Irregular Warfare Simulations: More Like SimCity than War Games?

This is the last time I will bore you with an article on Training and Simulation Journal TSJ, I promise. At least for this month. :)

The TSJ article in question is "Future imperfect: U.S. Army struggles to model irregular warfare scenarios."

In a nutshell, the article says that fighting irregular wars in extremely difficult and that simulating them is a nightmare. A tremendous effort is in place and the results are mixed. The article features one simulation in development, UrbanSim, that looks very promising.

The buzzword du jour in the article was "human terrain", a conceptual space where the interactions between troops, the civilian population and the insurgents take place. Navigating through this "human terrain" is quite challenging and the commander of a regular force has to deal with the approval ratings, informants, information operations, infrastructure, etc. The strenght of the expression "human terrain" in irregular warfare makes it equivalent to the geographical terrain that is so important to use tactically in regular warfare.

I've seen this "human terrain" expression before in the book "Urban Warfare in Iraq 2003-2006". In a chapter entitled "People: the key terrain", this book presents the tricks of the trade on how the US Army has dealt with the "human terrain" in Iraq.

This book is not written as a conventional book, but rather reads as very detailed notes from a PowerPoint presentation. Nonetheless, the amount of information presented is huge. Recommended for those servicemen being deployed.

A simulation model the "human terrain" in irregular warfare will have to model societies, infrastructures and military forces. Sociology, urban planning and military science mixed all in one simulation.

The TSJ article mentions that the US Army is looking for some sort of predictive value on a future simulation of irregular warfare. Given the incipient state of the field of computational sociology, the goal of a simulation of irregular warfare with predictive value sounds too ambitious. A model of the penetration of armor-piercing ammunition is relatively easy to formulate, but a model of how a neighborhood will react to a new checkpoint in their main street is a totally different story.

A computer model with great predictive value would be great, but why not starting with formulating a framework with cheaper, less precise models of societies.

SimCity maybe? :)

Cheers,

Putting my (Pilot) Act Together: Instruments Landing

As I mentioned in a previous entry, the flight instructors over at the ECV 56 Condor (a virtual squadron headquartered in Argentina) are holding training sessions on instrument landings with the DCS Black Shark.

Is in times like this that it becomes clear how good pilots they are. Is in times like this that I feel like I'm crashing a party. :) So, time to learn those things I never did and to re-learn those things that I gave little attention in my past short virtual pilot career.

How to land by instruments is a thing I never understood completely back in my combat flight simulator days. In perspective, I pretty much got shot down during most missions. So my landings were always few and very happy occassions.

For being such a lousy virtual pilot, I deserve to be punished and learn instrument landings in X-Plane's Cessna. But instead I treated myself to the virtual cockpit of an F-16 in Falcon 4 Allied Force (F4AF). This is a bit like learning to drive a car in a Ferrari.

My excuse is that F4AF's manual is very well written and detailed. Given the age of this simulator, there is also plenty of material online.

I finally could understand what the fuzz is all about instrument landings.

After "tuning in" to an airport TACAN station, the horizontal situation indication (HSI, inside the red square) graphically represents my aircraft's position relative to the runway. Click the image to enlarge.

Once moderatly aligned with the cues in the HSI, is time to use the ILS vertical and horizontal bars (inside the red square) to catch a ride on an optimal glideslope (not the case here, but close enough). Click the image to enlarge.

I landed pretty but with too much forward airspeed. This particular runway (16L, Kunsan, South Korea) is very short and breaking without eating the airbase fence is quite a thrill. Click the image to enlarge.

Cheers,

Squad Battles Games Reviewed in Training and Simulation Journal

Two HPS Games from the Squad Battles Series have been reviewed by Michel Peck in the printed version of the Training and Simulation Journal (TSJ). For some reason, TSJ has not posted the current issue in their website, so I can't link you to the article.

The article is titled "Discovering forgotten battles" and it reviews both Squad Battles Soviet: Afghan War and Squad Battles: Dien Bien Phu. Mr. Peck emphasizes the importance of games like these to get less known/popular conflicts to be appreciated, specially in these times where we are fightin insurgencies. He also laments the game mechanics of the Squad Battles series is starting to show their age.

An scenario of Squad Battles: Soviet Afghan War. Click the image to expand it.

In a journal that is usually chock-full of articles about multi-million dollar simulations, it is always refreshing to see reviews and articles by Michael Peck about off-the-shelf war games . He strucks me as a sort of TSJ's "resident gamer". Indeed, there is also another article in the same issue by Mr. Peck about the use of the console games in the US Army for training and physical rehabilitation.

Cheers,

What if they gave a war and nobody came?

I learnt the names of every wood and all the villages, I knew the contours of the hills and the shapes of the lakes in the valley. To see so much and to see nothing. We might have been the only men alive, my two signalers and I. And yet I knew there were thousands of hidden men in front of me ... but no one moved, and everyone was waiting for the safety of darkness.

P. J. Campbell. British artillery officer during World War I.

After 40 minutes of Combat Mission PBEM simulated combat against my friend Olav, I feel the quote above puts it very well.

This is all I knew about the enemy during good part of the battle. Red question marks are suspected enemy positions. The absence of enemy icons reflects that no contact has been made. Click the image for an expanded view.

The modern battlefield is a very empty one.

Cheers,

You Are Not Hardcore Until You Fly the Falcon

Any serious simulation website, blog or community forum should have at least a word about Falcon 4.0 or any of its re-incarnations like Falcon 4.0 Allied Force.

To correct this blog's glaring omission, this is just a quick note on a simulator that is already 10 years old and still has lots to give.

I picked up my Falcon 4.0 at a ToysRUs (a big toy store chain in the US) sometime during 1999. It was more out of curiosity than anything else because I was not at all into flight simulators (or anything else interesting for that matter).

Many computers have sited on my desk and a variety of interests have come and gone through me since that time. But one thing was constant: a copy of Falcon in the hard drive.

This is the most complete simulation of the F-16 avionics to ever reach the civilian market. I once read that a lucky fan of Falcon 4.0 got to sit in a military grade F-16 simulator thanks to a fighter-pilot friend and that everybody was astonished on how much the civilian enthusiast knew about the avionics.

Falcon 4's uniqueness doesn't end in the detailed avionics. The simulation includes a rich, complex virtual war being waged around the virtual F-16 Falcon. It is almost embarrassing that no flight simulator released in the last ten years has not come even close to match the massive scope of this simulation.

Chances are you already know about this simulator. If don't, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy from any game store. It's the best 20 bucks you will ever spend.

As for myself, I'm back to flight school taking a refresher course.


Cheers,

Getting Ready for Combat in Built Up Areas (ArmA 2)

One small step for man, one giant leap for the enemy

Imagine the following situation: a urban battle is raging and you and your fire team are moving down a very narrow alley. You are enjoying cover and concealment almost 360 degrees around you. You and your team's only worries are covering the front and the rear of the formation. For the hundred steps of the alley crossing, it's always the same: cover the front and the rear. Once you arrive to the exit of the alley, a single step into the street will expose you to thousands of potential enemy fields of fire. One hundred steps of relative safety blown away by just one single step.

The paragraph above is an example of the typical and sudden tactical environment changes that happen during fights in urban areas. Some people call these type of events "compression to expansion" tactical situation changes . Compression meaning both that you are constricted in a small physical space and that very few tactical options are available for the potential enemies around you. Expansion meaning both a bigger physical space around you and increased tactical options for the enemy to shoot you.

Sudden tactical environment changes like the one above can cause sensory overload, a disease for which the only known cure is training.

There are literally thousands of pages about urban warfare available in the net. The scope of this humble blog is just too small to cover even one of those to a decent extent. So please bear with me with this short and disjointed note about the topic.

Balancing your tactical checkbook and herding cats at the same time

Besides the tactical challenges of the realistically simulated urban combat, the ArmA 2 player is up for another one: commanding the AI bots assigned to him. Lines of sight are fragmented in built-up areas and keeping all your virtual subordinates out of danger zones or in a formation that allows mutual overwatch requires skill and quick thinking.

The first thing that I found useful while advancing in built up areas is to rely on the compact column formation. Any formation that puts any of your virtual men at a significant distance from your axis of advance will result in an AI subordinate wandering off into or around a building and straight into an enemy line of fire.

This ain't Fallujah, but still it gives me the creeps. #2 and #3 have been ordered to move to opposite sides of the street and provide cover.

The second thing I like is to issue the "move there" order to individual soldiers or teams. The nice thing about this order is that your subordinate/s go/es exactly where you ordered them and, most importantly, they stay there until you issue a new order.

#2 and #3 in the background are providing overwatch for #4 and me. Note how #2 and #3 stay behind (their icons show "ready" status) and how #4 moves along behind me (column formation) watching my left flank.

A typical "compression to expansion" is when you and your team arrive to a corner. I usually take up the task of peeking around corners myself (can't get the AI to do that without getting killed). When just a peek is not enough and a more prolongued observation around the corner is needed, I'm growing fond of doing it by lying prone. I don't know if this is how it is done in real combat, but peeking around corners lying prone is still being teached by some Marine instructors.
In ArmA 2 at least it helps a bit with not exposing so much of your body to the enemy. But it also has the caveat that it takes a fraction of more time to get back to cover if you are spotted.

If you peek around a corner lying prone, it is advisable to move slowly. Just in case the enemy is a few meters away.

That's it for now. How long until we get into moving like this diagram below?


: )


Cheers,

Pattern Approaches with the (DCS) Black Shark

With the release of the DCS Black Shark extended manual, it was just a question of time until seeing the flight instructors of the Virtual Combat Squadron 56 Condor (ECV56 Condor) raise the bar for the squadron's pilots. The veterans among the virtual pilot cadre of the ECV56 are the real deal: they squeeze every single drop of simulation juice out of the DCS Black Shark. There is a sense of airmen pride in this virtual unit, which is great. Sometimes my piloting skills and knowlege are so sub-par that I feel like a party crasher. :)

Right now, the instructors of the virtual unit are focusing on pattern landing approaches. They have posted a couple of mini-missions for practice, one with clear weather and the other one with weather that is poor to even drive a car. (The ECV56 Condor is headquartered in Argentina and the website is in Spanish)

A great evening for flying around the airbase

Turning for yet another approach leg

It's getting late, let's land this thing and have some vodka

The images above from the clear weather mini-mission. Take a look below for the second mission in poor weather.

Somebody please tell me why I signed up for this?

Nothing else to trust but your instruments

I couldn't believe I made it in one piece

I have a lot of things to cover yet. All the flying above done with the help of the ABRIS and tuning into the airport's non-directional beacons (NDB). My approach slope was a living joke.

Cheers,

"Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces", Review at Out of Eight

James Allen has a new review of "Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces" in his fantastic "Out of Eight PC Games Reviews" blog.

His verdict is not very encouraging on the basis of the low new content vs price ratio. James even says that "you could interchange the British units with American ones and most people won't notice any alteration in performance or capabilities". I have a different opinion on this and perhaps I should have said it in a bit different way. But I see what he is trying to convey in that passage.

The review is spot on when it comes on problems that haven't been fixed, like path finding and others. Unfortunately, it looks like Battlefront is not going to make any significant changes on the engine.

Great review, James.

Cheers,

Pinned Under Heavy Suppressive Fire, But Still in the Fight !

This week has been atrocious at my full-time work. For extra fun, this week I started a new part-time gig.

Fear not, I'm not going to blog about my life. The two sentences above just to let you know why I haven't updated this blog for a whole week. :)

Let's continue the fun!

Thank you for checking out the blog despite the lack of updates.

Cheers,

Rear Area Security with Light Armored Vehicles: After Action Report (Steel Beasts ProPE)

Continued from here.

I'm in command of 2nd Platoon, the one taking the west approach and attempting to get really close to the enemy BMP-2s.

Tactical Plan from the previous entry. Click the image to expand it.

And to re-phrase why both 2nd and 3rd Platoons are tanking such convoluted routes to get into firing range, this nugget of wisdom puts it very eloquently:

A 4,000-metre line of sight allows the enemy to shoot you 2,000 m before you can shoot him.

Rule #9 out of "Nine Rules to help you stay alive with the LAV III"
Canadian Army Field Manual

So we march ...

First nasty surprise of the mission: the route I choose for 2nd Platoon was not 100% covered. In the screen above, an AT-5 missile fired from a BMP-2 just splashed on the opposite side slope of the hill we were skirting. We just pushed pedal to the metal and continued forward. Click the image to expand it.

Our right flank continued to be our upmost worry. Click the image to expand it.

Luckily, the last leg of our approach had a dirt road that that allowed us to march faster. Click the image to expand it.

Last hundred meters of our march. We are moving north now and the enemy is on the reverse slope of this hill. We can hear the firefight between the BMP-2s and the 3rd Platoon in SBF 1 position. It's good that the BMP-2s are busy so we can ambush them from behind. Click the image to expand it.

We sneaked on the rear of the enemy position successfully, but as soon as our first rounds were fired, the BMP-2s turned on us. Under the cover of smoke, I could maintain my position and destroy this vehicle. Click the image to expand it.

I've had a terrible time with the laser range-finder and the ballistic computer for this point-blank engagement. I had to lase something some 400 meters behind the BMP-2 to get the gun elevation of my ASLAV-25 for firing onto targets that close.

While my smoke curtain was still up, this BMP-2 charged on us. It took the combined fire of two ASLAV-25s to stop it. Click the image to expand it.

This is after the smoke washed off. Close combat doesn't get more close than this. Click the image to expand it.

The remaining enemy infantry threat was no slouch. Remember the thin armor of the ASLAV-25 can be taken out by an RPG and that we are in very close terrain. We pulled a bit back and shelled the infantry with HEAT and 7.62 mm rounds. Click the image to expand it.

With the target area finally clear, we can relax a bit with sightseeing. This is 3rd Platoon on SBF1 position. Click the image to expand it.

Cheers,

Rear Area Security with Light Armored Vehicles (Steel Beasts ProPE)

This tactical vignette is about the use of the light armored vehicles, specifically the ASLAV-25 featured in Steel Beasts ProPE.

Given the high tempo of modern armored/mechanized operations, rear area security is always challenging and a major concern of operation planners. In this user-made Steel Beasts mission, I wanted to see how well a couple of ASLAV-25 platoons would cope with bypassed mechanized units threatening the rear area of an advancing NATO column.

Five minutes before the mission start, NATO supply trains moving east through main supply route "Key" (MSR Key) received enemy direct fire coming from the south. At least two Russian BMP-2s have been spotted 3 km south of MSR Key. These enemy vehicles are probably part of a unit bypassed by an earlier NATO attack.

Two reconnaissance platoons (4 ASLAV-25s each) of Company A were tasked to destroy the enemy vehicles in order to allow the flow of supplies along MSR Key. On order, the two platoons are to secure the area where enemy forces are located until more forces are assembled to screen MSR Key.

I introduced the ASLAV-25 in a previous blog entry. Essentially a reconnaissance vehicle, the ASLAV-25's agility and speed will take you out of bad places very fast. Unfortunately if driven by the tactically impaired like me, the vehicle will get into a hot zone as equally as fast. Compared to an infantry fighting vehicle, the ASLAV-25 is under-armored and under-gunned. The main 25 mm autocannon can fire both sabot and HEAT rounds up to a range of ~2,500 m. It should be noted though that the tracers for the 25 mm cannon rounds appear to almost burn out after ~1,800 m and checking where your rounds are hitting beyond that range is very challenging. The ASLAV-25 has also a ballistic computer and a powerful thermal imaging system.

The ASLAV-25, looking good before the mission. Expand the image by clicking it.

In a nutshell, the LAV reconnaissance line of vehicles is designed more for mobility and stealthy observation of the enemy rather than fighting. This doesn't mean that LAV can't be used to fight. For more details, I recommend the wonderful short book whose cover is shown below.

This is one of the best books out there about the use of LAVs in reconnaissance and security missions.

Coming back to the mission, here is the view from the ambushed supply vehicles in MSR Key towards the hilly-wooded terrain south where the enemy BMP-2s are located.

Looking south from the main supply route "Key". The enemy is in the hilly-wooded terrain in the background. Expand the image by clicking it.

The enemy is protected by 3,000 m of distance and out of reach for the ASLAV-25's autocannons. Any ASLAV-25s putting their tires through MSR Key or the terrain south of it would be in open terrain and defenseless against the long range AT-5 missiles fired from the BMP-2s.

To close with the enemy within the range of our weapons, the two platoons will approach by separate and covered routes. 3nd Platoon will approach from the west of the enemy position and occupy a support by fire position (SBF 1 in the map, a saddle that hopefully offers both good cover and observation) in order to suppress/harass the BMP-2s and allow 2nd Platoon's approach for a close-range kill from the east.

Plan of attack. MSR Key is the dotted line winding northeast. The box labelled "Kill Zone" is the region where most of the enemy fire landed so far. The suspected position of the enemy is labelled with a red ambush tactical symbol. See text for more details. Expand the image by clicking it.

If anything goes wrong with 2nd Platoon's approach, 3rd Platoon will move to an alternate attack by fire position (ABF 2 in the map) in a last attempt to destroy the enemy.

That's the plan.

Continues here.

Cheers,

Free Tree Removal Service, Courtesy of the British Army (CMSF-British Forces)

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I'm having a CMSF-British-Forces PBEM match with my friend Olav.

After 10 minutes of unbearable battlefield silence (briefly interrupted by Syrian indirect fire) things are picking up.

Olav is defending as the Syrians and has placed a well-concealed, stationary T-55 tank in the outer perimeter of what I am guessing will be a defense in depth.

Contact, tank, front!

A Challenger British tank chickened out at the sight of the Syrian T-55 and reversed under the cover of smoke. A minute later or so, the British tank crew gained back enough composure to try again. A firefight between both tanks is still raging after some long 25 seconds. In tank warfare, 25 seconds is a very long time ...

A stationary Syrian T-55 under fire from a British Challenger. Expand the image by clicking on it.

Note the relatively big explosion in the picture above.

Does it mean that the British Challenger tank is using HEAT (High explosive anti-tank) instead of sabot rounds?

Same as above from another angle. Note how the explosion blew out the foliage of the tree in front of the tank. Expand the image by clicking on it.

The explosion was big enough to de-foliate a tree in front of the tank. Very likely a HEAT round would do.

Damn it, I never payed attention to tank ammo selection in CMSF. Is it automatically done by the AI?

That's great landscaping, lads! Would you fancy focusing in the tank now? :)

Cheers,

US Marines' Assault on Danahem: Close Combat is Here to Stay

The USMC, NATO and ANA forces joint assault on the Taliban-held village of Danahem (Afghanistan) is all over the news today.

A U.S. Marine of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment fires on Taliban positions from a rooftop in the village of Dahaneh, Aug. 12, 2009 in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Alfred De Montesquiou)
Used without permit or monetary gain. Comment to this entry for concerns about copyright infringement.

For civilians like me, details on how the assault was conducted at the tactical level are only available from the traditionally poor media reports.

A marine with Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment of the 2nd MEF, patrols the outskirts of the village of Khwaji Jamal, Aug. 10, 2009, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Used without permit or monetary gain. Comment to this entry for concerns about copyright infringement.

But something can be sorted out from those news stories.

"Marines were met with small arms, mortar and rocket propelled grenade fire as they flew in helicopters over Taliban lines and dropped into the town." CBS/AP

"... Marines rolled into the town despite roadside bomb attacks and gunfire." CBS/AP

Our Marines pushed through and got really close with the Taliban. In a certain way this is no surprise, the small-units tactical doctrine of the USMC recognizes that there is no substitute for close combat.

From the above quotes and if one takes the media reports face value, apparently the Marines maneuvered through the Taliban without gaining fire superiority. I'm not talking here about shooting back at the Taliban who opened fire at the incoming troops but rather to the old American-style better-safe-than-sorry, all-out type of fire superiority. Do you guys remember the old saying: "Fire without maneuver is indecisive, maneuver without fire is fatal"? That saying is even on one USMC doctrinal publication for small units! Part of this apparent departure from old time SOPs can potentially be explained by the concerns to harm the civilian population. Take a look at this other snippet:

"Martin [Captain, Golf Co, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines] said the Marines had devised tactics to minimize civilian casualties in the densely populated area. He said troops would strictly limit the type of weapons they used and would stick to a "proportional response" when under fire." CBS/AP

If this is true I can't even imagine the effort and the increased risk faced by our troops while changing their drills and tactical stance from soldiers killing militants to SWAT cops liberating hostages. I can only commend the sacrifices they make for our nation.

And finally, the always controversial point of air support for fighting insurgents.

"U.S. Marine Harrier jets streaking overhead and dropping flares in a show of force." CBS/AP

I find it hard to believe that these aircraft were there just as a show of force. But the fact that apparently they didn't have to drop ordinance on the town is good news.

As time passes, stories from this battle will start to come by.

On the meantime: Semper Fi!

Suggested reading:

Let's Get Closer: Remembering the Relevance of Close Combat
By Lt. Col. Robert R. Leonhard, U.S. Army retired
Army Magazine September 2004

On War #293: The Price of Bad Tactics
By William Lind, February 2009
(Discusses the relationship of poor infantry tactics and the excessive reliance on close air support)

Cheers,

Steel Beasts ProPE v2.483 Release Notes Posted

As you may now, Steel Beasts ProPE will soon be upgraded to v2.483.

A few minutes ago, Ssnake posted in the official forums a link to the release notes.

Almost everything I'm playing is getting upgrades/patches! Can't complain ...

One of the things I'm waiting the most from this patch is the infantry being able to shoot from buildings/bunkers. For some reason that was broken in v2.460.


Cheers,

Stay Off the Line of Fire of Your AI Platoon ... or Else! (Steel Beasts ProPE)

Hello, folks!

The ASLAV-25 is one of the many fully crewable armored vehicles in Steel Beasts ProPE . Intended mainly for reconnaissance missions, the ASLAV-25 is an Australian spin off of the LAV-25 used by the US Marine Corps.

Nimble and small, the ASLAV-25 can take you to places no tank can go. This screenshot is from a deep reconnaissance mission I played a while ago. Image is clickeable.

As soon as you hop in your simulated ASLAV-25 you feel its lightness, speed and agility. It is a sense of empowerment being liberated from the threads and the heavy weight of a tank's armor. Unfortunately, any comfort brought by that washes away as soon as you spot an enemy tank or infantry fighting vehicle. More about this in a new blog entry that will come soon.

Fighting in an ASLAV-25 requires very cautious tactics. That I was practicing last night, when my platoon of ASLAV-25s was surprised in a nightmarish worst-case scenario: a platoon of BMP-2s with a 2,000 m+ field of fire on our left flank. The problem with BMP-2s is that they have ATGMs with ranges of 3,000 m+. Compare that to the 2,200 m maximum range of the ASLAV-25 cannon.

I wanted to get out of the kill zone and I didn't even bothered to re-orient my platoon. Full speed forward! I could see the fireballs of at least two ATGMs being launched. Move, move, move! Damn it, where is that fold of terrain when you most need it?

Quickly enough, the adrenaline rush gave way to the disappointing realization that my ASLAV-25 was no more. What the hell?

If that wonderful "after action report" (AAR) tool Steel Beasts ProPE has wouldn't be there, most of the time I would never understand what in earth happened. This AAR tool allows you to review the action, shot by shot, at the pace of your choosing. Here is the screen of what hit me.

There is nothing friendly about friendly fire. In all my rush, I ran my ASLAV-25 (foreground) through the line of fire of a vehicle from my platoon (background). The red line is the path of the armor piercing round. Image is clickeable.

I didn't know that blue on blue was possible in Steel Beasts ProPE.

Stay tuned for more ASLAV-25 action.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark 1.0.1: Taking the Patch for a Ride

As I mentioned in a previous entry, DCS Black Shark has been patched to version 1.0.1.

One of the things I was most waiting for is the new trim implementation. The new 1.0.1 trimmer waits for you to re-center the controls before starting to take your inputs again instead of giving you just one second as in the previous version.

I took my 1.0.1 Black Shark for a ride in order to test this new trimmer implementation.

It works like a charm. My control of the bird is more natural and precise than before. Only thing I found a bit disorienting is the effect of the trimmer on the yaw. There will be some re-learning, but overall I'm really happy.

Also, when you press and release the trimmer button there is a metallic sound (maybe the electromagnets holding the controls in place?) that resembles heavy coins thrown into a can. Pretty neat metallic feeling into that.

To this under-skilled virtual pilot, nothing is more challenging than landing the Black Shark in a FARP. No other maneuver is better to test if my control of the helicopter is easier after the patch.

Coming in high (~500 m) and relatively fast (~100 kmh). Can you distinguish the rectangular form of the FARP, below the speed indicator? Click the image for a better view

The way I land on FARPS is a bit rough in the edges, so bear with me.

I set the collective and trim the controls for a 3-5 m/s descent with a forward speed of ~100 km/h. A couple of hundred meters off the FARP, I flare the helicopter until the forward speed drops to around 20 km/h.

After the flare, I use the nose pole of the Black Shark as a visual reference. I try to keep the landing spot between the tip and the base of the pole. Click the image for a better view

When the helicopter is trimmed correctly after the flare, all it takes to land is collective and small cyclic inputs! And the new trimmer implementation, off course ... :)

Right after touchdown, pull the stick a little and trim it so you avoid forward movement. Don't forget the parking brake! Click the image for a better view

The landing shown above accomplished without sweating or cursing as during the pre-patch days.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark 1.0.1 Patch Released!

The wait is over!

Finally, the 1.0.1 Patch for DCS Black Shark has been released.

Go grab it here.

Cheers,

Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces; PBEM for the Rusty Solo Player

After a long hiatus, I'm slowly starting to PBEM again. This one scenario I'm playing against a fellow wargamer from Europe features a British "armoured Coy" (getting used to British military terminology is another game within the game!) against a Syrian Republican Guard mech. inf. formation (possibly a company too?). I am playing as the British.

I was never good at PBEM with Combat Mission Shock Force (CMSF). I am just too spoiled by hundreds of hours of real-time, solo play. Moves I could do almost in my sleep during a real-time game require a thorough thought for a turn-based PBEM game. In addition, during real-time games against the computer, I am the only witness of my tactical ineptitude. This makes me overly cautious during PBEMs, particularly when I'm the one attacking. I am convinced that even General Montgomery would be astonished at my glacial tactical tempo.

So, fellow wargamer/PBEM opponent: that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

Seriously, I am enjoying the PBEM game. Is there something more exhilarating than the beginning of a Combat Mission PBEM game, when you send your combat patrols ahead?

A dismounted British armoured infantry section moves to contact in a combat patrol role. Image from the PBEM game I'm playing. Click the image for an expanded view.

And speaking of combat patrols, this scenario I'm playing by e-mail wiped out some concerns I had from the demo. The demo showed some light reconnaissance forces bumping at a murderous short range into the teeth of a heavily defended Syrian suburb. Light reconnaissance forces are only good for reconnaissance from the protection of long ranges. Light reconnaissance forces are not suitable for combat patrol, a tactical task that a formation performs when it is already commited into battle. In this scenario, I have the right tools (armoured infantry) for my combat patrols.

A Plt command team anxiously waits for the SITREPs from the combat patrols roaming ahead. I hope that mortar is not needed in the immediate future. Image from the PBEM scenario I'm playing. Click the image for an expanded view.

Also, I was very happy to read the word "templated" in the briefing. Kudos to designer George McEwan for a meticulously written briefing.

Let the real fighting begin ...

Cheers,

ArmA 2: Update 1.03 Released!

A new patch for ArmA 2 has been released.

The patch includes:

* Major AI tweaking and balancing (especially AI infantry can hear much less)
* Improved multiplayer and cooperative campaign (saving games, connection issues)
* Numerous fixes and improvements in the Harvest Red campaign

Sadly, no performance enhancements ...

Go grab it here.

Cheers,

The British Army Tactical Doctrine is ... What?

At least for me, the great thing about playing around with simulators and war games is trying to understand what the real deal is all about. I'm just so fond of this approach to the hobby that I like to browse military doctrinal publications and field manuals. There is plenty doctrinal publications out there from the US Army and the US Marine Corps, and so far I never found a shortage of material for a well-read tactical war gaming session involving US land forces.

Right now, I have two war games on my desk that are waiting to be played with some minimal doctrinal backbone: "Battle Group Commander: Episode One" and "Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces".

Unfortunately, it turns out that the British Army tactical doctrine is ... classified! (?)


The publications that compose the British Army military doctrine have been consolidated in the so-called "British Army Electronic Battle Box". Allegedly, "the box" is 7 CDs that are only available to British servicemen and MoD personnel.


I would bet that in general terms, the British Army tactical doctrine is not that different from the one of the US Army and US Marine Corps. There are tactical drills which are almost universal. However, if one browses the scenarios included in the games I mention above, the organization and equipment of the British Army suggests that there have to be some particular things they do differently than their US counterparts.

For a complete ignorant on this topic like me, there are at least some nice sources to start learning about the real life operations of the British Army (see the attached images).

Cheers,

ArmA 2: Can an Automatic Rifleman Run as Fast as a Rifleman?

In a previous entry, I asked if a Marine automatic rifleman would actually move slower than a rifleman. The automatic rifleman carries more weight than the rifleman and it sounds reasonable to expect a difference in their speed.

To test this, I placed an AI AR and an AI R in one end of the runway at Utes. Each of the AI units had a move waypoint at the other end of the runway. I followed this race from a bike.

Watching the race from the comfort of a virtual bike. Image is clickeable.

It was a perfect tie: both the AR and the R arrived to their destination at the same time.

I'm a bit surprised by this result. That big backpack the AR carries must be empty.

Cheers,

Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces is Selling Well

According to this forum thread, in just 48 hours the module sold enough to calm the nerves of Battlefront. Congratulations!

Overview of what's included in the British Forces Module. Image is clickable.

A mechanized infantry section moves along with a FV432 MK3 "Bulldog" armoured personnel carrier. Image is clickeable.

The British Forces module includes the following formations:

• Light Infantry Battalion
• Light Gun Tactical Group
• Mechanized Infantry Battalion
• Mechanized Engineer Troop
• Armoured Infantry Battalion
• Armoured Engineer Troop
• Armoured Regiment 58
• Armoured Regiment 44
• Reconnaissance Regiment
• AS90 Tactical Group
• TacAir Control Party

... and others, including artillery units and air support units (Apache AH-1s, Harrier GR9s, Tornados GR4s and Typhoon F2s).

As you can see, no Paras ... :(

Cheers,