33LIMA

First combat, first blood! Climbing up after my flight leader and following his course corrections, I took the opportunity to have a quick look at my cockpit, which is well laid out with an easy to read compass repeater. These early P-40s still had nose-mounted machine guns and you can see their breeches and red-painted cocking handles in the pic below. Even without dynamic shadows, it's a really nice rendition of the P-40's 'office', although the frame for the reflector gunsight is not present, in the external view. Closing in with my number 1, I slipped over to his right and kicked in the autopilot. Not very realistic, to be sure, but it rids me of the hated chore of formation-flying. The autopilot doesn't seem to mind at all; in fact he appears to quite like it. And he does a much better job of it than I could. A short distance behind us, the AI was doing an equally good job keeping formation, with the other three ships in our intercepting force. Heading steadly west in our two compact groups, it wasn't long before I spotted two more flights, slightly left and low ahead, on what looked like a reciprocal course. This could only mean one thing: the opposition had arrived and the party was about to begin! My leader had spotted them too, and he gave a bandit call, turning left as he did so. At this point, on the assumption that the intruders would be the unescorted bombers we had been briefed to expect, I turned left too, but decided that I would make my own attack. Sure enough, the enemy consisted of flights of twin-engined bombers, three flights that I could see, with four aircraft apiece. I thought for a second about taking a high-deflection shot at the leading group as I turned into them, but quickly decided not to waste my ammo in such a speculative fashion. Instead, I swung out to the left and came at them at full throttle, from behind and slightly below, going for the right-hand bomber in the four-ship formation. I snaked from side to side as I bored in fast, determined not to give the enemy gunners too easy a shot. I got off a few short bursts then broke right and low, away from the enemy flight, leaving my target training smoke from his starboard engine. If there was any return fire, it didn't hit me. This would do nicely, to begin with! I came around in a wide turn to the right, keeping my speed up. By the time I had completed a 360 degree turn, the flight I had first attacked was some way off, but a second group of four enemy bombers now lay in my path. I cleared my tail and repeated my attack, again going for the right-hand bomber. This time, the results were more than merely satisfactory. So far, so good! To be continued!

At last - a modern plane and live targets! There's one final training mission at Toungoo, which is some air-to-air gunnery practice. And finally I'm flying the machine I came all this way to get my mitts on - a P-40. The briefing tells me that I'm attacking some targets towed by tugs. These turn out to consist of a pair of (Soviet) gliders, hauled by C-47s. Sensibly, you are advised to practice the slashing, 'boom and zoom' passes advocated by the real Chennault, to make the best of your plane's superior firepower and diving speed. The tows are rather short and it's quite a challenge to try to hit the targets, without putting the tugs in harm's way, too. Which is my excuse for not destroying either target. Either that ,or lacking a fuel load, gliders are actually quite resistant to gunfire! At least I didn't shoot down any Dakotas! Both were still airborne, when I decided to call it quits and head back to base. The next mission is when the fun really begins. We are posted to the 1st Pursuit Squadron and sent north from Burma to Kunming, China. The action we signed up to see can't be far off now! And it isn't - no sooner have we arrived, than the air raid alarms are sounding and we off we go, to intercept a Japanese raid coming in from the west, at medium altitude. The P-40 skins that come with the campaign are first class, but I'm one of those who believes the AVG's P-40s should be in Curtiss's approximation of dark green and dark earth upper surface colours, for delivery to the original intended customers, the RAF. So I changed to a suitable skin from Mission4Today, for the correct squadron ie 1st Pursuit, with its white rear fuselage hoop. Kunming airfield is really well laid out, complete with various little vignettes of airfield activity, like the AA gun crew and the work party with a bulldozer, that were next to me when the mission started. This was a scramble, though, so there wasn't much time for sight-seeing. The runway was a narrow dirt strip, so we were back to taking off in a line. The is also a significant 'hump' in the runway, which makes for interesting takeoffs and (even more so) landings. I was just behind the leader in the 'conga line' and made it off without incident, with no need to avail of the services of the fire truck that waited to the right just in case, as we roared away. I cleaned her up and turned left, continuing to climb at just under full throttle, looking for my leader and with the others gradually closing up behind me. Whatever we had got ourselves into, in volunteering for the AVG, we wouldn't have long to wait, to find out! ...to be continued!

From monoplane to biplane?? The Old Man had decided that the cubs - and this means YOU, the player - needed a spot of training, before getting to do it for real in an expensive modern fighter. Hard to fault Captain Chennault there, really. The next mission's video intro and briefing tell us that this is how it panned out for the real Flying Tigers too. Some, we are told, had somewhat padded their CVs...as one does. As in, they really had experience of flying bombers...but not fighters. You can tell them as often as you like, that you have been flying combat flight sims for years. It won't make a plugged nickel of a difference. Get with the programme. Shape up, or ship out. The really bad news is that they mean it, when they say that they not going to let you loose with a P-40. Not yet, anyway. Your first training mission is in a biplane - a Curtiss P-6 Hawk. She looks like a WW1 type with a beefy great radial engine slapped onto the front. And that's how she flies - and sounds. Plus, never mind your hearing, she's not a bit worried about your FPS, either, generating copious amounts of persistent light grey smoke on startup. I was quite glad when, having avoided some RAF Buffaloes that seemed to have been sent up to get in my way, I was turning into my approach, as close as I really wanted to be to my number one. Basically you have to fly a circuit to get oriented, and do some formation flying (yuk) on your leader. Flying simulated WW1 biplanes and WW2 monoplane fighters didn't really prepare me for the Hawk. Major drift on takeoff. A tendency to throw a wobbly fit if she doesn't like what you're doing - like going too slow, or going too fast. And noisy. Very noisy. As if flying this beast of an aeroplane isn't enough, on the second mission, you have to strafe some ground targets. Preferably, without flying into them, or into the ground. Tempted though you might be to write off the Hawk, in the hope of not having to fly her again. Oh and by the way, don't shoot the Directing Staff, who are watching your performance, from rather closer to the targets than might be considered wise in the circumstances. Just to rub salt in the wounds of all this indignity, you are accompanied by another bloke in a real aeroplane, a P-40. At least you don't have to lug - sorry, fly - your own relic too far to get there. And when you do get there, after a wobbly fit or two, you will be able to find the targets easily enough, from the smoke markers thoughtfully provided. The dummy aircraft don't burn, but the trucks do. My two small bombs fell short - in my impatience to get this over with, I didn't bother to attack along the line of the vehicles at first, as I should have done. The trucks fireballed nicely, at any rate, when I did get around to having a crack at them. The briefing promised me a P-40 on the next mission, so that's where I wanted to be, sooner the better. I did make the effort, though, to complete the circuit and remember the landmarks I used to line up on Toungoo airfield. Which is a good idea, because the field seems to have been disguised as a sort of cabbage patch or something of that ilk, with a pair of 'T' markings the only real hint as to where and and in which direction to land. Nice, wide (or at least, visible) concrete runways are now but a pleasant memory, fading fast. Already, I have the impression that this is not going to be my usual Il-2 campaign. ...to be continued!

Some Battle of Britain action in Il-2's new supermod! Well, I said I would and I did. After stooging around in the dark (in both senses of the expression!) with a few missions in a Lancaster campaign in the last IL-2 mission report, I decided that I would transfer back to Fighter Command, for my next campaign with the recently-released Community User Patch (CUP) for Il-2 1946. In fact I also turned the clock back, from the winter of 1941-1942 to the summer of 1940, famous for the Battle of Britain. The resulting mission report features SAS~Monty's 'Spitfire Scramble' campaign, which you can find out about here. Though made for the former's earlier TFM mod, I'm indebted to Griffon_301 over on the SAS CUP forum for reporting that 'Spitfire Scramble' seems to work fine in the new CUP mod. Neither the aircraft nor the campaign need any introduction here, so let's get down to the detail. I'm flying with No. 152 (Fighter) Sqaudron, based until Spring 1941 at RAF Warmwell, close to the south coast of England and part of 10 Group, covering the south west of the country. There's a good squadron history site here. The first mission is a familiarisation flight that starts with one of the formation takeoffs that are one of the trademarks of the 4.12 version of Team Daedalos's modded version of IL-2, on which CUP is based. No need to wait in the traditional Il-2 conga line, to take off, now...at least, in campaigns or missions that are designed to take advantage of this feature. Our aircraft for this campaign seem to be the Mark II version of Reginald Mitchell's classic, with a more powerful Merlin engine but still with eight .303 machine guns rather than the later Hispano 20mm cannon. Anyway, they carry the Sky Type S spinners (previously black) and rear fuselage band in that same light colour, which if I recall right were introduced in late 1940, which would also be right for the Mk II. While my Spitfire looks great, RAF Warmwell is another visual highlight of this campaign, which the first, familiarisation missions gives you an opportunity to appreciate. Details abound, as you can see in the screenshot below. If you look closely enough, you can see that there are some airmen 'fell in' on parade (or 'formation' to use the US term), just to the right of the flagstaffs. The first mission also gives you the chance to 'suss out' the local topography, which is also nicely rendered. For example, you can make out the little port of Weymouth in the screenshot below, nestling in the distinctive local coastline. Part of our role will likely be the defence of the major port and naval base of Southampton, which is not far along the coast to the east and it's good to see the local landmarks accurately represented. This report features the campaign's second mission. Unfortunately I seem to have done something wrong during installation, because the usual text briefing panel is completely blank. However, the campaign's instructions make it clear that you are a lowly Flight Sergeant and your job is basically to follow your leader. Besides, anyone with even the slightest notion of what went on during the Battle of Britain doesn't need to be told what to expect: 'Get one up!' as Robert Shaw's gruff Squadron Leader character put it, during the eponymous movie, and get stuck into the Luftwaffe. The mission loaded and I wasted no time starting up, while I tested my controls and set my flaps. The others didn't waste any time either and were soon away, leaving me roaring after them in a virtual haze of burnt high octane aviation spirit and relishing the realism of a decent formation takeoff in this classic air combat sim, still at the top of its game, over thirteen years from its first release. That was the easy part, done and dusted. But this Spitfire scramble was for no cross-country jaunt, I knew that much. This time, I knew we'd be up against Goering's finest. ...to be continued!

Stukas! To digress for a moment, the Stuka interception in the peerless movie of the Battle is naturally one of my favourite film sequences (no matter that the pilots snatch their triggers and the dive bombers are large radio-controlled models - and D-models by the look of it, rather than the B variant of 1940). In what other movie would you see a completely mad Spanish pilot, flying a 109 with a Merlin engine, all but wrapping a fence round his prop, so low is he when strafing Hurricanes in front of a simulated French chateau? Meanwhile, back at my own particular 'Stuka party' (as the RAF fighter boys dubbed these combats) I selected the right-hand dive bomber and closed rapidly from behind and slightly below. I wanted to get a virtually no-deflection shot while keeping the rear gunner’s field of fire masked by his tail. I’d rely on a fast closing speed to reduce the risk from the gunners in the other Stukas in the flight. In the last few seconds I started firing, short, sharp bursts. My second one certainly hit him; he flew on but his left wing root burst into flames. I gave him another quick burst, setting the whole centre section on fire before breaking left and down at the last minute, avoiding a collision by a whisker in my anxiety to make certain of a victory while I had the chance. Behind me, the two crew bailed out of the stricken dive bomber and down he went. Got him! I pulled up and around, clearing my tail again. No point in getting shot down myself now; I wanted above all else to make it back to brag about this one in the Sergeant’s Mess. One very definite kill would do very nicely, for my very first combat. The expected retribution from a swarm of angry and protective 109s failed to materialise. The Messerschmitts were there, all right...just not where they were most needed, at that point in time. They certainly looked the part, though, featuring a variety of authentic and well-rendered skins for real Battle of Britain units, like these 109s from Jagdgeschader 54... ...and then, there's this equally finely-skinned bird, from JG 51... They may lack bump-mapping and dynamic shadows but with such fine artwork and the latest cockpits and 3-d model refinements, the aircraft and environments of Il-2 today are still really lovely things to behold, worthy of something you might see in a fine aviation painting. In the continued absence of a fighter escort, evidently tied up by my squadron-mates, I decided I would have another crack at those Stukas. I completed my turn and hared after the retreating dive bombers. My second attack closely followed the pattern of my first one. Including the outcome. There was some return fire, but it didn’t hit me. I certainly hit my target, again firing several short bursts in the last few seconds before breaking off sharply. Two Stukas down! Time to go home, i quickly decided, saving whatever ammo I might have left for self-defence. I turned back north, leaving the Stukas, some still with their bomb loads for whatever reason, to the attentions of others. Back north towards the coast I flew, glad of an area of operations that was relatively easy to navigate, with little need to call up the map. I steered cautiously past the scene of the earlier fighting, listening to the now more intermittent radio traffic from the combat. I suppressed a slightly guilty feeling that I was slipping away from the party, reminding myself that my ammo was likely just about gone. Soon my leader was calling out a course back to the east so I knew they had called it quits, too. I saw a distant aircraft flit across my nose heading that way, and took him to be one of ours. Once back over land I turned east too and was soon looking out for Warmwell and other traffic entering the circuit there, over to my ten o’clock. Needless to say I was now quite keen not to end a successful mission with a mid-air collision. I turned left to stay away from possible trouble and flew north with Warmwell on my right, to let the other Spit land and get permission to do so myself. This was quickly granted and wasting no time, I turned sharply 180 degrees and into a tight left-hand circuit. Soon, I was turning onto my final approach. For some reason, the big grass airfield is marked out with white strips down the middle. While these markings look to indicate a sort of north-south landing strip, when you get close you can see that each white strip seems to be edged with what look like small wooden stakes, such as might rip your tires to shreds. This didn’t happen then I landed in the marked zone on my first, familiarisation mission but this time, I took no chances, and set her down on the grass to the left, drifting in over a couple of Spits near the boundary that looked like they might have had a little traffic accident. Once down, I pulled back the canopy and steered slightly left, to where I could see a stationary green and grey Spit - likely one of the new cannon-armed Mk V jobs – sitting at the end of a hangar. As good a place as any to pull her up, I thought, so that’s what I did. Looking back, I was startled to see a dark cloud of smoke. An accident, behind me? Had somebody crashed on landing? I hoped I’d been no part of that! But perhaps not an accident at all - tracer fire whipped up from somewhere to the left of the smoke. Looking for its target, I saw three specks zipping right to left about a mile off, maybe a couple of hundred feet up. As I watched, they pulled up and away. Seemingly, the 109s had tried to catch us napping, perhaps in revenge for us doing the same to their Stukas. It didn’t last long...and just as importantly, whatever damage they might have done, they didn’t get me! I'd live to knock back a few pints in the Sergeant's Mess, after all! Thus ended my first ‘Spitfire Scramble’, with the results screen confirming my kills. No medals yet, but at this rate, it shouldn’t be long...assuming I survive, that is! One thing is certain - I'm much looking forward to the next mission in a campaign whose aircraft, airfield, settings and action all rather beautifully evoke the heady days of that historic summer and autum of 1940. Tally ho!

Tally ho! Once airborne, I cleaned her up and finally, closed my canopy. It wasn’t long before I heard the flight leader on the R/T, ordering a climbing turn to the south-west, and then another one, to the west. As I’ve said before, I really don’t like formation flying...but at least this time, it was daylight. Another 'plus' was that - this being the Battle of Britain - we were defending our own turf and I shouldn’t have too far to fly, before formation flying became a less pressing consideration. I was so keen not to get left behind, that I actually ended up ahead of the others, for a while, until I calmed down and carried on. By the later months of the Battle of Britain, the RAF had begun to abandon the earlier rigid three-plane ‘vic', adopting the Luftwaffe’s ‘finger four’ or similar, more flexible formations. There were four of us in my flight but we seemed to be in no hurry to adopt any particular formation, ending up in a long line which gradually started to close up, as we headed west. This gave me a little while in which to admire my mount inside and out, from the nicely-rendered Dark Green and Dark Earth camouflage and subtly-applied markings to the excellent cockpit, complete with functional rear view mirror; a superior representation of a superior aeroplane. Watching the skies again, ahead of us against the clouds I spotted a small group of four dark specks, slowly drifting left to right across our front. Our leader, up ahead, gave no bandit call so I concluded these were friends, which turned out to be correct. More Spitfires, in fact; I think, a section that had taken off ahead of us. Just as our own section was beginning to get into formation and I was finding my place in it, our leader called out enemy fighters at ten o’clock. The nearest Spitfire, on my left, banked in that direction and I banked with him. But the section ahead beat us too it. A flight of grey-ish aircraft slipped across our front, slightly below and moving left to right. Their neat formation suddenly dissolved as the leading section of Spits wheeled right and pitched into them. Battle had begun! Turning right, I quickly lost sight of my own flight mates, one of whose tails I should have been protecting, as a wingman. I should have located him and then tried to follow him as best I could. But I gave in to temptation and decided that the fastest way help everybody else was to get stuck into the Huns. I pulled around after the developing dogfight in a wide, slightly climbing turn at full throttle, careful to maintain my speed and my slight altitude advantage until I was ready to use both to best effect. My initial anxiety at being in the presence of these dangerous foes faded fast. The excellent visibility, speed and responsiveness of my virtual Spit - imparting the sense that I was in a superior flying and fighting machine, as deadly as she was beautiful - gave me a sudden surge of almost serene confidence, the feeling that I was the master here, I would call the shots. But first, I needed to find somebody to shoot at. I rolled out into a promising position behind an another aircraft, hoping he wasn't one of ours. His square wingtips soon confirmed him as an enemy. A quick glance in the mirror showed my tail looked clear. But as I closed, the 109 rolled over and dived away steeply. I decided not to go after him, while there might still be fighting at my present level. The ether began to fill with radio chatter from the others. Somebody called for help but I couldn’t locate him; from the radio traffic which followed I think he got away with it, nevertheless. Instead, my section leader was congratulated on a kill. Turning north I saw the scene of that action, some dark specks whirling and tracers flashing. Arriving at the scene, I chased after another 109 but again, lost him when he dived away. In fact I tried to take a screenshot but the slightly increased lag I get when doing this in the CUP mod meant he was gone when the action resumed! The sky around me suddenly cleared again but I made sure I didn’t fly straight and level too long, or stay too long in a turn without clearing my tail and/or changing direction. If there was nobody nearby at my own level, perhaps they’d be somewhere below? Banking left and right, I looked down at the sea, hoping to pick up somebody I could stalk from above. Instead, I saw a string of aircraft some way off, apparently headed out to sea. From their heading, I deduced they might well be the enemy. So I lined up an interception course, checking my tail was clear as the range wound down. I soon saw that they were Stukas, and that whatever escort they might have had, was nowhere to be seen! This would do nicely. Another Spit had got there before me and attacked from below, with no result that I could see. Now it was my turn! I rolled right and went for the beggars. ...to be continued!

Merci, Jeanba I'll give that a go. I'd had a look at the files compared to other campaigns and was rather suspicious of all those 'ru' ones! ...and yes mono27, funny enough I was thinking of doing a Pacific campaign next and a Tigers CBI one would be as good as any, if there's one that works with 4.12 . I'll dig out Grubstreet's 'bloody shambles' and/or Osprey's 'Dogfight' compilation, which includes the P-40 -vs- Ki-43 'Duel' monograph, to get me in the mood! Edit - I'll try this one, since Monty's spit campaign seems to work in CUP:

Swings and roundabouts...with tanks! My first Iran-Iraq War campaign in Graviteam's rather excellent & recently-relaunched wargame/tanksim Steel Armor - Blaze of War (SABOW) had been a bit experimental, not least as I only discovered some quite useful aspects of the wagrame interface towards the end of my assigned eight turns. My final battle had been inconclusive, resulting in a drawn campaign overall. So I decided to replay it from the get go, rather than move on to the other available campaign in that war, which is from the Iranian side in an M60. No, I decided to stick with my trusty T-62. With my new-found knowledge I would fling my platoons across the battlefield with the verve of a Rommel and the cunning of a Montgomery. At least that was the idea. Needless to say, it didn't work out quite like that...to begin with, anyway. Reasonably enough, it seems that each SABOW campaign starts off with the same tactical situation, based on the real-life battle - in this case, with an Iranian salient (red) having been driven into Iraqi territory (blue in the map below - I have reversed the Soviet-style SABOW colour convention in the options menu). What makes each campaign run-through different is (i) the different moves made by the AI in the 'wargame layer' (which AI controls all enemy units and those friendly ones the player can't give orders to) and (ii) the moves you the player make, with the platoons you do control. Last time, I had spent a lot of time in 'wait and see' mode, mostly in a defensive posture - let the enemy come to me, if he dared. Which of course he did dare, though in his own sweet time. On this occasion, I decided that I would call the shots. I waited for the first part of the turn to play out, during which the enemy's movements are made. Having discovered that I could then pre-position my units in the initial map, shown below, I shifted my troops - three tank platoons plus the tank company HQ element. I moved them north-west, along the tracks shown by the little blue arrows. Basically I laid the company out so as to be able to advance 'two up' - two platoons leading, roughly side-by-side, with the third platoon 'in depth' to the rear, along with Company HQ. My intention was to drive north-west, cutting the shaft of the enemy spear, somewhere behind its tip, where I hoped most of its offensive strength (tanks!) would lie. As expected, these dispositions caused SABOW to offer me a battle, in my chosen sector. So it was off to the Unit Deployment screen to...well, to deploy my units, what else? I didn't seem to have air or artillery support available and the available infantry were evidently fully occupied defending on the other side of the battlefield. Our tank platoons were the only forces available in my sector so we would have to be thown into battle alone. The nasty red arrows on the map above showed that we now had intelligence that the enemy was expected to attack in our sector, coming in roughly from the oppisite direction to my planned offensive. If I'd had that particular piece of 'int' earlier, I might have sat and taken them on from defensive positions. But I'd made my plans and decided to stick to them. The 'int' might be wrong. Even if it wasn't, we might catch them while they were forming up. It was not yet daylight and I had confidence in the night-fighting abilities of my T-62s, not to mention our stabilised 115mm smoothbore guns. If a meeting engagement developed, so be it. I was up for it. I quickly switched to the orders screen. A few clicks and my platoons had their orders - attack towards the north-west! Fire at will! My experience so far has been that enemy attacks in SABOW take time to develop. But not this time. I had no sooner begun scanning through the commander's sight of one of my platoon leader's T-62s when the shooting started. I switched to the gunner's sight and picked up an M-113 APC coming straight at us, coming into and out of sight amongst intervening clumps of vegetation. This was not a good time to discover that I hadn't bothered to learn the gunner's night sight. Which of its markings represented my point of aim, for the APFSDS round I had loaded? I struggled to remember my brief perusal of the manual's description, but failed. I took aim, fired, and missed. I only knew that I had missed, because when the gun came back into firing position after the usual T-62 reloading cycle, the M-113 was still on the move and my commander didn't announce a hit. I had no idea whether I was over or short, because the elevation of the gun to reload took my gunsight skywards, with it, before I could see the fall of shot. This T-62 characteristic is bad enough in daylight, with a sight you are used to. In near darkness with an unfamiliar one, it was a recipe for disaster. Disaster duly showed up. My tank commander called out a more pressing target. A Chieftain tank. Two of them, in fact. The was a dull ringing, thumping sound which tailed off into a sort of buzzing. My view slipped down and off the gunsight, revealing bloody bodies in the turret. The tank brewed up rapidly as further AP rounds slammed into us. I think no-one got out. I changed tanks several times. Those Chieftains seemed to be able to knock out my tanks, about as fast as I could occupy them. Their 120mm APDS rounds hit home and red-hot sparks flew. As if to spare my blushes, SABOW decided enough was enough and ended the battle. Apaprently there are set conditions which trigger this, like one side calling it a day and retreating, or a truce being offered and accepted (an odd feature, which I haven't used yet). I considered myself lucky, that the fight was adjudged a draw. It didn't seem so, from where I had been sitting. Day was breaking and the enemy seemed to be ranging freely over the battlefield, just to rub my nose in it. So, the Chieftains had had their revenge, for such indignities as my T-62s had been able to inflict, in previous missions. Where had I gone wrong? For one thing, I'm not yet fully accustomed to the scale of the SABOW maps, which are not huge and limit your elbow room for deployment - not unreasonably in my view, as you are commanding a tank company in a battlegroup not a Panzer Armee or a fleet at sea, with wide boundaries and considerable freedom of movement. Still, I had set up my forces just a little too close to the enemy. And when I discovered they were attacking, I should have been a bit more flexible and changed to a defensive posture, moving onto the offensive after I had let the enemy waves break. This wasn't over, though. The Chieftains had got some pay-back. Now, it was my turn. ...to be continued!

PS there is now a demo available; at time of writing, this is of the April 2015 version of SABOW, and the Gamersgate and Steam sales are still on: http://graviteam.com/games/SABOW.html?action=downloads The first May update is reported to be coming soon, with additional single missions and other improvements. SABOW is already one serious tanksim, in the same league as Steel Beasts in my experience and highly recommended to anyone with a serious interest in this genre.

A final enemy fling! The a lull in the firing continued. I ordered my platoon to cease fire, to prevent ammo being wasted shooting up escaped tank crews, that might soon be needed for more important targets. Various beeps on the radio net had indicated incoming radio messages which, if they had displayed as text, I hadn’t read or if played in Russian, I hadn’t understood (all SABOW voices are in that language). I now called up the map, to read the message log...and in particular, to find out how my left-hand platoon had stood up to the concentrated Iranian tank attack. This we had halted, but at what cost? In the message log, top right of the screen above, contact reports mingled with reports of tanks lost and commanders killed. In fact, my left-hand platoon had been wiped out in the short but vicious firefight. The map indicated intact enemy tanks still down there but they were old contacts still marked up, sighted by my dead platoon before the end came. However, I had myself seen two Chieftains turn towards us and drive into cover from which they had not yet emerged. I decided it was time to shift position, partly to thwart any enemy countermove and partly to get into a better position from which to get at the remaining enemy. To the left rear of my centre platoon was a strip of woods, running north-south beside an irrigation channel. I drove my tanks over there and into cover, one moving while the others covered. A track worn into the ground just beyond the trees gave us a little extra protection. We made it without incident and I started scanning again. I put a round into a stationary Chieftain who wasn’t already burning, just in case. To our left rear, I now had a clear view of what was left of my platoon down there – basically, blazing T-62s whose ammo cooked off noisily, every so often. Hard left, we were now much closer to the knocked-out Chieftains. The company had paid a price, but we had held our key point and reaped a savage harvest from amongst our attackers. It looked like we had done it, this time! A heavy attack by at least two platoons of enemy heavy tanks had been reduced to scrap metal. I couldn’t see the one or two Chieftains that had gone to ground so kept a wary eye out for them, but I suspected it (or they) had re-appeared unseen and were now amongst the many knocked-out tanks which marked the course of the failed enemy thrust. Just as well, because all but HE ammo was getting very low; the T-62’s 40-round loadout doesn’t seem to go very far, in a sustained tank action. I began to relax... ...but not for long! A contact report suddenly came in from my right hand platoon, up north, reporting another enemy advance - more tanks! I jumped back to the gunner's sight in my centre platoon's command T-62 and scanned for the enemy. There they were - at least two more Chieftains! They were barely visible in the gloomy conditions as they crossed the open ground over to the north west, maybe 800 metres away at most. At this point I remembered that this tank was out of armour piercing rounds of any description! In something approaching panic, I switched to my next tank, who wasn't much better off, with just a few HEAT rounds left. By this time, however, the enemy armour was flitting into and out of sight, screened most of the time by the ragged line of trees to out front, which stretched off to our right. If the enemy tanks had spotted us, we were in trouble! But no, we were in luck. They came back into view as they carried on to the east, then turned north-east towards our platoon and the nearby key point up there. I started firing at the leading Chieftain as soon as my sights came on. By this time the enemy tank was nearly rear-on to me, which helped, as it reduced his effective crossing speed and presented his thinnest armour. I quickly hit him, waited impatiently for the reloading cycle, then hit him again. He stopped and the crew bailed out, catching a short burst from my co-ax in the process. But he wasn’t alone. First one, then two more Chieftains emerged from behind the palm tree screen to my right front. They seemed unaware that their leader had been shot from behind and I was soon treating them in the same manner with my remaining HEAT ammo, while rounds from my other platoon crashed into them from the north. This was exactly the way I had planned it – the enemy advance locking on to the platoon defending their objective then being caught by concentric fire from their flank. I’d now pulled this off twice, in fact! This second time was easier, a smaller enemy force, caught in a more exposed position. It was soon all over. That was about it! SABOW called it time...and on this occasion, I had no difficulty agreeing with the final assessment - a 'TOTAL VICTORY'! The ‘Operation’ option to the left of the results table above would, I think, have let me carry on with the next battle or turn. It was getting late, though, and I decided to call it a day. But first, I used the ‘Statistics’ option to run a free camera over the battlefield. This lets you look at hits, damage and other key stuff for every tank or other unit; but I just wanted to take a quick peek at the damage I had done. It was satisfyingly extensive. The southern attack had included no less than ten Chieftains. Most were on fire, though realistically, they don’t burn as fiercely as T-62s, Chieftains having water stowage for their bagged main round propellant charges. The ones I had seen dipping out of view had evidently ended up destroyed or mired in the irrigation channel next to which they had attacked. In turning to counterattack my centre platoon, they hadn’t got very far. Which was just as well for me! To the north, another trail of knocked-out Iranian heavy tanks, four in number, marked the failure of their second attack, with surviving crew members seeking what cover they could. All in all, it was an impressive testament to the firepower of my T-62s, when brought to bear from an advantageous quarter and in overlapping fields of fire. As the previous mission had shown, Chieftain is a very dangerous adversary for the T-62 and head on, is well able to take on and destroy superior numbers, day or night - much as they were designed to do. Caught in the flank, though, they die just as quickly as any lesser tank. And it’s the tanks that seem to dominate the action in this campaign so far, with little to see of the infantry and nothing so far of air or artillery support; new challenges which I’m looking forward to SABOW throwing at me, in due course. At any rate, I’d had my revenge! This was the most intense and exciting mission I have had so far in SABOW and I’m looking forward to the next clash with a mixture of trepidation and enthusiasm!

Revenge on the Chieftains! I don’t understand why SABOW considered my last battle a draw. My nicely-laid out battalion attack, designed to concentrate my three tank companies against a hopefully thinly-defended enemy flank, had been pretty well smashed by the guns of the Iranian Chieftains. I had hoped their armour would all be further south and west, where the enemy attacks had been concentrated. And I expected to face a different challenge – without artillery support or adequate reconnaissance, attacking likely dug-in infantry defending the enemy flank. But the Chieftains had turned up and had won the fire fight, hands-down. The suddenness and violence with which my force had been smashed had come as a nasty shock. Determined to do better, I returned to the fray. Starting on the ‘Operational’ map, I could see that the enemy was hitting our defences hard, in the south-west. I studied the dispositions of what I had left, over on the south-east. In short, I seemed to have lost two platoons of T-62s. But I still had a considerable force. My tank platoons had been concentrated east of the enemy salient for the failed attack and I chose to stay concentrated there, shifting my units just slightly, ready instead for a defence in depth. Further south, nearer the tip of the enemy salient, I juggled the two tank platoons and one recce platoon I had down there, pulling them back slightly, into positions from which they could at least support one another, if attacked. That was my weakest sector but I accepted that, so as to be strong where I still intended the decisive battle would be fought - on the salient’s north-eastern flank. As Frederick the Great put it, ‘Wer alles defendieren will, defendiert gar nichts’. I then ‘started the clock’ and SABOW offered me two battles, against incoming enemy attacks – one on my weak southern sector and another, to the north east, where I was more concentrated. I was naturally alarmed that the enemy had decided to attack my southern weak spot. But I quickly decided I would not be deflected from my own ‘schwerpunkt’. So I let the AI handle the fight in the south and instead, chose to accept battle to the north-east. This brought me as usual to the Unit Deployment map, where I found that I was now in command of the three-platoon tank company I had placed there, and whose dispositions I could now fine-tune. The red, enemy arrows which I could now see pointed my way showed the attacks we now anticipated. Now, this was interesting! The arrows were diverging, rather than converging on a single area. This suggested a certain dispersal, rather than concentration, of enemy effort. And that their attacks could therefore be defeated in detail, one at a time, if I played my cards right...or got lucky. I would settle for either. I placed one platoon in decent cover, facing south-west. They would be able to fire from defilade from beside a wood, near our northern position in a village, from where they could block the enemy if they moved against us there. To the south, I placed another platoon to block the way to our position down there, facing north-west. I didn’t used the 3-d deployment option but on the map, experimented with the line of sight tool to check that the platoons would not be too exposed to the enemy until they came into a suitable killing ground. Having moved on to the ‘Initial Orders’ screen, this killing ground I set our arcs of fire to cover, ensuring they overlapped. As for my third T-62 platoon, I had placed this in the centre, in a slight fold in the ground, slightly set back from the one to the north to add a bit of depth and so that it could fire into the flanks of enemy advancing against either the northern or the southern platoons. Unfortunately, I was unable to dig defensive positions. And the artillery support icons remained obstinately greyed out. For the second time, I would fight this battle with just our tank’s guns. But this time, it was daylight. You'll see the layout I'm trying to describe here soon, but I somehow neglected to get a map screenshot until the battle had started! But in short, my three T-62 platoons, three tanks each, were arrayed in a ragged row, running north to south, like the prongs of a trident pointing west at the enemy. The 'prong' in the middle could hit anybody heading for either of the other two 'prongs', who were protecting our two foremost key points. Good to go! I started the battle and checked out the view from the command tank in each platoon. Below is the view to the south, from the lead tank of my centre platoon. you can see one of the tanks of my left-hand platoon, through the murky conditions which seem common in this campaign. All of my tanks felt rather exposed, sitting out in the open. But appearances were somewhat deceptive; my centre platoon, for example, was hull-down behind a slight crest. And sitting halted in the poor visibility, I felt sure that we would be able to get in the first shots from such cover as we had, at any enemy who drove into our overlapping fields of fire. In effect, I had set up an area ambush, with fire from six tanks from two different directions covering each of the two likely enemy axes of advance. I’d have preferred all of us to be dug-in and generally, in better cover but I had tried to make the best use of what was available. Plan and dispositions made! Time to find out what the enemy’s plans were. I believe it was Field Marshall Slim, of 14th Army fame, who said that, however preoccupied a commander may be with the elaboration of his own plans, it is sometimes necessary to take the enemy into account. While I waited, I made some adjustments to my tanks’ positions, driving them individually into better positions where necessary. SABOW crews tend to unbutton when it’s quiet but I made them all close up and ordered them to ‘Stay concealed’ – at night invokes a ban on showing lights and in daytime, I hoped it would encourage people to stay in what cover there was. I went back to the map and turned on time compression. It wasn’t long before this was stopped by a contact report, from the left-hand T-62 platoon, to the south. A small dark-coloured dart showed where the approaching enemy had been spotted. It was tipped with red diamonds - enemy tanks! You can see the little 'radio mast' symbols on two tanks from my southern platoon, indicating they are the source of the most recent radio message. My current tank, the closest tank in the centre platoon, is the amber diamond in the middle of the screen. I jumped back to my tank and swung the commander’s sight around to the south-west. Higher up and with greater magnification, this would give me a better view than the gunner’s sight. My pulse quickened as tank tracers suddenly zipped back and forth across my line of sight. Then I saw them through the murk. The turrets of two tanks, which I identified at once as Chieftains, emerged from some broken ground, moving right to left towards my left-hand platoon and the friendly position they were covering. The range I estimated at 600 metres. This needed no adjustment to my gunner’s sight, set to suit APFSDS, to which I now dropped, after designating one of the tanks as a platoon target. Though now lower down, I could still see the turrets and aiming slightly ahead for forward movement, I let her rip, going for the leading tank. A Chieftain turret, which was all I could see, is a rather low profile target, so I was quite relieved when my first round ht home with a dull flash, confirmed by my commander. The reloading cycle didn’t completely destroy my view of the enemy and I fired again when ready. Another hit! This time the enemy tank stopped moving, its gun still facing away from me. The second Chieftain speeded up and passed my now-burning first target, moving fast. I traversed left and applied a suitable lead. He had come out into the open and made a better target, broadside on, still facing my left-hand platoon. They were obviously now in grave danger; suddenly, the stakes were as high as they could be. I fired again, aiming lower now, the enemy tank’s sides having come into view. And again. Parts flew off the Iranian tank, perhaps dislodged stowage boxes or bazooka plates from over her tracks. He too started to burn! I knew that where there were two enemy tanks, there were likely to be more. Traversing right again, further right from my first target, I spotted another Chieftain turret, stationary, and let him have it. At this point, things started to get a bit frantic. The cover from which the enemy tanks were emerging just seemed to keep on spewing forth more and more Chieftains. A veritable procession of tank turrets appeared, like targets in some sort of crazy fairground shooting gallery. I was soon out of 'fin' rounds and switched to HEAT. This was now real sweaty-palm stuff. I was conscious that I had rather abandoned any attempt to control my platoon or direct its fire, apart from making a couple of efforts to mark targets. I could only hope for the best and keep shooting; a moment's hestiation seemed likely to invite a firey disaster. During all this, I finally saw a Chieftain turn to face us. Before I could shoot him, he dipped down out of sight somewhere. I lined up my sights where I expected him to re-appear, but he didn’t. My command T-62 was by now almost out of armour piercing rounds and I switched to my number three tank to carry on the fight. Scannning from the commander's sight, I engaged what must have been a different Chieftain which appeared to be climbing towards us from a ditch, well to the left of where I had just seen one drop out of sight. I engaged him with results unobserved, except that he promptly dropped out of view again. By this time, my fresh mount was completely out of anti-tank rounds - more than half our T-62's unspectacular 40-round ammo load was HE fragmentation, not much use in a tank fight. I should have tried to get some more AP rounds before the battle! There was a lull in the firing. Ahead of me, the ground was littered with knocked out Iranian tanks, many burning, some flaring up from ammo cooking off. My centre platoon had had no losses. But what had become of my left-hand platoon, which had been directly in the path of the oncoming torrent of Chieftains? ...to be continued!

A small but satisfying battle of manoeuvre, in Steel Armor - Blaze of War! Many sims give us a way of jumping straight into virtual battle with the minimum of preliminaries and Graviteam’s wargame-based tanksim is now no exception. The original release featured what the new version of SABOW has accurately re-labelled a ‘Battle Editor’. This provides a fast way of choosing multiple parameters to set up platoon-to-company level armoured battles. To this, the new release has added some ‘instant action’ options – a firing range for the US M-60, driver training for the Soviet T-62 and – one for each tank – the ability to set up both sides instantly for a smaller-scale battle you can drop straight into. You can still get the best from SABOW by learning the wargame element, which gives you control over multiple tank and infantry platoons and other units. But if you want to get straight to the tanksimming, it’s now much easier, with these instant battles putting you right onto the battlefield as a tank platoon commander. This short mission report describes one such encounter, which came as a pleasant surprise. I suppose I was expecting to face waves of enemies, advancing upon me as if in a Space Invaders arcade game; an opportunity for little more than some gunnery practice, but with targets that would shoot back. Fun and good practice but nothing special. If I was lucky, I might be able to squeeze in some platoon application of fire and maybe some ‘jockeying’ as the British Army calls the movement of tanks in defence, when moving between fire positions. The advancing enemies did appear, but they weren’t overdone and this, along with sufficient time and the initial disposition of friendly forces, gave me the opportunity to think as well as shoot, to plan and execute movement and generally practice the tactical handling of my platoon. For an instant action scenario, it was actually rather more ‘tactical’ than with most such sim options I’ve seen. And this was the way of it. SABOW models its two tanks – functionally, as well as visually - in such detail that I had decided to concentrate on playing and mastering one, rather than dividing my time more equally between them. Because its systems are simpler to learn – no stereoscopic rangefinder, for instance – I decided to focus on the sleek T-62. So, in the mood for a quick tanksimming fix, I decided to fire up a battle for that tank, clicking its icon on the main menu (the other T-62 icon, with the steering levers graphic, is for the driving course). This took me straight to a map of the battlefield, with my own side’s forces laid out. The briefing consisted of just a warning that enemy tanks were approaching , reinforced visually by some threatening red arrows directed at our positions (SABOW’s default is’ friendly red, enemy blue’ but I have reversed this in ‘options’ so we are the blue side). Sorry, no pics of this - I wasn't planning this to be a mission report, just some harmless, tank-bashing fun :) The map was from the Iran-Iraq war, which is the best ‘tank country’ of SABOW’s three theatres, Angola and Afghanistan being the other two. The main headache with this terrain is the frequent presence of irrigation channels which block movement or channel it (sic!) over fords. Elsewhere, though basically level, there are low mounds or hills and smaller dips and folds in the ground, interspersed with clumps or rows of trees or bushes, all of which provides some cover from view and/or fire. The map was clear of enemy sightings at this stage, but I could see that our side consisted of two tank platoons, facing north, marked as diamonds (you can cycle through alternative unit markers, including one which shows which way individual vehicles are pointing). Both platoons had the playable T62 so while I was started off with the left-hand platoon, I could have opted to play with either one, or indeed, swap platoons during the fighting. I tend not to do this as – when I’m in tanksimming mode – I prefer to role-play as a single platoon commander. From the map, I could have spent a little while playing the overall commander role, setting up deployment and initial orders for one or both of our two platoons. I could have done this from with new 3-D deployment option, instead of the map. This being a defensive action with our platoons pre-deployed pretty well so as to block the enemy axis of advance, I decided I would just jump straight into my assigned command tank, and take it from there! And there I was, sitting in my T-62 with the other two tanks of my 3-tank platoon (Soviet-style, but also common British Army practice). Seeing that we were all lined up facing the enemy somewhere up north and that my tank had a sabot round ‘up the spout’, my first task was to scan ahead for the foe-man, just in case they were about to hit us. This I did using the gunner’s sight, the better to be ready to let fly quickly, if need be. All seemed quiet, so I decided I would now take stock and get as organised as circumstances – notably, the enemy - would allow. Back to the map I went. Offensive action – even in defence – is one of the most important of the Principles of War. So I decided that my objective should be not merely to hold ground, but to destroy the advancing enemy forces. Now then...how best might this be achieved? ‘By taking them in the flank, with fire from a covered position’ seemed the obvious answer. The more I thought about it, the better I liked this idea, compared to simply sitting tight or making minor adjustments to my current position. I could have paused the battle while I thought, but I didn’t need long. Scanning the map from left to right, my eyes were soon drawn to an area of what - from the contours - looked like a sort of rough, low hillock, just ahead and on the left flank. I quickly decided that my platoon would move there, leaving the other three T-62s where they were, on our right. Between us, we would catch the enemy advance in a crossfire. The fact that this scenario had not immediately thrown the enemy straight at us gave me hope I might be able to complete my move in time. Even if the opposition appeared sooner rather than later, I reasoned that the slightly higher ground we would be moving towards would screen us, enabling me to get onto the enemy’s flank while the other platoon kept them occupied, frontally. Plan made! Even before a round had been fired, this little scenario was making me feel like I was right there, on the ground, in the boots of a tank platoon commander, being presented with a realistic tactical situation and the opportunity to make my plans, dispositions and decisions accordingly. I got my tanks into column formation and ordered my driver to advance and turn slightly left, headed for a ford over the nearest irrigation channel. This would have to be crossed, as it lay on the route to my chosen battle position. One of the neat things about SABOW is that the AI drivers behave somewhat as if they have minds of their own. In other sims, it’s like you are just clicking up or down a notch in a throttle setting, when (playing as commander, or as gunner but the commander’s ability to give orders) you order a change of speed or direction. It can be frustrating sometimes, but now I’m used to SABOW, it feels more realistic that my driver will sometimes hesitate or slow down and needs more regular instructions. It's like your AI driver in SABOW is a human being seeing the world only through a couple of fixed periscopes set a few feet above ground level, rather than an unthinking robot. Another nice touch is that the driver doesn’t just turn a fixed number of degrees for each key-press – the longer you hold down the ‘turn’ key (‘A’ or’ D’) to give a driving command, the greater the turn, with an icon displaying the turn angle so you can judge when to release the key. If your driver stops at an obstacle, you can either issue a stock command which starts him attempting an avoiding manoeuvre, or you take over his role and drive the tank as you wish. And that’s what I did when I reached my first challenge on this mission, fording that irrigation channel. The ford was at what looked to be a wrecked bridge and as we came to this I took over the driver position myself, knowing that this is one sort of obstacle they will often be most resuctant to cross, left to their own devices. From there, while I can still use W-A-S-D keys to change direction and speed, I’m beginning to appreciate the additional mouse control option. It’s really rather neat, in the driver’s compartment view, to drag back left or right mouse buttons and watch the animated driver figure pull back on left or right steering levers, as your tank changes direction! As I descended towards the bottom of the channel, my tank swayed and bucked, negotiating the broken concrete slabs that lined the way down, presumably all that was left of the bridge. Nearing the water’s edge, I cast caution to the winds and gave her full throttle, both to get up the other side and to minimise our immersion, in case the water level swamped us and killed our engine. A quick glance over my virtual shoulder showed that my other two T-62s were bunched up at the start of the descent, seemingly hesitant. I’d worry about them later, i decided. That is, if I didn't drown my tank, trying to cross this b****y great ditch full of water. But all went well. Over we went then up and out the other side, jerking and swaying once again over the concrete slabs, as we hauled ouselves back up to ground level. I quickly switched to the tank commander’s station and we hurried off to find some nearby cover, from which I could scan the area before sorting out the others. I should probably have used standard obstacle crossing drill to get over the channel – say, stopping the other two to provide cover, before I crossed - but I had been in a hurry. Now, was time enough to be more cautious. I gave the order to close hatches. Halting behind a small hummock, I scanned ahead and to the right, from the tank commander’s magnified sight. All clear! And just as happily, looking back, I could see that my platoon-mates had sorted themselves out and were now making their own crossing. Soon they were close up behind me again and I rattled off towards the hillock where I planned we’d make our stand. As we stepped off I called my platoon into line formation, the better to concentrate our fire to the front, where the greatest threat must now lie. Making for the nearer, right-hand edge of this hillock, I could see that the lie of the land there would give me some cover straight ahead, but would leave me exposed to the right, where the enemy might well appear. I began to edge more to the left, avoiding the exposed flank and steering for the centre of the area of higher ground. I was encouraged to see that - as prior study of the map had suggested - this was not so much a continuous hill, but more a low cluster of smaller terrain features. The ground was broken, with lots of folds and dips of different sizes, like you might expect to see from some long-abandoned small town whose uneven heaps of ruins had long ago begun to merge with the surrounding terrain. I led the platoon into this, keeping us in closely-spaced line formation. We rolled over the uneven ground, amongst clumps of scattered vegetation. I began to swing around to the right, so that we would acquire lines of sight and fire out over the expected enemy lines of advance. We approached the northern limits of the area of broken ground and I slowed down, halting in a defiladed position with higher ground covering us to both flanks. This gave us only narrow, intermittent arcs of fire, ahead to the north-east, but good protection from east and west. Although the shrubbery scattered around us further inhibited our view, I hoped it would also make us harder to spot. SABOW seems to handle cover quite well, to the extent that the planning map – I think at deployment stage – has tools which give you a visual indication of the level of cover provided in any given area. I hadn’t used this facility on this mission, as it is my habit to assess these things from the map’s conventional symbols. In this case, things seemed to have worked out tolerably well, leaving us hull or turret down to any bad guys able to see us. So far, so good! ...to be continued!

It looks like we CAN initiate 'active' defence in respect of a given direction, without having to set a priority target. I should read the manuals more often, especially as they are updated after every game update! The 'tank manual' says: 5.1 Active Defense To activate the active defense mode, press and hold the [0] by moving the center of sight to a point relative which will seek cover, and release the button then. If you assign a priority target for the firing before, you can press [9] button, in this case the cover is found with respect to the priority target. If you hold [shift] (or switch platoon command mode) command will be executed only for player's tank. In this mode, tanks will find cover for hull - the main firing position, and then cover for the entire tank - stand for reloading, and will maneuver between them when fired from a main gun and requires reloading. Points for maneuvering may be assigned manually by pressing or right mouse button in the cursor mode on the “Stop” icon in the interface. The same button is used to forced moves between defense points. To stop the tank between this points using the [E] button. To rotate the tank (and formation) on the priority target, use the [K] button. Any order of rotation, stop, or change the formation cancels active defense mode. Table 5.3 Active defense interface Interface Action [grapic] The crew is looking cover for the tank hull and for the whole tank. [graphic] The tank is moved between a position for firing (hull-down) and cover for reloading, respectively. [graphic] Status of the main tank gun: a gun is not loaded or is not ready for firing, the projectile loaded and fire can be opened. It also says later on 'Mark of active defence point appears as a small red stroke' [on the top of screen situational awareness 'header tape']. There's a lot of depth to this sim! I'm tempted to start an M-60 campaign next... ...but first, I have a few scores to settle with my T-62s south of Susangerd!

To wind up this rather meandering mission(s) report I thought I should relate how my replayed night attack panned out, after being interrupted by a PC reboot last time. In short, I think I won, but I actually lost, officially! As before, at the initial map screen, I lined up my tank platoons in positions around the enemy mini-salient in my sector, this time to its north and east. I planed to crush this 'Crossroads' position first. Then I would attack the marked enemy position at 'Darius 1', to the west. If that went well. I would then swing north and attack the enemy positions up there, opposite our people at 'Assyria 2'. I had five platoons all told, not all of them up to full strength (and I soon discovered that one tank was still immobilized from previous damage - SABOW's campaign seems truly dynamic). I had no infantry or recce troops at my disposal, nor artillery support. This would be a tanks-only show. I clicked through my platoons in turn and gave each of them attack orders, some into positions from which they would be able to cover the crossroads from the north, others to assault through it from the east and shake out the far side. In the screenshot below, of the tactical map after several minutes of action, you can see that the platoons to the north of the red enemy salient are moving in bounds and one has already advanced up to the northern edge of the irrigation channel, just next to the Phase 1 objective, marked 'Crossroads.' If I'd had artillery support I would have made good use of this to hit suspected enemy positions as we advanced and perhaps put up some illumination over them. As it was, I was limited to what I could see and shoot from my tanks, in the darkness. Despite being given 'Attack' rather than 'Move' orders, some of my crews turned their lights on at times, which was rather silly of them. One such occasion was when I ordered the covering platoon to cross the irrigation channel and join the rest of the force, reorganising around the objective. Fortunately, this performance drew no fire, although it doubtless gave the enemy something interesting to look at. At this time I was commanding the lead tank in this platoon and it was quite a struggle to get us up the bank and back onto level ground, I think because we ran into a step in the ground. SABOW does a quite convincing job on the physics, conveying the best impression I have seen in any tanksim that you are in a real tracked vehicle driven by real people and moving over real terrain. At this point, some confusion set in. A couple of platoons seemed to become split up, like some vehicles were no longer receiving radio messages or able to respond, or had just got separated and become lost or confused. I spent a bit of a while trying to get a grip. Anyone who's ever been on a night exercise, let alone a real operation in darkness, expects a certain amount of chaos to build up as things develop. So while it was frustrating, i did not find this unrealistic. If you're commanding a force in such conditions part of your job is keeping on top of things like this and I took it that this was a factor SABOW was simulating, intentionally or not. Military operations are not a chess game with pieces which move instantly at your beck and call. The good news is that the message log credited us with having taken two key points, aptly named as these contribute significant victory points when SABOW is calculating winners and losers. I'm not sure that the enemy position to the west, 'Darius 1' was one of these, but it seemed unoccupied. So I decided that I would re-orient to the north and move straight to Phase 3, the attack on the enemy opposite our positions at 'Assyria 2'. I had got the two platoons nearest the crossroads lined up and ready to jump off and was waiting for the more scattered platoons near 'Darius 1' to get into position, when the enemy finally decided to take a hand. A T-62 platoon east of the crossroads made a contact report: enemy armour to the north! Shortly afterwards, our men at 'Assyria 1' reported they were under attack. The enemy had turned the tables and now it was our turn to face the possible loss of a key point. I would have preferred to have met this attack with my whole force but the enemy were evidently right on top of our positions and there was no time to lose. The two platoons already in position near the crossroads would have to pitch in now. I ordered both to attack northwards; hopefully they might catch the enemy in the flank. One platoon was slightly closer than the other so there would be an element of separation and therefore mutual support. The remaining platoons, further west and south, I ordered north on their left flank, to render what belated cover and support they could. The first T-62s to reach the scene of battle were quickly engaged at very close quarters, with the platoon commander's tank knocked out before I had a chance to take over in person. Worse still, 'Assyria 2' was reported captured by the enemy. All of a sudden, this wasn't going so well! A smarter move would have been to jump to my second platoon which was just coming up; this I could have led into the fray to best effect. But instead I took over the second tank in the platoon that was already engaged. This tank too was hit almost immediately. We could still move but the gunner's main sight was out. I backed up desperately, scanning for targets. We got into some bushes which likely saved us from destruction. Tank cannon fire erupted all round. The platoons third T-62 flashed past close by, caught in the green light of our IR spotlight. I tried to follow him but he seemed to have vanished like a ghost in the night. Still no sign of the enemy. Where were they? Total chaos. It all ended as quickly as it had started. Firing died away. Something flared up next to me in the darkness. It was an Iranian Chietfain, burning. That was it. The SABOW curtain came down at that point. Having taken two key points from the enemy and now apaprently beaten off their own attack, I was a bit surprised to be told we had lost. The statistics presented, seen in full below, just added to my confusion. It's probably not that complicated; all wargames have their methods of resolving a battle into who won and who didn't and I just need to get used to the SABOW way. At least we got an 'achievement' recognised. Regardless, it was an interesting battle and the challenges of trying to manage my forces was part of the fun, not a distraction from the tanksimming. Somehow or other, SABOW gets the tanksim/wargame balance about right, for me. In this respect it actually does a better job than 'pure' tanksim M1 Tank Platoon II (where you tended to have to choose between abandoning your secondary units after the initial planning, or spending too much time micro-managing them in the IVIS screen 'map'). in fact, SABOW reminds me a lot of Steel Beasts in this respect, which is no bad thing!

Slow on the uptake as I can be, I have only just realised that the initial battle map you see when you start a campaign 'turn' isn't, as I had thought, just the wargame AI working through events and generating battles, one of which will involve the player. You can actually move units about via this map, thereby setting them up for whatever move you have in mind, be it offensive or defensive, possibly triggering a battle yourself. In the campaign I've been playing, for the Iraqi side, the Iranian enemy has been making life difficult for us by repeatedly attacking out of a minor salient they hold, around a crossroads next to one of the region's ubiquitous irrigation channels. In the battle reported above, we destroyed their latest attack, resulting in some of their forces withdrawing to the north. Faced with the initial planning map at the start of the next turn, after watching the wargame AI doing some stuff as before, it was then that I discovered by chance that I could move my units around, within the area we held. So, starting with this, with us on the blue side in the bottom right-hand corner (and having opted to display units using NATO symbols, each one here representing a platoon)... ...a few mouse-clicks redeployed my platoons along the southern and northern shoulders of the red enemy salient, as in the screenshot below. From these positions I would launch concentric attacks designed to 'pinch out' the enemy salient and finally occupy that troublesome crossroads. After that, we would re-orient and exploit to the west, catching other Iranian positions there between my advancing tanks and the friendly forces on the far side of the bigger, north-south bulge which the enemy had driven into our territory. Sure enough, my moves triggered SABOW to offer me a battle and I Iost no time in ordering my tank platoons to begin their attacks, as I had planned. Switching between the units and the tactical map, I was able to watch my plans take shape...although it sure does get dark early, in these parts. Fortunately, night fighting and driving wise, the T-62's active IR systems were quite capable for the day, the view below being that from the tank commander's sight, which nicely reproduces the effect of looking at a scene illuminated by an Infra Red spotlight. Spooky! My plans went rather well...helped by the fact that the enemy seemed to have bugged out completely. Still, it was quite satisfying to watch from the turret of a covering platoon's tank, as another trio of T-62s, following my orders from the map, crossed the ford next to the crossroads and took up defensive positions on the southern side. My PC, I now suspect, is an enemy agent, because it saved the Iranians to the west from my phase 2 attack by re-booting at that critical juncture. Never mind; I've learned another few tricks along the way and will be all the better placed to drive the Iranian infidels from Iraq's holy ground, next time! I'm still some way from seeing everything SABOW can do, let alone mastering it to the point I can get decent all-arms operations going, as opposed to trying to co-ordinate moves by just a few tank platoons, as on this mission. However, the tools are there and I'm getting to grips with them. What a package this is! With SABOW I can get the sort of experience I used to try to create with 1/300 scale minuatures on a tabletop, combined with a first-class tank simulator. Far from getting in the way of the tanksimming side, the wargame component enhances it, as well as adding interest of its own. Like a hand fits in a glove. A steel glove, in this case :)

I think the trick is to turn on the little crosshairs thingy with the Ctrl key - for example, from the TC station, may work from the gunner station too - and then with the mouse, place those on the target you want to be in cover from. Then click, right or left, can't recall. Then hit the '9' key. This seems to work for me; maybe if you don't select a target first, things get confused like you're describing, as if the driver is going, 'Cover? From what direction? Here...or maybe there? Oh, I give up!'. The other thing is that so far, I have only used this in the training mission, where there is a low crest to your front, providing the AI with suitable, nearby cover. I'm not sure what would happen if I gave the order where no such cover existed. That too would likely confuse the driver, real or AI. I don't know yet what happens if you try to set this up by clicking on a spot on the ground rather than an actual enemy. It may need the latter. And of course if there are several enemies, your solution will be good for just one, so care is likely needed. Good luck! I haven't tried the 'U' key yet, so I'm not sure how that one works out.

First mission in a brand new campaign! Apart from the occasional mission, I have never seriously tried flying bombers in Il-2. I'm quite fond of shooting them down...or trying to, at any rate. I have flown bombers in CFS3 using that sim's simplified bombing system and in B-17 II The Mighty Eighth, with its much superior facilities, including a decent simulation of the Norden bombsight. However, having of late much enjoyed flying with Il-2's new Community User Patch (CUP), I decided it was time to get serious with bombing in this sim. The deciding factor was the recent arrival of a brand-new bomber campaign, made specifically for CUP and featuring one of my favourite aircraft, the mighty Avro Lancaster. I had enjoyed flying this big bird in Just Flight's excellent CFS2 'Dambusters' add-on and wasn't going to miss the chance to try her out in an Il-2 campaign...even if it meant sitting for long periods in a darkened room! The campaign is by Hamm66 and you can get it over at Mission4Today, here: http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads3&file=details&id=2137 '1942 Lancaster Tour of Duty' features ten semi-historical missions from the wartime career of 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron, RAF Bomber Command, apparently the first unit to re-equip with the Lancaster. We are based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, a county where so many bomber squadrons were based for what became the great Allied bomber offensive against Nazi Germany. Here's the briefing for the first mission...an unusual one, to be sure. It's Christmas 1941 and - as in real life - the squadron is about to get its first Lancs. My 'mission' is to trundle down to the runway in a jeep and watch our brand new aircraft arrive, presumably flown in by RAF Ferry Command, recently formed to fly new planes to operational airfields. Just like ours. So I loaded up the mission and there I was, sitting in my jeep, alone. The weather was rather murky and it seemed the others had decided that their first close-up look at the new planes could wait. Fair enough! This was my first time driving a ground vehicle of any type, in Il-2. The silence suggested that starting my engine might be a good way to get going, so that's what I did. The joystick seemed to control things much as with an aircraft and I was soon on my way. But which way? I followed the track I was on, which led to a long, wide paved area which was obviously a runway. Here I stopped. I was reminded of the story told me by my late dad, who was a mechanic in the RAF, post-war, and served all over the world, much of the time, of all things, in an Air Sea Rescue launch. On this occasion he was based closer to home and on terra firma, at RAF Ballykelly in Northern Ireland. He was on a tea break, the problem being that the tea was being served from a NAAFI van which was over on the opposite side of the runway. He had a bike at his disposal and while it was of course strictly forbidden, there was nobody about and so he cycled straight across to the NAFFI van. As he was sipping his tea there, a Lanc came in and landed. But instead of taxying off to dispersal, the bomber came to a halt next to the NAFFI van. Out came the navigator, and ran across to the van. Who was the airman, he demanded to know, who had cycled across the runway a few minutes ago, causing the Lanc to have to break off its approach and go around? He had been despatched by the pilot to get that man's name. The presence of the bicycle next to my dad made denials rather fruitless! This was a mistake I wasn't going to make now! So I pulled up short of the runway, and I waited... ...and I waited. No sign of the Lancs. Was I at the right runway? Hard to say, but I decided to sit tight where I was. No point in incurring the wrath of the ferry pilots or worse, the Rock Apes (as Air Force people call the RAF Police, after those famously cheeky primates who inhabit the Rock of Gibraltar). Had the flight been cancelled, perhaps? It was Christmas, after all. But no, the party was still on. Undeterred by the rather poor visibility, the Lancasters were coming! And a fine sight they made, too, even though they were still carrying the squadron codes of an Operational Conversion Unit. Soon, hopefully, they would carry instead the 'KM' of our very own 'Forty-four'. Finally, I saw them, slipping into and out of the murk that lay all around, as they joined the circuit. By this time, they had shaken out into line astern and the landings could not now be long away. Soon, the leader was breaking off and then settling down into his approach. Of all this, I saw nothing. I WAS at the wrong runway, although I could hear the R/T chatter, which somebody was evidently blasting out on a loudspeaker for all and sundry to hear. Except that all and sundry were likely watching from the comfort of their respective messes, leaving me sitting out here in the cold. At the wrong runway. Enough! I daren't cross the apparently-inactive runway ahead even so but I'd sat there long enough. Off I went, seeming to startle a flock of geese, which took to the skies as I roared past...hopefully not heading in the direction of those other, much bigger birds now in the vicinity. Recklessly endangering Government property - to wit, four Avro Lancaster aircraft - by driving geese into the skies while they were landing, would make for an interesting Charge Sheet, but this was the RAF and anything was possible, in the pursuit those guilty of any form of of '..conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline'. I never did get to see the Lancasters land. Taking a turn too tightly brought my trip around the airfield to a sudden end. All I could hope for was everybody else was watching the bombers land, rather than my four-wheel drive aerobatics. Happily, the Lancs didn't put a wheel wrong, landing one after another, past a row of rather obsolete-looking Whitleys. Once down, each machine taxied out to a dispersal point. Soon all were down. The first of our new warplanes had arrived. From here on in, it was over to us! ...to be continued!

Thanks guys! I'm not sure I've the patience for this heavy night bomber business, as I found out on my first operational mission in this campaign. It was an easy enough turn, minelaying (with fused delay 1000 lb bombs simulating the mines). I must have hit the wrong key - the penalty of switching between different sims! - so I failed to get a screenie of the briefing. But it was a straightfoward trip, a short hop up to the coast to the north-east, then a long leg due east over the North Sea to the Heligoland Bight. The complicated bits were that it was dark, I was number four in a formation and we had to fly there at a thousand feet, to come in under the radar. As with my familiarisation flight, the first bit of fun was just getting to the runway, this time in darkness and from a dispersal point on the grass. At least the active runway was well lit! By the time I had started up and checked the controls, the others had begun to take off, so I wasted no time and got cracking myself. If this had been Flight Unlimited, the tower would have told me politely that they were already paying someone else to cut the grass and didn't need my help but I was in a hurry. I got onto a proper taxiway as soon as I could and switched on my navigation lights. I did a bit more grass-cutting but eventually made it onto the runway, just as the last of the other three Lancs was lifting off and disappearing into the night, marked only by its navigation lights. Despite carrying four thousand pounds of ordnance, the takeoff was undramatic and I was soon in my way. The campaign readme had advised me to set keys to change radio beacons so I tried these now, thinking that perhaps, in some fashion of which I was totally clue-less, they would help me navigate, perhaps showing up on my radio compass. All I saw was a text message which indicated that I was tuning in to different radio stations, starting with the good old BBC and ending with Grossdeutches Rundfunk or some other enemy station. As clue-less as I'd started, I ploughed on into the darkness. If flying a precise course and altitude wasn't hard enough in the daytime, doing the same thing in complete darkness and in a room which I couldn't darken down enough, was in a different league of difficulty, at least for me. And I had to combine all that with trying to get into, and then maintain, formation. I heartily dislike formation-flying in sims - it's too much like hard work, compared to the freedom of flying as a leader. No option, tonight, though. So I shamelessly used all the help I could get, including the mini-map and icons. Even with all that, it was a struggle to catch up and stay caught up. Pausing to set up and take screenshots just made it worse. Orientation dispelled, formation lost, start over. This screenie alone probably cost me a few hundred yards and a proportionate amount of sweat and tears. I don't know if this counts as 'in formation', but it's about as close as I got. I tried to stay just below the others, so that I could see them against the lighter sky above, without resorting to labels. This worked tolerably well, but in the dark it was very hard to detect gradual changes in distance, so that I would often find myself drifting away or getting to close. Hard work indeed! I didn't dare try time compression but instead I turned on the autopilot. Not a good idea. I almost never use this in Il-2 and haven't for ages, but the very odd time I have, flying fighters, I remember seeing this initially send my plane banking off to one side before swinging back into formation. This time, it just turned my Lanc around and settled us onto what looked like a course for home. Was it taking me back to that waypoint I had missed, when I cut a corner to catch up? I don't know, and I don't think Il-2 has the Strike Fighters style 'next waypoint' option to tell the autopilot that's where you want to go next. None of CFS's 'warp' feature either. Meanwhile, the rest of my formation, which I had spent the last twenty or so minutes sweating to catch up and then stay with, disappeared to the east. Brilliant. I decided to call it quits. When I got back to Waddington, I'd tell them some vital piece of equipment failed. Which was almost true. I'm not sure I have either the patience or the aptitude for this heavy night bomber lark. Maybe I'll ask for a transfer back to Fighter Command!

First flight! The next mission in this campaign has me on a long cross country familiarisation flight in my very own Lancaster. Here's the briefing. Our base is at Waddingon, and in addition to the usual airfield icon it has a radio mast symbol, whose significance will become apparent later. Although not labelled in the level of map zoom seen in the screenshot, a closer look will confirm that the map is nicely detailed, complete with well-known local landmarks like the resort of Skegness ('So bracing', according to the railway company posters, possibly a nice way of saying 'windswept'?) and further north along the coast, the famous fishing port of Grimsby (soon to be the subject - or should that be 'object' - of a Sacha Baron Cohen film, apparently): So I kicked off the mission. And immediately hit the first challenge. The CUP mod is based on the Team Daedalos 4.12 .exe. Amongst its features apparently is the ability to create missions which involve taxying out to the runway. As someone who has often railed against the stock IL-2 'conga line' takeoffs, you would think I would have been pleased, to find the mission starting with my Lanc ready to taxy out, instead of lined up on the runway and ready to go. The problem of course is that suddenly, I needed to do a little bit of ground-handling and in a big bomber, to boot. While contemplating this, I had a good look around, admiring the well-laid-out recreation of an operational bomber airfield, complete with animated vehicles, aircraft undergoing maintenance, and a little group of airmen who had come out to watch me make an idiot of myself. The IL-2 Lanc is billed as a Mark III and has an H2S ground-mapping radar dome under the rear fuselage, paddle-blade airscrews and a few aerials the Mk1 of 1941-2 probably should not have, but all 'normal' Lancs looked much alike and it's a fine replica. The fighter-style cocpkit is nicely reproduced with an impressive array of functional flying and engine instruments. I get a faint, intermittent horizontal line across the left front winscreen but it's no big deal. There doesn't seem to be a 44 Squadron skin available so I'm flying a machine in its delivery markings. Time to get weaving! I don't use Complex Engine Management in IL-2 but selected and started the four Merlins individually. When done, I held her on the brakes while I listened to their roar as I throttled up. Sweet! I checked the controls, set the flaps and began to roll forward. Helpfully, a Wellington was taxying out ahead of me so I decided to follow him, in the hope that at least one of us knew where we were going. First time trying out a Lanc takeoff in CUP, I was all over the place until I realised that the way to accomplish a tight turn on the ground was Soviet-style, hold down the brake key while applying rudder in the desired direction. You daren't over-do it though, as it seems fairly easy do do this: No such mishaps this time: soon we were up and away, leaving Waddington slipping into the Lincolnshire murk behind us. The sounds of flaps and gear retracting are nicely done. The training flight which followed was more like something out of FSX or an elementary flying lesson, getting the Lanc trimed and settled down into level flight at my chosen airspeed and altitude, all the while trying to maintain my heading and resist the temptation to admire the view, outside and inside. Soon I was heading east and out to the coast, where I turned north, up towards Grimsby. Every so often, a text message would appear, giving me my position as if from a fix from radio beacons. I haven't used this facility in Il-2 before - apparently it's useful for finding your way home, in realistic carrier operations - but suspected it would become important, flying nocturnal bomber sorties, in this campaign. Learning to fly the Lanc was interesting but I decided enough was enough and cut across to the west. Time to go home! As is my wont, I was flying with my own plane's icon and my route displayed on the 'mini-map' so it wasn't hard to find my way back. I was soon turning into my approach. I got a bit of a shock on short finals when a flock of those darn geese took to the air from the runway threshold just ahead of me. Obviously, these creatures were going to me our regular companions at Waddington. I made it down all right, despite this unwanted excitement. Landing's not my strong point in Il-2 and the cushioning effect of those big wings saw me flare too soon. But I caught her and then set her down without so much as a bounce, which is a good landing by my standards. Sometimes just flying an aircraft in a combat flight sim can be fun and so it was with the Il-2 Lanc, on this cross country flight. Helpfully, the campaign missions are included also as single missions so you can fly this one as many times as you want. However, I was now keen to get my operational tour in the Lancaster off to an early start. That would come next! ...to be continued!