ratdeath

At this point I think some believe that Fire & Rubble is Science Fiction as well ;)
 

This is my computer. There are many like it but this one is mine. My computer is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my computer is useless. Without my computer I am useless.
:)

At this point I think some believe that Fire & Rubble is Science Fiction as well ;)
 

This is my computer. There are many like it but this one is mine. My computer is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my computer is useless. Without my computer I am useless.
:)

This is my computer. There are many like it but this one is mine. My computer is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my computer is useless. Without my computer I am useless.
:)

Thank you all sincerely and you are very welcome.  I am very glad people got enjoyment out of this. 
Once the game is released I will post the scenario so you guys can take a run at your own stories (someone remind me if I forget).
We will do up a final post-game once Bil finishes up his final turns.  I see many congrats at "my victory", I am kinda split here because 1) Of course the glorious forces of the Soviet Union were victorious in crushing the corrupt capitalists, but 2) in reality...when the commissar is not looking, this was pretty much a Draw in my books.   You guys can be the judge when the numbers go up but neither side is doing much with what is left on the board, Soviets do hold the objective but we failed to achieve any real breakout, breakthroughs or overwhelm the US forces.  The only good news is that there is probably another dozen Soviet outfits like the one I just lost behind me.  
But does winning or losing really matter (*duh, of course it does, it is why they keep score*)?  A game well played between two old friends as we enter our autumn years (Bil is on the doorstep of winter) is the best reward in itself. 
 
 

A CM release is never late, nor is it early, it is released precisely when Battlefront means to!
 
 

@The_Capt.. Warren, this has been a brilliantly written and presented AAR.  Bravo.  I actually laughed out loud a couple times.
Well played game as well... as always you have been a worthy opponent.  
Bil

I can't really comment definitively on price as I think they are still tweaking the QB but right now they are somewhere around 75% the cost of the T64.  Basically in a Large game you can get a LOT of them but you will need to watch the terrain.  The T62 is very effect at close range 1500 and below, which I think you can see in this game.  Its armor is ok but it is not going to stand up to concentrated fire.  It gun is excellent at shorter ranges, I have seen a T62 kill an M60A3 in the front at 1000m.
So I guess the short answer is that it is a fine tank if you know how to use it...en masse, closing distance quickly and knife fighting.
I personally prefer it over the T72, which really feels to me like the red-headed stepchild in this title.  This tank gets lot of press but it never was really taken seriously by the Soviets, a cheap export model.  Now the T64B and T80s are a different story, the T80 is rarer but begins to catch up on spotting/sniping and the T64B is the second only to the M1 (and much, much cheaper) for being an all around beast, its frontal armor is excellent and the gun is brutal.  The T64B is probably my favorite tank in the game. 

This have been one of the best BETA AAR.
Thank you Bil Hardenberger & TheCapt.
 

Yep, I have a couple more turns to post and then Warren and I will start the debrief.  I'll get to those tomorrow...in the meantime I'm going to go read Warren's thread and the peanut gallery.
Bil

Sorry, had to show this one (MikeyDs pic by the way),  ATGMs working just fine behind cover.
Oh, ya, game has concluded so now I can finally see Bil’s side and comment.  We will probably do the full debrief/post game here.

The Twenty-Fifth - Thirtieth Minutes - The Wheels Come Off
“Be the hunter not the hunted: never allow your unit to be caught with its guard down.”
James Mattis
 
My AH-1 has been flying overhead for several turns now, and as far as I know this BMP is its only kill.  But in its defense it was being chased by AA missiles for most of the time it hung around and did lose it's mate so I'm lucky it made even this kill.

 
After that the wheels started to come off....
...one of my M-150s exchanged ATGMs with one of Warren's BMPs...


...both missiles passed each other on flight... the M-150's hitting a tree... sigh...

...of course Warren's didn't miss.  Damn!

One of Warren's T-64Bs... (in fact one that had been beaten up, in what seems like another life now, by my 1st Platoon tanks) fired and destroyed one of my M-60s still sitting on the Short Route... damn.  That means 2nd Platoon has now lost three of four tanks. Triple damn.

 
Now with Tank Section 2 joining in on the fun I order all four 1st Platoon tanks back into the breach!

Tank 1/9 had it's career cut short when it exchanged rounds with a T-62... 1/9 fired first, however... it missed.. the T-62 did not.

Uh-oh... have I pushed too far?
 
Third Platoon's tanks have also started moving down the highway... 

Glorious March to Victory Post #13 - "The Song of Small German Town 1980"
So on the very next turn Bil has offered ceasefire...we have playing together for a long time.  We have decided to do the final debrief at the same time, so I will wait for Bil to catch up a bit.
But I could not leave the second to last turn hanging because it represents this battle so well:
You remember the stand off on the Red Knoll at the end of turn 31...well here is how it played out:

My T62 got off the first shot and it was a killer (note the now-deaf-est Soviet Pl HQ in the ETO circled)
Then this happens:

Seriously, this is like the freakin ending of Reservoir Dogs at this point.  BTW I found out later, that M60 is immobilized by my heroic second squad.
So here we are at what is essentially End Game:

I will leave you to speculate as where things landed....
I can tell you that the fight over this non-descript little town in West Germany created so many pixel heroes in less than an hour.  I hope you have enjoyed it a fraction of as much as it was to play.
 

Glorious March to Victory Post #12 - "We Try Harder" (25-31)
So based on observation, I am seeing quite a few "likes" (thank you btw) but few comments, which tells me that I am probably telling you all something that Bil has already posted.  So for fear of getting left behind in the narrative I am just going to pull you all the way to where we are as of today.
I want to say up front that no matter how this ends, this is a really good game.  This is one for the books.  You can tell when everything feels so finely balanced and you and your opponent are fencing on a tightrope.  every PBEM turn gets the heartrate up!  
When I left you things were not looking so good for the brave soldiers of the Soviet Union.  But like the superior communist system, Soviets know how and when to pick themselves up and get back to it.

So not much but re-positioning in Turn 25 as I scramble to re-establish a parameter up on the ridge, Bil pulled back so that all proceeds.  The only interesting thing happens here near the end of the turn.  Looky here comrade the corrupt capitalist system thinks that they are so clever...looks like Bil is taking the deep left option after all.

The next turn I immediately start repositioning my remaining T64 on the left in order to form a blocking position on my left (that poor BMP got nailed by a second Cobra before I scared it off).  Bil could try and hide in the that wood line but we are past that now, he is going to try and roll me up (more on my logic later).  Meanwhile back on what is now called Red Knoll:

My intent here is to establish a hard point and pull Bils forces in, this time however, I am pushing infantry up front.  Note that an ATGM duel is forming up with that M150 and a BMP on the right here.

Which we win.  That should be about 4 out of 6 M150s killed.  Another sign of a really good game is the emergence of all the micro-dramas.  Here there are literally a hundred small stories all unfolding simultaneously, here is one:

So that brave little infantry squad breaks out of that tree line and sees a M60 monster...do they run and hide...nope they open up like it is the last thing they will ever do (and literally is).  Those are both the RPG 18 and RPG 7 firing simultaneously right at the turns end.  Finally on back on the Hwy:

So yep, pretty much as I expected this is an attempted roll up...oh Bil, you tired foolish old man, did you think I would leave the door open?  So here I am re-positioning another T64 and BMP to bottle up that Hwy ploy.  Onto Turn 28 and things start to turn:

My brave little squad misses, and then die in a hail of glory but they spook the crap out of those M60s, who promptly back off buying time for my T62s.  You can see here another T62 I snuck up from the village in the woods, so I have got a pretty good bead on this.

Meanwhile back on the Hwy, Bil's M60 here get spooked by a lone Recon Pl HQ and I start hunting that T64 forward.  I am starting to feel a bit like we are getting back up and then this happens:

Back in the center, Bil still has some armor with eyes on the objective (note: he is still pounding that nearly-empty suburb like it slept with his wife).  My poor immobilized T64 nails this M60 in a single blistering 125mm of bad-love.
Onto Turn 29.

 So on this turn is a positioning turn on the Red Knoll and Hwy, Bill has brought up at least one M60 to reinforce up here, so a lot of micro-drama potential.  And on the other side:

The bottleneck force is shaping up nicely..so the stage is set for another showdown.  
Turn 30 and things start to click:

It starts with this showdown at near-point-blank range.  The M60 fires first but (I like to think my little infantry squad (now all heroes of the Soviet Union) killed the crew commander and rattled that tank so badly that..) it misses.  My T62 does not, because cold steel runs in Soviet veins

Ok, now this is a Balls Game!  Back in the center:
 
DPICM, the last refuge of the desperate (seriously I think we may have overloaded on arty, and of course EW makes most of mine near useless).  But again Bil doubles down on that lone squad and MG team (who have taken a single casualty after all this)  A hint for anyone who plays Bil...he has problems with artillery.
But all is not good news:

This one hurt but it is a straight up "war happens moment so deal with it".  I start to push that T64 up a bit to try and snipe that M60 and he gets killed...gotta admit that one hurt.
Turn 31 and we are nearly caught up.

So up on the Red Knoll, Bil is stubbornly pushing with his 3 M60s (counting the dead one, that is a full third of his armor)  A second squad wins the Hero of the Soviet Union here by fearlessly opening up on two M60s and here they get an RPG 7 off before also being chopped up.

Which hits but I have no sight on the tank so I can only hope it at least rattled them up a bit.  The back on the Hwy:

My other T64, cooly drops that M60 like first period French (swear to god if I had all T64s this game would be over by now).  Back on Red Knoll the turn ends with this: 
Both barrels are lined up and loaded.  This screenshot pretty much captures this entire freakin game!
Ok, my assessment with 9 mins left on the clock.  So, Bil is seriously considering ceasefire right now cause even int guys can do math.  My force on the objective is still very solid with the better part of an infantry Coy and 2 x T62s (I sent the other one back), so the odds of him taking it (which were never great given his force) are low.  He could try a gamey sneak in the last minute of the game but I doubt it.  
So his problem here is one of points.  The US get points for cutting me down past 50% but they need to keep their own force above 50% and based on losses so far he has to be concerned about that buffer.  I am definitely closer (I may be below 50% right now) but even-losses at this point would be fatal to the US side.  And in the last 4 minutes I have lost a single T64 and BMP to at least 3 x M60s and an M150.   By my math Bils armor is precariously down to 50% (and I suspect at least one tank is gun-killed)...and I still have a lot of those nasty BMPs on the board who can all kill Bil's...well, anything.  
Regardless, even if we ended it now, I think this game is a Draw (at least right now).  In reality both forces are at a standstill (even if the US side has not realized it yet) in what has been a see-saw battle that has left me with scars and some therapy requirements.  The Blood-Red Dice still will roll, so we will see.
Capt's AAR Battle Theme Song
 

Glorious March to Victory Post # 10 - "The Nadir" (21-24)
  So in every engagement it is normal to have a low-point and for my troops this was right here.  Everything that can go wrong, does, and nothing really goes right.  Worse, it is the point that you can clearly see your mistakes...after you have already made them.  I have found that in this position it is where the true mettle (and metal) is tested and one must 1) admit the errors and 2) come up with a way out, cause no one else is not going to do it for you.
   So the decent started pretty innocently enough in turn 21:

That brave little BMP that is responsible for probably half the damage I have done to Bil thus far did not make it out.  It was completely out of AT3s by this point but I wanted that little crew to make it...sadly...

So at this point I am still pushing up that ridge in pursuit of Bil's forces.  My aim here is to keep the old man on his back feet in order to make sure he does not collect enough combat power to re-take the objective...and to kill as much as possible with a pretty potent force.  But then badness started to happen:

Ok, despite being on the wrong end of things, this shot is really cool.  That is a newly modeled Dragon missile about to take out a T62...oh, yes that's right, Bil has Dragons.

And they work.   Then down in the village:

Bil's creeping tank platoon sees one of my T62s first and well...ok, I can live with this.  Going to have to break a few tanks to make a tank omelet.   But as we move into Turn 22 it is time to admit that I have a long standing problem:

Yep, I am an over-extender always have been.  I do not know why the siren song of the offence always pull me in but it does.  And here it is in action.  My armor is taking off on my infantry in the best blitz tradition...and it is not a good thing.  But all is not bad news:

Down in the town, my second T62 takes out another M60.  So all in all, I tell myself, it is not that bad....oh foolish past The_Capt....so foolish.  Turn 23...sigh:

Right about here it dawns on me that maybe charging forward was a bad idea.  That is a second Dragon kill.  So I am thinking about holding up and letting my infantry catch up, right about here.  It is not all bad news though:

As the Soviet player, that is a very happy screen shot.  My MANPADs are doing their job.  But then I notice this:

Ya, so all those other icons up on the hill I have been tracking...but that is a new one and it is very bad news.  So I swing a couple T62s and a BMP over because maybe Bill is scratching around the backdoor.
Turn 24: as with most of these things...just a little too late.  An extra 30 seconds maybe but Bil's last tank platoon looks to have finally showed up.  Of course I suspected there was another one up here and of course it shows up in exactly the wrong place, at the wrong time.  And from here it just get uglier:

This is an interesting shot actually, first that is a second T62 (so 4 lost on that hill in about 3 mins) dying, but that is also a 73mm BMP 1 round actually hitting and penetrating an M60 (I think it was HEAT)...but not enough by a long shot:

So here the gods of war clearly are punishing me.  That BMP died for trying but those two explosions are AT3s that both miss (seriously?!)
Ok, so 'new plan' cause the old one clearly was not working.  I am going to have to swing what is left of my Teeth (now with quite a few knocked out....see that last BMP dying on the far right) and consolidate on the hilltop.  I will fend off this tank platoon, while at the same time really dig in on the objective.  The sad part is that right about here, I am out of offensive options.  I will need to play defense from here on out and am basically fighting to hold the objective.  
By this point I have a couple M60 kills, Bils M150s are pretty depleted, a couple M113s and a some scouts...oh and a Cobra.  That is not enough for 5 x T62s (half my force) and 2 x BMPs.  At least my screens and infantry are intact.  A side-note, Bil is really obsessed with the outskirts of the objective (that hashed blue line) and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.  Seriously, we are quite a few turns ahead as of writing this and he spends the next ten minute pounding the same  peice of real-estate, that basically has a single squad and MG team trapped in it.
Anyway, live, learn and love and all that.  I will post up the next series tomorrow...things do get better.
 

OK IN THAT CASE!
I have a good feeling about tomorrow!

So when it comes to WWII armor, which design is the sexyest?  We can debate all day about which was the best, but which one has the most eye appeal?  I have to admit, I've always been partial to the German Panther. 

There is at least one downside with the release of F&R.
The entertainment in this thread will probably go down significantly!
I can live with that though!

There is at least one downside with the release of F&R.
The entertainment in this thread will probably go down significantly!
I can live with that though!

The Twenty-First & Twenty-Second Minutes – Beyond Here, There be Dragons
“Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver.  The greater the General, the more he contributes to maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.”
Winston Churchill
 
There was a second T-62 in Dolbach, and this one caught one of 2nd Platoon's tanks.. after two penetrations...

On my far left with the delay force, Warren's T-64B across the map caught one of my M-113s trying to withdraw and took it out with one round.

It's obvious now that this Soviet force has taken the bait and is pushing into my Scout teams, obviously trying to go on an APC killing spree.  Note my Tank Section 1 (1st Platoon) is moving up carefully.. if they are spotted Warren hasn't shown any reaction. 

The Soviets are leading with their tanks... oh joy... well my lead 3rd platoon Dragon team takes a quick shot (note this took about 10 seconds from spot to launch).  

The result.. another burning T-62.

This team was heroic.. firing a LAW at a BMP, which alas went high (you can see the rocket just above the BMP)...

...but also a 40mm HEDP round which hits and penetrates!  The BMP was withdrawing as the turn ran down. 
This team has another T-62 in its sights for next turn... if that damned Dragon can finish reloading before they eat an HE round!

Tank Section 1 is closing in... note how I am staying close to the trees to remain out of the LOS of that damned T-64B across the valley.  I'm curious to see Warren's reaction when he notices these guys coming up his rear.  I really hope he didn't leave a couple dismounted teams in these trees...  ..but I think this is an armored attack.. I have seen no hint of any dismounts (other than the dismounted tank crew)... still.

Oh.. and my support started to arrive.    Including my mortars and 155mm battery falling on Dolbach.. and my two AH-1s arrived in zone... though I do lose one to a MANPAD.
Oh!  And some great news!  My Cluster munitions Battery freed up and I was able to plot them this turn too.. it'll arrive in six minutes.  

After looking at my options with the Short route.. now that my tanks are here.. the less I am liking it. I wanted to drive up the flank of the enemy BMPs in the treeline overlooking my right.. but that looks hazardous.  
So.. remaining ever flexible, I have decided to pull all of the 3rd Platoon tanks out of the stream bed and push them around the right and deep onto the Soviet held road.  Note the smoke rounds used to block Warren's eyes on this movement.  Once they get on the road there will be very little left to stop them.  On my right (Warren's left) he has two damaged T-64As and some BMPs.  But this type of fight will not be to the BMP's advantage, it'll be fast and close.

The Nineteenth & Twentieth Minutes
“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
A Book of Five Rings - Miyomoto Musashi

Starting to get HOT... this is a long one.. so buckle up!!  
These two minutes of action unfold a lot of important developments for this battle.  On my right, 2nd Platoon/s tanks made it to the low ground that composes the Short Option...

...one of them gets a spot on Warren's star killer BMP-1P in the treeline across the map and after some back and forth missed shots it finally lands one... damn fine shooting for a vanilla M-60A1 on the move.

 
One of 3rd Platoon's M-150s spots and fires at the T-64A that was beaten up by 1st Platoon's Tank Section 2 last turn (and again in these turns) as it withdrew through the woods into the open ground... the M-150 does hit with its TOW.. but the T-64 shrugged off even that blow.  However.. I would be surprised if any of Warren'e two surviving T-64As have a working gun now.  


 
On my left Warren is indeed up to something, the action was preceded by an artillery strike on the the woods in this area.  Sadly the only casualty was the Scout team that was calling in my Cluster mission... isn't that the way it always works?

...initially three BMP-1s and two T-62s broke cover.

The 2nd Platoon leader team fired a Dragon at one of the BMPs.. which missed long.


The BMP then oriented on the 2nd platoon Leader's M113, which was caught too far forward and put one gun round through it's front armor... killing the vehicle and it's crew.


 
After reloading, 2nd PL's Dragon gunner took aim at the T-62 traveling with the BMP and succeeded in killing it.  FYI, the Dragon firing animation is still a work in progress, so I am keeping zoomed out from it.  Hopefully losing this tank will make Warren pause or change his tack towards my Scout teams.

Remember that my units on my far left were originally meant as a decoy.. and hopefully his attack will orient itself on them and away from my main combat power. 
 
By the end of the twentieth minute there were five T-62s (including the dead one) and five BMP-1s identified... so I think at least two Platoons of tanks and two platoons of BMPs.  I suspect these BMPs do not contain any infantry, so this is probably meant as an armored raid into my rear.  That's how I see it at this point in the game anyway.

I have started moving 1st Platoon's Tank Section 1 across the map to hopefully hit his attacking force in the flank, or better.. the rear.  It'll take a few minutes for them to get into a position where they can begin hunting.

 
Back on my right, Warren has pushed at least one T-62 forward to blunt my tanks coming up the stream route.  Spotted by the same M-60A1 that just took out the BMP, with this result:


So to recap... if Warren pushes towards my Scout teams on my far left.. then that suits me.  It's less fire power for him to devote to blunting my tank movement on my right. 

My scouts and M-150s (which are withdrawing as fast as they can) will transition into a Delay operation now.
 
Final bit of action... on my right, 1st Platoon's 2nd Tank Section (tank 1/7) took a penetrating hit from the T-64B across the valley (should be the final undamaged T-64 on the map).  The M-60 suffers one casualty and minor damage.  Damn... well hopefully I can pull it out of the line before it gets hit again.

For those looking to see the Soviet infantry:

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.