ratdeath

The Fifteenth through Seventeenth Minutes
“I would rather you made your appraisal after seeing what the enemy does, since it is certain that, angered and outraged, he will soon launch a determined counterattack."
Isoroku Yamamoto
 
The fifteenth minute saw the loss of another M-150.. I swear the track of that ATGM fired from the BMP-1P... it's like magic the way it hugs the ground comes over the top of the hill and hits him in the lower hull.. must be a crack gunner!  Pretty sure I was hull-down to that BMP and T-64B too.  C'est la guerre. 

Pushing on... 
So over the next few turns Warren, who has finally figured out that the central approach is masked from my view, has been pushing his T-62 Company and some BMPs far forward...

...is he planning on defending the town?  Pushing into my rear area?  If the latter.. then I have no defense.  Just don't have the combat power available to fight off a determined push. 
What to do.. what to do... well first of all, I need to confirm one or the other.  If I need to react and push some support units over towards my M-60s for protection then so be it, but I plan to continue my movement with the tanks.  That, hopefully, will force him to redeploy the assets in the center, maybe weaken any attack into my rear area.
In the above image.. note the contact icon (BMP) which Warren has pushed forward... very close to one of my Dragon teams.  Bad news.. the visibility here is very dodgy and it'll be tough to get eyes on that BMP unless it moves forward.  I am pretty sure this is one of his remaining BMP-1P's that I lost sight of a few turns ago.  Probably followed up by the BRM-1.

Today we go to the Netherlands with Ronny !
 

Not books but a lot of games in the 80's were based on the Cold War gone hot
Red Storm Rising (C64), Project Stealth Fighter (C64), Red Lightning (Amiga), The Third World War "Battle for Germany" (Boardgame).
Add to that Judge Dredd, the future after the third world war.
Yup, that's my childhood growing up in the 80's listening to Mötley Crüe, Helloween, Doro Pesch, Nitzer Ebb, Front 242, etc. playing games and reading Tom Clancy

Well I like to think "knowing my opponent" and audacity had a lot to do with it but lets not discount simple dumb luck.

The Fourteenth Minute - Spoiling Attack Plan
“Be like water making its way through cracks.
Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.”
Bruce Lee
Bruce said it… “…adjust to the object…”, that is how I play… remaining flexible and adjusting my planning according to the enemy position and movements.  For several turns now I have been building to something… and the moment is close to when I put it all into action.
The 14th Minute
This one changed the battlefield calculus some.  Warren has moved a BMP-1 platoon and the surviving, undamaged T-64A to the tree-line overlooking the approach I wanted to move my M-60s down.  This complicates the approach, but doesn’t change my mind.  I may have to delay my move for a few turns so I can drop a mix of cluster munitions and standard artillery on this position.  But then again... I may start a movement through some masked terrain, or under a smoke screen to keep him busy and interested.

I don’t know if Warren has spotted my tanks starting to assemble, or if this is in reaction to my 1st platoon tanks, which up to this point have been pretty effective.  From that position though, Warren cannot spot my 1st Platoon tanks, so he is probably attempting to close his left flank.   
In this turn I had moved my 2nd Platoon Tank Hunters forward into Hull Down positions to cover the center-right of Warren’s force.  Immediately the M150 highlighted below spotted and fired one TOW at the BMP-1P indicated.  It missed long but is reloading for another shot next turn.

 
Spoiling Attack Plan
My initial goal in this fight was to clear Warren’s left flank (my right) and open it up for a tank heavy spoiling attack into his center. 
I am not interested in the Dolbach objective... my objective is the Soviet force.  My intent is to kill as much of his long range firepower as possible, then his infantry won’t matter.    

All of my positioning up to now was in support of this move.  The 2nd and 3rd Platoon’s tanks have joined the 1st Platoon’s tanks on my right and are currently in their assembly area, or entering it.  What I wanted to do was, using my 1st Platoon tanks as over-watch, drive all eight of the 2nd and 3rd Platoon tanks deep into Warren’s left flank and then drive toward the center, disrupting his assault on Dolbach and hopefully attrit him to the point where his combat power is significantly reduced.
The way I see it I have two Courses of Action (COAs):
COA 1 – Deep Attack.  This was what I had hoped to do, but with Warren’s flank security position this one comes with increased danger for my tanks. COA 2 – Short Attack.  I actually like this one as well, it will unhinge Warren’s flank security and force him to react to my move, plus it will provide some pressure on the center and Dolbach. Follow on Force.  Regardless of which COA I decide on, I do intend to follow the 2nd and 3rd Platoon tanks with 1st Platoon’s tanks as indicated in the planning map below.
I have moved two platoons worth of scouts to my left flank for a dual role:
As a decoy force The scouts, armed with Dragons as flank security and a reserve I have called in my attack helicopter support on the main enemy assembly area, but that is still several minutes away. 

March to Glorious Victory - Post #6  "The Devil's Red Right Hand" (12-15)
First off I apologize for the long return on this one, beyond Bil's glacial return pace, the main reason is that nothing really happened on the Soviet side of this thing.  I am sure Bil is doing a frame-by-frame Warren Commission-esque analysis (because that is what int nerds do) but frankly he has already missed his early victory boat.
When I left you we were discussing options and landed on the least suicidal of the bunch given the somewhat less-than-optimal starting position.
The only question left is "what will Bil do?".  I have thoughts on this but let's leave them til the end (someone remind me if I forget).
So the only interesting thing to happen before the big push was the loss of another T64

This little fella bought in on my left, which was unfortunate but I also observed something interesting before the kill.  

These two T64s soaked up over a dozen hits between them from those M60s on the ridge.  Clearly not bullet proof but from the front these beast are very hard to kill.  This also speaks well for the Plan, as I would rather Bils tanks pinging off my T64s rather than killing my BMPs and T-62s. 
So here was ol Bil's shot to end this thing about 13-14 mins in:

You can see here we are all bunched up moving into position for the slot.  If Bil had DPICM'd this traffic jam, that pretty much would  have been it.  The bridge may have saved a couple but it would have been a bloody massacre.
But he missed that boat.

Turn 14 and I can start to breathe, the troops moving up the slot saw no direct fire.  Bil is lobbing shells into the area but frankly the steel soldiers of mother Russia give exactly zero F's about artillery.

All that arty has about 2-3 casualties on me so far but I am sure it makes the old man - sitting in a faded bathrobe, the one from the 70s, his old-lady slippers, old man underwear with the torn waistband - feel better.   By end of Turn 15, we are about 1/3 through.

So on the far side of the slot we have pretty much a tank pl and 3 x BMP.  In turn 16 I should be at 50%.  The dismounted pl on my left is looking good and pretty much unmolested.  They are going to link up with that scout pl and be my hands.  You can see on my left I have a screen in place of 2 x T64s and about 4 BMPs, that is a very good position in case Bil gets frisky on my left, which based on that smoke I am guessing is a possibility.  The biggest threat now is a DPICM strike but I am less worried about it now as my Tank Coy and BMPS are spread out and moving fast, so at worst I may take a few casualties.  Main concern now is getting that inf platoon on my right into those buildings.  The HQ and squad did get pinned so I need them to get going.
And let's not forget the Eyes on my Right.

 So I have 2 x T64s on the right with good LOS (I just noticed one got immobilized, which is a pain but it is in a solid position).  That little BMP in the little clump of woods nails another M150.  These guys on my right can actually cover the ridgeline and the left, so pretty happy with that for now.  I am very happy at nailing the M150s.  It may seem odd to a bunch of tank nerds but these thing are actually more dangerous right now.  They have TI, so can see through smoke and those TOW are not going to take 6 hits to kill me.
So now what?  Well finish moving through the Slot and then we spread out and start the knife fight in the woods.  So what is Bil going to do?  Well my bet is he is looking longingly at my left flank, two or three columns of smoke are singing sweetly to him do doubt...I welcome him to try.
Next he could focus on the village and do a center push but in about 120 seconds I am going to have 2 x Inf platoons at near 100% with options for tank and BMP support.  Bil has ACR scout teams, M113 which are basically halftracks and a bunch of M60s who will not do well in an urban fight. 
So that leaves the woods on my right.  Here he has better approaches but if thing go even half decently I will have a another Soviet infantry pl back up by a lot of armor for this little dance against Scout teams, who are not really designed for this sort of thing.  So all in all, I am liking my odds...but...and there is always a but....the next 120-180 second have to go well.  That and I know that Bil has Cobras...so this thing is not over yet.
 

I am deeply pleased by the amount of Goth/Industrial fans on a hardcore military wargaming forum.

Thirteenth Minute - The Board is Set
 
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
Art of War, Sun Tsu
 
Minute 13:
1st Platoon's Tank Section 2 continued to harass the two T-64As on the Soviet left (my right) flank.  These are the two T-64s that took a beating in the 12th minute... and they each take several more rounds into their front hull and turret, both backing into the woods the whole time.

T-64A (right side) manages to escape.. but it has to be damaged.  I am considering it a mission kill until I know otherwise.  If it pops back up later I will address it then.
T-64A (left side) takes a penetrating hit at the end of the turn.. and this one kills it:

 

CURRENT SITUATION
This is a busy image, and I apologize for that. 
Enemy Situation:
Recon Company remnants are pushing forward and are on my extreme left. Warren's dismounted infantry and scouts continue to push toward Dolbach, supported by the Recon Company BMP-1Ps/BMR-1 and the Infantry Company's BMP-1s BMP-1s in overwatch are starting to move forward some, but are remaining behind the infantry for now T-62 Company is still being held in reserve, but is moving forward slightly T-64B Platoon is down to one fully functional tank and one wounded and probably gun damaged tank T-64A platoon is down to one wounded and probably disabled tank
My Support Plan:
2 of my 3 available M-106 Mortars are starting to drop rounds in front of the Soviet infantry.  Timing with indirect fire is always a challenge, but I am liking how this is shaping up
One of 155mm batteries is dropping spotting rounds for a linear fire mission as shown below.  Fire for effect should start in a couple turns.
I do have more planned, but am saving that for the next report!  Yes, I will finally let you in on the planning that I have been working toward for several turns now... stay tuned! Finally, some Tank Porn!!
BMP-1P:

BMR-1 (Recon Company CO's ride:

Love The Sisters of Mercy! (Got myself a Merciful Release tattoo many years ago).
"Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you going to drop the bomb or not?"
 

When we plunged into the dark side of the 80s already, how about some Girls Under Glass (former Calling Dead Red Roses)?
Fits a bit the mood of doom if the cold war, and it's even a band from Germany
Or another German band of that time, Marquee Moon:
 

Belgian Group ! Kampbereit... Immer Bereit !
 

SofM is a good band reflecting the New Wave  Dark Wave Gothik Punk 80' my world !

Interestingly, 83-89 would have been easier from a design perspective.   The US formations are well known and structures had pretty much settled down as the Bradley's came in.  Problem is that I personally think that tactically it would have risked being lopsided.  The M1A1 is a monster from another epoc in military development, the Leo 2s and Challengers not far behind.  The T80s would be challenged except for the T80U (which according to some sources never served in Germany, but we could "what if" that) and anything less is very disadvantaged.  BMP 3 would see the light of day but it probably is not going to tip things.  Soviets still had mass, so there is that but the digital battlefield was already well on its way.  The Gulf War demonstrated what things probably would have looked like, basically because the Soviet system ran out of gas to keep up.
My personal opinion was the distance between an 83-89 version is too close to CMSF or CMBS. '82 and earlier this is not the case, the Soviet has tactical parity and even advantage making for a better balanced period.

Thank you, but this is more than just my idea... @The_Capt has been working with me since the beginning on this project and it was our brainchild, not mine, ours. 
In addition @IICptMillerII has been a boon since he joined the core team, managing scenario development and doing a ton of research and testing.  There are also a few special people like @George MC, @Pete Wenman, @Combatintman to name just a few that have contributed some serious content, from campaign, scenarios, maps, quick battle map development, etc. to this project.  
Cheers, Bil

Deliver the process will.

@Bil Hardenberger
Congratulations on bringing a vision of CM so many of us have pined for to reality!  This is the most excited I have been for a CM game in some time and the potential to build off of the initial title only heightens the anticipation.
Speaking of the visual representation of infantry, wouldn’t it make more sense to model disposable AT rockets (M-72, RPG-18, etc.) as collapsed when on the backs of infantry models?  Just an opinion from the outside looking in seeing as this would be the correct depiction for the vast majority of the time the models are displayed to the player.  Rendering them in firing position all of the time to satisfy a firing sequence that lasts only a second or two seems backwards to me if a choice has to be made.
Anyways, thanks again for your dedication, here’s hoping the final pieces fall smoothly into place for your team.

Eleventh & Twelfth Minutes – “…damn your eyes.”
 
“There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry.”
George Armstrong Custer
 
Minute 11:
This might have been a pivotal turn and Warren must be reeling... his email simply said, “…damn your eyes”.  Warren is a pretty confident guy, but it could be that I am getting under his skin now.
Planned moves for this turn…
Tank Section 1 was moving to the rear slightly to improve their Hull Down status to the T-64Bs near NAI3 Tank Section 2 was moving forward to aggressively interdict the enemy vehicles near NAI2.. note that at the end of the last turn I had one BMP-1P spotted on this flank and this was the only enemy vehicle identified on this flank. Note the identified enemy units important for this turn’s resolution. Also note that the T-64B tagged in the following image, is NOT the same one I beat up on last turn.  I ordered my M-60s to ignore that one and concentrate on this second tank further back in the tree line.
For each of the following overall images, the firing unit is circled in white, the target is circled in yellow.

Tank Section 1 – 1/9: 
At the end of last turn this tank left a round in the air, and this turn it connected with a BMP-1…


Kill #1
 
Tank Section 1 – 1/8: 
Manually targeted the T-64B in the tree line… first round was a penetration but several HEAT rounds later this T-64B was knocked out.  Tough bastards.
Note that in this image, a T-64A has been spotted on Warren’s left flank (my right).


Kill #2
 
Tank Section 2 – 1/5: 
The T-64A was moving laterally in front of the treeline… it was an easy two rounds into its flank.



Kill #3
Note the BMP-1P in the background of the above image…
 
Tank Section 2 – 1/6: 
At the end of the turn, this tank finally killed the last of the Recon Platoon BMPs that was on this flank (this was the BMP that killed my M-150 last turn).  It took two rounds to kill it... a third set it alight.


Kill #4
Note the knocked out T-64A in the background.

 
Finally at the end of the eleventh minute, my 1st platoon’s recon scouts spotted a platoon of T-62s… this will be his final reinforcement.  These are located just beyond the overpass and behind the line of BMP-1s overwatching the infantry swarming toward the town.

 
 
Minute 12:
No images this turn… but in the twelfth minute Tank Section 2 (1/5 and 1/6) spot two more T-64As in the trees near the one destroyed last turn next to the BMP-1P… they hit them both several times (one received a gun hit), no penetrations and both were alive at the end of the turn, but they had both moved back and away from the line.. one or both of these tanks might be severely damaged and will be engaged again next turn.
 I've been building to this.for a while, but now... 
...Warren’s left flank is open.

March to Glorious Victory Post # 5 - The Bitter Tonic of Sacrifice (Turn 8 - 11)
  So the theme of todays post is to validate The_Capt's rule #5 - never play by their rules, play by your own.  So in this episode we are building to a decisive moment one way or the other.  I posted the kill shot on the M150 for turn 8 previously, beyond that not much to report as I continue to move into a broad tree line position of Eyes.
Turn 9 we score another M150 kill as my tanks pull onto the shoulders on either side.  That is an AT3 and sabot round...it was the AT 3 that does the job.
You can get a good sense of the setup laydown on this shot of the kill.   I have infantry in the center and the two T64 pls on either shoulder.  The setup here is for the impending arrival of The Boys

So the good news is that is a Tank Coy (10 tanks strong) but the not so good news is that they are T62s.  The T62 can still do the job and can kill an M60 from the front pretty well, problem is that they are a little blind.  So I am re-thinking my approach to Kill Bil and Teeth.
Turn 10 is when my original thinking is validate.  If I stay in this tree line and play Bils game he will pick me off from that ridge, mainly because the optics on the US tanks are simply better.
Ok, this first one actually hurt the worst.  There was a Coy HQ and a FO in that BMP.

And the T64s are tough but not invincible, this one on my right.

And on my left another T64 (this one of those frustrating TAC AI shenanigans) and another BMP.  So the tree line and play peekaboo is not going to work, particularly with T62s...we move or die. 
Turn 11 sees no further losses but those T64s do take some bounces as the M60s on the hill have them well dialed in but by the end of Turn 11 we are in position.

So, dear reader, here we are at the edge of eternity.  I have two infantry platoons dismounted because I really do not want them to die inside their vehicles.  They are pushing up a bit towards the town.  I have a tank coy in a good position to push out and I still have a pretty good force on the shoulders.  Hmm...so what should the plan be?  Seriously...discuss.  
Right now, I am thinking about not swinging to the left and up but going straight through the town and up.  The primary issue is that those T62s are deadly up close (1000m or less) but I have to get them there and all that open ground to my left is not looking good.  There is probably at least a US tank Pl on that ridge to the left and another covering from the right both sweeping that open field.  If I can get into those wood beyond the town, we will have the knife fight and I will be in a better position to overwhelm.  The other option is to go right, lotta dead ground there.
So here is a shot of the map from the (included) scenario editor:

Very interested to hear from the audience cause I really have not made my mind up on this one.

it didn’t help that the screenshots they use (CMFB, SF2 and now CW) were terrible quality. 
 
FWIW I think the graphics in CM are good for a sim. If I wanted to overhaul the looks I would start with the terrain, then add some more animations in. Beyond that I think it’s functional and even looks pretty good sometimes. 

Tenth Minute
“As long as I breathe, I attack."
Bernard Hinault
 
A few key events this turn:

M-60A1(RISE+) (1/8) missed the shot it took at the end of last turn, that round going long.  But it fired an additional four times at the T-64B it spotted last turn.. connecting on two.


That had to hurt.. I know those hits caused at least one casualty.  Its possible this tank is a gun kill, and that's as good as knocking it out as far as I'm concerned.  Still, I am not counting on that.
M-150 (1/5) - I'm an idiot... in he hope of bringing the final (as far as I can tell) BMP near NAI2 under fire, I crept this tank hunter forward to take up a Hull Down spot with visibility of this spot... but I failed to mask the M-150 from the rest of the field.
It was spotted by both a BMP-1 and the T-64B (from the previous vignette) in their battle position.  First the BMP fired it's Sagger:

Then the T-64B fired as well...

The T-64's shell fell short, but the BMP must have had a gifted Sagger gunner, as I swear that missile skimmed inches off the ground...

...but alas it flew true...


 
Finally, for the group playing my "What's Bil Planning?" game... I am moving 2nd Platoon's Scouts to the left side of the field, as shown... what are they up to?  Hmmm  

I promise I won't keep you in suspense much longer, and will reveal what I am thinking with one of my next two posts.
Bil
 
 

Yea, the value to me became apparent once I played! I regret nothing