Hardradi

I am, as ever, a busy man.
Here's the next part:
 

Not a screenshot, but check this link out. Three birds with one stone... : (Link to Google Photos)
 
PzIV triple kill

Opening Turns
The beginning of the battle will be rather slow for me. As stated previously, most of my combat power does not enter the battle until the 40 minute mark, and the QRF does not enter until the 10 minute mark. We aren’t quite there yet. However, I suspect that once the battle does start, it will ramp up rapidly in intensity.
As the battle begins, the preparatory mortar fire begins to fall.


Unfortunately, the mortars have limited ammo. Even though the fire mission was set to a low rate of fire, the mortars are soon out of ammo.
At T+5, the mortar mission on the Resistance Nest begins to fall.

Also at the T+5 mark is the arrival of the D30 howitzers. In order to employ them, I need to move my Battalion FO team up.


They will move into a position overlooking the control tower and surrounding defensive positions.
That’s all for now. In a few more turns the QRF will arrive, and things will start to heat up.

While we're waiting another episode!

Hello,
This is going to be an AAR of the Combat Mission Scenario: Going To Town as the Ukranians. I'm playing against a personal friend who I don't believe is registered on the forums.
Before I start, thanks to @Rinaldi in particular for his advice with regards to making this AAR. I am new both to making AARs and playing as Ukraine, so I fully expect this to be rough around the edges, any advice would be appreciated.
 
The Briefing
I am a shattered Ukrainian Mountain Mechanized Unit who has been thrown into this town to halt an advance by a Russian Mechanized Unit. The time limit is 50 minutes and the skill level is set to elite. My own force (as you shall see from my OOB in a moment) is small, but relatively well trained and equipped. I have no ATGM units, nor do I have any artillery support. But command has managed to provide me with some vehicle support in the form of two BMP-2s, a T64, and a Tunguska to act as a fire support vehicle. I am also well equipped with machine guns and RPG of various models. My force ranges from veteran to regular in terms of experience, and all seem to be well off in terms of morale.
My OOB is as follows:
2 Sniper teams 5 dedicated Machine Gunner Squads (3 light teams with RPKs, 2 medium teams armed with PK MGs) 4  3 man rifle teams with RPGs 1 RPO team 2 dedicated RPG teams 2 Grenade Launcher squads with ASG-17 3 2 man rifle squads armed with RPKs Vehicles:
1 T-64 Bulat 2 BMP-2s 1 Tunguska Here is an overview of the map, as you can see its a fairly large town. But, its split between myself on one side and the Russians on the other.
 

 
There are two obvious routes into my side of the town. One along the main road and the other, smaller road on the right side.

 
My plan is to concentrate the bulk of my forces on major road down the center, with a secondary force holding the less obvious road on the right.
 


As you can see, I have concentrated the Bulat and Tunguska in the center to cover the main road. Joining them are various RPG and MG teams in the building. The idea behind my defense is to concentrate my forces in the forward buildings, which should allow me to gather good intelligence on the enemy force as well as hopefully engage any forces he sends forward. If things don't go my way, I have an easy line of retreat to the secondary buildings located at the southern end of the town square and at the department store. 
I doubt, given the state of my forces, that I can actually stop his entire force if he goes all in on a single attack axis. My hope is that he moves forward smaller groups that I can hopefully ambush from the buildings and overwhelm before retreating.
Along the secondary road on the right. I have 2 BMP2s along with some supporting RPG and MG teams. Again the same basic logic applies. The forward RPG team can hopefully get some kills, and if not, they have an easy line of retreat to the line of buildings in the apartment store.
Lets look at some close up screens of the defense I have set up.
The main road:

 

 
This is a minor tripwire force consisting of a light lmg team and a sniper squad that start locked in position.

 
The defense along the secondary road:

 
BMP2 in cover and RPG teams
 

 
As you can see, this is heavily skewed towards an advance down the main road. Although much of my assets can be easily shifted to deal with a full on advance down the right road if absolutely necessary.
 

Apologies for the delay, I've been quite busy. This won't be a text heavy update; the images speak for themselves.
Turns 2-4 (0706-0708)
The battle continues to rage; the armor group continues to identify and destroy more enemy weapons carriers; two are identified and destroyed to the Armor Group’s front. The Wiesels go up in satisfying balls of fire, the T72s being able to engage them with standard high explosive shells. The trade is not utterly one sided, however. Despite attempting to use houses to cover their flank, a T72 is struck in the flank and destroyed. It’s time to try moving again.


The Mech group has not been idle either, dismounts are swinging wide to the left to try and begin putting TAI 11 under small arms and missile fire. Once the dismounts have been pushed up to middling positions, their armor and AAA support can begin to fan out, covered somewhat by the infantry. The idea is simple; the dismounts will push, pulling the supporting vehicles along with them.

As it is right now, the two parts of the Battalion are essentially fighting two very different battles: this is far from ideal, but I’m committed right now, and the air is thick with German missiles and autocannon fire; not exactly the best scenario to try and completely change the plan.
The enfilading fire coming from TAI 11 and 21 is something I can attempt to deal with, however – the armor group make use of their smoke generators and shift a bit to their right, ready to make yet another dangerous dash across some open ground:

The obscurants build...

Three T-72s and the surviving two BMP-2s thrust forward…the Armor Group’s FO sees an enemy Wiesel from across the river begin to displace – I’m moving as fast as possible but my enemy is reacting just as fast. The enemy is setting up an L-shaped ambush.

It works. Despite the dash being well covered by the billowing smoke, the formation takes fire from what I believe are panzerfaust 3s (they are shockingly inaccurate), two T-72s are struck as they arrive in position on the far side of the shield; one from the front, the other from the flank. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.


It’s made a bit easier to digest as I give as good as I get: the surviving T-72s and those that were kept behind in SBF destroy two more Wiesels in return. More importantly, the BMPs have survived and were able to disgorge their infantry into cover.

 

I hope so - since my style is a blatant imitation of his own. Hopefully @Bil Hardenberger takes that as the compliment it's meant to be.
We have an action packed first turn; and as I suspected it's ugly. The Battalion's lead elements deploy into a swathe of fire.
-----
Turn 1 (0705-0706)

The Armor group immediately launches itself forward, in a wedge – an attempt to protect the vulnerable BMPs behind the bristling armor. It doesn’t work; a BMP is hit almost immediately, seconds after the battle kicks off – the rifle squad tumbles out with only a couple of casualties but are understandably in a state of panic and will be out of the battle, I imagine, for a few turns. As the formation surges forward, a T-72 is struck by an ATGM, and then just as they begin to identify targets and exit the kill-zone, a second T-72 is destroyed. Then, we begin to engage, knocking out exposed enemy light skins and putting fire down on an identified threat battle position – including an offending Milan launcher – as the first furious minute comes to an end.
 
The Mech Group meanwhile starts off with a bang also. Despite best efforts to nestle my BMPs and ZSUs in good cover while other elements move, a BMP-2 and an enemy TOW carrier spot one another as soon as the battle begins…

…with both aiming and firing in the same instance; missiles reaching out to one another across the open plain.

The result: A mutual kill. Though my enemy gets the better deal; as the TOW impacts the BMP, its sympathetic effects knocks the nearby ZSU out as well. This is why you don’t attack from the march, everyone.

About halfway through the turn the pre-planned fires are brought to bear; and immediately rip into TAI 22, 23, KT3 and TAI 21. The lone SU-25 also burns over the field, coming around to engage unseen targets behind TAI 21. I was unable to conduct battle damage assessment (BDA), however. If it’s hit anything, I remain unaware of it.

122mm Rocket Artillery saturates the target zone, hopefully killing or otherwise pinning further threats to the Armor Group's advantage.

Point fire from regimental mortars strikes at prominent buildings in TAI 21, buildings with what I estimated to have the best field of fire in the area. 
Enemy fire from positions in front of the Mech Group seems anemic. The majority of the damage done to both groups comes from TAI 22 and 23, which is encouraging as these positions are getting the hardest hit currently. A key-holed 20mm weapons carrier wreaks havoc on the Scout and ATGM platoon as they race down the road to try and seize a few forward buildings with better fields of fire. A BMP is out-and-out destroyed and two are immobilized; and as the turn ends the two wounded BMPs are bringing their cannons to bear on the offending Wiesel. The dismounts are nervy but responding to orders, and are making good their escape to the desired buildings.

A BMP is struck by a burst of 20mm fire as it begins to peel off a road.
It’s a hairy start, but one to be expected given the terrain. I would have been less surprised if I wasn’t confronted immediately by a furious amount of enemy fire. It could have – should have – been much worse.
Situation 0706
As said: It was ugly, but it worked. The bulk of the Armor group has gotten through the most dangerous ground and is now in a position to begin engaging positively identified units. The weapons teams were able to successfully peel off from the formation and were in the process of establishing SBF positions by the end of the first minute.

The weapons platoon begin dismounting early in the first turn, they will be setting up MMGs to provide support to the Armor Group's advance in the minutes to come.
With overwhelming artillery fire landing directly to its front, I remain convinced that the Armor Group’s best chance of minimizing losses lies with its ability to advance swiftly. The formation will halt for the next minute to engage targets and ensure the formation remains intact, then plunge onwards to TAI 22 and 23.

The thought process is simple: The sheer amount of fire makes me believe the enemy has no depth to his current positions, punch through and the chance of taking fire will decrease significantly. The situation and plan for TAI 22 & 23 in the immediate future. Note the destroyed enemy vehicles; primarily weapons carriers and light skins – in line with templated enemy forces.

 

I'm aware of the bug - I'm not sure if this NATO map is pre 1.32; at any rate if I can get a surrender it will all be academic. I certainly have the means to as well I believe...without further ado:
METT-TC analysis
Mission:
A key crossroads at the hamlet of FAFRIN is the main effort. Securing passages to MAERITE and an abandoned Army COMPLEX are also targeted areas of interest (TAI), but the pursuit of these secondary and tertiary objectives are not to interfere with the main effort.
Desired end-state is to have friendly forces on the crossroads arrayed in defensive positions oriented south, ready to pass additional units through my positions for a general expansion of the attack.
Enemy:
The precise unit is unknown, however intelligence templates threat forces to our front consist primarily of light infantry from a German unit. I expect the unit will ultimately be supported by mortars and plentiful anti-armor weaponry.
The probability of an enemy quick reaction force (QRF) is high; and I suspect it will consist of heavy, mobile threats. I also would be more surprised if the arrival of a QRF does not coincide with the threat forces gaining priorities from heavier fires, such as 155s.
Finally, while command is confident the SAM network that is covering this effort will hold, I am not. The possibility of NATO airpower intervening at some point needs to be considered and on my mind at all times.
Terrain:
The battlescape is almost table-top flat. Almost.

01 - Demonstrating the flatness of the terrain generally
There are key complexities: The terrain is broken in places by sunken fields, orchards, and small villages (consisting primarily of one-storey houses). The most notable terrain feature is a dried river bed that bisects my avenues of advance and hampers horizontal communications within my battalion – it is, however, passable to vehicles. Terrain is predominantly rural and many small stone walls separate plots of land.
The sunken fields and the resulting berms dividing them create potentially deadly threat battle positions (BPs). The smattering of built up areas are less of a threat but may also provide many potential battle positions. The squat, flat houses will be difficult to target over the high crops and stone walls and may frustrate my attempts to identify shooters and place effective direct fires on them.

02 - A typical berm caused by the sunken fields and orchards

03 - The muddy riverbed
I have identified 3 pieces of Key Terrain:
1.       KT1: The dried riverbed – as stated, it bisects my axes of advance and currently separates my armor and infantry.
2.       KT2: Seizing the paved passage over the river bed will ensure a link up between my forces without the risk of losing much needed fighting vehicles to bogging.
3.       KT3: The sunken fields – a large rectangular swathe of them will offer good fields of fire over most of my targeted areas of interest. The KT offers good cover and decent concealment. It will need to be put under serious indirect fires to minimize the threat of anti-armor weaponry. KT3 also offers another advantage to my enemy: it is a well covered and decently concealed area to concentrate any QRFs that arrive.
4.       TAIs 11, 22 & 21: Are all key terrain unto themselves; being the most built up areas on the map as well as my three most important objectives. The handful of two storey buildings on this map may as well be mountains for the fields of fire they provide the enemy – and for once in my life I am worried about enemies on rooftops; an otherwise suicidal move. They are almost certainly to be occupied for that reason alone. Given that these areas of interest all sit astride good roads, I strongly suspect that they are objectives for my enemy as well. They will have to be factored into my fires plan to frustrate anti-armor fire coming from them.

04 - The big picture and what I've identified as areas of interest and key terrain.
I'm still mulling over my opening moves; next time we'll take a quick look at the exact forces I've been handed to accomplish my mission, and how I intend to use them. The terrain is what I would best described as "fire-swept" and I definitely need some time to consider how I can turn the sight lines to my advantage, rather than my enemy's.

Thanks. Didn't realize how my file host was set to huge pictures :eek:

One anecdotal story I gleamed from the internet regarding Kriegsmarine traditional uniforms. Late in the war a Kriegsmarine formation came under command and control of an SS division. Seems there was a surplus of pea dot camo uniforms, mostly wrap tunics. The Kriegsmarine infantry were given the pea dot camouflage but they refused to wear them and went on to the end of the war fighting in their Navy pea coats. I guess getting captured looking like SS didn't appeal to them.

The Plan
The plan is simple: I must overrun the airfield before the British relief force gets to the airfield. This is greatly complicated by my reinforcement schedule, as most of my combat power does not arrive until 40+ minutes into the battle.
The Big Picture:

 
Scheme of Maneuver
QRF – The QRF force will arrive in 10 minutes. They will immediately proceed through a gully towards the control tower on the airfield and establish a support by fire position. The gully will provide good defilade all the way to their SBF position and should prevent any interdiction by the British. Once at the SBF, the BMPs will pour direct fire into known and suspected British positions along the airfield perimeter defenses. If the situation allows, the infantry will conduct a dismounted assault against the periphery defenses and attempt to establish a toehold on the airfield for follow on forces to exploit.  
Composition:
-x3 BMP-2s
-x2 rifle squads
-x1 platoon command element
 


Armor Team – The Armor Team will arrive in approximately 40 minutes. They will advance forward and establish a Base of Fire position to put direct fires on the British defenses while providing overwatch for assaulting forces. They have the additional task of reacting to any British relief force that may arrive. If the situation allows, the tanks will assist the assaulting elements in conducting a close assault of the airfield. While this will place the tanks at increased risk from handheld AT weapons, I view this as a necessary risk. It is imperative that the airfield defenses are reduced as quickly as possible. A section of x2 122mm 2S1’s will arrive on station with the Armor Team.
Composition:
x10 T-72 tanks (x3 platoons of x3 tanks, with x1 command tank)
-x2 122mm 2S1 self-propelled howitzers (off-map)

Mech Team – The Mech Team will arrive in approximately 40 minutes. This is my primary assault force and main effort. They will advance forward and under cover from the Armor Team, will conduct a deliberate attack against the British defenses. The BMPs will close on the enemy positions, putting down direct fire as they move. Then upon reaching a position close enough to the enemy positions (terrain dictates the specific positioning) the infantry will dismount and conduct a close assault of the trench lines. After clearing the trenches on the perimeter of the airfield, the infantry will continue to execute a dismounted assault of the airfield itself, to include the hangars and any occupied buildings. The BMPs will move behind the infantry and provide direct fire support. A section of x2 122mm 2S1’s will arrive on station with the Mech Team.
Composition:
-x12 BMP-2 IFVs (x3 rifle platoons with x3 BMP-2s, x1 weapons platoon with x2 BMP-2s, x1 command BMP-2)
-x2 company command elements (CO/XO)
-x6 rifle squads
-x3 platoon HQs
-x2 machinegun teams
-x1 weapons platoon HQ
-x1 forward observer
-x2 120mm mortars (off-map)
-x2 122mm 2S1 self-propelled howitzers (off-map)

Fires Plan
The initial fires plan has all 6 82mm mortars firing suppression missions against the British defenses. These missions are low rate of fire, long duration. This will allow me to keep the British positions under fire for an extended period while preserving ammunition. The goal of these fires is not to produce mass casualties, but to keep the British pinned in their trenches, unable to observe or fire on my units.



At T+5 minutes 2 D-30 howitzers will become available. These will be tasked with suppressing the British positions around the control tower. The mission will be the same as the mortars, a low rate of fire at long duration. These fires may allow the QRF to conduct a hasty attack against the positions surrounding the control tower.

At approximately T+40 minutes 4 2S1s will become available. These will be used in support of the main assault. Targets will be determined by the situation as the assault develops.
Composition:
-x6 82mm mortars
Reinforcing:
-x2 122mm D-30 howitzers (T+5)
-x2 120mm mortars (T+40)
-x4 122mm 2S1 self-propelled guns (T+40)
Note: The battalion FO starts the battle on-map and is directing all initial fires.
 
Blocking Positions
The blocking positions are the resistance nests that remain under my control. These are resistance nests 2, 3, and 4. These positions are fixed defenses with fortifications (trenches and bunkers) manned by the airfield reservists with heavy weapons. Their primary mission is to hold in place and act as an early warning to any British relief attempt. In the case of a British relief force attacking, they will act as the initial screen against such an attempt. As a secondary objective, they will put fires into any observed movement on the British occupied resistance nest 1. These positions are not expected to hold out long against a determined attack. If they can buy time and delay the enemy long enough to allow for the airfield to be reduced, they have done their job.

Composition:
Resistance Nest 2
-x1 platoon HQ
-x2 rifle squads
-x1 recoilless rifle
-x1 RPG team
-x1 MMG team
 
Resistance Nest 3
-x1 platoon HQ
-x2 rifle squads
-x1 RPG team
-x1 ATGM team (AT-4A)
-x1 recoilless rifle
-x1 MMG team
 
Resistance Nest 4
-x2 Company command elements (CO/XO)
-x1 weapons platoon HQ
-x1 platoon HQ
-x2 rifle squads
-x2 HMG teams
-x1 ATGM team (AT-4A)
 
To reiterate, the only chance I have at success is to capture the airfield before the British relief force is able to break through. Unless the British relief force has no tanks (which I highly doubt) I will be completely outmatched.
The stage is set.

Combat Mission D/AAR
Battle of  Arbe-Qimam Airfield
IICptMillerII vs @BrotherSurplice
Prepared for Grogheads, Few Good Men, and Battlefront
 
Introduction
This is a work in progress scenario currently being designed by Rinaldi for Combat Mission Shock Force. Point values, force compositions and other variables may be subject to change for the final version of the mission. Consider this a beta test.
I have taken on the role of OpFor, while my opponent BrotherSurplice has taken the British as BlueFor.
BrotherSurplice is a skilled opponent who knows his stuff. I’ve known him for a while now, but this will be our first Combat Mission PBEM. Regardless of how the battle turns out, this should be enjoyable.
A quick note on OpFor: the battle is meant to be a tactical vignette, so OpFor is more of a generic force rather than a Syrian-specific force.
Situation
“Preceded by a strong air raid, an enemy airborne assault has been launched against the immediate rear of our second line of resistance. The enemy have seized a derelict airfield that had been reinforced as a strongpoint anchoring our flank. Should this enemy presence continue to assault our defenses they risk unhinging our entire defense; already hard-pressed against more conventional assaults to the front.
The enemy is bereft of support, and an opportunity exists to turn a dangerous situation into an overwhelming tactical victory!” (from in-game briefing)
Essentially, this is phase two of an air assault. BluFor is scrambling to consolidate their positions and hold out for relief, while OpFor is scrambling to overrun the enemy before they are relieved. The action strikes me as a modern day version of Robert Frosts doomed last stand in Arnhem, though this is a fairly typical situation for any vertical envelopment operation. The battle is a race. Whoever can assault or relieve the airfield first is likely to win.
Enemy
“The enemy is estimated to be in Battalion strength, though they are known to have taken casualties from surviving defenders. They also report no heavy caliber fire on their current positions. Enemy air power has also been cleared from the skies, follow-up attacks being disrupted by well-concealed ADA.” (from in-game briefing)
Enemy Starting Positions:

 
During the initial assault, the British were able to seize both the airfield (and its perimeter defenses consisting of a series of trench lines) and one of the ‘Resistance Nests’ on the periphery of the airfield.
A relief force (assumed to be mech heavy) is expected to attempt to reach the besieged airfield, though it is unknown when such force will arrive or its composition. This is the single biggest variable of the battle. If the British can relieve the airfield before I am able to conduct my assault, the battle will be over.
Terrain and Weather
“It is currently 0200 Hours. It is a cold desert night, and a strong wind is blowing from the south. This same wind has kicked up quite a bit of dust, making the night a murky, hazy one.
The most prominent terrain features are four jagged peaks that rise out of the desert, creating a natural bottleneck that serves to canalize our enemy's attacks. We have established a second line of defense centered around this derelict airfield, exploiting the geography. The terrain beyond the peaks is equally complex, with rising mounds of earth that break line of sight and force close range engagements. Our surviving strongpoints are arrayed on top of these mounds, dominating the low ground that runs between them.
The airfield itself had been transformed into a strongpoint by our forces when the political crisis slid inevitably towards armed conflict and military conflict. The airfield was struck hard by the first sorties, damaging several structures and smashing the airfield's magazine.” (from in-game briefing)






 
Friendly Forces
“You are the commander of the 18th Battalion Tactical Group (Mcz.). You are a powerful all-arms formation that is acting as the local reserve in the vicinity. You have released for this mission a company team to relieve the surviving defenders. The team is currently en route to the battlefield. It consists of:
1) A quick reaction force from your B company, sent out ahead of the force; they were delayed, taking cover when the air raids failed to abate. Now that a SAM network has been established, they are racing ahead of the main force and should arrive shortly, from the east.
2) A combat team consisting of the entirety of the 18th Tank Company - your battalion's organic tank unit - and the first company. The CO of the unit broke into two march columns, one armor heavy, the other mech heavy. Attached to both are a pair of self-propelled guns that will, per doctrine, take up firing positions when the units get closer.
3) A nearby 122mm battery in a concealed position has been released to you. They are currently preparing for firing missions and will be able to provide support to the airfield's remaining defenders shortly.
4) Three strongpoints remain under friendly control. The reservist officer assigned this task has done well indeed, and appears to be calm and well stocked. With luck they will be intact and capable of restricting enemy movement when your tasked forces arrive.” (from in-game briefing)
My men are decently trained, led and motivated, to include the reservists on the field. The reservists are holding the Resistance Nests, and are well equipped.





 
My tanks are T-72M1V TURMS-T and my IFVs are BMP-2’s.


 
Self-propelled guns (122mm 2S1’s) will arrive along with their respective Armor and Mech teams.
While the training and leadership is adequate, the equipment itself is less so. These assets are more than enough to deal with the British infantry on their own but will be hard pressed to handle any British armor forces that may arrive later on.
And herein lies the suspense. The QRF and some of the artillery assets will become available within the first 10 minutes of battle. However, my main assault force, the Mech and Armor teams, do not arrive for at least 40 minutes.
Time
I have 1 hour (with some variable time) to reduce the airfield.
Final Notes
This is a beta test. Point values for objectives, scenario balance of forces, etc may be off and subject to change.
Warning in advance, I will be travelling for some time in mid-May and will be unable to post updates during that time. This battle will likely not be concluded before my travels, so expect a gap in updates around that time.

01:45
 
Ten (in game) minutes after encountering my opponent's scouts it was clear to me that he wasn't doing what I had expected him to. Coys A and B had advanced quite a bit without finding any enemy forces. On my right flank, Coy C was making slow progress as I was being very careful. Note how I changed the company formation from column to vee, with a platoon in reserve. That was suboptimal move, since it is a combat formation not a march one, but I was pretty much expecting to make contact at any moment.  Eventually I felt a bit ridiculous - it was bit like swinging your fists in the dark, really - and relaxed a bit. Fortunately, nothing bad happened because of that

 
On the left flank, A and B Coys kept with their methodical, one squad at a time leapfrogging. Very good practice for me - now I can do these drills with my eyes closed, but nothing too interesting when it comes to write up an AAR.
 
01:38
 
We advance the clock 10 minutes, right to the time when I reached the ditch. Having found no enemy here at all, it was time for a replan.
 
Up to now, I was basically probing ahead to get a handle on Chris' defensive plan. And so far I had probed into empty air, with the notable exception of Casa Fanella where I found a piece of wire with my organic scout section. That was a key piece of information to use. I must say that since the very beginning of the game I had been inclined towards a flanking attack on my right. The reasons for that was that I saw the terrain to be more favourable for an infantry attack. There's a fair amount of trees - obscuring visibility from the high ground Chris was commandeering - and walls and other linear obstacles can work both ways.
 
On the picture below, from left to right you can see the Scouting element, Coy A (2 platoons and 1 back by now) and Coy B ( still in column formation), and Coy C in a generally defensive stance.

 
All of the above was somewhat validated by the advice in the Truppenfuhrung  - due to the low visibility and terrain, I considered paragraph 317 to apply well to this situation. Or rather, I thought I could  make it work.
 
The plan was broken down on the following four activities:
 
Work my way around the wire with two platoons (1 from each B and C coys) in the wings, and two other platoons to pin down the defenders I expected to be around Casa Fanella covering the wire, and two platoons in reserve. This was to be a small scale Umfassung attack, with the wire to be breached and Casa Fanella assaulted as soon as the wing elements flanked the enemy position. A Coy would continue probing forward with one platoon towards Casa d'Antonio. It didn't seem at this stage that Casa d'Antonio would be strongly defended, as the ditch and forest had been forgone. Move up Coy D from the reserve to the area right behind Coys A and B.  
This planning included up the the milestone of securing Casa Fanella. Further down the road was the general idea of exploiting a breakthrough in the direction of Casa Riposa and then continue the execution of the flanking attack.
 
01:29
 
That wasn't a very complicated plan, and I think that was a good thing. Because when it failed spectacularly, it wasn't a complete mess - there were a few elements of it that could be reused

By now activity 2) was nearly completed, as I had visuals on Casa d'Antonio. Still no contact though. Activity 1) was progressing a bit more slowly than I expected though. The wing platoon from Coy B was still moving into position (I forgot to move them for a whole 3 minutes!) while the wing platoon of Coy C was nearly reaching its jump off position. The central element of the envelopment attack on Casa Fanella was already in place, while some engineers were rushing to position.
The serrated red lines I have sketched out highlight the positions I had put my money on Chris HKL would be.
And then a nameless private on the tip of the right wing literally just walked onto a German HMG. And a timer starts: tic-toc-tic-toc...
 

I'd rather eat a fully cooked meal than one that is raw in the middle that "looks okay from the outside".
I've got the RT module well underway- The module is being worked on nearly every day, and has been for well over a year now. But there is still more to be done in order to show people something that incorporates the cool new stuff. Otherwise you get weird, untextured bits, bugs and weird game behaviors when you weren't prepared to show something. THAT causes problems, and opens up questions that are really a waste of everyone's time, because that's not how the game will look by release. 
Getting everything slotted in, in the right way takes a loooooong time and is a huge amount of effort, to say nothing of- planning the module, making the maps (the maps!), making the campaigns, building the scenarios, testing, 2D artwork, 3D artwork, testing, testing, TESTING everything. And so on.
PR may not seem to be the main effort (the crew is too small for that now)- but the games are. That may put some people off that like updates, and I do get it- but within reason. We all like to see the new stuff, I'm the same in that respect.
Really- I would love to show off some things we have nearly done or are complete. But there are other parts that aren't slotted in or in progress, so it would screw everyone up to see them in that state- and give an inaccurate representation of a huge amount of effort. I'm sure Steve would respond "When it's ready....", which is the best, most honest answer that can be given. You can take that as frustrating, or as a truly honest answer- but it is indeed the truth, regardless.
I think I've said all I can say at the moment. Hang in there. The games are coming, and the extra time isn't being wasted. There is constant work being done, to a very high standard on every aspect of the various BFC endevors.
 
 

Nice update JR, appreciate the work.
Living up to your namesake with the scouts/patrol. Those poor guys must have been taken from the nearby penal battalion.

Actually, it is quite good reasoning. I basically abandoned/put on hold my work on Ithikial's latest project (geared towards Single player) because 'fire few rounds of 60mm and HE, slaughter battalion of rats swarming in the open' was neither challenging, fun, or rewarding as a scenario designer to see. Before you go 'but you can plan the AI now and wait on the patch...' I've been waiting on the patch for quite long enough already, when I have other ideas I want to put down (such as my H2H scenarios in Black Sea) and it makes playtesting impossible, and functionally moving ahead also.
I see no point in pumping out something that will be for all intents and purposes unplayable. Wasted effort. That's what the singleplayer and mapmaking experience is currently like in the series: un-play-able. 

Time for an update. It's been a hard, very busy week, and finally I found a little moment to add some comments about the force I brought to this game, and my initial plans.
 
 
Force
 
The force I brought to this battle was a full 1943 CDN Infantry Bn, with its full complement of support weapons. I bolstered the "Carrier Section" (a bit of a misnomer really) with a few Bren MG Sections and added another section of engineers to the Pioneer Section.
 
Bringing along the AT guns was sloppy QB purchasing on my behalf: I just forgot about them. On this weather and visibility conditions they could only be marginally useful as I would need to carry them pretty much to the thick of it, Napoleonic style. The Canadian guns come with a few HE rounds allotment so I wasn't going to be pulling my hair just yet. At least they could shoot at stuff.
 
Commonwealth Infantry Battalions are interesting for various reasons.
 
First, they are made up of 4 rifle companies. Other than the pre-1944 Red Army, which eventually dropped this off and rarely kept their establishments up to their "paper" strengths, I am not sure any other combatants with 4 coys in their infantry battalions at all throughout the war. I find the 4-coy structure to be significantly more flexible tactically than their 3 coy counterparts. Not that this matters much in CM other than for the purposes of sharing intelligence more effectivel. If you wanted to deploy 4 coys, say, with the German army, you'd have involved 2 different battalions requiring certain arrangements to make sure those two command structures share spotting information etc.
 
Second, they have a pretty comprehensive support company tossed in there, with AT, Mortars, Machine Guns, Engineers and Scouts.  It is a very convenient arrangement.
 
In terms of equipment, this is 1943. So my guys are bringing to the battlefield the Enfield, the Bren MG, those iconic watercooled HMGs, their 3in mortars and hand grenades. And optical binoculars. That I think imposes very specific constraints on how to conduct reconaissance or do battle, which are very different from other titles by Battlefront.
 
Initial Plan
 
As is the usual case with QBs you start with pretty much 0 information about the enemy dispositions. This requires to conduct battlefield reconaissance to "feel" the enemy positions. In the real world, a couple platoons would have engaged in some aggressive patrolling in the hours before the main gig started. Chris setup the game in a fashion that such a thing could be played out.
 
So the first part of my plan was to learn where Chris forces were. For that I detached 1 platoon from each of A and C Coys, which would sweep forward through the avenues of approach that Chris identified in his opening video. On the map below, you can see my initial moves:
 
  The scouts of the "Carrier Section" + Bren specialists would be screening the left flank. I had no real intention to be very aggressive on the extreme left, as I had instinctively prioritised the other four targets. 1 platoon of A Coy would advance towards Casa d'Antonio 1 platoon of C Coy would advance towards the general direction of Casa Fanella and stop at the ditch  
 

On the map I indicate where I suspected Chris to have deployed forces. The map is cut in half along the West - East direction by a ditch, which I expected to be Chris' first line of defence. I wasn't sure whether he would try to setup some LPs/OP's on the orchards on my left, it felt to me like an ideal position to stall any advance and threaten the flank of any advance on the targets on the rightmost half of the map.
 
Coys D and B, and the guns, would be kept in reserve. I split the HMG platoon into two groupings, augmenting the firepower of  coys C and A, which I had earmarked to be the tip of the spear.
 
And that was all the planning I did initially. I was pretty much convinced I would have to change it quite soon.

SPOILING ATTACK
AXIS ORANGE:
I have enough information now to know for certain that the enemy units on Axis Orange are a support by fire position.  My philosophy is to attack weakness, so I am going to concentrate at least a third of my available force against this formation in a spoiling attack. 
This will be led by 3rd Platoon and will also contain some of the 1st Platoon elements that have been, up to now, manning OPs and LPs forward of my main line.   

To prepare for this action my mortars and MGs are stepping up their fire to pin or attrit any enemy teams he has on the line.  For example in the following image my mortars converged fire to eliminate this (MG) team (not fully identified) on his extreme right flank.

Amazing detail in this picture. Look at those bricks and the rubble in the foreground. Props to the modders, you and the game.

Yeah, I love those AT grenades (though once I had a Tiger eat four and still require a tank shot to be taken out). I've always thought BF should highlight them in the UI like other special equipment. I wonder how many folks don't know every squad has a couple that get issued to the AT team if you split one off.
That's interesting about how the way tanks block incoming, but not outgoing fire contributes to the super-tanker phenomenon. I do try to use my tanks to provide cover for infantry against small arms occasionally (works pretty well, depending on the situation), but I didn't know that dynamic was part of what makes bailing crew seem like super soldiers sometimes. I do try to have covering teams from other angles (I also use covering teams for breach teams), but the situation didn't allow for it with the first Tiger.  IIRC, the tank commander got a Soviet on the same side before being taken out himself.
 
Thanks, for the compliments guys! That includes Warts & Trooper, which sounds kinda' like a pub for Wellington's worst-paid soldiers --The Warts & Trooper. 
I didn't do anything to these images besides capture and crop. So, all the goodness is coming from BF's models, great community textures and finding the "sweet spot" for lighting and shading in the Engine. Speaking of which, here's that last shot from a different angle:

Sometimes, I'm amazed at just how photo-realistic the current Engine can look when the right elements are in play. Again, this is just a crop. No photoshopping done to enhance anything.

Poland Summer 1944
 

I was checking out some uniform mod graphics when I stumbled across this guy from the 3rd Infantry Division. 

This topic came up in a different thread.  I moved the topic to this thread to not further derail the original. 
An African Mod pack was created for CMSF 1 which allows many scenarios to be created for the various conflicts, bush wars and proxy wars on the continent.  I don't know if it will work in the new CMSF 2.  If not possibly a new, updated one could be created.  To show what this mod can do are a few screenshots from @Combatintman's Operation Barras set in Sierra Leone.   
Here is a link to the scenario: http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-shock-force-2/cm-shock-force/op-barras-a-coy-1-para-sierra-leone/ 


Really looking forward to CMSF 2. 

At the moment I'm reading Panzerkrieg volume 1 German Armoured Operations at Stalingrad by Jason D. Mark, published by Leaping Horseman Books. As all books by this publisher it is very, very good. This volume concentrates on the Panzerabteilungen 103, 129 and 160 during the 1942 summer campaign and the following struggle for Stalingrad. Lots of excellent new pictures and lots of thorough, well researched info. Highly recommended. Volume 2 is in the works and will concentrate on the 16. PzD.
I really hope we will get a Stalingrad module for CM one day. It is such a fascinating period of the war.