Even when it costs USD$125.00, this is a ride you ought to have if you are interested in modern tank warfare.
Modern tank battles are fast and deadly and this is clearly depicted in the simulated battlefield of Steel Beasts. That feeling of "what the hell got me?" is constant in Steel Beasts.
In my latest battle, a home-made scenario where I was trying to clear a couple of kilometers-wide gap of Iraqi desert, I got owned by a virtual Iraqi tanker because of my fixation on a single target.
The scenario I made pits a hunter-killer team of M3s Cavalry Fighting Vehicles and M1 Abrams tanks. I choose to be in the "hunter" team of M3s and I moved carefully towards contact. In front of my team there were Iraqi BMP2s and tanks. The questions I wanted to explore is how a "hunter" in these fabled "hunter-killer" teams works. How do you drive an M3 towards contact with an armored threat wit superior fire-power? How difficult is to bug-out once contact was made?
Well, didn't get an answer to those questions.
Still, I learned something: target fixation kills.
Things started bad from the beginning. While trying to make contact and keeping a distance at the same time, I lost my wingman to fire from the right flank.

To my front, I made contact with a couple of BMP2s and I took them out.

But a third BMP was more difficult to take out.

Steel Beasts ProPE has this fantastic AAR (after action report) tool that allows you to see a replay of the battle from any angle. It's a wonderful learning tool.
So, this is what happened to me.
The yellow bar in the image bellow is the shell from the Iraqi tank. Can you see the Iraqi tank in the backgroung (the small smoke puff of its main gun)?

Here's what the Iraqi tanker could see from his point of view. Just that little of me showing up above the dunes was enough ...


And this is a closer view of the Iraqi tank.

Besides letting my guard down at the flanks, I guess that I failed miserably because I got decisively engaged with my first contacts. I was supposed to spot targets and call the tanks, not taking them myself.
Cheers,
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