Campaign Series Middle East - Videos

[Jason Petho]

A fun session today. Lots of combat, well, it was all combat. But I've successfully managed to make a few bridgeheads! We went in detail on attacking and assaulting Egyptian positions. I explain when to use tanks in an assault and when not to. Lots of valuable tidbits throughout! I do wish I had some more heavy artillery though!

https://youtu.be/hi1dDQNwcQI

[Jason Petho]

The canal front is a slow slog, but the western highway is going very smoothly. It seems that the Egyptian infantry had abandoned its APC's and head south along the canal. This has allowed the western brigade to advance relatively well, with the exception of a few minor ambushes. The canal zone, on the other hand, well that's a scrap and a half - but, I'm making progress. And then, night fell! What a surprise! I did find that I do have some SS-11 halftracks and some jeeps carrying Cobra's. I will see if I can put them to good use. Exciting times indeed!

https://youtu.be/JLTSPmExnMk

[Jason Petho]

With night time, the battles are far slower. All the firing effects are reduced significantly and the movement is slowed to a crawl for vehicles. That being the case, there's some good advancing towards the final objectives. I think I have broken through most of the defences, although I see the legacy AI trying to reinforce the areas that are lost. I ask a pretty important question and would like your feed back around the 11 minute mark, if you don't watch the rest of it, please take a moment to chime in on the question!

https://youtu.be/6KX074eVfNE

[Jason Petho]

Campaign Series Middle East: The advance continues quite efficiently and we're making excellent progress into the outer limits of the city. I ran into a massive artillery area, suffered some tank losses during my assaults, but the air strikes and additional infantry turned the tide. As my tanks advance into the city, I'm realizing I cannot do this without infantry support. Tanks assaulting alone just isn't going to cut it and is generally futile in an urban environment.

https://youtu.be/looM6ks_FyI

[Jason Petho]

And just like that, we wrapped up the Sharon's Quagmire scenario at about turn 40 (the scenario goes to 60) as I had successfully captured all of the objectives and destroyed all the Egyptian forces. I will replay this scenario after it is scripted to see how that changes things. After we started and finished Operation Bin Nun Bet, the assault on Latrun during the 1948 War of Independence. It's an Israeli attack against a fortified Jordanian Arab Legion position. And that is what it was. Holy, what a blast trying to get into that!

https://youtu.be/INGm3IY9SwI

[Jason Petho]

Campaign Series Middle East: We are giving this scenario a run through before I script it, mainly to figure out timing and see how I can make the Egyptians a "fun" opponent. I asked some questions during the sessions about event points and historical actions. Let me know what you think, I'm really curious what you'd like to see. The first part of the scenario is all about maneuver and the decision processes behind it. It's a good way to get the brain ready for the violence ahead!

https://youtu.be/K9IXAiRsr68

[Jason Petho]

We have nearly overrun the first obstacle along the main route of advance. That turned out to be a little more difficult than I anticipated. In the far north, my Sho't Meteor's are definitely winning the day. The biggest threats so far seem to be the anti-tank guns and recoilless rifles, but the tanks are doing a number on them providing clear attacks for my infantry. Down south, I'm not so lucky as the infantry brigade is advancing without armour support and suffering casualties. The day is cruising along pretty well with some interesting action and lessons throughout!

https://youtu.be/TR2kM586bl4

[Jason Petho]

The advance continues deeper into the desert. The center had stalled a bit while we had a traffic jam dealing with some rogue Egyptians and the attack in the south, well, that was taking losses all over the place. I finally have a handle on that now though, the approaches to the southern town are nearly secured. There was some oddities with the Legacy AI, as we know, but it is interesting to see what it does in the current situation and gives me more ideas for when I script this scenario. Darkness is coming soon and that will change, well, everything.

https://youtu.be/WUEIh1M8wSU

[Jason Petho]

Night has fallen. I am still suffering casualties, but with the night, they will subside a bit. I had an interesting fight as I pushed Task Force Nir onto the main highway to El Arish, combat that turned out far more difficult than I would have though. Everything has slowed down as night impacts movement for vehicles. Our first parachutists have landed in the Egyptian rear! This will be interesting indeed. But, before we did all that, I went over some information about Iranian Order of Battles that I have been working on. Is this type of information interesting?

https://youtu.be/Pl_shQPoB7E

[Jason Petho]

It amazes me how a simple move can change the whole dynamic of a plan. Mistakes happen and I'm not infallible. This session is a good sample of that, although I am making some good progress through the various battles. It's quite interesting how the scenario has turned into five different key fights. Some are going better than others, but I'm definitely behind in the timeline. Even though the AI isn't scripted, it's turning out to be a challenging scenario indeed.


https://youtu.be/f2gUSB410xw

[Jason Petho]

We went over what I have been working on behind the scenes lately. Exciting times indeed. Then we proceeded to continue the attacks throughout the Umm Katef area. The southern attack on Umm Katef itself is going very well. The northern assault is a massive cluster firetruck. I ran into another T-34 company in the north, buy my Meteors ae making short work of them. The deep south is a curious battle, but it feels I'm finally making progress this turn. The fighting is raging all over the map, it's quite fun!

https://youtu.be/wCle93_aBQA

[Jason Petho]

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!

https://youtu.be/nyaN68Wtt7o

[Jason Petho]

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!

https://youtu.be/-e7cEkB_W0Y

[Jason Petho]

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?

https://youtu.be/ckUE90BGbpo

[Jason Petho]

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!

https://youtu.be/jsAyPMnaTxU

[Jason Petho]

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!

https://youtu.be/A9y1xSntDug

[Jason Petho]

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!

https://youtu.be/0CojpZPgmkE

[Jason Petho]

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!

https://youtu.be/SH8VGAgVa14

[Jason Petho]

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.

https://youtu.be/W6aVIkrIiPY

[Jason Petho]

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.


https://youtu.be/__KHL3c86zg