Chudacabra

Another series of precision rounds impact harmlessly. Whew! A BMP-3 watching the route into the village gets a stern laser warning. My lucky T-90 on the hill engages another Abrams. Its reactive armour saves the day, and the T-90 scores a partial penetration on the Abrams with a few seconds remaining the turn. Not too shabby for a green Russian tank. I move my two BMP-3s from my right flank position to cover the advanced on my centre. I'll be glad if they can bag a Bradley. They can easily withdraw downslope behind cover if needed. I also relocated my lone T-90 and Khrizantema to cover my centre. I don't have much on my right flank, but I at least will have plenty of warning if anything comes that way. Brave RPGman Pelevin inches closer to friendly lines. I also call off a helicopter strike as I don't think it would have caught anything. I redirect all my air support onto the American advance towards my centre.

I move my depleted platoon to take up positions overseeing the treeline and the route into the town. My remaining platoon and my company commander move forward. Abrams' and Bradleys advance cautiously towards the farm atop the hill. An ATGM team targets a Bradley... ...who pop smoke. An Abrams emerges from the treeline on my left flank. A T-90 fires a round, but it impacts in the trees. What goes around, comes around. The Abrams' round explodes harmlessly in the tree in front of my T-90. But the T-90's second round strikes home and I'm rewarded with a plume of smoke.

A quartet of beasts sits atop the hill. One tank and two Bradley's move forward. I get one glimpse of an infantryman, headed towards the farm on the crest of the hill. An overview of my T-90 company. I had initially planned on driving them through the narrow dirt road through the woods and making a dash across the open ground to take up positions along the river and hopefully getting across the river. On further consideration, I decide against this course of action. The open ground is simply too exposed and I've used up a good deal of my smoke already. I probably could get at least some tanks across, but I feel that it might turn into a turkey shoot. I decide to deploy my tanks in pigeonholed positions along the top of the hill as best as possible. You can see 3rd platoon moving forward to to take up positions behind my two spotters. Immediately after this platoon moves forward, two precision rounds impact right on their former position. 3rd platoon fires on a crater where I spotted a Javelin team a number of turns ago. I also decide to move my infantry platoon along the same route as my T-90 company. I was initially a little unsure just what to do with them. I'm still not entirely sure where they'll end up, but I figure I might as well take advantage of the copious amounts of smoke to mask their movements. The route to my right flank is quite open and is covered by four Abrams'.

Two Abrams' join the Bradley and the other tank moving back towards the woods on my extreme left. Three, later four Abrams' appear on the hill above the town. They get a couple spots on my T-90s, but T.R.E.E.S. saves the day yet again. With the exception of one tank, my company of T-90s safely makes it across the town to relative safety along a treeline. On my far right, a Bradley moves downhill along the edge of the map. I lose contact with it and I'm not entirely sure where it's going. I only have a tank crewman nearby.

On my third try, I got a tactical victory on the first one. The Russian armoured reinforcements are still tricky. I had destroyed just about everything else by that point and moved everyone behind cover except for some Javelin teams, which fared reasonably well. I think it would be extremely difficult to win if you didn't know when those reinforcements show up. I got a total victory on the second mission. I just put my Bradleys and M1 behind buildings and picked off the Russian armour from an angle when they tried to cross the river. I'm on the third mission and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

This is something else I noticed. It would be nice to be able to redeploy units, especially the TOW Humvees and the ATGMs. I think an APC or a truck for the Lithuanians to stock up on AT weapons would also be helpful.

Hmmm, in two attempts on the first mission I've managed to lose all or most of my tanks in a single turn when Russian tank reinforcements appear on some high ground. While I like the map, I just think it's too small for the extremely large number of AFV's present. I'll give it another go though.

On the far side of the river, a Bradley moves forward towards the treeline (again!?). I do not see the Javelin team board the Bradley. An errant mortar round explodes to the front. I count three Bradleys moving forward with some distance between each vehicle. Near the end of the turn, an Abrams also begins to move downhill into the treeline. A rested RPGman Pelevin begins his long trek towards friendly positions. Near the end of my turn, three precision rounds hit a T-90 and immobilize it. It is unfortunately stuck in a useless position. This means my opponent has a UAV overhead so I must move quickly. My plan is to deploy the nine remaining T-90's in positions to watch the downslope my opponent must cross to seize the objective. I will have to use lots of smoke to cover my run. Thankfully that Abrams moving downhill means I will at least temporarily have one less tank to deal with. While T-90's are capable tanks, they aren't a match for an Abrams. I intend to use them as a company as best as possible.

The Abrams' on the hill get off quite a few rounds at my T-90s as they attempt to maneuver along the edge of the map. Thankfully, I am equipped with something even better than ERA or APS: T.R.E.E.S. Another lucky escape. This tree takes two rounds before succumbing. Brave small tree, we salute your service for Mother Russia! My tanks scurry about, get some laser warnings, but are saved by trees numerous times. They do not make any spotting contacts and I worry about what will happen when they're out in the open. While my opponent's attack so far has been rather inconclusive, he does occupy high ground with very good lines of sight. Fortunately at least some of his forces have to leave the high ground in order to seize the objectives. Large clouds of smoke billow around my T-90s. A platoon has reached their immediate destination along the treeline, they will soon be joined by the rest of the company.

I'll give it a shot. Might take me a while to get through that many scenarios, but I can give feedback as I go along.

The Bradley on top of the hill opens up... ...and a Javelin team gets out. I hope they like mortars! They take up positions in a crater (too close to vehicles for my taste) and disappear out of spotting contact. I immediately direct the fire of 3 mortars onto their position. Hopefully they lack the courage and tenacity of brave RPGman Pelevin! A couple of shots of my right flank position. Two RPG teams and two infantry teams with RPG-26's, an AT-10 team and two BMP-3's. A T-90 is nearby if needed. They have good lines of sight for about 75-100 metres. Hopefully that means anything that comes down the road will be hit by several rounds. Figuring out how to ambush and get off multiple rounds to overwhelm APS has a pretty steep learning curve I must say. If it becomes necessary in the face of overwhelming odds, I can also pop smoke, get my guys into BMP-3s (which may explode suddenly), and reverse to safety. That's the plan at least. For the next turn, I begin to move a platoon of T-90's into better positions, but I should have done this will more of them. Going back and re-watching turns is a valuable exercise that I would recommend against a human opponent.

What I think is an American spotting round lands on an unoccupied part of the village. Although upon viewing the turn again, it might be an Abrams round. I still have seen virtually no infantry or artillery from my opponent. A pickup with two passengers appears out of the treeline and heads downhill. A T-90 crewman makes a dash across open ground to reach the cover of a treeline on my right flank. Numerous Abrams' are nearby, but fail to spot him. I will place him in some woods to keep an eye on things. My artillery tapers off and I spot one confirmed casualty. My reinforcements! Ten T-90's and three BMP-3s filled with infantry. I hope to keep them out of sight and maneuver them into better positions for deployment. I get two laser warnings and my tanks pop smoke, but they only have the edge of the world to reverse into. Upon re-watching the turn, I realized that I accidentally had smoke turned off the first time I watched this turn and missed these encounters. I thought my tanks would be out of sight in their deployment positions. This adds an element of urgency to relocating them. One Abrams comes into sight closer to my centre. Another is further back, but appears to be coming forward to join his fellow tank.

Ah good to know. Does anyone know if AA pixeltruppen can shoot down drones or does it have to be a Tunguska?

I'm a bit baffled too. I can't really figure out what he's trying to do. He does hold the the high ground with very good lines of sight, but he could be squeezing me from both directions in an attack or at least making feints. Although I think an attack on my left is imminent judging from a spotting round that just fell there. My infantry does occupy positions that are not visible from the high ground, so I do have some freedom of movement within the town to redeploy as needed. I still have only seen maybe a squad of infantry and two Bradleys, so I'm not too sure what's going on there. Maybe my preliminary bombardment was drastically more effective than I thought? But even then, I would see smoke. At least I now have a rough numerical parity in armour.

I have Nvidia Geforce GT650M with 2GB and I have all the graphics settings set to best. I have an Asus laptop and it's been great for CM games. I use Bandicam to take screenshots, which is free and easy.

Woah! What's all this then? My opponent's armour has withdrawn out of the treeline back towards the top of the hill. I end up spotting a Bradley with three Abrams'. This is a big development. I immediately cancel my air support and shift it towards a more fruitful (I hope) hunting ground. I also spot this, which puzzles me. Infantry in a pickup? Why aren't they in a Bradley? I suspect that the two Bradleys accompanying the Abrams' might be empty. Time will tell. An AT-10 on my right flank disembarks to set up in a nearby house. Infantry squad dashes into a BMP-3 to support my right flank defense. I also move a recon team back into a house to keep watch. RPGman Pelevin is in the woods on the right in the distance. He has several hundred metres to cross. I also moved my surviving T-90 back to join its little friend. He can easily withdraw from this position to join the infantry strongpoint nearby if necessary. My armour reinforcements (ten T-90's and an infantry platoon in BMP-3's) have now arrived and I will hopefully be able to post this turn tonight. My initial plan is to sit tight on the far bank until an opportunity presents itself. I would like to use my armour in a counter-attack, but my opponent's attack has yet to materialize. On my left flank, a few spotting rounds begin to fall on the town next to the treeline. Outside of a TRP, I have nothing there. I suspect he will attack with infantry through there after an artillery bombardment. I will respond with one of my own shortly and commit my armour accordingly. In their deployment positions, my T-90s actually have some good pigeonholed line of sights that will hopefully prove useful. I would like to have some of his armour off the high ground before I commit my own. It is a great stage of the battle all in all. Truly anyone's game at this point.

Artillery continues to rain down on the crest of the hill. I spot a single infantryman running for the treeline... ...which I have targeted for a 120mm mortar barrage that should start shortly. A good CMBS habit is to periodically move your vehicles. I don't think my opponent has drones over my infantry company as I've seen precision rounds explode elsewhere, but as a precaution I move all of my BMP-3's in the area back or forward about 10-20 metres. RPGman Pelevin is still hanging in there! I am attempting to bolster my right flank position by shifting my men into better ambush positions. I also send an BMP-3 back to pick up an infantry squad and bring them forward. BMP-3's have become my favourite CMBS vehicle. I like the firepower they bring. They also remind me of something ChrisND said during one of his streaming matches, to paraphrase him: "Sometimes I just like to see what the game engine will do." Trying to keep them from exploding and failing to do so is one of my most entertaining CMBS experiences.

http://www.scugogheritage.com/misc/strangetales.htm An ATGM would be a great way to finally kill the horrible seamonster that lives in Lake Scugog! As I'm caught up with turns on here and my opponent is currently working on a lake freighter on the Great Lakes with extremely poor internet access, I expect things to slow down until he's back on land.

Lots of artillery starts to fall (I hope) on the American infantry. Turns out they are 120mm mortars, which is even better. The last member of my first ambush has come under fire from what I think is a Bradley and possibly mortar fire (maybe direct?). It's quite inaccurate and he safely makes it further into the woods. But will brave RPGman Pelevin make it back to my lines? It was simply too nice today for digital landscapes, however well-crafted they may be, so I got out for a bike ride in the countryside northeast of Toronto. I have to say south-central Ontario would make for pretty good CM landscapes. Lots of little hills, not too much cover, not too much open space, streams and rivers all over the place, towns of varying size. Perhaps CM: Canadian Civil War will be next?

Overview of my left flank. Most of a company of infantry with most of the vehicles. Two AT-10 teams located on the far bank with one BMP-3. Infantry appear on the hill above the tank-filled woods. They are engaged by a Havoc and hit the deck, but I don't see any casualties. American artillery rounds explode here and there, but hit nothing. My concentration of infantry could make me vulnerable to artillery, but I hope that spotting rounds can give me some notice to redeploy appropriately. I still haven't seen anything come out of the woods. My AA platoon leader valiantly volunteers to head into the second storey of of a building to get a better look. I still don't see anything. Has he made a dash that I missed? I send a BMP-3 to check if he's made a push along the map edge on the extreme left, but he finds nothing. I redirect artillery onto the area where my helicopter attacked the infantry making a break across open ground. 203mm, 152mm and two 81mm mortars should ruin their day. My Havoc has finished its attack run and I immediately call in another chopper to attack the open ground on the way into the village. 10 minutes out. My reinforcements are approximately 6 minutes out.

Overview of my right flank. A couple of couple scout units, an RPG team, an AT-10 team, two BMP-3's, a Khrizantema and a T-90. New ambush position. The T-90 spots an Abrams and fires two rounds, but both explode in the trees. I lose contact with all the armour on the right flank as they move downslope. But soon they have reversed back onto the high ground. My T-90 pops smoke, and it and the Khrizantema withdraw downslope to the next ambush position...

My Khrizantema on the far bank was destroyed a few turns ago by an Abrams that it never saw. Infantry withdraw into town. My Tunguska scores a hit! I think (hope) it was an Apache. Four Abrams' and a Bradley cautiously move towards crest of the slope, although outside of a lone T-90 crewman hiding in the woods, there is nothing to find. My Tunguska succumbs to a tank round. It had almost made it back into town. At least it shot down something before exploding. Withdrawal into town almost complete. Along with the Tunguska, I only suffer two lightly wounded men.

Back to my left flank, my artillery begins to fall as the number of contacts in the woods grow. The BMP-3 I had maneuvered for a flank shot gets a missile off, but APS saves the day yet again. Thankfully the Abrams pops smoke and my BMP-3 reverses into cover. My infantry darts for a BMP-3 to withdraw into town. A lone Abrams stands watch atop the hill. I will have to be sure to stay out of sight. Lots of smoke as I get the hell out of Dodge. My Tunguska engages a target as my company HQ runs for its (thinly) armoured taxi. Remaining T-90 and its little friend move to new positions. I will withdraw into the town behind this line of buildings. I hope to make things messy with lots of artillery for any American infantry that tries to get in. I also hope to concentrate enough infantry so that multiple RPG rounds can overwhelm any APS at close range. The downside is that I'm placing the large bulk of my forces on one side of the town. It's a risk I'm willing to take as the American force on my right only has one Bradley (little infantry) and would have to move through a much longer distance through built-up terrain with two ambushes. If I get squeezed, I will hopefully have enough time to redeploy some infantry and BMP-3's to meet a threat from the right through the town. At this point, I have only seen two Bradleys and I'm not sure where the rest of them are. Since I've spotted ten Abrams' and destroyed one, I can assume that the two helicopter casualties earlier in the battle were both Bradleys. Not stellar, but since I'm fighting a delaying battle until my reinforcements arrive, I think I've done well so far.

On my right flank, my armour and tank destroyers spring the "trap." Upon cresting the hill, I see that my opponent's armour has turned and is facing my force. I should have acted earlier and caught them broadsided. KERBLAMO! A Khrizantema gets all blowed up. A T-90 follows in short order. But... Its mate takes out an Abrams. One Abrams for a T-90 and a tank destroyer isn't bad by my account. Smoke fills the air and the T-90 and Khrizantema reverse into the treeline to take up another ambush position elsewhere.

I redeploy four BMP-3's and a Tunguska to cover the woods. An infantry squad rush through the woods as well. An Abrams lumbers out of the treeline! A BMP-3 is hit by the Abrams. A BMP-3 maneuvers to get into a better firing position. More Abrams' head downhill through the woods. Time to pull back into the town!