The Sharp End Gaming

In Germany, during the Third World War, 6 hours lasts an eternity.  I am reacquainting myself with modern tactical warfare and painfully relearning many things I had forgotten. Here are some gems I picked up during the first few hours of battle: If you lose your anti-air units you are a sitting duck and subject to this kind of harassment continuously: Your air support should be preserved for must have moments, not luxury items like a headquarters unit moving along an open road deep in a column full of anti-air assets. My pair of A-10s were downed early without contributing much. The Soviets like to build bridges.  For hours I held the Soviet force in a bend of the Stielbach and pounded them with artillery.  I thought I had them bottled up, too afraid to make a dash for the bridge I was defending.  On the last turn the crossed the Stielbach on two bridges. Part of the reason why this crossing succeeded was my decision to withdraw my dug-in cava...

A Test of Wills, the final screen. I am the NATO commander. Doug at Cry Havoc played as the Soviets for the 1st time. Doug at Cry Havoc and I finished playing the "A Test of Wills" scenario for Flashpoint Campaigns. Doug played as the Soviets for the first time and won a marginal victory. It was well deserved! This was my first head to head playthrough of a FCRS scenario using PBEM.  The game delivers you an email notification after your opponent finishes their turn.  You can then login and resume the battle without having to upload a new game file. This game is great.  Doug's Soviets were charged with breaking through a line of minefields over forested terrain, with only a few roads to use, at night and in a blinding rainstorm. Once through he would meet my NATO units head on and fight for 7 victory point locations. At first I was able to make the Soviets pay as they crossed through the minefields, inflicting a 2 to 1 casualty ratio where they crossed.  ...

Hell's Crossroad. I spent my lunch break looking at the map above and did nothing else. I love the planning aspects of this game. I still haven't plotted my units.  There are a lot of layers to think about in this great game. Doug at Cry Havoc has posted a great blog post  here  about battlefield preparation and if you are curious about the results of his planning read more  here .  I really encourage you to read them!

After my FCRS Pied Piper scenario success, I decided to stay in the Hameln AO and fight it out for control of this town. The battle is over 70% complete and I am still clinging to Hameln.  Situation map below: My artillery in the woods on the east bank of the Weser has helped keep this competitive.  Don't move them out from cover though! Hopefully I will have the time tomorrow to finish the last two hours. UPDATE: The final resolution of this battle didn't go in my favor.  With two hours to go, I made no changes to my final battleplan and just watched to make sure my units stayed topped off on supplies and that I had a mix of counter battery fire and on call units from my fire support teams. Early on I was directing my own artillery fire and neglecting counter battery fire.  This resulted in atrocious losses to my frontline units. Those initial losses and the gradual loss of terrain as I retreated back into Hameln resulted in a marginal loss.  I am...

I achieved my first decisive success in the Pied Piper scenario.  My armored and mechanized formations were reduced to just below 50% effectiveness but we inflicted heavy losses in APCs and armor on the advancing Warsaw Pact forces. My line of defense: This position about 15km west of the main defensive line was too difficult for the Soviets to penetrate.  Had I moved up on the river line I would have been overwhelmed by the swarms of Soviet infantry and armor.

What I am calling the "Bloody Angle" E of Hameln during the Pied Piper scenario.  Two platoons of Leopards and two platoons of Marders have made the river crossing and this narrow neck of ground between the river and the woods to the south a virtual killing field. The Bloody Angle of land between Afferde and Schecken is a killing field that has really stymied the Soviet advance in this sector. I gave up on a defense of the minefields to the east and moved this force into position here hoping for just this result. The Warsaw Pact commander didn't disappoint.   I highly recommend this "small" 8 hour scenario.

So the balloon is up over western Europe!  With encouragement from Doug at Cry Havoc I downloaded Red Storm this evening and jumped in with both feet. Currently I think I am losing!  I don't know as I've only read about two pages of rules and prefer to go toe-to-toe with the Red Army immediately. Lead elements of British 1st Armored are currently dueling with Soviet tank columns on the North German Plain while the rest of the division reforms behind me.  I've been hearing jets overhead all battle and just got a pair of Tornadoes off map. As you can see I am going to need them! I am very excited to start playing this game and I am looking forward to more blogging about it soon. My first official contact. I am playing with fog of war rules and the time elapsing between orders and not being able to see what is in front of me, REALLY adds to the immersion level. Soviet armor penetration.  I've inflicted some serious armor losses on my AI opponent but the...