Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943: German Half Tracks are APCs, IFVs or both?

Damn it! For the whole weekend I couldn't keep my computer's cursor off the shortcut of this fantastic new war game. When it rains, it pours.

Several 3-D battles in Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943 (APK43) got me commanding a lone German Panzergrenadier (Panzergrenadiere, PzrGren) platoon against (luckily, so far) Russian infantry. The PzGren  were a specialized branch of infantry specially trained and equipped for combined arms operations along with tanks. According to WWII German Army war fighting philosophy, the PzGren's were to be employed keeping the mission and objectives of the tanks in mind. It was the PzGren's supporting the tanks and not the tanks supporting the PzGren's. It is a subtle difference that's hard to keep in mind when dealing with the nitty-gritty of the tactical challenges in the game, but at least let's know why we are putting these PzGren's in harms way.

The staple of the PzGren formations are the widely popular half tracks. Each half track could transport a whole German PzGren squad. Were half tracks used as armored personnel carriers (APC), or infantry fighting vehicles (IFV)?

Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 Review

Popular imagination has a long standing love affair with blockbuster WWII battles and operations (El Alamein, Normandy, the Bulge, Montecassino, Operation Market Garden, [put your favorite here], etc.). The Eastern Front has its own share of very popular battles and operations (Stalingrad, Operation Barbarossa, Moscow and Kursk, just to mention a few). The Third Battle of Kharkov has been more or less in the realms of hardcore WWII history discussion and war gaming. A collosal struggle of men and heavy metal as any other battle in the Eastern Front, The Third Battle of Kharkov ended with the Germans capturing the city from the north and getting some morale back after the horrendous defeat and surrender of the German Sixth Army at ... (gah! blockbuster battle incoming) ... Stalingrad. Well, I hope you see my point that big stories about big battles are difficult to not love if you suck at military history as much as I do. To my defense, let me point out that even boutique war games developers who cater the most hard core and knowledgeable grognards out there are thinking it twice before meandering onto less popular WWII battles. That's why a while ago I was mildly surprised to read about this tactical game "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943", that puts you in command of small units (company and below) in the less sexy, kind of distant southern flank of the city during March of 1943. I always thought that I would be able to find something interesting in any combat story of any unit, of any country, at any front and at any time during WWII. After playing "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943" I can say I am still right. But the full credit goes to the way the story is presented in this game. 

Exclusive Interview with The Red Pill's Dimitris Dranidis

The Red Pill (working title) is a naval/air simulation/war game being developed by a team of independent developers. As judged by the screenshots and after action reports posted at WarfareSims.com, The Red Pill  will be packed with realism and playability. This is an interview with one of the team members, Dimitris V. Dranidis. 

HistWar Les Grognards, Say Hello to my Little Voltigeur!

I just finished all the tutorials in HistWar Les Grognards (HWLG). The slow pace that I'm taking with this game is not for a lack of liking. Au contraire, I'm very excited about this game. I just  want to make sure that I get it right before venturing into battle. Also, there is some reading involved (got some books about Napoleonic warfare).

This short entry to let you know that HWLG really shines when you are in command of two or more Corps. This becomes evident in the last tutorial. With two or more Corps at your command, you have more tactical options (off course) and you have to think it twice before putting your units in action.

Cheers,

"Combat Mission: Afghanistan", an old video I found in YouTube

This one is from back in July 2009. Comparing this old video and the new screenshots at Battlefront.com, it looks like they worked very hard on the 3D models and skins. Bravo!

Cheers,

"Combat Mission: Afghanistan" Announced

These news I got from Wargamer.com. Please see the official announcement at Battlefront.com.
Not exactly "news" (the cat was out of the bag for a some time), but given how Battlefront manages this type of things (nothing is official until it hits the frontpage, no matter how much is discussed and acknowledged in their forums) we are now officially to get a new stand alone Combat Mission game set during the Russo-Afghan War.

According to Battlefront's announcement, this new game is a collaboration with an independent studio. The announcement also makes it clear that this is not a mission pack but rahter a stand-alone game that features new units and ... (are you ready for this?) ... a new "exit" objective type plus the sorely missed "water" terrain tiles. Utterly confused right now: are these two new features just modded objectives and newly skinned tiles? Or are they really new, hard coded new features?

At the time of this writing, Battlefront's official forums are down.

Disclaimer: Image above is property of Battlefront. Used here without their permission but assuming fair use. Please contact me at realandsimulatedwars @ gmail dot com for concerns or complains.

Cheers,

UPDATE: Battlefront's forums are back and CM Afghanistan has its own forum.

Faulty observation plans work best when combined with faulty direct fire plans

My topographic map reading skills suck ...

The game: Battle Group Commander: Episode One (ProSim)
The mission: counter-recon, do not let enemy reconnaissance units to reach FOB Jack. I will not go into the OPORD included in the scenario (not too much space to post), but my guess is that this is basically a "guard" mission.

Just so you understand how I am fighting this battle, my plan follows ...

"Command Ops Battles from the Bulge": New Feature Helps to Coordinate Your Attacks

Time, the primary dimension of warfare ...

Wargaming the Urban Fight

I was watching "The Fight for Fallujah" (Military Channel stuff included in this DVD) and after seeing the real footage of the combat during Operation Phantom Fury (screenshot at the left) I am once again floored at the complexity of the urban terrain. Not that I didn't know it was complex, ...

Book and Game: "Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge" and "Kampfgruppe Peiper at the Battle of the Bulge"

If you are seeing this post through dial-up, I apologize beforehand for the sheer size of the images in this entry (yet I encourage you to click them for a better view). I just wanted to show  you the quality of the work you will enjoy when this war game comes out (very soon!). The screenshot is from the "Peiper's Race to the Meuse" scenario ...

Do You Have What It Takes to Command a Whole Corps?

Although I never declared myself a fan of this simulation, I keep coming back to it at least twice a month.So many things to learn from it ...

Good War Gaming Times Ahead: Schwerpunkt's "Middle East 1946-2006"

Last night, at the Wargamer.com forums, Ron Dockal posted a list of scenarios of his upcoming war game "Middle East 1946-2006".

1. Israeli War of Independence, to 1st Truce
2. Israeli War of Independence, to 2nd Truce
3. Israeli War of Independence, to Armistice
4. Sinai Campaign 1956
5. Six Day War 1967
6. Yom Kippur War 1973 - Sinai
7. Yom Kippur War 1973 - Golan
8. Yom Kippur War 1973
9. Israeli War with Lebanon 1982
10. Iran - Iraq War, Iraq Invades Sep 1980
11. Iran-Iraq War, Susangerd Jan 1981
12. Iran-Iraq War, Abadan Sep 1981
13. Iran-Iraq War, Operation Jerusalem Way, Nov 1981
14. Iran-Iraq War, Operation Undeniable Victory, Mar 1982
15. Iran-Iraq War, Operation Jerusalem, Apr 1982
16. Iran-Iraq War, Iran Invades Iraq, Jul 1982
17. Iran-Iraq War, Target Basra, Feb 1984
18. Iran-Iraq War, Iran Captures Faw Peninsula, Feb 1986
19. Iran-Iraq War, Last Attempt at Basra, Dec 1986
20. Iran-Iraq War, Iraq Recaptures Faw Peninsula, April 1988
21.  Desert Storm 1991
22.  Cobra II 2003
23.  What If Scenario Builds
24.  Middle East 2010 (will contain the most current OOB in the public domain)

Some screenshots of this game are available here.

I always liked and played Schwerpunkt games. Even when in general I tend to dismiss war games designed with a philosophy of "replicating the board game experience" (what the hell is that supposed to mean? Building motorcycles with saddles and bad shocks so they bump your rear like a horse?).

The games from Schwerpunkt have an AI that will retreat if the odds are bad or if they are to be turned/outflanked. They also have a scale that allows you to play an entire, army-group level operation in a couple of hours.

So, my hat goes off to you, Ron. I'd pay full price for just the "Desert Storm" and "Cobra II" scenarios alone.

And I am very happy that every once and then you can read something war-gamish at the Wargamer.com. Now they can go back to the usual dragons, elfs and science fiction chatter. :)

Cheers,

The Soviet 65th Army at Parichi, 1944

I've been reading about the massive, multi-front Soviet offensive on Belorussia during the summer of 1944. Mainly from these two books:



HPS Simulations offers Minsk 44, an equally massive PC war game that allows you to command either the German or Soviet armies during those trying weeks. The amount of historical detail in this (and any other of the Panzer Campaign series) war game is simply astounding.

Minsk 44 has a particular scenario that features the opening moves of the Soviet 65th Army at Parichi.

The Parichi scenario in Minsk 44. The entire Soviet 65th Army is shown as brown and redish icons. The grey icons are the German units. I'm playing this with fog of war enabled, so only the German units that are seen by the Russians are represented. Click the image for an expanded view.

I've played this scenario a couple several times as the Soviets. I would ussually put the main effort on the northern half of the 65th Army's sector, right on the road that goes to Parichi. If you see the game screen shot above, the southern half of the sector features more restrictive terrain.

The surprising thing is that in real life the Soviet 65th Army used that very restrictive terrain in the southern part of its assigned sector. Take a look at the map below.

This map is from Glant's Belorussia 1944, ebook version. Note the 65th Army's sector denoted as "65A" and how it advanced into German-held territory very much ignoring Parichi. Click the image for an expanded view.

Indeed, Parichi was taken by the Russians way long into the offensive. I've been puzzled about this for a while: why the 65th Army wouldn't advance straight into Parichi and rather use the poor terrain south of this city to advance? Maybe the maps in the Minsk 44 war game are miss-representing the terrain?

I don't know the definitive answer to that. But something is certain: the 65th and the 28th Soviet Armies (see 28A in the map above) leaned on each other for the offensive. In that way the main effort of the whole front was actually near the sector limits between both Armies.

Cheers,

"HistWar: Les Grognards" Demo is Out!

The demo for "HistWar: Les Grognards" is out.

The graphics and color palette reminds me a lot of "Combat Mission Beyond Overlord". Oh, the irony!

Some cavalry squadron ... somewhere ... doing something ... Where's the manual? I'm gonna need it.

Note where I have the cursor: this game has friendly fog of war! I'm impressed.

More impressions at a later time.

Cheers,

"Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge", Screenshots

"Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge" is coming out soon.

Courtesy of Panther Games' Dave Arjuna and Matrix Games, I'm delighted to post here some screen shots. More game play details coming soon.

All images are from a beta version of the game and do not represent the final state of the product.

The tutorial scenario. Map is completely zoomed out. The gridlines represent one square kilometer. Click the image to expand it.

Same scenario. Map is mid-zoomed. I took out the grid lines. Click the image to expand it.

Same scenario. Map is completely zoomed in. Looking forward to fight this battle. Click the image to expand it.

More coming soon ...

Cheers,

Urgent Message From Your Tutor: "Your Scheme of Maneuver Doesn't Seem to Make Sense"

The Virtual Combat Training Center is a computer tutoring system that plugs into ProSimCo's line of war games. Right now it is only available to the US armed forces.

It looks like a wonderful educational tool and I can only wonder how great it would be to have such a thing included in the game.

Back to reading field manuals here. Oh, man! :(

A screenshot of a pop up window that warns the player about his mistake. I've played this "Baghdad Assault" scenario in the plain vanilla version of Armored Task Force and the advice given here is spot on. There are plenty of ATGMs on the left flank of the US Cavalry forces depicted in the screenshot. Image is from the Virtual Combat Training Center and used without authorization or monetary gain. Please contact me if you want it to be removed.

Cheers,

Hasty Defense of Built-Up Area by a Marine Squad, the "Close Combat Marines" Edition

The background story for the firefight described here is more or less the same as in a previous entry. This time I'm using Close Combat Marines, scenario 1-1a.

The enemy patrols are advancing south, and my Marine Squad is to stop them. My Marine Sqd is reinforced with medium machine gun (MMG).

Hasty defense fire plan. KZ stands for "kill zone" and FT for fire team. Click the image for an expanded view.

Kicking butt at KZ 1, but getting uneasy about enemy advancing towards KZ2. Click the image for an expanded view.

Moving the MMG to an alternate firing position to deal with the threat at KZ 2. The blue dots are waypoints. Click the image for an expanded view.

Endgame: we stopped the enemy but suffered one KIA and one wounded in 3rd FT. Click on the image for an expanded view.

The 3rd fire team suffered casualties because I jumped the gun. While the MMG was re-deploying, I couldn't get a good LOS on the enemy from the 2nd FT. Anxious about the enemy advancing too far, I unleashed the guns from the 3rd FT on them. The enemy was not overwhelmed with my fire and responded.

Cheers,

Now What, Lt. Colonel? (fun with ProSim's "March to Baghdad")

I've written before about "March to Baghdad", the free war game from ProSim published by Armchair General.

A battalion-sized task force (blue icons) awaits my commands. From "March to Baghdad", by ProSim, and published by Armchair General.

ProSim game engine was created by a professional soldier (Pat Proctor, BTW now is deployed in Iraq). The scenarios of "March to Baghdad" were created by Curt Pangracs, who works at a simulation center creating and evaluating simulations for the US Army. At least for me, the "made by professionals" stamp really shows. This weekend, after carelessly conducting an approach march to attack the enemy at "Objective Liberty" and loosing way too many assets, I ended with a deer-in-the-headlights look in my face.

-"Now what? Really dude, I have no idea what the hell to do ..."

The best thing about ProSim war games is that you can use real life doctrine publications to approach the scenarios. Most of the times reading field manuals is a bit dull but fortunately for this specific scenario there is an excellent article at the Armchair General magazine (see "Tactics 101: The Deliberate Attack", even though this scenario looks pretty much like a hasty attack).

So many things to consider for my offense on Objective Liberty! :)

Cheers,

Monster PC Wargame Reviewed by Michael Peck at TSJ

"Monster" wargames is a denomination that some wargames receive because of their sheer size in terms of units, complexity and time needed to play them. In the latest issue of Training and Simulation Journal (both print and online), off-the-shelf simulations point man Michael Peck has a very nice review of "War in the Pacific: Admirals Edition" (WitPAE).

WitPAE may be very well known to many readers of this blog. If not, Mr. Peck's review will give you an idea of what this game is about.

As I said before, is always very nice to see articles in TSJ about simulations one can relate to and also afford. :) Every time I browse the print version of TSJ, with all the extremely cool toys there, I feel like throwing my joystick and monitor through the window. :)

Cheers,

Beautiful map artwork in ProSim's latest free wargame

As you know, ProSim (partnering with their publisher Shrapnel Games and the Armchair General magazine) has released a free war game with two scenarios based on the battle at the Tallil Airbase during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The maps artwork in ProSim games keeps getting better and better. In the screenshot below you can see An-Nasiriyah (the town north of the Euphrates river). An-Nasiriyah ... any chance we get to play some Marines scenario in the future?

Click the image to expand it.

Cheers,