Words by the way: Steel Beasts 4.3103 - A downgrade?
Steel Beasts has been updated to 4.3103. There's a few quality of life changes, mainly around updating how the in-game blue force tracker/radio overlay works, how you join network games, and I believe the fidelity of certain Abrams' thermal imaging systems. Nothing major, though the addition of fading contacts a la CM is much appreciated. In addition, there appears to be a new campaign (referred to as an 'operation' by the Sim), which seeks to emulate a modern near-peer conflict in addition to the historical Yom Kippur campaign.
The remaining balance of changes have involved removal of features, most notably the ability to host large networked games (i.e: without a dedicated server), and the inability to save AARs for later review. The details on why precisely this occurred are, and likely will remain, nebulous, but it appears one or more of eSim Games' military clients had security concerns. 4.3103 has also re-titled the personal version of the sim to simply "Steel Beasts", rather than the "Personal Professional Edition", to reflect this reduction in teaching and training functionality for the private user.
From what I can see in the community, the update is extremely unpopular. It seems to have put a damper on a lot of the large-scale communities that do fight-nights and large co-ops, at least until they get dedicated servers up (and at the time of writing, it appears they almost all have). The initial frustration was therefore understandable, but in these circumstances, probably unwarranted. Steel Beasts has not, for quite some time, if ever, been a commercial game with a military client (how I would currently describe Combat Mission's situation), but rather a professional simulator with a small civilian market. Nils has only hinted at the effort taken, but I suspect out of some passion for their civilian market, they have spun on their head to keep SB available to private users.
The easiest thing eSimGames could've done, if lucrative and recurring clients grumbled, was to simply yank the civilian licenses and at a stroke address such concerns. Instead, they chose to labour for a compromise, one that I suspect had in real monetary terms very little reward. Having existed in a profession that, while adversarial, is also rooted in reaching difficult compromises, I can understand this was likely a busy and stressful period for Nils et al. Further, and given what I've written about the state of the industry before, it would be hypocrisy of the highest order to not recognize the efforts taken to preserve their reputation with their civilian community, instead of chase the easiest, profit-driven solution.
In sum: loss of easy networking of games larger than four players, and being able to save after-action-reports, is an annoyance, but a state of affairs far more preferable to not having this excellent sim at all.
Types of Attack: The Spoiling Attack
As the title card shows, I'm attempting to play through scenarios that run the gamut of chapter 5 of the US Army's tactics primer, FM 3-90. There's no particular reason, asides from slowly getting to grips with larger and larger scenarios, or ones that put me under some form of extreme time pressure.
In this post, I will write a brief AAR of Spoiling Attack by Arch.
First, I will briefly take us through what FM 3-90 has to say on the Spoiling Attack, with particular respect to what constitutes one. Then, a brief exploration of mission and terrain, before we get into the execution.
What is a Spoiling Attack?
It is, in short, an attack launched against an enemy preparing, but yet not ready, to launch their own attack (Chapter 5, Paragraph 147). Objectives and terrain are merely for guidance of the attack, and are not meant to be seized or held. My understanding here is, in all respects, a spoiling attack is actually an intrinsically defensive operation, but maximizes your own firepower and mobility. It is meant to allow a small force, perhaps with disproportionate fire support, upset the enemy's time table, or destroy key assets (i.e: tanks, artillery) before they can be effectively used to support further enemy action.
Paragraph 148 explicitly lists gaining time for the preparation of a main defensive position, which only further confirms this is a more aggressive method of conducting a delay in sector. I've covered hasty attacks in this blog before, but needless to say they are also linked intrinsically with a spoiling attack, given one may have to be launched when fleeting opportunities present themselves.
According to Paragraph 150, what constitutes successful spoiling attack to the US Army is one that is launched with enough time that the enemy is not synchronized or coordinated, and does not overextend the friendly force. For this mission, that would mean hitting the enemy battlegroup before it concentrates or takes good defensive positions in its assumed assembly area, and doing so with light losses.
Situation:
It is now 0530, September 26, 1986. A recce platoon forward of the of our current front line has reported an East German (NVA) rifle unit concentrating in the valley below for an attack. We are tasked with disrupting it, and are given 60 minutes to seize "MARKT" - the town around which they suspected to be concentrating in.
For the attack a very small company grouping has been assembled. A platoon of (what would be cutting-edge) Leopards 2A4s, a platoon of armoured infantry in Marder 1A3s, and a small command element taken from both parent companies. In support is the pre-positioned recce in the excellent Luchs armoured car, and two batteries of mortars, which is fairly heavy support for such a small force.
The enemy appear to have moved forward ATGMs to cover the assembly of the main attacking force, so it is vital to ID likely firing positions for them and work them over with mortars before we break cover for the attack.
Scheme of Manoeuvre
Scheme:
1. Tank Troop (-) takes support by fire positions on high ground, overlooking objective and opposite high ground.
2. On order, Infantry Platoon (+) moves behind recce section to selected dismount point to destroy enemy in MARKT.
3. Intimate support of infantry attempts to seal off objective area in conjunction with the SBF.
As you can tell from the contour lines, we are in a particularly hilly area. I had to take care to ensure my tanks did not attempt to traverse terrain that was too steep. Going down a steep hill is one thing, reversing back up may be nigh impossible, a very tragic situation if under ATGM fire.
Likely enemy positions were also marked as NAIs, which doubled as quick reference points for fire missions. The hilly terrain created quite a few areas of dead ground, and the attack was to be swift movement from one piece of defilade to the next. The first order of business, though, was to establish intimate support for the infantry. Unfortunately, the Leopards and Marders marched to the LC via separate roads, and it took some time to send over an intimate support tank via a poor forest road.
Execution
While the organization and forming up of the attack is on going, the Luchs report an ATGM in the vicinity of NAI 12. It's swiftly knocked out by a mortar barrage, removing the most obvious threat to both the assault element and the support by fire.
With that ATGM dealt with I had enough confidence to order the two left most Luchs to begin moving to see if the route to the dismount position was clear.
It was, unsurprisingly, not, and a Luchs is knocked out by a second Sagger about halfway through the danger zone. His wingman is able to retreat to cover (a brilliant feature of the scout command when coupled with a fall back way point) and report the position, which is again knocked out by mortar fire.
I must admit, despite this all occurring essentially within the first five minutes I was already feeling a time pressure. While we were expected to get into MARKT and destroy as much as we could by H+60, which is not an ungenerous amount of time, the actual pressure came from my (correct) understanding that the enemy would be moving more forces into the area, and wanting to hit them before they were situated in hides or hasty defensive positions. The brief recon, however, did pay off, and though it was frustrating to trade a Luchs for two Saggers, it was still preferable to a fully loaded Marder.
Once this second ATGM was dealt with, the Luchs was able to proceed via the road to just south of the dismount position, where it gained contact with BTRs and retreated to an observation position. By this point, which was approximately H+10, both assault and support elements were in their forming up areas and ready to begin the attack proper.
The assault element formed up; an intimate support tank in front.
The SBF in their hides. My command tank in the foreground.
Smoke is fired onto the opposite high ground, with a low, steady rate of fire. Then: we're off. The order is given via trigger for the Leopards to proceed to their support-by-fire positions. Contact is rapidly gained with a pair of BTR platoons already in hasty positions, with their dismounts in some micro terrain. More importantly, more are spotted and engaged - with inevitable effect - coming into the area. So far, so good: we attacked rapidly enough to hit the enemy en route to assembly.
It's a quick, two minute shoot, before we pop smoke and return to hide to reload. NVA artillery inevitably hits the location we were firing from not long after we vacate, which is a constant threat to punish anyone who sits in a battle position for too long in Steel Beasts. The intimate support tank gets going while this occurs, and it pushes on to its own SBF with the surviving Luchs in company, where they begin to suppress Markt. Most of the NVA infantry were caught flat-footed but there appears to be a single platoon that has taken a decent hasty position along a creek, and there's enough folds in the ground that seems to be upsetting attempts to destroy them solely by fire. Their BTRs are less fortunate.
While the SBF is still reloading, the infantry pull into their dismount position. Here is where things start to get a bit out of control. The movement is not covered from both angles as planned, because my SBF is still reloading, having pulled the entire group of four tanks to do so. The intimate support is too busy chewing up BTRs and keeping infantry pinned, and therefore there is very little to protect the Marders when enemy T-55s show up. One Marder is swiftly knocked out, and another damaged non-critically, before the Marders pull into cover. The infantry shake out, but are shot up quite badly at first by a BRDM that is trying to make an escape nearby. It isn't until the T-55s are taken care of that a Marder and a Panzerfaust team can deal with the BRDM. Six men are ultimately killed or wounded before that point.
The situation 17 minutes in.
Luckily I am able to get the Leopards moving back to SBF quickly, and in a quick gunnery duel the T-55s are knocked out.
It has been an extremely frenetic fight, and I'm happy to admit I briefly lost control of the situation. I spend quite a few minutes getting it under control, issuing modified orders to the infantry in light of the resistance encountered to their front. They managed to shake split into a covering group, reserve, and assault group forward of the dismount a few minutes ahead of a mortar barrage that would have almost certainly rubbished the platoon, which had been my fear when they were pinned by the enemy tanks.
A Luchs and Leopards provide intimate support on the left flank of the infantry advance.
An MG3 covers the attack.
The pace slows a bit as the infantry press their attack. The BRDM that had bedevilled them is now destroyed, and they are rolling up the flank of the NVA platoon which had stubbornly stood its ground dismounted, attacking via a wood plot in a right-flanking movement. A covering MG3, the AAR would reveal, accounted for quite a few of the enemy. Finally, they press past surrendering survivors and enter MARKT, which is not occupied.
Panzergrenadiers mop up the enemy platoon.
By H+36 we can claim, with some satisfaction, that we have accomplished our mission. The enemy vanguard has been broken up around objective MARKT. For 1 Luchs, 1 Marder and six dismounts we have destroyed:
- 2 x BRDM
- 12 x BTR-60PB
- 4 x T-55A
Along with various enemy infantry and weapons. Another BTR platoon was also caught moving down the valley, but the mission ends before they can be engaged by fire.
The situation at mission end, H+36.
In the end, I'm awarded a Major Victory, with 98.3 score out of a possible 100. The points deducted almost certainly being for losses.
Final scoring.
Debrief
On the whole, I'm satisfied with the results. The scheme was direct, violent, and swift. The actual plan therefore, I don't think I could've improved on. Anything fancier or less direct would have almost certainly taken too much time, and gone against the spirit of the orders and the reality of the situation. Catching such a large proportion of the enemy force on the move is proof-positive of that.
This is the first SB mission in a while, as well, I avoided getting smothered by artillery - the tempo of the attack was therefore spot on.
Where we run into legitimate grounds for criticism is the co-ordination. The asterisk to my self-praise for speed, is that it devolved into wasteful haste when I ordered the infantry forward before the support-by-fire had reloaded and resumed positions. I could have afforded a minute's delay. The dismount position itself, was also poorly selected. It was far too exposed, and for no reason. The road itself was well covered, and much nearer to the intimate support vehicles, and could've allowed the infantry to fan out and press forward under neither observation or fire. This could've been a very serious error, and we're lucky the enemy tanks were relatively outmoded T-55s shooting at something approaching long range. Infantry can be frightfully useful in SB, but the scope of their modelling is naturally limited, and can often make them extremely fragile. If they're misused, or poorly handled, you tend to lose them faster than you can react to mitigate your mistake.
This is obviously a relatively easy scenario, I think, but one that I can easily see degenerating into utter chaos given the enemy's ATGMs. You have a very fragile force, and so any unnecessary or premature losses basically scuppers the attack before it can begin. I'm of the view it's an excellent demonstration of a realistic spoiling attack, where staying with the spirit of the principles in FM 3-90 paid off: striking fast before the enemy can situate themselves, while using the most direct and minimal application of force to do so.
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