ncc1701e

when you look at the photos it's rather rare in France by cons it's systematic in Hollande and Belgium where it seems that all vehicles had their graffitti !!!

special dedication

Sitrep @ 9:54
1st Platoon reinforced the 3rd. It took defensive positions but also sent one squad across the road to help clearing the buildings. All the enemy forces I'm in contact with are in Obj Jones area. Elements of the 3rd Platoon who are currently advancing NE on the northern side of the road are valiantly crossing the open area under enemy fire while being supported by other Marines. Fire & maneuver is the name of the game.



Overview:

At this point, I've pretty much isolated the Obj Jones and gained a foothold there. Unfortunately, as I suspected, I will not be able to clear the Obj Jones in time. Therefore, from this point on, I'm focusing on force preservation. LAR Platoon dismounts are unable to capture the second compound as planned due to casualties. But even so, I was able to identify several enemy positions and can target them with fire from multiple directions. Coy HQ with FO team have set up at Obj Vasquez, but I won't be calling in neither Cobras nor the mortars. No time for that. One of the key points in the briefing was ammo preservation, so there's that too.

Sitrep @ 9:53
Multiple enemy units tried withdrawing further NE through the alleys, and pretty successfully. LoS in MOUT is rather limited at ground level. Oh well.. 


At this point I suspect that Obj Phelps (older boundary reference) is free of enemy forces, but I'm yet to actually finish clearing every single building. 3rd Platoon:

2nd Platoon got eyes on the Green Zone and starts clearing it. One contact immediately pops up and gets neutralized. Enemy MG was hidden among the trees, ready to ambush my Marines. My positioning was better though:


LAR Platoon dismounts tried using the compound they've captured to get a glance at nearby buildings. Bad idea. Kind of. They were immediately fired upon from a nearby building. Were suppressed and unable to return fire. All vehicles in the vicinity are tasked with providing support for them.

Sitrep @ 9:50
Alright, it's the final stretch!
1st Platoon has finished securing Obj Vasquez! Overall, starting from the entry point, there were no enemy units at all. Which is great, because 1st Platoon has suffered enough already.
2nd Platoon has finished securing Obj Rick! There were also very few enemies during the assault. I suspect that most of the enemy southern force have died at Obj Morty. Was there something in USMC MOUT docpub/manual about defense that said you should not have lots of troops in forward positions? They are needed there only to force the enemy to deploy his forces earlier and to stall him. Oh well.
There's a lowland area to the north of 2nd Platoon, called "Green Zone". I will send a couple of squads there to keep increasing the pressure on the Objs Phelps and Jones from SE direction.
3rd Platoon is doing great so far. But as I suspected, there are too many buildings on the southern side of the road, and I need additional manpower to clear them. For that, I'm deploying a smokescreen to let one more squad move across the road. Additionally, I will move up parts of the 1st Platoon there to relieve defensive line (overwatch/BoF units), which will allow the 3rd Platoon to continue moving as a whole unit.
LAR Platoon took 5 WIA casualties storming the compound I talked about earlier. Damn hand grenades are deadly. This is totally my fault, because I've failed the fire & maneuver principle.  I was not firing at the building. I was relying on my troops to fire by themselves upon contact. Very dumb on my part, especially after I specifically said that "now I'm free to hose this house with lead". Yeah... 
Screenies time. 1st Platoon exercises "Top to Bottom assault" by moving over the roof into the adjacent building (just as in @IanL example from the previous page). There were no enemies there though, but still, just wanted to show you how I use this method myself:

3rd Platoon's adventures:


LAR Platoon dismounts assault the compound:


Some other enemy at Obj Jones tried to fire LMG at LAV-25's unbuttoned commander (but missed and will get whacked on the next turn):


My current situation and imaginary (not 100% guaranteed to be accurate, as in with blown up AAV earlier) front line/line of control. 1st Plt is to move up to 3rd. 2nd to continue move north into the Green Zone:

Sitrep @ 9:46
Wow, I am amazed by what's happening right now. The way my Marines handle the firefights is just majestic! Even though quite a lot of them are regular level troops, and many being morally depressed (cautious or scared, borderline panic).
1st Platoon entered the Obj Vasquez compound without any resistance. No contacts so far. But their AAV was attacked by an RPG guy from the Obj Phelps. The RPG gunner missed though, and was killed by AAV's quick return fire. The vehicle commander was up on the turret, unbuttoned.

2nd Platoon meets very small resistance as it moves through Obj Rick.  Just a couple of guys that were dealt with surprisingly well at a disadvantageous situation for my Marines (they were out in the open, while the enemies were inside the building and fired at them at almost black range. But the Marines killed both and then cleared the house completely.


Remember that compound at Obj Jones that my LAR Platoon dismounts were about to storm? The one where I created additional entry points in the walls. I am specifically forbidden to fire indiscriminately at the buildings if I'm not fired upon from them. So I was not firing at the buildings, just made some holes in the walls, nothing dangerous, let me assure you.
However, the enemy might not even be aware of this. He opened up early and fired at one of my LAV-25s. It was a near hit (not direct). Small damage to LAV's wheels, but everyone's OK. LAV commander was unbuttoned when the RPG hit nearby, and he immediately closed the hatch afterwards and directed the gunner to open up on the building with 25mm. And I think we've killed the guy who fired the RPG.

Also, now I can freely hose the building with lead before entering.
Now unto the most action heavy part. 3rd Platoon's adventures. Remember the plans I wrote on the previous page? So far I'm sticking to it.
2nd and 3rd Squads have reached the northern end of the planned route, the one with a burning car in the yard. They've uncovered multiple enemy groups and are in the middle of a vicious firefight. They are to stay there and will cover 1st Squad's movement.
1st and Assault Squads are crossing the road, moving to the southern side of the Obj Phelps. They will blow a hole in the wall and will proceed clearing the southern side of the Obj Phelps. It might take a while, and I'm afraid that I'd need additional manpower to be sent to the southern side, but we'll see.
The fighting is going very well so far. I'm proud of my little pixeltruppen.

2nd & 3rd Squads of the 3rd Platoon exchange lead with the enemy:

Sitrep @ 9:43
So far so good. For the most part of the mission, my Marines were able to achieve local fire superiority upon enemy contact. Almost each time. I intend to keep this trend until the end of the scenario. The pockets of resistance here and there that I encounter are quickly dealt with, all thanks to Marine TO&E and target area isolation. I can target most of the buildings from multiple sides at the same time, and most of the outer ones with heavy weaponry. So as soon as the enemy is spotted, there's little chance for it to escape.
Elements of the 3rd Platoon on point:

Encounter with survivals of the previous firefight:

In the mean time, 1st Platoon is seconds away from storming Obj Vasquez:

2nd Platoon assembled and lined up along the Obj Rick:

Fire & maneuver of the 3rd Platoon continues:

LAR Platoon's LAVs create an additional entry point in preparation before storming one of the Obj Jones compounds:
 

Sitrep @ 9:40
Mkay, so there's only 20 minutes remaining. What do I have to report? 1st Platoon is moving into position to storm Obj Vasquez. Obj Morty has been secured. 2nd Platoon is almost in position to start clearing Obj Rick. 3rd Platoon is swarming through Obj Phelps like little ants. LAR Plt keeps clearing the lowgrounds in the north.
I'm confident that I'd be able to clear Objectives Vasquez and Rick in time. Unless 1st Platoon decides to go AWOL during the assault. Their morale is pretty low, so I keep the Squad Leader team where it is needed the most. Obj Phelps will most likely not be fully cleared by the end of this mission.
3rd Platoon had only two breaching charges. The first one was used at the initial entry point:

One of the RPG guys at Obj Phelps survived and managed to run away:

The swarm of Marines @ Obj Phelps:

One or two action spots at the most for the rush (fast speed) and about the same for the hunt moves. Use hunt more The closer you get to probable enemy contact. 

MINUTE 4
Not much to report, Germans are firing on my troops from one house.

Other troops are spotted just behind.

@Josey Wales is the expert on this stuff.  My understanding, mostly based on tests by Josey Wales, is the following:
Fatigue has no effect on a unit’s accuracy or on its morale state regardless if the current morale state is a result from either Combat Stress or Combat Shock or a combination of both.  Fatigue will only affect your movement options:
Tired troops cannot Fast Move.
Fatigued troops cannot Fast, Assault or Hunt Move.
Exhausted troops cannot Fast, Assault, Hunt or Quick Move.

MINUTE 3
Another German is spotted in front of the house I fail to assault at my first try.

Unfortunately, my orders were already given for this turn and it was impossible to stop my men. This guy has taken a shot from a LMG, either MG34 or MG42. My first casualty. ☹️

On the left, the marathon's champion is now carefully moving while my reserved squad is taking the house in front of him. I am predicting bad things for him soon.

At the end of the turn, I have also spotted some moves at the center of the map. I am wondering how @JoMc67 is able to move so quickly without tiring his men...

Sound contacts everywhere at the edge of the village, this will be bloody...

So the plan here should be:

Work out a hasty defensive plan. You want as many of your guys to be as stationary in decent positions as possible, right now. MGs are superb for this.

From there, you need to keep building and reinforcing this defence, using the stationary guys to cover better positions, better sight lines, etc. The nuance is in deciding what is good enough, and what is too far, and that's hard to judge. You need to get the foundation down before setting up your platoon in  situation that you're happy with.

Defensively you want to protect key areas, preferably where they can see and support each other. It's no good sticking someone in the woods if they can't be seen by the rest of the platoon, since the Boche could potentially bring their entire force onto this isolated unit. You happen to know that artillery is not a major issue, so controlling buildings isn't a bad idea, but pay attention to the direction windows are facing, and any blind spots.

Ideally I'd like to leave one squad in reserve, and keep the HQ and mortar team central, so that they can help out. Don't be afraid to lay smoke with the two inch mortar - that's mostly what they're for. The HE rounds are helpful, but smoke has an immediate effect on the battle that disproportionate to their size. Laying smoke to cover a withdrawal, or to split and isolate enemy fires is crucial to the British way of war.

One you've secured the position (which looks likely to involve a firefight), the next part will be to take stock on the overall situation - if you get into a confused firefight now and win, then you may or may not have already won the game, but working out whether (and how) you can develop your now-slightly-less-hasty-defence into a proper attack.

One option will be to not attack, or to wait for the armoured car to show up. Again, this is a question of nuance. You happen to know the composition of the enemy forces exactly, so you should be able to get a good idea about whether you''re winning the fight once the shooting starts.
Bren vs Spandau is an old debate - the MG42 obviously has a much greater rate of fire, but lower accuracy. The Bren might be the finest LMG in WW2, but the MG42 isn't an LMG...

MY PLAN AND MY INITIAL MOVES
Okay, I am the good guys this time. So let's try the gamey initial move to rush into the village. I will not split my forces again in order to achieve fire superiority. 

MINUTE 1
I have ordered my team to do some FAST moves in order to reach key houses into the village.

My left wing is here.

In the center, I will try to mount some kind of reserve to see from where the attack came.

On the right, one squad will rush into the woods.

MINUTE 2
A 10 seconds pause for my heroes before running toward their respective objectives.

Next stop on my right wing near at the edge of the woods.

In the center, one squad will advance carefully inside the village.

On my left wing, I am reaching my first defined objective. Now, I will move more cautiously.

And the surprise of the end of this turn. Incredible, one German is already there, rushing on the woods on the right of the village. I hope this guy has registered for the New York City Marathon...

I did not play much with the Canadians but their official TO&E is here: https://www.battlefront.com/shock-force-2/cmsf2-nato-module/?tab=toe
MAJOR FORMATIONS (NOT A COMPLETE LIST)
Tank Squadron Mech Infantry Battalion Independent Battlegroup Rifle Company Engineer Company (Independent) VEHICLES
Leopard 1 A5 C2 Leopard 2A4+ Leopard 2A6 M LAV I BISON LAV III ISC LAV III CP LAV III TOW LAV III FOO Nyala HMG Nyala RWS G Wagon G Wagon Turreted HEAVY WEAPONS
C6 MG M2HB M72A7 LAW Carl Gustav Eryx M19 60mm Light Mortar L16 81mm Medium Mortar SMALL ARMS
C3A1 C7A2 C7A2 w/ M203 grenade launcher C8A2 C8A2 w/ M203 grenade launcher C9 C14 C15 ARTILLERY SUPPORT
C3 81mm mortar LG Mark 2 105mm howitzer M777 155mm howitzer M1094 155mm self-propelled howitzer AIR SUPPORT
CF-188A  

Thank you, I am happy to do this to help others. If it can decide some people to buy this game, that would be great.

Two reinforced companies, 320mx320m of urban Mosul, an hour & a half to clear it:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfjnp2xy78c1e2g/Ashsh al-Dababir.btt?dl=0
Give it your best shot. 
 

The wait will never end because you will always have the desire to have more... even after the game release. 🤗

MY CONCLUSION
I think I did not study enough the terrain. Okay fair, I have lost some time at the beginning of the scenario doing some scouting while approaching the village through the woods. But, even with this time lost, my mistake was to attack from the woods directly in his kill zone. The second avenue of approach with the little hollow would perhaps have been a better approach. I do not know what you guys think.
With @JoMc67, we will play the same scenario but with me taking the Canadians while he takes the Germans. This will be interesting for learning.
 

MINUTE 22
My armored car is hunting its nemesis while another squad is progressing.

Surprisingly, it seems no armored car is able to see each other !!? They did not fire at each other.


But, I have no time to investigate why. The logical conclusion just arrived.

Final enemy setup is below:

MINUTE 21
My troops are assaulting for a last "baroud d'honneur".

While one squad is covering my right flank.

But, my hopes are gone. Third squad is falling back and the spotters, left behind, fail to see from where shots are coming.
 

MY CONCLUSION
I think I did not study enough the terrain. Okay fair, I have lost some time at the beginning of the scenario doing some scouting while approaching the village through the woods. But, even with this time lost, my mistake was to attack from the woods directly in his kill zone. The second avenue of approach with the little hollow would perhaps have been a better approach. I do not know what you guys think.
With @JoMc67, we will play the same scenario but with me taking the Canadians while he takes the Germans. This will be interesting for learning.
 

Thank you - I am watching them. But, it is sometimes difficult to make them into practice ...