BletchleyGeek

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
 
 

Cheers for the overview picture, I was confused by the nap of the earth shots. 
I can see you are going to play the man, not the ball. Let's see if that man is too fast to let himself be injured.
 
 

Cheers for the overview picture, I was confused by the nap of the earth shots. 
I can see you are going to play the man, not the ball. Let's see if that man is too fast to let himself be injured.
 
 

Usually those are available after release. Anyways, there is no real benefit to you for pre-ordering besides showing intense interest in the product. If you want the bundle (if there's going to be one), just wait until the Battlefront release. The Steam release will be in quite a while.

I think Bil and The_Capt are more focused on smacking each other around than the actual objective.

After all, if the other guy is dead you can take it anyway.

I am not totally sure either @Lethaface- you raise a good point. The thing is that as far as I understand Warren is planning to push through his left flank (which is Bil's right flank). So if Bil uses his cluster ammo volley on those targets you mention, it may well be that he only hits trees, rather than Soviet AFVs. Those SBF positions that Bil has in his analysis seem to me only to exist there, rather than being something Warren actually intends doing.
There's a forest with some logging trails crisscrossing it. I don't think Bil has even mentioned them in his analysis. Warren's sketch was seemingly avoiding them as well.

I went to a school disco wearing a NBC respirator ('borrowed' from a friend's older brother who was in the army) in 1979. It was remarkably effective at electing the attention of the opposite sex - surprisingly. When I wear it now my wife just calls me 'a big creepy bastard'. Times change eh?   

Hi all, really looking forward to this module. I served in BAOR from 1983 - 1988, so a little after this initial release. From my time at least i would say one of the main concerns was NBC warfare, not so much Nuclear at this stage but definitely Biological and Gas. I would estimate we spent about 80% of the time whilst on Exercise in our NBC suits.
Nobody really knew what was going to happen, but initially there would of been a big fear of Chemical warfare, it would be good if this could be simulated somehow. i know at the time that any smoke, cloud, mist etc i saw and i would of had my mask on pronto.
Training in NBC gear was extremely tiring and cumbersome, especially in the Summer months so even if reduced visibility, higher exhaustion etc could be modelled.
I'm on the right in the picture below, taken about 85, with a typical bit of squaddie humour 😉. I see if i can find anything more relevant, i think i still have the old 'Survive To Fight' pamphlet in the loft.
cheers all 
 
 

HEAT warhead damage on an M-113... the game has it pretty much spot on:

 

I too like others think the lack of infantry will hurt Bil.
Yes if his tanks can survive they can have a go at destroying them, but once you have the infantry in buildings away from the edges of the village then it gets a lot harder as you then risk your vehicles to hand held AT.
The Capt seems to be prepared to walk infantry spread out down to the village?
I am looking forward to learning about the effects of DPICM on armour and that will only work if you can get it on target, often easier said than done.
My first understanding of this period of conflict was playing in the 80's with micro armour and using the WRG rules on table top.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargames_Research_Group
And just recently I played World at War Storming the Gap 85
https://store.lnlpublishing.com/world-at-war-85-series
This was being taught on TTS and allowed me to play the game with the designer. Excellent Table Top game and reminded me how the first M1 was no super tank as my tanks got taken out....
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2141595623
Really glad that times have changed and this period has now become fashionable and hence a market for folk to spend money on.
I think it is in part down to folk like me who were kids in that age, computer literate and with disposable income to relive their childhoods. Just seeing the number of people saying how they served in Germany and are up for this shows the demand I think (hope)...
🙂
 
 
 

Tanks at the hamlet on the right flank feel just fine. So you can try to move your formidable tank force on the right flank all the way to the Soviet hill and go up a bit. At least on Google Earth and original Weyhers topo there's a covered ravine one can use. And up the Soviet hill you may find a position that both dominates from above direct avenues of attack on the town over the center yet stays untouchable to Soviet armor at their current positions up the hill. Soviets will be vulnerable to flanking fire if they move directly. And should they try to go over the hill to dislodge you from above they will be clearly seen both against the skyline for your tanks below, and being on the move they will have a disadvantage in spotting to your TOW guys. Easy kills IMO.

Yep and the nazi fanboys also get their 'we only made 80 of em' Jagdtiger as well.   Will the commies get the Valentine III and IX? My guess is it will only be the IX even thought there were thousands of em sent in lend lease and in east action since  1941.  

I asked this question in Bil's thread, but I'll pose it here for discussion. Based on Bil's pre-game analysis, it sounds like the only infantry Bil has at his disposal is (6) scout teams (assumed to be small, 2-4 men squads), compared to Capt's maybe 2 platoons of Russian line infantry. If I were Bil, I'd be extremely worried about my opponent getting his infantry into the town because at that point I'm not sure Bil has the pixeltruppen to dig Capt back out. 
It seems like Bil realizes that and is trying to dominate the field around the town and interdict his opponent's movement, but in order for that strategy to pay off I think he needs an overwhelmingly favorable result in the early game skirmishes, and I don't know he'll achieve that.

Cheers @Holien for starting the thread, and @Pete Wenman for sharing the map source (and the mapping work which we all will be enjoying soon enough). Having the maps helped me heaps to wrap my head around the AAR.
Bil's force doesn't seem to have much heft to hold ground. So my guess is that he expects to be killing lots of Soviet infantry (and tanks) before they can dismount with his arty and attack helicopters. All he needs is to stall Warren's attack long enough to pour molten lead on the heads of his enemies, and even the odds.
Much can go wrong with that.
Warren's proposition is much simpler and robust, in my opinion. Depends less on what Bill can or will do (and that would be the point, to render Bil's decisions irrelevant due to overwhelming local force ratios in his favour).
So in the spirit of those late 1970s manuals @akdhas been digging out, I would say Bill has a success probability of 0.3.

@Rice I'll try to find. But here's the excerp from the BMP-1 technical description

It says:
"Ports for mounted element to fire small arms: PK MGs - 2, AK assault rifles - 7"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like we can expect both main forces to run into each other in a nice clash of steel that the Capt might win due to his overwhelming firepower advantage. My read of the coming manoeuvres:
https://imgur.com/scpRyd
I'm not sure Bil is expecting a large push over the southern part of the valley, so it'll be interesting to see if he sniffs it out in time.

Just thought it might be useful to have a thread where folk can talk about the AAR but without Bil or The Capt peeking?
I enjoyed the discussion in Bil's thread about the tactics and other items that were perhaps better suited to it's own discussion. I have some questions which I will post later as off to enjoy the sun and get my daily walk in Lockdown....
Just Pre-Ordered the game so really looking forward to this title...

Thanks to @Pete WenmanI can link the pictures to places in the map. My guess is that you're preparing to advance on the town with your right flank, and also covering your back. You're moving your armor to what to me looks like a very safe FUP. It also incidentally would be a good position for your armor to be part of a KZ. If I am not wrong, you're moving them to what looks like a hamlet with a few buildings and a treeline, with possible keyholed battle positions. Not sure who are the dismounts on your right flank, but I presume they are taking with them their Dragon missiles.

TIME TO RESUURECT THIS ENTIRE MOD EFFORT!
Once F&R is released, I will take advantage of new rubbled walls and the winter uniforms. 

Thanks to @Pete WenmanI can link the pictures to places in the map. My guess is that you're preparing to advance on the town with your right flank, and also covering your back. You're moving your armor to what to me looks like a very safe FUP. It also incidentally would be a good position for your armor to be part of a KZ. If I am not wrong, you're moving them to what looks like a hamlet with a few buildings and a treeline, with possible keyholed battle positions. Not sure who are the dismounts on your right flank, but I presume they are taking with them their Dragon missiles.

Bil,
Thanks for doing yet another beta AAR - I know that providing your customary level of detail in maps/analysis/blood-boards must absorb an immense amount of time and effort so (if you're not tired of hearing it) I wanted to let you know it's appreciated. Really interested to see how this battle develops.
My understanding is that your force basically has little effective infantry combat power (assuming your six 'Scout Teams' are small, 2-4 men squads). By contrast, it seems likely the Russians have 2+ platoons of dedicated line infantry dismounts. Are you concerned that if your opponent gets his infantry into the town objective that you won't have any good way to ferret him back out? It seems to me like your goal is to dominate the space around the town with firepower but may have a lot of difficulty later in the battle if you can't decisively win the long range, tit-for-tat phase.
On another note, have you considered making fresh updates to your Battle Drill blog? It just so happens that today marks one year and a day (I think) since your last update. I really enjoy the content on your blog, and would love to see it expanded upon, your time/interest level permitting.
For example, I'd be interested in seeing you finish the Rifle Platoon series. I also think a more in depth tutorial explaining how to analyze a map, things to look for/identifying approaches/key terrain features, etc. would be very useful. Men like yourself with formal military training may take it for granted, but for us civilians it's not always as obvious to look at a map and understand all the tactical implications of the geography. At least that's something I have a lot of trouble wrapping my head around.
Thanks again, and good luck in defending Dolbach.

Thanks to @Pete WenmanI can link the pictures to places in the map. My guess is that you're preparing to advance on the town with your right flank, and also covering your back. You're moving your armor to what to me looks like a very safe FUP. It also incidentally would be a good position for your armor to be part of a KZ. If I am not wrong, you're moving them to what looks like a hamlet with a few buildings and a treeline, with possible keyholed battle positions. Not sure who are the dismounts on your right flank, but I presume they are taking with them their Dragon missiles.

Wow...no pressure.  Ok, so this is not as formal turn report, I will do a summary once we get a bit further but here is an example of the Soviet Missile Hell ("SMH" copyright) awaiting the US player.
First a M150 get cocky and crest a hill, and three AT 3s light up (red circles)

And 2 out of 3 aint bad...(Capt's Rule #4)



Bil is lucky that was an M150 because those AT 3 would have killed anything short of an M1.  [edit AT3Bs..my bad, AT 5s are even deadlier].

Apologies to all... here is the last half of the GIF that did not play properly in my turn 8 report.  Evidently three ATGMs were fired at this M-150.. two if which hit.

The Eighth Minute post updated as well.

No worries @Bil Hardenberger I wanted to appreciate your cinematic skills For the short form vignettes it is not worth the effort to upload to YouTube, but for the "Zapruder" ones maybe you can be granted permission to upload onto YouTube? Unlisted maybe?
Learning a lot btw from the AAR, lethality, accuracy/reliability (or lack thereof) and spotting abilities. The Soviet gear is less of a mystery to me due to CMSF2.