[CAMP]Warriors in the Sands

[Blackcat]

Afternoon Bardosy,

The mission "Get Some" was fun, but not really very difficult. The tower right by the US set up gave the artillery observers a great boost and enabled them to dominate the battle ground. I got a surrender with 35 mins to go having lost one killed and 6 wounded (all casualties occurred in the first 5 minutes when taking the initial set of buildings). I was a bit miffed that the AI surrendered as I was about to unleash 155mm hell on the village by the exit zone.

I have made a start on the "Rangers Lead..." and that one seems a totally different cauldron of octopus. Very nasty. Taking the police HQ was easy, but after that all hell has broken lose. Unfortunately my wife has come home and I have had to stop playing.

Thanks for putting these together and giving me another day's fun gaming.

[bardosy]

Yeah, 'Get Some' was too easy, so I remove the 155mm and add a static tank and high moral airborne troopers to the Border station. I hope it prevent the surrender too soon.

Yesterday, I rework the Chemical Factory map (from Narwick) to this USMC core unit and test it. It was interesting, because the setup zone is similar as for the Army, but this core unit has shortage of IFV-s (only 3 LAV, instead of many Bradleys). But the infantry squads much more harder... I take causalities in the chemical factory, but could advance must faster the with the Army.

And Mk19 Humvee is very nice...!

EDIT: I overwrite the USMCmissions.zip with the new one, contains the new (chemical factory) mission.

[bardosy]

It's fun! I like these pixel marines...

Yesterday I reuse the Airport map of Warriors. The Suicide Battalion start next to the village of Mosque (there is no two fronts anymore) and have to wight with syrian airborne for: mosqua, airport, hotel and fayedeen HQ (near the original second setup zone). Of course, it's a lot of time, so I expand the time limit to 1.30hrs.

The downloadable zip updated!

[Blackcat]

Maybe I am just a bad player but some Bardosy's re-works of his British campaign for USMC leave me struggling. In the orginal one had the best part of a battalion with the USMC you get a, slightly, reineforced company. It gets decidedly tricky.

The second released scenario ("Rangers lead...") I had to restart after getting seriously thumped from being too impetuous. With a slower and more oblique advance it turned into something of a meeting engagement where one company of marines, mostly on foot, ran into at least a battalion of Syrian Mech infantry coming the other way. A nasty business, especially as there were entrenched Syrians littering the battlezone and I struggled to divide my limited firepower betwen smacking down the on-coming waves and supressing the entranched masses.

I am not lookingforward to the Chemical Works. In the original I only managed to win by basically flattening the place by using massed warrior firepower, with just three LAVs and a company of infantry, I could have some difficulty.

[bardosy]

I was thinking about what you wrote, when I rework these... And found answers:

1., My scenarios (warriors and narwick) was criticized by high number of blue troops. Some beta-testers and players could do the job, left a lot of units behind and used only a part of the attacking force. I was wondering "maybe I'm a weak player", so I do this test: rework scenarios with a limited blue force and I found it fun.

2., The lack of IFVs and tanks is painful, but I tried to add more SUPPORT (air and arty). As I read in Generation Kill, the marines ride through iraq with limited armors, but huge support (arty and air). I guess, it's possible, if we have an elite spotter who can call support fast. Additionally, air support is very valuable, because they saw the hidden armors, what I don't.

The only problem with the support is, I cannot punish the player if destroy valuable buildings (like air-controll tower or chemical weapon storage), because I add a lot of point to Syrian side if that building destroyed, but they always surrender and their gained points lost...

3., Don't blame yourself!!! I didn't finish (didn't win) the surface-mine scenario neither. Maybe it's REALLY TOO HARD. (I stopped playing that mission, because I made a mistake and reinforcement syrian infantry appear in the same trench where my marines was... So I stop and correct the reinforcement, but I didn't start again yet.

About chemical factory: when I played it with armymen, it was a nightmare inside the compound, inside the long buildings and I lost a lot of good men. But with the marines (more men and heavier weapons) it was easier and I used LAV in other fronts (in the village and SAM site...).

[Blackcat]

Good evening, Bardosy,

My wife was out again today, so I could steal the time to finish my second attempt at the "Rangers Lead" mission. I got a surrender with 16 minutes to go for a total of 6 killed and eight wounded. However, aside from one scout unit I was still several hundred metres short of the town and the majority of the objectives. I don't think the mission is impossible, one just needs to take it slowly and let the Syrians come to you.

That of course leads onto the idea that playing for a surrender negates the penalties for destroying high value buildings, taking too many casulaties etc. I don't think that there is anything that can be done about this, it is just how the game works.

I take your point about the current American strategy of limited forces with massive support. It does work in the game as well as it does in real life. I am not wholly convinced it makes for the best gaming though, espcially if one is playing against a human opponent.

Anyway, I am off to download your latest file and see if I can d the chemical works with just a company of Marines.

[Blackcat]

Morning Bardosy,

I have tried the new Chemical Works mission. As my son would say, "You're having a giraffe!" (where he picks up these expressions I have no idea).

Can you honestly place your hand on your heart and say, "I have won this mission"? If you give me your word as a gentleman that you have I will have no choice but to believe you. I will also have to conclude that I am a shockingly bad CMSF player and in future restrict my gaming to something within my intellectual and tactical capabilities, like Uckers.

[bardosy]

Hey BlackCat!

Is this an expression? ("You're having a giraffe!") And what does it mean? (I have a friend who collect English expressions/por-verbs what contains animals. (Strange hobby).

Chemical Factory:

First I supress the long buildings by mortar, MG and LAV's bushmaster and simultaneously I force recon to the village with an MG Humvee and a squad of marines. Of course, the non-combatant CO units are in the rooftop of the highest building in the setup zone. The force recon squad took heavy casualities and the humvee destroyed, but the squad arrive the first building.

Meanwhile a LAV start to fire to the wall of the factory (to the closest wall) and when it create a hole one squad start to assault the closest long building. (They saw a tank int the factory's yard, so a Javelin team run there and knock it out.) I send one more squad through the hole and assault the next closest long building (there is a square-based and higher building attach to it). The objective it to take that higher building, but first they have to clear the two (closest) long buildings. I send there small squads (I don't remember exactly, but commanders and 4 soldiers squad from the LAVs go there and cover the two full squads clearence.

When the reinforcements arrived one by one, I use mortars and choppers to supress the far side of the factory, the storage facility and the SCUD site. And I was not hurry with the infantry, they advance very slowly and try to left the hard work to the artillery and Apaches.

Meanwhile a LAV and an MG- and Mk19 Humvee go to the village. The injured full squad and the 4-men squad from the LAV finish the village. Two new marine squad advance by foot accross the field between the factory and the village to the berm, near to the SCUD site.

The syrian reinforcement caused a little panic, but I was lucky and LAV and Mk19 (and a SMAW from the square-high building) eliminate the technicals and the AT-BTRs.

The most important trick is to not completly capture the factory! The far side of the factory is very hard. The plan is to capture all other objective and surround the factory and pressure them with support. So my Humvees and a LAV plus 2 and half squad attack the SCUD site from teh berm and then fire to the visible enemies in storage facility.

Finally, I had no enter the Storage and the far side of the factory, because they surrender...

Oh and the MOST IMPORTANT information: I played in Veteran mode and real-time.

[Blackcat]

Wotcha Bardosy,

Yes, "You're having a giraffe" is a real expression used by some English people. I am not sure I can explain idiomatic English when it is wrapped up in rhyming slang but I'll try.

Rhyming slang was/is a feature of the East End of London, where my family came from. Normally the second word of the rhyme was ommitted so as to confuse the stranger. Some examples: beer was known as "Pigs" (pigs ear rhymes with beer - but the cockney would always drop the "ear"), to go for a walk was "to go for a ball" (ball of chalk), wages were "greens" (greengages), sausage was cash (sausage and mash), cigarettes were "harrys" (Harry Rags = fags) and so on. In recent times the old rhyming slang, which had pretty much died out, has had something of a revival amongst the young but in a far more obvious form, hence we get giraffe = laugh.

So my son's expression. "You're having a giraffe" = "You're having a laugh". The idiom here is that you are having a laugh at my expense, or to put it another way, "you are extracting the urine" or to be blunt "You are taking the p*ss". In other words you are setting me up to look like a fool.

Anyway I am having another go at the Chemocal works this evening and will try and incorporate your lessons.

[bardosy]

Hey BlackCat!

Your explonation was GREAT! Thank you! I always enjoy these things.

Theoretically I don't speak English (I never learned. I learned Russian and Spanish.) I just play games in my teen-age and use internet in my work and every documentation is in English. So what I know, I studied by explonations as yours.

My collegue - who is a languistist - told me when he read your post, "it's a treasure!" and add "I can write a PhD from this"

[TheVulture]

A friend of mine used to do "communist dictator rhyming slang", although in all honest it only ever had one phrase: "Mao it in the Ho" for "Bung it in the bin". (Mao = Mao Tse-Tung = bung, Ho = Ho Chi Min = Bin).

[Blackcat]

A friend of mine used to do "communist dictator rhyming slang", although in all honest it only ever had one phrase: "Mao it in the Ho" for "Bung it in the bin". (Mao = Mao Tse-Tung = bung, Ho = Ho Chi Min = Bin).

Its amusing how language develops over time and rhyming slang in particular. My father, who was a true cockney (born in the sound of Bow Bells and all that) was a purist and towards the end of his life used to get quite upset about the "corruption" of the rhymes - I remember getting a right telling off one evening when I told him that I was going out with some friends for a ruby (Ruby Murray = curry). As if you could corrupt slang.

Anyway, back to the game.

Bardosy,

If you read this - I got a Syrian surrender in the Chemical Works mission with 35 minutes left on the clock for a loss of three killed and four wounded. I followed your advice and didn't try and take the Works.

I used the scout platoon supported by long range fire from the Humvees to take the village. Then after prepping the area with choppers I did the long run around taking the Scud site, the Sam site and the Damage Storage all from the rear using the Scouts and the platoon which arrives mounted on the AAVs. The AI then chucked its hand in.

I did use one platoon to make a little foray into the Chemical works and took the first two long buildings and the four storey building next to them (that's when I took all but one of my casualties), but that was really to try and ensure my mobile units could transit via the village without interference from those RPGs. Aside from that, I did use the LAV's Humvees and AAVs to hose down the Works buildings, from as long a range as I could manage, especially every time the opposition showed itself.

As a result I did not get involved in any close encounters with the Special Forces. What a difference from my first attempt!

P.S. Glad you liked my explanation, and for someone who can't speak English you do rather well - far better than I could do in any foreign language, but then I am English and we have an exemption from God.

[bardosy]

[q]but then I am English and we have an exemption from God.[/q]

That's true! And very funny.

But your punish from God is, you have to tolerate the killing of your language by us.

In extremly rare situation I met some foreign people who speak in Hungarian and it's funny. But if the whole world speak as badly in my language as I speak in English, could crazy me.

ON:

Yesterday I start to reuse an other map from Narwick with marines. Did you remember, the ambush map, when Bradleys come in a highway and the far, tall buildings are full with ATGMs? And you have to relive an army officer hiding in a ditch?

I used that map, but without ATGMs and army officer... And marines start behind the highway, not on it.

It's not finished (and not tested yet), so there is no new zip file.

[Blackcat]

In extremely rare situation I met some foreign people who speak in Hungarian and it's funny. But if the whole world speak as badly in my language as I speak in English, could crazy me.

Give me a few days in Budapest and I would drive you nuts just in my attempt to order a couple fo beers. Oddly enough the one language where I seemed to get the accent and pronunciation correct was Arabic - maybe my Arab friends were just trying to be polite, but I did love the desert.

Anyway, Herself was out again this morning so I managed to play the USMC version of your Airport mission. Great fun, and so much easier when you have infantry with some firepower. Taking the Mosque was so simple, no casualties at all, I sliced through the opposition like a hot knife through butter. Later on I got myself in a bit of a mess and had a section on the upper floor in the building next to the tower and was taking fire from all sides. It took four casualties, with the Brits that would be it - no longer combat effective - but with the Yank marines they went on to win the firefight! A Syrian surrender with 38 mins left, I lost 9 killed and 9 wounded and 1 AAV (got careless towards the end and didn't expect the enemy reinforcements).

I look forward to playing your next offering. I remember that map well. It was a pig the first time round and required a lot of patience. Playing it as an urban fight with the USMC should be fun.

Tell me, have you thought of just changing the Blue units in Warriors in the Sand to USMC and publishing it as a campaign? The player would need more than just a bare company as his core units and the Syrians might have to be beefed up in some missions, but it would be a heap of fun to play.