WinSPMBT On Sale & Patched

After a few years of waffling over this game I grabbed WinSPMBT during Shrapnel Games current sale. It isn't a huge sale, but every little bit helps.

The tutorial is not quite 73 Easting, but pretty close

Death of a T-80 Platoon

Tonight's screenshot brought to you by Camp Hornfelt. A T-80 platoon advancing across a valley destroyed in seconds by an overwatching section of my M1A1 HA platoon. Note the smoke in the background from one of many artillery missions I used to support my successful completion of this mission.

Video: Steel Beasts - Camp Hornfelt Mission 4

I'm continuing to work through the Camp Hornfelt scenarios. The next one in the series, mission 4, concerns the tank platoon in a support by fire/overwatch role.

In this mission I must lead 1st platoon of CT Anvil as we first move to our forming up point, then move into a support by fire position. From there we need to suppress or destroy the enemy vehicles as other platoons in the CT move to assault the objective. Finally, I need to move my platoon through the objective and take up a position on the far side, once opposition in the objective has been eliminated.

Steel Beasts Pro PE Coop!

I just spent a couple of hours playing SBPro PE coop with Julio from Real and Simulated Wars, and let me tell you, it was a blast! Really some of the most fun I've had in ages. Julio is a true gentleman and it was a real pleasure to team up with him on a pair of missions. Despite my completely lack of tactical ability on our second joint mission, we had a lot of fun, anyway.

I'm very much inspired to try more online SBPro play. I really do believe now that this game is significantly enhanced when playing with other people - which is saying a lot, since it's already a fantastic sim. There was something really great about Julio and I talking back and forth as we planned our attacks and maneuvered our tanks amidst the crack of the tank cannon and the boom of exploding HE.

If you haven't taken advantage of one of the subscription licensing plans to try SBPro PE out and you're interested in modern armor, you'll be pleased, I think, if you do so. If you're interested in playing a quick online coop mission to get your feet wet before trying something like the weekly TGIF game (which I'll definitely be attending!), let me know. I'll be happy to help you get set up and play a mission with you.

Steel Beasts Pro PE: Camp Hornfelt - Destroy an Inferior Force

I'm still learning how to be semi-effective with tanks in Steel Beasts Pro PE. Fortunately there are some great training missions out there, not the least of which are "Gary Owen's" Camp Hornfelt missions. Tonight I did a run through of mission 2, Destroy an Inferior Force.

Video: A Little Taste of Combat

I went easy on myself tonight and played a very easy SBPro PE mission called "A little taste of combat." The last video seems to have been popular so here's another one documenting my charge through a small desert village and subsequent shooting up of an unsuspecting armored column.

I'll probably start narrating these soon, when I get to the point of having something intelligent to say!

Video: Between a River and a Hard Place

As great as AARs and blog posts are, sometimes I really just want a video to help me understand a game, or decide if its something I'd like to play. Here's my first attempt then at posting a video of one of my gaming sessions.

Dreaming of Tanks

Apologies for the lack of posts recently. Things have been so busy at work I find myself falling asleep when I sit still for more than a few minutes. That turns out not to be a state good for serious wargaming.

However, after resting a bit yesterday I found myself in the mood for some tank action. I ended up playing Steel Beasts Pro PE during what gaming time I managed (between naps!). It must have mad an impression on me, since I ended up dreaming about tank battles.

Taking that as a sign I should play some more SBPro PE, I downloaded and played JC's new scenario, Between a River and a Hard Place. He's blogged about it here; this is my go at it.

Plan for movement to battle positions

Decisive Campaigns Attack Tutorial

Here's a really good, quick overview of how to conduct an attack in the Decisive Campaigns games.

Very helpful. I learned a couple of things from this I hadn't really thought through before.

Hill 1234 Part Two

In which I continue I Company 3/39th's effort to clear Hill 1234 of German defenders.

I'm keeping my armor hidden by staying in the low ground as I move them up the slope. If I were the Germans I'd have AT guns in the woods overlooking the road. Any guns so positioned would have excellent side shots on the thin armor of these light tanks.

Hill 1234

It has not been a great start to the week, and mentally I've not been up for much in the evenings. Still, the siren call of virtual shot and shell is tough to resist. Tonight I found myself back in Sicily, near Troina, leading I Company 3/39th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division in a assault on the German positions on Hill 1234.

I've been reading this excellent site about infantry tactics of WWII, and I can see how much of what I've been doing in CMFI and CMBN is  not historical. I'm going to try and play this scenario closer to what I'm reading about the actual tactics employed.

Mission briefing.

Gertsovka - Or How I learned to Hate Bunkers

In between working on my daughter's broken computer, plumbing issues, and a snow storm that turned out not to be much of a storm, I've been giving the new John Tiller Panzer Battles game, Battles of Kursk: Southern Flank a spin this weekend. The Panzer Battles games are at a grand tactical scale, larger than Squad Battles but smaller than Panzer Campaigns. Aside from this being a great scale for gaming specific battles and engagements, Panzer Battles has revamped the map, UI, and counter graphics of the Tiller engine. The result is a fast, fun-to-play game packed with scenarios and great supporting material.

Taken together, the game is an impression collection of material for the price. There's a lot of gaming hours in here, in one of the most interesting and challenging WWII settings.

Sector of the I.394 and the village of Gertsovka