HistWar Les Grognards: Friendly Fog of War Delight

Friendly fog of war (FFoW) is the ultimate challenge for simulations of command. It's not easy to implement and it's not easy to present to the player.

I was playing a quick scenario of HistWar Les Grognards (HWLG) and I thought of showing here how FFoW looks in this war game.

This is good ole 2D map showing the situation of my troops (little squares highlighted blue) at the beginning of the scenario. Of particular interest is the strongest formation in my Army, V Corps commanded by Mortier. Before the start of the scenario, Mortier was ordered to deploy in the center (see figure). He received and understood his orders.

It is now 8:35. Note how I started moving towards the center of the battlefield ("Me" in the figure above). The units that are within my sight are displayed lighter than the ones I can't see. The icons of V Corps have not changed position. Also note the little explosion icons in the center. Some units are fighting there, but since I neither received situation reports from those nor I can see them from my position the only thing displayed is explosions. Some of my reconnaissance detachments have reported the Austrian battle line (squares highlighted white).

8:51 and a lot has changed in the battlefield. Some of my units have updated me on their positions. Not V Corps, who is represented as if it were at the start point. I'm approaching a hill and hopefully that will give me a vantage view of my own troops.

Three minutes later I just reached the top of a hill and now I can see that VCorps has been moving all the time. I just wasn't informed about that.

Mortier and his staff supervising the approach march of V Corps. Merde, Mortier! Drop me a line sometime!

If this doesn't teach me that I have to command from the front, nothing will!

Cheers,

Tank-Infantry Teams in ARMA 2: Protecting an immobile tank (Part 2)

This is a continuation from Part 1. A stationary tank has to be protected from close assault with RPGs or other AT portable weapons. In this entry, the USMC rifle squad deploys for its mission.

Across the Dnepr Second Edition

I remember playing for hours with the first edition of this game. Boy this game engine has made some astonishing changes from then!

Across the Dnepr Second Edition is an add-on for Kharkov Disaster in the Donets. This second edition of Across the Dnepr uses all the tricks of SSG's new game engine.

One thing that immediately hooked me in this second edition is how the mobility of motorized/armored groups has been improved. Now I'm able to use my reconnaissance units deep into enemy territory.

The 10th Panzer Division (10PzD, blue icons with the "Y" yellow symbols) and the 4th Panzer Division (4PzD, blue icons with the inverted Y white symbols) approach Mogilev from the north and the south respectively. Note how the reconnaissance battalions have successfully bypassed the Russsian infantry (light brown counters).

Just because SSG cares about old farts like me,  the magnifying glass will never be dropped from their games. Ever. On a serious note, the reconnaissance party has bumped into the Russians. Time to call the tanks up.

The 4PzD is running circles around the Russian infantry. 

I'm going to review this game sometime in the near future (the backlog of reviews is not getting any smaller, yikes!).

Cheers,

Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943: Get Off that Road!

I'm enjoying the relatively slow pace of WWII tank battles in Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943 (APK43). Compared to the fast and furious pace of modern armor combat (as shown in Steel Beasts ProPE), in APK43 I have a chance to screw it and fix it. Sometimes it's hard not to be overconfident and forget "good manners".

In one instance I was moving a German tank platoon down a road. There was a small patch of woods ahead and as soon as the point tank emerged from the tree line it was welcomed by a well placed Russian AT gun.

AT ambush, 10 meters ahead.

Take a look at the figure below, taken from the "Training Directives for the Light and Medium Tank Companies, March 1939".

The square inside a circle represents a tank and the other symbol an AT gun (you may recognize from APK43). Left side (wrong), the tank at the edge of the trees gets nailed by an AT gun. Right side (correct), the tank steps aside the road and spots the AT gun from the cover of the foliage.

Put those trees to work for you. Russian AT gunners don't have IR imaging. A German tank takes a peek at the open terrain ahead from the concealment offered by the trees.

Cheers,

LOMAC Flaming Cliffs 2.0: Grooming All My Cockpit Vices

Ideally, a pilot should have some visual routines (when and where to look at) that became so ingrained into him he doesn't need to think about them. Checking the "six pack" is one of those.

With DCS A-10 in the horizon, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about the A-10 by flying it in LOMAC Flaming Cliffs 2.0 (FC2). Alas, I'm finding out that besides learning, I have to get rid of many vices/habits. The operation of the A-10 in FC2 is quite simplified and I wonder what's going to be of me when I sit my butt in the detailed virtual cockpit of DCS A-10. :)

Anyway, let's talk a bit about weapons delivery, specifically the AGM-65D. For the time being let's forget about low-high/high-low tactical approaches to the target area. I edited a mission just for practice: a couple of Shilkas near a bridge. I will just fly high out of their reach and try to find and destroy them.

The visual routine for finding the target, locking and firing an AGM-65 is quite different than what I thought. I am supposed to spend most of the time looking out, not staring at the TV monitor to the right. Ideally, acquire the target visually, ground stabilize the EO-aiming reticle near the target and make final adjustments by looking at the TV monitor. In this case I couldn't acquire the Shilkas visually, so I just ground stabilized the EO-aiming reticle in the general target area and made the final adjustments with the TV monitor.

Look up more. Note the tiny little white speckles in the cross-hairs of the TV monitor. Two Shilkas are about to be bagged.

The problem with fixing one's attention in the TV monitor while flying into a hot area is that one develops tunnel vision, looses situational awareness to threats, tends to fly straight (a sure treat for AAA gunners) and (in severe cases) stops flying.

 During night missions, you have an extra enemy: the lack of external visual cues. The temptation of using the IR seeker of the AGM-65D as a FLIR is just too much.

Survivor to all the surrounding destruction, a Shilka takes aim at our flight.

Gah! In top of all this crap I'm supposed to perform approach tactics ...

Cheers,

Scourge of War: A Good and Extended Fire Line Is Just a Click Away

Well, compared to Take Command 2nd Manassas (TC2M) there is new stuff in Scourge of War. Beyond the graphics haul, that is.

Take a look at the screenshots below (taken from "Sandbox" mode of play).

The regiment in the foreground (97th New York) can't shoot to the rebels because is blocked by another federal regiment. In TC2M, to put the 97th New York into a good firing position one would need to move the regiment in column formation to a new firing position. That was cumbersome.

There is a new command in Scourge of War: lateral move. Just one click and the regiment will move to the right or left without loosing their line formation. Much better! Note how some trees have lost their foliage.

There is no doubt that from certain angles, Scourge of War looks great.

Cheers,

Tank-Infantry Teams in ARMA 2: Protecting an immobile tank (Part 1)

Continuing with my USMC tank-infantry teams series, the next topic is protecting an immobile tank in open terrain.

Although the M1 Abrams is an all-around solid and reliable tank, off course sometimes problems will show up. In this entry, an M1 has been immobilized because of a broken torsion bar. The tank can still fire. Help to move this tank to the rear area is on its way and a USMC rifle squad is tasked with protecting it until then ...

Out for a couple of days

I'm taking some time off and going somewhere with the family. Back in a couple of days.

Cheers,

Learning the complexities of close air support

After getting LOMAC Flaming Cliffs 2.0 (FC2.0), I have been reading quite a bit about close air support (CAS) with the A-10. Close air support is one of the most complicated air operations and until we get the highly anticipated DCS A-10, we will have to settle for the rather simplistic system in FC2.0.


I was looking around for other simulators where you can have some of the complexities of CAS missions, in particular the interaction with forward controllers. It is rather odd that I found a very complex system of interacting with ground "controllers" in the fantasy game "Dragonester".

Once you are in the sky as a pilot (Dragon knight in this game), the main challenge is to interact with ground controllers (elves in this case). As in real life all is against you: your flying also needs attention, the elves have a very limited view of the battle because of their short height ...
(please click the "read more" link below for the full article)

Scourge of War

I've got this one a couple of days ago. Spent some time trying to get a smooth game play in my aging computer. A lower tree density made the trick. So it goes guys, my virtual version of Pennsylvania will be a tad barren. Note to self: I have to upgrade my computer. All those simulators I am running at medium to high visual settings are not that hardware-intensive after all.

As it was with the old MadMinute Games, the canned scenarios are incredibly well designed. It's a joy to see all you have read in books come alive.

At least the command and control features of Take Command 2nd Mannasas are still there. Now you can also give detailed orders via courier.

Maximum draw distance is caped to 2,000 yards. No way to see the lay of the ground beyond that (other than moving your camera forward). Maybe this is moddable?

Tactical, 2-D map. Very neat period map, but it doesn't show tactically relevant terrain features. It would be cool to issue orders from it.

Disappointed so far with it.

For 4+ years of developing time, I was expecting this one to be revolutionary or evolutionary compared to Take Command 2nd Mannasas. It is neither.  Maybe it will grow in me, but I have a bad feeling about this game.

I will not review this game. But I am looking forward to see what professional reviewers have to say about this one.

Cheers,