Horse and Musket: Volume I Released

This may be the best computer war game out there for the age of Frederick the Great.
I have very fond memories playing the previous version, "The Prussian War Machine".

A new revamped war game by Boku Strategy Games, is now available from Matrix Games.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark, Patch Delayed Until August

In this thread at the official DCS Black Shark forums, Matt Wagner has stated that the much waited-for patch will be released around August.

From that thread:

Eagle Dynamics Update – 15 June 2009
It’s been a little over a month since the last update, so I thought it time to bring you all up to speed:
1- DCS: Black Shark Update/Patch. The update/patch is still in work but many more of the training tracks are broken due to update/patch changes than we first expected. Moving forward with DCS: A-10C Warthog, it is unlikely we will continue using the track file system for training missions! Between this and a couple of high-priority, time-sensitive tasks that have come up, the update/patch will probably not be released until August 2009. We understand that this is disappointing news to some, but believe me when I say that we want to release the update/patch even more than any of you.
2- DCS: Black Shark Printed Manual. Regarding North American distribution, the manuals have arrived at the distributer’s warehouse and will be sent to both GoGamer.com and Amazon.com. We apologize for the delay on this.
3- DCS: Black Shark Localization. Our localization manager and the dedicated Spanish translation team are working very hard on finalizing the Spanish version and are now at the release candidate stage.
4- DCS: A-10C Warthog. Not much to report here other than progress is good and it we will go into alpha testing after the Black Shark patch is released. Probably starting in August we’ll be discussing this project in more detail and I will start the Producer Notes soon after. We appreciate the PM beta tester application, but please note that we are not accepting beta tester applications at this time.
5- Lock On: Flaming Cliffs. As mentioned in the last update, we are working on a further evolution of this product line. However, until the software is essentially done, we will not be discussing this in any detail. Sorry.
6- 3rd Party Tools. As some of you may have noticed a Tool Wiki is available here: http://en.wiki.eagle.ru/wiki/All_about_land and forum discussion here: http://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=89 In the near future we will be adding an additional 18 documents regarding terrain construction (kudos to Hawg11). Later in the year we will be adding additional plug-ins and instructional documents to create new aircraft.
Matt Wagner
Producer, TFC/Eagle Dynamics

There is one update that will be available sooner than August and that is a new version of the Georgian Oil War campaign. Again, Matt Wagner in the same thread as above:

Given the unfortunate delay in getting the 1.0.1 patch out, the one item I could released early is an updated version of the included Georgia Oil War campaign. This version includes many adjustments based on user feedback.
Primary changes:
- Various identified scripting errors fixed
- Player killed point penalty removed
- Cold start on all missions that do not have fixed timing issues
- Vista warning removed
- Mission titles based on mission type removed to avoid confusion
- All offensive missions now are rated between 51 and 100 to provide more random mission assignment due to players always trying to max score at 100
- Force on force missions now start player at 50 pts.
- Radar SAMs in third chapter removed
- Recon zones increased to 3,000 meters
- AD systems at route points have even lower random variable settings
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...oducts&lang=en

Please follow this link to the new Georgian Oil War campaign (v1.1).

This patch better be worth the wait ... Just kidding.

I've just browsed the official forums and there are some disgruntled virtual pilots. Not many.

Waiting ... waiting ...


Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 5)

6:55, Time to move the two M3 CFVs from team 2-A (north flank) out as "hunters".

I want to find out where the enemy tanks are before moving forward the already mauled team 3-A (south flank).

The two M3 CFVs from team 2-A leave the M1 tank behind and move cautiously in separate directions. All those trooper skills will come in handy right now. One M3 CFV (vehicle 2/2-A) moves some 500 meters south and finds no trace of the enemy. The other M3 CFV (vehicle 4/2-A) moves west. At 7:12, vehicle 4/2-A finds two Iraqi T-72s some 1.2 km south of its position. We finally found where the enemy armor is.

Vehicle 4/2-A finds the enemy.Please click the image for an expanded view.

Having accomplish its task (find the enemy and report) I should have pulled out this "hunter" out of harms way. I was in the commander's seat of this vehicle at this point and I have to tell you, the view shown in the previous screenshot chilled my spine. When the spotting of enemy armor happened I had this M3 CFV in an un-covered position, with a ridgeline behind me.

Not the best of places to find out enemy armor with an M3 CFV. The view from vehicle 4/2-A when the enemy armor was spotted. The enemy tanks are somewhere far in the background.Please click the image for an expanded view.

I threw smoke in front and panicked. I could have pulled out moving to my right but I didn't have the guts to leave the safety of the smoke curtain. As usually I couldn't remember about the smoke generator. I was not going to retreat my M3 by moving backwards and cresting the small ridge behind. Sequentially showing the top and then the belly of the vehicle to a couple of enemy tanks is not a good idea.

The it became obvious that the two tanks haven't seen my M3 CFV, so I engaged both tanks with TOWs. Two enemy tanks destroyed. So much for "hunter", this M3 CFV just became a "killer".

Situation at 7:12. We found enemy armor ... and killed it.Please click the image for an expanded view.

A view of the two Iraqi T-72s killed with TOWs.Please click the image for an expanded view.

I bugged out from the area and returned back to the safety of the hills near the M1 tank.

We found and killed two tanks already. The other enemy tanks should be nearby but cannot be spotted from our northern flank team. It's time to move forward team 3-A (south flank).

To be continued ...

P/S: I am sorry the story is trickling down so slowly. Flooded with stuff both at the office and at home.

Cheers,

US Army Command & General Staff College Wargames at the Origins Convention

In this forum thread at Wargamer.com, Dr. James Sterrett from CGSC confirms he will be holding staff war games at the Origins game fair.

Scheduled war games are Flashpoint Germany (Matrix Games), TacOps (Battlefront) and Battles from the Bulge (Panther Games).

On a side note, the mighty David Glantz is scheduled to lecture during the game fair.

I want to attend to this fair, but I'm afraid I spent too much of my leave with job interviews lately.

Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Team in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 4)

Around 6:51, all teams are at the edge of the palm trees, scanning west before moving on.

An artillery barrage falls over team 4-A (center group, 2 M3 CFVs). Team 4-A pulls back to safety un-harmed. The enemy has seen us. There must be some infantry OPs somewhere.

Team 4-A pulls back to avoid the artillery fire.

With the certainty that the enemy has seen us, I order everybody to wait for a couple of minutes, and scan the terrain west. No victors out there.

I am a bit scared of letting both teams 2-A and 3-A to start moving west. I choose team 2-A (north flank) as the one to move on first because its avenue of infiltration/penetration is closer to the limit of our sector. If something nasty happens during their approach, they can move north to safety relatively fast.

Team 2-A moves up

Team 2-A advances northwest through a small valley. Formation column, with the tank up front. Because the terrain now is a bit more closed, I want to make sure that if contact is to happen during the march, a tank is the first thing the enemy faces

Another artillery barrage, now on team 3-A (southern flank), produces the first loss. An M3 CFV falls prey to the fire from the sky. This is not a good start.

Team 3-A suffers the first loss.

Fortunately, team 2-A (northern flank) advances unopposed.

Another view of the advance of team 2-A

It’s now 6:55 and the time of deploying the “hunters” of team 2-A has come.

Situation at 6:55. Note team 2-A's advance.

To be continued ...

Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 3)

The Execution

A side note: I played this scenario jumping from one vehicle to another. This may not be of the liking of simulation purists out there, but I wanted the whole hunter-killer experience for this report.

From 6:30 to 6:49

All teams move forward. Teams 2-A and 3-A, move in a spread out “vee” formation, with two M3 CFVs forward and an M1 tank behind. With the new mixed units feature of v2.146, it was just a couple of mouse clicks to have the M3s and the M1 moving as a formation. I wish it would be an option to spread the formation even more, to have the tank 300 meters behind the M3 CFVs.

Passing through the wreck of an Iraqi recon vehicle. Click on the image for an expanded view.

We scan the terrain ahead, but no victors are found. We cross the only place of our sector where there is some green vegetation.

Situation at 6:49 AM. Bug report: teams 2-A and 3-A show as a single tank icon in the AAR section of SB ProPE.Click on the image for an expanded view.

Team 2-A emerges from the palms in a "vee" hunter-killer formation.Click on the image for an expanded view.

To be continued ...

Cheers,

An An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 2)

The Plan

We are deep in the desert. Right in front of us there is a small valley, oddly scattered with palm trees. West of that valley, the hills we have to clear. Once we get inside this hilly terrain, long range engagements (in which we have such an awesome edge) will be impossible. Whatever happens in the hills, it will be a knife-fight. It's early in the morning and a moderate sandstorm has limited the visibility to 1 km.

Based on the light resistance we found in the last hours and the lack of prepared enemy defenses, the enemy forces are likely conducting a mobile security mission. One hour ago, our Sqn command group has destroyed two PCs and one tank (see reference points in the map). At least 4 T-72s and 5 BMPs were seen hastily moving west.

Our task is to clear the enemy from the sector indicated in the map and restore the screen line.

Forces available for this mission are a US Cav Plt (6 M3 CFV, 2 M1 MBT) which I organized as a Hunter-Killer Plt (see previous post). The Squadron's aerial component is grounded until the climate conditions improve. We have no indirect fire support available for this mission.

My scheme of maneuver is, sequentially:
1) Clear the valley with the whole Hunter-Killer (HK) Plt
2) Infiltrate or force a penetration of the hilly terrain via small valleys/low terrain at the north and southern extremes of the sector with HK teams 2A and 3A
3) Teams 2A and 3A conduct mutually supported HK missions to find and destroy the enemy forces. Team 4A (2 M3 CFVs) stays back in the small valley, alerts of any enemy movement in the west part of the sector and stays ready to reinforce HK operations of teams 2A and 3A

H-K and HK: Hunter-Killer tactics; click the image for an expanded view

The infiltration/penetration of the hilly terrain of 3A HK team (southern flank) could have been made a bit more down south, near the southern edge of the sector. I opted for a small low terrain entrance a bit north than that because I wanted to make sure that team 3A could support team 2A.

Coming up next: the execution

Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 1)

Man schlägt jemanden mit der Faust und nicht mit gespreizten Fingern. (You hit somebody with your fist and not with your fingers spread.) Heinz Guderian
Meaning that you should concentrate your Panzers for one mighty push in one direction and not distribute them over a large area. From WikiQuotes.

The action described below is from a custom-made Steel Beasts ProPE scenario featuring a US Cavalry Plt tasked with filling a gap in a screen line.

This scenario is loosely based in the actions of the 2nd Plt, A Troop, 1-4 US Cavalry near objective Norfolk during the Gulf War. During the early hours of 27 Feb 1991, 1-4 US Cav was conducting a screen mission for 1 ID. The S3 of the unit, Major John Burdan became aware that A and B Troops have been inadvertently moving away from each other while moving to establish the screen line. Thus, a gap in the screen line was generated. The 1st Squadron commander (LTC Robert Wilson) decided to inspect the screen line personally, taking along one M3 and an M113. This command group found a dug-in Iraqi T-72 and quickly dispatched it. Soon it became evident that BMPs and T-72s were behind the 1st Squadron's screen line. Lacking the firepower needed to clear this enemy group, the 2nd Plt of A Troop (2LT Adrian Lowndes) was called in to clear the enemy positions and to re-establish de screen line. More details can be found at "The Road to Safwan", by Bourque and Burdan (pages 151 to 153).

Please keep in mind "loosely based". This scenario is not an historical recreation. Over time, I profusively edited the scenario and kept getting rid of the many difficulties the Troopers of 1-4 US Cav have encountered in real-life. Navigation in an almost featurless desert, with few GPS units, with 1/500,000 maps and at night. How they did it, it escapes my comprehension. To make it up for my scenario's numerous excesses, I situated the action during a moderate sandstorm (low visibility), with no air support and no indirect fires availble for blue. I made the gap in the screen almost 4 km wide. I also reinforced the Iraqis with two plts of T-72s and three plt(-) of BMPs, all deployed in depth with infantry-manned OPs up front. I also gave the Iraqis random start positions and two crude plans of armored counter-attack which are triggered based in the reports by the infantry OPs.

The main purpose of editing and playing this scenario was to learn how to use hunter-killer teams in a hasty attack. M3/M1 hunter-killer teams have been widely used by US Cavalry formations during both Iraq wars. For this scenario, I have an US Cav Plt composed of 6 M3 CFVs and 2 M1 MBTs. I organized this Plt as described in an article that appeared in the Armor magazine, back in 1993.

The Hunter-Killer Cavalry Platoon, as described in Armor magazine. (Click the image for an expanded view)

Without further ado, the mission.

The tactical situation. (Click on the image for an expanded view)

The blue units at the north and south extremes of the map, are part of the squadron's screen line and they are out of my control. The gap between both of them is where enemy presence is suspected. The units is at the eastern extreme of the map are part of my Plt. You will have excuse me in that each of them show Plt symbols and nomenclature. They are all just part of the same US Cav Plt. Units 3-A and 2-A have a tank symbol but they are actually composed of 1 M1 MBT and 2 M3 CFVs. This is the first time I use the new mixed units feature of v2.146! :)

The task is to execute a "clear" tactical mission and re-establish the screen line (dotted arrows located at the western edge). The "clear" tactical mission is ussualy executed after very careful planning and is supported with multiple assets. Clearly not the case for this scenario, but I'm claiming METTTC considerations. :)

To be continued ...

Cheers,

The "Tactics 101" Series at Armchair General

For all of us looking for quality reading material about military tactics, Armchair General has been offering the "Tactics 101" series since 2006.

These articles cover a lot of tactical mileage and are written by two professional soldiers. This articles consolidate a lot of information spread across several US Army and US Marine Corps doctrinal publications.

Armchair General should consider putting all these articles together, print them and sell them as a stand-alone supplement. It would be a pity if this material gets lost in some website transition or archiving.

Cheers,

"Tank Tactics, from Normandy to Lorraine", by Roman Jarymowycz

Just finished reading this book.

"Tank Tactics, from Normandy to Lorraine", by Roman Jarymowycz is a wonderful mix of scholastic treatise on armor doctrine and engaging battlefront stories and anecdotes.

This book is about the evolution of armor doctrine among the US and Canadian forces, from the end of WWI to the trying months after the WWII Normandy landings.

This is a must read for anybody interested in armored warfare. The first chapters are devoted to the post-WWI years, and all the confusion the tank brought into military doctrine. How were tanks to be used grand-tactically, as a breaktrhough ram, as an exploitation weapon or as a pursuit one? The soul-searching of the US Cavalry with their tank vs horse debate follows, with a bit less of detail as in other books by Jarymowycz but nonetheless very informative. The meat and potatoes of the book is the analysis of Operations Goodwood, Cobra, Totalize and Tractable. The author makes great emphasis in the good and bad of the doctrines of British, Canadian, US, German and (altough very briefly) Soviet forces. Every operation is put under the microscope and analyzed from the armored warfare doctrinal point of view. I would dare to say that this is the best operational analysis of the Normandy breakthrough I ever read.

One word of caution: the title "Tank Tactics" is a bit off. The book makes emphasis in the grand-tactical and operational use of armor in WWII. There are a few tactical vignettes here and there. But don't expect to see too much small units tactics here.

On a side note: This book has been available from Lynne-Rienner Publishers for a long time. Now Stackpole Books prints and sells it at a lower price. Kudos Stackpole for getting us this wonderful scholarly treatise at such a knockout price.

This book has given me an itch for some WWII Normandy war-gaming ...




Do you recognize this war game?


HPS's Normandy 44








What about this classic?


Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord




I'm off to play these great war games.

Cheers,