Rinaldi

While I still think Bil has no realistic chance in hell of winning, I wouldn't discount his capacity to continue the fight effectively just yet. Its definitely a testament to Bil that he's attacking a pocket while defending against an armored attack at once, turn based or not, that takes a lot of skill to mentally compartmentalize. Pnzr's latest turn shows that Bill has the stomach to try and blunt or slow the American offensive. Pnzr was lucky to get away with only a FIST and a damaged Abrams from that little dust up in the gullies, in my opinion, and a few more ambushes like that, and that drive might lose much of its initial impetus. Not long at all. Bill just lost his command and control on the highway, and Pnzr is gunning for high ground - step one in setting up for an armored drive. Bil doesn't have the firepower to do much more than harass any drive towards H347. Maybe Bil wants to get into Kricheck, clear it out, and try to take the Americans in close? It certainly seems like that is what he's doing.

Images like this, from both your and Pnzr's AARs slowly but surely help mine and my friend's games exponentially. Being able to visualize like you do helps add an element of planning to the game I wouldn't have realized was possible.

What, a post on the actual AAR? Stop it c3k, you're cheating the system! At the risk of cross pollination, it sounds like "Speed" and "Power" have run into a few snags; hopefully you've shown him you still got some sting left in your tail.

Alt+P toggles that on, if memory serves.

Its a Bastion; its fired from the 100mm barrel, and therefore is not dismountable. I believe in SF to circumvent the lack of dismountable ATGMs, BMP2 and BMP1 recon platoons had an ATGM team attached and already mounted.

You and Pnzrldr both have put on a fantastic show; thanks so much for doing this AAR. Hopefully you can cause him frustration before the end.

U S A U S A U S A

Good to know; the variance makes some sense. And oh yes, about 2 turns later my enemy now has no AT guns or HMGs in that area left alive, so I suppose I shouldn't whine

I don't want to start a new topic, but something that's been niggling at me: A friend and myself have been playing a PBEM match, and I just lost 2 tank commanders to LMG bursts from 450m - and I'm beginning to wonder if the TCs who were wounded had any grey matter between their skulls. You take 4 bursts of fire from 450m....and you don't button up? I admire their bravery, and curse their stupidity. Does anyone else get this lack of self preservation from TCs? Its absolutely infuriating to lose key leaders to silliness like this; when they should've buttoned up the moment the first burst of fire clattered off the turret. To stay exposed for 4 more bursts to finally get hit?

Or something far prettier.

ARMOR once featured ShockForce IIRC; and alot of their Tactical vignettes were translated into scenarios.

For what its worth, I heard about this through Steam. A friend was playing it with his overlay on, I saw there was no store page, the name of the game immediately piqued my interest however. I'm a firm believer that Steam would expand the game's playerbase - but whether its enough to offset the trickle-down payment is not something I'm comfortable commenting on; Battlefront clearly doesn't feel so. In terms of simplicity of product distribution, I think it could only benefit from a switch to Steam; but the customer service so far is on top of handling any problems (like which I had recently trying to upgrade to 3.0).

True enough; and we treated our Big Cats the same way, but that's probably because my country isn't exactly capable of forming an armored fist even if it wanted to. The Russian Federation and the US don't have those same limitations. The US however, to my knowledge, always lead with a 'tank first' attitude in CABs.

I would. Slapping a 30mm on an ICV and stating it is now capable of fighting doesn't make it an IFV. BMP-2s can usually be made mission or mobility killed if hit with anti-material calibers. It was gratifying to see BMP-2s have turret, optic and even track malfunctions when hit with defensive fire by .50; as its the technologically correct portrayal of their limitations. IFVs are always 'Gun' in the Gun vs Armor debate, and should only be used as a weapons platform in the correct instances. The BMP-2 is an updated BMP-1 - 60s tech, folks, slapping a new cannon and marginally newer bull**** (excuse my french) on it doesn't suddenly make it capable of rolling forwards with the MBTs its theoretically meant to support. This goes for most IFVs; I'm not going to sit here and Shill for Western Equipment. I've played enough Shock Force against human opponents. It was sobering, but fair, to watch LAV-IIIs and YPRs get damaged by DhSK fire, for example. I spent enough time in the CF to tell you that the difference beteween an IFV and an ICV is more than semantics; and the LAV-III is a perfect example of why doctrine for Mechanized forces are often married to the equipment. A Bradley mounted unit can keep up with the Abrams they are meant to protect; yes, protect. Strykers don't need to keep up with tanks, and their only job is to get Infantry to a detrucking position and cover if possible. A Stryker doesn't need to help act as a pair of additional eyes or ears for an Abrams outfit, and there's a reason that a SBCT doesn't have Combined Arms units. Edit: Last words, as my 2 cents are coming closer to a full dollar by now. There's a reason why ABCTs are not considered strategic assets; to put it in perspective I'll reference the past, the Panther was deemed 'not a strategic tank' in reference to maintenance, mobility and sustained hitting power. You can choose disagree or agree with these post-war observations all you like, but food for thought. The ABCT is the same; with the right logistics, it can drive deep and fast, but 'Speed and Power' to those who are reading the AAR intently, means on the tactical or operational level. If you want to smash the enemy's main force, you use an ABCT. And yes Dan, Abrams level protection is *precisely* why its an IFV. There's a reason why an Armored battalion is a 2/2 split; the logic works both ways, many (myself included) will argue that an Abrams needs a Bradley or something with similar capabilities (read: Not a Stryker) to do what it does best: Kill the enemy without distraction.

That was phenomenal. I thought it was going to be some good old fashioned tank porn at first - which is great, but then the dialogue came in and it just got better. You did really well with making the radio chatter seem non intrusive.

I'll light a candle for you.

"The hunter becomes the hunted" - quality video.

Happy New Years folks, as promised: my contribution. My opponent from H2H Monteliemar asked for a rematch, and I capitalized on an early pathfinding mistake ruthlessly. The entire battle made for good footage, I think. Remember to always plot out as many waypoints as possible!

Alot of this can also be achieved by just setting something to 'Elite' ; GREEN OPs usually don't require a drastic equipment change; there'd be little to distinguish them from line infantry half the time.

Hey, thanks for featuring my video; this is a thread idea that's right up my alley. Just wanted to give some context to the situation in that video since I can see people are wondering how much booze I was on to order such mounted actions in a UC. In specific to try and answer some of JK's questions: They are without a doubt far too quiet without sound mods. This was certainly exacerbated in the video by poor audio balance on my end; sounds to the right are actually noticeably louder. This I believe is something on the Battlefront side of things; as I noticed (in a new video I am making) that US Soldiers were rolling over the sides of their M3, despite not being under fire and having a perfectly good back door to exit through. Its probably the same animation applied to different chassis; hence the x-men esque ability to phase through. Just thinking out loud. Oh John, you wound me - It did look very hollywood; and I fully intended to do a dismounted attack (as you can see early on with the probing teams) but this is where context comes in. The entire little fight was something I decided to record as I figured it was about to get very interesting, but its only happening on a third of the map in the scenario "Elefants and Tigers"; two guns were taking my Staghounds in the center under fire and effectively seperating my supporting fire from my main infantry advance - stalling me. The UC platoon had been kept in reserve, so I sent them out to find and eliminate with artillery those guns. When I got contact, it turned out that the guns had no infantry protection of any sort, and I moved forward to engage with the forces to hand. Heavy cover fire from a HMG and a skirmish line, coupled with leapfrogging towards the mansion allowed me to take the 2nd mountain gun 'at a dash.' I would never recommend anyone use a UC or any type of AFV like this unless a fantastic opportunity to overwhelm with firepower comes about like this. The only real return fire I took was at the very end as the crews were effectively suppressed for the duration. The entire video shows what is essentially a battle within a battle; a 'dust up.' Hence the name of the video. Hope this clears some things up. PS: I am actually recording another cinematic Vinnart, from a PBEM match going absolutely my way. I will post it here, despite it being in CMBN, to keep this idea for a thread rolling.

More importantly I don't think Bil will complain; he's made of sterner stuff. Its a nail-biting scenario regardless, and its two evenly matched opponents. The scenario has made for good watching, for even better tank porn and has basically guaranteed my purchasing the game; so its done its job The Teacher!

FREE DOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Its barely perceptible - just a trickle now- but Bil's sustained fighting power is beginning to diminish. He still has that MRC tied down bottling up a unit that it looks like you've written off. Think you can turn this around? Turn the trickle into a flood?

If its any consolation, I'm pestering Bil with inane questions and secretly rooting for you. Hoping you can turn this around with a dramatic flourish when your heavy hitters enter!

Thank you. You've been putting up with alot of questions from me; but I appreciate the succinct answers everytime.