HistWar Les Grognards, Screenshots

Only 6 hours after placing my order, I received an e-mail with a download link and a "key" file (this file has to be placed in the main game folder). Installation was a breeze and without any problems.

I'm not going to pass any type of conclusion about this war game for the time being. The topic is unfamiliar to me and the game is very ambitious. If you are too much into graphics goodies (I heard Napoleon Total War is around the corner), this may not be the game for you. Please take a look at these screen shots I took last night while playing the first tutorial. Make sure to click the images to expand them and see the interface.

Please click "read more" for more screenshots.

"VBS2 JCOVE", A Free Taste of VBS2 Courtesy of the UK Department of Defense

Thanks Jens for the heads up on this free simulation based on VBS2!  Please click on the "read more" link below for a short description, links and download information.


From the official website:

JCOVE Lite is a freeware game derived from Bohemia Interactive's VBS2 software - itself a derivative of Armed Assault but focused on simulated training for military purposes. JCOVE Lite was funded by the UK MOD to give the general public, particularly potential recruits, an idea of how the British military trained for combat as well as providing a more realistic combat simulation than your standard shoot'em-up. Overall it gives serious gamers an immensely modifiable platform to create, share and play their own missions using a huge range of British military equipment - from the humble Sig 229 to the legendary Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank. It is available for free from Armed Forces Careers Offices around the UK, as well as available to download publically for all registered community members at jcove-lite.co.uk.

For downloading JCOVE Lite, you will first need through an easy registration process.

Cheers,

I Did Buy HistWar Les Grognards ... Did I?

Yesterday, I posted about the (maybe) release of HisWar Les Grognards.

After seeing the official forums being back to normal, and after reading that some people were actually playing the game, I decided to purchase it.

The order confirmation e-mail I received was a bit confusing. Take a look:

Hello Jxxxx CXXXXXX, thank you for shopping with HistWarGames.
You have ordered a game in pre order. It is not immediately available. The box Les Grognards and the box Les Grognards Collector Napoleon will be shipped in January 2010. However, once the game is available, you will be able to download and start playing "HistWar: Les Grognards"!
When purchasing the game in pre sale, the title of "Grenadiers HistWar" will be assigned to you. It will give you access to a private forum for support and exchange.

So, it looks like the game is still in pre-order status. Funny thing the e-mail says the boxed games are being shipped in January 2010.

I will update this entry tomorrow. I just wanted you to be aware that if you haven't pre-ordered the game already, it is unlikely you will be doing the ordering-paying-downloading-playing thing that you may be expecting.

I'm off to call back Visa, they just called informing me of some suspicious activity in my card. :)

Cheers,

ARMA 2: Organizing a Squad into Groups with the Editor

I promise: just one more action-less entry before I head for the fields to test the tank-infantry teams mumbo-jumbo I have been writing ...

HistWar Les Grognard ... Released ... Almost ... Maybe ...

This Napoleonic game was to be released last night, at least for the brave souls who pre-ordered it.

Here is the link to the release announcement, but at the time of this writing the link is dead.

It is hard to follow the news of this game. Almost as hard as to play the demo.

Cheers,

New "Red Pill" Screenshots

Ladies and gentlemen, this naval/air war game will kick some serious ass. A new batch of screenshots has been posted this weekend at Warfaresims.com.

The stunning screenshots are the first batch from an scenario named "Cans Only".

This is a simple ASuW-centered scenario addressing a hypothetical surface engagement exercise in the western Pacific in the summer of 2010. Two USN surface action groups, one of them including the amphibious ship USS Essex, must reach the Tokyo-Yukosuka area. Two JMSDF taskgroups act as OPFOR and must prevent them from doing so. There is no land-based air support or submarines; both sides must make do with their surface ships and what they can carry onboard. The Japanese have an advantage in numbers, but the US has more Aegis ships and lots more helicopters. The setup is 2-on-2 groups so there are plenty of decisions to make!

More details and screenshots here.

Cheers,

Tank-Infantry Teams in ARMA2: Real Life Hazards and Annoyances We Don''t Have to Worry About

Continuing with tank-infantry teams, I will briefly mention some of the hazards and struggles real life US Marine rifle men have to cope with while working with tanks.

• Communications. As a real life USMC platoon/squad leader, if you get a tank platoon or section assigned to you, it means these armored behemoths are your subordinates now. Commanding them is not easy. Most of the times the tanks and the infantry will be in different radio communication networks. If you are lucky the tank will be equipped with infantry intercoms (a small telephone in the back of the tank, pretty much like the ones used during WWII). 
• Sitting around the feet of giants. The tank crews' situational awareness of the environment immediately close to their buttoned up tank is extremely low. Real life Marines are taught to always assume that tank crews can't see them:
• Stay at a safe distance, close to things the tank will avoid (like a building)
• Never stay between two tanks
• Watch out for moving turrets
• Watch out for the extreme heat coming out from the exhaust grid in the back of the tank
• Never walk in front of a tank without permission
• Never go prone near a tank
• Tanks' main guns are dangerous even when they are not aiming at you. Tank commanders will always signal the Marines on foot that they are about to fire the main gun (actually even the coaxial gun). This signal can be by radio or a hand signal.
• The main gun of a tank generates a lot of overpressure. The infantry commander is responsible of keeping his Marines out of the blast radius. Watch out for broken glass and debris caused by the overpressure.
• Separated SABOTs from the armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot munition can kill infantry located in front of the tank. Never fire main gun rounds over the heads of infantry.

In ARMA 2 we get it easy. In ARMA 2, your communications with the tank team are instantaneous and 100% reliable. AI tankers in ARMA 2 do a more than decent job in moving around infantry (though accidents will happen sometimes in the virtual battlefield, so be careful). And you can sit right by a virtual M1 tank in ARMA 2 while it fires its main gun, with the only consequence being a small ringing in your virtual ears. That beats spitting out your lungs in pieces ...

The Marine in the middle of the road is risking getting struck if the tank reverses suddenly. 

Never walk in front of a tank without permission. 

Cheers,

"Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising" Got Patched This Week

I didn't even bother to patch the previous time, so I thought this time it was worth to take a second look at this thing.

The new patch takes the game to version 1.02. The list of changes and new content is quite good.

As far as changes, I was interested in one thing: the odd flanking maneuver an AI fireteam under my command would make when ordered to lay suppressive fire onto something.

After this patch, it looks like it's improved, though I need more time to test this.

I ordered this fireteam to provide suppressive fire while I advanced. A couple of minutes later they are still in position, which is good.

AI Marines taking cover behind trees. This is a great AI feature in OFPDR.

Cheers,

Close Combat First to Fight: USMC Drills for Close Urban Combat

I was working on the second entry about the use of USMC tank-infantry teams in ARMA 2, slowly moving through an urban area with my virtual Marines (AKA herding cats, it's not easy to control AI teams in ARMA 2) when I remembered how easy was to control a fire team in this other shooter ...

Tank-Infantry Teams in ARMA2: Basic Concepts

"We have gotten into the fashion of talking of cavalry tactics, artillery tactics, and infantry tactics. This distinction is nothing but a mere abstraction. There is but one art, and that is the tactics of the combined arms."
Major Gerald Gilbert, The Evolution of Tactics (London, 1907)

Every combat arm has strengths and weaknesses. Since ancient times, commanders have used different combat arms in concert to maximize the survival and combat effectiveness of the others. In the modern battlefield, some form of combined arms is required even for survival.

The strengths of tanks are well known: great firepower, great mobility and great armor protection. One of the weaknesses of the buttoned up tank is a limited field of view. This weakness becomes serious  in terrain where the field of view is obstructed by closely located vegetation or buildings. In these cases, tanks can rely on infantry teams to see and hear what the tank crew can't. In turn, infantry gets the benefit of increased firepower.

This blog entry series is centered around USMC infantry and how it feels to cooperate with tanks in ARMA 2. This is not about tank tactics (ARMA 2 is not an armor simulation) but rather what infantry does in cooperation with tanks.

On the use of tank-infantry teams in the USMC, it is kinda curious that doctrine manuals suggest that tanks are never integrated with infantry units smaller than a company. However:

1. If the situation demands, a tank platoon (or a tank section) can be assigned to an infantry company. This is called tanks in direct support (DS).
2. Tanks in DS of an infantry company are now subordinated to the company commander, who in turn may assign the tanks to an individual infantry platoon. The reinforced infantry platoon commander may make some interesting combinations (more of that in a future post)
3. The minimum amount of tanks assigned to a platoon is a section of two tanks. This minimum is respected religiously. Tankers will refuse to fight without a wingman. :)
4.  About bullet point #1, if the situation demands, generally a combination of close terrain and a serious  AT threat. See the screenshots below.

This is tank country. Leave the tanks alone to do what they do best.

Now we are talking. These Marines are pulling all around security for the tank. The Marine in the foreground is covering the dead space above the tank.

These woods offer the enemy lots of options for an AT ambush.

Peeking around corners, something tanks can't do very well.

Cheers,