Bil Hardenberger

I think this bears repeating... falls in line with my preaching as well, the key is you need good solid information on the enemy prior to rushing into a course of action. If you know nothing, find out as much as possible, only when you are comfortable with your knowledge of the enemy's intent should you decide on a final COA.

Love the graphical quality of the combat effectiveness tracker and the enemy force kill tracker.. I'm going to have to steal a few ideas from them for my next AAR Looking forward to the action.

That synch matrix is terrific.

Vanir, when I created the first grid mod it was indeed my intention that they only be visible from closer in, that's where you need them after all... I think everyone else who has done them after also does the same. One guy in the early days did one that was only visible at the distant LODs, but there is not a lot of use for that type of grid IMO.

Bud, one more word.. I don't want to direct your battle.. so I am (from here on out) going to just give you general comments rather than direct advice.. its for you to apply proper tactics as you see fit, not as we in the peanut gallery see it. I will only add: "...hit him where he aint..." Keep going, you are doing fine.

Heh, yeah I meant AOA 2 .. from my point of view Bud it is looking like most of the defenses you are running into are along the AOA 2 axis.. and with next to nothing (seemingly) on AOA 1 that would tell me that AOA1 "might" be a better route to throw your main combat power on (or whatever you want to commit to clearing this first line). Still, its very early and you need to recon further into KT2 to find out what the real picture is of the enemy defenses.

Bud, sure seems like you are throwing more and more stuff down the AOA1 route, which to me doesn't seem the wisest choice.

Well I thought COA3 was a mere exercise as it seems the highest risk COA, is unconventional, and I thought certain you'd go with one of the other two. I'm a big fan of these high risk maneuvers, high risk can have a huge payoff, but they can be punished severely as well. I suspect you will be fine though and will clear the map in short order. Going to be interesting to see how it develops. Good stuff.

Oh I get that.. but my issue is that it is a command push system, where I prefer recon pull, which also attempts to reduce uncertainty... and take advantage of unforeseen opportunities. Don't get me wrong, I am very interested in how this develops.. I am learning a thing or two as well, so press on.

One thing that bothers me with this amount of pre-planning is that it does not seem to allow for much flexibility. I constantly preach NOT going in to a game with a set plan (Course of Action), instead conducting a thorough reconnaissance prior to deciding on any course of action. What happens if for example you decide on COA 3 and there is a long range AT asset on NAI 4? That could throw a wrench in the works of your plan and bring your movement to a screeching halt.. the problem is that you do not know for sure what the enemy positions look like yet so how can you decide at this point? Maybe for this particular scenario you can trust that the briefing has sufficiently outlined the enemy order of battle and positions. I am watching this thread with fascination.

Damn Bud, the AAR can wait. Take care of your wife and yourself... I think most of us have had loved ones, or have themselves, gone through chemo... not pleasant. Best of luck to her.

Beautiful stuff

So it is, and question 4 as well.. I need to read closer next time.

Thanks for the descriptions, very helpful. I was a SIGINT analyst so never used TAIs in anger, even though I did a lot of course of action analysis. Do you have a list of the effects you hope to achieve at each TAI? Or did I miss that somewhere?

I think basically, and I am searching far back in my memory banks now... NAI are areas that you want to look at to satisfy an intelligence requirement (drives the recon effort), while TAI are areas where you expect to have to engage the enemy... basically the same thing, but TAI specifies to the commander on the ground to expect enemy contact in these areas... Combatintman will be along shortly to correct me I'm sure.

My worry with planning to this depth is who is responsible for keeping it updated as the battle unfolds and your information solidifies? Are you planning on keeping it updated and confirming or ruling out your assumptions as you play the scenario?

I think with packaging and shipping costs plus extra overhead required for such a sales strategy you would probably end up paying much for for any Battlefront product on Amazon than you would just purchasing it through their online store. You can wish for it all you want but I would put my paycheck on the line that it will never happen, and if Steve was even tempted I'd personally drive up and slap some sense into him.

Yeah, that is great stuff. If nothing else it will give the layman an appreciation for what a staff takes care of during an operation.

These experiments are fantastic. Good work guys, this will change the whole look and feel of the game.

Yeah, sorry I meant intent when I said plan i do understand you are nowhere close to that yet. Makes sense for a mounted unit to avoid restricted terrain, but that doctrine can't hold true in all or even most cases, especially if the unit is not mounted, and yes i understand that these AAs will encompass the restricted terrain as well, but i would orient on them personally as they will need to be cleared, but then, I'm not a pro. BTW, love your threat evaluation.. of course you aren't fighting a doctrine based foe, but a force setup by a designer that may or may not be aware of proper Russian army doctrine in this situation.. of course this is just a template and is intended to give you an idea on what you "could" be up against so it of course is a very useful exercise. Great reading and am enjoying this immensely.

Outstanding. Love your map overlays.. nice to see a pro in action. Interesting that all of your Avenues of Approach avoid the restricted terrain until the large wood mass in the upper right corner which you obviously plan to enter. I just find it interesting that you are not using them as interim objectives... if you run into enemy activity in one or more of them you will have to clear them anyway to enable your main combat power to bypass (if that is indeed your plan). Looking forward to the threat assessment.

I love seeing you filling that need Combatintman... really curious to where you take this.

It's funny, I saw that too, but thought Ian had indeed used the correct word, never gave it a second thought.

Good news is he is firing off a lot of PFs that he is going to sorely miss later in the game. Take your time Bud.. rarely do you really need to rush things in these games.

That HQ team is about to run into a whirlwind of death... and that AC is way too close to those enemy contacts.. that could be trouble Bud. Looks like you lost a few SMGers as well.. ..an inauspicious start!! Waiting for you to get control of the situation, which I have no doubt you will.