Highway to the Reich Eindhoven Historical Campaign Day Two

The following post is Day Two of the Historical Campaign for Eindhoven, a nine day nine hour scenario in Highway to the Reich by Panther Games. Breaking the blog post up into structured segments for each day should allow for better tactical analysis and reassessment of the battle plan based on the situation on the ground (as well as a more organized approach to writing an after-action report for a scenario as long as this).

Highway to the Reich Eindhoven Historical Campaign Day One

The Eindhoven campaign is one of three historical campaigns (Arnhem, Eindhoven, and Nijmegen) that are part of the scenario list for the original Highway to the Reich by Panther Games. The scenarios also include some coup de main campaigns and a number of smaller and what-if scenarios. Arnhem and Eindhoven clock in at nine days and nine hours where Nijmegen is approximately half that at four days and ten hours of total scenario time.

Command Ops 2 on Steam

Today I learned that Command Operations has finally landed on Steam. This is what I feel to be a logical conclusion of a journey that has taken this developer through several publishers and business models. The series began as Red Devils of Arnhem, and then progressed as Highway to the Reich, Conquest of the Aegean, Command Operations 1, and now the most recent iteration of the game engine, CO2. Along the way the theater shifted from Western Europe to Greece, and then back to the western front again through both CO1 and CO2.

Musings from a Budget Airline Captain

For the past couple of days I have taken a semi-break from my latest crack addiction Cities Skylines to revisit some older tried and true titles to provide some gaming balance. One of those go to games is Microsoft Flight Simulator X where I love to pilot (from takeoff to landing) a virtual Boeing 737-800. My go to route is Jacksonville to Daytona because it is an easy and short flight that covers all of the bases of navigation.

War Stories: Operation Aurora

The following post is an after-action summary of the first single player mission of the story campaign in Battlefield Bad Company 2 that takes place on October 6, 1944. Somewhere in the Sea of Japan a small group of US commandos are sent to extract a Japanese scientist from an island who has war-decisive information in his possession. The fate of the mission was kept from the public and all records destroyed, relegating it to the scrap heap of battlefield myths.

Flashpoint Campaigns

I am currently working on a battle plan for the Flashpoint Campaigns: Germany Reforged scenario “Ardennes Revisited”. This is the Soviet version of the scenario as I am working on completing the Red Army mission set since I played the original game scenarios from Flashpoint Germany as NATO (and in that mission I scored a Decisive Victory outcome). This first go around is a bit of a boot camp for me since I have been away from the game for a few months, and it shows in both my initial decision making and later turn execution.

Skyrim

Tonight (or should I say this morning) I finally made it to level 78 which spawns a Legendary Dragon, and in turn killed the first one I encountered at Arcwind Point. Using the Dragonrend shout I was able to pin the beast on the ground below the summit I stood atop and while it was distracted by various Draugr about, I pummeled it with Daedric Arrows and Fire magic until it succumbed to the accumulative damage. This was the last Steam Achievement that I needed to score a Perfect Game rating, the only other one that I have is for Tropico 4.

Arnhem Coup de Main Campaign (Repost)

Arnhem, Netherlands: This mission is the Grand Campaign for the Arnhem map in Highway to the Reich and lasts for approximately ten days, running from D1 08:00 to D10 22:00. This is one of those missions where the force disposition can change from one start to the next.

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.

DCS Blackshark 2 Flight Training

For the past couple of days I have been dusting off the cobwebs from Blackshark 2, the attack helicopter flight simulation from DCS. I have the game on Steam and it is now completely integrated into DCS World. While I have DCS Blackshark 1, that game has major graphical issues now that I am on a Windows 10 machine and is in an unplayable state (perhaps it is something I can relegate to my Windows XP machine).

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.

Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis

The following after-action report covers a spur of the moment mission created in Bohemia Interactive’s game Operation Flashpoint Cold War Crisis that was played in Windows XP earlier this evening. I hadn't done anything in this oldie but goodie for quite some time, so I decided to brush away the cobwebs and take it for a spin. Using the mission editor in this game is seriously like riding a bicycle, I was able to create the most rudimentary mission and play it through the editor with just a few clicks.

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.

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.

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.