Tjay

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20160124T19&p1=%3A TS Server: teamspeak3.i3d.net:10077 Clearing Fjärrby V3.sce WARNING ORDER BRIEFING: 5 hours ago the Russians took the village of Fjärrby, and the Brigade commander wants it taken back in order to secure the clearing up along road 15. T-80, T72 along with Mech Infantry have been reported as present. The remnants of our battalion have been given orders to proceed immediately with all units available. OUR FORCES: 1-5 and 2-5 tank platoon + 1 Co tank 1x mech inf platoon 1x mortar section ORDER: Form up at PL LD. TAKE FJÄRRBY (OBJECTIVE IMOLA), secure the road to FJÄRRBY KYRKA (CHURCH) and take FJÄRRBY KYRKA (OBJECTIVE PADOVA). Expect enemy contact after ENY line at Road 125.

:clin:

Want to tell us more about this in a separate thread?

Definitely! They got into my Dropbox public folder and deleted the image. I certainly didn't do it.

NARRATIVE AAR Another great evening! This mission was the most intense of the four times I've played it, and points up excellent mission building by Panzer Leader. All went well until about 58min in when the engineers completed their minefield laying and withdrew across the causeway. Just as we were about to follow them we were subject to a heavy (company + +) secondary attack from the East, pinning us in place. We blunted this attack sufficiently to begin withdrawing but took losses doing so and 2 plt were very short of ammunition by this point. Then, during the withdrawal we were attacked by six Hinds at around time 1:10 and observed another enemy company approaching from the North East! (Never seen helis in this mission previously). Crusty and I downed two, and KT's CV90s took out the others. But we suffered further losses in the process. As we knew that the reinforcements mentioned in the original briefing were not going to arrive we opted for a brief knife fight on our side of the causeway before quitting the mission. During this period KT's dismounts accounted for an additional enemy tank. Final score 41 for 10 with one fratricide. Lord Hat was the top 'first person shooter' with six. Just for once a run through the 'shot-by-shot' AAR is really worthwhile. It also shows how easy it is to move too far up while attempting to engage enemy moving into low ground in front of you (on to the front face of the ridge even) - and get zapped in the process! The .aar file can be found here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37947215/Heavy%20CT%20Delay%20Tank%20Battalion%20FD%20v2.1_DK_v2%20%282.654%29_011716GAMES_11922.rar

Thanks Mark and Sean for your help. You are right. It seems that gremlins got into my Dropbox public folder and deleted the image. It's the sort of thing gremliins do, isn't it? Luckily they only sent it to the recycle bin and didn't permanently delete it. (Must have been young, inexperienced gremlins). So it is now restored.

Shame you couldn't make it T29; it was fun. The 'collaborative' planning session was not nearly as painful as some had feared and everyone did a great job in the mission. Narrative AAR to follow tomorrow. The big question now is why the map image has disappeared to be replaced by one of those annoying little white boxes. Anyone?

A Volvo BV-202 Snow Vehicle for me please. :clin:

Please note that the friendly force level has been severely reduced due to units being delayed en-route, breaking down, and diverted elsewhere by Brigade. Changes are highlighted in BOLD CAPs in the mission briefing, but basically we have lost one tank platoon and the platoon of ASLAVs. But if we play our cards right we should still be able to fulfill our task. :clin:

A minor change to the way notifications of UKA missions will be presented on this forum in future: 1. Date/Time, TS server details as normal. 2. A Warning Order. This will be an abbreviated version of the briefing written by the scenario designer to give people a general idea of what the mission is about. A link will be provided to the UKA website where the full mission briefing will be available. 3. The map 4. Manning list. Implicit in the manning list is an invitation to C.O the mission. If no one voluteers, one of the more experienced members will be 'appointed' - with their agreement, of course. We currently have at least seven 'C.O qualified' personnel, so the duty should not come round that often. :clin: Finally, I would like to emphasize that UKA sessions are in no way exclusive. All are welcome - particularly newbies to SB or Multiplayer who will find us a friendly bunch, happy to accommodate the less experienced.

Second thoughts on map. Image above is the start position with some of the graphics that Panzer Leader had already applied to it - such as main and secondary axis of enemy advance - removed. Those planning to attend can therefore relate this to the briefing, but we will have to rely on terrain analysis to determine the details. Which is the whole point of the exercise. I hope as many experienced members as possible (as well as those wishing to learn about the planning process) will show to share their expertise. Although this is bound to make for a longer planning/briefing session than normal, there should be plenty of time left to conduct the mission itself.

Precis of briefing for: Heavy CT Delay Tank Battalion FD v2.1_DK (2.654).sce 1. SITUATION a. Enemy forces Intelligence estimates RED comprises a reinforced T-64 equipped tank battalion (TB) operating as a forward detachment (FD) for its parent regiment. In its role as FD the TB may be reinforced by a motorised rifle company, self-propelled artillery battalion, engineer platoon, chemical reconnaissance platoon and self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery section. The FD may have up to 18 tubes from its attached SPA battalion and off-map Regimental Artillery Group firing in support. We believe the FD will advance from the north east and attempt to seize a causeway across a river leading to a town to allow the regiment to advance unhindered and capture a town about 3km to the West. It is likely, if the causeway is successfully seized, that the FD will continue into our depth to cut off or capture the town ahead of the regiment. b. Friendly forces You command a combat team (CT) consisting of TWO PLATOONSof Leopard 2A4 with a cross-attached platoon of 4 x CV9035-DK. The RED axis of advance has taken our forces by surprise and your CT has been rushed ahead of the battle group (BG) to delay the RED advance until BG is able to come up and defend the town. Brigade's intent is to establish a line of defence at the river crossing and a successful defence of the causeway should make this possible. To assist you a combat engineer section from BG is laying a disrupt effect minefield in front of the causeway Due to the rushed nature of our advance the engineers require another hour to complete laying the minefield. It is imperative you protect the engineers from observation and direct fires until 0710 to allow them to complete their task. They will then withdraw west across CAUSEWAY to regain BG. You should attempt to hold RED east of the river but if this is not possible you must prevent them advancing west until 0805 to allow advance elements of BG to march east and establish defensive positions immediately behind your CT. The reinforcements may not arrive due to scripting problems so we will stop the mission once we have started our withdrawal to the West. Two troops of four M109A2 155 mm howitzers each firing ICM, HE and Smoke natures are assigned in support. Callsign 0B has first priority for fires. c. Attachments and detachments An echelon comprising 1 CRARRV, 1 FV432, 1 FV434 Fitter's Vehicle and 1 FV432 Medic is attached. 2. MISSION Protect the combat engineers operating in front of the causewy from observation and direct fires until 0540 so that they can complete their task. Attempt to hold RED advance east of the river, but if this is not possible prevent RED from crossing a phase line called MARS until 0635 so that BG can establish defensive positions east of the town. 3. EXECUTION Establish a defence of the causeway that crosses the river. Units may proceed east of the causeway but must not cross limit the FEBA. Ensure combat engineers operating in front of the causeway are protected from observation and direct fire until 0710 so they can successfully complete their disrupt effect minefield. Hold the RED advance at the river. If they manage to cross the causway, engage and destroy as many as possible before withdrawing west towards the town. Good luck!

My use of the word tutorial was incorrect. The planning phase will be collaborative. I will be asking players questions such as 'Where do you think the enemy's main axis of advance will be?' If I give you a tank platoon to counter that threat, where would you put it?' 'How would you best counter a possible attack through the wooded area to the East?' Etc. Players will be free to comment and ask questions at any time during the process. So by the time the plan is complete everyone will know not only WHAT it is, but Why. Obviously, this will take a bit longer than usual but I believe it to be worthwhile, having done it before with the 'old' UKA. So no map in advance but I will post the briefing so people can know roughly what they are up against.

No. Because the idea is that the planning session should be a tutorial - not to come up with a pre-assembled perfect plan. Mission is fairly simple.

Looks interesting. Could you post a link to the .sce file plse? Tnx.:clin:

Wednesday 13th: A useful couple of hours spent grappling with the complexities of the CV9035-DK FCS and ammunition options on our 'private range'. Examining the red side after the various shoots showed that (just as in RL) the KETF airburst ammunition is good at disabling things such as optics, sensors and radar scanners on eny vehicles but unfortunately this does not show up in the gunner's sight or in the 3D view. A limitation of the graphics modelling of such things in SB presumably.

Btw, I went into controls to set separate buttons for Smoke left, centre, and right - as KP7, KP8 and KP9. But they steadfastly refused to work. Set all smokes back to Tab expecting all 3 to fire at once but instead that only fires smoke left at first. Subswquent presses fire smoke front and smoke right. No big deal: 3 quick presses give me a 'total' smoke screen, but I thought I'd just mention it. :clin:

Gentlemen, I have just received the following from Volcano by PM. Hello Tjay, Our team is offering the following time to play Game 4: SLOT 3) 2100 GMT+1 Saturday / 1500 CST Saturday Will you guys be able to play this round? Please let me know if so, and if that day/time slot is good for you. Also, I was taking to 12Alfa and he said he might be interested in CO'ing the mission if you cannot find someone to do it. Just trying to help out. So at this stage I will step smartly aside and ask 12A to 'take if from here'. :clin:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20160117T19

You would be most welcome Tom. And I promise not to tell anyone. :clin:

Counter Insurgency by David Kilcullen. Many thanks to the person who recommended this to me in an earlier thread about counter insurgency tactics. It is essentially a manual for company commanders. Amazing what has been learned and put into practice in this sphere since Vietnam. But unfortunately, efforts on the ground will be totally ineffective if the population prefers life under the insurgents to life under an uncaring, brutal and corrupt government. You have to ask sometimes; Are we on the right side?

Rgr. Many thanks :clin: