THH149

I know many people are looking for expansion to the nations in the current years of CMCW or expanding into the later 80s. I think these are great ideas but I think we have a perfect storm brewing for a different kind of cold war era.
Operation Unthinkable.
Battlefront has just finished Fire and Rubble, which gives us all the Soviet units we need, and my understanding is that the next module on the horizon is an expansion to Final Blitzkrieg that will bring it to the end of the war (unless Im mistaken). This gives us all the units we need for a end of the war clash between the Allies (starting with the Americans) and the Soviets. I think this would be super cool since I dont know of it ever being done before, and it would provide an interesting what if where we can clash Pershings and Shermans vs T-34-85s and Is-2s.
I see several advantages to this option as the first CMCW module.
-It would piggyback on existing content, most likely making it easier and faster to develop, and therefore out to us faster.
-It would be ****ing cool to pit late war Soviets vs late war Americans.
-It wouldnt slow down the possibility of other CMCW modules much if at all, since any development work needed on assets could still go forward while whatever campaigns and scenarios are needed for Operation Unthinkable are created.
-It would not only have all the units and their costs and rarities in place, but could also use the maps from FBK, FnR, and RT, BfN etc.
 

My first QB. BMPs were the first casualties:
 

 
Russian MBTs soon evened the score:
 

This is discussed theme to this time. There is knowingly about several killed servicemen of Russian "Vympel" FSB special force detachment, as well as servicemen of 16th GRU spetsnaz brigade and 45th VDV spetsnaz regiment during all time of battles for airport, but there is a question how exactly they participated. Like independent Russian units w/o insignias, like small "vacationers" reinforsement squads inside separs units (final assault was conducted by recon-assault battalion "Sparta" and Caucasians) or like separate "volunteers". 
On enemy's video you can see also the fighter with Russian marines chevrone - this caused the legend about Russian regular marines units also participated in final assault, but no, that was just single man, which put on himself this chevron, maybe he just was former Marine or just for the sake of courage.
There was not big problem to infiltrate the building and this not demanded special forces involvement. To this time "eyes" of airport - the control tower was ruined, defenders didn't know situation around. Also the command limited supporting fire - our coward politics played in "observance of truce", though already several days enemy shelled airport and nearby territory with all weapon. Enemy requested to take bodies of their figters from the underground storeys of airport, and our command commenced to our forces in airport to pass them. Even when cyborgs spotted concentration of large assauly group in abandoned monastery area - clearly not for bodies evacuation, they requested to open fire, but command prohibited as if "There was an agreement and do you really want to fire at monastery? Do you want to feed Russia TV-propaganda? Do not shot!". The fall of airport is completely on the conscience of politics.  

If there's something smallish I can do let me know. I'm willing to give it a go, though I only have CMSF2 and BS!
 
 

Romulan Mod with the cloking device activated? I think it is alt-C?
EDIT: I was just kidding.
Maybe you have them set as reserves with an arrival time later than the scenario end time?

BM Bulat several years ago were moved form 1st tank brigade to 3rd reserve tank brigade. Periodically they are spotted on differnt maneuvers. They are planned to limited modernization. 
Their last appearance on this week during maneuvers near Crimea isthmus:

Here the full OOB of Ukrainan army probably at the end of 2019, but changes to 2021 is not so big
Ground forces - 61st brigade already not infantry of 4th Reserve Corps as in the list, but jager brigade of "North" Operative Command: https://en.ukrmilitary.com/p/ukrainian-ground-forces.html
Air-assault command: https://en.ukrmilitary.com/p/ukrainian-airmobile-forces-ukrainian-is.html
Naval forces and Marine Command: https://en.ukrmilitary.com/p/ukrainian-naval-forces-navy-ukrainian.html
Special operations forses Command: https://en.ukrmilitary.com/p/special-operations-forces.html
Also National Guard among own units has 3 brigades, 3 regiments and 4 separate battalions of operative purpose, which equipped with armor, including tanks and artillery and can be used as usual infantry.

In 2014 we had 14 mechanized, tank and airmobile brigades (excluding units in Crimea), though most of them were cadre brigades abd were deployed to wartime esteblishment only up to mid of summer 2014. Also there was dozen brigades, regiments and separate battlions of Internal troops (future National Guard). During the spring-summer of 2014 about 20 battalions of terrtorial defense were established (not be confused with volunteer battalions, which subordinated to police), which during 2015 were re-formed into motorized infantry battalions, got some armor and later were shared among existed brigades. About half of them were gathered in new-formed infantry brigades - 53rd and 54th mechanized and 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th motorized. 
128th mountain infantry brigade turned into mountain-assault, also 10th mountan-assault brigade and 61st jager brigade (for forest and swampt terrain) were establised
Among artillery units additionally 40th and 44th artillery brigades were established and 43rd high-power brigade with 2S7 Pion
Existing airmobile brigades turned into air-assault. 25th airborne brigade remained in previous status, though de-facto only one battalion has BMD for airdropping. New 81st airmobile brigade was created in 2015. Separate air-assault Command was etablished.
4th Reserve Corps established with cadre units, which will be deployed by mobilized veterans. It has 3 tank brigades,  3 mech.brigades and 2 artillery brigades. Also as reserve there are 45th and 46th cadre air-assault brigades, but probably its subordinate to Air-assault Command. 
In Naval forces Marine Corps was established - from one battalion (which in 2014 had less than company after withdrawal from Crimea), it grew up to two brigades per three marine battalions each.  

Glorious March to Victory, Final Post - "Like Tears in Rain"
Well big thank you to all who watched.  I figure I should stop leaving you all hanging, so we cease fired on the last turn (33 I believe).  Now take the end-screen with a grain of salt:

So first off there was a dumb double-accounting error for the Soviet side.  Basically the parameters were:
En Cas 50% = 50 VPs
En Condition 50% = 50 VPs
Dollbach Village = 100 VPs.
The error was the Soviets had another 100 VPs for having fewer than/better than 50% cas/cond, so I subtracted that because if we had paid attention Bil was above 50% too.  So the score was really 100 because I held the town.  (Note, also a small error in that his M150s were counted as tanks...a bug we noted for fixing)
The outstanding question is "could Bil have reduced me to 50% without going there himself"...that one is tougher.   So for Soviets:
215 men: lost 71 = 33%
17 Tanks: lost 10 = 58%
17 AFVs: lost 9 = 53%
For the US:
138 men: lost 56 = 40.5%
12 Tanks: lost 6 = 50%
17 AFVs (also counting his mortar carriers): Lost 6 = 35%
So this was by no stretch a "Total Victory", that was straight up on us for not checking the victory parameters.  I hold the village but given the drubbing I received in taking it, I am not sure I can put a statue up in Red Square for this either.  Add to this the fact I started with a lot more men and tanks, it starts to push the whole thing into Draw territory to my mind.  
Now Bil had much better arty, had air (I had none) and EW which made my arty next to useless without TRPs (which I did not have) so there is that.  And my starting position was not the best but it is a poor craftsman that blames the workbench.  
I will let you all judge for yourselves.  Regardless, was a helluva fight, the kind that comes around only every so often,  and we are all working to get you guys a chance at it yourselves soon enough.
 

Friends of the Tank Museum posted on Toyota pickups being used by insurgents and posted this one, whose significance I didn't get initially because my eyes were blurry and I wasn't expecting to see what I did. Even without detonating, the RPG projectile had considerable penetration power. Would say, based on angle of impact and depth of penetration, this shot was fired from very close range and possibly from an entrenchment or foxhole.



Regards,

John Kettler

Yesterday I played a Quick Battle using insurgents against the US army and, man ! I was delighted to see the effects of some well placed suicide missions amongst the armoured vehicles of the enemy. Someone else did try them?

Try playing the Syrians as the underdog, its a new way to experience modern war, and the experience will develop new skills that you never knew you needed. Even if your total force gets shot to pieces, learning to get the hard kills is valuable.
THH

I have also suggested this in some feature request threads. I think a quite simple way of doing this could be if in Scenario Editor you could select an option for some unit that it would be included in a battle only when that side is played by the AI.  If this option is not selected, then the unit would be present whether that side is played by the AI or human player.
This way you could have good force balance both in H2H and when playing against the AI.

Ok let's go with The Plan:
I am going to push some BMPs into a screen to try and take out those M60s on the left, also will re-push my T64s on the left.  Then I am going to 1) continue to push dismounted infantry forward and 2) push the Tank Coy and a mounted Inf Pl into a slot I call "Slot 2.5".  That is some dead ground (I hope) that is also covered by my Eyes on the right.  Once we make it to the dead ground in valley center we fan out and start pushing (I have an arty line up there too to screen).  So this turn I will position to the Slot and push out the screen, then next turn we go for it.  Wish me luck and see you on the other side.
 

I'm pretty impressed by this whole AAR, and presume it is part of the playtesting of the scenarios coming with CW.
Nice to see the scenario being tested in H2H format and hopefully it will be developed to at least 60/40 win loss for either side.  I know its super hard to get the scenarios balanced to that level - lots of moving parts and the two sides are very different - but the victory conditions can at least be tweaked.
If Bf has the capacity, it would be super interesting to get the win/loss of all games played (2H, AI, at each level of skill) automatically reported to it by the CM code (a feature of some software) and aggregated results (to hide identities) posted on a public page so players could use that to help them decide whether a scenario will give them a good battle (after all the investment in a game is a few hours at least).  The engagement the CM community would get from that would rocket!
THH

Finally, I achieved a great result on this scenario

Keys to victory:
- hide everyone
- setup Syrians to fire enfilade, and only reveal them when its worth it
- develop a network of interlocking fire RPGs and ATGMs
- don't risk tanks unless theres a clear flank shot
- plot offboard artillery to attack German's as they set up to attack the village, within the combat zone
- it helps to group Redforce infantry platoons so they're in voice or hand signal command of their HQs
Mistakes that could have achieved a better result:
- ATGM could have been given armour target arcs, rather than target commands as they sometimes prefer to shoot at closer infantry rather than further away Marders
- BMPs could have been deployed better (sometimes destroyed without firing a shot - but its midnight in this game, so ... can't be to harsh, and they were great distractions while Red did other stuff), enfilade from hull down from further away.
Have you played this as Red, what did you think?
Best
THH

Finally, I achieved a great result on this scenario

Keys to victory:
- hide everyone
- setup Syrians to fire enfilade, and only reveal them when its worth it
- develop a network of interlocking fire RPGs and ATGMs
- don't risk tanks unless theres a clear flank shot
- plot offboard artillery to attack German's as they set up to attack the village, within the combat zone
- it helps to group Redforce infantry platoons so they're in voice or hand signal command of their HQs
Mistakes that could have achieved a better result:
- ATGM could have been given armour target arcs, rather than target commands as they sometimes prefer to shoot at closer infantry rather than further away Marders
- BMPs could have been deployed better (sometimes destroyed without firing a shot - but its midnight in this game, so ... can't be to harsh, and they were great distractions while Red did other stuff), enfilade from hull down from further away.
Have you played this as Red, what did you think?
Best
THH

I presume that it won't be impossible to implement this restriction (i.e. only moving targets and no type classification) in the game engine for ground surveillance radars.
To say the truth, I'm hoping radars will be modeled not for the BRM but to get this toy! 😁

MT-12R Ruta 100mm antitank gun with radar sight.

BMP-2 are good (for the money). When used with area fire commands. Infantry finds the enemy, BMP-2 destroys the enemy by keyholing/peaking/hulldown with sort exposure time. 

Nice one! I must try it.
Note that I dont think that BMP 1 or 2's are bad, but like anything need to be managed mostly carefully. To me BMP 1/2s are more like APCs with improved arms, but theyre definitely not tanks or IFVs. The give away is their armour is only effective from the front against 50 cal, so if theyre "in the fight" they're too close.
Thats not unusual or disappointing, For instance the Shermans couldnt take on the Panther frontally but the Sherman wasnt binned, just something to be managed.
Thanks

A much closer game against the AI as compared to the H2H attempt, mainly because the AI just stopped advancing in the objective buidlings despite still considerable combat power, allowing the SAA to prevent their US control.

Howdy fellas,
I played Sabres at Dawn last night H2H turn based via LAN against my regular opponent, and had a blast.
I was the loyal Syrians defending their country while my colleague WindyHillbilly was just another British invader.
For those who dont't know the scenario, a brief recap: a Syrian Green mechanised force with BMP-1s, ATGMs and MGs defending an industrial warehouse comples (East Yard). The Yard is fronted by large wheatfields covering a hill to the front, and a hills to the rear and right flank of the Yard, with a stream between the field and the Yard crossed by a bridge.
To the Syrian right is collection of buildings (Tool Factory) also behind the impassable stream with a bridge crossing, and behind them is the hill to the right of the Yard. The Brits advance from the North to capture the Yard as their primary objective, others relate Blue and Red casualties. The layout is shown below with the AI's Red deployment,

Blue force has a collection of Spartans (with 7.62 MGs), Scimitars (x4) a Javelin team and an Apache helicopter, but were light on with infantry. So if I could destroy a Scimitar and keep the infantry out my rocket and missile teams would have a better chance.
To get into the Yard, the Brits have a choice of forcing the Yard bridge crossing or using the Tool Factory or both. If the Brits choose the Tool Factory, they have the option of advancing directly ont he Yard or moving over the hill with sight lines into the Yard, then right into the rear of the Yard (a left envelopment).  Either way, the Syrians need to oppose both crossings but the Tool factory cant be given sole focus as its a long way from the victory area.  
For my set-up I put one ATGM and a MG onto the hill behind the Tool Factory, an MG into the Tool Factory to cover the bridge,  a BMP behind the Tool factory as well as a BMP on the right hill. I didnt move the trenches around (I forgot I could and should have as they're mostly on the front of the hill rather than the crest or reverse slope)  The rest went into the Yard - including three BMPs that could fire onto Blue forces as they approached the Yard from the East or from its bridge.
One key factory influencing my set-up: all the Syrians are rated Green, so are unlikely to stand up to a firefight of any kind - their first shot needed to be very effective before they ran. The ATGMs needed to stay hidden, fire at good targets and then crawl away to avoid return fire if possible. The Brits however only had 4 Scimitars with 30mm guns so would be the real trouble makers, while the Apache would stop me from moving and force me to stay hidden. My dispositions would likely be the same the whole game, with movement mainly between Yard buildings or moving MGs or ATGMs back into firing positions. RPGs would therefore likely need to fire from buidlings and suffer the backblast.
The British attack was cautious, focussing on the Tool Factory, and securing the crossing. The MG team promptly surrendered, the BMP behind the buidlings was destroyed and the Apache knocked out the BMP on the hill behind the same.  The Spartans and Scimitars moved forward up the hill behind the Factory.  By this time, the ATGM team had fired two missiles - one hit the dirt and another went overhead the target - not unexpectd as the team was under pressure.  Once the Factory was secured and those forces began to clear the hills to the right and rear of the Yard, Spartans approached the Yard from the north and pushed infantry across the bridge.  All hell broke loose and they copped the fire from a squad, MG and BMPs firing area fire, but, very few casualties caused with Red force panicking from return fire.
Spartans and infantry proceed to clear the road from the bridge to the rear of the Yard, but I had one trick up my sleeve.  Of the two RPG teams i had deployed Hidden behind the Yard wall one was able to get his shot off and burn a Spartan. Finally, I felt I was putting some hurt on the Brits. The other RPG team lost heart and simply ran away.
On the hill behind the Yard the Syrians were trying to re-locate their MGs and ATGM after running away from being fired on.  Nothing worked very successfully, and I suspected they needed more time to recover than what I was giving them.
The last remnants of the Red force were holdouts on the west side of the yard and the last two BMPs. One BMP reversed into the LOS of the Scimitar, and another died from a squaddies LAW. 
With 15 fifteen minutes to go but the last of my squads destroyed in a fire fight, it was all over and I offered ceasefire. WH, as a gentleman always does,  accepted.

 
I was surprised that the Brit Victory wasnt more complete: the loss of a Spartan and a few intense firefights at point blank range causing ten casualties was to much to earn a more compelling outcome. 
Am I surprised by the total loss of the Syrian force? Not really - they were Green, and had outmoded missile weapons (BMP-1s and AT-4a Fagot/Spigot) that were constantly being spotted and put under fire by Brits before the Syrians could spot them (I presume of function of the equipment and the units Green status). The game still had 15 turns, so if my opponent hadn't been overzealous he would likely have avoided his losses: Green troops would have more time to run away.
If I had to change the scenario, I would give 10 minutes less time, make the victory point calculations fully transparent to both sides, and allow Red force to earn more VP for having a smaller force at scenario end (ie allow Red Force to suffer more casualties before losing VPs), allow Red force to earn more points if they could hold even a single room in the Yard, and maybe make the ATGMs teams "regular" rather than Green.
The other factor I didn't fully appreciate was that the Yard was only worth 100 VP out of the stated 900 on offer - the rest were from casualties. So the Yard was essentially more important in the way it could be used to force Brit losses rather than its intrinsic value.
Things I would try next time:
shoot and scoot with the BMPs using their missiles to target vehicles, noting that spotting time would be slow and this would still expose them to Scimitars. extensively rework the trenches so they had better fields of fire, avoid the forward slope of hills and provide safe places for infantry to recover on the reverse slope. put the ATGMs in keyhole positions rather than wide fields of fire, so they were less nervous and had less return fire to be concerned about.  build a stronger defensive position on the hill behind the Tool Factory to enfilade British forces attacking into the Yard (a calculated risk that Brits would suffer more casualties that way). Have you played Sabres at Dawn? What do you think?
I've since played the scenario twice more - once as Syrians and once as Brits iin real time against the AI.  The Syrians earned a Tactical Defeat (I guess that means it was a Brit tactical victory) and lost all their guys again.  As the Blue force, I played with just the Scimitars and its HQ element, and a Javelin team, Blue lost two scimitars and the HQ vehicle, but still earned a Syrian minor defeat at ceasefire. That Blue force playing demonstrated that the Syrian AI can hit and destroy Brit vehicles if they're unsuppressed.
Best
THH
 
 

Try playing the Syrians as the underdog, its a new way to experience modern war, and the experience will develop new skills that you never knew you needed. Even if your total force gets shot to pieces, learning to get the hard kills is valuable.
THH

Try playing the Syrians as the underdog, its a new way to experience modern war, and the experience will develop new skills that you never knew you needed. Even if your total force gets shot to pieces, learning to get the hard kills is valuable.
THH

Try playing the Syrians as the underdog, its a new way to experience modern war, and the experience will develop new skills that you never knew you needed. Even if your total force gets shot to pieces, learning to get the hard kills is valuable.
THH