New VAAR: Darkest Before the Dawn

[ClarkWGriswold]

This is a VAAR that I made of a game between myself and a friend. It's an armor-only matchup that takes place in June of '44. I used a computer suggested force mix (clicked a few times, but used it as suggested) of 2 tank platoons. I've got four 76mm Shermans and five 75mm Shermans (some with no radios), along with one halftrack carrying an HQ squad, and one Jeep. The Germans also have a computer picked force, but I think they're all set to veteran or crack. The extent of the German forces will be revealed throughout the AAR, just as it was to me.

The entire video lasts just over 30 minutes. This is part 1 of 3. My Internet connection is quite slow, so the other parts will be uploaded over the next couple of days.

Enjoy!

[togi]

Against german stugs at this distance, it would be expected very bloody for US side.. Stugs must be flanked instead of head to head fight.

[ClarkWGriswold]

Against german stugs at this distance, it would be expected very bloody for US side.. Stugs must be flanked instead of head to head fight.

Understatement of the year! But flanking is much easier said than done when the map is wide open with so little cover. I was hoping the 76mm guns would have the punch to take on the Stugs at ~1500m, but as you'll see... they don't!

[togi]

If I were you, I would use smoke shells regularly to close any flanked angle..split the team two / two and aproach two direction from each flank

only this way you can have chance against low siluette TDs

76 mm guns can't handle , hull downed TDs

gl to you

[ClarkWGriswold]

If I were you, I would use smoke shells regularly to close any flanked angle..

Using smoke is something I wish I had done sooner. However, each tank only carries a few smoke shells (usually three) and I have no arty to fire smoke. So, using smoke is an option, but not something I could really do more than once or twice due to the lack of shells. I do use smoke later in the game. You'll see how that turns out...

[togi]

If you give me a promise about to make a VAAR for us too and if you accept, I can play a pbem with you, you can take german side with TDs , stugs or PzIV-70s, I can get 75 mm and 76 mm shermans, we can make a reverse-trial about my idea

I can give you my e-mail from your inbox.

[ClarkWGriswold]

Part 2 available now:

[ClarkWGriswold]

Part 3 available now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMpMcGEb_-0

All three parts are available in 720p native. If you have a fast enough connection, I highly suggest watching in HD.

[stoex]

Just finished watching part three. Really great stuff, Clark! I liked your reporting style and cinematics, and I was really surprised at the result, I honestly didn't think you could possibly get a victory when you had only one tank left, but not only did he do a great job flanking the remnants of the German forces, it also turned out they had much fewer active assets left than I had thought! Beautiful VAAR, thanks a lot!

P.S. You repeated a number of scenes in part 3, the sequence where your last tank takes out the Panther and Stug, to be exact. Might want to re-cut that vid.

[Boche]

wow man, that was more exciting than a football match! jajajaja loved the ending! fantastic.

[ClarkWGriswold]

Just finished watching part three. Really great stuff, Clark! I liked your reporting style and cinematics, and I was really surprised at the result, I honestly didn't think you could possibly get a victory when you had only one tank left, but not only did he do a great job flanking the remnants of the German forces, it also turned out they had much fewer active assets left than I had thought! Beautiful VAAR, thanks a lot!

P.S. You repeated a number of scenes in part 3, the sequence where your last tank takes out the Panther and Stug, to be exact. Might want to re-cut that vid.

Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate it. You're not the only one who didn't think I could get the win - because neither did I! When I was down to four Shermans (one with no gun) I thought I was screwed. When the Germans killed off two of my three operational tanks, I was ready to throw in the towel. But I decided to keep on fighting and wound up with a victory. I've never tasted one so sweet.

I realized after the upload that some scenes in part 3 got repeated. I originally uploaded the whole thing as one part, but forgot about the 15 minute maximum that Youtube has. So, I quickly chopped it into three parts

but must have mis-cut part 3. That'll teach me to edit at 2 am. I'll re-edit tonight and upload a fixed third video without the extra footage.

[Vark]

Sablove for the Bronze Star! Fantastic AAR and a really simple and immersive way of commenting on the action, loved it! Couple of points

1. Were Stugs really able to shrug off multiple close range 76mm hits? I remember BF saying that people were surprised at how a 76mm could KO a Tiger, was their data so wrong in CMBO? I'd hate a new incarnation of the super-Stug thread that infested the CMBB board for some time.

2. Still seems that KO'd crews are still too gung ho, I'd suspect they'd use any excuse to bail out, knowing death might arrive in seconds, after the first hit.

3. Seems to be an issue of shadows (Sablove's tank, ghost tracks on hull and dust guards and the Panther whose barrel's shadow seems to be striped.

4. Shows off the games graphic engine far better than BF's marketing attempts. The swaying vegitation, as the tanks jockey for firing positions, or the shot of the Panther sitting under the trees was immersive (during the initial one sided exchanges, my 8 year old son kept muttering, "hit those damn Germans", given he has much loved German relatives, it shows the impact of the game!)

5. The rocking and rolling is spot on for the Sherman and Stug but ludicrous for a 40 plus tonne beast like the Panther! I honestly think if a Panther/Tiger was simulated moving properly, it would add to its impact on the game greatly by evoking a small degree of fear in its opponents. Anything that adds to the psychological involvement has to add more to a wargame (I have removed all my SP games as they have become sterile, compared to CM games)

6. 1 to 1 representation might be sometimes less realistic that a ratio simulation, but boy does it grip you, I was rooting for Sablove and winced when his tank finally got hit. Damn, must get a new PC and get this game.

7. Love to see HT's survive so they can scoot around, do recce AC's survive as long?

8. Damn DU composite armoured trees!

ClarkWGriswold, thanks for all your efforts, much appreciated as I had a pretty intense day at work and am now chilled enough to do my 'homework', oh joy!

p.s. Please can we have another soon, in the same format!

[ClarkWGriswold]

Sablove for the Bronze Star! Fantastic AAR and a really simple and immersive way of commenting on the action, loved it!

Glad that you enjoyed it! Sablove and his crew are definitely being recommended for recognition of service beyond the call of duty.

1. Were Stugs really able to shrug off multiple close range 76mm hits? I remember BF saying that people were surprised at how a 76mm could KO a Tiger, was their data so wrong in CMBO? I'd hate a new incarnation of the super-Stug thread that infested the CMBB board for some time.

I'm not sure how tough Stugs were in real life, but I suspect the game is very close to real world results. I don't know why it took so many hits for Berger to finally kill that one, but the ones on the hill had a BIG advantage by being up so high. Incoming shots were traveling in a trajectory that would be very likely to cause a ricochet. I will say that several times when Berger was engaging I thought to myself "There. That should do it!" only to have the Stug start moving again.

2. Still seems that KO'd crews are still too gung ho, I'd suspect they'd use any excuse to bail out, knowing death might arrive in seconds, after the first hit.

Not sure I'd agree. I had two tank crews that I was able to get to the objective zone after their tanks had been killed. One of those two, the tank was already IN the zone when it was killed, so they didn't really have to go far. Only Olander's crew was able to "rally" and move forward following the destruction of their tank. All of the other crews panicked and ran (if they survived at all).

3. Seems to be an issue of shadows (Sablove's tank, ghost tracks on hull and dust guards and the Panther whose barrel's shadow seems to be striped.

I'm not sure what causes this and was planning to post about it in the support section. It's REALLY annoying, and I'm running on a brand new machine. If you watch the video closely you'll see that about 50% of the time I have shadows turned off to hide this glitch. Sometimes they look okay, but most of they time they are striped like that and it's really, really ugly. Hopefully this is just a graphical issue that BFC can fix in a later patch.

(during the initial one sided exchanges, my 8 year old son kept muttering, "hit those damn Germans", given he has much loved German relatives, it shows the impact of the game!)

Glad to hear the younger generation is enjoying it as well.

6. 1 to 1 representation might be sometimes less realistic that a ratio simulation, but boy does it grip you, I was rooting for Sablove and winced when his tank finally got hit.

Yeah, I had several of those moments. When the crew member giving buddy aid gets nailed by the Panther's shell, I cringed. And when the ONE remaining crew member in Franco's tank (the co-driver, no less) managed to turn the turret and fire off a shell, I raised my hands in excitement... then promptly hung my head as his shot hit a tree and he took a fatal hit in retaliation.

ClarkWGriswold, thanks for all your efforts, much appreciated as I had a pretty intense day at work and am now chilled enough to do my 'homework', oh joy!

p.s. Please can we have another soon, in the same format!

I'm not opposed to doing another, but it would have to be a real nail biter like this battle for me to consider it. Putting this one together took a LOT of man hours. For every minute of video I'd guesstimate I put in 2-3 hours of time capturing, editing, annotating, etc. And even then, I still managed to screw up and loop a portion of the third part. However, if I were to do it again I think I'd be a lot quicker, having learned a lot making this one.

The guy who was playing the Germans during this battle is already badgering me for a rematch, and I have another game going on that is nearly as exciting as this one. So... another video may be forthcoming. But don't hold your breath, because it'll take a lot of time to assemble if I do.

[A Canadian Cat]

Mind you, the sequence you repeated in part 3 was pretty awesome:)

[Vark]

Don't worry about rushing out another Griswold epic, when I used the word "soon" it was being used in a CM context, i.e. within the next two years!!!!

Talking of crew motivation my limited reading and listening to veterans, has indicated that most bailed tank crews were so traumatised by the experience that they really should vanish from the screen, unless it is a truly exceptional circumstance or crew. Must read Kershaw's Tank Men to see if he gives a good insight into the behaviour of bailed crews.

Final point, I wonder what the M3 drivers reaction was when ordered to draw fire away from the tanks!!

[ClarkWGriswold]

Final point, I wonder what the M3 drivers reaction was when ordered to draw fire away from the tanks!!

Well, I didn't actually tell him the "you're going to draw fire" part. I just said "That right flank isn't well defended and our boys are busy on the left. You run down there and hold the objective until the Shermans can back you up"!

I feel pretty bad for sending that guy to his death. I thought for sure he'd be safe behind that forest where I had him stop. Then, I figured he *might* get hit when he dashed out of the forest, but that the Stugs would be too slow turning to hit him, and they'd present broadside to the three Shermans. When the halftrack got hit, that plan went out the window and the three Shermans were on their own. But the Germans had the approach covered so well, and my smoke didn't go as planned, so my armor ended up out in the open taking fire from multiple directions. I felt really bad for getting Madden's whole crew killed. I felt even worse about Berger. He had the ONLY Allied kill of the entire skirmish, up until the last two minutes! When the Panther round hit his tank, my heart just sank.

[ClarkWGriswold]

One thing I'd like to add if anyone from BFC is listening:

Making movies and getting good screenshots would be much easier if we had a way to turn off or hide the interface. It takes up a large portion of the screen when capturing at 720p resolution. It seems like everything behind the UI is rendered anyway, so if it could be turned off we'd get a much bigger, better view for capturing images.

Ditto for the "Unit Lock" text when tabbed on a vehicle. It's pretty evident that you're locked onto a unit anyway. Being able to turn it off would make movie creation a little nicer.

[DaddyO]

I really think BFC should consider how valuable video AAR's can be in promoting their product and take any reasonable steps to make the process easier. There's been a paucity of them since the period surrounding the initial release. It would be nice if it was common to find them on YouTube, but if it takes as much time and effort as CWG has said then things are unlikely to improve.

Honestly, I could spend a lot of time watching VAARs. They have unsurpassed instructional value (read the forums, then watch VAARs as you see played out the wisdom or folly of various approaches and techniques).

[sburke]

I really think BFC should consider how valuable video AAR's can be in promoting their product and take any reasonable steps to make the process easier. There's been a paucity of them since the period surrounding the initial release. It would be nice if it was common to find them on YouTube, but if it takes as much time and effort as CWG has said then things are unlikely to improve.

Honestly, I could spend a lot of time watching VAARs. They have unsurpassed instructional value (read the forums, then watch VAARs as you see played out the wisdom or folly of various approaches and techniques).

I have to say I love em, but just doing screenshots can be a little time consuming. I can't imagine the effort to do many of these. I like the idea of being able to drop the UI though for grabbing shots.

@ClarkWGriswold nice work.

[Frankster65]

Very much enjoyed that. Well done sir.

[TexasToast]

Interesting battle and story, and great production quality!

TT

[ClarkWGriswold]

I went back and fixed part 3 to address the loop that somehow snuck in there during editing. All three parts are now up and all three are available to watch in 720p (which I suggest).

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

[Gpig]

Great VAAR, Mr. Griswald. A real byte-turner. I loved the shot through the smoke and fire of Cameron giving the german halftrack bursts of .50 cal.

[ClarkWGriswold]

I went back and fixed part 3 to address the loop that somehow snuck in there during editing. All three parts are now up and all three are available to watch in 720p (which I suggest).

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Edit: It seems I just can't win. I fixed (mostly) the loop in editing, but now the sound is off for the last several minutes. <sigh> It's just going to have to remain that way (at least until my OCD kicks in and prevents me from leaving it imperfect).

[Stingray]

Great job !!! Enjoyed every minute of it. I never expected the US side would be able to pull a victory after most of their armor were brewed up.

Thank you.