British Campaign

[Jonny(FGM)]

I'm thinking of trying to make my first campaign, I'd love to do it with British forces, i'm still imagining the battle structure at the moment but i'd like to get the main core of the forces fixed first.

I've got a few questions and i'd really appreciate the benefit of anyone who is more knowledgeable about these things about these things. I'd like to make it based around an armored inf company (i might make it a mech co to make it more of a challenge lol)

Where can i find out what units are what type? Ie i presume infantry regiments are either light,mech or armored and are not mixed within the regiment?

Also where can I find out what a certain regiment/battalion parent unit they would fight with? I believe the brits fight in brigades, are these fixed formations or are they a more ad hoc arrangement?

I'd like to attatch realistic support (armor, arty, air etc) units, any idea where i could find out information on these too?

Cheers!

[ForceMultiplier]

Hi Jonny,

Wiki has a great site under "Structure of the British Army" - look for the land forces structure picture. The best source that I know of (for civilians) is "The British Army, a pocket guide" by Charles Heyman. Pretty cheap and contains all the info that you would need, I bought it just so I could understand the British organization when the British Module came out.

Can't wait to play your campaign - keep us posted!

[Jonny(FGM)]

cheers thanks for that, as i understand it right now the regiments are organised into brigades, which in turn are organised into divisions, but i'm sure i've read that these are more administrational organisations and often have little influence over what units will actually be deployed together in combat. I may be wrong though

[Blackcat]

Wotcha Johnny,

British forces these days tend to fight using battlegroups. These are, depending on the circumstances generally built around an infantry batallion, with armour, artillery engineers and support units added as necessary to complete the task. So a battlegroup might consist of a armoured infantry battalion e.g. 3rd Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, together with a troop of Challengers from a cavalry regiment (or The Royal Tank Regiment - which is of course a corps not a regiment), a recce troop from a cavalry regiment (Scimitars), a dedicated battery of artillery from a regiment of the RA etc. etc.. Battlegroups are temporary structures put together fro a particular mission/camapign.

The link and the book recommended by FM above will give all the details of extant regiments.

P.S. You said, "i presume infantry regiments are either light,mech or armored and are not mixed within the regiment?" They can be The Rifles is a regiment which has light and mechanised battalions. However, British infantry regiments never fight as a regiment. Battalions are brigaded with battalions from other regiments as needed.

[hcrof]

I don't know whether this helps:

http://www.armedforces.co.uk/army/listings/l0014.html

Good luck with the campaign!

[Jonny(FGM)]

Ok i've decided on roughly this for the core units. Extra arty/air will be attatched on a battle by battle basis

[Jonny(FGM)]

Here's a brief outline of the battles involved.

The bottom shot shows the overall path of the battlegroup, with a second possible battle group coming in from the south (not in the campaign)

Battle numbers:

1. (Day 1) Opening border crossing, the terrain looks like farmland over here should be interesting to make the map for. Probably be against a battalion of reserve infantry. Lots of arty and air power to be employed in this one, probably be at midnight to take advantage of the night. Couple of questions, i like the idea of there being a massive minefield somewhere in this one. Are mines likely to be in quantity here? could the syrians lay a big minefield here?

2. (Day1) I'm thinking a desert storm type scen here, massive open terrain, night time (a few hours after the border crossing battle) lots of immobile conscript armor for the red. Again lots of air support here and i'll have all the challengers in this battle.

3. (day 1) Dawn battle, take the town for a base of operations. Not sure what im going to do with this one yet.

4. (Day 2) Leading the battlegroups advance down the highway, probably a few ATGMs for the reds, possibly have some red mobile armor reserves turn up, probably at or just after dawn.

5. (Day2) Gain a foothold in the town, rest of the battlegroup will secure the rest of the town when they arrive.

6. (Day3) Protecting the left flank of the battlegroup, probably similar to battle 3

7 (day 4) Supply column is ambushed. Depending on how well you do in 6 will affect how hard this one is. There will be a minimum of some irregulars and if you don't smash the enemy in 6 there will be regulars left over from that battle

8. Take the town

Suggestions, comments?

[Jonny(FGM)]

1. (Day 1) Opening border crossing, the terrain looks like farmland over here should be interesting to make the map for. Probably be against a battalion of reserve infantry. Lots of arty and air power to be employed in this one, probably be at midnight to take advantage of the night. Couple of questions, i like the idea of there being a massive minefield somewhere in this one. Are mines likely to be in quantity here? could the syrians lay a big minefield here?

Anyone got any advice on this one? i want to start designing it later on today

[Paper Tiger]

I don't think anyone knows. It's not an unreasonable supposition so if you want a minefield, have one. Personally, because minefields are only discoverable by walking/driving into them and can only be removed after they have been discovered, I think they need to be used carefully in campaigns. Scenarios are different as they don't have core units.

Now IEDs are fun and their employment would be expected. And, of course,the Brit Warriors and Bulldogs are fitted with those wonderful ECM devices to counter them which would give your mission a bit more depth.

[Jonny(FGM)]

I'm going to put them in I think, but have them as known minefields and warn the player to stay away. I want them there more to limit maneuvering possibilities than to inflict casualties.

And I already have ideas of how to use the warriors ECM to good effect : )

[Jonny(FGM)]

First mission is done (no briefings yet)

I've decided to go with a recon force coming under attack from

*******SPOILERS**********

an enemy battalion and a plt of armor

*******END OF SPOILER**********

I completed it WEGO/ELITE with 0 casualties and the enemy surrendering before my main force even turned up. Lots of air and arty support in this one.

Playtesters Anyone? : )

[Jonny(FGM)]

Ok i've playtested the first mission through as many times as i can, i need a fresh pair of eyes that doesn't know where the enemy is, anybody fancy it? : )

[teeps]

I'd be up for it, though I'm far from a great CMSF player. If I can be helpful, send them to marktuma @ google's popular email service.

Cheers.

[stoex]

Love to! My email address is in my profile, send it to me if you like. I adore fighting with recon forces, and with that opposition, it sounds like a doozie!

[Jonny(FGM)]

Did i mention it was a night battle? : )

[teeps]

Played it, 1 WIA, 1 KIA, 1 Scimitar toasted through overconfidence, but Total Victory with Syrian Surrender after about an hour. I did use 3 javelins though...

I didn't see any bugs or weirdness, so it looks ready to go to me.

[Jonny(FGM)]

******* SPOILERS ********

Excellent thanks very much. I take it by the fact that you got a surrender after an hour you didn't have to give up and retake the ground. I'm guessing the 3 javelins were for the tanks, i expected people to use them on the tanks, when I played it I didnt want to have to risk letting the air support take care of them.

How did the AI feel, to weak, too aggressive? Did the AI manage to sneak any troops up the middle?

***************

Again thanks very much. I shall get the briefing written up shortly and I'll post it up here to see if it fits with what people have experienced.

Also I'd like to do a mission if you fail this mission, where you have to retake the ground from the forces you didn't kill. Is it possible to carry over red troops from a previous mission, do I have to make them campaign troops?

If so I might not bother because it doesn't look like too many people will lose this mission, and I don't want to have to redeploy that battalion lol

[Jonny(FGM)]

Another thing i noticed with this was how god damn awful the BRDMs are, I played it RT just to test the AI plans out and I had my vehicle crews destroying them with their carbines!

[hcrof]

Are you sure about that? I am pretty sure I have tested them against rifle fire and they were fine - even at point blank range. I assumed that BFC had just said that all vehicle armour is immune to small arms.

5.56 AP should sometimes penetrate the sides at ranges under 100m I seem to recall, but not in the game.

[Jonny(FGM)]

Well all I know is my vehicle crews let off one or 2 bursts of small arms fire and both crewmembers were dead.

At first i thought it had gone in through the front viewing hatches but then they buttoned up and the next crew member still died.

I did set equipment quality to the lowest setting so it might be due to that

[Jonny(FGM)]

OK i ran a test and couldn't recreate the results, but it definately happened lol

[teeps]

******* SPOILERS ********

Excellent thanks very much. I take it by the fact that you got a surrender after an hour you didn't have to give up and retake the ground. I'm guessing the 3 javelins were for the tanks, i expected people to use them on the tanks, when I played it I didnt want to have to risk letting the air support take care of them.

How did the AI feel, to weak, too aggressive? Did the AI manage to sneak any troops up the middle?

*************SPOILERS **********************

I didn't have to give up any of the ground I started with, just called in a lot of arty and used Warriors and Scimitars to destroy individual bits of light armour. I did use the Javelins on the tanks, but only because I'd pushed some Scimitars forward and was worried about them if I'd waited the four minutes for air support. I got the impression though that the tanks had no effective night vision, as I had Warriors plinking away at them with no reply, so perhaps the Javelins were wasted.

The AI felt ok to me, but I'm not a great player! They did push through the lines but I cleaned them up with Warriors, and they almost got through the middle, but I think the bombardments slowed them down.

I think the only way to lose this one would be to push forward with your own forces. If Blue just waits for the Reds to come into sight the massive artillery selection wins the battle.

********************

***************

Again thanks very much. I shall get the briefing written up shortly and I'll post it up here to see if it fits with what people have experienced.

Also I'd like to do a mission if you fail this mission, where you have to retake the ground from the forces you didn't kill. Is it possible to carry over red troops from a previous mission, do I have to make them campaign troops?

If so I might not bother because it doesn't look like too many people will lose this mission, and I don't want to have to redeploy that battalion lol

Not sure how campaigns work, sorry!

[Jonny(FGM)]

Much Appreciated - I'll make sure to put in credits for all the playtesers : )

[Paper Tiger]

Is it possible to carry over red troops from a previous mission, do I have to make them campaign troops?

Yes. You would have to make them RED core units - just buy them for RED in the same file you're using for your BLUE core units. However, you need to be careful when you have core units for both sides as the RED units will be imported each time you import units into a mission. It's a very simple matter to remove them but it does make for some confusing moments when you playtest the mission for the first time.

And yes, BRDMs are really, really bad. They won't spot anything in low/no light situations so you can get right up close to them. Are you sure they didn't use grenades as well as carbines when firing at the BRDMs?

[Jonny(FGM)]

And yes, BRDMs are really, really bad. They won't spot anything in low/no light situations so you can get right up close to them. Are you sure they didn't use grenades as well as carbines when firing at the BRDMs?

I'm pretty sure. I played it RT (just to test the AI plans, its quicker) so didn't replay but i didn't see any explosions, i think this veh crew didn't have any grenades