Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943 - The Infantry Game - Bring a (Better) Gun to a Gunfight

Two very well known 3D tactical war games have a weak spot and that is infantry modelling. The Panzer Command series (Matrix) has come a long way since their first title, but the way infantry is modeled continues to be disappointing. The Combat Mission series has evolved from its abstracted squads to an explicit 1:1 representation but unfortunately Battlefront has downgraded other features of the engine (like the so-called "tactical AI", the one that used to oversee the overall performance of the computer-controlled troops) to an extent that negatively affects the whole combat experience.

I recently resumed playing Achtung Panzer Kharkov 43 (APK43) and I am focusing on infantry combat. I don't expect these infantry-oriented series of entries that I start today to be very popular. We all prefer the fast pace of armor combat against the slug-fest of infantry combat. But ... Ey! You don't drop by this blog for visceral game play stories, don't you?

So here is what happened. Me as the Germans commanding a full company of dismounted panzer grenadiers against computer-controlled Russian infantry. I am giving orders with a single click to whole platoons  at this time. My point platoon approaches one of those villages with a single row of houses leaning on one side of a road. The point platoon comes under fire from the odd and only house that is on the other side of the road, at the opposite extreme of the village. Great position, awesome field of fire, great job by the Russian AI. I command the point platoon to put the whole village between them and the nasty Russian defensive position. The fog of war doesn't allow to determine which type of Russian unit is firing at us. I want suppressive fire on the enemy so I command the whole point platoon to put some fire into the Russian position.

All by themselves, a few grenadiers get out of the cover offered by the houses and cross the road into an open field. It's like in Close Combat (a fire order will result in soldiers moving to a location where they can see the target)! But that's not just it: the first grenadiers that moved out to provide suppressive fire were carrying MG42s! All of this with just one click.

These grenadiers crossed the road to get a better field of fire. In the foreground, two MG42s and one submachine gunner. In the background, one additional MG42 is about to join the fun.

Cheers,

Commander Conquest of the Americas - Where is the part in which I actually conquer something?

This is a nice trading game and the naval component has me intrigued. The byline of the game's title is a bit unfortunate: you don't do too much conquest (no land warfare) and "the Americas" are limited to (gasp!) a portion of the actual continent.

Yet I want to see if the naval battles hold some water (no pun intended). They look pretty, though.

More about this coming in the future.

Cheers,

The Long Way Home - Book Mini Review

Please note: all books I have in the queue (thanks authors and publishers!) are worth a full-blown review. Unfortunately, my free time is being rather scarce due to business travel and other work obligations. I will resume full-featured articles and reviews sometime after the summer. 

The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War

by David Laskin

Hardcover, 416 pages

Harper Collins Publishers

In a time like this, of protracted wars and rushed immigration debate, David Laskin's "The Long Way Home" invites us to look for wisdom in our collective past. Laskin, a well known writer/scholar with the intellectual appetite of a renaissance man, appears not to be that much into any type of politics. But his story-telling manages to ring all sort of bells in the ears of whom are reading beyond his words.

"The Long Way Home" follows the story of 12 immigrants that landed in the US right before World War I and were drafted or volunteered to serve in all branches of the US Armed Forces. Laskin has researched throughly and written each story with exquisite detail and with the literary skill that only gifted writers can deliver. The stories themselves are heartbreaking and sometimes is difficult not to break a tear at the miseries and struggles these men had to endure even before becoming teenagers. The accounts of the immigration process (embarkation, travel and reception in New York) are the best I ever read in any book. I could almost hear the chit-chat of nervous immigrants worried about being turned back to their home countries. Laskin's superb narratives of the Great War took me by surprise. To my knowledge, this is the author's first book dealing with a military subject and he doesn't depart from the tone or depth he started with. Off course there is not an analysis of every battle he refers to, but there is enough context to understand it. The battle narratives had me thinking about these men for days. This book deserves to share the same shelf with other WWI military history books.

There are very short references in this book about the influence of immigration in America's recent wars. I was expecting that to be the case. This is not a book to feed the short sighted debate the country is about to engage on. This is a book about what is to be an American by choice. I am sure that no matter where the current frenzy leads us to, after the waters settle down, this book will be one of the top ones to come back to.

Laskin has brought up in me emotions and thoughts I had forgotten for years. I am from a family of compulsive immigrants and I am an immigrant myself. I heard from my late grandfather (an Italian who immigrated to Argentina just before WWII) many similar stories than the ones I read in this book. Like Laskin's story of the immigrant mother passing to her kids pieces of stale bread rubbed on a garlic clove (so it would have some sort of flavor). I knew these stories were true, but reading them thousand of miles from where I was born it certainly strikes a chord. I had it too easy grandpa, but I promise I will become a good  American ... almost as good as you were an Argentine.

Cheers,

The Right Time to Attack is Always in the Past - Scourge of War

The game: Scourge of War (Norbsoft)
Sandbox scenario - Division against Division - Yours truly vs computer-controlled Confederates
Click on the images to see them in full-size.

I thought I had all things in place for a quick victory: my Division split in half, one brigade to skirmish against the advance of the Confederates and other brigade waiting on the reverse side of the slope of a hill, well  hidden from view alongside most of my artillery. The plan was to pop up from the reverse side of the hill with these guys and smash the Confederates below.

For a few minutes the Confederates appear to take the bait and move towards my skirmishers ... but my ruse starts to go awry when I am not able to pull out my men in due time. The Confederates overrun my skirmishers and close in with the main line. Are the Confederates charging? These are madmen! Cold steel here, and also there ... The slaughter is horrendous. Time for the rest of my boys' appearance act from the top of the hill.

What? The artillery is still not up in the hill?
The horses can't pull the cannons up to the hill  because of a crevice in the terrain. This terrain accident can be jumped over by even a small kid. Yet today, it has become as big as the canyon that separates the alive from the dead.

Then, more bad news. The Confederates are on our left flank, threatening the whole brigade that I had out of contact. My ambush has been ambushed.

I see the Confederates forming up at my left flank (see screenshot below) and I think that this would have been the perfect time to hit them with my artillery. Are my cannons coming up this bloody hill? My saber can't point my boys to victory and my mind can only think about the perverse nature of this transaction of violence we call battle.  

Cheers,

Gefechtsaufklarung - German Reconnaissance Units in Achtung Panzer Kharkov 43

I regard reconnaissance units as military elite. In WWII they went ahead of everybody, in nimble vehicles, armed with just a stick and skill ...  looking for trouble.

In Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943 (APK43), reconnaissance units are important assets during the 2D turn-based phase. They will spot enemy units at a larger range than other regular units. The moves and spotting done by reconnaissance units during the 2D turn based phase are the last throws of what the Germans called tactical reconnaissance (link opens a pdf written by me and stored at Matrix Games). Any type of reconnaissance done during the 3D phase would have been called "battle reconnaissance" by WWII German doctrine .Battle reconnaissance came in different flavors and sizes, being more of communal endeavor of line and reconnaissance troops. With a wise mixture of armored car patrols, 4 men battle patrols and squad-sized combat patrols, the objective was to gain detailed information in order to plan the battle accordingly.

It all depends on your commanding skills!

"While scouting a woods, a favorite German ruse is to drive the leading car toward its edge, halt briefly to observe, and then drive off rapidly, hoping to draw fire that will disclose the enemy positions." Quote from this book.

Fight the good fight, but bug out if the odds are against you.

By the way, why is this guy's wingman not providing mutual support?

Don't be shy and mix your platoons!

Cheers,

Now that ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead is out, who will care about VBS2 Lite US Army?

Last word I know about VBS2 Lite US Army is that the US Army legal counsel is holding up its release to civilians.

If VBS2 Lite US Army ever gets released to civilians, I wonder who is going to care anyway. With Operation Arrowhead you get a similar geography (a mountainous country side, a desert and a middle-eastern looking city), more equipment, more factions and likely better AI.

US soldiers push towards an Afghan village in VBS2 US Army Lite.

Yet, if ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead would run as smooth as any of the VBS2 "Lites" ... I would be in heaven.

Cheers,

WWII Eastern Front Book/Game Combo

I'm anxiously awaiting the next book series by David Glantz about the battle for Smolensk. First volume was supposed to come out in June, yet it has been delayed a couple of times.

On the meantime, I'm playing Matrix/SSG's "Across the Dnepr Second Edition".

I still remember when I reluctantly picked up a boxed copy of "Korsun Pocket" from the local CompUSA. At that time the only other wargame I had was Close Combat 3 and the idea of a computer wargame featuring dice seemed strange to me. I know, I was like Zoolander in this scene ...

This game series never deviated from its original board game roots. Yet the engine has evolved into a unique gaming experience with exquisite and intricate rules. Playing this on cardboard would be almost impossible.

I still have the first edition of "Across the Dnepr", maybe I should re-install it for comparison.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Counter IED Hunter Killer Tactics

Well that was the idea anyway ...

In this fictional scenario, me and my virtual men are trying to capture insurgents that according to HUMINT plan to emplace mines/IEDs in a road span near the village of Sakhe. The objective is to capture them alive for interrogation.

I wanted to experiment with the so-called "hunter-killer" tactics for counter-IED operations. A detailed explanation of these tactics can be found in the January-February 2008 issue of the Armor magazine (Hunter-Killer Teams, by Mjr. Mark Aitken, page 18). Of course this scenario features far less troops than in real life.

The "hunter" team is composed of a squad leader and a marksman. They are emplaced in a vintage vantage point up in the hills.

A full squad of infantry is the "killer" team. They are down the valley, hidden until the last moment.

The thermal sights of the squad leader from the "hunter" team picked up a group of insurgents down the road (white shapes in the third quadrant of the aiming cross).

Warned by the "hunter" team and in command of the "killer" team, I maneuvered the squad as two separate fire teams. Under the concealment of terrain and vegetation, one fire team approached the insurgent group from the north and the other team (closer to me) from the south. I wanted to force these insurgents to surrender.

Unfortunately, even when I ordered my troops to hold fire until the last possible moment, the insurgents took the first shot and we were forced to open up on them. Two insurgents fell prey to the well-aimed fire from the north fire team. Two other insurgents fled south using the road, right into where I was waiting with the south fire team. They aimed their rifles at us, but we got them before they could fire.

The two first enemy casualties, in the background.

These two were fleeing ...

The thermals in ArmA 2 are fantastic

I know we are not the police department, but I would like to see the enemy to surrender in this scenario. :)

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Kommando Spezialkrafte

One of the many new units in ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead: the kick-ass German special forces. Here shown in two specialties (scout and rifleman).

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Bohemia Interactive messes up the sleep of thousands of gamers... again

Today I picked up a copy of the stand alone expansion to ArmA 2, Operation Arrowhead.

Bohemia Interactive now takes us to Takistan, a country that for all practical purposes looks pretty much like the other "stan". The past story of the country of Takistan is pretty much generic: a civil war in 1988 (the US backing the royalist faction and the USSR backing the socialists), the royalist faction prevailing after some fighting, all leading up to the uprising of the royalist tribesmen during April of 2012. On June 1st, 2012, Alliance forces deploy to Takistan after the socialist government of Takistan threatens to attack Karzeghistan ... blah, blah, blah. In case you are wondering, Borat is not playable.

Operation Arrowhead packs more factions and units than in previous iterations of the franchise. The US Army, the Czech Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Takistani Army, the Takistani Republican Militia, the Chernarussian Defense Force as UN forces and the Takistani people.

The village of Shamali is suspiciously quiet this afternoon.

I'm going to have lots of fun with this thing.

Cheers,