Artemis258

THE PLAN Given what I know of the terrain and the objective layout, and the technological gap between my forces and the enemy, my plan is initially defensive. I know this may not sit right with the more bloodthirsty (c3k!) however I only stand a chance if I kill him on my terms, not his. Thus the order of the day is hull down, hide in the gullies, and ambush! However, my present position is ill-suited to the task and I can't let him take all the victory points unopposed. Moreover, I predict that Heartbreak Ridge offers too great an advantage in terms of concealed movement to ignore... So, I have dived my forces into three sections. 1. The bulk of my infantry, and 2/3rds of my tanks, will move to occupy the village and immediate surrounds. The 1st MEch inf platoon will remain mounted at the rear (western edge) of the village, screened by buildings, as a QRF along side the tanks of 2 platoon (armoured), slightly behind them in the trees. The two tanks from 3rd along with their COY take up overwatch either side of MSR BAKER, again to the west. The rest of the infantry will take and secure the village, 3rd taking the center will 2nd pushes out to the northern edge. My MANPADS are largely scattered around this group. 2. My company-level Anti-tank and support assets (Recoiless rifles, MGs and GMGs) will spread out among the various hills and forrests, spred out to proivde interlocking and decentralized fields of fire. I want it so as many avenues of approach as possible are covered with minimal exposure to artillery or direct fire. 3. My recon, supported (at range) by the 1st tank platoon, are to rush east to determine the enemy's movements around Heartbreak ridge and (if possible) ambush them! They have their own corsair launcher, some RPG-22's, as well as 2 GMG's and an RPG-7 (some lucky sod found kicking around in a BRDM!) Additionally, one of the Reconciles rifles can also support. The plan; Ambush the enemy when he sticks his nose out and bloody it badly. Here's a map And some pics as my men move out! Recon on the move. Notice platcom and AT dismounting already Recon member gets run over. No Yuri! Look both ways! Don't drop that! Reciless Rifle crew loses his AK

can you re-add me to the dropbox folder? I deleted it my end

The Set-up! Ok, so the battle will take place on an interesting QB map I've never played before. It's 1200m square, with rolling terrain and some interesting features. I've named what I consider the key points of terrain here, just to give an overview; Time to put on my best Bil Face and take this seriously! Pre-battle analysis is something I need to get better at (as in; remembering to do!) so doing so publicly will help I think!) METT-T (Mission, Enemy, Terrain, Troops, Time) Mission - The map itself has two major objectives and three minor ones. In my experience in PBEM, while considerable points are available for destroying the enemy, achieving objectives can be the tipping point of the match. That said these objectives are distributed such that it's a reasonable assumption that we'll achieve about 50% of those each. Hence I believe this battle will be decided purely on casualties - either by points, or if one side achieves a decisive blow by the other, indirectly winning through kills by then gaining other objectives. The mission then is simple; KILL THEM ALL Enemy - This is a tricky one. Intel is zero. Spitfire's a new user here, so I've no idea how he plays. No AAR's to look at. Nothing. What I do know; -He has approximately enough points to field a good mix of tanks and infantry. If he cuts back on one or both, he could conceivably field some air support or heavy artillery, though it would reduce his ground forces considerably. Liekwise, he could trade numbers for very high quality, and it could be in his interests to do so. -Neither of us have APS, due to a prior agreement. -Given the point values, I expect T90-AMs. I do not expect 72's. My guistimate would be a reinforced mechanised company with at least a platoon of Armour, mounted in BMPs. Strong supporting assets, maybe battalion level Artillery. Terrain- This is interesting. Lots of hills and dips, lots of scattered tree cover. The conditions are warm, wet, with light rain and a gentle north-westerly breeze. The view from my deployment zone Key terrain has been marked on the map at the top, I'll include some pics from various perspectives. Heartbreak Ridge The view, looking towards my deployment zone (looking west) The most dominating piece of terrain, and it's on his side! From here a player can get eyes on most of the rest of the map! And it's on his side! Behind it is the resort, which gives that VP an excellent reverse slope position to defend from, and it's sheer size and position gives him the ability to mask his movement almost completely! That said, cover is sparse, limited to a few trees and a copse to the north end (Sherwood Forrest). This is the key piece of terrain, but I don't think control of it will win the battle per-se. Sitting on top of it gives a great view, but also exposes you to the enemy, and it's sheer size means a hull-down position really restricts line of sight in the vertical. It's true value lies in being too big to ignore, and to cover the southern movement of troops behind it. Sherwood Forrest The view from Sherwood Forrest A good, well-covered overwatch of the northern end of the map. It also covers some of the blindspots in the aproaches to the foot of Heartbreak ridge. It'd be a phenomenal place to put an anti tank team or maybe hide a tank behind. I think I'll shell it to oblivion. Toko-Ri and the Lunar Flats Sense a naming convention here? Toko-Ri overlooks the Lunar Flats all the way to my opponent's deployment zone, as well as giving a great view of Heartbreak ridge. I'd love to use it, but it has less cover than the ridge itself. The approaches have some great low ground cover - I'm fairly confident of GETTING there, but I'm less confident of staying there. Moreover, if my opponent charges across the flats to surprise me, he could well be in a position to kill anything trying to take position there. But it does have a nice view... The flats are just that -the longest section of clear terrain and a probable death trap to cross. Plus the ploughed field offers great opportunity to get bogged. Fury Rise My own perfect overwatch position. Great cover from the woods, steep sides, providing amazing defalaide for my movement behind it and an amazing view in front of it. It'll probably get shelled to oblivion. The roads are roads, typically they're in valleys, I don't have much to say about them at this point so I'll just post the pics of the MSRs. The view down Able The View down Baker Troops - outlined above Time- The battle time limit is 1 hour.

Crosspost from TFGM Well, after the spectacularly bloody showdown between myself and Gnarly, I've taken on a new opponent. It's the Ruskis vs the Ukranians again but with a twist.... I'm the Ukranian! This battle was set up by my opponent Spitfire, and it looks like an interesting one... the map looks good, but before we get into all that analysis boredom, let's go shopping! THE LIST With a very decent amount of points to spend, I got to have some fun with this. A company of tanks AND a company of infantry? yes please! With a few hundred still left over, I could even tweak a bit. Dropping a tank from the company bulked up my play money a bit. One tank here won't make much difference, and gives me three units of 3 to play with. With these extra points, I could outfit each platoon with their own corsair-toting crazyman. Having played the Ukranians before, I know the power these little dudes can bring to the battlefield. They're the only eastern shoulder-fired ATGM, giving them a much better mobility and smaller signature than their tripod-mounted brothers. I also took a half-platoon of MANPADS. I don't like air support in these games terribly much - I find it unreliable in all but the biggest of battles, and expensive. That said 5 dudebros with iglas will give me a bit of a buffer against anything Spitty brings against me there. I also kept the inf. Battalion's grenade launchers, recon teams and antitank platoons. All indispensable. This has forced some cutbacks. My guys ride into battle in BTR's not BMPs, and only two of them are the modern shiny 4E's. My rationale here is that the BMPs, while a capable fighting vehicle, don't bring to the battle the same punch as an Oblot. I wish I'd had just enough points to mount them in at least the modern ones with the RWS (Which I ADORE!), however I got greedy with other things. So that's that. Finally, I've got the 6 tubes of 120mm mortars from Battalion. These dudebros are off-map. Lazy sods. With the remaining points (a few hundred) I specced up most of my tanks to Veteren level, my company and platoon atgm's to Vet or above, and my battalion AT assets to crack! anything left over specced up the footsloggers, starting with arty observers then moving down the chain of command. Some group photos! In case you're wondering about the units, I use Kieme's excellent retextures for all my units! They can be found HERE http://community.battlefront.com/topic/117795-kiemes-modding-corner/?do=findComment&comment=1620919

Hi guys, I've got a project in mind that requires a REALLY big Black Sea map -more than 2km on each side, preferably at least one side closer or more than 3. DOes anyone know of such a map or will I have to build my own? The TGM repo has yet to be fully populated

I thought at least two of your tanks took more than one hit, one more than 2, but that might be my memory. I'll see what I can do for you re a short movie of the assault! Edit: got the movie, just gotta play with it, though I warn you it's pretty dull :S I found 2 tanks that defeated AP rounds with ERA: This one defeated a frontal hit to the upper glacis (red) and was killed by a similar hit higher up and to the left This one defeated an AP hit to the front left turret (red) And here the kill shot, a penetration to the (unprotected) gun mantlet in yellow

Though I don't have immediate numbers, both sides took hits from APDFS at fairly short range that were defeated or mitigated somewhat by ERA. THat said engagement ranges were often 2-300 meters so there would have been practically zero drop in impact force.

Phew... now that was an intense battle! Death and destruction on both sides!!!! Firstly, many tanks to Gnarly! This was probably the most exciting Combat Mission game I've played yet! I thought I'd finish of this AAR with some of my thoughts from the game, given that I haven't had time to flesh out a full one of my own. Set Up; From the get-go I knew it was going to be bloody; thermal sights, open ground and the occasional tree? blergh. So much so that I figured buying tanks would be a waste; there would simply be too many angles to cover, and too many opportunities for a sneaky ATGM or RPG... especially given the Ukranians have a shoulder launched variety. The only thing I felt I had going for me was the Hole, that little depression that so thankfully escaped Gnarly's notice for half the game! If I could hide a tank or two down there, I thought they might last long enough to fend off the enemy advance. So my thoughts at this point were that infantry, supported by IFV's, would be my opponent's deciding factor. To this end I took a basic motor rifle company, well stocked with ATGMs (for the IFVs), and a buttload of mortars. Keeping most of them on-map meant I could have 6 rounds 120mm HE right when I wanted it, no delays, no passing go, no $200. The transports were likewise kept to mostly machinegun-armed BTR's for the same reason; lost of heavy machine guns with good sights. I also (apparently falsely) believed the 14.5 would be sufficient to have a chance of penetrating a BMP. Apparently only the M2's with their Saboted Light Armour Penetrator can manage this feat. Lesson 1: If you want to hurt an IFV, you have to SLAP them! Finally, the map presneted only 3 potential crossing maps, the banks too steep for any amphibious crossing. These chokepoints identified, I thought it'd be fun to seed them liberally with mines. @Gnarly your tank flank crossed this minefield totally unmolested! One of my own keyboard-through-screen moments! Lesson 2: If you want a minefield, build it big. But it's probably a waste. Purchases: 1 company from a Motor Rifle Battalion, with all their AT asssets, in BTRs with 14.5's Company and Battalion Mortars, 120mm, on map with Trucks Company ATGM platoon, on map in BTR's with 30mm 2* T90A's Deployment wise is pretty much as Gnarly discovered, I didn't have much options for movement (open ground) and many of my troops died in their foxholes. Contact! The battle unfolded more or less as I expected, with one notable exception; Gnarly's force was almost exactly the opposite to what I had expected. Rather than face troops, I saw before myself an armored company! Initially I counted on Gnarly to take up 'the armored fist' and advance head long, and I expected to bag a few tanks, have him pull back, and then have a reasonable exchange as he uncovered my positions as they fired, hopefully swapping an atgm team for a tank each time. Not a great plan, needlessly bloody, but with literally nowhere to run it was the best I had. When the missile teams were gone, I would tease the last of his armour onto the mines and ambush them with rpgs... At this point I figured my transports were toast, and was glad that I'd emptied them of anything seriously useful. It didn't go that way at all. Instead I watched helplessly as my lines were pummeled into oblivion with direct fire, and the missiles that did get off impacted harmlessly into trees. Nearly every missile team got at least one shot off, yet only one vehicle was hit! I hate trees. I hate trees so much. Lesson 3: Active Tree Defense is Real and should NEVER be underestimated I won't recount the dakka fest that followed, it's pretty plain to see what happened. I was amazed how many hits that T90 took! Each tank accounted for 3 Oblots each, and the surviving one still had ammo aplenty. Their survival was due to sneak and peak tactics with the only viable defensive position my side of the map, and I'm bloody glad I took them! Lesson 4: If more than the barrel of the gun is exposed, you're balls naked to the breeze The flank battle was really where it was all decided. When I saw that happening I was elated; the moment he drives over those mines, BOOM! they'll be tracked or worse, and I can hide in my hole while he rethinks his strategy! Imagine my surprise when three tanks and a BMP roll right over as if it were a field of daisies. It was only by the smallest of margins that the surviving T-90, hearing the Infantry crying in despair over the radio being the only distraction from the rolling cacophony of artillery hammering the hull, managed to hold off the advance. Meanwhile, the young Lieutenant and his team, preparing themselves for their final stand, saw the Oblot roll right up to their position, oblivious, and begin reining fire on what remained on their command.... stealing themselves they mounted the engine decking, hurling grenades into any opening they could find... From my perspective, it was a valliant end to a desperate fight... though I can understand my opponent's bloody frustration! What I Would have done differently: More Armour. Scrap every BTR in the joint for another T-90. Even a 72. Preferably 2. Push the new two tanks across the river on the north (my left) flank and right up against the defilade. Forget holding the high ground of the hill - too target rich. Make like snakes in the grass. Tighter fire arcs, more surprise. My biggest mistake: Counting too much on an infantry fight. Not being prepared to counter Armour threats; particularly defending against IR optics. The moment he started blasting my lines, my troops were fixed. Couldn't move an inch. Nearly a hundred dead and half as many wounded will attest to that mistake. Chief mistake of my opponent: A really tough fight, and I don't think I could fault my opponent's actions. He held back and plastered me completely. My only thought is that perhaps it was too much Armour; lacking the footslogging support needed to secure ground. and push me back. By the time the tanks and arty had finished with my lines, there wasn't much left to fend off an advance save my lone tank; if there'd been infantry supporting that flank I think it could have really turned the tide. There was almost no-where to hide the damned things either; after turn 3 I knew pretty much exactly where my opponents tanks were at all times thanks to the thermals on my tanks and the positioning of my scouts. It really was not a tank friendly map. Lesson 5: You're not outnumbered, you're just in a target-rich environment A phenomenal game Gnarly. I'd recommend him as a challenging and reliable opponent any time! As always, I'm up for a rematch whenever you are mate! Art.

I love mid war stuff! Wish we had more in the 40-43 catergory

hmmm on the same topic- what does airburst do to light armour like brads? possibility of subsystem damage or are they proof against that?

Yeah I like his vids - given what's available it's a more visceral experience than most.

...and then Tovaritsch Ken leapt from the vehicle, clambered onto the dirty capitalist tank, and with his service pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other leapt BODILY INTO THE TANK firing wildly, only to leap valiantly out just a few seconds later. Then there was a burst of smoke from the Abrams' commander's hatch and smoke could be seen drifting upwards. When he returned Ken's face was smeared with the blood of his enemies and he held the glean of only a True Hero of The Soviet Union in his manic eyes. All he said to us was "see? You have to ATTACK!"

iz new upwards-facing Missile Dazzler Tovasritsch.

Ok, will do then.

Yeah, part of an ongoing PBEM though.

So this was weird... That ATGM (fired from a Russian attack helicopter) just bounced off the spare tire on the rear of the BTR. BOUNCED. OFF. Then it sped off int othe distance and hit a house. Anyone ever had this?

It's the principle of the thing that matters! Though thanks for the insight, honestly I looked for the firt explosion that I found when googling 'irish mine detector'

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!

I had some 25mm pens frontally on a T-72 myself today... it was about 1 round in 30 from a pummelling delivered by TWO Brads though...

That's really cool rambler... Downloading!

Have you played kerbal space program? rocket science isn't so bad. Conservation of momentum. Hot gasses rush out really fast so big thing go up. Not too hard. It's guidance that's hard!!! And coding. Bugger that for a game of soldiers - great respect for those caffeine machines that can though.

Bah, not our problem mate. Direct trade with China accounts for 5.5% of our total GDP and 23% of our total trade. Couldn't afford to go to war no matter how much we're *rude description of a close sexual act probably illegal in most civilised countries as a metaphor for alliance* in America's *Just don't ask redacted for sanity* Besides. "murica's piss is too weak. Side note- What of the 'impressionable young minds' of the Young American bombarded by video games depicting the invasion of America by the Russians, Terrorists, CHinese, and whoever else is flavour-of-the-month? Just as highly specific as this is I would think. And they're not in control anyways. If you like I could run this by some family that can read Chinese and get their read on it, but I suspect all it is is a fancy Chinese equivalent of 'Be all You Can Be! Bring Freedom with a gun!' or whatever. Certainly not worth getting hyped up over. Unless it really is a guerilla marketing scheme for the next combat mission game?

still running windows 7. Not changing. No need to.

I dunno, upgraded to 3.0 FI seems to play well, unless that's theatre loyalty PanzerShrimp?