isn't how I roll usually.. if I see a potential weakness I will try to do something about it, hopefully weakening his ultimate available combat power in the main attack. That is my main goal here. I don't want to get into what I would have done in his shoes at this point.. maybe towards the end we can have a discussion about those what-ifs.

SPOILING ATTACK AXIS ORANGE: I have enough information now to know for certain that the enemy units on Axis Orange are a support by fire position. My philosophy is to attack weakness, so I am going to concentrate at least a third of my available force against this formation in a spoiling attack. This will be led by 3rd Platoon and will also contain some of the 1st Platoon elements that have been, up to now, manning OPs and LPs forward of my main line. To prepare for this action my mortars and MGs are stepping up their fire to pin or attrit any enemy teams he has on the line. For example in the following image my mortars converged fire to eliminate this (MG) team (not fully identified) on his extreme right flank.

That is not true, at least it hasn't been true in the games I've played, and I have played a fair number. What firing does do is it makes the shooter easier to spot, as does any movement. Definitely do more tests, or better yet, just play a few games and see if your initial reaction still holds after you have more experience.

@Bud Backer, just when IS this AAR game starting?

Interesting.. I must have missed those discussions... thanks Ian.