gnarly

This is from ChrisND's stream that aired today, enjoy guys, and thanks Chris!
 
 
 

A short while later...Overview, Turn 4Well I was right in wanting to rush to my forward positions quickly... while most of my units made it to their disembark points safely, a few laggers behind caught it in the face... but before we get to the gory bits...  Overview, turn 4: 1st Co. makes it to the town largely unmolested, thanks to the speed of their advance. Already they are moving to occupy positions in the own on the friendly side of the river, while 3rd platoon holds in reserve at Overwatch village. 2nd Co have started moving down to blocking positions on the southern side of town haven likewise incurred light casualties, however they have lost their company command element to Long range fire. That's what he gets for leading from the rear! Battalion FO, having achieved a good OP at the train station, calls in the first round of supporting fires from the 120mm mortar battery. Friendly forces have spotted enemy BMPs suspected of carrying enemy infantry down the hill to the east and the plan is to catch them as they dismount and move through the town. Might be danger close for the scouts I plan n pushing into the town proper but eh... War is hell. AT assets have mostly reached their positions and begun setting up. Reports are in that the recoilless rifle crews in particular are enjoying the shade and the scenery. Armour takes a casualty from an enemy AT missile, launcher unknown. The remaining tank from the 'open ground' section immediatly relocates to harder cover and gets a spot on an enemy BMP, launching an AT missile of it's own in revenge! I guess it got dazzled though, because part-way through it's flight it veered wildly off-course and missed by about 100 meters or more. So much for 'guided' missile. Company level support elements (Machine guns) and some of Battalion's grenade launcher elements are following the infantry into the town, with the hopes of taking up short range ambush positions in tall buildings. Now for some violence:  2 Co. command gets it in the face. Strangely Recon wasn't the first to take casualties...  ...But they're close behind. I thought through-and-through was supposed to be a good thing...  This isn't good... is this the one with APS?  Nope.  REVENGE! Oh dear. I sense the force is strong with this one.  'Guided' missile my arse. Casualties four turns in: 1 CO: 1 BTR4E (no pic, took a round while returning fire on suspected enemy positions) 2 CO: Command element and MANPAD section. Cowards Tank Platoon: 1 tank. RECON: 1 section + 1 RPG team. Eh, they died quick. Oh well, as C3k would say, you're not in contact with the enemy unless your ptrupen are burning!

First black sea quick battle! Med size forces meeting engagement!I'll be the Ukrainians rushing headlong into the evil invading Ruskies. OUT OF MY PRECIOUS HOMELAND YOU RUSSIAN DOGS! *ehem* Custom rules in effect: APS on only 20% of eligable vehicles (rounded up)Map:  Force TO&E: 1 depleted Mech rifle battalion (-1 company) in BTRs, with a platoon of Oblats attached! This gives me two companies of infantry supported by,-Some arty (bought some extra too! all off map, 2*3 tubes 120mm mortars, 1*3 tubes 81mm mortars),- Battalion support from an anti-tank platoon (Skiffs and recoilless rifles, re-enforced with two 'shturm' tank hunters) and a grenade launcher platoon (they say happiness is a belt fed weapon, but if that belt is 30mm HE then I think you should keep that 'happiness' in the bedroom)-And a Recon platoon (Irish Mine Detectors)  - to which I've attached two RPG-7 teams in the hope of catching something big and scary unawares.  Pictured: One Irish Mine Detector  Each  company command also as a Pvt Ivan with an Igla to scare away nasties and shoot down drones (do iglas work on drones?), and 1st Company get the shiny BTR-4E's instead of those crappy mobile tin targets the rest of the poor sods have. My strategy? Strength through numbers! I expect the game will appeal to the bloody-minded likes of c3k. Basic SOP is that 1st company with it's fancy taxis will be my assault force while 2nd company will form a blocking force on my right flank - securing the swampland which offers decent cover for my enemy's advance. The anti-tank platoon will be scattered at opportune positions on my side of the map, though the recoilless rifles will run down the left flank and (hopefully) secure that bridge from vehicle advance (though I don't expect them to last long). Grenade launchers will again be scattered, with at least two supporting 2nd company on over watch of the swamp. The idea is sort of 'bite and hold' - seize the major objective as quickly as possible, then defend it to the last man. I want the fighting up close and personal, where the Russian technological superiority (in terms of spotting and engagement range) is negated and my numbers count for more. If forces allow and the Russian attack is sufficiently bloodied I may consider pushing across the river with my reserve force, but given their technological superiority I doubt it.  Each company will keep a platoon in reserve of it's main advance  phew. 8,000 points buys a lot of Ukrainians!      THE PLAN - Blue is 2nd Co. Red 1st CO. and Green supporting assets (namely AT and tanks) the crosses represent positions for the Skifff AT launchers, the rest are tac symbols. Why no tac symbols for the Skiff? Because they're complex to draw, and there are lots of them.Not shown are the scouts because I forgot, but basically there is a section and an rpg team pushing ahead of each main element, and a section scouting ahead of the recoilless rifles on the north flank. My intention is to push these scouts across the river into good OP's to ID and maybe even ambush the incoming Ruskies, maybe force them to slow up. Expected life expectancy upon making contact with the enemy: 30 seconds.        CHARGE!     Scouts forward! Your bravery will be remembered!

HUNTER TWO ACTUAL,  THIS IS KINGMAKER.  WHAT IS YOURE CONTACT STATUS. 
KINGMAKER, WE ARE  FULLY  COMMITTED. ALL UNIT'S ENGAGED. FREE FIRE IN EFFECT. FORWARD ELEMENTS ARE REJOINING MAIN ADVANCE. 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL,  SOLID COPY ALL THAT. WHAT'S YOURE MECHANIZED SIT REP?
... . 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL, ARE YOU MOBILITY POSITIVE?
KINGMAKE, KINGMAKER, THIS IS HUNTER XO. HUNTER TWO ACTUAL IS KIA. I REPEAT, HUNTER TWO ACTUAL IS KIA. HOW COPY? 
HUNTER XO,  SOLID COPY. YOU ARE NOW HUNTER TWO ACTUAL.WHAT IS YOUR CONTACT STATUS? 
KINGMAKER, SOLID COPY ON CHANGE IN COMMAND. WE  HAVE FLANKING INFANTRY FIRE, MULTIPLE FORMATIONS WITH HEAVY A.T. SUPPORT. F.O. IN OVERWATCH HAS ID'D TWO,  COUNT TWO HOSTILE  MBT INBOUND, OUR VISUAL IMMINENT.  OBJECTIVE WRENCH IS ACHIEVED. ADVANCING  TO PHASE LINE GREEN. HOW COPY? 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL,  KINGMAKER COPIES ALL THAT. STATUS ON YOUR FIRE SUPPORT.
KINGMAKER, NEGATIVE COPY ON THAT. 12 TUBES OF 155 FIRE REQUESTED THIRTY PLUS MINS PREVIOUS. NO EFFECT YET. STAND BY FOR F.O. CONFIRMATION. 
EAGLE ONE,  EAGLE ONE,  THIS IS HUNTER TWO ACTUAL. 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL, UNDER MBT FIRE,  STATE YOUR QUESTION. 
EAGLE ONE, UPDATE  ON THAT 155 FIRE.  SUPPORT. 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL,  PROVIDE REQUIRED SECURITY CODE
EAGLE ONE,  HUNTER TWO ACTUAL IS KIA. THIS IS HUNTER XO, ACTING ONE PER KINGMAKER COMMAND. 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL,  PROVIDE REQUIRED SECURITY CODE. YOUR AUDIO IS SCRAMBLED,  SOLID COPY? . 
EAGLE ONE,  HUNTER TWO ACTUAL IS KIA. REPEAT,  KIA. I DO NOT HAVE SECURITY CODE. I NEED UPDATE ON THAT 155 FIRE SUPPORT REQUEST. 
HUNTER TWO ACTUAL,  PROVIDE REQUIRED SECURITY CODE. YOUR AUDIO IS STILL SCRAMBLED.  
(f*ck me )EAGLE ONE KINGMAKER HAS UPDATED COMMAND STATUS. CHECK YOUR SCREEN, EAGLE ONE. 
*Transmission garbled *
EAGLE ONE,  HOW COPY? 
KINGMAKER, KINGMAKER-
*Channel Override -*
ALL UNIT'S BE ADVISED THIS CHANNEL NOT LONGER SECURE. PROTOCOL CHARLIE ALPHA IN EFFECT. 
Hello my ruskie  friend!  Enjoy these incoming rounds, courtesy of the US Army!
KINGMAKER KINGMAKER! NEGATIVE! DO NOT FIRE ON THIS TRANSMISSION!  FOR GOD'S SAKE DONT-
*Connection Lost*

Even more so for US players because they only have Stingers. Russ and Ukrainian forces can buy SAM or SAM/AAA vehicles that obviously have multiple shots. If you're parsing down an expensive US formation its easily enough done where the Stinger platoons flatbed humvees are deleted or Brads.  On the other hand he could have kept his TO&E intact, or bought dismounted.  But Im betting instead of buying a stinger formation seperate, or as part of an entire US battalion he parsed down the forces and kept the stinger crews or bought seperate stinger teams as individual special teams that mean they come with one missile.
And considering his last game with me was his first PBEM, and he didnt buy anti air and was surprised by the appearance of CAS he responded by buying 3-4 stinger teams.  So he obviously parsed down a formation somewhat or bought them (this is what I think) individual because IIRC no US Stinger formation only has 4 shooters.   Next when I first played many moons ago it was a rude shock to me when I realized both Igla and Stinger shooters got one missile with them, the rest required rearmament and from a formation assigned specific vehicle be it humvee, bmp, brad, etc. So my bets are on he's out of missiles. Add to that 2 planes made the attack run - but only one was shot at by 4 missiles at once and the other wasnt.   It was scared off by his wingman exploding in his face but he wasnt shot at. No, I think hes out and regardless fear of individual US soldiers with Stingers isnt keeping my SU25 out of the fight.  His comrades are roasting in T90s down there, pop some flares or something and stop being a pussy I dont know what to tell ya

Actually it really is. supply trucks dont have them.  You need to keep the IFV or truck from the actual platoon of manpads to get extra stingers.

im gonna pay those same local kods to tag the bejesus outta your statue with obscene graffiti

It's been pointed out to me that I should have a plinth in the park.
So black granite, with a roman ogee cut into it. Shouldn't need polishing more than twice a day, unless kids are present.

So the next turn sees my infantry moving from house to house in the center and the left.  1st T90AM plt HQ is firing at a US M240L in a foxhole with a 30 second target brief.  The aiirburst shells kill the gunner, and by half way through the turn the enemy mg in a foxhole reads knocked out.
Unfortunately just as the T90 stops firing about 6 155mm rounds strike it in a precision strike.  Immobilized, with some mild subsystem damage its still very much in the fight with excellent right flank protection in the form of a building.
My mortars began area fire prep on the two targets assigned each battery respectively, on the left and right sides of the map.
2 BMPs (with a third to begin) either directly target the small Church that the javelin team is stuck in, or target just by it due to LoS issues and their rounds hit it anyways.
Another enemy AT position (or perhaps just infantry) is shelled by 3 bmps a little to the right of my center. This building is almost certainly where the Javelin that killed my leftmost T90AM came from and though its windows face left right and cannot be fired into at that angle, the side of the building certainly can and is being chewed apart from auto cannon.
Move paths for my center advance.   Note the dust obscured T90 that was hit by artillery.

Move paths for my left advance. Note an exploding prep fire 120mm burst in the top of the screenie

Enemy center Javelin position and foxhole with knocked out machine gun nearby being shot at.

Enemy right flank Inf or Javelin position in building being hit

My left flank from the center

Start of capitalist rounds falling on my T90 in the center

The rounds exploding,,,

T90 showing subsytems after..

 
 

Pics later this eve.
LEFT FLANK advance continues. Infantry with Snipers and an ATGM team are about to take the full housing row. BMPs are hooking around the end of the Row, pounding every single building with an eye line on them.
This  is a highly dangerous moment - a well timed Arty strike, or well placed minefield,  could cause serious damage. I have the reserves to push through but I don't want to burn out my strength here. 
I expect a heavy fight here. If not,  then that will help me deduce his actual defence zone. 
Still no fix on the US mainforce. My impression so far is that he's gathered behind my intended 2nd FSL (see first post map). 
What if  he's waiting to counter attack? I'm not over extended, my centre has taken a beating but I have the reserves to fall back without breaking my line. My right flank is not terribly strong but can still hold up any attack long enough. 
CENTER lost another T90, precision Arty strike. I've brought my left flank ZSU closer to cover the airspace better. There's a drone or two up there,  I want it down,  now 
RIGHT  FLANK has made definite contact with some form of US defence,  lost a BMP to an AT4. I've a company pushing forward here,  with strong ATGM support on the flank. 
I've pushed my right flank reserve Coy forward into the slowly dissipating cloud bank. It's a good trick to use, lay a cloud bank and use to stage/hide reserves. 
My FO in the cathedral spire is still unmolested. He's slowly id'ing US armour,  but too goddamn slow. 
My 152mm are all back online, hot and ready. 
Continuously pounding any building with good eyeliner to my forces. This reveals my vehicles but better than unfettered javelin strikes! 
Basically,  advance continues,  contacts growing, lost another precious T90, no firm I'd on US mainforce yet. 
Tense.... moments... While... Advancing... 

Ok so the turn was pretty uneventful. Except a BMP2M on my left flank trundling down the loggers road spotted some US infantry dashing across the road to the otherside of the woods where more of my troops are. Autocannon fire killed at least one GI.



Enemy spotted!

Annd enemy Killed.  FIRST BLOOD! As they used to say in Mortal Kombat...

Current status.

 
Death of a platoon.

*cough* Wheres Combat Mission: Battle of France *cough*
 

Shots Fired!
 
My overwatching HMG's spot what looks like a scout team moving into the hotel. They quickly prepare their well-reasoned reply:
 

 
"BRRAAPP!" They said. Sounds good to me. I would ask Ithikial's boys what they think, but they're too busy cowering.
Meanwhile, one of my mortars adds to the discussion:
 

 
All he said was, "BOOP!" Battalion HQ is still pondering the meaning of the phrase. Perhaps it has something to do with an explosion?
I've ordered my overwatch elements to area fire on the hotel, including a [Target Briefly] from my AT Gun. I figure while I spotted this one team, the two story part of the Hotel is a good place for an FO to setup, so I'm going to say hello with a couple of 75mm High Explosive rounds.
 
Meanwhile, my Scout and Sniper teams have gotten overwatch on the road leading up to the Road Bridge objective, and they immediately spot this guy:
 

 
Have you ever felt like there's a target painted on your face? Just ask this guy now that I've cancelled my sniper's cover arc.
 
Elsewhere, my StuG is moving to the head of my armor column. It turns out there is LOS to the Hotel from the road corner, so it's time to lay in some HE. I'll wait for the smoke mission to finish firing before moving up my StuG, then when the smoke clears I'll let rip.
After tomorrow's turn I'll post an overview of how things have shaped up.

Thanks IanL.
 
Advance continues, sporadic sightings/hearings of M1s on the move.
 
Took the inevitable friendly fire hit, from a 152mm salvo still in the air when the cease fire order came down the wire.
A salvo of shells caught a forward platoon in the complete open between two houses.
Incredibly, 2 men survive, the two fastest at the front.
The nearby T90 has blood and parts scattered all over its front glacis.
 
Left Hook Infantry keep pushing into the Housing row.
I'm leery of ambushes on the other side.
Personally I'd place 2-3 MGs on the facing row on the far side, hide 'em, and then pin down the entire row.
 
Center are maneuvering into overwatch positions, T90s creep forward, light but constant coaxial/remote MG fire on every house that has an eyeline to the center.
ATGMs pushing forward into upper stories.
I already have a team watching north along the diagonal boulevard... there's an M1 down there, somewhere.
 
Right Flank is working forward steadily, I'm being careful here with MG/sniper overwatch. There are a LOT of blank windows looking at me. 
FO is about to hop out of his BMP and race up the cathedral spire.
I suspect HATO drone watching the cathedral - i dont expect my FO to last long, but all he needs is one turn. I plan a massed arty (4-5 batteries of 152) on the urban build up facing my left flank. A steady, constant, massive, prolong bombardment. 
 
I'm gonna shake him out of his hidey holes!
 
Btw, why can I only upload 14.3KB???
   
 
 
 

Notes to self:
 
Bring anti-air.
Bring scouts.
Bring backup UAVs.
Forget the snipers.
Forget the breach teams.
Fire stops coming from the building when it collapses.
No, I'm not going to rescue you.
Sublime likes armor, but he likes infantry more. A lot more.
Don't ignore spotting rounds. Really.

Absolutely gorgeous screen shots. 
 
If you want to embed full size images in your posts, once you have attached thumbnails you can embed the full size image in your post by doing the following:
right click on the attached thumbnail in the full post editor and select "Copy Image Location" or what ever similar menu option your browser has click on the picture icon in the toolbar above the editor past the image url into the dialog box and remove the _thumbnail text from the file name press OK and behold the full size image Like this:

 
Which creates the following in your message when viewing the posts mark up code:
[img=http://battlefront.invisionconnect.com/uploads/monthly_09_2015/post-73700-0-61928400-1441859397.jpg]

Lost a T90 to a deep sited Abrams, about 1-2km away down a street.
Holy sheeeet...
 
Learning some rookie mistakes with arty placement.

Just to be a pedant, this game (being posted in the CM:BS forum) is only 9 months old, having been released in only January of this year.
 
 

 
And I would suggest there is more addictive quality game time in any one of the FIVE (5!) different free demo's for the CMx2 engine than there is in many complete paid games out there. I mean, how many games nowadays where the linear storyline takes perhaps 18-20 hours to complete? And then, that's it, game done....

The Italian theatre isn't even remembered in New Zealand and it was the only one we fought in! (on the European mainland)

I have both and while WitE is an interesting game and continues to develop, I like the scale of CM more. To be completely honest, I haven't actually fired up WitE in a while now.

I just had an incident in a pbem where my 2 GIs are behind a wall outside a building with a German lmg inside. The two units are within an AS of each other. Both units are pretty rattled (and I think out of control for both my opponent and myself) and sporadically have been attempting to shoot one another. Finally my two guys pop up, the lmg fires a burst that misses, one of my guys drops down again, I thought to cower. Instead he tosses a grenade. It gets the German, but then there is another explosion behind the building. I replayed the turn frame by frame. Seems the German had the same idea albeit a second too late. He dropped his grenade when hit. Whew! I love this game.

This is always great...when it happens to the other guy:
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Luckily, I am the other guy in this one (US)!

I am happy to see you found the same results with the information sharing.  Makes me feel more confident in my own findings. Speaking of radio C2, while moving on foot, I had the below screenshots from an older test. 
 
Units in Combat Mission's World War II titles drop out of radio C2 while moving on foot.  But not in vehicles as Kuderian pointed out.

 
 
Units in CMBS maintain radio C2 while moving.

You would be surprised.  There are numerous WW2 era accounts of tank crews bailing out of perfectly functional tanks after hits by weaponry that was incapable of destroying it.  The thing to keep in mind is that all a tank crew knows is that something exploded or impacted their vehicle.  The crew isn't going to know exactly what type of weapon just fired at them necessarily and if the crew fears a fiery death then yeah - they might jump out rather than retreat.  Sometimes a crew doesn't even know if the vehicle has been penetrated or not and there are even cases where a tank commander will tell the gunner to fire at a target only to find out that the gunner is splattered all over the inside of the turret.  The situational awareness that you have while playing the game is orders of magnitude greater than a crew has while engaged in actual combat.

Thanks for the great replies, everyone. I will start working through the demos. I can't believe I haven't heard of this series before, I love war-gaming.