THH149

I reckon thats an important part of the battle experience vs AI, and sure its extra difficult, but it adds realism for those who want to go there but doesnt restrict the fun of the game for those players that don't. This depth is what makes CM great!

I dont know Ukrainian but the first tank doesn't seem to have been penetrated from the front/side, though its very hard to tell. The second obviously had a catastropic explosion. One candidate could be a Ka-52 firing ATGMs from the rear perhaps, but that would suppose some kind of air power that we haven't seen since the first days of the war. A different perspective might suppose that they are both pointed to the left and hull down behind the roadway and another road to the further left at a higher elevation (a poor defensive position for them I guess) so some kind of fire from the trees on their left or right.

Well, all this explains a lot of the discussions I'm seeing about C2, and thanks for sharing the Hard Cat Rules (though I don't agree with 1a artillery and maybe others if i thought about it, but there's room for differences I'm sure). I'm figuring that there could also be differences depending on unit quality too, rather than nationality per se, eg using green or conscript troops might need positive C2 irrespective of nationality. The other aspect I've noticed is that ppl are attempting to complete scenarios with lowest possible or even zero casualties. That's an extra degree of difficulty. Maybe those aspects - C2 limits and lowest possible casualties (say 1% of the points) could be included as an option when entering a scenario (say after either single player option is selected) and the end screen generates the battle report accordingly. Maybe a version of the C2 rules could be included in the manual, but otherwise its up to the player to adopt (minor breaches forgiven). the game could easily calculated the player had less than 1% casualties. Thanks to all for sharing your comments above.

Is that the first modern "no tank used" offensive? I can see the advantages in the scenario about using infantry team (trosstruppen of WW1 come to mind if I add responsive arty) closely connected to fast response mobile artillery, and I guess the AT defense on tank warfare in this era make them redundant. But once the front line disappears, how does one exploit that, and how does one counter defensive drones and arty etc etc.

I saw RF drone footage of a MLRS firing at Rf positions then driving across the city to this Sport Life gym and reverse in. The RF knew what was there and bombed it in the same drone footage YT upload. The explosion seems aimed to flatten the gym and the ground floor adjacent. Not sure if the rest of the building was flattened as well but the gym doesnt exist anymore. Good RF use of drones and a precision strike, I guess.

My sense: Its disinformation designed to keep Ukr forces shielding Lviv as the Beloruss is having a hard time prepping a BTG so the Ukr strip some northern forces and send them east.

When I chat to fellas in the Australian army the real thing they talk about is the supply chain and logistics as fightng a war is all about getting your team in the righ place at the right time, and then the fight can happen. Its bread and butter of all militaries but because its so unsexy it always gets ignored. For example the Japanese navy in world war 2 didnt want to provide escorts for its merchant fleet because they wanted to be busy finding the US carriers, so the merchants wer left to be sunk by US submarines.

Thats true. RF now knows what it "really" takes to be near-peer even to a Ukr, so knows what needs to happen to achieve that. The carcass of what's left is the only base from which to start that. Whether the Army can give up the corrupt pay-days to do that in reality is something else, and may well need a FSB/Commissar Corp to monitor where the money goes, actually achieve the necessary training standards and have higher training standards, plus changes to doctrine supported by encourage not discouraged small unit initiative. Whether the RF leadership can trust the army to do that will be seen.

Zelensky and some retired US generals are suggesting the Russian forces will be on the defensive after 25 March (ie their 10 days from now statements made around 15 March). I'd be expecting high rates of losses from the newly mobilised Ukr forces if committed to attacks.

Sorry I couldnt access that...

Agree here, but I would add that blooding the Russian Forces will be an important outcome for the other things he wants to do vis Baltic states. Only real world experience can develop an armed force beyond a corrupt payday into something that can change facts on the ground with finality. Russian is learning a lot of lessons on how to fight, that the US learned in Iraq 1 and 2.

What's happened to the Ukr 1st Tank Brigade that seems to have been encircled around Chernihiv? How are they getting supplied?

This YT channel gives unit dispositions on a day by day basis across the fronts, describing Russian Brigades (not regiments) and Divisions. This has probably been posted before but nice for others to know...

It seems there are two types of players when it comes to C2 and targetting enemy....Let me know if I'm right... 1. Say my sniper on a hill spots or has a tentative spot on an enemy tank so I send my tank platoon over the hill to shoot at it (even if its an empty space to he shooter) even though the tank platoon never registered the spot until it actually saw it. This is what I do. 2. The sniper on a hill spots or has a tentative spot on an enemy tank then radios it to his boss, then his boss to his boss (ie respectiving C2 flows) until the tank commander becomes aware, then he send the tank platoon over the hill when the tank platoon also registers the spot which then maneuvres to get the confirmed spot and shoots it. Do some players do this, or a truncated version of it? I'm trying to figure out why there's so much discussion in the forum about C2 limits. Am i missing something, or is option 2 the 'gentleman realist' approach to CM? Thanks THH

It seems in this post Modern era, all armies are small, so if you lose a few hundred tanks thats a big deal as with that comes the loss of what should be crack level and moitvated crews and the economic cost of replacing lost equipment means it rapidly falls on less trained crews and second class equipment. This come as you are war delivers high casualties and limited capacity to replace them. I think its the case in the Russo Ukro War that Russia started with 110k men plus 20-25k separatists, while Ukr started with 90k men, 20k reservists and 900k territorial defense. Now Ukr are playing total war while Russia is playing limited war. eventually Ukr numbers will win if they can get ammo and time to train the territorials. Russia needed to pay their pply well to get the best and have a NCO Commissar in each platoon to enforce training standards, and Procurement Commissars to montor military spending.

Yep, I think the Russian focus on a BTG is kinda wrong when they could be emphasising regimental combat teams made up of several BTGs, as thats where the coordination becomes tough but the outcome is force multiplier. BTGs are just a bit shallow and feel like theyre fighting alone or with a very limited objective. I would give some kudos to the Russ though for trying to do something un-Russian ealry on - airborne assaults, Tigr's in recon, fast moves on roads while Ukr were unawares - but that lasted about 2 days.

I get the point, but the US BCT are way bigger than the BTGs. Also the book Russian Way of War suggests that the Russian BTGs are meant to be used as part of a regiment level formation, which would seem to feature much of the missing parts when comparing the BCT and BTGs. Apparently the BTGs are meant to maneuver with their partners, though thats tough if they can't go off a sealed road.

Why on earth did the Russians attack in the Rasputitsa phase of the seasons? I think I know the answer: overconfidence! But still, why do that if they know their tanks and vehicles are going to be confined to roads? Even if they're onverconfident, any defence is going to be stronger against a narrow thrust, and the attackers supply lines are vulnerable to ambush. So so overconfident! And why don't they know their vehicles are going to get stuck in the mud? The list of fixes required to bring them up to be near-peer to NATO is going to long and extensive and costly and undoable if their ppl arent empowered, their access to technology is zero and have a crippled industrial base. Zelensky and some retired US generals have been saying the next 10 days (from around March 15) are going to be the critical days for Ukraine to survive, after which the additional weapons the US promised and NATO have begun delivering would have been fully deployed. Will Ukraine start their counteroffensives from March 25th?

Thats a great help but not the full solution. BFC could allow Ukrainians to have in QB force selection a choice of ATGMs, including the Javelins, and that way we could have Ukrainian units with Ukr soviet era vehicles and arms, and a mix of RPGs, AT4s, Panzerfaust 3s and Javelins. Plus BFC could allow in QB a combined force of US and Ukr troops and vehicles.

Seems like there is a bit of "Javelin Fright" amongst Russians, maybe like "Tank Fright" in world war 2 where infantry refused to engage tanks, where Russian crews abandon their vehicles whenever they see a Javelin launched. Seems to me that the crews arent trained to use terrain in their attacks. While the article above does indicate tanks withdrawing a few hundred yards after firing to avoid return fire in a kind of tank barrage tactic. I'm not sure if thats an innovation or somethings tank crews are trained to perform.

Some excerpts of the descriptions of the Battle of Voznesenk, including a map of the area, excellent scenario material: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-russia-voznesensk-town-battle-11647444734?mod=djemalertNEWS - - The Russian assault began with missile strikes and shelling that hit central Voznesensk, destroying the municipal swimming pool and damaging high-rises. - Helicopters dropped Russian air-assault troops in a forested ridge southwest of Voznesensk, as an armored column drove from the southeast. - Mr. Velichko said a local collaborator with the Russians, a woman driving a Hyundai SUV, showed the Russian column a way through back roads. - The Russian tanks would fire into Voznesensk and immediately drive a few hundred yards away to escape return fire, - Mr. Rudenko was on the phone with a Ukrainian artillery unit. Sending coordinates via the Viber social-messaging app, he directed artillery fire at the Russians. So did other local Territorial Defense volunteers around the city. - Mayor Velichko worked with local businessmen to dig up the shores of the Mertvovod river that cuts through town so armored personnel vehicles couldn’t ford it. - He got other businessmen who owned a quarry and a construction company to block off most streets to channel the Russian column into areas that would be easier to hit with artillery. - Ukrainian shelling blew craters in the field, and some Russian vehicles sustained direct hits. Other Ukrainian regular troops and Territorial Defense forces moved toward Russian positions on foot, hitting vehicles with U.S.-supplied Javelin missiles. As Russian armor caught fire—including three of the five tanks in the wheat field—soldiers abandoned functioning vehicles and escaped on foot or sped off in the BTRs that still had fuel. - Russian survivors of the Voznesensk battle left behind nearly 30 of their 43 vehicles—tanks, armored personnel carriers, multiple-rocket launchers, trucks—as well as a downed Mi-24 attack helicopter, according to Ukrainian officials in the city. - We didn’t have a single tank against them, just rocket-propelled grenades, Javelin missiles and the help of artillery,” said Vadym Dombrovsky, commander of the Ukrainian special-forces reconnaissance group in the area and a Voznesensk resident. - Ukrainian officers estimate that some 400 Russian troops took part in the attack. The number would have been bigger if these forces—mostly from the 126th naval infantry brigade based in Perevalnoye, Crimea, hadn’t come under heavy shelling along the way. - Russian forces set up base at a gas station at Voznesensk’s entrance. A Russian BTR infantry fighting vehicle drove up to the blown-up bridge over the Mertvovod, opening fire on the Territorial Defense base to the left. Five tanks, supported by a BTR, drove to a wheat field overlooking Voznesensk. - A group of Territorial Defense volunteers armed with Kalashnikovs was hiding in a building at that field’s edge. They didn’t have much of a chance against the BTR’s - Russian troops in two Ural trucks were preparing to assemble and set up 120mm mortars on the wheat field, but they got only as far as unloading the ammunition before Ukrainian shelling began. - The Ukrainian army’s 80th brigade was towing away the last remaining Russian BTRs with “Z” painted on their sides. About 15 Russian tanks and other vehicles were in working or salvageable condition, said Mr. Dombrovsky.

Until I saw the above M1 pic, I never really knew how well sloped the hull armour is on that thing. I wonder if its more sloped than the BMP! Nice *i*s! (pics)

If only Russian MoD had purchased the professional version of CMBS, Russia would've modernised their armed forces on the cheap with better training, and actually taught someone something useful.

Oh gosh, there's a lot there to consider here, and probably learnt by experience or reading the manual, very carefully, and then looking at wikipedia for arms and ammunition types. CMBS does cry out for a wiki of its own with much of the answers to what you're asking. This is extremely apt when doing a QB or DYO scenario. Also, spotting is extremely important in CMBS, at very long ranges, and still well within killing range. For example, in QB i had two Abrams hit my T-90 three times from 4km. You can set up in a home made QB the forces to test all the gear. Many players do these tests so they get first hand experience with what the weapon systems do. Maybe some tips..... 1. The manual describes Krasnopol-M and Kitolov-2M which are laser guided etc and Kitolov may be top attack. If they hit an abrams in the right place often enough eg sides/rear, maybe one will knock it out or degrade its systems. 2. Those with ATGMs and big bombs might damage an Abrams. 3. The damage panel will show vehicles with IR optics, but the better question is which have thermal sights, the answer to which can be found in the manual or maybe wikipedia. 4. Nope. But, there some chance if the russian is on a crest and is reversing away, or has APS. ....and there are many more ppl here with better insight than I can give. THH