Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

This is a computer game (available for both PC and Mac) that I have been playing a lot of. It is a World War II tactical combat simulation published by battlefront.com. I followed their forum for a while before buying the game and one of the things I found interesting and informative were After Action Reports (AARs). These were reports people wrote up describing how a game went, and analyzing what they did right and wrong. I decided to write up my games as a tool for examining my own efforts and learning from them.

Helpful Comments From JasonC

A frequent poster on the forum called JasonC has been looking over my AARs and posting his comments on them, as well as answering some of my general tactics questions. He has graciously agreed to let me post his very useful comments here. I've learned a lot from him and I hope other newbies can learn something, too.

• A Bit Defensive - ATRs and hafltracks - 76s - light armor vs. infantry - 76/HMG combos - localize enemy, artillery, counterattack
• Fire Support Groups - composition - range - relation to regular infantry - moving - LOS
• Handling Hills - near side - reverse slope - hill as LOS obstacle - sweep around side - crestlines
• Factory Town - pioneers - forward observers - HMGs - terrain analysis - the church - tanks - the right hook
• Artillery - duration and recovery time - sidestepping - using artillery

After Action Reports

Here are my own After Action Reports, most recent first.

My First PBEM

This is the first game I ever played against another human.

My Campaign Battles

I decided to develop my own campaign rules for a quicker campaign. Here are the battles from my new campaign.

BCR Battles

Here are the BCR battles I played.

Infantry Advance

I test out some of JasonC's infantry advance advice.

The Bridgeheads

Looking for a quick, small battle I tried out this scenario from the CD.

Factory Town

Tried making a scenario with a factory in a small town and then tried playing it.

Tanks a Lot

I try out a mostly tank battle.

Shelter from the Rain

Battle in bad conditions. I've started giving the AI some bonuses.

A Bit Defensive

I try playing defense in a 1500 point battle.

Geography is Destiny

Slightly bigger battle, this time with some vehicles. I learn how important the lay of the land is.

First Lessons

This is the first real battle I played on my own. It's a small infantry quick battle.

Tutorials

These were the tutorials from the book. Not a whole lot of help after spending time on the forum, but you've gotta start somewhere.