Flank Guard: Semper Fi, Syria! Mission 03, Combat Mission Shock Force

[@Lazuli2-6]

The immersion of the briefing! There are actual flies!

[@TheQwetot]

Arma stronk

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yeah, forgot to turn the environment off!

[@thatorangeguy3646]

Dont, you put in the effort of setting it up, its very fun seeing little details that put you there​@@usuallyhapless9481

[@scullystie4389]

​@@usuallyhapless9481 it's actually better this way imo. Full immersion 😂

[@wojszach4443]

your introductions to this campaign are things of the legend

[@vicgalvalo8853]

"It always comes down to the infantryman and his rifle" or something like that...

[@Phvpark]

Holy Wargame reference xD

[@zaponator]

*machine gun nest explodes* Sgt Highway's been hit!

[@vicgalvalo8853]

@@zaponator well, you see, artillery adds dignity to what would otherwise be an ugly brawl

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I thought "How about a nice game of chess?" was a Wargame reference?

[@sherlockhooves574]

@@usuallyhapless9481 You're thinking of Wargames, the movie. He means Wargame, the RTS series.

[@Spankee99]

I love the Arma cinematics. Reminds me of your old Ukraine campaign.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I think we've all come a long way since then

[@zer9761]

good play. I suffered much more casualties in this one

[@statstats3724]

See this is where I'm appreciating your view on the campaign - I instinctively pulled my light infantry force behind my ridge in order to protect it from fire, just the same, but I'd have struggled to articulate it in those understandable terms (and therefore limiting my ability to work out when and how to adapt to a changed situation). There's one or two other missions where I went heavily on 'gut instinct', and I'm curious to see how you analyse them. This was probably the first mission I really enjoyed in the Marines campaign - the previous mission was all fun, games, and firepower, but here it was a mission where the over-sized and high-quality infantry platoons got to show both their strengths and their limitations. Funnily enough, my read on the use of the weapons was for the javelins to be on a no-fire arc until actual armour showed up, while using the SMAW to exchange fire with the BTRs. As the return MG fire wasn't very effective, the SMAWs could afford to miss, reload, and try again without being instantly vaporised as they would be if they missed a tank.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

It's amazing how much rubber-ducking your tactics helps you articulate them en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging

[@The2ndFirst]

This one was a rough one for me I had to play through a few times. I was very surprised how tough Marine infantry is against light skinned vehicles.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Only helps when they get close though. If enemy vehicle maintain that stand-off distance, the Marines have issues

[@The2ndFirst]

@@usuallyhapless9481 Fore sure.

[@Protester19]

i loved this mission because i did the opposite and rushed forward into the dead ground. This was much riskier than i initially understood and my marines were totally outnumbered and desperately trying to hit enemy apc's at max range with their grenade launchers. We won via pure determination without even a dozen casualties. Scrappy, daring, and dangerous. probably my favorite mission in the whole game

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yeah, sometimes the AI feels a lot more threatening than it actually is, especially in Shock Force.

[@mimir4965]

Love the addition of ARMA.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I'm glad it's paying off!

[@wheelcha1rman2]

Topography... Topography never changes...

[@Euan_Miller43]

Loving the style and effort gone into these marine campaign videos. Also having an objective with

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much!

[@ARescueToaster]

Awesome series / campaign, as usual! This mission seems nicely (and deviously) constructed with the tank push near the end, and your AT reinforcements only arriving at the 11th hour

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much! I do enjoy missions that keep me on my toes!

[@Maarxman]

This series rules man, love your content and can't wait for more

[@larsdejong7396]

Not much to add here. Excellent as always. :) You did the right thing: if the enemy has more long-ranged firepower then you, make sure he can't shoot at you, and deploy your units behind a reverse slope. Just let him come forward under the watchfull eyes of an FO. Some hit-and-run attacks from an ATGM-team not withstanding.

[@davidevans8527]

Been on a binge of your channel for the past month or two and this is the first CM campaign series I'm watching as it comes out. Keep up the good work!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Glad you're enjoying it man!

[@googleisabadcompany4748]

love the custom intro briefings man, keep em up!

[@Mechanized85]

08:52 that BTR-60 got the most unluckiest moment.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Yeah, that was not the best place it could have stopped

[@Rainwarlord]

Hapless I beg you to try a Soviet Red Thunder campaign this one! There is so much variety and uniqueness to them that often are overlooked.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

On my list ;)

[@alexy590]

If I remember correctly you get an extra scenario if you lose this one.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Oh really? I might have to go back and kaffle it to see

[@DankanXP311]

Great video! Next missions will be tough and the mud will pose a bigger danger than the Syrians... Good luck

[@gogogomes7025]

Rarely, do you get to use the AT4s but every time you do, you realize how important it is for every squad to carry one.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Or, preferably one per man. That said, NLAW is much cooler

[@Prayin4headeyes]

It would be interesting to see an Army IBCT platoon put into the same situation. I'd think the extra javelins would be a big help, but the lack of close range AT firepower would get sketchy faster than I'd like.

[@georgea5991]

Great video, as always. Have you considered doing a Graviteam Tactics Mius Front playthrough?

[@horseman2777]

Interesting mission from an experience standpoint. When I picked up CM, I pretty much knew nothing about tactics (what’s a reverse slope?). Since then, I’ve learned a lot, and this mission now looks completely different to my now more astute and trained eyes. Before, the Syrian attack looked like a senseless, jumbled mess. Now I see recce elements followed by a main body, with tanks in reserve to be deployed against identified enemy positions. Completely different. Good vid as always. I’m replaying this campaign at the same time as you, but it seems I’m now falling behind 😅

[@robertkalinic335]

Groooooming standaaaards!

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Poh-lease dat moostache!

[@robertkalinic335]

@@usuallyhapless9481 They need to add wild internal politics into the game, for russians especially.

[@ccccccc95]

Ngl sick vid.

[@PitterPatter20]

If you were playing as the Syrians, what would you do to counter the strategy you used in this video?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They did have some mortars- in the battle, they dropped them on the two MG nests left and right. If they had put a long slow linear barrage down the back of the reverse slope I would have had a much harder time. So essentially, integrating mortars/artillery into the plan and using them to support an effort on either flank. Not saying it would work, but it would make life a lot more difficult for the Marines.

[@kekistanimememan170]

@@usuallyhapless9481i guess that’s one thing this game is kinda gamey in the sense of map assets aren’t really a thing irl. Tho both sides have it I’d argue nato would benefit more if it could going by gulf war stats have AirPower destroy 50% of enemy artillery before a ground war occurs. Still the fun comes from putting up with it.

[@TheQwetot]

You can easy make 3d model map of terrain, buildings etc with one mod

[@michaeljenkins1375]

I've played this mission a few times and I have consistently experienced the Syrians starting off the battle with an artillery bombardment on my FO Team on the far right of the map. Did you have the same issue in your play through?

[@usuallyhapless9481]

They dropped it on the MG team on my right. And caused a casualty, but that just never made it into the video. One thing I did do with the Crow's Nest and the FO position on the right was to bring them back a square so they were a bit better protected. That might have helped.

[@KashouWannabe]

Off topic: I'm a amateur with this series and prefer the modern titles, simply as that's the "Gulf War" style feel of era I am more at home with. I did want a WW2 title though and picked up FB as it's the cheaper of the two, even though I think I would prefer BfN thematically. Decent choice from a content standpoint?

[@dv6000islame]

I like Final Blitzkrieg. I think it's a good choice. Hope you enjoy the Combat Mission games! It's my favorite wargame series to play.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Final Blitzkrieg is a solid choice, especially with the Downfall module

[@kalashnidoge]

Lets gooooo!

[@CrowDawg11]

Man I got absolutely rickrolled by the damn BTRs. I mean straight up overrun. My dudes missed almost every AT4 shot and my fire missions were mostly ineffective. I started wondering if I actually had army troops instead of Marines!

[@agustingrandamontalvo3082]

Cada día tus vídeos son mejores macho

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Thanks very much man!

[@neilosborn8322]

You gunna do a video on the fight club staffex? Sorry if you’ve answered this already

[@usuallyhapless9481]

I haven't answered this already! We'll see. It could be really interesting stuff, but I'd have to have a think about how to tackle it.

[@suleymansahin3770]

Great tactics but if you need a vicious enemy to play redfor I’m right here 😂 your opponent is too reckless

[@elbastardo1891]

When I played this, the T-62's headed straight down the ravine and I sent my reinforcements scrambling up the slopes on both sides of it. I think the tanks ate like six AT4's, four SMAW rockets and god know what else before I knocked them out. It was like my guys were aiming exclusively at the ERA panels, probably just a skill/positioning issue on my end.

[@usuallyhapless9481]

Much more likely to be the pixeltruppen being useless than anything on your end man ;)

[@elbastardo1891]

@@usuallyhapless9481 I'm pretty sure I repeatedly verbally instructed them to aim at the top of the hull, not the FUCKING SIDES YOU HAVE THE HIGH GROUND, but it worked out in the end with minimal casulties.