Real and Simulated Wars

Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic - Released

2012-03-10T16:39:00.000-05:00

Hot off the press! Third Wire's Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic ...

Released a few hours ago, this combat flight simulator lite brings back a lot of memories (haven't played one of these Third Wire sims in ages!).

Jumped into an F-14 for a familiarization flight. Everything went OK until I had to land on the carrier. Oh, boy, lots of practice needed.

Approaching Iceland at high speed.

The cockpit of the F-14. All this stuff was cutting edge back in 1980. :)

It ain't a Navy fighter if it doesn't have an angle of attack indicator (AOA tape, top center of the screenshot).

Visuals are crisp without being overdone or a resource-hog.

My wingman waiting for his turn on the catapult.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark 2 - Thunder Run, Russian Style - Briefing

2012-03-10T09:32:00.000-05:00

When bullets start flying, there is nothing more precious to a Russian Army commander than key terrain.

It is not just real state, it's the early door opening that unhinges the enemy's resistance.

Colonel Vitali Kashlev, the commander of a Russian battalion-sized bonnegruppa, wants an early kick in the door to Kutaisi. Georgian rebels are far from organized for a defense of the city and Kashlev's troops are arriving from the west at a glacial pace.

Right click and open in a new tab for a better view. The scheme of maneuver for a company-sized force (line with arrow) tasked with securing one of the bridges over the Rioni river (circle).

Kashlev's on the job training goes back to the war in Chechnya, and he learnt well from his former superiors. He faces now a rebel-held city, but with no apparent elaborate defenses like the ones he fought against in Grozny.

Despite the abysmal differences between the two fights, he is not going to treat Kutaisi with kid's gloves but with a fist of iron. His main objective is securing one of the crossings over the Rioni river in order to stop rebel reinforcements from the eastern suburbs of the city and from the nearby towns. He intends to accomplish that with all he has available now. Two tank platoons and one mechanized infantry platoon are to advance through the city towards the objective at maximum speed. Fire support will be provided by 9 self propelled artillery tubes (romboidal icons in map above), which will pretty much demolish the buildings along the the main route of advance for the maneuver group. The purpose of this type of indirect fire is to eliminate insurgents lying in ambush within buildings. Yeah, that's the type of indirect fire support targeting Kashlev learnt to love from Grozny.

It's a 60 pound sledgehammer used to crack a bunch of nuts. Any takers for the nuts that roll in or out the anvil of destruction? Army Aviation, off course!

Enter my flight of two Ka-50 attack helicopters originally deployed along with bonnegruppa Kashlev to provide close air support and ad-hoc reconnaissance. Our regular armament of 2A42 cannon (precision fire) and unguided rockets (area fire) against soft and lightly armored targets has been augmented with Vikhr ATGMs in order to deal with (if any) reinforced bunkers and fortified buildings.

My flight will occupy a fighting position north of the main advance route, trying to detect enemy ambushes in alleys, rooftops or wherever the advance forces can't see or shoot. We intend to keep ourselves at maximum distance from the enemy. Of great concern is deconfliction with the indirect fire coming from the west. We have our ABRIS navigation system programmed to show the no-fly area. It is not cool to be shot down by your own artillery.

Right click and open in a new tab for a better view. Flight and fire plan for my flight.

Cheers,

Combat Mission Battles for Normandy - Commonwealth Forces Module Released

2012-03-05T23:34:00.001-05:00

Man, I know it was near release but I wasn't expecting it today.

This new Combat Mission module brings new formations and missions. UK, Canadian, Polish for the Allies and Waffen SS and Luftwaffe Field Divisions, all for some great 3D tactical war gaming.

Grenadiers and tanks of the 3rd SS PzGr. Regiment cautiously move forward for a counterattack. It's 0630 in the morning and the Allied Operation Epsom is not going to flow unchecked.

Canadian troops and armor approach Buron in a perfect summer day.

Woah! Did you notice the open terrain in the screenshot above? After so much fighting through hedgerows along the American troops, I better sharpen up my open terrain tactics. Those German mortars and machine guns will rip my troops apart.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Named Area of Interest "Viking" - Fear in Shades of Green: Covert Attrition

2012-03-04T16:43:00.001-05:00

Even for non-special forces, the acme of the infiltration-exfiltration combo is the enemy not knowing of your presence.

But in the context of our long term mission, that BMP wasn't going to make our lives easier when the day to attack the outpost comes.

The way down from the hill was fortunately uneventful, yet the enemy patrol at the base has shifted and partially blocks the route we used in our way in.

Under the cover of the sparse trees down the hill, we find the enemy BMP showing us his back.

This was totally non SOP, but this enemy asset will be a major headache to deal with during our future offensive. We decide to blow it up, even at the cost of operational surprise.

Planting a satchel charge with a remote detonator.

We move all the way out of the enemy area and detonate the explosive.

The eerie dance of lights and shadows, part searchlights, part the fire after the explosion. We are moving out towards our vehicle.

Cheers,

Companion Website and Discussion Group

2012-03-04T15:36:00.001-05:00

Hi,

The blog has grown a lot, real life is not getting any simpler and we have some collateral damage.

The change to a new Blogger template has rendered the blog's search function useless. As a result of that, older blogger entries are virtually inaccessible and unknown for readers who started reading the blog in the last year or so.
Due to the limited time that I have available for gaming and blogging, many entries have been divided in several parts. This results in a very uncomfortable reading experience for the followers of the blog.
Again, due to the limited time I have available, virtually all comments the readers post in the blog have gone unanswered for the last 4 months.

I thought about it and here are two things I came up with:

I opened a companion website where I will post the most read entries of the blog. There are many blog entries I want to share with those of you who many not had a chance to read them. Entries that in the blog are divided in parts will be available in just one page of the companion website. I was thinking about offering a pdf version of some of those but I don't know if there is enough interest for that.
I also opened a discussion group so you can comment and discuss without the constrains of the Blogger comment feature. I'm not so sure how seamless is this Google discussion groups thing, but at least is something. My free time is unlikely to get any bigger, but I'm hoping to read great discussions about these games and sims we love.

All of the above subject to a very good amount of future tweaking and modification.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 - Asymmetric Warfare Components

2012-03-03T10:36:00.001-05:00

BO has been there and has seen these weapons. He has been working for some time into bringing them into ArmA 2. This is his latest video update. Enjoy.

Wanted to try to bring a little more realism to the game via the unknown. That unknown is of course IED's in all their dreadful forms. This is still a WIP. I understand the sensitive nature of this killer all too well. As a active duty member of the Armed Forces (Combat Engineer), I've deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq and have come face to face with them. So please, no hate mail.

Cheers,

Microsoft Flight - It's Free and it Will Cost You a Fortune

2012-03-03T01:05:00.002-05:00

Microsoft Flight was released this week. I knew beforehand that I would not like it, so for me it was destined to be a big "meh!". Yeah, no complains, no rants, not even a comment of what Flight is or is not. Installed it, flew a bit, uninstalled and forgot about it within hours.

But I don't want to leave you with just my apathy for Microsoft Flight. As pathetic as it is, let's review the reviews. :p

There is a great commentary about it at SimHQ. Favorite quote on flight modelling "crashing actually takes some work".

Another review at the Flying magazine calls it a big disappointment. Favorite quote about the pricing model "Microsoft expects users to pay for add-on content, and maybe some would. My guess is few pilots will." (bold is mine)

The guys at Rock Paper Shotgun have a great article on it too. With their usual awesome style they wrote a piece that is both gobs of fun and informative if you can read between the lines. When they post a picture of an Icon A5 landed in impossible places, you laugh ... And if you were expecting a flight simulator, then you cry a bit afterwards.

AVSIM has its review too. Long. As an apology to an angry wife. AVSIM loves Flight with a passion and that's OK. But if you go through their forums, it feels like if AVSIM has adopted a sort of policy about Flight, and that is you like it or you are out. These guys have completely lost credibility with me. It is just plainly embarrassing to browse their Flight forums and see staff and other assorted honchos criticizing negative reviews of Flight like the two first above. It is not kosher to criticize other reviews on petty flaws. Sorry AVSIM guys but I will stay away from your webpage for a long while. But thank you anyway for the big advertisement banner that forwarded me to Flight's webpage ...

Cheers,

Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea - Naval Exercise in the North Sea - Part Two

2012-02-29T07:16:00.004-05:00

The game: Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea
The purpose: Take some German dreadnoughts into a practice, randomly generated scenario

These is the British light cruiser division I couldn't pursue.

Today: quick entry, bean counting for my latest victory at sea.

The ships tally. Wish I would have been more cautious with my light cruisers. Note how as the Germans, I've got points for picking up survivors.

Statistics for the British side. They had a bad day at sea.

This type of screens, with individual ship info is available at all times during the game. For the ships on your side, off course.

The individual ship screen can be expanded to show individual hits (left).

OK. Crunch time. I hate weekdays! :(

Cheers,

Take On Helicopters Review at SimHQ

2012-02-28T09:24:00.001-05:00

A good, balanced and thorough review at SimHQ.com:

http://www.simhq.com/_air14/air_514a.html

I was thinking of picking a copy Take On Helicopters (the helicopter
flight sim from the same guys who made ArmA 2) but I was a bit
reluctant after the extremely poor handling of vehicles in ArmA 2.
Both ArmA 2 and Take On share the same game engine, I heard.

The review at SimHQ points out that the handling of the helos in Take
On is not that good and that many physical effects of helicopter
flying are not modelled.

Thanks SimHQ for the review, you saved me money. :) I'm not surprised
that Take On feels a bit off in the physics department: you can get
stuck in a bush just walking around in ArmA 2. :)

Cheers,

(Posted from my tablet).

Crusader Kings II - Medieval Europe's Kings, Mayors, Dukes, Doges, Counts and Everybody in Between

2012-02-27T01:39:00.000-05:00

They say all politics is local and boy in the latest grand-strategy Paradox's game Crusader Kings II politics is as local as across the hallway of your virtual palace.

The game spans from September 1066 to May 1453 and it is played over a map that covers all of Europe, the Middle East, northern Africa and what nowadays is European Russia.

A massive and highly detailed portrayal of the intricate political, religious and economical landscape of medieval Europe, Crusader Kings II follows in the steps of Sengoku with a gameplay where your character matters most. Yes, it is all about you and your dynasty now and you better watch out who you marry, who you ally with, who likes you or not, and who may be plotting to kill you.

I am still on the look for a strategy game that will not demand me to quit my day job, and the size and scope of Crusader Kings II has certainly caught my attention. Follow the link the below for some screenshots of an exploratory game session I enjoyed this weekend.

Selecting which dynasty to play. The map is filtered at the level of kingdoms, but many provinces, counties or whatevers within those kingdoms have their head honchos who you can be with just a click.

Well, nothing new here. 90% of the peoples living here believe in the God of Abraham, and they are about to whack each other about it.

My first attempt was as the King of Hungary. Not a good idea to start learning the ropes. I had a chuckle at the Wikipedia link for the King, who is 13 at the start of the game. With the background music on, it felt a bit out of place. There was no Facebook link though, so the young King will have to wait hundreds of years to update his status to "married"(?) or receive wall messages like "way to go kiddo!".

Where is my army? Although the military aspect is not the strongest suit of Crusader Kings II, there are some interesting possibilities here.

This is a screenshot of another game I played as the Count of Temes. I've sent my spymaster and chancellor to Bacs to grow some mutual trust.

This is one of the things I love about the game: tough decisions. The Mayor of the city is sending gold to my palace regularly, the Bishop is sending me nothing but is making truckloads of money currently being sent to the Pope. Can I gain the Bishop's money pleasing him with my decision about the street markets?

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Named Area of Interest "Viking" - Fear in Shades of Green: Up to the Wire

2012-02-26T13:47:00.000-05:00

The decision to attack the combat outpost is a go. Much of what we can do with the Takistani rebels (assault or attack by fire) depends on that concertina wire that surrounds the outpost. Tonight, my best scout and me will infiltrate the combat outpost to determine if the wire is likely to be breached with an off-road vehicle.

Gamer's note: I'm using the Zeus Mod, which allegedly gives the AI a bit more wisdom. In this particular night mission, I hope the mod improves the AI's awareness to noise. This mission makes use of the plain vanilla "guard" waypoint, which will drive enemy AI units towards any detected infiltrators. So, our plan is to stay undetected.

The Takistani Army has a colossal shortage of night vision equipment. At the combat outpost, there is no less than 3 good old searchlights fanning out in several directions. Note: searchlights will orient towards detected threats, even with the vanilla version of the game. If we get detected and thereby illuminated, even enemy units without night vision equipment will move to find us.

Our first bet for an unobserved approach was that tree line in the base of the hill we stand right now. A searchlight is blazing it. No go.

The headlights of an enemy vehicle suggest an enemy patrol around the non-illuminated area to our right. The blind patch in front of us looks inviting and we decide to scout it from our left.

Moving towards the left flank. We are pulling back a bit to re-approach. That tree line in the background is the approach we wished for. Note the hill's slopes illuminated by the seach lights. The enemy vehicle headlights can be seen in the far background.

On our extremely careful approach on the left flank, we bump into an enemy BMP moving along a road on patrol (bright smoke on my left). The BMP has an IR targeting system and could see us in the darkest of nights, so we hide and wait. The hill in the background is illuminated by searchlights from the combat outpost.

Our chosen infiltration route is the dark cone between the illuminated areas, right in front of us. The combat outpost is on the top of the hill.

Our infiltration route is blocked by a mechanized enemy patrol. The BMP that spooked us a few minutes ago is now oriented towards the left flank, making it impossible to move forward. Note the infantry near the road. Damn it! We will have to pull back and re-approach from the right flank.

A new attempt, now on the right flank. After moving back around the hill, we slowly move towards the combat outpost, carefully avoiding the searchlight's illumination cones. That enemy patrol on our right worries me.

But the real deal is less than 100 meters in front of us. The enemy patrol covering our infiltration route depends on the IR targeting system of the BMP, and these damn NVGs of mine don't let me see if the armored vehicle is facing towards us or not.

My scout (front) and me. This is beyond scary, but pushing forward nonetheless.

Just to give you an idea of how dark is the night, this screenshot of the world without the night vision goggles.

Crossing the road without being seen. Note the BMP on the other side of the built up area.

With the enemy patrol in our backs, now we are climbing up to the combat outpost on the top of the hill. The wire perimeter is visible now.

Climbing up. Avoiding the searchlight.

We made it! The wire is nimble and can be breached with a conventional vehicle. We keep our heads down because we can hear an enemy dismounted patrol along the perimeter. Time to pull out.

Stay tuned for part 2.

Cheers,

Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea - Naval Exercise in the North Sea - Part One

2012-02-21T08:04:00.000-05:00

The game: Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea
The purpose: Take some German dreadnoughts into a practice, randomly generated scenario

My humble task force's location. Random scenario settings with dreadnoughts as largest ships, small size. I've modified the colors for sea and land to shades of gray, just to give the whole affair a more WWI atmosphere (not sure how it will work for you guys).

I really wanted this to be some sort of naval exercise to observe what friendly AI-controlled divisions would do when assigned different roles. But I quickly got absorbed in the seamless combat experience this naval war game delivers. My ships did very good today, and the intoxication of victory will bias any future attempt of naval scholarship.

My forces for today are shown in the screenshot below. The main battle force is a division of 3 Helgoland class dreadnoughts (SMS Ostfriesland, SMS Helgoland and SMS Thuingen) escorted by four destroyers. Scouting is provided by a 2 ship division of Gazelle class light cruisers (SMS Nymphe and SMS Gazelle)

A zoomed out view that covers my entire force. Note the OOB tab on the left.

Contact with enemy ships came promptly at 0857. Two British light cruisers northwest of my scouts started a series of course changes as if they didn't want neither to close nor to loose speed. I changed the role of the light cruisers from scouts to screen.

Each division can be given a role within your fleet.

The screen role for the light cruisers was a bad choice. I never stopped my dreadnoughts and with every mile they pushed towards the enemy, they in turn pushed the light cruisers against them. Eventually, the SMS Gazelle and Nymphe came into the range of the guns of the British dreadnoughts and that was the end for my light cruisers division.

Their loss was not in vain, though. The unequal duel of guns between the heavy British and light German ships allowed me to carefully maneuver my dreadnoughts into a great firing position. This eventually lead to a two hour, carefully choreographed engagement between my 3 dreadnoughts and 4 British ones. The range of this engagement was a bit extreme and I was about to call it a day. But the slightest of the slackening in the speed of the British battle line prompted me to press on. Not much later, the first British dreadnought explodes. They were withdrawing and I caught the dreadnought in the van two more times. Victory was mine!

My main battle force (yellow square flag) has dispatched 3 British dreadnoughts (labelled in the map as 2 x BB St. Vincent class and 1 x Bellorophon class) and is closing towards the last British dreadnought. Northeast of the British heavy ship, 3 light cruisers are virtually abandoning the battle. Further east of them, my destroyers (red triangular flags) are to join the mess.

Slopiness. The SMS Ostfriesland, Thuringen and Helgoland close in to claim their third British battleship (BB St. Vincent class). The British ship is crippled beyond recognition, but I should have kept the whole affair from a distance. Note the British destroyers (DDs, top right corner of the map) coming in aid of the heavy ship.

Explosion!

Another admiral's gaffe from yours truly. With all the British battleships sunk, I decide to head north in pursuit of the light cruisers. This exposed my dreadnoughts to a couple of British destroyers that were covering the general retreat.

My dreadnoughts couldn't keep pace with the British light cruisers. The battle was over.

Stay tuned for the debrief.

Cheers,

Command Ops Highway to the Reich - Ten Reasons to Parachute Back Into Market Garden

2012-02-19T20:12:00.000-05:00

Maybe you never played the original Highway to the Reich or maybe you already played it to death. Either way, here are ten reasons to get back into Market Garden with the latest Panther Games engine. If you have played Conquest of the Aegean, you will know all of these but nonetheless it's worth to recount what's new since the original Highway to the Reich.

1. A unique war game engine
This is the most original and detailed depiction of command in any commercially available war game out there. Traditional war games have abstracted command and control into very clever rules, yet for the most part the player can move and attack with his virtual troops in a God-like fashion. Command Ops is all about the friction of C2: orders get delayed, subordinate leaders making their own (sometimes undesirable) decisions and orders not followed for lack of time or resources. Market Garden was a colossal miscalculation in terms of what soldiers can achieve in the context of their combat power and standard operations procedures. The game will show you own miscalculations within minutes.

Operation Market Garden at your fingertips

2. Computers got faster, the game engine got better and the scenarios got bigger
This war game engine can run on almost any computer. Yet in the past, the size of scenarios were limited by the number of units and the size of the map the processors could handle. Now computers are more powerful, the engine has been tweaked to death and we can enjoy scenarios we could only dream of back in the days.

120 Km2 of fun. This was split in two scenarios back when Highway to the Reich was originally released.

3. Coordinated assaults
The game engine now features a timed assault option, which allows the player to coordinate assaults from two different formations carrying out two different attack orders.

Two battalions from the Irish Guards Brigade are assaulting Joe's Bridge, from the south and the east, simultaneously. All thanks to the new "assault at" option (yellow arrow).

4. Explicit supply
Gone are the times where you could shrug and blame defeat on your units' lack of ammunition. Now supply is more explicit and includes supply trains from bases to the front lines. So keep those lines of supply open!

The supply tab (tab in the left) is just an inventory of what's available. With the new engine, you have to make sure the roads are open for those goods to be delivered.

5. On map OOB browsing
Big scenarios mean big formations. A new tab now features a clickeable OOB browser that allows an on-map review of your formations.

Plenty of Allied units and the bridgehead across the Waal river is nimble. One click on the tab's entry on the right selects and highlights the unit you are looking for (a battalion in this case).

6. More planning tools
Ever planned an attack or tactical march and found out a couple of simulated hours later that your troops merrily took a "shortcut" that will take an additional five hours to complete? Not anymore. The path tool allows the player to visualize the best routes from point A to point B and how long is going to take. There are options for motorized and foot units. Also, the player can choose a formation and get the same data.

That green line (look near the yellow arrow in the map) is the quickest path between two points for a motorized unit.

That line of outposts, how much ground it covers, Captain? Gah! I'm incapable to read a relief map. Add vegetation and built-up areas and I am as good as lost. The engine now features a line of sight area which is indispensable for planning both defensive and offensive missions.

The line of sight area (white and grey squares) from any specific point (the red square in this case).

7. Aids for the multitasking armchair Field Marshal
As if juggling with a whole Corps worth of troops was not enough, the demands of the world outside the computer screen do not stop. That garbage can will not walk to the curb, that cold one will not fly to you from the beer fridge and that diaper of the bundle of joy will not change itself. Enter these new two tools in the game engine that will help your significant other to believe that you actually haven't moved out of the house.

No need to watch over your troops. You gave them sensible orders, didn't you? Run the game for two hours while you do other things.

The message tab in the left can be clicked and the map will be centered on the unit or event that triggered the message.

8. SOPs
Once you embark a formation into a mission, it's good to tell them what to do in case something unexpected happens, like contact with the enemy or a unit falling behind schedule.

This German battalion is about to start a short tactical march. With the lack of reconnaissance in the area of operations, it is good to have the option of telling them what to do in case they start contact with the enemy (bypass, attack, yellow rectangle) or to wait or not for stragglers.

9. Wider battlefields
Battles from the Bulge is all good but you have to give it to me that the terrain is a maneuver constriction nightmare. In Highway to the Reich, the terrain is more open to a certain extent (there are more water bodies that are a restriction anyway). It is good to get back into wider battlefields, at least I now can remember old tricks I used in CotA.

I ordered a parachute battalion (green icons) to attack on a wide front (yellow line shows frontage). The two ~~battalions~~ companies on the north and south flank made good progress due to the lack of opposition. The ~~battalion~~ company in the center got stuck a few meters from the FUP.

I clicked on the attack order icon (yellow tiny arrow in the center of the map) and narrowed the frontage to a minimum. The flank companies re-directed their assault towards the center of the village, all without having to issue another attack order for each company (that would cause a delay because the AI has to plan each attack from scratch).

10. All of the above applied to airborne grand/tactics
Surrounded, out-gunned and on a tight timetable. Does it get any worse? Let's not forget the particulars of airborne operations (a blog entry on that coming soon), how challenging they are and how much tactical wit a ground commander has to pull out when his superiors have thrown him under the tactical bus. The Panther's game engine has changed significantly since the original Highway to the Reich. Revisiting Market Garden under the shining light of the new additions is well worth the price of admission.

Cheers,

Achtung Panzer Operation Star, Sokolovo 1943

2012-02-17T00:26:00.000-05:00

Released a while ago, this DLC for Achtung Panzer Operation Star brings a Czech flavor to the struggle for the Ukraine.

A panoramic view of the northwest tip of the town of Sokolovo. The red icons are from the 1st Czech battalion, which is under the operational control of the 62 Gds. Division.

Sokolovo 1943 is a 15 turns mini-campaign spanning two full days in March 1943. It is playable from the Soviet side only. The Soviet forces are on foot and on the defensive against a sizeable German armored force. It will take determination and skill to halt the enemy ...

The new area of operations in the Sokolovo 1943 addon.

A close up on the area surrounding the town of Sokolovo. Note the blue, Soviet-style icons for reconnaissance forces (a circle and arrow).

Positioning my AT guns during the squads deployment phase.

Infantry can be ordered to dug in during the deployment phase.

The positions for the HMGs are a bit too exposed.

The first combat action starts at around 0900, with German recon units probing near Sokolovo.

I was expecting the Germans to go straight for the center of Sokolovo, but they chose to keep themselves in the outskirts of the town. My AT guns were not ready for this and had LOS issues to engage the lightly armored German recon units.

Another AT gun that can't engage anything because of my foolish deployment.

The Germans aimed for a crossroads nearby Sokolovo, and bombarded my nearby troops con gusto.

A whole company of Czech infantry men emerge from their hideouts within the heart of Sokolovo. The news about just a German recon detail are great for these panzer-scared troops.

At the time of this writing, Sokolovo 1943 sells for just $6.95 at Gamersgate. Worth every penny.

Cheers,

X-Plane for Android/iOS - Lunch Breaks Got Very Entertaining

2012-02-15T21:28:00.002-05:00

Yeah! A flight simulator that you can take with you while on the run.

X-Plane is one of the best flight simulators for the PC. To my total surprise, a light version of X-Plane 9 is available for tablets and smartphones.

I've logged a few hours of flight already and let me tell you, once you get past the limitations of controlling the aircraft with moving your device back and forth, it is very engaging.

An un-named airstrip in Alaska. I can't believe I landed this thing ...

The famous green lift vectors of the PC version are available in the mobile version.

Instruments panel.

I've made some landings I am not so proud of ...

The base app costs $2.99 and includes a good variety of aircraft and scenery. Additional aircraft can be purchased, like this Corsair I got for $0.99.

Not every thing is perfect, though. My altitude in this screenshot is 30,000 ft. Mmmmhhhh ...

Once you get bored with the scenery available in the base app, you can off course purchase additional ones.

More info available here.

Cheers,

Steam and Iron: The Great War at Sea - A Naval Combat War Game Both Tactical and Operational

2012-02-15T07:20:00.003-05:00

This one came out last week and it is fantastic. Very interesting design: depending on the level of difficulty, you can move and target individual ships or just be in control of divisions and above.

This is a brief entry (rushing to the office right now), just some screenshots.

A great sampler of naval action during WWI.

Is the sea big enough for ya? You can move your fleet anywhere ... no kidding.

The High Seas Fleet, rush hour to Jutland.

The big boys, with the ever present destroyers.

The details window.

More information here.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Named Area of Interest "Viking" - Akbar Amin's Unbelievable Shot

2012-02-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

Continued from this entry.
The Takistani Army is overextended in NAI Viking. Their patrols are minuscule in size and predictable in their range. As for the Takistani rebels, they have a penchant for explosives, rockets and extreme range fire. The latter never achieving too much ... We are scouting approaches to the infamous Takistany Army's combat outpost, where we intend to introduce the Takistani rebels to the benefits of close combat.

Enter Akbar Amin, a goatherd who is the best guide to the region. I met Akbar a couple of hours ago in his house for an observation patrol. I was expecting him to come out with his crook but instead he brought his SVD rifle. There was no way to convince this man to leave the weapon home.

The first conclusion of this hike is that despite the accuracy of our maps, there is no replacement for the tribal knowledge of the locals. Akbar, pointed out that many families have phones and are willing to relay information from relatives living near the airbase. I hope this type of intel goes only one way.

The trek was uneventful and right after we sat in our makeshift observation post we saw a Takistani Army squad patrol in the distance. Amin immediately pulled out ammo from his food pouch and inspected each round to make sure it was immaculate. I watched all astonished ... You don't mean to shoot with that old rifle at a target down there at this angle?

An observation post becomes a firing position. The Takistany Army patrol is down there, resting near the road bend.

The view from Amin's scope. The curved line is used for ranging (match the height of a human target with the curve) and it is indicating some +1 Km. I checked with my range finder and the actual range was 968 m to the BMP.

The first two rounds missed. I couldn't see if they were low or high ... The enemy scattered for cover, but the squad leader stayed prone in the middle of the road.

The fourth round kills the squad leader. The only way to see that was the tiny change in the shape of his body, now relaxed from the strains of combat. Gameplay note: kill confirmed at the statistics tab in the map.

A couple of minutes after the fatal shot, Amin signaled me to pull back. We were not observed but we were being looked for. We walk now with the distant sounds of engines behind us. Me thinking of who will be training who.

Cheers,

I got a Tablet and I Like It

2012-02-08T22:16:00.001-05:00

After a lot of thought (money is tight), borrowing iPads and tablets from friends for test drives and hunting for deals, I finally took the plunge.

In order of importance, my "needs" were: (i) everywhere access to an ever growing collecttion of technical reports/papers in PDF format; (ii) internet browsing with high portability; (iii) access to games/simms manuals while playing such games/sims and (iv) ebooks and other assorted niceties a tablet/iPad could offer.

The iPad is the undisputed darling of the market. Surprisingly, the android tablet I got outperforms it for reading the huge pdfs I use everyday. But that will not impress you, I reckon. The DCS A-10/Ka-50 flight Sims manuals (very large and graphics intensive) are rendered faster in my android tablet than in my neighbors iPad2. Also, the android tablet's storage can be expanded through a microSD card.

For internet browsing, I preferred the iPad. Its shape and weight are a work of art. My android tablet is a bit heavy to hold for long periods of time.

E-books are not a priority for me right now and you can read them with cheaper alternatives. A gadget that I will miss by not getting an Ipad is that wonderful app that connects to the DCS-A-10 ( http://www.ipadpit.nl/).

Anyway, the winner was the Acer Iconia A200 ( http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/series/iconia-tab-a/iconiataba200/), an entry level tablet powered by the Android Honeycomb OS. Got it at my local Microcenter at a nice discount ($300.00). Powerful, not too fancy and is helping me with work and leisure.

Cheers,

Weekend Venture to the WWII Pacific Ocean ... And Skies

2012-02-08T06:52:00.000-05:00

Pass the ammo. And the ritalin, because I was not able to focus on one game ...

HPS's Guadalcanal is a 2D simulation of WWII naval combat. I'm messing around with the Savo Island scenario and I needed to "see" how the area of operations would look like. "Seeing" meaning getting a better grasp of how big is the area and such other things you can't get from a 2D map.

So I launched my copy of IL-2 1946 and took off to the virtual skies of the Pacific Ocean, right in between Guadalcanal and Florida islands. The aircraft of choice was an SBD-3 Dauntless, a fantastic naval dive bomber.

Despite its age, IL-2 can be quite atmospheric. Here is my 4 birds flight, slowly climbing over Guadalcanal, some 3 nm east of Cape Esperanza.

Two Japanese destroyers are racing off north of Guadalcanal, but are caught in the lights of the early morning.

Diving towards one of the Japanese destroyers. I don't know if self-sealing fuel tanks are modeled in the flight sim, but my aircraft didn't explode.

An awful approach results in an awful drop. 3 bombs away.

My 3 bombs miss the target.

Cheers,

Command Ops Highway to the Reich - It's Good to be Back ...

2012-01-31T00:18:00.002-05:00

... To where all started. Panther Games' original game engine resembling what nowadays is one of the most exquisite war gaming experiences you can get, saw the light back in 2002 under the name Airborne Assault Red Devils Over Arnhem. I've just retrieved my copy of Red Devils from my cabinet and I can't help to marvel how far Panther Games has come.

Command Ops Highway to the Reich is an expansion to the base game Battles from the Bulge, that takes advantage of all the goodies that during the recent years were introduced into Panther Games' war game engine. Command Ops Highway to the Reich now replaces Airborne Assault Highway to the Reich, which is now discontinued.

Re-made maps, orders of battle and game play that now includes more realistic mechanized movement and C2.

The last Allied push towards Arnhem. Steamroller or just a huge traffic jam? Looking forward to try this scenario.

A huge amount of work must have gone into making this huge map and scenario which was not available in the original Highway to the Reich. Each grid square represents 1 sq. Km.

Smaller scenarios will provide great introductory forays into the fine points of Command Ops.

But wait! There is more! :) I heard that Matrix Games is throwing this strategy guide in your basket when you purchase the expansion. This is the original strategy guide for the previous game, but I've checked it and it's still relevant.

Cheers,

Achtung Panzer Operation Star - Quick Facts

2012-01-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

I've missed Achtung Panzer Operation Star's release back in November. Not for lack of interest but because of the gaming backlog I have. Time to catch up, fellows.

Since it is a bit late to review this game and Operation Star is closely related to the previous highly acclaimed Kharkov 1943, this entry will be just a quick overview of what's new and better.

Scope: Tactical
Setting: World War II, Kharkov 1943
Format: Wargame, Dual

3D, continuous time, can pause and issue orders while paused, (new) adjust time compression (0.3 to 5 X real time). This format is used to fight tactical battles in a 2.44 square kilometers portions of the area of operations.
2D, tactical map, turn based interface where platoon/squad sized troops are moved into battle. This format is used to move forces and decide where to fight the 3D tactical battles.

Computer opponent: non scripted
Editor: quick tactical battles, campaign editor for campaigns available somewhere in the web.

Up to eight scenarios that span up to ten turns. Multiple 3D tactical battles played each turn depending on player's decisions.

Before the start of each 3D tactical battle, the player deploys his forces within areas under his control. Note the highly detailed ammunition pop up list for each squad.

The squads can be deployed using a 2D map. The red area with green squares are possible deployment sites for the player's forces.

The initial orders interface is for getting your troops doing something right at the start of the scenario. In this screenshot I changed to an option that shows an icon for every individual soldier and vehicle (red dots and icons). A platoon of German combat engineers is selected and rubber-banded with blue lines.

A tactical 3D battle is ongoing. Most of the combat operations start early in the morning (0400 in this case), so be ready for the challenges of low visibility.

Graphics are very good and include complex lighting. Note the revamped user interface: it includes tooltips that will be very helpful for the beginner player.

A squad of German infantry men marching into contact.

A 2D map is available during the tactical 3D battles. In this case it's showing each individual soldier (red dots) and vehicles (red icons, Russian style). The 2D maps are highly detailed and include heights and vegetation.

Vehicles and men are highly detailed. In the case of this self propelled gun, full animations for the crew are included (loading and aiming with the gun's reticle).

A combat engineer's halftrack sporting a mortar. The red icons in the background are German forces located nearby.

Dug-in Germans. The defensive works now include ones for vehicles.

The tactical tasks/status overlay is frequently overlooked by many players. This overlay shows the command radius, move and fire orders for each unit selected.

The animations of men are highly detailed and for the most part comparable with older first person shooters.

Maps offer a lot of room to maneuver. Get your infantry ready to walk a lot.

A company of German infantry moving forward. The new interface makes it easier to keep your forces in whatever formation you may want.

Good:

Massive maps
Good graphics
Competent, non-scripted computer opponent
Continuity between 3D battles: great immersion, all tactical battles have consequences on the whole area of operations
Detailed penetration and weapons data

Not so good:

Documentation: although it has gotten better than in Kharkov 1943, the manual has still some gaps
Interface: it may take a small learning curve to get used to
Occasional crashes while loading saved 3D battles

Contents: 8 tactical situations, each playing up to 10 turns with multiple 3D battles during each turn

Taranovka Area of Operations

March 02 to March 03 1943
Player commands troops of the 25 Guards Rifle Division, 78 Guards Rifle Division (Soviet)

February 12 to February 13 1943
Player commands troops of the 6 Guards Cavalry Corps and the 201 Tank Brigade (Soviet)
Player commands troops of the 320 Infantry Division (German)

February 13 1943
Player commands troops of the 6 Guards Cavalry Corps and the 201 Tank Brigade (Soviet)

Pavlovka Area of Operations

March 07 to March 08 1943

Player commands troops of the SST Pz. Division Das Reich (German)

Player commands troops of the 104st Rifle Brigade (Soviet)

Rakitnoe Area of Operations

March 08th to March 08 1943

Player commands troops of the 11 Pz.Division (German)

Player commands troops of the 253 Rifle Brigade and the 195th Tank Brigade and (Soviet)

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Named Area of Interest "Viking" - An Inconvenient Combat Outpost

2012-01-23T23:33:00.003-05:00

As part of the impending NATO invasion, my Czech team of special forces is tasked with developing ground truth intelligence plus organizing and training Takistani rebel forces in a location centered around a dilapidated enemy air force base (NAI Viking) of the Takistani Air Force.

The Takistani Army has increased its presence in the region and now they are putting pressure against the rebel forces. A reinforced company enemy force has been deployed and the works on combat outposts around the airbase are increasing. The combat outpost pictured above, north of the airbase overlooks the main avenues of approach to the airbase and is looking good for a baptism of fire.

This entry just to show you some pics of the (built from scratch with the editor) combat outpost before we try to blow it into oblivion ...

A closer look at the combat outpost, looking southwest. The airbase is in the far background.

The southern side of the bunker has premium line of sight/fields of fire. The valley in the background is where the airbase is located.

A heavy machine gun position in one of the tips of the combat outpost.

The northern side of the combat outpost is a bit less optimal in terms of fields of fire/line of sight. Lots of dead ground.

The Takistani Army is relying on patrols to cover the deficiencies of the northern side of the combat outpost.

An inside view of the bunkers pointing north.

Another inside view of the combat outpost. Many bag fences to protect personnel from indirect fire shells falling inside the facilities.

Czech special forces personnel marching towards a training session for the rebels.

Cheers,

Combat Mission Battle for Normandy - Yet Another, Final Note on Combat Functions/Services and Weapon Systems

2012-01-22T10:14:00.003-05:00

This is a continuation of a continuation ... I know, it's getting messy. This entry just to wrap it up, I promise. :)

The final push towards the intersection objective. 1st, 2nd and 3rd platoons moving on one side of the main road connecting the town entrance and the final objective. One tank platoon awaiting for some of the fields of fire pointing towards the road being cleared.

The armored infantry that arrived as reinforcements: too many men to cramp into the map. Did I mention that I lost one halftrack on the left flank? I just left all the armored infantry alone back in the line of departure.

This farmhouse behind the hedges is the farmhouse at objective intersection. The dirt/smoke cloud is from a German AT gun firing from the other side of the objective.

With the main road (mostly) clear of enemy infantry, the lead tank moves towards objective intersection. This tank had to rely on heavy suppressive fire in order to move against a German AT gun located at the objective.

The final and exciting moments of this scenario. All significant real estate taken by the US troop. The only seemingly opposition is from a hedge at the very edge of the map. A handful of Germans stubbornly defend this last stand. In the foreground, a German officer fires his pistol at the US troops in the house behind the hedge. Under the cover of smoke and the fire of its coax gun, a Sherman tank almost rams the AT gun.

I arrived at the objective intersection using an approach road that I didn't want (the main road) with just two squads of infantry and two tanks. The approach had to be through the main road because I had no more engineers support (all demo charges used up). The US infantry squads were at the edge of morale collapse: even the slightest enemy fire would pin them down. No mortar support (ran out of ammo), no MG support (re-supplying the MGs not completed on time because I corralled/bogged two supply trucks in a hedgerow line back in the town entrance). Fortunately, the two tanks' crews had no second thoughts on smacking the last German stand.

Cheers,

Tigers Unleashed (HPS Simulations) - Review

2012-01-22T00:34:00.001-05:00

A detailed, high fidelity simulation of WWII land combat … Are you ready for the real deal?

At the time of this writing, HPS Simulations’ Tigers Unleashed (TU) is the most detailed WWII tactical land combat simulation out there. This simulation is data heavy, versatile, highly scaleable and offers an enormous range for customization of weapon systems. A greatly improved offshoot of the Point of Attack 2 simulation, TU's topic is tactical combat in Poland (1939) and the Soviet Union (1941-1942).

Tigers Unleashed is a simulation of tactical combat with 100 meter hexagons and 1 minute simultaneously resolved turns (WEGO). In most scenarios, the unit counters represent platoons of tanks and platoons of infantry. Although the units counters consolidate a group of individual real life fighting platforms, it is possible to split those counters into subunits. The included scenarios feature fighting forces that range from companies to demi-brigades. The maps are in the range of 5 square kilometers in size and adequate for the scale of the forces deployed in them. The longest scenarios run for 60 minutes of simulated time.

Each scenario can be played from either side, hotseat or against the computer. There is also an option to play by e-mail, which unfortunately I didn't have time to test. Once the scenario is loaded, the player is given the option to choose the so-called "expert level" (this affects how much data is shown to the player, fog of war restrictions, ability to select ammo for close air and indirect fire support, and ability to combine/break down units) and the fog of war level (ranging from all units visible to complete fog of war including the player's units not always visible - AKA friendly fog of war).

Graphically, the maps in Tigers Unleashed look decent but they don't compare to other more flashy war games out there. The graphics can be moded easily, though. Moving around the map is a bit cumbersome with the default settings (there is an option to modify the responsiveness of the user's scrolling at the edge of the map). There are three levels of zoom for which the player has to click either the zoom in or zoom out button and then click on the map. The movement of units is plotted by clicking the movement orders mode button, which opens a windows that allows the player to select many options including the type of path (direct, best for speed, best for tactical movement, etc) and standard operation procedures (SOP, or what the reaction of the unit will be under fire, after taking a casualty or after being suppressed). After the player has plotted all movement for his units, hitting the next turn button will put the engine in action to resolve movement and fire for both forces in the map. A combat report window appears and in it the player can read how the events unfold. Each turn is solved in 4 phases, each one including movement, spotting, indirect fire, direct fire, movement and fire of air units (not necessarily in that order). Animations on the map are also shown in the form of lines connecting the firing unit and its target. The sound of guns for each firing weapon is part of the animations. The pace at which the combat report mission writes data can be adjusted by the player. I have mine to write the data quite fast but I can always go back and read through the report if needed. According to posts in discussion forums elsewhere, the long duration of the turn resolution has been an issue for some players. I have managed to keep the duration of the turn resolution within reasonable limits (an average of 70 seconds in the biggest scenarios) by tuning the fire and spotting calculations at mid to low fidelity and by getting rid of animations and sounds.

There is an enormous amount of things going on under the hood of Tigers Unleashed. The amount of detail in this simulation is astonishing. For example, spotting is affected not only by distance, terrain, atmospheric conditions and smoke as one would suspect in an hex-based war game. Factors like relative angle and individual buildings between the units are computed by the engine. Weapons details go down to the weight of each round and armor penetration is calculated taking armor slope into account. The simulation is completely open in terms of data: you don't like the muzzle velocity of this or that round? Change it! There is an editor for that included.

When the simultaneous turn resolution ends, the player starts over plotting new movement and fire orders. If higher levels of fog of war have been chosen, the orders may get delayed for units that may have stepped out of the command range or units that have lost communications and are out of visual range. If a unit has no radio communications available, it may take 15 minutes of simulated combat to reach that unit via a messenger. So watch out for those reaction orders or SOPs you give to your units: that's what they will do when you are not watching or when you can't reach them with fresh orders.

The pace of tactical combat is painfully realistic. For starters, getting your forces sorted out for an assault takes sweat and time. The assault itself will take a good chunk of time too as units get suppressed, fatigued or just start to conserve ammunition. Such combat friction and slow pace of events, although a delectable bite for the realism hungry grognard, sometimes doesn't pair well with the relatively short duration of the scenarios (60 minutes tops).

Tigers Unleashed includes a scenario editor that the player can use to start an scenario from scratch. The interface of this scenario editor is straightforward and offers countless options. One of the steps of scenario creation is quite revealing about the computer opponent: the game the computer will play against the player depends on the choices of the player for the quality of the leaders (tactical, command, order execution skills), and the type of stance (limited attack, attack, defense, delaying action) given to the forces under the control of the computer. This means that the strengths and weaknesses of the computer opponent do extend beyond mere fire and movement. It's great to have a computer opponent that can be programmed into a given fighting style and with an overall tactical mission. After all selections have been made for the computer opponent, the simulation engine automatically compiles an AI file, which is similar to a tactical template that takes into account the terrain and the objectives of the scenario. The computer opponent itself makes a reasonable OPFOR, but the shortness of the scenarios' time span frequently gets in the way of both sides' schemes of maneuver. In the case of the user generated scenarios, this caveat can be removed by choosing a longer scenario duration.

Another scenario editing tool in Tigers Unleashed is a geomorphic map creator that can be used to join smaller maps (called tiles) into bigger ones. I haven't dabbled too much into this part of the simulation, but I read elsewhere that map creation for Tigers Unleashed is far less convoluted than it was for Point of Attack 2. Time to dig up my copy of Aide de Camp!

The general impression of playing around with Tigers Unleashed is that the simulation engine doesn't like to be bothered with abstractions and with interacting with the user. The lack of abstractions is understandable and the main reason of existence of the simulation, but the enormous amount of data may result in some unwanted clog ups in the form of long processing times in scenarios featuring more than one battalion and C++ exceptions when the user ventures off the beaten path of the most frequently clicked forms. With my copy of the simulation patched to the current version, the C++ exceptions are rare and far less frequent than the ones I experienced with Point of Attack 2. As for the user interaction part, the developers have done a great effort to present information to the player by the use of standard Windows forms. There is a lot of information to browse while playing a typical scenario, and sometimes the most needed information is spread across several windows or tabs. For example, a composite infantry platoon that is presented as one icon is actually composed of several units (command, radioman, LMGs and infantry itself) and to access the information corresponding to each unit, one has to right click the icon, access the unit information window and keep clicking OK in that window until the relevant subunit's window is presented. In this information window, the field that shows the amount of men that the unit has occupies the same amount of real estate than the one that shows their altitude above ground level, or the one that shows their competence level. Given that Tigers Unleashed uses standard Windows forms, sometimes I wonder if it would be possible to have a customizable toolbar or a windows form where the player can consolidate information of his choosing. This simulation is complex, the variables and information are in high supply and different minds digest information differently. So here is my vote for a custom information window or toolbar!

Tigers Unleashed is a unique simulation that has no rival in its depth, expanse and ab initio computation of land warfare. Such unique features come at the price of some quirks here and there, but don't let the tree hide the forest. As any other in depth simulation there is a moderate learning curve for the player, mainly to get acquainted with the amount of data that the engine can handle and where to find it. But once the climb is over, the joys of commanding troops in such a detailed battlefield will put any previous pain in the rear mirror.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead - Bunkers with Improved Frontal Cover

2012-01-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

Do you remember this old entry, where I was complaining about the lack of frontal cover in the stock bunkers? Well, it doesn't look pretty, but it is doable.

Side by side comparison of the stock bunker (left) and the modified bunker (right) with more frontal cover. I went a bit loco and added overhead cover to the modified bunker too.

The trick is to add a sandbag fence with the editor, and raise its vertical position by editing the initialization code as shown below.

In the editor, place a sandbag fence and in the initialization field add the code shown above. The last number (0.9) is the height that you want the object to be.

The bunker as seen from outside.

An interior view of the modified bunker.

I've got into this because I'm editing a mission with a combat outpost ... Coming soon.

Cheers,