Jump to content

Combat Mission AAR: Consulate Crisis


Recommended Posts

  • 1 month later...

At long last...

CONCLUSION

 

The operation is a success, but not a complete one. The fate of the Canadian consulate personnel is unknown. However, in all other respects, the US Navy and Marines have achieved resounding success. The casualty reports alone show an overwhelming victory, and should not be a surprise:

 

Combat Mission Tactical Battle Results:
yHx0Oq7.jpg

CMANO Losses and Expenditures:

SIDE: US

===========================================================

LOSSES:

-------------------------------

EXPENDITURES:

------------------

4x 20mm/85 M61A2 Vulcan Burst [100 rnds]

24x AGM-154C JSOW [BROACH]

23x AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM P3I.3

4x AIM-9X Sidewinder

3x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]

58x RGM-109C Tomahawk Blk III TLAM-C

111x RGM-109E Tomahawk Blk IV TACTOM

8x RIM-66M-2 SM-2MR Blk IIIA

 

SIDE: Regime

===========================================================

LOSSES:

-------------------------------

18x 23mm ZU-23-2

2x A/C Hangar (2x Large Aircraft)

1x A/C Hangar (4x Medium Aircraft)

1x Ammo Bunker (Surface)

1x Ammo Shelter

1x AvGas (75k Liter Tank)

1x Bridge (Two-lane 60 Tons)

1x Building (Large Government Building)

1x Building (Medium)

2x Building (Odd Pair HF [PRV-13])

1x Building (Radio/TV Station)

5x Building (Square Pair [5N62])

3x Building (Tall King C [P-14])

1x Building (Very Large Leadership Compound)

4x Mi-8T Hip C

12x MiG-25P Foxbat A

4x MiG-25RB Foxbat B

2x Radar (Back Net [P-80])

1x Radar (Bar Lock A [P-37])

2x Radar (Long Track [P-40])

1x Radar (Spoon Rest D [P-18])

24x SA-2d Guideline Mod 2 Single Rail

15x SA-3b Goa Quad Rail

33x SA-5c Gammon Single Rail

8x SA-6a Gainful [2P25] TEL

27x SA-7a Grail [9K32 Strela-2] MANPADS

1x Su-22M-3K Fitter J

4x Vehicle (Fan Song E [SNR-75M3])

5x Vehicle (Flat Face B [P-19])

5x Vehicle (Low Blow [SNR-125])

4x Vehicle (Spoon Rest C [P-12])

2x Vehicle (Straight Flush [1S91])

EXPENDITURES:
------------------

6x AA-6 Acrid A [R-40R, SARH]

35x AA-8 Aphid [R-60]

15x Generic Chaff Salvo [5x Cartridges]

4x Generic Flare Salvo [3x Cartridges, Single Spectral]

54x SA-3b Goa [5V27, V-601P]

20x SA-5c Gammon [5V28M5]

 

The losses should help to explain the abrupt end to the battle. Local Regime forces in the city were thoroughly crushed, and US dominance of the airspace prevented any significant aerial counterattack by Regime air forces. Task Force Wasp, having completed its objectives, moves away from the coast and begins the process of repatriating those rescued from the city. CSG 12 also moves farther back out to sea, while keeping a close eye out for any Regime activity. Though as of right now it would appear the Regime has decided that discretion is the better part of valor.

As this was more of a proof of concept for the validity of doing Hybrid AARs and not so much about the tactics employed, I don’t have much of a proper after-action analysis to present. OpFor got the snot kicked out of it, but as this was a proof of concept that is mostly what they were there for. Despite that I do hope this AAR helps to illustrate just how decisive a US carrier strike group can be. Between the carrier air wing and all the supporting warships, the amount of offensive firepower a CSG can leverage is stunning and humbling. It lends weight to the cliché but true quote that whenever a crisis occurs in the world, the first thing Washington asks is, “Where is the nearest carrier?”

Apologies again for the long delay in finally finishing this. Between service obligations and the state of the world these past few months, it has been harder than expected to wrap this up in a timely manner. Despite the delay, I do view this as a successful proof of concept and I plan on making more of these Hybrid AAR’s in the future. Thanks for reading along!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"The fate of the Canadian consulate personnel is unknown."  Don't mean to sound snarky, but that sounds like complete failure if the whole point was to rescue them.  Shades of Vietnam "We won all the battles".  Yeah, but who cares if ya lost the war?

Edited by Erwin
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Erwin said:

"The fate of the Canadian consulate personnel is unknown."  Don't mean to sound snarky, but that sounds like complete failure if the whole point was to rescue them.  Shades of Vietnam "We won all the battles".  Yeah, but who cares if ya lost the war?

To your credit, it has been a long time since I started this AAR so you likely forgot the situation established in the briefing. The reason US forces intervene in the first place is because the Canadian consulate was attacked and overrun. The primary goal was to secure both consulates (meaning the physical buildings), rescue the US consulate workers (the US consulate hadn't been overrun yet) and rescue the Canadian consulate workers if they were still there, which they weren't. 

Plus, you never know, perhaps the Canadians being captured and transported elsewhere is the perfect setup for a follow up AAR?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 3 weeks later...

@IICptMillerII This was the first AAR I'd ever read for Combat Mission and it got me super intrigued about the game. Seeing it again was nice. This was such an excellent AAR, great way to use the game for a hypothetical what-if and a fantastic looking scenario to play. 

I also am really intrigued by the idea of creating a layered wargame as you have here, using different models to simulate different aspects of an operation. I'm really interested with the idea of using wargames and the like as tools in exploring history in a more rigorous fashion, so this is really cool. 

Edited by BeondTheGrave
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Layered methods are something that's done professionally as well, but perhaps not as much as they could.

I do think there's some disadvantages to that approach, which need to be worked around, but clearly this can be extremely useful - no tool does everything, so having a bunch working in concert can potentially be very powerful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, BeondTheGrave said:

@IICptMillerII This was the first AAR I'd ever read for Combat Mission and it got me super intrigued about the game. Seeing it again was nice. This was such an excellent AAR, great way to use the game for a hypothetical what-if and a fantastic looking scenario to play. 

I also am really intrigued by the idea of creating a layered wargame as you have here, using different models to simulate different aspects of an operation. I'm really interested with the idea of using wargames and the like as tools in exploring history in a more rigorous fashion, so this is really cool. 

Very high praise! Thanks for the kind words. Glad I helped get you into Combat Mission! Your stuff you've made for Cold War is greatly appreciated. I promise it is still on my list to get to as well. I definitely want to support that and help out any way I can. Incentivizing quality is always a good play. Plus, I think one of the scenarios you did for By The Book would make a great blog post AAR. Just have to find the time. 

I do want to make more Hybrid AARs like this. It was fun to do, and I like the added context the CMO layer gives to the whole thing. Again, finding the time is tough, but we'll see!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/28/2022 at 5:45 PM, IICptMillerII said:

Very high praise! Thanks for the kind words. Glad I helped get you into Combat Mission! Your stuff you've made for Cold War is greatly appreciated. I promise it is still on my list to get to as well. I definitely want to support that and help out any way I can. Incentivizing quality is always a good play. Plus, I think one of the scenarios you did for By The Book would make a great blog post AAR. Just have to find the time. 

I do want to make more Hybrid AARs like this. It was fun to do, and I like the added context the CMO layer gives to the whole thing. Again, finding the time is tough, but we'll see!

Thanks I appreciate it as well. I understand what you mean about the time of it all. I have three or four more half made maps, plus the almost finished campaign! Another few days of plinking away and I would be done, but something else always seems to come up one way or another. Indeed, more goals than the time to do them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
7 hours ago, nathangun said:

Just re-reading this AAR again, just a couple of questions.

Did you ever have to edit the Command: Modern Air Naval Operations save file or edit the CM scenario to reflect the effects of the CMO layer?

I didn't have to edit either scenario on the fly. Once each scenario was set up, it was just a matter of hitting play, both in Command and in Combat Mission. The Command scenario established the setting for the Combat Mission scenario, which was incorporated into the beginning of the scenario in CM. 

After the fight in CM, I went back to the Command scenario and processed what had elapsed. So, fast forward the clock roughly 2 hours, and recall all the CAS assets. Other than that though, there was no need to constantly edit either scenario on the fly, which was great. 

I do have some ideas on how I can continue the Command layer, and have it lead to more CM scenarios, but to do that I would have to edit the scenario on the fly. Thankfully, the Command editor is extremely powerful and easy to use, so doing that is only a matter of putting the time in. I've had some ideas on turning Consulate Crisis into something like an episodic campaign series, but other commitments have kept me away from the project. Hoping I might get some more time in the near future to work on that some more though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, nathangun said:

I had something similar in mind along the lines using a board game but Command: Modern Air Naval Operations seems to tick all the boxes.

Command is great. The editor is extremely powerful, and you can edit missions on the fly as well. Not to mention it is constantly being updated and developed. In fact there was just a mega update that added in a whole bunch of great new features. If it matters, it is used in a professional wargaming context by many militaries/defense sectors as well. The sheer amount of equipment/sensors/weapons/etc that are in the game make any scenario feasible to simulate as well. 

The only real drawback is one illustrated in the AAR: you are stuck with using the real world Earth. So if you want to make up a fake nation or something like that, you cannot also make up your own continent/island/region to fight over. A minor thing all things considered. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, IICptMillerII said:

The only real drawback is one illustrated in the AAR: you are stuck with using the real world Earth. So if you want to make up a fake nation or something like that, you cannot also make up your own continent/island/region to fight over. A minor thing all things considered.

 

The Earth is big enough for interesting scenarios, there's always small fictitious nations to build.🙂

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

This as absolutely awesome!

Incredible detail and thought put into this and as a huge fan of both games I can appreciate all your hard work. The end results were great.

 I’ve been thinking of attempting something similar to simulate a MEU landing in Syria supported by the Ford CSG currently stationed in the Mediterranean and the Bataan ARG soon to be there as well. 
 

CM scenario design I can handle especially if I just edit an existing map. But the CMO scenario design is a different beast entirely. Any suggestions on some good CMO scenarios to use as a template? Preferably ones already involving Syria?

 

Also did you ever do any other CM CMO hybrid scenarios?

Thank you again for your time and effort in this it truly was great to read.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, Da_General said:

This as absolutely awesome!

Incredible detail and thought put into this and as a huge fan of both games I can appreciate all your hard work. The end results were great.

 I’ve been thinking of attempting something similar to simulate a MEU landing in Syria supported by the Ford CSG currently stationed in the Mediterranean and the Bataan ARG soon to be there as well. 
 

CM scenario design I can handle especially if I just edit an existing map. But the CMO scenario design is a different beast entirely. Any suggestions on some good CMO scenarios to use as a template? Preferably ones already involving Syria?

 

Also did you ever do any other CM CMO hybrid scenarios?

Thank you again for your time and effort in this it truly was great to read.

 

I meant to tag you in my post above @IICptMillerII

Edited by Da_General
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/27/2023 at 12:00 AM, Da_General said:

This as absolutely awesome!

Incredible detail and thought put into this and as a huge fan of both games I can appreciate all your hard work. The end results were great.

 I’ve been thinking of attempting something similar to simulate a MEU landing in Syria supported by the Ford CSG currently stationed in the Mediterranean and the Bataan ARG soon to be there as well. 
 

CM scenario design I can handle especially if I just edit an existing map. But the CMO scenario design is a different beast entirely. Any suggestions on some good CMO scenarios to use as a template? Preferably ones already involving Syria?

 

Also did you ever do any other CM CMO hybrid scenarios?

Thank you again for your time and effort in this it truly was great to read.

 

for the CMO you can use this user made scenario as a template

 

Baniyas, Syria, 2022 updated to Beta Ver 1.05 Build 1243.5 - Matrix Games Forums

 

it is focused on SEAD + HVT strike. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! Glad to see this AAR still gets some traffic. 
 

On 10/27/2023 at 12:00 AM, Da_General said:

I’ve been thinking of attempting something similar to simulate a MEU landing in Syria supported by the Ford CSG currently stationed in the Mediterranean and the Bataan ARG soon to be there as well. 
 

CM scenario design I can handle especially if I just edit an existing map. But the CMO scenario design is a different beast entirely. Any suggestions on some good CMO scenarios to use as a template? Preferably ones already involving Syria?

I don’t know any off the top of my head and I (sadly) cannot check CMO right now as I am away from my personal computer gif an extended period. But I think the community scenario pack would be a good place to start. I also wouldn’t be surprised if someone hasn’t already made a scenario based on current events and uploaded it to the steam workshop. 

 

On 10/27/2023 at 12:00 AM, Da_General said:

Also did you ever do any other CM CMO hybrid scenarios?

I have a number of ideas, but the issue is always making it happen in CM. Everything in CM takes so long to do (making/tweaking a map, playing a battle, rewatching replay turns, etc etc) that it’s not practical to pump this kind of stuff out. Consulate Crisis took me something like 4-6 months to finish, and that was with a premade map in CM that I only had to tweak a bit. 
 

That said, I would like to do another. Sadly that will have to wait a while as I am currently away, but when I get back, who knows?

Thanks again for the interest and kind words!

Edited by IICptMillerII
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...