IICptMillerII

The Bridges (Cont.)
Then the infantry make contact. An enemy radioman is spotted moving between the buildings of NAI 6 up on the ridge. A Bradley from 2nd platoon spots the movement and pumps some 25mm HE rounds into the area.

As 1st squad cautiously advances closer to the buildings of NAI 12, they draw fire. A casualty is suffered, and the squad goes to ground and begins returning fire.

A sharp firefight breaks out. The infantry returns fire as tanks are brought up to pump coax and .50 cal fire into the buildings. A few enemy RPGs are fired at the tanks, but none hit. It’s a race to see who can build fire superiority and win the fight.
A fire mission is called in on the buildings up on the ridge on NAI 6 to help suppress/destroy the enemy infantry there.

Abrams along the MSR pump HEAT rounds into the buildings of NAI 12 and quickly help me gain fire superiority.

With the enemy forces near the MSR either destroyed, suppressed, or under direct observation, I move 2 Abrams across Bridge 32 to strongpoint the other side. They take no fire and encounter no obstacles on the bridge or the far side. I now have possession of both Bridge objectives.
I’ve spoken too soon. Scout team 2 moves up along the left (North) side of the bridge, only to discover what appears to be an entire infantry platoon in foxholes down in the gully directly next to the bridge.

The scouts take a casualty before returning fire. This is a curious threat. It doesn’t pose any direct threat to vehicles moving across the bridge, though I can’t just leave it be. The enemy infantry could mount a suicidal yet potentially damaging attack from this position so it must be dealt with.
The scouts Bradley moves up to put direct fire down into the enemy foxholes. It is only able to get a few bursts off before it is hit and knocked out by an RPG. Luckily, the crew survives and are able to bail out. Further, the Bradley is not on fire, so there is little risk to the scouts in close proximity.

A moment later, the scouts return fire with their javelin, vaporizing one of the enemy foxholes.

I decide to risk moving a tank forward to put fire into the gulch. I have the tank move forward just enough to only spot one of the enemy foxholes and give it a pause command of 20 seconds. After which the tank will reverse. The maneuver pays off, the tank is able to lay down coax fire and causes a casualty before reversing to safety. No RPGs are fired.

The tank repeats this maneuver and is soon joined by a wingman. The wingman performs the same maneuver but from a different vantage point. They fire both coax and main gun rounds into the foxholes down in the gulch.

1st squad, 2nd platoon takes up a position overlooking the enemy in the gulch. They add their fire to the two tanks, and the enemy position is quickly destroyed.

2nd platoon continues to slowly advance on the buildings of NAI 12. A few enemy infantry make their presence known, but they are quickly bombarded by both small arms and 25mm fire from my infantry and Bradleys. One of the Bradleys fires a TOW into a building, destroying it. The resistance in NAI 12 is rapidly diminishing and the area is soon cleared.

Some stragglers are seen milling around NAI 6 and are sporadically engaged by both Bradleys and infantry. The stragglers appear to be shellshocked and disoriented, wandering around with little semblance of order. At this point I think it is safe to assume that any threat posed by enemy units on NAI 6 has been neutralized. As final insurance, another short but sharp fire mission is called in on the rubble of NAI 6.

LOL Ahhh what is that supposed to show? The beginning of the video is amateur hour. Poorly equipped and clearly untrained men move down a road with one tank and one truck with auto cannons on it. Then there is a series of air strike videos destroying buildings and some drone footage showing various unidentified vehicles and small groups of people moving. Then the last segment is pure Syrian Government Propaganda spewing BS and showing supposedly captured equipment.
I see nothing in this video that establishes any of your claims. Please enlighten us as to what time points in the video show any of the following:
Strong capabilities of the Syrian army How this shows that the TO&E are inaccurate (to the setting of the game) What units are missing.  

Sherman tank operators should ingest this wisdom with their corn flakes every morning, and with their tea in the afternoon.

So... What is the dollar value of a human life? Depends on who's answering, I would say.
To quote my favorite book: "Men are not potatoes."
I did that during my game against @IICptMillerII on 'Atlantic Games' but even shoot and scoot orders with a ten second pause didn't save a Leopard who got nailed by a missile AFTER retreating behind a building. 'Fire and Forget' really does work quite well...
I'd recommend nothing longer than a five second pause in position.

This is a fair point and I agree for the most part. Javelins should prioritize enemy armor, as this is what they are primarily designed to destroy, and because it is a limited asset. That being said though, a heavy machine gun/sniper/etc pinning you down and causing casualties is a more immediate threat than a possible tank that isn't currently causing casualties. I am of the mind that while ammo should be prioritized, it should not be strictly rationed. Those reserve javelin missiles aren't worth anything if all the operators have been killed by that heavy machine gun/sniper/etc. 
Again, I agree with what you're saying, I just have a slightly different way of viewing the use of ammo. Both rationing and liberal use have drawbacks. Which approach is correct largely comes down to the specific situation and the ever present fog of war. C'est la guerre.
Again I agree with what you are saying, but I tend to take a more proactive approach to defense. The best way to survive a gunshot wound is to not get shot in the first place. Same goes for tank combat. Many tend to place most of their faith in the armor of an Abrams tank, instead of following the tactical principle that if you are doing everything correctly the Abrams should never get shot at in the first place. Of course this is an ideal that is usually not attainable, but the principle remains. The best way to survive on any battlefield is to not get shot at. This is why I think the javelin increases survivability for infantry assets. It allows them to engage enemy armor (or other threats) from a concealed position, and has a very high certainty of destroying whatever target its engaging. If my javelin operators can wipe out all enemy tanks/IFVs before the enemy ever has a chance to engage my men, then I view them as the more survivable asset. Again, lots of this comes down to the specifics of the tactical situation and fog of war.
I think the last screenshot of the previous update is a decent illustration of what I'm trying to convey:
In this specific situation, the javelin operators have greater survivability compared to the tank they are engaging. Without the javelin, the only thing this infantry team would have would be concealment to protect them. With the javelin, they become the hunters and the tank the prey.

I think this early iteration of the rules didn't have as much impact on firefight dynamics to be honest... the new set however should impact it greatly.  Stay tuned though, there is a fierce struggle for the Bridge and the Gully Intersection coming in future reports.  I am waiting for Ian to get caught up before continuing my side of the action.

I can see the beautiful pictures too!
Further tweaking (and enjoying the huge amount of CMSF2 scenarios!).

No post processing.

Current post processing.
I think this shows off all of the fun depth stuff you can do, particularly the ray tracing.  You can pull a lot of depth out of the image and really show how beautiful Battlefront's models are.  I agree with Erwin's earlier comment that it was too dark, though I think it also depends a lot on weather and time of day 😎
There are two things I wish I could fix, but unfortunately can't.  1) depth based shading showing through smoke (and trees in all other CM titles except this one) and 2) the exaggerated effect on grass.

FWIW I used to really struggle with arrows as well. I also have taken to drawing them manually with the pen tool in photoshop, and then adjusting them to make them look more presentable with the available pen manipulation tools in photoshop. Unfortunately as others have said, it is a pain to do and it takes time and practice. I've also found that photoshop is a highly perishable skill, so I tend to take a few notes on how I accomplish something in a word document for easy reference. Plus its always nice to have a great example from Bil to shamelessly emulate yourself!
Back in relation to the AAR, I'm excited for a large fight to break out over this bridge. I really want to see how the C2 rules affect the dynamic of the firefight, and more specifically I want to see how they affect tactically adjusting once a fight is in progress. Reacting to new situations once one is already engaged is extremely difficult in reality, even with good C2. I'm interested to see if the rules depict this at all. 

Mutiny
They hadn’t been paid in three months. The fighting had been a hard, interminable cycle of fighting, withdrawing, regrouping, only to fight and give ground again. And this was the last straw. A trail of broken promises as long as their retreat. When the colonel fled they followed. They surrounded the compound and when he refused to come out, they brought a recoilless rifle to the gate. A last chance was turned down. 
They fired...

...and hit the window where he last stood a moment before.

But the colonel was wily, and more experienced than his men. He fought against rebels - and soldiers - longer than most of these young men had lived. 

The RPG took out one of the pickups in a sudden blast that killed everyone aboard. By the time the dust cleared, all that stood in front of the heavy concrete building were abandoned vehicles and a burning wreck. The mutiny was over. 

@Bud Backer I'm seeing your images as grey Do Not Enter signs!
 
I've been playing around with screen space ray tracing in CM... it's a bit finnicky but it can get some nice occlusion and reflection.  It's subtle, but look for shading in places that light would have trouble reaching - in corners, in the grille.

Wiesels move into position, ready to meet a Syrian assault.

Pop goes the T-62.  You can see the shading in the Wiesel's tracks in particular.

Would you rather spend $100,000 on a missile to kill a single sniper, or would you rather sacrifice the life of your son to kill the sniper? I would gladly rot in debtors prison before I even began contemplating the latter option. 
The javelin is a fantastic weapon system that (in my humble opinion) redefines the tactical battlespace. It not only greatly increases the survivability of soft assets on the battlefield (such as infantry, light vehicles, recon assets, etc) but it also greatly increases their lethality as well. The 'holy trinity' of tactical warfare are lethality (firepower) mobility and survivability. The javelin is a real force multiplier of both lethality and survivability. Throw in a stryker for mobility, and the SBCT starts to make a lot more sense. The javelin is a tactical weapon designed to engage threats on a tactical battlefield. A tactical threat can be a tank, an IFV, or a single sniper or enemy forward observer. 
An actual example of inefficient use of assets given the target would be to call in a Tomahawk cruise missile on a single sniper. However this is impossible, seeing as the Tomahawk is a strategic level weapon and is never used for close support. That said, I would still hemorrhage millions of dollars on Tomahawks before contemplating the grim option I listed above. 
The next AAR update will be posted in the next few days, and there is a small tactical example of this discussion in action which is why I decided to address the javelin/cost/target "dilemma."  

Minutes 11 through 13

I thought an overview showing all of my pre-battle analysis would come in handy for reference.  To this point @IanL has been pushing down AA2 and AA3.  Other than some long range sniping I have yet to see much movement down AA1... if you don't count the two BMPs and the BRDM-AT that appeared in the last post.  That movement seems to have stopped anyway for now.
My forces obviously are at KT3 elements of 3rd Platoon Mech Infantry.  I also have overwatch elements on KT1 (Blue Ridge) which will change slightly this turn and start to heat up... at KT2 we are both moving toward the Gully Intersection and it could become very deadly ground soon.
Axis Alpha

I moved one of my BTRs from the woods where they couldn't see into the Red Gully too well up to the Blue Ridge to join the first BTR in overwatch on the Red Gully approach and also the AA3 wood line approach.  I pulled the ZSU off this ridge and into the Blue Gully to protect it as that BRDM-AT worries me. 
It didn't take long for the new BTR to spot another BRDM.. this time in the woods on the AA3 approach.  We both opened fire, but while my rounds hit, his missed high... it looks like my BTR was hull down to him while his was not... that was the difference in this gun fight.


So it looks like Ian has two Recon Platoons approaching the bridge, one on AA3 and the other on AA2 in the Red Gully.  I don't know if the BRDM that got shot up this turn is knocked out or not, but it took some damage regardless... still with the status of the previous BRDM I hit in the Red Gully also unknown he has eight light armored vehicles in this sector (all BRDMs I suspect) to my four BTRs, one BMP and ZSU.  Whatever happens its going to get hot over the next several turns.
 
Axis Bravo

This sector has become fairly static.  Ian is still area firing with his BMPs on the Red Ridge and has even moved one of them to the near Red Ridge.  I am keeping my 1st Platoon Mech Infantry (BMPs) in reserve but have moved them forward into the trees to provide overwatch in case Ian attempts to move beyond the Red Ridge or farther into the open area in front of his BRDM-AT.  My infantry at the Farm House have taken significant casualties from his area fire... I have lost one complete Recon Squad, the second has taken a  few casualties, broke and ran back to the assembly area.  The infantry squads in this area have also taken a beating, the two near the Farm House are both down to one man each.  The AT Team is intact though, as is the Infantry Team (with RPG) on the right who also has a Armored Cover Arc in place.  The 3rd Platoon HQ is there to attempt to instill some order.
 
SITMAP to this point:

I have labeled the two suspected Recon Platoons on AA2 and AA3, also the suspected Mech Infantry Platoon on the Red Ridge.  The two BMPS (one knocked out) and the BRDM-AT in the center of Ian's line I suspect could be his HQ element.  I have not seen much of his infantry, and I also suspect he is also keeping his Mech Infantry Platoon (BMP) in reserve for now.

Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo, 1978
Kodachrome Pano Color Positive Film

Kivu Province; Congolese National Army T55 (ex-Ukraine) fires on rebels approaching Goma, 2008
Ilfochrome Paper

I hope no one minds the duplicate post as I posted this elsewhere as well...
 
Commemorative Print: People's Army of Vietnam enters Biên Hòa, April 30, 1975

Ya know, the game is more fun if you actually play it instead of spending years nitpicking every tiny little thing

THE BRIDGES
At this point, things are looking pretty good. I’ve established a decent base of fire observing both Bridge objectives as well as the far side of the objectives. So far, things have been relatively quiet.

Back on the elevated road leading to NAI 5, one of the fire teams from 1st platoon spots an enemy tank. It is on the far side on the bridges, in an orchard of small, short trees, surrounded by a dirt berm. They quickly break out the javelin and take aim.

The javelin gunner acquires a lock and fires. The missile flies true, and comes down on top of the turret of the enemy tank, destroying it instantly. There are additional faint contacts in the area, but no one can see anything else yet. It is probably that there is at least a platoon of tanks, maybe more in this orchard. It appears that they are lying in wait for my forces to expose themselves while crossing the Bridges before they attempt to engage.
To deal with this, I’ll keep the infantry in position and try to spot more tanks to engage with javelins. I’ve also made sure that my tanks in a base of fire can observe the dirt berms of the orchards. This way if the enemy does choose to reveal himself, I will have at least 2 assets to engage them, from 2 different angles and at different elevations. This should increase my ability to both spot and engage threats as they appear.
Covered by infantry and tanks, 2 tanks from 2nd platoon move forward across Bridge 31.

They take no fire as they move across the open bridge and encounter no obstacles of any type. The two tanks establish overwatch positions on the far side of Bridge 31. More assets move up and the bridge is strongpointed. Infantry from 2nd platoon begins to move up, mounted in their Bradley’s.

They move up and deploy in front of NAI 12. The buildings on this NAI are right next to the MSR and would provide a good place for enemy infantry to set up an ambush against my vehicles.

As this is happening, the infantry along the elevated road spot another T-72AV parked in the orchard. They engage it with a javelin missile, destroying this one as well.

His gifs, and AARs in general, are fantastic and are the main inspiration for the graphics and presentation of my AAR. My trouble with the gifs though is I cannot seem to find an easy to use software to create the gifs in the first place. I can record and edit video no problem, but creating gifs eludes me thus far.
I think there's a sweetspot somewhere in there that I'll attempt to find. I will say that posting the longer updates can get rather tedious, and mistakes are easier to make, so for the sake of workflow I want to reduce the size of updates in the future. I'll figure it out eventually 😁
@Sgt.Squarehead Here's a little behind the scenes info for you. When I first set up this mission, I used the T-72AV thinking that it used the same ammo as the T-72AV TURMS-T. I chose it over the TURMS as I wanted to simulate an OpFor having the more typical day/night sights found on most Soviet/Russian tanks (at least until pretty recently) instead of giving them the Italian thermals. 
However, after the battle was already being fought, I found out that the ammo used in the T-72AV TURMS-T is actually better than what is used in the base AV. In a perfect world, OpFor would have been equipped with a T-72 with day/night sights (like the AV) and also the best tank ammo the Syrians have access to in SF2 (the TURMS-T). If I break out OpFor for some more fun later on, I'll be equipping them with the TURMS-T to reflect the better ammo, and to make battles more challenging against mid-tier US assets (like the M1A1HC as opposed to the M1A2)
To be clear, I do not know the specific ammo designations the Syrian tanks are using, but my testing showed that a TURMS-T can reliably penetrate the front armor of both the M1A1HC and Leopard 2A4 at combat ranges (1-2km). If I were to take an educated guess as to what the TURMS-T is firing, it would be BM-32 or BM-42 (or the closest equivalent).  

THE BRIDGES
At this point, things are looking pretty good. I’ve established a decent base of fire observing both Bridge objectives as well as the far side of the objectives. So far, things have been relatively quiet.

Back on the elevated road leading to NAI 5, one of the fire teams from 1st platoon spots an enemy tank. It is on the far side on the bridges, in an orchard of small, short trees, surrounded by a dirt berm. They quickly break out the javelin and take aim.

The javelin gunner acquires a lock and fires. The missile flies true, and comes down on top of the turret of the enemy tank, destroying it instantly. There are additional faint contacts in the area, but no one can see anything else yet. It is probably that there is at least a platoon of tanks, maybe more in this orchard. It appears that they are lying in wait for my forces to expose themselves while crossing the Bridges before they attempt to engage.
To deal with this, I’ll keep the infantry in position and try to spot more tanks to engage with javelins. I’ve also made sure that my tanks in a base of fire can observe the dirt berms of the orchards. This way if the enemy does choose to reveal himself, I will have at least 2 assets to engage them, from 2 different angles and at different elevations. This should increase my ability to both spot and engage threats as they appear.
Covered by infantry and tanks, 2 tanks from 2nd platoon move forward across Bridge 31.

They take no fire as they move across the open bridge and encounter no obstacles of any type. The two tanks establish overwatch positions on the far side of Bridge 31. More assets move up and the bridge is strongpointed. Infantry from 2nd platoon begins to move up, mounted in their Bradley’s.

They move up and deploy in front of NAI 12. The buildings on this NAI are right next to the MSR and would provide a good place for enemy infantry to set up an ambush against my vehicles.

As this is happening, the infantry along the elevated road spot another T-72AV parked in the orchard. They engage it with a javelin missile, destroying this one as well.

THE BRIDGES
At this point, things are looking pretty good. I’ve established a decent base of fire observing both Bridge objectives as well as the far side of the objectives. So far, things have been relatively quiet.

Back on the elevated road leading to NAI 5, one of the fire teams from 1st platoon spots an enemy tank. It is on the far side on the bridges, in an orchard of small, short trees, surrounded by a dirt berm. They quickly break out the javelin and take aim.

The javelin gunner acquires a lock and fires. The missile flies true, and comes down on top of the turret of the enemy tank, destroying it instantly. There are additional faint contacts in the area, but no one can see anything else yet. It is probably that there is at least a platoon of tanks, maybe more in this orchard. It appears that they are lying in wait for my forces to expose themselves while crossing the Bridges before they attempt to engage.
To deal with this, I’ll keep the infantry in position and try to spot more tanks to engage with javelins. I’ve also made sure that my tanks in a base of fire can observe the dirt berms of the orchards. This way if the enemy does choose to reveal himself, I will have at least 2 assets to engage them, from 2 different angles and at different elevations. This should increase my ability to both spot and engage threats as they appear.
Covered by infantry and tanks, 2 tanks from 2nd platoon move forward across Bridge 31.

They take no fire as they move across the open bridge and encounter no obstacles of any type. The two tanks establish overwatch positions on the far side of Bridge 31. More assets move up and the bridge is strongpointed. Infantry from 2nd platoon begins to move up, mounted in their Bradley’s.

They move up and deploy in front of NAI 12. The buildings on this NAI are right next to the MSR and would provide a good place for enemy infantry to set up an ambush against my vehicles.

As this is happening, the infantry along the elevated road spot another T-72AV parked in the orchard. They engage it with a javelin missile, destroying this one as well.

His gifs, and AARs in general, are fantastic and are the main inspiration for the graphics and presentation of my AAR. My trouble with the gifs though is I cannot seem to find an easy to use software to create the gifs in the first place. I can record and edit video no problem, but creating gifs eludes me thus far.
I think there's a sweetspot somewhere in there that I'll attempt to find. I will say that posting the longer updates can get rather tedious, and mistakes are easier to make, so for the sake of workflow I want to reduce the size of updates in the future. I'll figure it out eventually 😁
@Sgt.Squarehead Here's a little behind the scenes info for you. When I first set up this mission, I used the T-72AV thinking that it used the same ammo as the T-72AV TURMS-T. I chose it over the TURMS as I wanted to simulate an OpFor having the more typical day/night sights found on most Soviet/Russian tanks (at least until pretty recently) instead of giving them the Italian thermals. 
However, after the battle was already being fought, I found out that the ammo used in the T-72AV TURMS-T is actually better than what is used in the base AV. In a perfect world, OpFor would have been equipped with a T-72 with day/night sights (like the AV) and also the best tank ammo the Syrians have access to in SF2 (the TURMS-T). If I break out OpFor for some more fun later on, I'll be equipping them with the TURMS-T to reflect the better ammo, and to make battles more challenging against mid-tier US assets (like the M1A1HC as opposed to the M1A2)
To be clear, I do not know the specific ammo designations the Syrian tanks are using, but my testing showed that a TURMS-T can reliably penetrate the front armor of both the M1A1HC and Leopard 2A4 at combat ranges (1-2km). If I were to take an educated guess as to what the TURMS-T is firing, it would be BM-32 or BM-42 (or the closest equivalent).  

Incorrect. It's the same group of people that have made everything else CM on your HD.
It is the same method that BFC have used for as long as I have been doing this (since 2001)- they do the code and OOB stuff and tell us what is and isn't possible on that basis (with other input and content where needed), they also do the majority of the art work. One person heads up organizing the campaigns, scenario list, maps, etc.. That's me this go around for RT- the guy that made half of the giant CM master maps on your HD since CM:MG and the subsequent WWII titles. The guy that did a fair number of campaigns and scenarios since GL for all modules. I know the drill.
This is not an outside job, nor is the CMFI module. Other testers are kicking things in as well, as always. So the trend you have seen in CM:FB will continue as far as number of areas mapped, quality of content, etc..
*The notion that bugs cause delays is a given* I can't believe I wasted internet ink typing that. Obviously true, and unfortunate- even with a genius behind the wheel of said code.
We are indeed on that RT module. And then some. When it comes time when things are in properly vetted visual shape, BFC will be throwing bones.

Fulda Gap. 

I appreciate the feedback all. I think I'll be able to find the balance between  detailed posts and appropriate brevity. If I ever figure out how to incorporate gifs into future AARs that will go a long way to cutting down on text (I hope). 

I think this is an excellent example of these rules in action. I find this situation to be very realistic. Units that are out of C2 will generally have less initiative all around as opposed to units that are in C2, and I think this depicts that. I also like how it forces to you think more realistically as well, instead of being able to spread out assets into hand picked points on the map and then just relying on the player having instant reactions to anything observed on the map through target commands. Very cool.
Again another great examples of the rules in action. It adds more importance to HQ units, but also forces you to place them in positions where they may be more vulnerable. 
Agreed. One of the single most important factors in combat is the will to fight, or the will to keep fighting. This is just as true in a one on one fight of individuals, all the way to the strategic level with nation against nation. Many times throughout history, the victor is the one who manages to hang on for a few extra moments. I've always thought that CM does a really good job of capturing that aspect, specifically in PBEMs. 
Here is a technical question about CM and its C2 system: does it simulate line of sight radios? As in, are these BMPs out of contact because their HQ element is on the other side of a ridge, thus the radio signal cannot reach them?