Breach & Clear Sale

Breach & Clear is currently on sale at Steam for 90% off at $1.49 USD. It can be bundled with Breach & Clear: Deadline Rebirth for $2.99 USD. While I have both games I really could not get into the changes they made with Deadline Rebirth and haven't played it in quite some time. The original B&C however is a very well made turn-based tactical tactical game that is well worth the full price of $14.99 and is a steal at 90% off.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm Back to Town

The following after-action report details a scenario from the battle pack “Germany Reforged” that depicts an action between the West German 21st Panzer Brigade and the Soviet 283rd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment in the town of Westerbrück (the map spelling), on the third day of the war May 9, 1989 at 1100. The Warsaw Pact successfully drove NATO forces out of the town the day before and are preparing for an expected counterattack in an attempt to retake a vital base of operation.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm The Pied Piper

The following condensed after-action report details a battle between the West German 4th Panzer Brigade and the Soviet Red Storm Battle Group on D1 + 6 hours, July 21st, 1989 in and around the town of Hameln, West Germany. NATO forces consist of the 204th Panzer Battalion, the 202nd Panzer Grenadier Battalion, and the 201st Panzer Battalion. Soviet forces consist of the 27th Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment, two battalions of motorized infantry, and two battalions of tanks.

Flashpoint Germany Agincourt Revisited

The following after-action report details the third and final scenario from the West German III Corps mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the fourth day of the war May 10, 1989 @ 11:00 in and around the town of Pappeln. Soviet intelligence has learned of a conference being held in the area and has decided to intervene in force.

Flashpoint Germany The Soviet Alamo

The following after-action report details the second scenario from the West German III Corps mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the second day of the war May 8, 1989 @ 08:00 in and around the town of Pappeln. It assumes that after the previous day’s action remnants of the East Germans had made it to the town of Pappeln to reorganize.

Space Hulk Review

A long time gaming friend of mine recently gifted me a copy of the turn-based tactical video game Space Hulk, which was released in August 2013 by Full Control and is based on the Blood Angels Chapter of the Space Marines that are in battle against an alien foe known as the Genestealers. Having little experience in the Warhammer 40,000 universe (other than a total of 11 minutes of playing time in Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine), this game and its place in the overarching mythology are fresh material for me.

Flashpoint Germany Ardennes Revisited

The following after-action report details the first scenario from the West German III Corps mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the first day of the war May 7, 1989 @ 11:00 in and around the town of Pappeln. With the premiere units of the Red Army focusing on REFORGER sites to attack the American and British positions, weaker screening forces are tasked with confronting the territorial units with the belief that they could at least check the West German war effort.

Flashpoint Germany Back to Town

The following after-action report details the third scenario from the West German I Corps mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the third day of the war May 9, 1989 @ 11:00 in an area to the immediate west of Westerbrück, where the previous two days of action have taken place. This scenario assumes that the Soviets had taken the town and currently has the 283rd Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment (BMP2) of the 21st Motorized Rifle Division stationed there.

Flashpoint Germany Forward Defense

The following after-action report details the second scenario from the West German I Corps mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the second day of the war May 8, 1989 @ 08:00 in the town of Westerbrück. After the 591st Guards Motorized Rifle Regiment failed to secure the area during the previous days combat action, they double down with the 65th Guards Tank Regiment of the 16th Guards Tank Division in an effort to finally obtain a lodgment.

Flashpoint Germany Soviet Punch

The following after-action report details the first scenario from the West German I Corps mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the first day of the war May 7, 1989 at 08:00 in the town of Westerbrück. The Soviet strategic plan focused on attacking various REFORGER sites with their premier forces, leaving the uncertain West German forces to face significantly weaker attacks from less capable Warsaw Pact elements: this engagement depicts such an action.

Flashpoint Germany British Steel

The following after-action report details the fifth and final scenario from the British Army of the Rhine mission set in which I will be playing as the NATO commander during the third day of the war May 9, 1989 at 07:00. The “Battle of Ortberg” as it is called in the briefing material depicts an action by the British 22nd Armored Brigade in which after having missed the spearhead of the main Soviet assault force, they ran directly into the follow-up force of the 48th Guards Tank Regiment strung out across an autobahn.

Flashpoint Germany Behind Enemy Lines

The following after-action report details the fourth scenario from the British Army of the Rhine mission set. In this scenario I will be playing as the NATO commander during the fifth day of the war May 11, 1989 at 11:00 (this scenario is technically out of sequence as there is no actual day four of combat for the Brits and Scenario 5 “British Steel” takes place on day three of combat operations). If there were a logical chronology to the mission backstory I would be compelled to rearrange the posts, however there is not so I am going in scenario sequence.

Flashpoint Campaigns Red Storm Purple One

The following after-action report details a small scenario in which I will be playing as the Warsaw Pact commander. The Red Army is advancing rapidly to the west when intelligence identifies the location of a Lance missile (nuclear capable) launch site near Alzenau. The mission is to destroy the rocket vehicle and to secure the launch codes, however that is more briefing material filler than technical necessity as the scenario can be won outright by simply taking control of the Victory Point objective area.

Flashpoint Germany Thin Blue Line

The following after-action report details the third scenario from the British Army of the Rhine mission set. In this scenario I will be playing as the NATO commander during the third day of the war May 9, 1989 at 11:00. The supply lines for the Soviet 3rd Shock Army are cut at Rensenbach which has ground their offensive westward to a halt. Unable to continue forward, the Soviet High Command commits the superior units of the 14th Tank Regiment of the 7th East German (NVA) Tank Division to save the day.

Flashpoint Germany Red Hammer

The following after-action report details the second scenario from the British Army of the Rhine mission set. In this scenario I will be playing as the NATO commander during the second day of the war May 8, 1989 at 14:00. The scenario assumes that Rensenbach fell to the Soviets on day one (it did not; I kicked the Red Army’s ass). Here I am leading the British 1st Staffordshire’s (after disengaging from other combat) back towards the town thinking the Red Army has already vacated the area in their rapid advance, when a Warsaw Pact garrison force arrives and engages my Brits.

Flashpoint Germany Soviet Main Force Attack

The following after-action report details the final scenario from the US V Corps mission set. In this effort I will be playing as the NATO Force Commander during the fifth day of the war May 11th, 1989 at 04:00. The basic premise of this scenario is an all-out effort by the Soviets to clear the area of operations of any enemy units. Having been alerted to this massive strike through intelligence assets, NATO decides to make a stand near Norderfurt with a mixed bag of US and German forces.

Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm Overview

A gaming friend of mine gifted me a copy of FCRS after reading some of my blog posts regarding the single player set of scenarios from the original game Flashpoint Germany which was released several years ago and has since been discontinued by the then publisher Matrix Games. The new game that I am playing is the massive 2.0.9 update, or the “Players Edition”. Having never played the release candidate of the new game I am not sure what the differences are, but they seem substantial.

Flashpoint Germany Bread and Butter

The following after-action report details a scenario from the US V Corps mission set. In this scenario I will be playing as the NATO Force Commander in what is effectively a search and destroy mission. The basic premise of the engagement is that the Soviets are effectively immobilized due to electronic warfare interference, whereas the American forces have much more latitude to perform ad hoc operations without direction from above.

Flashpoint Germany A Few Good Tanks

The following after-action report details a scenario from the US V Corps mission set. In this scenario I will be playing as the NATO Force Commander in what is effectively a defensive operation for the Americans. The basic premise of the engagement is that of misinterpreted orders on the part of the Warsaw Pact forces, notably that of clearing the ridge occupied by my NATO Task Force which is entrenched there in an effort to avoid an encirclement of Norderfurt.

Flashpoint Germany A Few Good Choppers

The following after-action report details a scenario from the US V Corps mission set. I had previously completed the first and second scenarios from this set some time ago, but playing as the Warsaw Pact commander. In this scenario I will be playing as the NATO Force Commander. There are two versions of this “Scen 3” from the mission set: v1.1 and v1.1-alt. There is no explanation in the briefing as to the difference between the two and both appear to be virtually identical from within the game itself.