A Light Infantry Assault

Yesterday I felt the need for a change of pace away from WW2 East Front gaming. Deciding it was high time I became more familiar with the ARMA III editor, I decided to attempt to create a simple mission reflecting an assault by a Light Infantry squad against a prepared position.

An overview of the map and the mission. This is my first run through of the mission outside the editor and at Regular difficulty.

I like the new editor. It is familiar to me from Arma II and Iron Front, but overall seems less clunky. There are a number of features to really help streamline mission creation. I suspect that after I've had a chance to practice a bit more with it, I could knock out a pretty complete simple mission in under an hour.

Panzer Marsch!

I've substantially reworked my Combat Mission: Red Thunder mission "Village Z" into a smaller, reinforced company sized engagement. This scenario and map are fictional, but based on a real event that happened along the Kielce-Opatow Road on August 16, 1944. The actual encounter is described in DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY PAMPHLET NO. 20-269. The narrative can be found online at http://www.allworldwars.com/Small-Unit-Actions-During-German-Campaign-in-Russia.html#2212.

EFCO Platoons: Crossing the Dnieper 1943

Chris from The Sharp End Gaming has been hard at work again on Command Ops scenarios. Lately, he's really been pushing the engine to the limit by developing platoon and company level scenarios, something CO wasn't designed to do. Since these fit in with my current fixation on small unit actions (and because Chris' scenarios always rock) I gave his latest, Crossing the Dnieper 1943 a try.

Scenario description. I believe that Chris and I are determined to simulate every East Front river crossing engagement that ever happened between the two of us.

One Last Trench - Intelligence Prep

I took a break today from working on revising my CMRT scenario to finally give JC's scenario "One Last Trench" a try. This scenario is a fictionalized version of the Soviet assault against a portion of the 78th Sturm Division's final line in the vicinity of Orsha toward the beginning of Operation Bagration.

Scout units trying to firm up the picture of enemy deployments

Village Z

I've posted my first ever Combat Mission scenario, Village Z, over at battlefront.com!

The scenario is a fictionalized recreation of a German attack along the Kielce-Opatow Road in Poland on August 16, 1944. A description of the actual engagement can be read here.

A platoon of Panthers prepares to advance across the fields

The scenario concerns a dawn attack by a German armor-heavy kampfgruppe to seize a pair of road bridges to secure the route of advance for the 3rd Panzer Division. I wasn't able to find the exact spot on a map for the actual engagement. Instead I created a fictionalized map based on the description of the battle.

Video: Combat Engineers I - Arma 3

This weekend I finally managed to carve out some time to start playing Arma III. The upside is that this is a fantastic sim. The downside is that it's been so long since I played Arma II that I've forgotten almost everything.

What drew me in was JC's latest mission. I gave it a try last night. Note that this is my first time commanding any other troops in the game.

That Fleeting Moment - Map Preview

Here's a preview of the map I've put together (with help from Chris and Tim) for what I plan to be my first Command Ops scenario.

The map is of the area around Gela, Sicily. The scenario, That Fleeting Moment concerns the counterattack on July 12, 1943 by elements of the Herman Goering and Livorno Divisions against the beachhead of the US 1st Infantry Division. With the map ready to go comes the tough part - creating and ESTAB that contains the Italian units necessary for this theater. Hopefully using the ESTAB editor is as easy as the Map Maker was. Even so, there's a lot of research to be done.

Across the Tartar Ditch - German AAR

Tim at RangerX3X beat me to the punch with his great AAR of Chris' soon to be released latest Command Ops scenario, Across the Tartar Ditch. In this scenario the German LIV Corps is tasked with making the breakthrough into Crimea. Opposing them are the Soviet 51st Army. The Soviets in particular hold a substantial (and ancient) fortification known as the Tartar Ditch that the Germans will need to penetrate to accomplish the breakthrough.

Scenario Briefing

New Command Ops Scenarios

Chris from Sharp End Gaming has released the second in his trilogy of Stalingrad scenarios, Race for the Volga. Like Operation Hubertus I was fortunate to help play test this scenario and I can tell you, it's a great one. A definite change of pace from the attrition-heavy fighting of Hubertus, Race really is a race from both side to build up sufficient combat power in the right places to take/hold the high value objectives before the enemy does.

Meanwhile, Tim Williams has released a set of four scenarios called the Tactical Battles Series. These scenarios have a common map and set of objectives and are illustrative of different types of operations, e.g. Airborne, Armor, Line and Combined Ops. I haven't had a chance to play these yet but the idea looks great. I'll be downloading them tonight.

Just in case anyone was wondering, I got smoked again in the "Platoon Recon" mission in SBPro PE 3.0 again tonight. Twice!

Operation Hubertus: Day One

Chris from Sharp End Gaming has graciously invited me, along with Tim Williams from RangerX3X to playtest an early version of his majestic Operation Hubertus scenario.  Tim already has an AAR up of his initial turns, playing as the Soviets. I'm going to play the scenario as the Germans.

If you are a Command Ops player, you are definitely going to want to play this scenario.  The forces are finely balanced and the urban combat is unlike nearly any other Command Ops scenario I've played. Winning this will take some fine generalship - probably finer than I can muster! This is probably the most fun I've had playing Command Ops - and I generally find Command Ops scenarios a lot of fun to play.

Some scenes from Day 1 of the battle:

Day 1 objectives are the Red October and Barrikady factories. I'm moving a Pioneer battalion and KG Seydel into position to join the 212 and 226 Sturm Companies.  Once the assault is prepared, I'm going to attack the Red October factory with the Pioneers and Sturmtruppen with the KG in support.

While my formations move into place, I bombard the objective in preparation.

Dawn breaks as the assault forces maneuvers into position.

Meanwhile, in the south of the city, I prepare several shaping attacks.  I want to tie up Soviet reserves and keep them out of the fight for the factories.

Soviet resistance and artillery fire in the south of the city is tough.  The shaping attacks take casualties before they even really kick off.

By 0822 the Pioneers and Sturm Companies have secured a foothold in the Red October factory.  Strong Soviet forces are still in the area, however.

To the north, a Soviet flanking attack is developing.  I commit the entire 576 Grenadier Infantry Regiment to a spoiling attack to break up the Soviet maneuver before it becomes a problem. The battered 544 Infantry holds in place north of the tractor factory.

The Germans hold the Red October factory, but significant Soviet forces are gathered around the Commissar's House.  That looks a lot like a counter-attack shaping up, to me.

In the south, the 191 Regiment attacks the Pavlov's House objective.
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Around noon, most of the Soviet troops in the vicinity of the tractor factory have moved west to threaten the 576 Grenadier Regiment HQ.  A recently arrived Croatian regiment is headed north to reinforce them.  I take this opportunity to move the 544 Infantry Regiment south and take the tractor factory objective.

The 576 Infantry took a bit of a drubbing, but managed to stop the Soviet flanking move.  I pull them back to their original positions to rest.

After heavy fighting, the 191 Infantry take the Pavlov's House objective around 1600. This prompts a counter-attack from Soviet forces in the area to the north that will require a further five hours of fighting to clear.

Two reinforcing Pioneer battle groups are now in place to begin the assault on the Barrikady Gun Factory. It is late in the afternoon, but these are fresh troops and I think sufficient to take the objective.

The 544 Infantry hold on at the tractor factory in the face of Soviet counter-attacks.  If they can hold, I'll move the 369 Croatian to their north and seize the Skudri Crossing.  I hadn't intended on grabbing any of the crossings on Day 1, but doing so should keep the Soviets in the north occupied and away from the main effort at the factories.

Things are going well, so I optimistically believe the Pioneer unit backed by KG Seydel can take the Commissar's House objective.  This is a mistake: those troops have been moving and fighting for 14 hours and should be rested before any further attacks.

Assault Group Linden's planned path to the Barrikady Gun Factory takes then straight into a pile of Soviet units. I'm going to adjust their orders to try and bypass the enemy and head straight for the factory.

The attack on the Commissar's House objective is a disaster.  By 1930 I pull my troops back to the Red October factory to take up defensive positions for the night.

Around the same time, 191 Infantry with help from some reinforcements KG Scheel has defeated all the Soviet counter attacks on the Pavlov's House objective and the Germans are pretty firmly in control of the south of the city.

The assault on the Barrikady Gun Factory gets underway while the 396 Croatian prepares to take the Skudri Crossing.  Artillery pounds Soviet units caught in No Man's Land.

The Croatians have taken the crossing, and the 544 Infantry still holds the tractor factory as night begins to fall.

Around midnight the 336 Pioneer Regiment secures the Barrikady Gun Factory, and with it, I've taken my planned for Day 1 objectives.  It's been no picnic, however, and I've taken some casualties.  If the Soviets can mount a significant counter-attack tomorrow, I may be in trouble.

Situation at the end of the first 24 hours. I'm working on an encirclement of the Lazur Chemical Factory and Commissar's House objectives, which are my primary objectives for Day 2. I don't have a ton of reinforcements expected, but I am getting a couple of battalions of assault guns.  Combined with still relatively strong Pioneer formations, I think I stand a decent chance of taking the Chemical Plant.

More to come!  I'll also be finishing up the Zumbelay Withdraw AAR in the next day or so.

Update: Chris has provided an updated scenario, that I'll be playing through this evening.  So, I won't finish this particular AAR, but I will do a full AAR of the entire scenario once we have a release version, probably this weekend based on Chris' latest post.

Stalingrad! Stalingrad! Stalingrad!

Chris from Sharp End Gaming has graciously invited me, along with Tim Williams from RangerX3X to playtest an early version of his majestic Operation Hubertus scenario.  Tim already has an AAR up of his initial turns, playing as the Soviets.

I'm going to play the scenario as the Germans.  Right now I'm just familiarizing myself with the OOB for the German side and have yet to formulate any real plans.  Mostly I'm just taking in this phenomenal map and scenario.

Overview of the full map.

3rd Battalion 208th Infantry Regiment near the heavily defended approaches to the Lazur Chemical Plant.  Not where I'll be kicking off my attack.

A view of the center of the city.

The depleted 544th Infantry Regiment on the northern flank of the city, near the tractor factory.

 The armored fist of KG Seydel, waiting to support the Pioneer's attack.

Initial objectives, the Red October and Barrikady factories.

There are a lot of units on the map, but I don't think its going to be necessary (or even wise) to get them all moving into the attack at once.  I'm going to mull over my plan a bit.  Stay tuned...

Also note that Tim has undertaken a massive venture of his own, modding Command Ops for Pacific Theater operations. Between these two guys Command Ops players are going to have new scenarios and be able to play in theaters like never before.

Iron Front - Delaying Action 2

I've learned a lot about the Arma 2/Iron Front mission editor in the past several days.  Mostly, I've learned that the process of creating a briefing is fraught with potential error, that it's very easy to get so caught up in adding another unit or trigger and get to the point where the entire scenario is unworkable, and, that if you want to do this the easy way, head over to Planned Assault and let their web robot just build the mission for you.  Now that I've built a mission by hand, I suspect I'll do it the easy way more often than not in the future.

Still, I've knocked out what I'd consider my first "real" mission.  This mission is probably a lot more realistic and somewhat more balanced than my first efforts - and include no Panther platoon.  Though it cost me much of my remaining hair, this mission has a briefing and appropriate mission tasks/objectives. Here is the briefing:

Last night's Soviet attack on the nearby farm drove us back to this village and left us with many wounded that need to be evacuated.  The Russians are now in possession of the farm, and are likely planning another attack to drive us out of the village.  Take your squad and move up to observe the farm.  If the Russians are forming for an attack, delay them long enough for us to evacuate the wounded to the rear.  Once the wounded are clear, withdraw to the village, board the waiting truck, and rejoin the remainder of the company.

 Some screenshots from a recent (failed) run through:

Initial squad position.

Dawn of a grey, wet day.  The location of the observation post we need to establish is down this road.

Advancing along the low ground as the rain starts.

Overlooking the OP location.  I'm ordering a section forward.

They're in place, time for the rest of us to bound past them.

Contact!

A burst from my MP-40 brings the Russian down.  I order my second section to move toward the OP location.

Contact again, and we have a man down.

Looks like a Soviet squad, with an assault gun in support!

Crawling forward to get to my wounded.  One of them is the soldier with the Panzershrek, our only way to stop the assault gun.

The enemy fire is too intense and I take a round.  Wounded, my squad is now out of command and they fight to delay the Soviets until fire from the assault gun ends the game for me.

The mission definitely is winnable, I've done so but don't want to give away too much for anyone that wants to play it.  Note that when you board the truck it will begin driving out of the village on its own, ending the mission.

If you're interested, you can download the mission here.

Update: If you grabbed the scenario in the first 20 minutes or so I had it posted, I've uploaded a slightly updated version that uses markers on the map to make it a bit clearer on where the objectives are.  The mission also uses waypoints to show you your next destination.

Delaying Action - An Iron Front Custom Mission

I spent most of the day messing around in the Iron Front scenario editor, learning to use it.  Here are some snaps from my first complete mission: Delaying Action.

During Spring 1944 a small Kampfgruppe must hold a small Ukrainian village long enough to allow the bulk of their parent battalion to retreat to a new defensive line.  I command the remnants of a platoon of Panthers, supported by a pair of infantry squads and a PaK 40.  We must keep the Soviets out of the village for 20 minutes.

The Soviet force consists of three platoons of T-34/76s and three infantry squads.  It is 0630, raining, and foggy.

My trusty Panther steed.  It is not a nice morning here in the Ukraine.

Two of the other tanks in my platoon, moving into line.

Through the commander's vision block, overlooking the road where we expect Soviet armor.

The village we have to hold.  It looks like some of the Soviet armor is moving to flank us.

T-34s on the horizon.

The T-34s disappear in clouds of smoke as our 75mm rounds punch through their side armor.

Burning T-34s.

One of my platoon-mates maneuvering to get a clear shot.

My platoon in line, turrets turning toward more Soviet armor.

More Soviet armor tries the hill route.

It doesn't fare any better against my Panthers.  I do lose a tank, however.

Shortly thereafter, tank 3 runs out of fuel.

The surviving crew of tank 4 running for cover.  The hilltop is filled with burning armor.

We hunt for enemy infantry that should have been with the tanks.

Tanks in the woods.  Never a good plan.

Three minutes short of the deadline, some Soviet infantry breaks through to the village.  I'm going to call this a draw.  My force is mostly still combat effective, and even though some Soviets made it to the village, all of their armor is gone and their infantry has taken a beating.

In my delight to charge around the map in a Panther and blow things up, I forgot/ignored everything I know about armored combat.  It was great fun and the scenario generally works, though I think it needs a few tweaks yet.  It should be a great tool to help me learn the editor as well as get more familiar with commanding units in Iron Front.