This AAR is based on mission called "Hornet's Nest" for Steel Beasts Pro Personal Edition (SB Pro PE), and the mission in question is a MP COOP -mission. 10 players took part in the action (Zipuli, Espi, Honcho, Moka, Pulverizer, Paladin, Stalintc, General Billy, ChanceBS, SMITTY - too bad last 3 had to leave during the mission for other real-life related duties). TeamSpeak was used for communication during the mission.

MISSION:
The mission takes place in a near future conflict in a rogue state in South-America. Blue side is a Task Force (TF, lead by Stalintc) under NATO/EU operation aimed to bring down the current regime in power. Blue side starts the mission with 4 CV9040C's (Lead by Zipuli) for reconnoitering the operation area around enemy controlled town of Los Cohones. After 90 minutes the TF main forces (2 tank and 2 mech inf platoons) arrive to attack and seize the town. Blue side has also support of Recce chopper flight, a heliborne landing and a CAS element of 2 Tiger -choppers. Red side has mediocre equipment with Leo 1A5, BMP-2, BTR-80, Hinds... Enemy strenght in the area is around 2 companies in the beginning of the mission, but it is very thinly spread along the TF area of responsibility (AOR). The enemy also has reserves north of the AOR that he may use to counter any blue side actions...


Mission map southern part... 2 recon sections of 2 CV9040Cs started on the areas marked with Route 1 and Route 2 (green).


Northern part of the map. The town of Los Cohones is the TF objective. The areas marked with LZ 1-3 are possible locations for the heliborne attack. Up north blue has 3 spec ops recce teams reporting enemy movements along the roads.


A view of the objective area, looking from the coming attack direction, south. All 3 bridges in the town are visible.

THE RECON PLATOON:
The TF CO (Commanding Officer, Stalintc) ordered the recce platoon to split up into 2 sections to scout 2 planned attack routes. The western one went first north, then to bridge 2 and bridge 3, and the eastern one ran along route 2 to bridge 4 direction. Western section was lead by Zipuli and eastern section by ChanceBS. After reaching the Los Cohones suburbs the recce platoon would go around the town from the east and reconnoiter LZ1 and LZ2 for the airborne rangers.


Recon section in action...


PART I: GHOSTS IN THE FOREST

"One Echo, this is Zero Alpha, move out on both routes! Over!"
"One echo, moving, over!"
"Four echo, moving, over!"
"Zero out!"

One Echo moves out with his wingman, Two Echo. The moving along the western road is slow and careful: One scans along the road and Two scans the flanks. Two also has infantry looking out the hatches allowing 3 more pair of eyes laid on the road sides. Orders are to recce the road, report any mines and if encountered with enemies engage only light resistance. Tanks are not to be challenged, as the little CVs will not stand a chance against enemy Leopards!

After few kilometres the section starts to move in bounds, from bend to bend and from ridge to ridge, with other vehicle supporting and other moving. All crewmen are observing the terrain for anything suspicious... Something on the right side of the road! No, just a bush, not a laying guerilla... phew... And the move continues. Reaching the first turn, the section stops and shuts down the engines. Only birds singing and wind blowing - Good! The section starts up and takes a right turn. So far so good!

A few hundred meters further One Echo stops at a ridge in hull-down position. In front there is the next turn right, and some small houses. Paladin, One Echo's gunner reports all clear and Pulverizer, Two Echo's commander receives the order to continue to the turn point. I observe the area in front of me... all looks clear. Just in case I order engine shutdown to listen if there are any enemy noises in the area in front. But nothing is heard either by me or Pulverizer. "Move out!" and Two Echo slowly moves past One Echo and takes point. I see the gunner scan the houses in front of us. Two Echo reaches the corner - "BLAM!" Two Echo is covered with a bright flash and sparks fly around the vehicle with smoke puffs and dust kicked up by the impact - "What the...?" Two Echo turns tightly and launches the GALIX -IR blocking smokes and turns behind one of the houses. I see that the hatches that were open and full of infantry looking out are empty now. Two seconds after the impact I hear a definite engine start-up sound few hundred meters in front of me: "Zero Alpha, this is One Echo, we're ambushed by an enemy tank! Two Echo is hit! Pulling back!" I fire my GALIX and take a sharp right turn out of the road and into the cover of the forest. "This is Two Echo, we got our stabilizer busted and sights are gone... Infantry squad is all wounded!" Two Echo fires its GALIX again and pulls back. We move quickly through the forest to our right and avoid being seen again by the ambushing Leopard...


A Leopard 1A5 was in perfect ambush position with engine shut down, so even sound didn't give away the position. 2/E is hit by 105mm sabot round in the turret ring, but with some miracle the IFV is not blown to bits, but manages to pull back - though heavily damaged and losing all 6 infantrymen in the rear compartment.

During the ambush actions the other recce section had reached their first right turn and Route 2 was reported clear that far. Also Stalintc ordered a pair of Tiger -attack choppers to fly a recon flight from the south and scan the area of Los Cohones from the air. The choppers revealed quicly that the town was infested with enemy mechanized infantry, but also that the bridge 2 area was guarded by enemy BMP-2s and infantry. This meant that my section's route was blocked... After a few minutes Stalintc ordered us not to head to Bridge 2 area, but to move through the forest straight to Bridge 3. I checked my map and started moving using the map and my GPS.


Tiger taking altitude to quickly scan the town area before diving back to tree-top-level.

Our wounded section reaches Bridge 3 and finds it clear at the same time as the other section reaches Los Cohones southern buildings. ChanceBS and Espi both report loud enginesounds in the town and are told not to go further. Instead the whole platoon is ordered by Stalin to head east 1,5 km and move north to LZ2. Spec Ops had reported enemy trucks and BRDM-2s moving along road "FOXTROT" (green F on map) and Stalin wanted to take a closer look at that direction, as it seemed to be a likely supply/counter-attack route for the enemy. All the other spec ops squads reported that the roads they were observing were unused by the enemy...

4/E's section started moving north towards the Warehouse -area. My section went one kilometer further to east before turning north. There was one dirt road to cross before reaching the planned LZ2 -area. 4/E reached the road first but engine sounds were detected so they pulled back and moved further east towards my route. I reached the dirt road soon and also found a suitable spot to cross the small stream running south of the road. I moved in cautiously leaving the damaged 2/E behind - I was sure the enemy may have some foot patrols guarding the road this close to the town. But nothing was to be seen. And to my delight 2/E reported they had got their thermal sight to work again, tho the turret had to be operated with hand crancs. Honcho, the gunner decided to turn the turret to 12 o'clock position and use the vehicle as an assault gun. We soon crossed the road and headed to LZ 2 area.

Soon 4/E reached the same area where we crossed the road. "Crossing the road... no wait! Infantry front, engage!" I was right, the enemy was guarding the road, but unfortunately for them they were spotted first with the thermal imager and neutralized with well aimed coax fire. After destroying the small 3-man patrol 4/E hurried accross into the safety of the forest - just in case if anyone heard the shots and came to investigate.

My section reached the LZ area from the east, while 4/E reached the warehouse -area from the south. I ordered my vehicle and Pulverizer to take positions on top of a ridge just south of the LZ. The position was perfect! We were civered by the woods, but the open fields were clearly visible for us. I ordered engine shutdown and we listened... but not without trouble, as Pulverizer had parked on the slope and when he turned off the engine, the damaged vehicle started to roll down the ridge uncontrolled hitting a few trees before the driver started the engine again and reversed back up, this time to a level position. Nothing was heard but the 3/E and 4/E engines to our south-west.


1/E in position south of LZ2, overwatching the open fields. A good position indeed! At this point Paladin took over 4/E whose crew (3 SB Generals) had to leave early and Honcho took my gunner's seat from the damaged 2/E.

"Tank! Tankki perkele! Ammun!" Blasted from the radio when Moka, 3/E gunner spotted something and switched in panic into native-language-mode. 7 shots were heard from the Warehouse -area, "No, it was a BRDM... no tank. It's dead now." After that I heard some relieved laughter in the radio as the 3/E crew laughed at their panic stricken reaction. Anyways, there was enemies in the Warehouse area so 4/E section was ordered to disengage, move east and continue to LZ1, where the spec ops had spotted an enemy HMG team with 12,7mm AAMG. My section was ordered to stay overwatching the LZ2 and prepare to support airborne landing there - Stalin was now made his decision to block this road, not either of the 2 other possibilities... After Pulverized reported engine sounds from the Warehouse area I was given permission to investigate and neutralize any light resistance I may run into. Excellent! Now we had switched from hush-hush -mode into combat mode! And only 80 minutes were done at this point.

I drove my CV to the warehouses. In front of me I saw the BRDM killed by Moka. I ordered Honcho to scan the houses and moved in cautiosly. "PC, front!" - "Engage!" BLAM BLAM! "It's burning... wait another one!" BLAM BLAM BLAM! Two more BRDM-2s were left burning in the area. We managed to sneak on them from their rear and were not spotted before we fired. I turned the engine off... only the sound of three vehicles burning... Excellent! "Good job One Echo! I have called in the landing to LZ2 now! They're inbound in 5 minutes! Support the landing, out!" said the pleasant english accent voice of Stalin on the radio. I moved my vehicle back on the ridge and Pulverizer moved down behind a barn to watch the road leading east. We were ready. At the same time 4/E under Paladin reached a high hill overwatching LZ1 from the north-east and reported LZ1 being clear. "Roger that Four Echo, pull back north east into the wooded hill and wait for further orders!"

"Copy that, moving..."
"Good job Four Echo, excellent job there! Congrats! Zero Alpha out!" BLAM!
Just when the relief hit the men of 4/E and they ended their recce and were pulling back from the LZ1 area, something hit 3/E in the rear and the CV blew up in flames killing everyone. "What the hell!" Another missile in the air... BLAM! 4/E is hit in the front turret, but luckily no damage is received. After one more hit Paladin finally spots the ambushing enemy and kills them with accurate MG fire. An ATGM -team had crawled up on the same hill 4/E used to observe LZ1 from. Seeing the CVs moving away with rear exposed the enemy managed to fire and kill Moka and Espi (who both reported post mortum that they almost crapped their pants :)). This was 90 minutes into the mission, 90 minutes avoiding the grim reaper, and AFTER the recce mission is completed and the boys are heading home, they got creamed by unseen enemy - the ghosts in the forest got taste of their own medicine!

Listening to Paladin's engagement on the radio I heard chopper sounds closing from south-east. The aircav is here! For some 30 seconds the noise got louder and louder. Then finally I spotted a Tiger flying from my right clearly circeling the LZ and covering the landing. Few seconds later four Chinooks flew right over me top speed almost touching the treetops! The choppers' nose tilted up as the speed was killed and the birds brought down with speed. Hitting the ground the troops dismounted and the Chinooks took off again, turned sharply and headed right over me again with top speed. An impressive looking action! Honcho, Pulverizer and Stalin all apllauded loudly as the transport choppers disappeared and the infantrymen started to move into cover of the woods around the LZ. The two Tigers circeled around the LZ two times engaging something with their cannons and turned away as the infantry reached safety. The road was quickly blocked and missile teams and automatic grenade launcher (AGL) teams set up their weapons covering the open - if the enemy counterattack came along route FOXTROT as Stalin predicted, they would not go through the LZ easily!

All was set up for the main attack. When the timer hit 90 minutes, the Task Force main body arrived from south along route 2 as Stalin had ordered to. Enemy defences were quite well scouted and the attack route 2 was found clear - the TF could move into Los Cohones from the south using full speed! The tension was rising, time to kick some rogue butt!


A pair of Tigers cover the arriving of the Chinooks.


Tiger zooming over the LZ while infantry teams head for cover. In foreground 2/E which has damaged Stabilizer and is overwathing the road which the airborne troopers are about to close for good.

- END OF PART I -

Zipuli

PS. SB Pro PE (www.steelbeasts.com) is an excellent modern tank/ground warfare simulation by eSim Games (www.esimgames.com). This multiplayer session was free for all who wanted to join!

love to read SB Pro PE AAR's... always learn something new.... thx for sharing.

Nice one.

Excellent AAR!

The Task Force:
The main attack force was commanded by Stalintc as mentioned before, he has a command CV9040B that did not take part in the actual fighting. The TF consisted of 5 platoons:
-1/B Leopard 2A4 platoon (Zipuli as platoon leader, Pulverizer as wingman)
-2/B Leopard 2A4 platoon (Moka)
-3/B CV9040B Platoon (Espi)
-4/B CV9040B Platoon (Honcho)
-Logistics platoon with M88 ARV, 2 x M113MED, 2 x M113Repair (Stalintc)

Paladin was commanding the remaining 3 CV9040Cs form the recce platoon.

PART II - COHONES BLOODBATH

The Task Force received orders on the way to the AOR to use the Route 2 (marked on map). On arrival Stalin gave orders to continue towards Bridge 4 and stop at the inner perimeter (marked red) -line on the map. The TF was organized into company column with 1/B on point and then 2, 3, 4, logistics. Taking my tank to the point I started moving medium speed to the Line of Departure (LOD). Reports from recce indicated enemy footmen patrolling the roads, so even when the recce had reported the road clear I advanced scanning the road sides with thermal imager, just in case. But luckily enough I didn't see anything and the company managed to reach LOD unnoticed.

When the company was ready at LOD engines were shut and we waited while Stalin made up the attack preparations, including addind artillery bombardments on located enemy positions within the town and the southern suburbs we were to enter the town from. My orders as the point platoon were to attack and kill anything I bumped into and reach the Barracks/Hospital area. 2/B following me was to cross the bridges to west side of the river and take the area south of train station. 3/B was to support 2/B and take train station and 4/B was to continue as the last platoon to Hospital/Barracks area and allow 1/B to be used as the TF reserve, in case of any enemy counterattacks. "All stations, this is Zero Alpha, be adviced I am firing artillery bombardment 1 on the southern suburbs and 2 500m east of the bridge 4. On splash 1/B start the attack! Zero out!"

"30 seconds to splash, start your engines!" The roar of the engines filled the still calm air. Soon the attack would start, with me taking the point... The tension raised as I looked at my map for the last time. "14/B, when I make contact or shoot, you speed up to my side and engage too, we continue then with double point, side by side and 12/B will follow behind, got that?"
"Roger, got it!" Engine sounds had been reported from the Bridge 4 area... the attack would start in column formation.

"Splash splash splash! Bravo move out! March march!" The air filled with whisteling noise as the grenades passed our position and soon the air filled with explosions. The ground 500m in front of us started to wave as the grenades hit it, and thousands of deadly shrapnel and fragments filled the air and smoke blocked visibility. "One Bravo move out! Driver forwards march!" The Leopard engine roared as the steel colossus started rolling forwards with gunner scanning the next bend anxiously. The platoon followed me and I also saw the next platoon following me before my tank took a right turn blocking visibility to my six. Raising on the ridge the artillery was bounding I slowed down slightly. When the last grenades hit the ground I ordered full speed and the Leo roared up the road. Slowing down slightly before the road turned down again I was able to get a brief look at the area before exposing my tank fully - "Clear!" Driving along the road and gunner pointing on the next bend I scanned the sides with my PERI. Houses, smoke, bushes... BTR-80!! I quickly slew the main gun on my PERI and when the turret stopped I fired the gun myself. The sabot round pierced both sides of the BTR setting it on fire. I didn't even slow down but ordered gunner to scan front and pushed to the next bend. "Sabot up!" shouted the loader in 6 seconds. The tank turned sharply to the first bigger group of houses as the bombardment started on the second target to my right. Racing along the road forming a loop right before the turn to bridge 3 I heard shots fired by Pulverizer's Leo. "BMP-2 destroyed on the other side of the river, there's another one!" I drove between two houses on my left to gain visual on that direction. As soon as appeared behind the house an enemy BMP-2 fired a short burst at my tank from the other side - went high! I dropped inside the turret, close the hatch and gave the fire command to my gunner. Dust was kicked up on the lawns of the houses when my Rheinmetal 120mm L44 fired at the BMP-2 some 400m away. Before the dust settled I could see black smoke pouring to the sky - a hit! I ordered my driver to continue towards the Barracks... "14/B scan left! March March!" The platoon continued onwards and 40mm shots were heard from our six as 3/B CV engaged something somewhere... I didn't pay attention, I had my eyes on the road again.

Passing the next house on my right I saw something in between the trees just behind it. "Driver towards that next house!" The Leo turned to the right. A figure of an enemy Leopard 1A5 appeared some 80m in front of us "Tank!" A nanosecond before disintegrating into many different size and shape bloody pieces all over the turret wall my gunner saw a bright flash coming from the enemy Leopard's barrel... The next thing going through his mind was a 105mm sabot round...

Jumping out of the devastated turret with flames reaching for my bottom I barely saved my skin and jumped into 12/B's Leopard, tossing the NCO out of the turret to join the other incompetent tankers, also called "mechanized infantry". I ordered my new Leo to take a look from the other side of the house. Maybe I could take a flank shot... "Oh ****!" another Leo 1 was in position behind the first one and pointed at me with his gun. I backed up firing my smoke dischargers and relocated more to the left, heading for the enemy side so that I could see the first Leo, but a house would be between me and his wingman. I drove up on the lawn hitting a few trees and fired - right in the bread basket! The enemy Leo blew up violently and the turret was tossed in the air like a top of a beer bottle. I reversed back down and relocated to the left some more. Driving up the hill my gunner reported the enemy tank in front of us aiming at us. Thank God the man had nerves of steel and didn't fire away, but rather moved his head to the auxilary sight that is located on the same level as the gun, unlike the main sight that is located higher than the gun. This revealed to him that the gun was still pointing at the ground in front of us, even as I could see the target in the thermal imager picture. The enemy fired prematurely, hitting the ground in front of us - their gunner was not as good as mine! I drove up few more meters and gunner fired - BLAM! The enemy Leopard stopped moving and black smoke poured out of the commander's hatch - "gotcha!"

"This is Four Echo, enemy tanks and BTR-80s moving down the road FOXTROT from the north... six Leopards and nine BTRs... out!" The enemy had reacted to our attack and counterattack was on its way to throw us out of Los Cohones. But they were heading to our airborne troopers' positions - excellent!

After destroying the 2 Leopards my platoon, with one Leo 2A4 down continued to the Barracks. Firing escalated behind us, as Moka raced across the stream and Espi and Honcho lead their platoons into the town area. Unfortunately one of Espi's CVs took hits and was destroyed along with one of Moka's tanks - neither managed to see where the shots came. Honcho reached the Bridge 4 and was ordered to turn east and cover our flank. He moved up and dismounted his infantry on a small hill. Just when he reported he is in position a violent artillery barrage hit his position spot on and caused terrible casualties on the infantry. During the bombardment a shot was hearf from the west and one of Honcho's CVs blew up. "Tanks front!" screamed Espi and engaged with 40mm... In front of him on the road leading to the Fuel Station was a high hill and two Leopards in hull-down positions - the ones that took out already three of our vehicles with flank shots! Moka was able to kill the other and Espi took out the other one with multiple hits in the Leopard's weak side and rear hull armour, revealed by the enemy when the tank started to relocate closer to us.

I reached the barracks area and saw a long column of Ural -trucks in front of me. Ordering Pulverizer to line formation I engaged the helpless trucks that started to escape, but too slowly for them! One after another started to look like swiss cheese when our MG3s rattled and main gun fired HE rounds at them...

Same time on LZ2 a young sergeant from an AGL team spotted enemy tanks moving towards them on the road. The tanks were coming in fast with BTR-80s following. It looked like they were not spotted yet. The airborne troopers tried to go even lower in their positions to not be seen by the Leopards and allow them to drive into the open before opening fire with MBT-LAWs and AT-4 launchers. Unfortunately the point Leopard gunner saw the sergeant with thermals and opened fire, killing the young man instantly. The Leopards spread out and did not drive into the open, but started firing and soon artillery struck the defending airborne troopers - the ambush was compromised!


The enemy reinforcements racing to Los Cohones, just about to enter the trap set up by the airborne troopers. The first Leopard was able to spot the defenders and ruined their attempt...


Artillery barrage hits the defending airborne troopers as the firefight began. The strike caused 8 casualties...


Pair of BTRs storming to the open under cover of the enemy barrage. 2 Seconds later the BTRs are taken down by 40mm AGL fire and an MBT-LAW -missile.

Seeing the ambush ruined and enemy spreading out for attack Stalin quickly ordered ICM strike on the road. "1/B, this is Zero Alpha, disengage the trucks and continue best speed to LZ2 and destroy the enemies there! Out!" Damn... I had only 2 sabot rounds left in my ready rack and same was true with Pulverizer. But the order sounded so urgent I didn't stop to reload but drove through the truck columns with machineguns blazing and headed for the LZ2 area through Warehouse -area. I looked back and saw Pulverizer following me close by.

Before entering the LZ2 I slowed down and observed the area carefully. The fighting was hard as the airborne crunchies fired away with all they had to avoid being overran. First sight of the enemy I had was a sight of devastation: burning tanks and BTRs laying on the road and artillery strike hitting the ones following close by. Seeing if anyone was still alive was difficult - untill one Leopard turned its turret to point at me. "Tank on the right side of the road, 1500 meters!" I yelled to Pulverizer and fired one shot before backing up to safety without seeing did I hit or miss. Pulverizer passed me on the same second, "Target identified!" BLAM! "I hit it! Wait... wrong target, it's on the..." Another blast from my right, this time sparks flew at me and and the pressure knocked my vision quite badly. I dived into the turret and looked out the periscopes... Pulverizer's Leopard was covered with dust and smoke and fire was pouring out of the open commander's hatch.


My sight image when seeing the enemies attacking our infantry. The undamaged Leopard is visible just under the crosshair, on the right side of the trees, behind the BTR wreck.


ICM barrage hitting the attacking enemy company, causing panic and devastation. Coupled with AT-4 and missile fire the enemy BTRs were knocked out, but many Leopards were still alive.

I realized I had the last ready sabot in the barrel. I took a quick peek around the house corner, identified the enemy Leopard and fired. The Leoapard started to burn with bright yellow flame. Hit! I needed to get more sabots up so I pulled back again and started reloading. I reported the actions to my CO, including the casualties taken, and received orders to block the enemy at any cost. "Roger that!" When the painfully slow seconds had passed and my tank had 6 sabot rounds ready I turned the turret back 12 o'clock and ordered my driver to drive to the open using best speed. Descending from behind the house I saw another enemy Leo 1 taking positions near the road and fired - hit! The Leo brew up and I stormed forwards!


3 Leopard 1A5s destroyed on the road, one by artillery and 2 by 12/B. The puff of smoke from 3rd hit is visible.


Enemies killed in the heavy fighting.


Dead Leopards and a suspicious looking house behind them...

I continued forwards killing one more Leopard in the forest to my left. Looked like all reported 6 were now wrecks. Also I heard report from Paladin he engaged and destroyed the last BTR-80 in the enemy attack column - he had let them all past him and followed behind them and took some flank shots while I was crossing the fields. SWOOSH! An RPG missed by tank by meters. I stopped and saw another one launched from a white 2-story building in front of me, 100m away. The other one hit a tree and detonated. I switched to MG and let loose some 200 rounds sweeping the upper floor windows as I pulled back behind few trees. I was followed by angry bursts of AK fire. As my HE rounds were expended I ordered an artillery strike against the house. Staying in the cover I heard the fighting getting harder and harder in the town of Los Cohones. At least 2 more friendly vehicles were lost and tanks spotted near the Train Station - looked like the situation was getting worse by the second. The artillery barrage struck the building and I moved up again and let loose 500 more MG rounds sweeping the upper floor windows first, then the lower ones. After the artillery stopped firing the house was on fire, battered and no sight of any kind of life was to be seen... "This is 1/B, enemy counterattack destroyed, friendly infantry took some casualties but is in good shape and can hold!" - "Roger, move now back to help the rest of Bravo!" My driver heard the orders on radio too, switched to Wende and turned the tank 180 degrees and started to speed back along the same road we used to cross the open fields...


Artillery striking the enemy occupied house seconds before the Leopard on the left (12/B) moved into battleposition to engage the house with MG...


Back from work... Leaving trail of destruction I pull back to Los Cohones to help the others.


Same time in Los Cohones Train Station, Moka and Espi with their remaining tank engage 2 Leopard 1s that are in hiding. Espi managed to spot them both and Moka took good flank shots killing them both. This was the turning point in the battle for Los Cohones.

Returning to Los Cohones I saw from my tactical map that our forces were really badly mauled, yet managed to destroy enemy tanks in the area. No more fire was received at this point, so I was ordered to take a detour from Bridge 7 to Train Station and secure the area north of Los Cohones. I started moving south after the bridge and 2/B's last Leopard turned north to do the same. At this point Stalin managed to contact our CAS element of 2 Tiger attack choppers. They arrived from the south-east and managed to spot few enemy APCs still in the town close proximity, destroying 3 vehicles with cannon and rocket fire. The choppers popped up, fired for some seconds and dived down again to switch position to pop back up again. None of our 10 choppers in this attatck were even damaged by enemy fire...


The CAS element arrived late, but that's better than nothing as they managed to kill at least 3 enemy vehicles in the close proximity of Los Cohones.

After sweeping the north-west part of the objective area and killing an engineer platoon, command post and BTR-80 platoon our mission was finally accomplished - the town was taken and enemies destroyed! The cost was high as only 2 Leopards and 2 CV90s were still undamaged. Most of our Task Force was burning in the Los Cohones town centre. For us this was a tactical victory of Pyrrhus, but on grander level the NATO/EU operation was dealt a stinging blow as so many of the attackers were destroyed.

So in the end, after 160+ minutes of playing we had managed to cause a two sided bloodbath in Los Cohones. We were tired, and at the same time happy for accomplishing the mission and angry about all the fallen comrades in arms... Our force was hit that badly that the attack did not continue as planned, and the operation was bogged down. Kind of like Lebanon 2006...

Zip

You know Zip, you gotta be careful here. With this well written AAR and those beautiful screenshots, you just might convice people to purchase this sim. Do we really want others "outside the club" aware of the "fun factor" involved here with this amazing "tank simulation?"

There goes the neighborhood.

Hey, it's not as you couldn't use some beefing up of your virtual units - and if that thought doesn't appeal you could still assume the position of The Butcher:
"Hhhhhhaaaahh! FRESH MEAT!"

EExcellent AAR. A little surprised that Leo2s took such a pounding from Leo1s. Guess with the close in fighting you lose some tactical advantages.

The 105mm gun may gradually slip out of inventories, but it is far from being useless. The Leo 1's great weakness is not the armament, but the thin armor protection which makes it vulnerable at practically all ranges for all tanks after since the T-55, so its crew must strive for surprise, disengage quickly, and hope that the better fire control system will give the edge in longer ranged engagements to score a hit before the other side can.

In team vs team multiplayer games a group of veterans can offer a "handicap" to new players by setting up a battle giving them the Leo 1. If you win with them against Leo 2 or Abrams tanks you clearly must have had better tactics.

Really excellent AAR Zip! Lots of effort.

Yeah, Leo 1A5 got almost as good first shot hit % as Leo 2A4, and also in close combat both can kill each other really well, so it's more about spotting the other first and firing first. At longer engagement ranges Leo 1s are mostly considered breakfast for Leo 2A4s, if they are not lead by someone who REALLY knows his trade!

Zip

Very nice AAR, nice to see what you other guys were actually doing when I was getting licked by that blasted artillery and LEO1s (managed to smash some puny BTRs in Los Cohones to vent my frustration, though). Probably my most enjoyable multiplayer gaming session ever, in any sim or game.

And I'd seriously recommend this sim to anyone interested in armored warfare (or generally, modern warfare). It is easily worth the price and the people who play this online are nice and according to my experience very friendly to newbies. The controls are easy to learn and remember, mastering them in the quick situations in the battlefield requires some practise though (still learning that myself... )

here comes the first lemming

I didnt even know a sim. like this existed. Thanks for the AAR, it was most immersive!
now i'm debating the $125 price and if it could be shipped to Turkey.
But heres my first newbie question: Can you save a replay of the session and watch it from different angles later on? That would be awesome, just like the mission editor it's got..

on the order page at eSimGames you will see that it does ship to Turkey and also that shipping is free. of course, once it gets to Turkey, it could be possible that your customs department might delay it and add some fees to it.

http://www.esimgames.com/purchase.htm

Steel Beasts Pro PE does include an AAR tool which records the mission and with the 2.370 beta version there is also the option to save the AARs and watch them whenever you want to.

the AAR tool playback isn't exactly like watching a video. for that most prople use something like Fraps to record a mission.

in addition to SimHQ you can also learn more about steel beasts at http://www.steelbeasts.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSrkijbiem0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blgxQVaCYWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpIUxD90kyg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzZg8VfVuFc

Pureblue, you may also want to see what the gaming experience looks and sounds like in-game. These videos are recorded from multiplayer sessions within our Virtual Unit (VU) A.R.R.C. It shows quite well how cool it gets when using TeamSpeak and some real tactics. I made these videos to be sort of training tools / AARs for us, but soon noticed that people who watched them got really interested in the sim and asked questions and eventually bought the game too!

Zip

thanks for the feedback guys. And the videos are very informative, showing insight to the tactics and communications, great work Zip!
I had to watch "A Bridge too Far" last night to get my fix
Now off to the steelbeasts site to check out some more reading material.

You may want to check out the Game Info... section, then Images..., and there the SB2/SB Pro photo album. Many screenshots.

Interesting ... I see the Tiger has an ADF skin!

Torquatus

Torquatus, you may be interested about the fact, that being used by the ADF for training this game also has australian vehicles: ASLAV-25 (playable), ASLAV-PC (playable), ASLAV-CS, ASLAV-A, M114AS4 (playable), Bushmaster (playable), Leopard 1AS (also M1A1 you guys use now, both playable), Tiger, also aussie infantry, aussie terrain... Did I forget something? Playable means here that you can get into gunners/commanders/drivers position, not only can command them on map and see them from 3rd person view!

Zip

damn, just put this on the front page and now your screens are gone! bandwidth problem?

Great AAR BTW.