Campaign Series Middle East - 2.30 UPDATE

Jason Petho · February 01, 2024, 02:26:13 AM

We are making good progress, although it is turning out to be quite the challenge. The Egyptians are being far more stubborn than I figured they would be without being scripted. My attack in the north has bogged down as they keep throwing tanks and infantry at my attack force. I've managed to break through Umm Katef and into a mass of artillery batteries in the rear. That is causing my break through force some high anxiety. Down in the south, much the same. I've taken the town and am now suffering casualties taking out the heavy weapon positions. Ahh, lessons learned!

Jason Petho · February 08, 2024, 01:38:09 AM

My poor infantry. We are in the rear taking out artillery, but alas, it is all protected by recoilless rifles and anti-aircraft guns. These are having a brutal affect on the infantry as the fighting is up close and personal as I attempt to take out the positions. I will keep these little things in mind when I script the scenario to reflect how adverse to infantry casualties the Israeli's were during the conflict. On the bright side, the main Umm Katef line has almost fallen though! That's exciting news!

Jason Petho · February 15, 2024, 02:24:00 AM

We managed to finish the end of the scenario, but before we did that I showed off some new MOD's by MAUSMAN. Thank you MAUSMAN for your efforts! The combat was short and fierce with quite a bit of action. I didn't quite secure all of the positions but the vast majority. The Legacy AI did alright, but certainly not awesome, I can see some great coding potential here for scripting. There was also ideas tossed around about one large scenario for the northern Sinai as A WEEK IN or a Head to Head scenario. What do you think?

Jason Petho · February 22, 2024, 10:24:01 AM

We started a new battle today! The battle of Jerusalem, circa 1967. We used the new MAUSMAN 3D Terrain mod this session. I have some scripts to edit the files in PaintShop Pro, I just need to figure out how to use them ...easily. The battle itself is turning into a bloody affair, my poor Israeli infantry battalion suffered quite a few casualties. Urban combat sucks. Lots of valuable lessons though and I'm grateful that I'm not playing a human or scripted AI. Phew!

Jason Petho · February 29, 2024, 01:44:37 AM

After a chat in the beginning about the latest news with the Campaign Series and showing what I've been working on, we continued on with the Battle of Jerusalem scenario. Our advance from the south continues under Jordanian fire, but our tactics of securing the hills and villages before entering the city proper seems to be going well. So far anyway!

Jason Petho · March 07, 2024, 12:48:49 AM

We went through what I have been working on for the week and then continued our advance into the southern outskirts of Jerusalem. The fighting is going well and I'm taking a few losses, but this session is filled with examples of how to conduct assaults and strategies and tactics to make them effective. It is still a night slog, but we have noticed some Jordanian infantry trying to infiltrate our lines. A surprise indeed!

Jason Petho · March 14, 2024, 12:19:59 AM

An overview of what I have been working on and I went over a fascinating lesson for Lua scripting that I found. Then we continued our assault into the old city of Jerusalem. The fighting is intense and tedious, but a lot of fun to work on my city fighting tactics, especially when dealing with complex terrain and testing out different assaults. The fight in the south has just begin as daybreak has finally come. Exciting times with lots of combat all session!

Jason Petho · March 21, 2024, 01:06:15 AM

I explained what I have been working on in regards to the Iraqi Republican Guards and ended off that intro with an important question! Take a moment to answer it please. Otherwise, our nasty street fighting in Jerusalem was just that. Nasty. There is progress and I ran into some pillboxes out of nowhere, but our tactics are coming together and we are making excellent progress in clearing the city.

Jason Petho · March 28, 2024, 12:57:53 AM

We went over the plans for the Lua Scripting video. Now is definitely the time to chime in if you have any thoughts or comments. I will be starting it tomorrow or Friday. Otherwise, the attack into Jerusalem is going well, mostly without a hitch. I give a perfect example of dealing with pillboxes that is worth a lesson indeed! Our Sherman's are definitely no match for the Patton's the Jordanians have, so I'm going to have to take them out by some other means.

Jason Petho · April 02, 2024, 11:46:04 AM

This is a tutorial that goes over how to utilize CS Lua within the campaign series to make the AI perform the way you would like it to. In this tutorial, I select one infantry company and give you three levels of how to defend - with a bonus offering at the end! Even though this is done in Middle East, the same principles apply to Vietnam.

Please provide some feed back if you found this use or how I can make it better. If it is received well, it will be the first in a new series of scripting tutorials.

Jason Petho · April 04, 2024, 12:21:08 AM

After a chat and a question that might stir some conversation, we continued on with the end of the Jerusalem scenario, cleaning up the last of the Jordanians. We then started up the Port Said scenario to see how that scenario currently plays out. Lots of surprises indeed, which was delightful to see. Senseless violence ensues all over!

Jason Petho · April 11, 2024, 12:21:10 AM

It's been a busy week thus far, so not to much to report, but we did continue our attack into Port Said! This is turning out to be a bit more challenging that I assumed it would. I am loving fighting with both the French and the British though, it's such a blast! The street fighting is always a challenge, dealing with bunkers in an urban area is a pain in the... well, you know. Exciting times to see what I can do with this scenario though. Oh yes, 40mm Bofors are meat grinders, I'm learning that the hard way.

Jason Petho · Reply #57 - Re: Campaign Series Middle East - 2.30 UPDATE

We did a run down of the progress I've been working on CS Vietnam and CS Middle East and then dived into the Port Said scenario. The British seem to be still held up along the coast, but the French are rocking it this set of turns! We are advancing into the city from the south, but it is city fighting, so it's a pain. Many reinforcements have arrived, which is exciting as that will open up possibilities for the remainder of the scenario - especially potentially a push south. There was a valuable lesson to be learned about tanks in built up areas in this session.