CMFB PVP: Bodycount

The sequel to Heavy Hitters: Titan and I follow up with a huge scale meeting engagement!
The Few Good Men thread mentioned in the video is here, you'll have to scroll down a little: www.thefewgoodm...
This is Combat Mission: Final Blitzkrieg, set on the Western Front from October 1944 to January 1945. Mods-wise I'm running the ubiquitous HQS sound mod, Vin's Geometric icons and Benpark's Trees but its otherwise vanilla.
Combat Mission is a game developed by Battlefront.com. One of the most realistic tactical simulations ever made, Combat Mission covers a wide variety of military settings, from World War 2 (Normandy, Market Garden, Sicily, Italy and the Eastern Front) to fictional modern conflicts in Syria (Shock Force) and Ukraine (Black Sea). You can find out more about Combat Mission by visiting www.battlefront... and especially the forums.

[@Titannz213]

Very nice AAR Hapless, I started one in antcipation of a win and shelved it...However i thought i would put it up in case anyone may be interested in my battlefield appreciation. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hp-2XpavgJuBgpI In my view it was the Aircraft that made the difference here...Things where going ok, but at times having 2-4 Aircraft sorties per turn made manouvering almost impossible without cost and i lost a great deal of units including some vehicles. By the time my troops arrived to fight the Americans the units had already had been battered by planes. Otherwise the USA would have had a very hard job .

[@GenSirAnthonyCHMelchett]

it would be interesting to hear some of your reasoning for your movements in the style of what Hap just did! would be an interesting video! Hapless is reporting the planes on it at 30 casualties so it seems they want that effective!

[@Titannz213]

@@GenSirAnthonyCHMelchett They were very effective, you can't just measure it on kill count...There were many wounded as well. Also the vehicles i lost...At IV/70 Tanks destroyer, two quad 20mm flak guns...Several kublewagens and a 20mm Flak truck not to mention the damage on the rest of my armour including the optics on my king tiger. However the unseen damage was the most. It affected how i could fight...I could no longer move troops freely in my rear to reinforce the third location which really determined the fight. My troops had to sprint from cover to cover and take longer routes as to spend less time in the open. That affected there health and fittness. Plus many squads and Half squads that got hit the survivors Moral had taken a big hit. My troops where generally Veterans so by the time they got to the front they where in a nervous or shaken state, plus very tired then add some mortar strikes to rattle them up even more so. The time they got to the VL they then had to hold off the American infantry assaults so for any prolonged firefight they where becomming very unreliable and hapless despite his horrific losses the infantry assaults kept comming and keeping disapline in the ranks was a real problem. Without Airpower my men would have arrived in a much better state and much sooner and i dear say Hapless would of been facing a very different group of men that would of been alot more motivated to duke it out

[@GenSirAnthonyCHMelchett]

@@Titannz213 still a couple of things I'm wondering about, what was that anti-aircraft vehicle going down the hill to do? what was the mission! What was your plan in more detail? did you expect hapless to bring planes! and what was your contingencies? I think everybody would like to see a more detailed video from your side:-)

[@jimmehjiimmeehh9748]

I love that this whole video is basically just Zapp's killbot strategy. "Whatever it is I am willing to put wave after wave of men at your disposal!"

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Brannigan is Earth's greatest general for a reason, you know.

[@kurf4122]

Very much like these long, well-organized videos over the unedited series for time's sake. Good win over Titan.

[@esoxkid06]

Thank you! I thought I was the only one. Watching 1 min of action per video is not my thing

[@usuallyhapless9481]

You guys are definitely not the only ones! If I'm going to do another turn-by-turn series, its going to be either a lot more exciting or a lot shorter.

[@joseywales3848]

This is my new favourite CM vid. The detail you go into with your tactical analysis is on another level! Congrats on the win.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much man!

[@Philhamm]

Game recognize game...

[@JacquesMayhoff]

I gotta say, I punched the air in joy when you took down that King Tiger (said as someone who had to face a KT without many big guns)

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Not as much as I did man ;) Very satisfying.

[@miksulder]

The scale and thinking of battle can become crazy at battalion level command.

[@grantthomas6709]

That was a gritty win, after your airborne got such a mauling. You made some excellent points about the minutae of troop procurement. The extra shells in your mortars, and the fact that you had properly identified Titans troops as SS was very decisive. Your airpower was effective as well. I also prefer this short format battle video. A great game with a big swing in the outcome.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks! Those little details all add up in the end.

[@JacquesMayhoff]

One of your best videos I must say, that was a riveting battle. I was especially surprised at the casualty numbers (70% loss rate, it's a miracle your opponent managed to hold a reasonable line with such numbers!), those poor Jeagers sure got it handed to them.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man! It would have been very interesting to see how things would have panned out with some extra time.

[@Loonsloon]

awesome video - great after action review, editing, narrating, and great fighting! I currently have CMBN and this makes me very very tempted to grab CMFB. Thanks for the show.

[@Icechuck]

I love this video structure. Great analysis, great editing, and more importantly, much more convenient to watch than watching 70 plus videos for Heavy Hitters and the other battles.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man. It was high time I got back to doing them like this.

[@fekkov5461]

So always like your stuff but seem to have upped things a notch with both presentation and content. Well worth the wait. Edit. Ha, read the thread. Going to guess this quite a sweet tasting win.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yeah, I enjoyed writing some of the stuff in that thread.

[@SKFthree]

That's at least three (four?) Jacksons you've lost because of the M2. You'd think your crews would dismount it with that track record...

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I would if I could. They never use the damn thing anyway...

[@waffencamo]

Best CM vid so far, love your narrative and editing, please stick to these kind of videos, amazing job. Congrats on your win.

[@Philhamm]

The content I crave. Seeing all those on-map mortars thumping away is awesome!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Can't beat the sound of 12 mortars going off at once... unless it watching the target area.

[@GenSirAnthonyCHMelchett]

well done buddy 10 out of 10!!

[@SheepWaveMeByeBye]

zooming in on uniforms and using the mission editor to figure out what your opponent is fielding is very gamey.

[@kevlarburrito6693]

Just for your future information purposes, but 81mm mortars are considered small arms, not artillery. Small arms are defined by anything less than 100mm. Source: Former US Army Field Artilleryman

[@Firespectrum122]

The whole attrition thing is how the Americans actually won the battle of the bulge: as the German armour smashed into their objective, the Americans used shoot and scoot tactics to continually harass and take apart the German columns and, even if they had had the fuel to carry on, they would have been at such reduced strength that the attack would have petered out on its own accord. The tactics used in the Battle of the Bulge would later go on to be the foundation of the U.S. Cold War doctrine, Airland Battle being one of several developments in this era that could trace its origins to what the Americans learned in the Ardennes Offensive.

[@AR-GuidesAndMore]

Its interesting how this game predicted the grinding nature of the war we see now. Very good simulator. ☺

[@austintatious7209]

This game seems to attract the sort of player who can deliver a Very articulate well presented well thought out AAR . 👍. Love it. . I’ve been playing this series since I first bought anthology back in 2004. I’ve bought almost everything since and still really enjoy playing it. Despite never having been able to mod, access multiplayer or make a campaign. That’s a fairly large part of the games potential which has been and remains to be inaccessible. Would you consider making a vid series showing how less tech savi players, like myself can achieve some of these features. Cheers. 🙏

[@M1912TrenchGun]

24:50 Mortar team members who get promoted to assault troops are the great unsung heroes of playing Americans in CM. God bless whichever Ordinance branch dude thought to give them M1 Carbines and (occasionally) frag grenades because mainline rifle squads love to run out of ammo right before the last objective.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Titan and I have fought another battle: a huge meeting engagement in the snow on the December Morning map... Its 3 days until the video shows, how do the Heavy Hitters veterans out there think this one will go?

[@blong2134]

Awesome!! Cant wait to watch. I hope you got your revenge man :D

[@mymneisadj]

don't know is it another mirror game? which side u got? either way I am certainly looking forward to it and am pulling for you....

[@usuallyhapless9481]

@@mymneisadj It isn't a mirror match, its just a straightforward meeting engagement with a single (quite long) video rather than a series. Titan is playing as the SS, I'm playing as the Americans.

[@Philhamm]

@@usuallyhapless9481 How many smoke plumes from brewed up Shermans must you produce before the gods are sated? HOW MANY?!

[@blong2134]

@@usuallyhapless9481I think this format will be more convenient to watch. Also, If you didn't forget to protect your flank (like you did in Heavy Hitters attack) and didn't get screwed by lady luck, you won :)

[@ooMyGuinnesSoo]

Great AAR - keep them up!!

[@JuergenGDB]

Very nice... LOL just watching all your AAR's. Definitely one thing I always buy when playing against the Allies is 81mm Mortars. Usually the only vehicle capable of smashing a German Panzer head on is a Jackson, M10-Wolverine (Achilles) with Mortars you can possibly do some grievous damage upon them.. something I have learned to keep handy. :)

[@QuickRundown]

Really loved this battle report, please more of this kind of content please :)

[@shawnclarke9414]

These videos are amazing. You deserve more views.

[@ashiltokhai6673]

Right on. This is gonna be good!

[@vinnart]

Excellent entertaining AAR presentation Usually Hapless. Would like to see you do one of these video style types for an official preview AAR against Bil one of these days on the forum for one of the upcoming games. No one has really done video presentation for one. Usually just screen shots. Glad to see you like using my icons and arrow unit bases mods. The bases work with all CM games.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks again man! Your unit icon mods are great. I used to use some NATO or Russian symbols ones, but they're a lot less intuitive. Changing the icon shapes for different types of unit was a stroke of genius. I'd love to do one of those preview AARs- though fighting Bil might be an uphill struggle!

[@refugeeca]

Pretty impressive analysis.

[@johnleney9541]

As a very keen, but "usually hapless", CM player I'm loving these vids. One thing, though - is your analysis of the possible make-up of the opposing force a little gamey?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

It is a bit gamey. That's a by-product of a simulated environment that has to conform to certain restrictions. It's fun though.

[@kenc9236]

It really is one of the best games out there and for many years.

[@arquebusier1995]

3:14 Ehm... Excuse me? What the fuck is this shot? A guided shell in 1945? A Brad Pitt as a tank commander? A Jesus Christ changing projectile motion for his own sake?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Its some known behaviour- if you can draw LOS to a target, you can almost always engage, even if its outside the angles of elevation of the main gun (CM doesn't model these angles per vehicle). It takes a lot longer to engage like that though- CM is supposedly simulating the tank making minor adjustments to its position in unmodelled micro-terrain until it can make the shot, but its such a rare occurence (and if it was modelled players would need a protractor every time they took up a hull down position or tried to engage an elevated target) that its probably not on Battlefront's priority list.

[@JuergenGDB]

After watching this battle again, It would be cool to flip starting positions.

[@tipsypo]

just to echo the others in saying great video and great battle

[@thewitherchannel1053]

great channel

[@wartsnall7332]

Although I prefer historical scenarios. This is a beautiful map. And this battle was a lot of fun to watch.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man. I agree, the map is a gorgeous piece of work.

[@SchlomoGoldbaum]

What Soundmod are you using in your fights? Sounds different to the vanilla game.

[@ThisOLmaan]

Usually Hapless: when you play and set up ur units, troops etc, and issue ur orders? do you keep issuing commands, orders let's say in mid-game? or do you just let it play out? all with one set of orders? really good match

[@gnarlyification]

Curious how long it took you to make this vid Hapless? Including recording the in-game footage.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

It actually pretty hard to pin down- the hard part is getting the ball rolling and finding the free time to get it done. Once the script is nailed down though, a couple of weeks of intermittent work maybe? It didn't help in this one that I didn't keep any turn-by-turn notes, so I had to go looking for events I knew were in there somewhere.

[@dexterfitben]

So serious Q. Is there a mixed movement mode whereby i can go forward/pause/reverse on one turn?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

If you select waypoints you can add pauses to them- so you could drive forward, pause for 30 seconds, then reverse.

[@AtlasAct01]

How to you manage to capture on video every important moment happening during a battle? Do you play via e-mail? Giving you time to film each turn as you please?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yep: play by email, save all the turns and load them up after the game to film from any angle.

[@AtlasAct01]

@@usuallyhapless9481 that must take an ungodly amount of time to do! Please keep doing them, they are so good!

[@jburroughs2922]

Ah man i missed the premier

[@mountplusBladeequals]

Will this be real time or turn-based. Also, if you want to play a real time CM:BS or CM:FI match on the 25th I am totally game.

[@shitchops]

Ahh CM, Always awesome games but still such crap graphic. Great video AA ! Very interesting

[@Rexini_Kobalt]

how the fuck did he drive that king tiger up that ridge

[@bjornginger1789]

Now when you scalped Titan, where do you keep his peace of hairdo?

[@hardrada51]

Good video

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Cheers man!

[@JuergenGDB]

Hapless do you remember the map # you both used for this exciting battle?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Its called "A December Morning" ;)

[@dartvader4081]

Where did you get these snowy skins for the Allies and Axis tanks? They are nice! Got link?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They're actually vanilla: if the battle is in January and there is snow on the ground then vehicles all get whitewash camos. There are some very good snow camo mods out there too though.

[@MG-fr3tn]

The sound is not sharp or clear enough.

[@professionalXMAZ]

how do you get your men to strip weapons and ammo?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They do it automatically if they stop close enough.

[@MG-fr3tn]

The sound voice is a bit off.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yeah, I've improved the sound quality etc a lot since... (wow) 2019

[@hairsquig8079]

What sound mods do you use?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Usually the HQS sound mod: www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/?s=HQS I like it a lot, but it can get overwhelmed a bit when there's a lot of automatic fire going on (the sound files for each shot are a little too long). Perfect for WW2 though.

[@dexterfitben]

Superb tactics. I usually mass troops then charge head on en mass and get slaughtered...what am i doing wrong?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Its all about fire superiority: you can't move forward without suppressing the enemy. Have you watched these? kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYuZlXeipt6Yb7M

[@dexterfitben]

@@usuallyhapless9481 many thanks...kinda joking but coming from such a pro I'm grateful for your kind reply.

[@willcoleman3427]

What map is this?

[@malak299]

is this playet whit 3.0 engine or 4.0

[@Icechuck]

Looks like Engine 4, and given how recent ago it was, I assume it is.

[@fekkov5461]

Final Blitzkrieg is 4.0.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Engine 4.0 it is.

[@b_bufo]

3:15: firing at the stars will get you a hit

[@GrumblingGrognard]

Thanks for the vids! I am using them to spam my friends into buying it so we can play 2-player! They are PERFECT wargame porn! lol

[@MG-fr3tn]

The vioce is insesant and says the obvious and its muffiled.