Combat Mission Battles for Normandy - Busted by the Bocage - Breaching ... Stalling ... Failing

This is a continuation of a previous entry. I am commanding a combined force of US infantry and armor through hedgerow country in Normandy.

We have just cracked the enemy security zone, which by the way was just a HMG. Now we are leaning on the left flank of our area of operations and we need more real estate to our front in order to pivot right and roll up the enemy from his right flank.

After crossing the first hedgerow line (not shown in the picture, a few meters to the right edge in this), we found out that the second one (shown in this picture) was unmanned by the enemy. This is very good news. A US infantry squad looks through the hedgerows onto a plowed field.

John Tiller Software Releases Falklands, a Squads Battles Game

This war was a natural candidate for the scale and mechanics of the Squad Battles series. So, here it is, released a few minutes ago.

Falklands link.

I played it for a few minutes but gotta go now.

Cheers,

Dangerous Waters - War Gaming at All Levels ... Useful or Not?

I play an (unhealthy?) variety of games. From the 3D tactical shooter where I get my virtual persona to take cover in a one meter wide ditch, to the strategic warfare game where I order an army group in an offensive with objectives hundreds of kilometers beyond the line of departure.

All in good fun.

For land warfare I am more or less familiar with the limitations of weapon systems and I can relate to the story a grand tactical level war game is trying to tell me even when those weapons systems are abstracted. For air warfare the market's offers for grand tactical/operational war games are more limited, but it goes on the same lines (I flew THAT airplane, and fired its weapons ...).

Naval warfare ... Not quite there yet ... I played a bit of Harpoon 3 ANW this past weekend and got my rear end kicked. I have not developed that sense of what modern weapons and sensors can do.

So here I am, playing a bit of Dangerous Waters to reduce my naval tactical shortcomings.

A Seahawk comes back empty handed to an Oliver Perry class frigate, somewhere in the Atlantic. Damn Chinese destroyed could not be found!

Surface radar on: bad or good idea for searching a destroyer?

My question to you is: do you think a war game at a certain level of warfare can enhance your performance in  another war game focused on another level?

Cheers,

Falcon 4 Allied Force - A Viper Can't be Driven as a Prius

Flying a lot of Falcon 4 Allied Force these days ... Lousily, I must say.

After botching up a couple of combat air patrol missions (had to abandon my station to RTB at bingo fuel), I was wondering about cruising speeds and fuel management. I hate to take off with those drop tanks ...

The nice thing about the F-16 is that the flight computer will do almost everything for you. I wanted to experiment a bit with a high angle of attack flight and see if I could sustain a level flight so I just had to pull and release the stick while reducing the throttle.

Training for level flying at a high angle of attack (10 degrees) and low speed (190 knots).

Combat Mission Battles for Normandy - Busted by the Bocage - Drop Your Fire and Movement Theories at the Breach Point, Soldier ...

This is a continuation of a previous entry.

In this scenario I am playing as the US Army. Right now I have two platoons of infantry, two Sherman tanks and a couple of engineer teams. Reinforcements later in the battle will complete my OOB to an infantry company reinforced with a platoon of tanks, two engineer teams ... and 9 tubes of 60 mm mortars.

The Germans are defending a patch of hedgerow (aka bocage) terrain. Ideal terrain for an area defense, much to the dislike of an Army that mastered the art of mobile defense.

Combat Mission Battles for Normandy - Busted by the Bocage - Tactical Nightmares in Bush Warfare

Combat Mission Battles for Normandy (CMBN from here on) has been patched to v1.01 and it was about time I sit down and enjoy this one.

Mesmerized by Doubler's fantastic research on the battles fought over bocage country in France, I wanted to see if CMBN stands as a good tactical simulation of this particular type of fight.

It does.

So here is the map where I commanded two platoons of American infantry in a particularly vicious battle.

Green round icons are American troops under my command.

My forces are split in two teams each one composed of an infantry platoon, an engineer squad and a rhino-equipped Sherman tank.

Stay tuned. More is coming.

Cheers,

Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations - New Video on Mine Warfare

Supreme Ruler Cold War - Grand Strategy Game Releases Tomorrow

The cold war goes ... complex. So many things to care of in this game!
But the subject is very interesting from the strategic point of view, so I'm hoping to write some more about Supreme Ruler Cold War.

On the meantime, screenshots!

North German Plain 85 / Steel Beasts ProPE - Scenario Editing: Got Help from Reader

Steel Beasts expert and blog reader Koen has kindly offered his help to deploy the red troops and to create an OPORD for them (i.e. input/plot the orders for the Soviet units in this scenario).

This entry is explain the grand-tactical situation of the North German Plain scenario and to delineate the scope of what will be an Steel Beasts ProPE scenario. Keep in mind that this is a work in progress and that nothing is set on stone yet. Your feedback is always appreciated.

The North German Plain scenario.

North German Plain 85 / Steel Beasts ProPE - Scenario Editing, First Strokes

I'm into assembling part of the North German Plain scenario into Steel Beasts ProPE. I will not reproduce it down to every unit but rather focus on one Leopard II tank company north of Coppenbrugge.

Leopard tanks getting ready to be deployed. :)

The map where this scenario is going to be played.