Arma 3: Spearhead 1944

Back in the day I played a lot of Iron Front, an Arma 2 derived game covering the later years of WW II. It was kind of janky at times, and received mixed reviews, but honestly, I loved it.  I made custom missions and generally had a lot of fun with it.

Then I fell out of love with WW II and modern wars and spent a few years focused on other eras. I upgraded gaming computers several times and Iron Front wasn't available where I originally bought it anymore. I stopped playing anything the even remotely looked like an FPS game.

Then this year, I visited Normandy. For me, all the old WW II love came back.  I installed the many, many WW II games I have. I started playing WW II board games I've had on the shelves for years now but not played. I am into it. And of course, I remembered Iron Front.  Which turns out to be available on Steam.  I haven't bought it yet, but it is in my Wishlist.

Now I may never buy it. Because soon this will be out: Arma 3: Spearhead 1944.  

The Arma 3 engine, set during Operation Cobra in Normandy? Yes, please. 

Sorry Iron Front. 

La Bataille de France 1940 - First Play

I picked this up last Fall, gave it a brief look but wasn't motivated to play...

Beginning Turn Four of Scenario 1, Guines is Not a Beer

Piercing Fortress Europa - Sicily

Finishing out the weekend with a quick play of the Sicily scenario of Piercing Fortress Europa.

A game to go along with my current reading, Atkinson's The Day of Battle.

I'm using Chemkid's fantastic map and counters mods.

Lock n Load Tactical: Bloody Valley

I'm on a quest to play more of my board games by playing them in Vassal. I'm hoping the Vassal allows me to play more by avoiding most of the setup overhead, and allowing me to play what I might be interested in at the moment, even if I have another game set up and taking up all of my table space.

Game setup positions

Tank on Tank: West Front

I've been playing a ton of Battles of Normandy the past several weeks, interspersed with the occasional turn of Campaign Series: Middle East. I really need to suck it up and post some more about both games.

Battles of Normandy Released

John Tiller Software has released the next installment of their Panzer Battles series: Battles of Normandy.

Squad Battles: Always Enjoyable

I don't always feel a desire to play a squad-level, purely tactical game...

Before (much) modding

After modding

...but when I do, more often than not it'll be JTS Squad Battles.

Smoke Stains the Sky

Chris and I have been playing a fair bit of John Tiller's Campaign Series PBEM the last week or so, and it has been a lot of fun!

The battlefield for the scenario Tanker's Holiday. My tank battalion moves up from the south toward the objectives and Gotha.

(Not) Being Heinz Guderian

This weekend I tried my first full scenario of John Tiller's Campaign Series beyond the tutorials. To give my operational foray of Fall Weiss a bit of tactical spice, I selected a scenario representing an attack by the 5th Panzer Regiment of the 3rd Panzer Division against the Polish defenders of the village of Gross-Klonia. The action takes place early in the operation, on September 2nd, 1939.

The only Tiller game that I prefer the 3D map to 2D. The boxy truck in the woods to the lower left is the recon battalion HQ. These are fragile but must be kept within a certain range of your units to provide supply.

Turn 2 and my recon company has discovered, at the cost of an armored car, Polish improved positions around the village of Waldowo. I have a company of armor up, support from an infantry gun, and some dismounted motorcycle infantry.  From the horses I suspect the village is held by cavalry. I decide to put in a hasty attack with the assets in hand to clear the way for the remainder of the regiment.

Huzzar! - Round 2

This post is a continuation of my post about the Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy scenario Huzzar!  started here.

We left off last time with German and American recon forces sparring over the bridgehead objectives. One of my Greyhounds and a jeep had just run head on into a German halftrack on the eastern bridgehead.

I pull my M8 around to cover the street through the village, thinking the halftrack is backing up to a position in the village. I'm taken under fire from the flank, disabling the armored car and sending the crew running for cover. My crew didn't see another SdKfz 250/9 moving north along the road.

A Return to Poland

Inspired by Chris, I decided to pick back up my Decisive Campaigns: Warsaw to Poland game I've let lay for, oh, about a year and a half...

The situation on 5 September when I resumed the campaign. In the north, 3rd Army has made significant inroads toward Warsaw. This is a feint, however; 3rd Army doesn't have the necessary troops to carry through the attack. I want them there to pin down Polish forces and keep them away from my real main effort in the north: Guderian's Panzers of XIX Corps

John Tiller's Campaign Series

John Tiller's Campaign Series is one of those games, another old Talonsoft creation, that even today has a large and faithful following. I've heard about it for years, but was always slightly put off by the look of it. Given that John Tiller designed this game I should have known better.

My Soviet Ski Infantry battalion prepares to assault a German held village during the winter offensive of 1942

Huzzar! - Recon action

I had a great gaming weekend, how about you? I really managed to play a lot this weekend. I gave Chris' latest, Kekava Firefight a run as the Germans and thoroughly enjoyed it. I managed to pull off a draw, which I felt was pretty good given the size of the attacking Soviet force. I also played a couple of scenarios of Conflict of Heroes (I really need to do an entry on this game) and started to get my head around it. I split the rest of my time between Combat Mission Fortress Italy/Gustav Line and Combat Mission Red Thunder. Quite enjoyable!

Tonight I decided to dust off Combat Mission Battle for Normandy. I may just have found my new favorite scenario from that game.

Briefing for Huzzar!

Hill 228.6 - Bunkers and Mines at Kursk

Kursk is famous for the tank battle at Prokhorovka, but I think the real story of most of Operation Zitadelle boils down to Soviet strong points and bunkers. That certainly seems to be the case in every scenario I've played in John Tiller's Battles of Kursk - Southern Front.

Scenario description

I've not played this game as much as it deserves. Probably because it does depict Kursk, and I find Kursk such a slog that it just isn't engaging. I really like the game system, I just wish it was a different operation.

Anyway, in this scenario I'm again indulging my interest in small unit-scale actions. The scenario represents a battalion action to clear Hill 228.6 of the artillery observation positions overlooking the assembly areas of II SS Panzer Korps on July 4th, 1943. The action begins at 0100 and visibility is very limited due to darkness.

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.

Lock 'n Load: Heroes of Stalingrad

A confession: I bought this game when it was released, played the tutorials and the first scenario of the German campaign and decided I didn't like it. I haven't touched it since. I keep hearing good things about it, though. I also didn't want the money to go to waste. So last night I fired it up to give it another try.

Briefing for the second mission of the German campaign

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.

Shumilino: The Long Left Flank - Planning

For me wargaming is a bit like eating chips - when I get interested in a battle or campaign, one game is just not enough. Today I picked up Minsk '44 from John Tiller Software, the JTS depiction of Operation Bagration.

I'm starting with a scenario called "The Long Left Flank" which depicts the attack of the 6th Guards Army and the 43rd Army towards Shumolino north of Vitebsk.