[Scenario] Battle for Highway E97

[BeondTheGrave]

The Battle for Highway E97

Size: Small

400m x 1000m

https://www.mediafire.com/file/at4xaiw54kjqeqs/Battle_for_E97_v1.zip/file

THIS MAP WAS MADE WITH CMBS ALL IN ONE MOD ASSETS 

Hello All,

A few days ago I saw a video of a Russian element, perhaps platoon sized, ambushing two UA BRDM-2s and dismounts. The video can be found here if youre interested. I had thought that the are looked interesting, the Ukrainian commander was confronted by an exception circumstance, and it appeared a sharp firefight resulted from the contact. To me these all seem like the ingredients for an interesting CM map, so thats what I made. In testing though I found that there isn't actually much to it. The firefight is intense, but short. Either the RA crushes the convoy before the BRDMs return fire, or they get suppressed and picked apart. The scenario exists as an interesting 'test' of the TACAI in a real world inspired situation, but ultimately it was my conclusion that TACAI on both sides often overperformed what the video suggests that actual results were. Looking at what I was making I think the map and the tactical situation lends itself to an interesting CM fight if I was willing to deviate a bit from the footage I was referencing. Therefore in the .zip file you will find 3 scenarios, two serious and one for fun, all based on this real world engagement. 

Scen 1- As it Happened (AIH): This scenario is based on the video footage as seen, as well as some normal mapmaking tools like Google Earth. It is possible to play either the RA or UA side, both are recommended. I find it is easiest to replicate the simulated engagement with the RA side. My suggestion is to wait until the BRDMs move into the kill zone and then push your forward to the crest of the berm. DO NOT SET TARGET ARCS OR MANUAL TARGETS. Either gives your forces a big advantage, especially against the BRDMs. In most of my testing what happens next conforms, more or less, to what happened in the video. For the UA, if you wish the pursue the historical plan, Set up a path of 'FAST' movement orders through the arcing portion of the highway. On the first action square of the 'straightaway' set your BRDMs to either 'quick' or 'move' (I prefer quick). Once the Russians start hammering you, dismount and engage. I find that from the UA perspective, results tend to skew towards either extreme. Either you get wiped out in a turn, or your BRDMs turn around and open fire, pinning the Russians. Really I find this scenario to be an interesting test of TACAI against a real world scenario. Its a case study of just one, so its results dont really mean anything, but I found that both the Russians and the Ukrainians tend to be more lethal, shoot more accurately, than what we saw in the video. This is doubly true if the player interacts even a little bit with their forces, as the Russians its not hard to wipe out the BRDMs if you want to do that. 

A couple notes regarding scenario design: First, there is no right or wrong way to play it, but there is an intended way. The intention is to give you an encounter like is seen in the video. You can try multiple approaches if you'd like, but if you diverge too much from the premise you can quite easily break the AI and produce unusual results. Second, the force composition may look a bit....odd... for both sides. For the RA, I wanted scout teams that had no RPGs. None appear in the video and obviously at the ranges were talking about RPGs would be murderous. But I would have to drop the ammo levels to 'severe' to do it and found that had a negative impact on the Russian's ability to ambush the BRDMs. But I realized that if I swapped scout squads for 1 FO and 1LMG squad each, I maintained the same weight of fire without either bringing RPGs. For the UA the problem is a bit different and relates to the BRDM's modeled carrying capacity. BRDMs are modeled with a crew of 2 and a carry capacity of 4 dismounts. I have no idea where this info comes from, but I generally think BFG's modeling is pretty reliable. The video claims a UA strength of 14+ which, to me, just seems way to high. Unless they were also riding Desant, but I dont think the video establishes that. The issue for the UA force in the scenario is that it doesn't all fit onto the BRDMs. The TOE force would be a six man recon squad plus a two man HQ. But the recon squad splits into three and three, meaning it doesnt fit into the BRDM with the HQ team. So either I deleted the HQ to fit in the squad, or I developed a different option. Ultimately I made a decision to make the scenario a bit more interesting, but a little less like the video. I kept the HQ platoon mounted in the BRDM and added an attached LMG squad, increasingly slightly the firepower for the recon squad. The leftover three man team I put into a building marked 'Survivors!' The objective ultimately is to extract the survivor team. The survivor team CAN interfere with the if put on the 2nd level or roof. If you want to keep them out of the action, put them on the 1st floor, restricted target arc, and on hide. 

Scen 2- Enhanced (E):  The second included Scenario is called 'Enhanced' and tries to make a traditional CM mission out of what footage we saw. The objectives are the same, though point values have been rebalanced. Scout the convoy route and extract survivors for the UA, destroy follow on forces for the RA. But the forces have been increased to roughly Platoon vs. Coy (-). The Russians have received two more scout platoons, complete with RPGs, as well as some light armored vehicle support. The UA received the support of a 'Quick Reaction Force' made up of the leftover squad from the 2nd recon platoon as well as the entirety of the 1st recon platoon. These are mounted mostly in BTR-70s, though one BTR-4E has also been included for heavy lifting. The QRF also comes with an MT-LB for the player to use extracting the survivors, which have also increased in number. Both sides get mortar support. Ultimately the UA has an advantage here in mobility and vehicle support, but the RA has infantry numbers and the stronger position. This scenario is best played either HTH or Blue vs AI. It has both Red and Blue AI plans, but I spent way more time working on the Red AI than the Blue. TBH I just dont think any blue AI would be capable of doing what I want them to do, the survivors would be sitting ducks in an extraction to any human with half a brain. I do think though that this scenario would be really interesting for HTH play, it could be worth a try. So I did make sure every scenario contained an equivalent red briefing. 

The VPs have also been rebalanced here to reflect the new forces. Mostly the UA is working to deny the RA VPs. They gain points by touching the recon objectives and by hitting the listed casualty threshold. The RA gains points by killing UA soldiers via unit objectives. Survivor squads are worth the most, then squads in the BRDM platoon, then the lowest value is the QRF force. As the UA player, you want to risk your QRF troops while your Survivors the least. OTOH the RA is going to want to squeeze the survivor's position BEFORE the QRF can relieve them. 

Scen 3-UA is OP plz Nerf (UAOP): This is a joke scenario but I thought some might like a little catharsis. If you just want to blow the hell out of some Russians this is for you. It uses Scen 2 as a base but further modifies the UA force. The QRF has been reinforced to two platoons mounted in BTR-4Es. Two tanks from the commanders reserve have also been included as immobile bunkers. They have excellent FOV and can smash everything the Russians throw up. Oh and the Mortars have been upgraded to 122mm arty. And a little surprise from the UAF. 

If you keep the .zip around, you can just drop the single scenario you want to play into your scenario folder. No mess, no clutter!

I will follow this thread up with a thread of screenshots, stay tuned! 

Edited March 12, 2022 by BeondTheGrave

[BeondTheGrave]

Here is a streetview look at the ambush sight from the north, looking south to the bridge

And here is my version:

Pretty close. Youll notice that I had to make a few changes. First, for Aesthetics sake I had to widen the road bed. So the berm doesn't loom over the road as much as it does IRL. I think this actually plays to UA's advantage as its harder for the RA to shoot into the far ditch. But its still very possible, so I made the lefthand (eastern) ditch a bit deeper in this area. Now a pixeltruppen can stand up fully and their head will not poke up over the road surface. But because the RA on the right (western side) is elevated, they can still mostly shoot into the ditch anyway. It is what it is. 

Here is a street view from roughly the UA spawn:

And here is the same view in engine:

Again, the berm doesn't dominate. And of course I had to set my level in June because only summer textures are available in CMBS. But from a gameplay perspective I think you will find that it plays as you expect, given the engine limitations. 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by BeondTheGrave

[Topkick]

Thanks for the upload, looks interesting!

[Phantom Captain]

Very cool, thanks for putting it together!  Impressive on such short notice.

Looks interesting indeed.

[domfluff]

Ha, I did mock up a quick version of this following the analysis video. Glad to see you picked this one up and ran with it.

[BeondTheGrave]

Thanks for the kind words. It only took about three days to whip up, including art. So if anything is broken blame my desire to get it out quickly while its still fresh 

Meanwhile my CMCW maps have languished for weeks. 

[danfrodo]

Thanks, looks like fun!

[37mm]

On 3/12/2022 at 3:37 PM, BeondTheGrave said:

And of course I had to set my level in June because only summer textures are available in CMBS.

Good job on the scenario(s)!

I did quickly rustle up an untagged winter mod for CMBS (using textures from CMCW & @SeinfeldRules), so you can immediately give a more wintery feel to your scenario if desired*...

It might be an idea for conent creators to start adding a suitable tag to their scenarios to help differentiate between the 2017 hypothetical conflict & the 2022 real one.

 

*The CMBS scenario editor is suprisingly flexible for a summer game... temps can be dropped down to freezing.

[NeoOhm]

Awesome job Sir!

[Chibot Mk IX]

Finished the scenario 2 - enhanced version

 

Love this one. Not too many scenario give you chance to command a pair of BRDM-2 

 

it is quite a challenge to UKR player. I doubt UKR player can win this in a HTH game.

When facing a human player, I don't think there is any possibility to save the trapped UKR troops

 

[BeondTheGrave]

On 3/24/2022 at 3:41 PM, Chibot Mk IX said:

Finished the scenario 2 - enhanced version

 

Love this one. Not too many scenario give you chance to command a pair of BRDM-2 

 

it is quite a challenge to UKR player. I doubt UKR player can win this in a HTH game.

When facing a human player, I don't think there is any possibility to save the trapped UKR troops

 

Thanks for reporting back! I have only had the occasion to play against the AI, and since I programmed it its sometimes hard to get a good sense of how people actually experience it. 

Perhaps the VPs might need a bit of rebalancing? Less emphasis on recovering the soldiers and greater emphasis on preserving the entire force? As a clarification, were your 9kia and 14 wounded mostly among the trapped soldiers? Or a balance of the three UA groups. Even a balance would probably end up being an issue for the UA player given that the weight of points sits on the side of the extracted soldier. 

Hope you enjoyed it nevertheless! It was fun to make. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by BeondTheGrave

[Erwin]

Is it correct that in the RL video, Ukrainian troops are disembarking from the BRDM's?  In the CM game, BRDM's cannot carry passengers.

[Suchy]

@Erwin It's not true! They can carry 3-men squads!

[BeondTheGrave]

7 hours ago, Erwin said:

Is it correct that in the RL video, Ukrainian troops are disembarking from the BRDM's?  In the CM game, BRDM's cannot carry passengers.

In the video there are dismounts. The footage is too far zoomed out to see if they were troops hoping to be rescued, if they walked in with the BRDMs, or if they were truly dismounts. My opinion, and I believe also the one of the video maker, is that they are dismounts and/or crew from the first BRDM which appears to become disabled. 

In CM you can carry up to four passengers for a grand total of six men in a BRDM. IRL I have not read about the internal capacity of a BRDM for troop carrying, but typically it is listed as a four man vehicle in a strict recon role. I trust CM to get something that basic correct, but I cant say I've seen something that supports the 6 number. 

Either way, in level you can bring up to twelve dismounts if you bail out of the two BRDMs. The video suggests this was the total number of dismounts in the battle, as I said in the above post I dont buy that. We have at least two who remain in the second BRDM the whole time. Ultimately its ambiguous as the video is pretty blurry and zoomed out. It shouldn't be too hard to try multiple variations of Scen 1 to see how different dismount/mount configurations work. See if you can get something that more closely resembles the video. 

[Erwin]

Ok thanks... I must have been looking in the manual at the AT variant.

[Artkin]

Have you considered raising the height of the berms? I think the reason they aren't dominating as much is because they may be too short. I would argue theyre much closer to the height of those street lamps.

Looking forward to trying this one out here in a bit