Splinty

It's nearly 2 am in the morning here in the UK and I am debating whether to go to bed or fire up CM:BS for another game - so yes, I think you could say I'm enjoying BFC's latest offering very much indeed. Lots of posters have mentioned the increased lethality in this game and I have to agree, it is very brutal and unforgiving. Whereas in previous titles you could take some risks and get away with it, 9 times out of 10 you won't in CM:BS. I've seen whole squads mowed down in literally a second when they got caught in the open. This has the effect of making you think really long and hard about the best way to tackle an enemy position, so much so that the tactical planning aspect is almost like Chess.
 
Oh what the hell, time for another game!

John has a long mustache.

John has a long mustache.

I like your style.

There were always stories about difficult soldiers being "taken to the woodline" meaning getting beaten up by NCOs,but I never saw or met anyone who actually did or had it done to them. So I'm thinking they were just stories. When I became an NCO, I would never even consider disciplining my troops in such a manner. It was much more effective to have them dig holes or do many dozens of push ups, sit ups etc. to wear off that extra energy young soldiers seem to have in abundance.

Currently on my 2nd year as an 11b Infantryman, US Army. 3BCT 101st Airborne

I am a Russian whose cousin works in a circus. Is this a challenge? 

No enemy would shoot at them.  Why would they solve our biggest problem for us?

Forging Steel is a great campaign, I got my buttocks handed to me playing it.

Certainly individual components of the data system and even entire subsystems can be jammed/hacked/destroyed, but the entire data sharing system? Unlikely. Degraded maybe.

In the original design, Strykers were designed more for a counter-insurgency/urban warfare role, hence why they are wheeled, were supposed to be air-transportable so they could be deployed quickly overseas and were supposed to be built with "off the shelf" parts, so they would be less expensive to build and maintain. Not all of these design goals were met.

corvette is just a cheap DLC man, it isn't even in a color to match my iPhone.

On the north side of the hill, the remnants of 3rd Platoon were still being ground down by the advancing Russian BMP-3s and infantry.  The Platoon leader came staggering back through the forest and collapsed by a tree, falling next to the last two surviving dismounted infantrymen from his small command, both bleeding from multiple shrapnel wounds to their faces and upper torsos. 
“Sir, are you okay?”  one asked.  The Lieutenant’s haggard face told the story as he just stared at the man in obvious shock.  In that instant, another burst of lethal 30mm cannon fire struck, directed by the thermal sights on an unseen enemy vehicle, and the officer fell forward on his face and was still.  The two infantrymen cried out in panic, then both began crawling away from the source of the fire, one whimpering in fear and the other snarling in impotent rage.
 

 
Note:  BMP in background is destroyed Ukrainian 3d Platoon vehicle.  
 
 
In Krichek, KPT Kovtun knew that the Russians were up to something.  The artillery  continued to hammer down, but there was simply not enough fire or probing coming from the far side of the river, especially given the destruction of one of an enemy BMP over there by his ATGM team several minutes ago.  Someone or something should have been hunting, searching, trying to pin down the missile team or flush out its comrades.  He called the BMP2 section which had moved up and taken position along the row of houses on the west, facing the river. 
“Borsuk 11, have you seen anything?  Any activity from the far side?”
“Nothing Viktor, hang on, I’ll move up and take a quick look.”
“Borsuk 11, this is Vovk, Hang on 11, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Trust me Viktor – we are good on this.”
An instant later a Kovtun heard the unmistakable hammering of outgoing 30mm fire, over the shriek of another incoming artillery shell.  As his ears were still ringing from the tremendous detonation, he gradually heard the voice calling again on his radio.
“Vovk, this is Borsuk 21…  Vovk this is Borsuk 21…”  with a heavy heart, already knowing Kovtun took a deep breath and replied.
“Go ahead 21.” 
“11 is destroyed.  We never saw what did it.  His track is burning.  No one got out.” 
“21 this is Vovk, do me a favor and don’t DIE in the next five minutes.  Keep scanning but keep YOUR heads down.  We need your track, your cannon, and your missiles!  Stay under cover and respect the enemy’s abilities.  Vovk out.”  He passed the handset back to his RTO, making a deliberate effort not to throw it against the wall, and carefully peeling his white-clenched fingers from the black plastic.  An instant later, he took it back and spoke again.
“Brytva 22, this is Vovk.  Move to checkpoint 2 and observe.”
“This is Brytva 22, understood.  Moving.  I have permission to shoot?”
Podpulkovnyk Tymoshenko stepped into the room.
“You are committing the Tunguska?”
“Brytva 22, destroy anything you see.  Out”  Kovtun gave his Air Defense Commander a hard look. 
“Yes Sir.  It is needed.  We have lost too many combat vehicles, and now 11 has stupidly gotten himself and his crew obliterated.  I need a check on the south, and it must be fast, and lethal if anything is there.  Brytva 21 on the other side has done quite well, although he said he saw nothing from his new position.”
“Absolutely.  Good, I approve.  I trust you Viktor.  Keep the fight going.  Levchenko will get here with the Americans.” 
 
http://youtu.be/cKvN6JINyaw
 
Outside, Major Harris drew the same conclusion from both the sounds of cooking off ammo from the recently destroyed BMP up the street, as well as the radio traffic which he and Beach were monitoring.  He too drew out his handset:
“Guiness, this is five, over.”  As a small team, the SFAT had adopted informal call signs.  SPC O’Brian was well known for his heritage, and his favorite beverage.
“Five this is Guiness.”
“Need you to get over to TRP 2 like we discussed.  Seen anything? Figure you can make it?”
“Roger.  We can make it.  The green boyos over here saw a couple dismounts earlier, but they laid into them with their AGS and we haven’t seen any movement since.  I think our move is still masked.  Same mission?”
“Roger, just like we rehearsed, over.”
“Guiness moving.  We’ll be back in a bit with notches on our CLU.  Out.”
One hundred meters away, the SPC O’Brian picked up the Javelin launcher, tapped PVT Metcalf on the shoulder, and headed quickly down towards the river bridge, carefully skirting the anti-tank mines laid on either side of the road.
 

 
At the Ukepor Power Plant, LT Lysenko grinned as he spoke into his mike. 
“Yes, that is in there.  Fire for effect.”
The infantry in the field had dropped from view, discouraged by a few bursts from his squad in the entry building, and the mortar spotting rounds had bracketed the position where he had last seen the Russian truck and troops.  He hoped the mortar boys would fire fast so he could shift them closer into the field.  He doubted his few men could hold off a platoon of determined Russians. 
 
Starshiy Kostenko knew he was a dead man.  The 2nd Platoon private was on the ground, crawling past the body of one of his comrades, trying to follow his section leader back down the hill to the west, away from the murderous fire from inside the trees.  It was like a horrible story to tell little children.  From dark shadows beyond sight inside the trees, the forest had suddenly belched fire and flame, and all around him men had fallen.  His own thighs and cheek burned with shrapnel, and he felt the warm sticky wetness of his own blood on his pant legs as he crawled.  Suddenly, right behind him, he heard a crashing roaring clatter of sound.  He turned his head and saw the Russian beast, a BMP-3, a mere stones throw behind him.  He swung his rocket launcher around, and thought to himself how sad his mother would be…
 

All - yes, there is currently no 'optics/remotes up' position in CM.  Best you can do is 'hull down' which is extremely hard to get and very perspective relative. 'Partial hull down' mitigates a little bit, but not enough. I've brought the magnitude of this problem up to the powers that be, but until we can get to a true new engine, it is unlikely to change.  I will reference your comments for further support in my reports though.  Thanks again for the encouragement on the writing.  When this thing is all done, I'll package it up and post as a stand-alone.  You can all snag it and say you were reading my stuff before I hit the NY Times best seller list!  ;-) 

I like both styles, so for me, the whole AAR is simply full of win

oh wonderful, I've already got a neutral reputation point.  ROTFLMAO oh this is going to be just sooo charming.  Hey everybody LIKE me quick..... gawd no wonder I hate social media.