Rinaldi

Free French. The base game already had a weak argument for it; as it stretched into August and we have the 2nd Free French Armored; but that can easily be captured with the US forces to hand and some imagination. However, the First French Army that lands in Dragoon was a very different beast; with a significant amount of French small arms and more traditional French uniforms in addition to the US equipment we see. I think it warrants a pack more so than, say, Ost units, which can easily be captured by placing a very poor Grenadier unit on the map. We also have the race issue, the 2nd Armored was all-white on US insistence, but the French First Army was made up of a majority of North African colonial troops. Retro-grading tactical amphibious vehicles would be awesome, but a bit of a stretch. In fact I'm pretty sure any pack at this point in time would be a stretch - but one can hope!

A bit delayed due to life being lived, but finally time to plunge into Black Sea and do an AAR. Originally I wanted to show off Mission 3 of the Russian campaign, but the frame drops while being filmed were disastrous, so I opted to play "Valley of Death" as the Russian Federation. Okay so, this is my first time since buying the game that the T90 series under my command has had to go toe-to-toe with American MBTs. I really do believe, in the words of another user, that its "The Sherman versus Tiger I debate" all over again. I highly recommend you force yourself to try it as the OPFOR if you want to be humbled. The physical losses were certainly in my favor, but the material losses speak for themselves; not one of my better managed battles.

You don't. A good commander needs to understand his own men and the enemy's; as well as the terrain they are fighting in. If you're fighting on a 4km open map as a RUS Tank battalion, you're going to take higher material losses than the enemy, almost guarenteed if you're fighting a near-equivalent US Force. Once you sell that point to yourself, you can focus on winning. DISCLAIMER: That being said, no judgement against people who reload; no better way to learn what went wrong! I did it alot in Normandy's Road to Monteburg - good plan, bad execution etc. Made me learn alot about the intricacies of infantry combat in the CMx2 engine.

McMaster's claim to fame outside of the US comes largely from his boldness as a young Officer in criticizing how the US Army ran things. You don't generally do that and see an illustrious career, especially back at the time when he wrote that particular academic piece. It shows something more important than any of his obviously impressive battlefield accomplishments; he knows how to criticize the organization he's apart of. For the largest and seemingly most powerful Armed Forces in the world, the ability to foster a self-critical atmosphere is how you avoid stagnation.

A preview/teaser of my next Let's Play: Valley of Death. I'm taking a break from some Normandy AARs and have been slowly grinding through this a few turns a night. This little attack on a US Platoon was a bright spot in a battle that had been sweat-inducing up until this point. Around 20 minutes after this little assault, almost all the ground gained was lost in one, crushing counterattack by a M1A2 platoon. At the time of this post, I've finally blunted the powerhouses and am attempting to finish off the remaining US forces. An interesting mission!

The effort that went into this is phenomenal, good read!

Looks like it was quite the slug match given the casaulties; how'd the ratio of vehicles lost become so skewed though? Looks like that's what cost you the battle, I'm assuming.

I don't think it deigns a new thread so soon after my last, so I'll place it here: A very interesting mission made challenging by the terrain, rather than the staunchness of the defenders. Definitely felt like a fish out of water with so much open ground having come from the base game. Of course, just like my Carbide-Carbide video, I've combined more cinematic edits with me droning on; the latter half of the video is nothing but (thankfully unnarrated!) infantry action. I can confirm as well that pixelation only occurs from camera movement; but as its only occurring during top-down segments, I don't think its much of an issue this time around.

For the longest time I thought you could target individual pixels as well with area target; but its limited to hexes yes. Don't worry, I've noticed with AFVs and infantry fire alike that if there's a potential contact in a hex, the area fire gravitates towards it. Try it anyways, you may not be disappointed. If you are, try area firing for a full turn; the AFV will usually walk fire all over the hex. As for your other issue, unfortunately that's hedgerow hell for you. Some hedges are too thick and awkward to allow the turret to traverse. Do you have any engineers handy? Try blowing a small hole and angling the tank at a 45 degree to get clear LOS while not exposing it to anti-tank fire.

Well done; care to share your plan? I did this mission last night and managed a total victory, but got surprised by the sudden appearance of....you know. Took heavy losses before I could react to that.

I remember being in Grade school and watching Cruise missiles fly down the streets of Baghdad. As I recall, Baghdad wasn't an evacuated area; yet there it was, surgical and non surgical ordinance hammering targets and potentially endangering civilians. 2003 was one of the last conventional combats I hope I'll ever see in my lifetime, in addition to the Russian victory in Georgia in 2008. In both instances, built up areas often were close, or hugging, points of strategic or tactical value. So, no, it wouldn't restrict ROE very greatly in fully conventional warfare. High tempo operations put premiums on preservation of momentum and forces, not buildings and civilians. Its a fact, one may find that a sad fact, but I would do the same if I was in the Commander's shoes. My first priority is the preservation of my own forces. It would be no different in what Black Sea is trying to illustrate.

Preserving infrastructure outside the normal conventions of war (e.g: Preserve this place of worship if not defended by the enemy) would go out the window in a heartbeat even in a limited full spectrum conflict. Don't fool yourselves. The UA is already conducting strikes that are hitting what they consider to be their own civilians because separatists are in striking distance. Collateral is brutal, lamentable, and frequent. NATO and Russia would preserve their own forces in a full spectrum conflict far before they considered preserving the backdrop. NATO wouldn't go 'any further' out of its way to do so than Russia would if **** well and truly hit the fan. Try not to demonize/stereotype either side. The missions in Shockforce people are alluding to that have preserve conditions were either (1) not fighting conventional forces or (2) put you in command of countries whose constitutions severely limit their military (such as Germany). There's a reason why the US campaign in Shock Force had very few preserve objectives, in fact, I don't recall any. +1

My pleasure, you captured the essence of Operation Cobra very well; straight down to the lack of a coherent MLR. Its one of the things I read about the most, so I hope you trust me when I say its captured the spirit. I'll email you hopefully sometime this, or next week, with what I've done so far. I have no problem bringing up the missions with Armored Infantry into Market Garden for you.

Yeah, its a pain, but its a quick fix for myself, usually just a matter of jotting down the assignments then re doing it all. I plan on re-doing "A Delaying Action" and "Bridge Number 7" (Already filmed, but I don't like spamming releases) in my new style, then giving Black Sea some much needed attention. However, I've already re-touched "A Strange Awakening" and "Carbide Carbide" and made them MG/3.11 updated, I plan on giving the same attention to "Bloody Dawn" and "Huzzar!", the latter especially as its on the long-list of let's plays. Can you tell I'm a tread-head ? I'm not sure what the rule of thumb is on re-releasing such scenarios, but if I'm able to I don't mind hosting the missions with fixed Armored Infantry TO and Es as I make them.

Its because the TO and E has changed since the mission was originally made; now the HQ leads first squad of an AIB; incorporating a new feature from Red Thunder. The version in-video is a quick fix I made by deleting every unit and putting in a new one with the same designations (e.g A1, U1, etc.).

No worries. My sound has been a constant issue; as I'm using a rather cheap desk mic. Its on the very long list of things to upgrade.

Now that's an odd accusation to make, especially in light of all evidence to the contrary. It doesn't take great foresight or genius to expect the bridges to be mined, especially with the addition of engineers. As for Hill 30, you start with heavy Intel on it, as shown. Finally, given that my drive on Hill 30 was enfiladed, all my losses to snipers, and the StuG killing several M3s before u became aware of it; well I'm beginning to doubt my own omniesence. You may have seen the video, but are you sure you watched it?

The Germans are definitely more flexible at the squad level, if you're an infantryman. More automatics means you can do some interesting things with the fireteams. I absolutely love the firepower that an American rifle platoon can deliver if you can get it into good firing positions safely though. I was always under the presumption as well that the M4 series generally has superior spotting abilities to the Pz.IV and Panther, which I put a premium on. Not entirely sure on the veracity of this, though. I've probably been operating off a placebo this entire time.

That's my mentality as well. Asides from the obvious shortcomings of defending against a side that is also designed to be handled by a human, the lack of initiative on defense is what usually drives me away from it; I enjoy calling the shots. That being said, its a good way to learn a scenario, especially if you get your ass handed to you on the attack. When I first played "Buying the Farm" way back in 1.11 I got slaughtered. So I loaded up as Axis and took a look at what the mapper did with the Allied AI. Gave me some ideas. There's also a few dedicated defensive missions; like Red Thunder's "Red Hordes" and "Last defense" in Normandy (I believe that's the name) that are legitimately difficult as the defense because the Attackers have overmatched firepower.

Oh my apologies, I worded that poorly. I played as the Americans; the enemy defenders have several AI plans. I'm not sure if the US have more than one AI plan. As a rule of thumb I tend to play as the attackers.

Yes, it has several - at least for the Germans. I had to adjust the scenario for the new armored infantry TOs and took note while editing of that.

Had myself surprised as well. In SF I used to get into position, pop smoke then dismount. Is it possible to pop smoke while moving? If so I think that's how I'll use the smoke mortars on the BMP-3s.

They'll run out of ammo before you run out of men, Napoleon has come again!

I very much plan to - I think the idea and layout turned out alot better than my previous videos. Thanks.