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Rinaldi

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    Playtesters Needed: "MG Raid on the Sielle"

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted · Edited by Rinaldi

    Took a crack at doing a late-summer Scenario after replaying the CMBS Russian campaign. Liked the look and feel of the map, figured it could pass for the Lorraine's rolling hills and open sight-lines with a bit of work. Used it as an inspiration for recreating a semi-historical scenario. Treadheads will like this one.

    Download HERE

    Best played as Allied v. AI or H2H; note that the more experienced player should play as the Germans. Market Garden Expansion is required.

    Map Size: 3008m x 1680m

    Battle Size: Battalion-sized forces. Ample artillery, no airpower.

    There is no Allied AI plan.

    ___

    Take command of the famous 37th Tank Battalion and attached elements during their attack into the rear of the 553.Grenadier-Division on September, 1944. Alternatively, play against an opponent and try to frustrate the American's advances. 

    Allied difficulty level: Low.

    Axis difficulty level: High

    Allied Briefing Excerpts:

    1145 HOURS, 16 SEPTEMBER, 1944
    Over the past ten days a battle of encirclement has been fought over the city of Nancy. On September 11, CCA/4th Armored Division crossed the Moselle and penetrated to an operational depth of over 20 miles. Over the last three days your taskforce, part of CCA, has been cutting across the rear elements of the 553.Grenadier-Division in a bid to link up with CCB. Despite having to abandon supply lines, CCA and CCB met one another on 15 September.
    Now the combat commands are striking out with battalion sized task forces in every direction to wreak havoc on the Germans as they avoid encirclement. 

    ...

    TF Abrams is relatively concentrated and marching along a handful of sideroads. Leading the vanguard of the column with “A” team is your XO, Major Edward Bautz, who has just reported to you that he has over-run and destroyed a small convoy. Bautz’s command is the better part of A/53rd Armored Infantry (-), Recon/37th Tank Battalion and A/37th.
    Bautz believes and expects that there will be contact ahead at a ford, and you concur. You are moving up presently with an attached platoon of M18s from the 704th to take overall command. B/37th and B/53rd (-), along with Battalion mortars, should be on the scene shortly as well. 
    Fires for your taskforce are provided by a battery of 105s and an attached battery of 155s. However, since abandoning CCA’s supply lines, HQ has been sparing with the issue of ammunition. All the guns are still at Arracourt and are immediately at your call.
    A and B companies of the 53rd are less a platoon each, as you have out posted main escape routes with them earlier in the day.

    ...

    TF Abrams, CCA, 4th Armored Division has been ordered to raid back across the River Sielle, with two objectives:
    1. Maximize destruction (85%) of enemy forces as they retreat from the advancing 35th Infantry division. 
    2. Seize and outpost the road with your infantry to prevent further exfiltration of the enemy.
    3. Exit with armor; CCA/HQ has stipulated that all medium armor shall be kept in laager at Arracourt as a mobile reserve. 
    4. Force preservation is key, your unit is in a salient beyond a salient and is wedged in between many enemy units. Ensure that you take minimal loss in men and material (15%)

     

    Axis Briefing Excerpts:

    1145, 16 SEPTEMBER, 1944
    On 11 SEPTEMBER, 1944, enemy armored columns penetrated our MLR North on the R. MOSELLE and have advanced into the rear of our division. In conjunction with a bridgehead established South of our MLR, it is evident the enemy is attempting to encircle our division.
    Division has been attempting to organize an orderly retreat, but confusion reigns supreme. Enemy aircraft roam at will and small convoys of mixed vehicles and pack-animals are frequently interdicted by mobile forces or airpower. 
    At the same time, elements of the 15.Panzergrenadier, who were cut off on the North side of the Marne-Rhine canal are attempting to re-enter the battle. The situation is leading to a swirling battle with no defined front, and we simply can no longer keep up.

    ...

    You are holding open a route-of-retreat. The mission is simple; continue to ensure it remains open. The operation is deemed to have no cost too high, counterattack or deny-by-fire the road to the enemy should you be pushed out of your positions.

    ...

    You are commanding an adhoc kampfgruppe based mostly on whatever units were able to filter into the safety of the perimeter of Chateau-Salins. Your battlegroup is mainly made up of rear-echelon and corps-level formations and survivors from cut-up rifle units. Most of the men are shaken and confused by the confusing nature of the week’s battle, and almost none of them have their heavy weapons. You are expected to hold all approaches to the objective, and by necessity have pushed a company across the River Seille to occupy high ground there. 
    The entire situation leaves much to be desired, but you have been able to construct rudimentary defensive works overnight, and the men at the very least are dug-in. You have bolstered your thin PaK-front by employing some AAA in direct-fire roles. The entire nature of your defense remains expedient in nature.
    There is one positive however: Your battlegroup has priority of fires from several batteries emplaced at Chateau-Salins. Additionally, Corps headquarters is sending out small battlegroups of men from the 15.Panzergrenadier who were not able to regain contact with their own division. There is currently a unit marching towards you, but with the enemy JaBos out in force, when and if they arrive is another matter entirely. 

    ...

    The Germans largely slipped the noose at Nancy, as the two thinly stretched Combat Commands of the 4th Armored division simply could not form an iron-clad blocking position. That being said, the plight of the 553.GrenadierDivision was dire indeed, and the loss of material and manpower was egregious across the entire German Corps holding the Nancy position. The Americans may have had no choice but to let the Germans drip out of the trap in small bands of men, but they caused losses completely disproportionate to their own.
    I wanted to capture that type of confusing Operational situation. Despite the ludicrous ineffectiveness of their improvised roadblocks, the Germans often showed quite a willingness to fight between September 11 and 14th, 1944. At Valhey in particular, the Germans managed to give a stiff fight and actually incur armor losses. 
    Despite this, on Sept. 14th CCA only suffered around 60 casaulties between its two task forces, for at least 300 enemy casualties and 26 armored vehicles destroyed; the amount of thin-skins destroyed was numerous.
    Good luck!

    Spare no criticism, so long as it remains constructive, but do be mindful of the operational situation I'm trying to capture. Allied victory is based as much on getting the crossroads as it is getting armor off the map when that is completed. This means that for a H2H situation, even a mobility-kill is going to score the German player points. Finally, German forces are supposed to capture the generally confused nature of the 553 and its neighboring units - cohesion is not going to be the by-word when a division of armor is 20 miles behind your MLR - but don't worry, they eventually get units that can handle themselves.

    Anyone who can offer a good set of alternative AI plans for the Axis is welcome to suggest them - I want a modicum of replayability.

    Thanks in advance, guys. 

     

     

    QlXaIdm.jpg

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    Unofficial Screenshots & Videos Thread

    in Combat Mission Black Sea

    Posted · Edited by Rinaldi

    Fire Support Company, 3rd Parachute Bn, 25th Brigade - not your typical Ukrainian formation, these men are professionals and form part of the only UA brigade capable of being air-dropped or parachuted into combat. They are, for now, doing neither. Fighting as light infantry bereft of even the slightest IFV support, and being forced to use old MT series guns as scratch artillery, the Paras find themselves fed into the line to stop a Mot-Rifles attack. The Battalion commander has placed the considerable AT assets, outdated though they are, into a clever crossfire.

    The Russians, forced to come over a ridge time and again, can surely only watch in horror as they lose BTR after BTR. T90As eventually roll up, but they too are disabled by AT-4 fire. Exposed positions are hit by artillery, suspected positions are hit by smoke. Yet every time the Russians take to the ridge, they have missed or failed to adequately suppress at least one angle. The Russian attack is about to become a serious disaster.

    0PbpHy0.jpgkuqym5k.jpg

    From an ongoing PBEM.

    0

    Russian Representation in CMBS

    in Combat Mission Black Sea

    Posted · Edited by Rinaldi

     also why arent they fixed already

    The Dev team is smaller than my pinky finger and is working on several projects at once. Next.

    and imagine 7 abrams tanks attacking 1 part of the map or flank

    I'm imagining delicious, open flanks. Over-concentration rarely ends well and can be easily punished by a dynamic and mobile enemy. Where you see hoplessness, others would say there's opportunity. 

    yes i know,tactics,but we are talking pure balance/power)

    This is preposterous as an argument, to discount this. By your math, which I just checked is correct, a Company of Abrams costs 1.5x the cost of a Company of T90s. Lets say we're playing an 8500 point meeting engagement, that leaves the Russian player with almost 4000 points to play with. The US player, by contrast, is over budget already. The Russians can put a larger, powerful all-arms force in the field for cheaper. This is the literal definition of balance. If the US Player wants a balanced force, he might have to settle for a Platoon of Abrams.

     

    Now we have 4 tanks against 9; more than a surmountable obstacle for the Russian forces. Your argument simply boils down to "Well I cannot take them on one to one" - Splendid, the dev team did their job then. Here's food for thought: Has it occurred to you that you can win a tactical victory while incurring slightly more losses than your opponent in certain sectors? The game is, after all, a tactical-level simulator.

    I'm not discounting your concerns in a general sense, they're valid, I've even gone out of my way to show you actual, legitimate issues people have been able to find with the US forces - and have backed it up with reproduce able results. I just don't think your particular issues really deserve the dev team's attentions, sorry. They're not legitimate to me. Sounds to me you just have a fundamental disagreement with the design philosophy of the game; and I don't doubt BFC's research on the capabilities of the AFVs in game in the slightest.

     

    0

    Russian Representation in CMBS

    in Combat Mission Black Sea

    Posted · Edited by Rinaldi

    Okay @IanL since you broke the ice...I'll put on my gaiters and wade in.

     

    1) abrams seems to be too good tank, or maybe i should say t90 seems like a junk

    I don't want to be 'that guy' but I'll say it: Are you trying to go hammerhead-to-hammerhead with Abrams? Then yes....you should be getting chewed up and badly. The T90AM (which I remind you, is not in service as of 2015 - so you can thank BFC for giving Russia the benefit of that doubt) is more than capable of eating Abrams up...if handled intelligently. However, since the game is set in 2017, and BFC has already taken the extraordinary step of giving T90AMs with their Relikt armor and all, we've also recieved the (currently not in service) modern sabots meant to defeat Relikt armor.

    You wouldn't charge a Sherman 76 across 2km of open ground to attack a dug in Jagdpanther if you have a covered route of approach, right? So why are you doing it with T90s - excuse the assumption. The Russians have an edge on battlefield observation and tank destroyers over the US, you should be playing with your T90s close to the chest. A US player will almost inevitably lead with his M1s, you should never be putting something big and easy to spot up front first against them.

     

      ,is that t90s cost less than abrams,but how much  less,there are contradictions showing up when trying to see real numers on the internet

    Why? Let's stick to the game. The QB system is the first one based on true balance - and you can usually get 2:1 to 2.5:1 advantages in material and numbers as the Russians. If the US has similar numbers to you, or God forbid outnumbers you in say, a meeting engagement, then you need to re think how you select troops.

    3)russian artilery calling time and drones are inferior to those of america,russian player must wait longer to get info from the drones  as far as i noticed,what is that based on?

    The Russian C2 system is not as powerful as the US, and this is the reality of training differences. Its a disadv. offset by the fact that their battlefield observation is generally on par or greater than the US's - culminating in a drone that literally cannot be engaged by the US currently. More than a fair trade off. 

    I play the Russians or Ukrainians almost exclusively and have never had a rough time of giving an equal opponent a good fight. There's so many people on these forums who will legitimately scratch their heads at some of the complaints. There's plenty of legitimate criticisms one can make atm, that have been proven by forum members. For example and off the top of my head: Antarres (sorry if I misspelled) has shown the side armor of Abrams being far too durable and has even deduced why that may be. People have shown consistently that Bradley ERA blocks tend to not explode, leading a Bradley to eat round after round - that's only a few pages back on the screenshot thread; I have no doubt the Devs took notice. Stagler, who I believe is still on a vacation for being a pecker-head, and others have shown that the 152mm precision round fails to penetrate or even significantly damage Abrams with good, clean hits - another thing that is now being considered for future updates.

    Sublime as well has been proving through two separate DARs that a well handled Russian force can easily pull-around an American heavy team and inflict mass losses; offensively or defensively.

     

    0

    SLIM vs Ithikial DAR (Ithikial Stay Out!)

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    So that was the second Firefly and another Sherman? Could you tell if any of the hits on the Panther were from the Firefly? It looks like it's quite long range, but I guess Ithikial thought the 17lber would be effective even against Panther glacis at that range, I would have tended to agree. 

    I've gotten 76 and 17pdr kills at 1100m on Panthers as well - this was very rough luck for Ithikial that the follow-on shots hit at odd angles. However, that's how battle sometimes goes! He's definitely very skilled, though - we're watching a very good match-up.

    0

    CM:BN Screenshot Thread #2

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Been breaking in a friend who recently purchased CMBN; allowing him to attack in small/medium scenarios while I took "Green" or "Conscript" troops - he's a remarkably quick learner however and said he wanted to 'defend against something big.' Well then, my pleasure:

     

    uQ0hoyn.jpg

    August; just another day in the "Road March" War, when a German rearguard decides to make an issue of some small, anonymous hamlet, in short order two US Recon Jeeps are burning, both teams are able to bail out and grab cover.

    dUiIUxl.jpg

    Shermans of A/37th with some infantry from A/10 riding close behind attack the town from an unexpected direction, over a wheatfield, rushing to clear this roadblock as well as rescuing the pinned Reconnaissance elements. 

    HXoooS0.jpg

    PaKs, being labored into position by hand, are rapidly dealt with by massed fire from the Sherman platoon, the infantry keeping the crews from the breech with MG fire:

    Ul4d9VZ.jpg

    The Infantry begin attacking in bounds towards the small hamlet, consisting of a church, a gas station, and a handful of bungalows. Of note however, is a small 3 story building that also forms part of the small crossroads - a key place to take.

    gwk68pP.jpg

    fj90Uc2.jpg

    Germans rush to forward positions to contest this, and a handful are hit as they dash to the edge of the hamlet.

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