CMRT Rokossovky's Impasse Campaign

[ThePhantom]

   

http://www.files.com/shared/56fde13ed7cb6/Rokossovkys_Impasse.zip

Rokossovkys Impasse is a campaign for Red Thunder. You play as the Soviet 65th army that needs to punch through the German defenses. You can do it! It's a short campaign with four scenarios (One is a decision scenario). 

Edited April 1, 2016 by ThePhantom

[landser]

Thanks, I'll certainly give it a go.

[ThePhantom]

Landser,

Have you tried it yet? How does it feel?

 

Edited April 3, 2016 by ThePhantom

[kipanderson]

ThePhantom, hi,

not really played much yet.. but I always go in a take a good look to see if there Is anything worth putting time aside for.

There certainly is .

Very professional look to things. Clearly all astonishingly high quality stuff. Briefings, map, everything.

When I have time, it may not be soon sadly for me, look forward to giving it a go.

Thanks,

All the best,

kip.

 

[Ivanov]

Looking good! Finally a Soviet campaign. Thank you!

[Warts 'n' all]

It looks good. I'll certainly be giving it a go once I get through a couple of battles that I want to play.

[Tempestzzzz]

I downloaded it and just peeked at the briefing, maps and layout. Looks like some effort was put in to this to give it polish.

Will play it this week. I'll give some feedback without giving away spoilers.

[ThePhantom]

Something I didn't add in the game notes but will mention it here - most of the Soviet force is regular with high morale. The German is regular with low and normal mix. There are a limited number of veteran and green amongst the two combatants. I would imagine the Soviet reconnaissance company would have a very strong veteran leadership. This would also include squad leaders and individual soldiers as well. However, with the high attrition rate I doubt if any squad would be classified as veteran seven days into Operation Bagration. That goes for any unit involved in the fighting at the time.

 

[landser]

On 4/3/2016 at 10:26 PM, ThePhantom said:

Landser,

Have you tried it yet? How does it feel?

 

I have. I am halfway through the first mission. Without spoiling too much, my forces have taken the two touch objectives and Objective Red and are consolidating on the other side of the road. The scenario, I think, plays out well. It conveys well the initial probe by recon, and as you determine your point of penetration the combat weight of your battlegroup increases to exploit the breakthrough. I'll reserve other observations for the mo, until folks have had a chance to play it.

I will say that I found the objectives somewhat confusing. The briefing says to take Objective Red and set up a defense and hold until relieved. Yet there are two more objectives (the Woods') beyond this point. In addition, my initial recon probes uncovered an 'objective' that said 'continue with mission'. Was I to go and occupy that position in order to continue, like with a 'decision mission'? I had no idea and chose to ignore that. What is 'until relived'? Does it mean when the follow on forces arrive, and the intention is to then push on to the Woods objectives? The briefing does not show the points values for each objective, so I'm left to guess as to the best way to proceed. With an hour left and my forces still largely intact, I am attempting to push on.

The battle itself is a fine tactical problem, moving over a large expanse of open ground with a river crossing against a dug-in enemy. The saving grace is what The Phantom mentioned with the Soviets having the advantage in troop quality, so it's not too difficult to dislodge the enemy once concentrated fire can be brought to bear.

Thanks for making this campaign and sharing it with us. I'll give some more feedback as I advance through it.

[landser]

I'll add this here, and your campaign is certainly not alone in this regard. The wind direction is shown as from the west, when it is actually blowing to the west. I always check the conditions and place my first smoke screen accordingly, but that first one is often misplaced due to the conditions screen being incorrect. I don't know if this is a mistake or oversight by the author, or an issue with the game engine.

[ThePhantom]

Landser,

Once you have taken Objective Red and set a perimeter it's okay to reach out to the other objectives. The objectives simply add points to the campaign. It's all up to the commander to decide (the player). However, the next scenario your units consolidate back to the defensive perimeter of Objective Red. I designed the next two objectives to challenge the aggressive player and bring up the Soviet body count. Also, damage inflicted to the German force reduces their numbers at the stronghold scenario. 

[landser]

Thanks for the explanation. My attack sort of bogged down after crossing the road, C12 I think it is. Trying to push to the leftmost woods after the consolidation drew heavy fire from my left flank from positions I had failed to clear. That stopped me cold, and I was forced to shift a platoon from my right flank over to my left flank, which took time.  This also left me too long in place, and shells caught up with my main body, inflicting more casualties. Playing on Warrior.

I think I will have to forget about the rightmost woods objective. I don't know what the campaign replenishment rate might be, and after identifying several more machine gun positions covering the approaches I think it would be prohibitively costly to try and take the last objective. Only a couple of my platoons are still at full strength and I reckon I'll need them for the next battle.

I just want to amend something I said earlier about the tactical problem in this battle. " moving over a large expanse of open ground with a river crossing against a dug-in enemy " only describes the initial phase, ignoring the rest and selling the scenario short. 

Edited April 5, 2016 by landser

[ThePhantom]

Don't worry too much about casualties. In the book Marshal K.K. Rokossovky: The Red Army Gentlemen Cammander, the author explains that Rokossovky was a masterful general. However, he criticizes the nature of the general's principle strategy of "Do at all cost." Little value was placed on holding down casualties. Rokossovky's Impasse Campaign is designed based on that strategy. 

[landser]

Thanks, but I find it difficult to disregard casualties. I wouldn't have made a good commander in the Soviet army.  It's been a fun battle, this Ivan's Eyes. I have about 15 minutes left in the battle and I will have to ignore the final objective. To be sure, are the two objectives along the woodline touch or occupy? Since the green zone disappears when reaching it I suppose they are touch?

[ThePhantom]

They are touch objectives. Did you reach one on your first attempt with this scenario? If you did, outstanding job sir!

[landser]

I finished this last night. The objectives I meant were the two that you would come to first, closest to the starting positions, the Checkpoint ones. In the end I got a minor victory. I found this battle very challenging. I would like to discuss details, but it might be considered poor form to spoil it on the forum so close to release. I know I prefer not to know much going in first time and I don't want to spoil it for others.

I did reach the leftmost woods objective, West Woods was it? But as mentioned I didn't try for the other one (South Woods?) In the map review I realized that was a prudent decision, as I saw what the enemy still had in that position and I would have taken heavy losses no doubt trying to cross the open ground.

 

[Warts 'n' all]

On 4/4/2016 at 3:25 PM, landser said:

I'll add this here, and your campaign is certainly not alone in this regard. The wind direction is shown as from the west, when it is actually blowing to the west. I always check the conditions and place my first smoke screen accordingly, but that first one is often misplaced due to the conditions screen being incorrect. I don't know if this is a mistake or oversight by the author, or an issue with the game engine.

I think that you might want to re-check your compass, and I know that some UI mods have different compasses. The wind IS blowing from the West i.e. back towards the player's set-up zone. Or at least it is for me.

[landser]

Hmm, well I won't be playing it again anytime soon, as I will get nightmares of devilishly placed MGs and ATGs. But isn't west to the left from the Soviet perspective? This would mean the wind was blowing to the southwest, from the northeast. If the left is east, then I am indeed mistaken and I should have a look at my compass indeed. Or my eyes.

Edited April 8, 2016 by landser

[landser]

But I suppose you're saying the top of the map is west. If so I apologise and nothing to see here

[Myles Keogh]

I gave this a shot a while biding time waiting for CMFB's release.

I rarely play the Soviets, but I was really enjoying the first scenario: nice map and very manageable as to the amount of units involved.  Also, ammo was tight!  It became a real concern as the scenario progressed.  Jeeps, which usually are holders of various goodies in other campaigns/scenarios, are all empty here.  (I also liked the historical nature of the campaign that was imparted in the fairly well-written briefings.  The history geek part of me has a strong preference for historically based campaigns/scenarios.)

I was rolling up the German flank when CMRT crashed!  I pressed end-turn, the resolving turn bar appeared, and then the game CTDed.  It was the first crash that I've had with CMRT with the 1.03 patch.  Sadly, since I had never had a crash before with 1.03, I wasn't regularly saving the game.  So, I lost 25-30 turns and simply wasn't in the mood to replay them.  So, I've shelved the campaign.  (I do wish sometimes that CMx2 had an auto-save feature.)

I don't know if the crash was caused by the campaign, CMRT 1.03, or just some random glitch.  Anyone else have any problems?

[landser]

On 4/10/2016 at 8:56 AM, Myles Keogh said:

  Anyone else have any problems?

I had no crashes playing the Ivan's Eyes battle.

[Warts 'n' all]

I finished this campaign over the weekend. Great maps, and very enjoyable battles. Just one thing puzzled me. In my final mission "Romistrov's Onslaught" the Axis surrendered with 22 minutes still on the clock. And the AAR gave the result as a Tactical Defeat, and I scored no points. Although I still won the campaign due to my previous results, I'm still curious as to how I lost this mission.

[ThePhantom]

Warts 'n' all! 

Sorry I missed this post. You were able to get the Axis to surrender with 22 minutes left on the clock? Outstanding job, sir! I never tested the scenario with a German surrender possibility. Any Soviet units on the map that had not crossed the 'Exit' line would have been counted against you or it didn't count your units that crossed after the surrender. Any way, In any event, if you made the Germans surrender then you flat out won the campaign. Again, great job indeed!  

[Warts 'n' all]

Thank you for your reply. The Axis surrendered before any of my forces reached the "Exit" line. Although a few of my tanks would have crossed it the following turn. All the German AFV's had been destroyed except one, but that had lost it's main gun. Also all of their AT guns had been knocked out. As much as I would have liked to have slaughtered their remaining infantry. I don't blame the AI for chucking the towel in when it did.

Thanks again for creating a great looking, and fun to play campaign.