Combatintman

I'll be honest it is not a scenario I would ordinarily choose to do but @borg had been harassing me to do a SOF type scenario and I thought I'd give it a spin out of curiosity. This type of scenario does not play to CM's strengths at all but I think I can make it work sufficiently well for it to be playable. It does mean that I have to tinker with reality though to make the scenario challenging. My intent is to run a tutorial thread explaining how I put it together which explores these concepts that I will run once the mission is released.

No ... however I am PSYOPS qualified so I get messaging.

I'm sure there'll be something out there - darkness and fog means that you pretty much have to trip over the enemy before you see them. I would advise against recon by fire for sure because your muzzle flashes will attract a hailstorm of return fire.

'Ok Tom, what have you got?' Sir, as you know the CIA has had the lead on tracking down Osama Bin Laden since his escape from Afghanistan. We now have intelligence that suggests he is holed up in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. This is the latest imagery of the compound.' 'Right now Mr President, we are still developing the picture but we think that given the resources we can get Positive Identification (PID) which would then give us strike options.' 'Good work Tom, make this a priority, if you need anything just let me know and keep me updated.'

Looking forward to it - good luck!!!

Said shortly after National Security Advisor Tom E. Donilan rushed into the Oval Office in the spring of 2011. President Obama said 'Thanks Tom, keep me informed as your highest priority.' Updates will follow.

Thankyou - have you played it yet? I'll be honest I'm a bit nervy about it because the premise of escorting the convoy is not something I can totally control with victory conditions.

Three reasons: 1. I didn't want to strip the Engineer Coy HQ from the Blue Force. 2. I spent more time (at least 3 hours) than I was prepared to trying to find out the actual name of the engineer unit that was part of TF 4-31 and came up with a blank. 3. The force is Team Bravo so calling everyone Team Bravo was an appropriate compromise given the factors above.

Released !!!! Get it here ... http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-shock-force-2/cm-shock-force/mullah-fayyad/ Thanks @Bootie

Exit objectives don't exist in CMSF - they came in with those pesky distracting WW2 titles

And finally ... the Designer's Notes This mission is semi-historical in that it is set in the right area in the right timeframe using the right units. However sources available are not specific enough to establish exactly when Team Bravo established BP T148 or whether a convoy was involved so it is reflective of the type of operation conducted by those brave soldiers. For reasons of mission design I have had to make some changes or fill in gaps in the research by making compromises. The actual location of BP T148 according to the Modern Warfare magazine article locates it in the open ground between the canal and the highway and the Eastern Canal Crossing Point. I had to change this to give a physical objective for team Bravo to secure but I have only moved it a matter of meters. The initial inspiration for the mission came from reading the May June 2016 Edition of Modern War magazine which provided some overall detail on TF 4-31 Infantry’s operations in Iraq and had a map which immediately made me think … ‘Hey this would be a great CMSF mission and an easy map to make’. In terms of playing the mission – there are things implied in the briefing but not explicitly stated, the only thing I will say is that the margins for a total victory are very tight indeed which is a common feature of all of my COIN missions. Ideally you should aim for a total victory. Also, due to the limited choices available in terms of Objective types in CMSF and the way the ground is laid out in this mission, I have no means of ‘forcing’ the player to run the convoy from LOE CRAMPON to PB RUSHDI MULLAH by rewarding the player VPs. So, to get the full mission experience I have to trust you the player to attempt to run that convoy back to the PB. Like my other modern missions, another part of my motivation was to pay tribute to the soldiers of TF 4-31 Infantry and the following summary says it all … Task Force 4-31 deployed again to Iraq for 15 months, beginning 16 August 2006. The 809 member task force was their Brigade's main effort and was given the daunting task of establishing the first permanent Coalition Force presence in the Sunni region south of Baghdad frequently referred to as the "Sunni Triangle." Working daily with their sister Iraqi Army battalion to re-establish the rule of law and the legitimacy of local Iraqi Forces to the area, Task Force 4-31 became a model vehicle of contemporary counterinsurgency theory and practice. They established 6 patrol bases, 17 battle positions, assisted the Iraqi Army in the establishment of many more. They conducted over 50 air assaults and 3 amphibious operations, and fired nearly 400 counter-fire artillery missions against enemy forces and in support of troops in contact. TF 4-31 killed or wounded 51 insurgents and captured 148, while aiding the Iraqi Army in the capture of over 1,500 additional insurgents. While actively hunting insurgents, the Soldiers of TF 4-31 set about improving the community, aiding in the improvement of schools, roads, irrigation canals, community centers, and emplacing solar power street lights. While completing their mission, Task Force 4-31 suffered 26 Soldiers killed in action. The Polar Bears, earned 2 Silver Stars and the Battalion was nominated for a Valorous Unit Award. Task Force 4-31 returned to Fort Drum in November 2007 to take a well-earned respite as they reset and trained for future combat operations.

While I have posted similar before on another thread ... see below for a real World and CMSF map comparison (this time using the final map) Actual ground ... CMSF ground ... Also, I should have mentioned earlier - if you punch the Geo Coords shown in the 'Predator' image in my first post to Google Earth, it will take you straight there.

If it is scenario, the initial view is set by the mission designer which defaults to the last camera position viewed in the 'Deploy Units' screen before the scenario is saved. No idea how it works for QBs but overall a long way of saying confirming IanL's 'no' answer above.

So here is the first draft of the mission orders ... Situation: Enemy Forces The area South of BAGHDAD has generally become a safe haven for Al Qaida and other anti-coalition elements, due mainly to a limited Friendly Force footprint. Reactions to the move of Team Bravo into the AO last month have deteriorated from sullen acceptance and an absence of violence to civilian avoidance of patrols and individual sniping and indirect fire attacks on PB RUSHDI MULLAH. Yesterday a HMMWV was destroyed by an IED as it transited a track leading to the MULLAH FAYYAD Highway. Identified firing points in AO ROCKY and the site of the IED incident have been marked by the S2 on the Tactical Map. Otherwise little is known about the enemy in AO ROCKY so it is assessed that Team Bravo will face a mix of lightly armed local nationals protecting their property and better organized and more heavily armed Al Qaida insurgents. Contacts are likely to range from isolated small arms engagements to more sophisticated complex attacks involving the use of a combination of IEDs, indirect fires and small arm/RPG engagements. There is likely to be a 360 degree threat and insurgents will likely attempt to isolate maneuver elements using aggressive flanking maneuver. Situation: Friendly Forces As part of the overall operational plan to stabilize IRAQ, TF 4-31 has pushed out from its main FOB in YUSIFIYAH 6km to the East. For Team Bravo, Phase 1 of this operation was to deploy to and establish a Patrol Base in the village of RUSHDI MULLAH last month. Having established PB RUSHDI MULLAH, the CO of TF 4-31 has directed that Team Bravo is to enact Phase 2 which is to push out and extend the security bubble around RUSHDI MULLAH and the MULLAH FAYYAD Highway. This security bubble will be established by increments with the first increment being the establishment of a platoon Battle Position (BP) to be named BP148 giving overwatch over the highway and two canal crossing points IVO the highway. The preliminary phase of this operation involved the move of 1st PLT from PB RUSHDI MULLAH to FOB YUSUFIYAH to marry up with a logistics element and to escort that element to AO ROCKY today. The logistic element carries essential ammunition required to sustain stability operations in the AO and vital engineer stories required to construct suitable defenses for BP148. The convoy left YUSUIFYAH an hour ago and is fighting a series of running engagements along the route. Team Bravo at PB RUSHDI MULLAH comprises 2nd, 3rd and 4th Platoons of Bravo Company 4-31 plus the Team engineers comprising an Engineer Company HQ and two engineer platoons. 1st Platoon, mounted on HMMMWVs is escorting the convoy and will arrive at 0715 hrs followed by TF 4-31 Inf’s CO and the logistics convoy of four trucks at 0730 hrs. Indirect fires will be provided by TF-4-31s M-120 12omm mortars and Team Bravo’s organic M-224 60mm mortars. Situation: Terrain and Weather AO ROCKY is 1.6km x 1.4km and is bounded by the map area. It comprises generally flat and open farmland crossed by irrigation ditches and paths. With the exception of some tree crops, the majority of vegetation is low crops. Manmade features include small compounds and isolated buildings generally hand railing tracks and roads. The principal route is the Mullah Fayyad Highway which is a good quality high-speed tarmac road. The canal is a major obstacle and is impassable for dismounts and vehicles apart from the two crossing points named Eastern Canal Crossing and SE Canal Crossing. The former is designated key terrain while the latter is decisive terrain for this mission. Overall, the ground is favorable for mounted and dismounted maneuver and offers excellent observation and fields of fire while irrigation ditches, compounds and buildings offer excellent cover and concealment. It is 0600 hrs on 01 Oct 06 and the weather is clear, warm with dry ground conditions and a gentle wind blowing from the West. Overall the climate is favorable to operations but temperatures are likely to impact more on friendly forces due to the weight of combat body armor than on the enemy. Mission: Overall Description Mission: Team Bravo 4-31 Inf attacks along the MULLAH FAYYAD Highway to seize BP148 NLT 0830hrs to control AO ROCKY. Tasks: 1. Secure PB RUSHDI MULLAH (Occupy 100 VPs). 2. Seize BP148 (Occupy 200 VPs). 3. Clear the MULLAH FAYYAD Highway to LOE CRAMPON NORTH, CENTER & SOUTH (Touch 100 VPs). 4. Escort the Logistics convoy. Execution: Commander’s Intent My intent is to aggressively patrol from PB RUSHDI MULLAH using maneuver elements overwatched by a security element remaining in the PB. Maneuver elements will initially clear the canal crossing and if necessary defeat any insurgents posing a threat to friendly force elements using the crossing. With the crossing cleared maneuver elements will seize BP148 and clear the MULLAH FAYYAD Highway to LOE CRAMPON prior to the arrival of 1st PLT NLT 0715 hrs. Maneuver elements at LOE CRAMPON will then escort the logistics convoy after its arrival at 0730 hrs to PB RUSHDI MULLAH. My Main Effort is ensuring the safe arrival of the logistics convoy at PB RUSHDI MULLAH. Endstate is BP148 held in PLT strength, with all other elements secure in PB RUSHDI MULLAH at 90% Combat Effectiveness and poised for future operations. Execution: Basic Plan Your choice commander but you should ensure that you keep your casualties and ammunition expenditure low to enable future construction operations at BP148. You must also take care to avoid civilian casualties and unnecessary collateral damage particularly around BP148 because damage here will create more work for the Engineers and make the position more difficult to secure in the short term. Most importantly, protect those vehicles, they have valuable ammunition and engineer stores on board.

In terms of content - if I'm not new to the game so don't have to learn how the interface works etc then I generally crack straight into scenarios or campaigns that interest me most. QBs are certainly not my thing because I enjoy the thought processes of teasing out the details in the orders and then planning how to complete the mission. That isn't to say that I never play QBs, they are a great release when I've got a spare hour and just want to go out there and zap (or get zapped) stuff. For this title I think there were quite a few big scenarios (the Verdenne one included) which I know aren't everyone's cup of tea but for those that have the time they are worth the effort. I think this title in particular shines because of the number of historical scenarios in it but again that is due to my personal preference of seeing if I can do better than the real World commanders.

In which case the magic figure for a two man scout team should be 212 rounds according to the relevant pam ... http://wartimecanada.ca/sites/default/files/documents/Infantry Training- part VIII_0.pdf So 400 rounds would be a fair way off the mark. Mind you in your first post you mentioned a figure of 1500 vice the 1160 that the pam above states as the standard issue (Section 16 Organization and Equipment of the Platoon, Page 39 refers).

Ok this is coming together now ... maybe going to the pub before doing the briefing graphics was not a good idea ... Anyway here is a screenie of what they look like in game ...

Well if it was a US Squad the numbers would probably look something like this .... http://www.trailblazersww2.org/history_infantryload.htm So yes 400 rounds is about 144 rounds more than it should be, but certainly not out of the ballpark. However I still maintain that your observation is conceptually flawed and is in the category of 'nothing to see here' ... and this is why ... As I said before all of the faffing around that would be involved (and remember you are talking about a squad not a battalion) in the scouts handing over ammunition before going forward is just not worth the bother. I think that you're thinking like a gamer who wants to ensure that the minimum amount of ammunition is lost if the scouts get slotted. In real life the squad/section commander just wants to find the enemy as quickly as possible. The basic section battle drill in the British Army has it as Locate the enemy Win the firefight Attack Reorg Or if you want to look at the core functions in combat ... FIND, FIX, STRIKE. So locating the enemy is important right the way down to the section/squad context. However, a section/squad scout team is not going to go that far forward - the US Army Manual on the subject from 1942 puts it at no more than about 400-600m. https://ia800301.us.archive.org/34/items/Fm7-10/Fm7-10.pdf Do you routinely send your scouts that far forward? As I said in my first post - if these guys are moving a couple of tactical bounds forward of the remainder of their squad/section (which would be the norm) then the rest of the squad and particularly the squad leader is not going to be mucking about playing the pass the ammunition game before the scouts go forward. Even if you send them 400-600m forward, if I was the section commander I would be inserting a boot up the thing that scouts sit on if one of them said 'hey Cpl, I'm just going to drop off my bandolier with one of the guys'. How it works in real life in those squads/sections that share out ammunition loads (particularly for the LMG) is that the guys carry what they've been given and if the gun group is going to set up a base of fire prior to an assault they will drop the LMG ammo then. After the assault, in the reorg phase of the section battle drill mentioned earlier, the section/squad inform the section commander how much ammo they have left and as a result the section commander will organise redistribution and if things are desperate will contact higher to get a resup of the required natures. So IMHO, a lot of this comes down to thinking like a gamer not a RL section commanders who just needs to get stuff done but also this is all part and parcel of the routine grumbles that surface about the squad bunching behaviour of the AI and the split squad mitigation work around. The split squad thing has permutations as to whether you split into halves or split assault teams first or whether you want scouts or whether you want anti-tank teams. Overall it is a fudge but there it is. I personally would not get excited about it.

Yep ... and you'll struggle more with this one because only two of those compounds has a building adjacent to a compound wall (first building up from the bottom of the image and the bottom building in the compound on the LH side of the highway).

The Army and sense are not good bedfellows. The scouting scenario you describe I presume is when you split squads which we all know is a mechanism to allow players to micro-manage their squads to a degree to offset squad AI movement behaviour. In RL a section may well have designated scouts who generally will be at the front of the section/squad formation and possibly move 1-2 bounds in front of the section/squad. The amount of faffing around that would be involved in them handing over the squad/section weapon spare ammunition bandolier that generally each man carries before going forward to scout would mean that nothing ever gets done. Bottom line, in my view there is nothing to see here.

The file name is wrong ... try dropping this in your Z folder Special Editor Overlay.bmp

Probably because you surrendered before they arrived.

@grunt_GI in which case Issue #23 May-Jun 2016 pages 64-69 are your friend. You can re-read the article without fear of spoilers but it was the map on page 67 which inspired the mission because I looked at it and thought 'that would be an easy map to make in CMSF'. The rest as they say is history.

And of course there is @Bil Hardenberger's excellent blog with various CM Battle Drills ... http://battledrill.blogspot.com.au/

I'm sure there will be lots of interest - as for tips I would start with @JonS's thread about mission design in the Battle for Normandy board here ... http://community.battlefront.com/topic/109190-the-sheriff-of-oosterbeek-–-a-scenario-design-daraar/ I would also take a look at @George MC's recent campaign KG Von Schroif as an example of how to execute a company-sized campaign. Otherwise just holler on here if you get stuck with any problems you come across in the mission editor and I'm sure someone will pitch in and help. I think the only words of warning I will give you are that if you haven't designed a mission before I would start with a single mission before launching into designing a campaign from the get go. I've done about a dozen missions and am pretty comfortable designing them but have still yet to release a campaign. Good luck with whatever you choose to do.