Blazing 88's

Shows what you know...
 

 
 
Mord.

I wish I knew how BFC would introduce a CM3.  I assume someday they will have to.  But what would be the setting of the first CM3 game?  I really would not be to excited about starting over in the hedgerows and working through all the CM2 game settings again.  Maybe if they continued to work back in time with CM3 and the early war games were released as CM3.  Maybe a CM3 Africa Corps or CM3 Kursk.  I would be more interested in covering new time periods with CM3.       

Oh, and I for one totally agree....In RL, you may have a couple soldiers firing pop shots for a few seconds into a forming Smoke/Dust screen, but wont have whole units be given firing orders into it for your stated reasons above (thou, a person giving a Smoke Screen also has way to much info as the enemy that's going to be screened by it).
So, I'm actually Ok with keeping it now, or going back to original...
Thou, there is another option, if Game Engine allows it (and not to much work)...If there is a way to have units already firing (when a Smoke/Dust forms) to continue for another Action-Cycle or so before stopping...Kind of like we see now with friendly troops firing pop shots at enemy Icons for a few seconds, but player doesn't see any enemy troops. 

Not sure wading into this is the best idea, but what the hell.
I very much disagree. At all levels of warfare, firearms handling and safety, and common sense, the basic rule of "only point/fire at a target you are sure of" permeates all. You are NEVER supposed to dump wanton fire into unsure targets. At the very least, its a waste of ammo, and more than that it poses a severe security and safety risk, regardless of whether you are a rifleman being overrun by [insert horde stereotype here] or a civilian hunter off in the woods somewhere. ("Duck Cheney!")
Yes, there are plenty of different types of targets that are viable even if you cannot see a specific person in a firefight, for example an occupied house/hedgerow/trenchline/etc. Herein lies the nuance of the issue. Some people think that an enemy smoke screen with the clear intent of concealing enemy forces that are maneuvering in the open constitutes a valid target to fire at/through. I would argue against this personally for various reasons, some of which I've already mentioned, and others. But at the most basic, I would rather be shooting at something I can see, than firing at something I only think might be there, at the very least risking an empty weapon when the enemy does emerge. A bolt action rifle with a bayonet beats a machine gun if the machine gun is out of ammo/reloading because it was dumping fire at targets it couldn't see. 
Further, it has been proven through history time and again that simply putting fire down is not enough. The fire must be effective, whether thats direct or in direct fire. 
Again, there is much more that can be said/argued about this. My main point is that in the real world, shooting randomly at unobserved targets is always a big no no (enough to be disciplined for a negligent discharge, even in a firefight) and that the ability to shoot or not shoot into/through smoke in CM makes very little difference on the overall outcome of the tactical situation. Besides, if you're going to dump fires into smoke to hinder enemy maneuver, you're better off calling on the red legs anyways.
P.S: This all wasn't aimed at you MOS, just my general response to the topic. 

The Lions are Hunting
After the collapse of Hrs. Gr. Mitte in White Russia in the past summer of 1944 the situation of Hrs. Gr. Nord in the Baltics also has become critical. Between the two army groups an ever increasing empty space is developing, the so-called ‘Baltisches Loch’, the Baltic hole, in which the Red Army quickly attacks and during the month of July fights it’s way to the Baltic Coast. The connection between Hrs. Gr. Nord and the rest of the German frontline is now severed. The Germans rapidly launch Operation Doppelkopf, in an attempt to reconnect with the endangered army group. Spearhead of this operation is Panzergrenadier-Division  Grossdeutschland (as part of the XXXX. Panzerkorps, 3. Panzerarmee), which tries to re-conquer the highway and railway between Mitau and Schaulen, in order to keep the supplies to the North flowing. During August 1944 Grossdeutschland claws it’s way forward through the beautiful Baltic landscape, dealing out heavy blows to the Soviet 51st Army, but at the same time taking very heavy losses itself due to the tough resistance on the ground and the ever present swarms of Russian ‘Fleischer’, the IL-2 Shturmowik ground attack aircraft. In the following month of September Hrs. Gr. Nord has to fall back on Riga because of the irresistible Russian pressure and in order to help their comrades in the North. 3. Pz. Armee launches operation Cäsar, the renewed attack in the direction of Schaulen. Again the (resupplied) GD is in the thick of the fighting. Reaching Riga seems possible for a moment, but then at the beginning of October the Russian High Command begins yet another fierce offensive, this time aimed at Memel, which threatens to cut off not only Hrs.Gr. Nord, but also the 3. Pz. Armee trying to relief it. Even worse is that Eastern Prussia, already heavily fought over in August, is again in danger of being invaded by the Red Army. While Hrs. Gr. Nord is withdrawing to its doom in Courland, the GD is racing back to the south to prevent the approaching disaster at the German borders.
07:00 A.M. 9th October 1944
On the 9th October Kampfgruppe von Brese via Plateliai and Salantai reaches the area of Krottingen, 20 km to the Northeast of Memel. The Russian 3rd Guards Tank Corps has yesterday crossed the Minge river, east of Jokubavas, and taken the village, despite the resistance of some weak elements of the GD reconnaissance battalion (AA). The evacuation route of the entire GD division towards Memel is now under threat of being cut off. And Memel, with its seaport is the only possibility of evacuation to and continuation of the fighting  in the defence of Eastern Prussia.
Our Kampfgruppe, named after Oberst von Brese, the experienced commander of Panzer Füsilier Regiment GD, contains mentioned regiment, reinforced with I. Pz. Rgt. 26 and III.Abt. Pz. Art. Rgt. GD, a formidable force with huge firepower.
For the attack on Jokubavas we have the following elements of our Kampfgruppe:
1.    I.SWP/Pz.Füs.Rgt. GD (Hptm. von Basse), nicknamed ‘Löwenbataillon”, Lion Battalion, including 13.IG Company (self propelled Grille)
2.    4.Komp. of I./Pz.Rgt.26
3.    Two batteries 105 mm guns of III/Pz.Art.Rgt.GD
The rest of our Kampfgruppe attacks at his very moment in the direction of Raguviskiai. From our comrades of the AA GD we know that we’re up against veterans of the 2nd Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, supported by elements of 18th Guards Tank Brigade and the 1496th Self propelled Regiment, so mainly T-34/85s and Su-76s. They haven’t had much time to dig in, but we all know Iwan doesn’t need much time to go underground anyway.
Our mission is to buy time for the rest of the division to escape to the bridgehead around Memel. There we will make our last stand, before being evacuated to Eastern Prussia. So, buying time means that we will have objectives, but not at all costs. And this is only a delaying action, we will move out to Memel ourselves tomorrow. Try to remember that, gentlemen, because many more battles are waiting for us and the division has suffered badly in the past months.
Anyone interested?
 

Lots more work to do on this, but...
Sneak Peek:

Thanks for the kind words, guys!
Well, since the cat's out of the bag on this project, I'll go ahead and post a few more pics. Again, it's early days and this won't be out until after the next CMRT module is released (KV-1, baby! Plllleeeeeaaase!) I've only added temporary foliage in areas where the door networks are largely done so I can get a little test combat going there. Also, I obviously, haven't finished adding all the buildings, let alone fleshing out the other terrain elements in those areas (or most of the areas with buildings). Since I'm going to have to slice up the map, I'll be adding some tall buildings back in later that are currently cut down in size.
Here is an overhead. I just grabbed the Google Map screen on the right, so this is not my working overlay. Currently, my plan is to have the Soviet attacker start in the SE corner. I'd like to thank the people of Kharkov for providing a ready-made setup zone in the form of a large park and cushion of buildings!

 
Here's the elevation overlay I did (which is, of course, matched to my working overlay). I will be doing some polishing work later, once everything else is in. Sorry for any seizures or flashbacks!

 
It's not Stalingrad, but in winter, this area might serve for a little "Fallen Fighters" combat.

 
Another angle on same area:

 
And lastly, a bird's eye of one of the little neighborhood areas. I'll call this shot "Mean Streets."

 
That's it for now. It may be awhile before I have additional pic-worthy content. I'll post it as I have it, along with any interesting combat test results (suicidal rout, path bugs, arty effects, etc.).

As a bit of an outsider, I *think* JasonC's comments are being taken a bit the wrong way -- I don't know enough about any of you, but I don't think he's trying to be offensive.
 
I would guess he's promoting the idea from Napolean's quote, 'There are in Europe many good generals, but they see too many things at once. I see one thing, namely the enemy's main body. I try to crush it, confident that secondary matters will then settle themselves.'  As in, you can use the objectives for clues to where the enemy might go or be, but don't make trying to capture them your primary objective -- make destroying the enemy force your main goal, and capturing the objectives will fall into your lap.
 
I'm not saying I agree or disagree with that theory, just trying to mitigate some of the drama before it blows up -- JasonC, Bill and Ian are some of the posters whose material I value the most.
 
I think the entire comment was meant to be a little sarcastic in tone, not really calling the scenario designers idiots.  His choice of word "murdering" seems a bit out of character from other posts of his I have read, making it also seem a bit more sarcastic in tone.  I mean he wrote haiku's when told he should shorten his comments!  I could be wrong, but I'll assume the good until proven otherwise.

The condescending tone is nice, thanks for that.
 
So your plan is to:
"Murder" the enemy Read the briefing for your intel and force estimates Once you "murder" the enemy read the victory conditions Number 1 is not always so simple.. I suppose you never play H2H?
Number 2 -- hey whattaya know; this will use the "idiot" scenario designer's objectives and his scenario briefing, etc..
Number 3 - only after you "murder" the enemy will you check the victory conditions?  
 
Personally I think knowing the conditions during pre-planning helps some... because it is not always possible to simply destroy the enemy force.  If you can do that in every game, even against the AI I would like to see an AAR from you.

Honestly people, it is completely unnecessary to give the idiot scenario designer any control over your command or your force. If his assigned tasks are not achievable he is a fool and there is no reason to listen to him about anything. If his assigned tasks are achievable then destroying the enemy will enable you to achieve them. Read the brifeing for enemy force estimates and intel. Then review your force at set up and make your plan, with the sole end in view of murdering the enemy. If said enemy is obliging enough to be nice and predictable and obey his metaphysical orders, feel free to use that to introduce him to his Maker that much sooner. When the enemy is a blood smear under a pile of smoking slag, read the victory conditions. If you like. If you plan on losing, reading them until judgment day won't help...

Combatintman - yes I mean to say this.  Ignore the victory conditions in all cases.  Just defeat the enemy force in front of you.  That is always the only sound mission.  You can achieve any other objective if you succeed at that, and nothing you "achieve" if you do not, is worth a tuppenny damn.
 
"There are many fine general officers in Europe, but they all see too many things.  Whereas I see only one thing - the main body of the enemy.  This I crush, confident that secondary matters will take care of themselves" - Napoleon.
 
Any military doctrine that distracts its implementers from the clear goal of defeating the enemy, is unsound.

This. 
I couldn't  articulate it any better myself. 

I had made this guide for fords but maybe should revise it for vehicles...

There was a thread a while back making a comparison between the games.
Personally, I tried the demo for Operation Star, but just couldn't get into it.
I think the biggest problem is WEGO play in Combat Mission has the rewind/fast forward buttons, and I just love watching the action in instant replay.
So I guess I'm just biased against real-time games in general.

That book holds pride of place on my bookshelf.
In fact, I used it as the basis for training my World of Tanks platoon in proper armor tactics, to great success.
I can also recommend a few books:
 
The German Way of War
by Robert Michael Citino
 
Panzer Operations
by Erhard Raus
 
Not exactly tactics books per se, but a good place to study operational level technique, and learn the proper form of aggressive action.

Actually I meant to post a link but fd up. This:
http://www.rzm.com/books/ab/ab5252.cfm

I ordered the book. When my ex-wife swings by I will gloat and not even let her read it!

umm  I didn't bring up Crimea until AFTER you took it personally.  It helps to keep things in order of sequence if you are going to start talking cause and effect.
 
You make declaration that Russian economy can easily swing assets A position is put forward that is not the case and that it is actually difficult for Russia to divert assets and to even manage the existing assets to meet stated goals you poo poo that as if there is no corruption it is pointed out to you a major corruption scandal in your own area you get upset and reverse the order of events and totally ignore the content You want to stick to just a discussion of the equipment itself, fine do that.  But stop the sweeping declarations of how Russia will manage it's armaments program and just post pics.  WTF do I care, I don't particularly enjoy discussing this with someone who constantly dances around stuff he brings up either.
 
Your "basic math" by the way is flawed.  Ignoring financial consequences, access to resources, supply chain issues and just basic murphy's law facts of life means everything is always coming up roses in the land of Rus.  So how is that bridge coming across the Kerch strait?  It is just a matter of moving finances around right... until they disappear.  Perhaps that article is just a little too close to home.

Cute, but beneath you LockAndLoad. To feign ignorance of the state of corruption in Russia is particularly glaring considering the recent falling out between the local thugs and the federal thugs as to who is responsible for all the transportation funds that were allocated for Crimea.
 
The original proposals on funding for Crimea.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/crimea-sucks-funds-from-infrastructure-mega-projects-in-russias-regions/500075.html
 
And the situation a year later.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/crimea-corruption-fueling-feud-between-local-and-federal-elites/525859.html
 
Let me know if you need a translation of that article... anyone?
 
You can be cute and snippy if you like.  Maybe avoiding the issue that way makes you more comfortable.  It doesn't however alter the reality of the situation and your inability to provide a cogent response reveals more about how little you base your arguments on other than wishful thinking and denial.
 
Regarding the sub program
 
Your words
 
 
 
The Yasen SSN program
It was speculated that the cost of the first Yasen-class submarine was around US$1 billion, although another source claims that the price was actually US$2 billion. Recent reports from unnamed sources speculate that the first-of-class (Severodvinsk) unit cost was 50 billion rubles (roughly US$1.6 billion) while the second boat (Kazan) will cost an estimated 110 billion rubles (US$3.5 billion). This would make Kazan the most expensive SSN/SSGN in the world together with USS Jimmy Carter but not as expensive as the $4.8 billion French SSBN Triomphant class. A single Yasen-class submarine allegedly costs as much as two Borei-class submarines.

In 2011, (then) Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov criticized the ever increasing cost of the Borei- and Yasen-class submarines. The Minister described the massive increase in cost between the first and the second Yasen-class submarine as "incomprehensible". However, he insisted that the Ministry of Defence and Sevmash (builder) would resolve the issue. Officials from the United Shipbuilding Corporation replied that work done in Sevmash accounts to only 30% of the submarines completion cost, the remaining 70% being linked to suppliers/contractors.
 
Hmm beginning to see where the graft starts impacting?  Tony Soprano would be so proud.

By all means yes.  Barbarossa and North Africa 41-43 as well.  BFC please hurry. 

Different often scares people.
 
Which is a shame, because the terrain and units in FI are so wonderfully unique in the CM world.  I love it, but then, I love the desert for its unparalleled splendor too and hope we'll get that down the road

kevinkin - they are speaking operationally, not tactically.  The forces on the map that are driving into enemy controlled territory on narrow fronts to deep depths behind the initial front are mechanized units.  They penetrate deeply because of their mobility, at least as much as their armor.  They also drive through the enemy defended zone with a greater indifference to his soft firepower coverage (long range MGs, registered artillery fire etc), and thus the whole defensive position "feels" softer to them, than it does to leg infantry.  They have to hit dedicated AT weapons to hit something "hard enough" to impede their progress, and armies tend to have only limited amounts of that everywhere, and amounts of it concentrated enough to stop whole tank battalions or brigades only in chosen, important points.
 
Thus, up at that operational scale, reviewing the moves on a map, the armor formations feel like spears.  They have harder points than most of the enemy defense - all the places where the defender doesn't have concentrated AT weapons are "soft" to concentrated armor.  And they can be driven deeper into the enemy positions, more rapidly.  
 
Then their operational role is to create paths for other units to follow and expand.  Truck infantry follows them.  Leg infantry widens the holes they made, with its slower artillery support.
Understand, artillery tactically may seem like it is the longest reached combat system with its 10 miles range from any given position.  But to pick up a serious amount of it and move them forward 25 miles, you have to haul their ammo weight with them.  Horse drawn guns are not going to do that rapidly, or through a blasted moonscape, or enemy shellfire, with any rapidity.  Motorized guns can do more, sure, but still can't move large ammo dumps of a million shells on a few hour time scale.  Tank units, on the other hand, haul their fighting power with them through the enemy defended zone, to points 25 to 50 miles farther on in a day or two.  The logistic thruput to keep up full artillery parks with such rates of advance did not exist in any army.  A few guns could get forward with limited ammo supply.  But more of both only caught up, built up, and enabled large scale fire support again, after the front stopped moving and logistics and transport had time to shift ammo forward to their new positions.
 
Thus, mechanized forces were indeed the spearheads.  Just on a large time and space scale, than a tactical CM battlefield.

Recall topic
 
A list of ALL mods released within this thread until now, organized by genre, with their direct download links.
 
 
Terrain and environmental mods:
Ground mod (HD) pt1 https://app.box.com/...fg7et7668q0egdg
Ground mod (HD) pt2 https://app.box.com/...j3bad939iks1n9l
Alternative crops https://app.box.com/...r7w6dzrnsf11piz
Reworked foliage https://app.box.com/...f1jwjax2wix1o7x
Reworked horizon https://app.box.com/...szl3cd0qamdkrm8
Alternative overcast clouds https://app.box.com/...wju3wq9ttmjoqfi
Improved doodads https://app.box.com/...3q3p05qdl9ld8ws
 
 
Buildings and structures:
Alternative walls (HD) https://app.box.com/...t85ik1b08fb2nh4 OR (standard) https://app.box.com/...bgyx6uimvvyrmdh
Modular buildings (HD) https://app.box.com/...eke1u99f5jowptc
Modular buildings add-on 1 (HD) https://app.box.com/...qsj7b68xyp0ffxx
Modular buildings add-on 2 (HD) https://app.box.com/...ovv4z5gicof4krf
Modular buildings add-on 3 (HD) https://app.box.com/...cgbok88qk3ik8es
Modular roofs pf1 https://app.box.com/...rlaub62hs2h0fv9
Modular roofs pt2 https://app.box.com/...emmodn5b44qklnh
Improved roads (HD) https://app.box.com/...yk9jx7f6gnhra04 OR (standard) https://app.box.com/...1imrd2qzjawar7s
 
 
Troops and soldiers:
Reworked russian uniforms https://app.box.com/...8cz7adh3s1pz0vk
Reworked ukrainian uniforms https://app.box.com/...7riaboi9uty98u8
Reworked USA faces https://app.box.com/...8wxgnbj6a70cq0e
Reworked USA faces -50% glasses add on https://app.box.com/...yz48ujqqf2g7j7w
Reworked USA faces more faces add on https://app.box.com/...97xjl5sfb2ibdyn
Reworked USA uniforms https://app.box.com/...h1bp7e706ywojuc
 
 
Ukrainian Army vehicles:
T-64BV https://app.box.com/...c5frk9z83nuxva5
T-84Oplot (digital) https://app.box.com/...l2tisg6o07hgjw0
T-84Oplot (green) https://app.box.com/...gjuo78eqvyvaioq
T-64Bulat (three-tones) https://app.box.com/...3xxf4whsf6n5zhe
BMP-2 https://app.box.com/...sl2sjfz9r70xcf7
BTR-4e (digital) https://app.box.com/...6jyr7trg674up2t
BTR-70m https://app.box.com/...4rwj8z19s3kl8qz
BRDM-2 https://app.box.com/...alv4dv8xmvydtnh
MTLB (+variants) https://app.box.com/...bh3z9lz0u0p21of
MTLBu https://app.box.com/...7z988tn5rhft6zw
BRM-PRP https://app.box.com/...4etbn1wg88cvcjm
UAZ-URAL https://app.box.com/...q0v82xrhnv8b2z1
Tunguska https://app.box.com/...8luj5zzvgsyrq8z
MT-12 https://app.box.com/...l1apiqq7hv1qhfn
 
 
US Army vehicles:
Abrams https://app.box.com/...3gmrqkblhum95ia
Abrams tank names add on https://app.box.com/...9tsjsl4yolekpaa
Bradley https://app.box.com/...0zd8pylvea4j763
Bradley desert era add on https://app.box.com/...b0vv2kahj9uo3sp
Bradley graffiti add on https://app.box.com/...hsi84qez2x45v4c
Bradley vehicle names add on https://app.box.com/...r9a1ugab6zjneki
Hummer https://app.box.com/...claiqv2b2fwr2do
Stryker https://app.box.com/...dd453pfjawtae0f
M1200 https://app.box.com/...qdhbrgcj3m7klfb
M1200 vs-17 optional https://app.box.com/...i379lmzccm7u3p2
M1200 vehicle names add on https://app.box.com/...tya89575i8s2e95
M1064A3 https://app.box.com/...14n7vw0ok91b8ti
LMTV https://app.box.com/...3exicb4w5f31h9a
 
 
Russian Army vehicles:
T-72B3 - light green https://app.box.com/...g7jaod86ciqcimt
T-72B3 - dark green  https://app.box.com/...6uergp8qdymg1sd
T-90A - camo https://app.box.com/...teis394jy3l0436
T-90A - green https://app.box.com/...3dehcxfd66ebnl1
T-90AM - camo https://app.box.com/...8b6xzilecahbsrc
T-90AM - green https://app.box.com/...8l0rr9169ap3u46
BMP-3M - camo https://app.box.com/...uhl5z4lsoqsh553
BMP-3M - green https://app.box.com/...o44dtixtgdgdzmm
BMP-3-k - green https://app.box.com/...6sqez8jsvm1kt67
BRM-3k - camo https://app.box.com/...pgffse7nn9r73vl
Krizantema - light green https://app.box.com/...kfvapdxehogsfif
Krizantema - dark green https://app.box.com/...z4s88r17frn4tx5
BMP-2-k-M - dark green https://app.box.com/...98isn2a7boacmln
BMP-2-k-M - light green https://app.box.com/...xdwjc7dnx1ffvfl
BRM-PRP https://app.box.com/...4wrtx1x29msng2b
BRDM-2-M-AT5 https://app.box.com/...qhtg4qn7ihjud39
BTR-82-80 - camo https://app.box.com/...vzr04lm5cov1o2l
BTR-80-82 - green https://app.box.com/...9cftxgmpclvr31y
Tunguska - green https://app.box.com/...0qi2w2ma7u7cums
Tunguska - camo https://app.box.com/...7yzx5fgznl8fx1d
Tigr - green https://app.box.com/...zfitlxmmkjvv938
Tigr - camo https://app.box.com/...6mhc0jozr3zx6nh
MTLB + variants - green https://app.box.com/s/8ko3wg16clpaxwsgvbrr4g822hm8vqaq
MTLBu - green https://app.box.com/s/qj049od0gizo9a0gnir99319x72a1n2x
BTR-80 1v152 - green https://app.box.com/s/jqihlkiqzlb4zuvktipj8i7xie403ttn
UAZ-URAL https://app.box.com/s/420x2pqtu7axtm248864axfbyjh7bmh5
 
 
Interface:
Special equipment icons https://app.box.com/s/vgupsiqii8udwgbf1r1wp5prlfxeqcbo
C&C icons https://app.box.com/s/unopornpkl4jwm4reukp4v1fcdgnr6qn
Dots (color blind friendly) https://app.box.com/s/dcxxe986s7pi14fkuafxq6o18cdvv5l8
 
 
Others:
Additional flavor objects 1 https://app.box.com/...kzelqib9dsdticc
Additional flavor objects 2 https://app.box.com/...jmm5v1r0y31vltc
Additional flavor objects 3 https://app.box.com/...y0bsu0kcqpqr6vz
Additional flavor objects 4 https://app.box.com/...n5sdnvmgtzql9ax
Additional flavor objects 5 https://app.box.com/...fvhtafmqoya04mj
Optional highway (TAG) https://app.box.com/...lyb20eyt4fh8x7t
Optional highway total conversion https://app.box.com/...jzmdh3f73rt3i0s
Optional highway total conversion editor buttons https://app.box.com/...1zmq0rza93qa2ag
 
Total: 1.8 GB
Top downloader is: Kieme CMBS modular buildings (HD): 484 downloads
 
Still missing: bridges, a couple of them have been done already. More interface: weapon and vehicle silhouettes (less than 50% done), plus a few tweaks here and there.

Hear! Hear!  
 
I'm really looking forward to this & hope it is successful enough to warrant further BPs in the other titles.  Wallet open, credit card warmed up.  

I’ve written elsewhere that I think ‘balance’ – let alone ‘well balanced’ – is an impractical and illusory design objective, and so I don’t really consider it as a specific design criteria anymore. What I’m more interested in is creating plausible, interesting, and asymmetric challenges. By that I mean that the ‘story’ behind the objectives that each side is going for makes sense, and that given some skill and luck either side can achieve its own objectives. The objectives are asymmetric in that while Side A might be principally trying to secure a bridge, Side B may not care about the bridge at all and could instead be going for the church, or trying to move all forces off map, or something else. That sets up an interesting dynamic tension in that in order to win you need to achieve what you’ve been told to do, but also prevent the enemy doing what they’ve been told to do … but that probably isn’t simply the opposite of your goals. So you need to figure out what they are trying to do, and hinder that as much as possible without compromising the achievement of your own objectives.   Ticklish.   Well, that’s the idea, anyway   I believe it also adds to replayability because now the player's goals are more clearly tied to the relative balance of points at the end of the game. Since the number of ways points can be accumulated - and therefore generate different end-game totals – is quite large, then the number of distinctly different viable approaches that each side can take is similarly large.   So, yeah; all the scenarios are playable and in principle achievable from either side, but actually winning will depend on your skill. As it should.