Decisive Campaigns Warsaw to Paris Netherlands Scenario

The following after-action report details a scenario in which Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940 as part of the much larger Case Yellow operation to seize the Low Countries (including Belgium, Luxembourg, and France). The Dutch had hoped in vain that its stated policy of neutrality would keep them out of the conflict as it had done in World War I. While the Germans had considered at times leaving the Dutch alone, they opted for the invasion without a formal declaration of war.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm British Steel

The following after-action report details a scenario from the battle pack “Germany Reforged” that depicts an action between the British 22nd Armored Brigade and the Soviet 48th Guards Tank Regiment along the A4 autobahn on the third day of the war May 9, 1989 at 0700. The Warsaw Pact forces are strung out along the road and are unaware of the presence of a larger NATO group north of their current location.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm A Thin Tan Line

The following after-action report details a mission from the battle pack “Germany Reforged” that depicts an action between the British 33rd Armoured Brigade and the 7th East German (NVA) Tank Division in the town of Rensenbach on the third day of the war May 9, 1989 at 11:00. The 1st Staffordshire Regiment repulsed the 7th Guards Division the day before, and is presently being reinforced.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm Bread and Butter

The following after-action report details a mission from the battle pack “Germany Reforged” that depicts an action between the American 1st Brigade, 8th Infantry Division and the Soviet 117th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment in the town of Scheider on the fourth day of the war May 10, 1989 at 15:00. NATO has identified the location of a Warsaw Pact supply dump north of Norderfurt and an intrepid American commander has decided to seize the initiative and take the fight directly to the Soviets.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm A Few Good Tanks

The following after-action report details a mission from the new battle pack “Germany Reforged” that depicts an action between the American TF 2-67 and the Soviet 243rd Motorized Rifle Regiment (BTR) near the town of Grafschaft on the second day of the war May 8, 1989 at 11:00 hours. NATO has the bulk of the American forces fighting to the south in Norderfurt, leaving only elements of the 3rd Armored Division to defend the river crossings over the Hunte and Stielbach rivers.

Vietnam ’65 Battle Report

This post will be somewhat more in line with standard after-action reports and will cover my effort to increase my rank from Brigadier to Major General. The game has been a boatload of fun as well as challenging. This particular outing saw me take some hard losses early on and a KIA from mishandling the supply chain toward the end which was actually quite infuriating in gaming terms as it came from my being greedy and not thinking logistically.

Vietnam ’65 Decisive Victory

Tonight I had a fun mission in which I was able to secure my first Decisive Victory in the game which resulted in a promotion to First Lieutenant (the old shadowbox is filling up with awards for the body count and such). This game is seriously starting to grow on me, in no small part to what appears to be a robust interaction by the developer with the users in the Steam community (as evidenced by this post).

Vietnam 65

This is a new game from developer Every Single Soldier that is published by Slitherine, LTD and is available through Steam. I actually purchased my game through the Slitherine site using an Easter discount code that was not offered through Steam, and picked the game up for about $7. The Slitherine site has a web page where you can register the product to generate a legitimate Steam key to download and play the product there if you prefer (to track total game time, garner Steam achievements, etc.)

Democracy 3 United Kingdom (Second Term)

This after-action report covers the second term of my play through as the United Kingdom in Positech Games turn-based political strategy simulation game Democracy 3. After winning reelection largely based on the policies implemented and answers to several curveball questions thrown in my direction, I begin the fifth year in office with a Budget Surplus of £26.91 Bn and a National Debt of £451.98 Bn, along with 46 Political Capital points available to spend.

Democracy 3 United Kingdom (First Term)

Democracy 3 is a turn-based political strategy simulation from Positech Games that I have had my eye on for several months, just recently picking it up during the Steam Exploration/Autumn Sale for $4.99. It is a largely text based game with no 3D graphics to speak of, however it has a slick interface that serves the subject matter quite well.

Unity of Command Zitadelle PVP

This evening I faced off against Doug from the Cry Havoc! blog in my first PVP battle in UOC using the Zitadelle scenario, a six turn affair that features overwhelming Axis forces up against a wall of Soviet units fronted by entrenched infantry. The battle attempts to mimic the German offensive in the summer of 1943 in an effort to maintain a strategic offensive achieved after the third battle of Kharkov. The objective was to encircle the Soviets and destroy their mobile reserves.

The scenario consists of three objectives: Orel Outskirts (controlled by the Germans at the start, decaying by 10 points per turn after turn 3), Kursk (controlled by the Soviets at the start, decaying by 25 points per turn after turn 2) and Road to Voronezh (also controlled by the Red Army, decaying by 50 points per turn after turn 4). The margin required to win is 99 points and if there is no change from the start, the Soviets win outright.

Unity of Command Black Turn Campaign Episode III

June 22, 1941: Army Group South was one of three army groups which were organized for Operation Barbarossa, the largest invasion in the history of warfare that consisted of over four million soldiers along a 1,800 mile front. The primary objective of AGS was to capture the economically vital Ukraine and the capital city of Kiev.

The Axis forces are led by Gerd von Rundstedt (AG South) and Ion Antonescu (AG Antonescu) and consist of 35 armor and 263 infantry steps (each unit’s manpower and equipment is considered to be equally divided into a number of steps). There are additional units available from the OKH (Oberkommando des Heeres)/Stavka reserve force pool beginning on turn two.

Unity of Command Black Turn Campaign Episode 2

This is a continuation of the campaign I started back in December for the Black Turn expansion to Unity of Command: Stalingrad Campaign. Although that is the name of the base game, it expanded with Red Turn and now Black, growing into something much larger than the original focus on the horrific battles that took place in what is present day Волгогра́д (Volgograd).

The previous installment saw Fedor von Bock and Army Group Center smash the Soviets and open up the road to Smolensk. This effort focuses on Army Group North commanded by Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb with a contingent of armor, infantry and very light air support. This attack into Mother Russia begins on June 22, 1941 as did the other Army Group attacks.

XCOM Enemy Unknown Multiplayer

Today I was able to get in several rounds of multiplayer on XCOM with an old gaming buddy. I was a bit rusty in that most of my time in the game has been on the single player campaign which I have beaten once and have several ongoing efforts of various difficulty settings. After some tweaking we settled on a 7,500 point distribution and a 90 second clock which made for some tight and tense situations.

I still need to pick up the Slingshot and Enemy Within DLC’s to round out the collection, however I failed to pull the trigger during the Steam sale. I was hoping for a deeper discount then what they had on a bundle pack, and actually would like to see an upgrade pack offered to bring current owners of XCOM up to the latest incarnation without having to purchase the base game again.

Black Turn Operation Barbarossa 1941

I start this campaign with Army Group Center on June 22, 1941 with Der Sterber Fedor von Bock. Theater assets consist of one Bridge and one Air Attack per turn, although the bridges go away after the first few turns. The forces are arrayed with a cluster of infantry and light armor in the north, infantry and medium armor in the south and a lightly protected gap in my center.

There are five objectives that must be secured and as usual they all begin to bleed Prestige (the lifeblood of moving forward in this game) after specific turns. The two nearest objectives are Bialystok (-25 after turn 3) and Brest-Litovsk (-25/2). The two center objectives are Baranovichi (-25/3) and Pinsk (-50/5) and the most remote are Minsk (-50/4) and Road to Bobruisk (-50/4).

Unity of Command Red Turn Berlin Offensive

This scenario is a six turn slug fest with the Red Army pushing into Berlin for the final nail in the coffin. Theater assets for the Soviets consist of two Air Attacks per turn, and there are some hefty reinforcements available through the Stavka Reserve, but at the cost of the available prestige I have playing this as a solitary mission outside of the campaign it appears in.

There are three objectives to this scenario: Cottbus at 100 points (-25 after turn one), Torgau at 200 points (-50 after turn three) and finally Berlin (West) at 200 points (-50 after turn four). I have had some difficulty with the first objective Cottbus in the past, so smashing through there as quickly as possible is going to be vital to accumulating maximum points.

Unity of Command Black Turn Kiev Encirclement

Black Turn was released yesterday and the expansion pack is a prequel to the events that unfold in the Stalingrad Campaign DLC. This iteration covers the 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union and consists of 13 scenarios covering Operation Barbarossa. The scenario that I am playing today is called “Kiev Encirclement” which consists of 10 turns to achieve two objectives.

This will be a hyper-condensed after-action report as my wife wants to eat dinner and then watch Netflix (go real life!) The scenario starts on September 1, 1941 with the German forces arrayed around Kiev (which has to be secured by turn seven or you start to bleed prestige), and far away from the link-up location approximately half the distance between Kiev and Kharkov.

XCOM Project (Updated)

This is a dedicated effort on my part to beat this game on Impossible Ironman mode. There are some great tips out there on the web on how to go about combat and base management that I will be referring to and attempt to implement as XCOM funding allows. I pick Asia as my base location: the Continent Bonus is Future Combat (all projects in the Foundry and the Officer Training School cost 50% less).

The first mission is a fixed event Alien Abduction scenario in Mumbai, India with the following boilerplate mission objectives: sweep the abduction site and identify threats, and neutralize all hostile targets. It is a big map on a city street and in this iteration it appears most of the aliens (all Sectoids) are located initially inside the building. I try to be meticulous as I sweep the squad around the edges of the map, and that approach pays off at first.

XCOM Project (Abandoned)

This is a recap of the first month of a new XCOM effort with the goal of securing the following Steam achievements: “Ain't No Cavalry Comin'” (have a soldier survive every mission in a full game), “Edison” (in a single game, complete every Research Project), “Hunter/Killer” (in a single game, shoot down one of each alien craft) and “A Continental Fellow” (win the game from each of the 5 starting locations).

Some things right off of the bat: I am playing the game on easy mode without iron man or any of the other extras selected. I completed the game once already on easy mode so the final achievement listed above will not be satisfied this go around, and when I won that first game I should have secured the Research Project achievement as there were no other projects to assign the science team.

Saratoga Campaign

This is my next foray into the surprising Birth of America from Deep Silver and Strategy First. This is a step up from the Carolinas 1776 scenario. The Saratoga Campaign scenario is six turns in length and features a severe change in weather that comes at the end which can bog down any daring last minute raids.

I had a rather complex battle plan written out to win this scenario by a simple (yet usually overwhelming) score victory as I was having trouble securing all Objectives and Strategic Towns on early play testing. Quite by accident just two attempts ago I used a ruse to good effect outside of the Fort Stanwix Objective to confuse, if not draw out the AI from the Albany and Fort Ticonderoga Objectives.