Bud Backer

Bud,
  What a great job you did.  The screenshots were great, your venue of presentation was unique and engaging, and the storyline held interest throughout. 
 
  I still have a great many Sgt. Rock comics, along with some other interesting ones, such as Enemy Ace and Episodes 1, 2, and 5 of a comic titled Blitzkrieg, where the main characters are three German soldiers, Franz, Ludwig, and Hugo.  It didn't last very long so I imagine those are rather rare.  They only made 5 and I missed out on 3 and 4.
 
  I've always loved comics and your CAAR really hit the spot for me.  Thanks for all your hard work on this. It was very appreciated.
 
Heinrich505

- - - - - - With a few simple mouseclick you can change a picture like this... - - - - to look like this...     I think this is pretty cool...Hope you do too...      

Operational Analysis:


A number of interesting things came to light as the battle reached it's conclusion.

1st squad had the highest kills in the game, 9 to be exact. Bear in mind they stayed in cover until their advance on the farm, some turns into the game. Their entire repertoire of kills was incurred during the defence of the farm. Their position required an enemy to reach the farm, and to drive out Hirsch's men, and that was going to be difficult.

The second highest kills (7) in the battle were by Kohl's 3rd squad, which is the one that was finally stopped rushing the farm. As I wasn't privy to their identity during the battle, I can't say exactly what they did, but I beleive they were aggressive in fighting from the fields and advancing over the battle to the farm.

The third highest kills were from the HMG 42, which killed six. All of these were done by the time half its crew were killed and it panicked and abandoned its weapon.

It is surprising to find that the rest of the units on both sides did at most two kills, and many had far less. Thirty minutes of battle and so much ammo expended and yet some units had little success. It's interesting to see, and I think rather realistic.

By two thirds into the battle, the loss of Lt. Warner was keenly felt. The absence of a decent leader had a strong impact on the morale of units under heavy fire or taking casualties. This was more serious a problem than could be easily shown in the CAAR. Frequently half my force was hors-de-combat and out of my control. 2nd squad in particular lost its leader early on and thus affected its ability to fight until late in the battle, when the two sections were reunited.

That leads the next observation: Kohl told me that by the end of the battle, all his units had but a few rounds left. On the other hand, 2nd squad had the bulk of its ammo, and an LMG, and was almost at full strength. This made it most welcome by the last quarter of the battle, and likely the most powerful unit in the field on either side.

From mid-battle on - once Hirsch's 1st squad took possession of the farm - the situation became rather static. The charges and my occasional unit panics were really the only movement.

My assessment of enemy casualties was too low; I must have been unable to see some of them. On the other hand, my appraisal of the enemy force size was too high; it turns out I had a slightly larger force than Kohl.

Lessons learned:

-IG was bad choice. Not mobile, long set up time, and unable to exit deploy area except where it was killed because woods impassable to anything on wheels. Better would have been 1 light mortar to lay down fire and smoke, which was badly needed for cover to get to farm, and another HMG. The combined cost would have been about the cost of the IG.

-HMG was crucial in the battle. As long as it was working, it was almost impossible for the enemy to advance past the point where they were in heavy cover. Two would have been better. German doctrine centered around the MG and for good reason. They are devastatingly effective and ensuring they could work unmpeded would have made me take less losses and maintain better tactical control of the map.

-Their LMG killed the second most people on the American side, despite being brought into play very late in the battle - the last 10 min or so.

-We were unsuccessful in killing a single man behind the hedgerow. This was quite a surprise to me. I thought an HMG, LMG, and countless rifle rounds would eventually kill SOMEONE there!

-I Mistook rifle grenades early on for light mortar fire. I was very concerned about a bombardment initially. That's a matter of inexperience, but it was in retrospect scary that rifle grenades could reach to the rear of my positions.

Very interesting well done story.  Especially considering you didn't really control what was going to happen and had to go with the action.  I liked the post battle update on the characters, nice touch.  The operational analysis and lessons learned were very interesting.  I hope you always include those in future battles.  A leaders absence and the effect it had on morale is something I am finding more and more important as I play CM.  It is very interesting to hear what other people learn.  
 
GOOD JOB!  I look forward to the next one.    

Great job Bud. I thank you and congratulate you on the completion of a very imaginative and creative project. 
I recommend you tie a string around your finger and remember to only embark on doing this type CAAR with very small battles; intimate and focused...
Or maybe select a specific squad, team, vehicle, crew, etc. within a bigger formation and tell the story through their eyes with occasional references to the big picture being heard over the radio for example.
 
From my perspective...
1. On impulse I bought an engineer unit, not the best choice for this open field work.
2. water-cooled .30 cal MMG got off on the wrong foot and only came into play towards the end.
3. Flame thrower didn't kill anybody, burned a bunch of leaves and maybe roasted a squirrel.
4. I had only 1 BAR. Not a single Thompson SMG! IIRC.
5. All those demo charges for nothing. Thought to use one over at the farm but "Jessie Owens" got shot!
6. I was robbing the dead of ammo as much as possible.
7. Rifle grenades were great!

I think that this was just brilliant. Great style, great story telling. And now that I think about it you concentrating on one area for a while and then going back to another was so natural I did not even realize you were doing it. Nice.

Suggestion for you overview map. Push pins with labels or flags on poles instead of arrows to differentiate between locating and movement.

Yeah, making a good map, let alone a compelling scenario, is a true labour of love. Well done!

You've got a fair bit of reading to do to catch up but I hope you enjoy it. This CAAR is wrapping up soon, but I expect that I will do another.

Some pics from my current SP QB. I've got a Battalion of Luftwaffe Fliegerhorst supported by two AG platoons trying to cut through a strong British Airborne defense on Hills-Town-Water (1120 x 736) 010 Probe.btt. The AI actually did a good setup (for the AI)!
 
My right flank company commander looking for a way to move forward without getting cut to ribbons.
 

 
 
 
On of my left flank company MG teams laying down suppression fire.
 

 
 
 
Newly-spotted members of the forward defense line on my right flank.
 

 
 
 
A platoon leader and his team from my center company approaching the safety of a building while incoming hits their previous position.
 

 
 
My first jab forward to SMG range on the right flank is driven back with casualties. Alas, the intended prep fire lands too late and this team loses two members to Sten fire.
 

The comic book cover!  How cool is that!  The cover itself is like a stand alone work of art.  Wow and 10 cents.  That brings back some memories.  
 
 
LOL  This really brings back some memories.  I did the exact same thing but for me it was a Ben Franklin dime store instead of a 7-11. 

Wow, thanks very much for the compliments
I'm glad the bandaged Warner was noticed. I recall in Tintin someone getting hurt and appearing later with a head bandage; I wanted to give homage to that style of representation.

Haha, your idea of character continuity is something I've been thinking about...for a few weeks. I don't have CMFI but
Kohlenklau is doing a bang up job of promoting all the WWII CM titles. I do have Red Thunder, so.... What about this?



None of this precludes reappearances of Warner, Dietrich and Hirsch in another German-centric CAAR, as well as an armour character not appearing in the current CAAR as neither Kohl nor I have any armour in this tiny battle. I've gotten find of this little bunch. I'd like to show more of the various sides however: Russian (WWII and modern), American - or perhaps Canadian.

I found it on page 73 of CMBS manual:
 
TRPs also double-function as “ambush” markers for regular troops and vehicles. When soldiers fire their weapons at a target near a friendly TRP, they are much better at estimating the range correctly.  

The game simulates optics, sensors, radios etc damage by weapons.  I have seen this damage inflicted on tanks fairly often in the game.  However it is usually inflicted by HMGs etc.  In my experience it would not be worth the risk for a sniper to shoot at a tank with the purpose of knocking out a sensor. The sniper would probably just give away his position and suffer the appropriate fate.
 
In the WWII titles I have used snipers to shoot at an unbuttoned tank commander for the purpose of getting the tank to button up so their spotting is hindered.  I try to time this sniper attack with an attack by my tanks in the hope that this will increase the chance of my tanks getting the first spot and first shot.  Sometimes this works and sometimes not so much.   

Bud,
 
Very nice job.  I noticed you got a bandage on the wounded Lt. Warner in post #237.  Your skill at this continues to improve.  
 
I think your fan base may demand you portray the career of the fighting Warners.  From a prequel of Private Warner in 1943 Sicily, to Lt. Warner in 1944 Normandy, to Cpt, Warner in CM Bulge through VE day.  Then you can move on to the grandson, Sgt. Warner, fighting in the Ukraine for the family's new homeland.............. It will be like Sgt. Rock generations, multiple fronts and multiple wars ............  Almost forgot.  There will be a CMSF2 someday.  Now the son also a place in history...........
 
I look forward to reading all those panels.             

I appreciate the kind words and am happy you find the blog useful.  What's your background, any military experience?
 
__________________________________________________________
 
By the way I am going to start posting the Tank Platoon Leader series concurrently with the Rifle Platoon Leader series that is ongoing... first post will be in a few weeks and will concentrate on:
tank movement tank v tank tactics tank v infantry tactics the tank platoon in an infantry support role the tank platoon in the attack the tank platoon in the defense the tank platoon in the breakthrough role a few of my personal tank handling techniques hopefully a few surprises and maybe a guest blog post or two

Canister shot!

As far as I know the ERA on BMP-3 was only developed after the UAE request for an ERA package. The only images of ERA BMP-3 in russian service are those of a vehicle with naval infantry markings, not sure if these are standard equipment for naval infantry or if it was just an improvised thing.
 
Anyway, ERA BMP-3 and ARENA BMP-3 were just a different path of development for export concepts. 
 
Due to the bulk of ERA on BMP-3 sides seems that the .50 anti tank guns can't get any penetration.

If you haven't read it yet, you should check out this recent thread:
 
http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119021-black-sea-or-older-cm-game/
 
Be advised that the CMBN demo is version 1.10, which is totally outdated compared to the current upgraded game--version, 3.11. The CMFI demo is also dated I believe, but not as much.
 
If you get the upgrades, your CMBN or CMFI game engine will have parity with CMRT and CMBS. You just need to make sure to read the details when choosing what to buy. Bundles are the best deal.
 
If you are an infantry guy and a new player, CMBN may be the better choice, as all the featured nationalities have ranged infantry AT weapons like bazookas. Also, the maps tend to have less open terrain, which helps the infantry when tanks are around. Having said that, CMFI gets tons of compliments on its scenarios and maps and some people are surprised to find that they like it the best in the series.
 
Overall, I'd say that if you have the cash, get the CMBN big bundle. It's the best deal for the amount of stuff you're getting and has the largest variety of units, weaponry and content.
 
While you are deciding, you may want to give the CMRT demo a go. It uses the latest (aside from patches?) version of the game engine for WWII. It's awesome as well, though Soviet infantry lacks ranged AT weapons beyond AT rifles good only versus very light armor.
 
Here is the CMRT demo link:
 
Red Thunder demo

ident,
 
Welcome aboard!  
 
May we call you "Squawk" to complete the phrase? Couldn't resist! We've just come off a lengthy discussion of your question over on CMBS. This is the thread. The CMBN Demo is prehistoric, in CMx2 terms, and it bears very little relationship at all to 3.11, which is the most complete version of CMBN available to us. Emphatically suggest you make no decision about CMBN based on that fossil. Instead, recommend you look at feature lists for 2.0 and 3.0 at BFC.com (also in my posts at link) and vids showing the game under 3.0.
 
CW 
 

 
Bloody Bill trains the next generation of CM gamers!


 
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

I just did some testing.
 
M107 barrett in sniper team vs some russian vehicles, distance 500/600m.
 
M107 penetrates MTLB, BTR-80, BRDM-2, - on all sides
M107 does not penetrate BMP-2 - frontally
M107 does not penetrate T-72BM3/T-90 - on the back.
M107 does not penetrate BMP-3 - frontally
M107 penetrates BMP-3 - on the side
 
Most of the penetrations did not cause damage to vehicle modules. But for one instance when a BTR-80 crew member was killed.
 
On BMP-3:
-the ERA version absorbs all shots (no penetrations)
-the sides get penetrated but not reliably (most are partial penetrations and armor spalling). I saw a partial penetration causing a casualty + a light wounded to the transported infantry team.
- a specific test on BMP-3, 10 turns long, with shots hitting the side, showed more or less one dead soldier inside the BMP-3 per turn, some sub-system damage (IR optics went even on Yellow, radio destroyed), until the remaining crew and mounted infantry panicked and dismounted the vehicle.