Combat Mission Professional: Op Balaclava Mission 3

A Pirtunian Company attempts to fix a Donovian Battalion Tactical Group in UK Fight Club's Operation Balaclava campaign of learning, using Combat Mission: Professional Edition.
UK Fight Club is A Wargaming Experimentation Group Learning to Fight Across All Domains of Conflict and Competition: www.ukfightclu...
A huge thanks to UK Fight Club for setting me up with a copy of CM:PE!
This battle uses the Dynamic Action Training Environment: odin.tradoc.ar...
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.
#ThinkFightLearnRepeat
#CombatMission
#CombatMissionProfessionalEdition

[@conner4547]

Did a tour of duty in Donovia. Surprisingly sandy for an eastern European country, and the locals spoke good english. Spent some time in Atropia as well. Very reminiscent of rural Louisiana. Weird.

[@mrward6510]

Weird lad when I went there it was wet and cold and everyone had English accents 😅

[@CHPMP5]

You know I was feeling like an idiot cause I had never heard of Donovia and your comment intrigued me. TIL these are all fictional countries (albeit based on real locations/history) for military training/war gaming purposes. Thanks for the chuckle!

[@conner4547]

@@CHPMP5 lol yea, I don't think most people that haven't served or been apart of the civilian element of them even know they exist.

[@mrward6510]

@@CHPMP5 Everyday a learning day lad 😅

[@angrysononeeight]

Make Donovia Krasnovia again.

[@TopHatHat]

"More victories like this and the war will be lost" An excellent defense and a lot of fun to watch!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much!

[@cf453]

What a glorious, bloody knife-fight. The amount of destruction you were able to lay down, given what you had to work with, was truly impressive.

[@ashiltokhai6673]

What a slaughter. Mutual punch out indeed. Given the circumstance as a commander, your pixel truppen's sacrifice was not in vain.

[@EvilTwinn]

Well fought on your part. This just goes to show how brutal modern warfare is, as you fought that just about as well as you realistically could and still were wiped out as a maneuvering element, albeit at the cost of the enemy battalion.

[@mikeduplessis8069]

A lot of victories in CM are Pyrrhic victories. The AI doesn't have the commons sense to stop when things are going badly, and most times neither does the human player. ;-)

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Pyrrhus didn't have a load of Warriors and Challengers off the map edge ready to take over when he ran out of men though :P

[@TheFanoren]

@@usuallyhapless9481 the look on the Roman's faces if he did would have been priceless lol

[@paristo]

The modern AI should be able be programmed to have somewhat moral sense to avoid WW1 level manslaughter by commanding troops. And those to be made more as a sense to own life, and not to rush to their deaths so happily. A 45 min game would turn to be a 3-5 hours, but I think that many would enjoy the challenge when AI wouldn't follow all commands so easily when they don't have idea of enemy, or especially when they have very good idea of enemy having the advantage. As basic rules in modern combat are that attacker needs 3:1 ratio of troops to over come the defender, it would make defender job much easier.

[@stormcommando1640]

@@paristo It would be nice, but that simply isnt how CM AI works. It's all just pre-planned maneuver's with a few triggers.

[@rickdeckard7549]

Without the physical depth to maneuver (ie larger maps depicted) there is really no giving ground or repositioning per se in CM…i mean there exit zone opjectives that can be written in….but the fun stops there (ie at the map edge) with little fluid influence on the battle…it was the major goal (and desire) of the old CM campaigns CM players wrote, and stood up all those years ago….engagements with context and consequence far beyond the 4x4km tile…..

[@VictorianTimeTraveler]

One of the things I've learned from playing shockforce two is that the Syrian military would be a hell of a lot more deadly if they just had some cheap Dollar Store walkie talkies

[@purpheart23]

they'd be jammed into uselessness.

[@paristo]

You could as well add the consumer video cameras, that talibans used in reality as cheap NVG. And that turned USA forces NVG advantage against them, because troops had IR strobes to signal others that where own troops were, and those were very easily visible with camcorder night mode. So cheap camcorder turned high tech invader easier to be spotted and fight back. Even the planes got in the trouble because they liked to use IR beams in targeting pods to point targets to each others and ground troops, so they became easily visible as well. One advantage with all hand signals and so on is that enemy can't locate you based your radio transmissions. That is what makes the Russian and Ukraine passive detectors so dangerous for anyone who is transmitting in any RF as they can pin point locations, only ways to get against that is to either jam own frequencies or simply not transmit anything.

[@Hy93Ri0n]

Ah, it’s been a bit but I’m happy to see more content yet again

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I'm happy to have the time to make more content again!

[@Hy93Ri0n]

@@usuallyhapless9481 it’s great to hear thing are going well on your end

[@Nomad2118]

Honestly watching your mission walkthroughs is probably the best way I’ve ever seen someone go through a tactical game such as CM that keeps it engaging, and makes me want to get the game. Definitely subscribing.

[@dv6000islame]

Wow what a detailed account of stopping and fragmenting a massive juggernaut assault! Incredible editing of content. Thank you for your always stellar work.

[@robertatkinson923]

Good to see you back Hapless! Your videos are always a joy to watch

[@steveschaeffer1952]

Welcome back and thank you! Your videos make all the difference. Very much appreciated

[@bilhardenberger573]

Very well done Hapless. Absolutely loved the full battle replay at the end, made my eyes water.

[@akd8525]

Great to see CM: Professional in detail with several new features to enhance training value. Thanks!

[@MegalonJonesSlattery]

Halfway through I went into a catatonic stupor thanks to the amount of carnage. ☠ I wonder if we'll ever get the Germans and UK forces for Black Sea standard?

[@d.c.6065]

Welcome back to the sharp end of the stick!

[@GenericAmerican1]

So. Is this shock force? Black sea? Or is professional edition just all of the modules mashed together?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

It's mostly Black Sea.

[@TheSid42]

Ah yes the return! Love to see content again.

[@natekling516]

Love your videos! Always excited to see a new one drop. Keep up the great work

[@grim_technician1626]

Great to see you back happless, and yet another great video, you simply do it the best.

[@hamishneilson7140]

Awesome video as usual! I’m always excited to see a new CM video from you, and it always gets me pumped up to play the game!

[@bobtank6318]

That scoring could probably use some reworking. You at least deserved a minor victory for that heroic effort. Anyway nice job. Will this become a campaign that you'll do, or will you be switching back to CM:CW for the rest of the NTC campaign?

[@System-Update]

I've play it and think the scoring is out by a factor of 10. There is a built in bonus for red that should probably be three figures but is actually four.

[@paristo]

More factors should be added for sure. As that battle was victorious for defender to cause such massive losses to attacker, as they couldn't anymore continue attack after that position. That should be taken in consideration, that if company can't proceed as company should after the combat, then it is lost. That is why 1/4 or 1/3 of losses are acceptable because then you can continue attack or defend against counter attack, as you can still operate as unit. But now than that and you are incapable for the expected performance.

[@tomwest3039]

Excellent battle report!

[@sproge2142]

Amazing vid to come back with, God I've missed this, haha! Welcome back!

[@grapesnch33s3]

I really do enjoy your vids lad, keep eem coming!

[@BarendJan]

Awesome video, looking forward to more CM:PRO!!

[@dowmein]

havent really played combat mission, but these vids are pretty fun to watch

[@cameronfoley7859]

This was awesome! Wish there was a follow up video of the UK counter attack. The amount of scenarios you could do with CM Professional is crazy.

[@daredemontriple6]

Major defeat on a tactical level, but a total victory on a strategic level. A company sized force has managed to cripple and neuter a battalion tactical group. As mentioned the only real resistance that battalion can be expected to put up now is via it's tanks, 3 of which are already vulnerable. The infantry is horribly disjointed and there's basically no intermediate armour left to provide fire support. You'd expect the UK counter-attacking force to mop up the survivors (if they don't surrender first at the sight of a fresh mechanized infantry company, likely with an armour detachment, suddenly appearing) and retake all of the objectives with light casualties, before then destroying whichever poor buggers get thrown into the grinder to try and reinforce red's positions - positions that a human player would probably consider hopeless. Very unlucky with that one T-72 in particular, but then again very convenient for Red to start dropping rockets on it's own breakthrough so that you'd have time to call in the 155s. Lady luck takes no sides it seems!

[@romanbuinyi]

Pirtuni-what is this, countries are probably not even named that way. They could have named it just East Slavia... Though, interesting to watch as always. Nice to see british, germans and cluster munitions in modern european environment instead of desert. This professional edition is cool.

[@danielcicirelli1437]

I have been bingeing your videos. I have a lot more respect for terrain now...

[@barrycabbageM34]

This was absolutely brutal, very fun to watch!

[@JacquesMayhoff]

Amazing video, looking forward to more CMPE content. That being said, I have two questions 1. how much did PE's full "game replay" feature streamline the video-making process for you? 2. what was the additional text popping up when you selected a vehicle?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

1. Not having to keep an accurate record of events per turn and load individual minutes is a godsend, but it has a couple of foibles that can be important, like losing the fog of war. 2. It's probably Unmanned Aerial System text (I didn't realise I could turn this off until afterwards). It's a little like hit text that stays on the map underneath your drones and enemy drones you've detected so you know where they are.

[@JacquesMayhoff]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Wow, that is a really cool feature. Guess it becomes more useful the smaller and more low-flying the drones get; are they testing small drones (consumer-grade style) with CMPE?

[@Pvt.Conscriptovich]

For some reason (maybe bcuz of massive slaughter) this scenario reminds me early days of Barbarossa where Soviet despite the odds managed to do heavy casualties to german forces but at the same time suffered heavy losses aswell.

[@jp38able]

Great game. It was very fun to watch.

[@brokenglass9814]

What the hell just happened? Brilliant messy fight but I was thoroughly confused throughout

[@usuallyhapless9481]

It can be a bit hard to show the overall picture and keep a sensible narrative going- there's a full top-down replay from about 25:15 if that helps

[@brokenglass9814]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Speaking of not having a sensible narrative, my comment wasn't very clear. I meant to ask what is combat mission professional, op balaclava, the first two missions, uk fight club and these two (hopefully) imaginary nations? Edit: I literally could have said "context?" and it would have made more sense than that

[@EvilTwinn]

@@brokenglass9814 Donovia is the traditional notional opponent that the US trains against in the National Training Center. The OPFOR is the "Donovians" who shockingly are equipped and trained to act very similarly to the Soviets and then the Russians. No relation, of course. Definitely not

[@brokenglass9814]

@@EvilTwinn They just so happen to be equipped and trained like the russians? Well, isn't that a coincidence?

[@sproge2142]

@@brokenglass9814 the locals speak surprisingly good English though, must be all the American TV kids watch these days

[@pauldangel734]

Great video! Very exciting ... and messy. :) Thanks.

[@EnRandomSten]

Woooo! I've been waiting all week for this lol Getting some wine to sip on while watching

[@danf5606]

best war movie I've ever seen. that was a war movie, right?

[@ahoosifoou4211]

Very cool to watch makes me fear irl war.

[@Llamalad12]

Wow, here's hoping they add that replay feature to CM commercial!

[@littlefatso]

Us Atropian veterans are all but forgotten :(

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Give it another 20 years for the conventional-insurgency cycle to come round and you'll be right back in there

[@ottofin3178]

Although this was more intense than a typical game against AI, I enjoy your multiplayer PvP Combat Mission games much more. Humans are less predictable, and well, human. Your PvP games take time, but they're worth the wait!

[@lethaface9883]

Great battle!

[@zhenyuwei9171]

Nice Work. The quality is as good as always! BTW, how can I get a copy of this version?

[@basedeltazero714]

A couple million dollars and a security clearance.

[@owendouglas3895]

Great stuff! Glad to see you back. Are you going to be showing the next mission with the Brits?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Potentially.

[@dogukan127]

Gosh I missed your videos

[@jimmehjiimmeehh9748]

Combat mission has a professional edition..? I wonder which militaries use it as a training tool.

[@actionidiot7546]

I believe the British army does. Though I think its only used to teach officers combined arms theory etc, not likely to see it if you're jut a low level squaddy

[@whya2ndaccount]

Looks like KZbin doesn't like links? I tried to add a link on the Denovians from DATE but it kept disappearing. Anyway I'm unsure from this one video but it appears CM Pro has similar map size limitations to the commercial version? The comment seems to have stayed. If anyone wants the Denovian document, happy to send the link, but unsure of the best way, since posting it here fails.

[@whya2ndaccount]

Let me try this. First part: https Second part: date.army.gov.au/date-world/caucasus/donovia

[@BarendJan]

What does the 'high UAS'' and 'Medium UAS' white signs mean in CM:PRO?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They show the location and altitude of friendly and enemy drones (Unmanned Aerial Systems is the new term apparently). You can also set them to track targets.

[@BarendJan]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Nice feature, and great coverage of the scenario by you!

[@HaydnHaendel]

Really really nice, as ever.

[@armoredinf]

With 20/20 hindsight it like it would have been better just to line up all of your troops on the left at at an oblique angle like a hockey stick instead of a V and forcing the enemy to veer off to their left and pick off the enemy units in the flank as they passed by.

[@aanders1990]

At long last!

[@adamhufnagel9721]

Hey quick question and my apologies if you have already answered this but I was wondering how you got a copy professional edition. Great video as always, keep up the hard work!

[@d.c.6065]

Y'all got any more of that full-battle both-sides replay?

[@THATWW2GUY6434]

What is the major difference between the pro version and the standard?

[@TheGreatJakester]

Hello, I would like to ask what audio/visual mods you're using :>

[@usuallyhapless9481]

In this one, IIRC, everything is unmodded. But it is CM:Pro, so it's a bit different from the commercial titles

[@TheGreatJakester]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Oooo, fancy

[@firefox3187]

Any allied support from Elbonia?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They were supposed to be backing us up, but all their tanks broke down. I blame The Chieftain!

[@sproge2142]

Quick question, is the ai in this version different than in the retail version? I've never seen the AI execute a plan with so many different manouvers quite as well as in this video. It somehow seemed more adaptive yet still objective focused...

[@usuallyhapless9481]

It's the same AI as far as I know- it is a very detailed AI plan though.

[@sproge2142]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Any chance we could see more battle from this campaign? If this is anything to go from it seems exceptionally made.

[@tychokort]

YES !! I LOVE THIS.

[@pechkin9474]

Glory to Donovia!

[@LauftFafa]

look like the real war now with both sides dealing damage

[@jayatfreelance]

Is it possible for civilians to buy the Professional Edition?

[@cameronfoley7859]

13:51 T-72 put all of Donovia on it's back lol

[@thesilencec2915]

Is this version evere be available for all of us, coz I love the fact that we have UK, German in BS as a force to play with....

[@SovietGrazz]

More please :)

[@Philhamm]

now that's a Heavy Messing

[@KetsaKunta]

CM is great but I don't get why the devs chose to make the ai scripted, sure there's different layers that the ai may choose to execute but its far from a dynamic enemy

[@Marcodu2583]

Where can I get the professional edition? Look like What Vbs3 is to Arma3

[@samaeldesolado]

Hey there buddy ! First off thank you for youre CM content , theres nothing like it anywhere . Well my question is that if anyone knows what happened with Reshade .. i had all 4 CM games with mods and reshade and mods installed and i havent played for a long time ( maybe 6-8 months) and when i booted the game last night the reshade was not working ... did it unistall by itself ? Or maybe i updated the reshade.exe and i was using a earlier version ? If anyone knows . Help is much apreciatted

[@jimmehjiimmeehh9748]

"If the scheduled British counter attack comes in on time" On flying pigs?

[@Poxyquotl]

Damn donovians! I myself helped eject them from the free republic of Atropia, when will they respect international boarders!

[@tonyjoka2346]

I think the t 64 didn't penetrate the t 72 becouse in real life the munitions the Ukrainians use are too old and obselite

[@basedeltazero714]

Wow. Impressive if confusing that you got access to this. What's the UK Fight Club interested in doing with you?

[@mattbanco4406]

Are you able to purchase this

[@basedeltazero714]

Almost certainly not, unless you're a government or military contractor.

[@Euan_Miller43]

so this game takes CMBS and puts modern nato stuff in there?

[@prncssbubblegum5282]

how do u get the pe edition?

[@basedeltazero714]

A couple million dollars and a security clearance.

[@eaglestrike6408]

KZbin: Ah yes, Men of War Assault Squad 2...

[@System-Update]

Just started looking at how I'm going to set out my defence for Mission 3. Must not watch.... Spoilers...don't look... stay away from the light...

[@System-Update]

And now I've played it. Man, nasty.

[@stefangrozdanov5049]

This video aged well xD

[@llerco]

yyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@jamesduston9292]

You know what? *refictionalizies your conflict*

[@Firespectrum122]

What is this Professional Edition?

[@aleksaradojicic8114]

It is military edition.

[@tonyjoka2346]

I dont get how the ai can be so d"mb that bmp litarly passed your bmp and didn't even bother to try and fight it instead basicly stopped and told you shoot me

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They're not the easiest things to see out of.

[@tonyjoka2346]

@@usuallyhapless9481 even so there is no way your bmp shot its atgm launcher and it still failed to realise you were there

[@usuallyhapless9481]

@@tonyjoka2346 Well: The driver can't see- he's watching forwards because he's driving. The gunner can't see because he literally has no optics that look that far right. The commander in theory might be able to see my BMP through his front-right viewing prism, but he's probably glued to his periscope looking forwards waiting to to tell the driver when to stop. The infantry in the back might be able to see through their firing port optics if they're using them, but even if they do spot my BMP they then have to scream into the intercom at the vehicle crew and hope they pay attention. All any of them would probably notice of the AT-5 getting shot off the roof is a big bang, which most likely means they're also busy NOT using their optics at all and trying to work out what happened and whether or not they need to bail out before they get cremated alive. It's not fun being in a BMP.

[@tonyjoka2346]

@@usuallyhapless9481 doesn't matte rif it's fun or not what you sed still doesn't make sense ina war situation the crew wants to stay alive so screaming would be the least of there concerns and they ll do it the driver might keep driving OK but the gunner and commander have side periscope through which they can look to the left right or back they are very small but they are still there also the driver is not jsut isolated the commander can give him orders of somting liek that happened the least the commander would have done is look to the side spotted the bmp and atleast attempt to rotata the turret not just bypass the bmp than stop 3 metres away and jsut wait to get destroyed

[@sproge2142]

@@usuallyhapless9481 irl would the commander be turned out in a situation like this? I know that in ww2 commanders were pretty much constantly turned out for just this reason, any idea if it carried on into the cold war?