Holystone-ing in Command Modern Air and Naval Operations

A great game and a fantastic book sail together in a fine Sunday afternoon.

New Contact! An intelligence gathering mission by a us Sturgeon class SSN, 130 nm off the coast of the Kola peninsula.

Command Ops 2 - Westwall Module

On the charges of dropping the ball on a module from one of my favorite games, guilty as charged your honor.

Panzer Battles Normandy - AAR: Epilogue

“Keep going, don’t stop,”
Lieutenant Colonel Murray Scott
Zuehlke, Mark (2011-11-08). Breakout from Juno: First Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign, July 4–August 21, 1944 (Canadian Battle) (p. 321). D & M Publishers. Kindle Edition.

The scenario has ended to a draw.

The end game screen showing how elusive victory can be.

Panzer Battles Normandy - AAR, Part 5: Violence of Battle

The fight has been heavy and we can only hope to hold the gains we achieved. The slaughter is extreme, I can't point to any important terrain feature where friend or foe have not died at murderous rates. An early culmination point arrives after the last convulsions of the front line.

0900

The Cavalry Highlanders, right at the  west flank objective, hold the line in various states of disarray. Note their morale and casualty levels.

Digital Combat Simulator World 1.5 Open Beta

The open beta is up for you to grab at Eagle Dynamics website.

This is the A10-C from a paid module.

My Latest Combat Mission Black Sea Scenario: Donetsk Bypass

I started with a small skirmish and I got carried away. I thought you would like it.

A Russian soldier is cut by machine gun fire from a Ukrainian T-64.

Panzer Battles Normandy - AAR, Part 4: Verrieres Falls!

0800

The rattling of main guns and machine guns of German infantry-armor teams in the west flank, south and west of "The Factory" objective, prompts me to take out of the line some of my exhausted troops and replace them with other Calgarians, barely in better shape, from other parts of the sector. They hold against German fire and at least one assault. With the Black Watch struggling to move the center line forward, all eyes are upon the the Royal Hamilton Regiment and their assault on Verrieres.

Combat Mission Black Sea - A Poor Man's "Follow" Command

We have seen it in movies, in real combat footage and we discussed it exhaustively: infantry moving directly behind tanks or IFVs.

Ukrainian infantry moving behind their BMP-2 IFV.

Panzer Battles Normandy - AAR, Part 3: The German Counterattack in a Crescendo

0730

I have given up the initiative in my west flank. With "The Factory" objective secure and the demands on keeping it on our hands are more than what the Calgary Highlanders can take. The German armor and the infantry south of the objective are the telltales of an impending assault on the objective. I can't afford to lose it.

Another indirect fire mission is called on the grenadiers and support troops (highlighted red) directly south of objective "The Factory".

This is game play from the soon to be released Panzer Battles Normandy. Graphics and game play functionality are subject to change. The briefing for this scenario can be found here. For a better view of the screenshots, right click and open in a new tab. Short entry tonight again, lads. Day job is being quite a ride lately!

Panzer Battles Normandy - AAR, Part 2: Pressure Mounting and a General Paucity of Good News

The Germans are not willing to let us just own the ridge. At the "Factory", they start to move troops for a counter-attack. At Verrieres, they hide at their trenches, picking up the right time to fire.

0700

On the west flank, the Calgary Highlanders stand fast onto Objective "Factory" (brown box with a 50 and a Canadian symbol). On the center the Black Watch stumbles onto yet another German position. Their tank support (1st Royal Tank Regiment, highlighted yellow is busy dealing with German grenadiers on top of a hill (1 man down legend). On the east flank, the Hamilton Regiment and start to move onto objective Verrieres. Tanks from the 1st Hussars Regiment are on the lead, which is a risky proposition because there are multiple concealed German positions on those fields.