West German Chevauchee

 

A Regiments AAR

Introduction

This is a bit of a break from the usual Combat Mission content that has thus far dominated this (albeit small) blog. While Combat Mission is the primary focus of this blog, it is not the only thing worth writing about.

I’ve been following Regiments for a long time now and have been eagerly awaiting its release. Now that it is out, I’ve put a lot of hours into it and really enjoy it. It’s everything I was hoping it would be. Showing off this great game is part of the reason for this entry.

Another thing I want to show off with this entry is the fact that games such as Regiments which are not explicitly realistic, or are realism-lite, can still be great at showing off real world tactics, concepts, and scenarios. In this case, I’m going to use Regiments to show off a modern take on the medieval tactic known as the chevauchee.

Finally, this is a great example to put myself on blast. I made an embarrassing mistake that can be used as a great learning example. In short, I violate a fundamental tactical rule and pay the price for it. More on that later.

What is Regiments?

Taken directly from the Steam store page: 

Regiments is a Real-Time Tactics game set in Germany 1989. The Cold War has gone hot, and the inferno is raging. Lead your Regiment through the fires of conflict and the fog of war. Break through the lines, call in artillery, maneuver, feign retreats, stage defenses, counter-attack. Do not relent.

It is a proper real time tactics game set at the platoon level, meaning the smallest (read: individual) unit the player controls is the platoon. Many have correctly called the game a blend of World in Conflict, the Wargame series, and Company of Heroes. There is no base building, instead units are called in from a pool using command points, much like the Wargame series. The pool of command points has a fixed maximum, and as losses are suffered these points are slowly refunded to the player to purchase reinforcements. The system is very similar to that in World in Conflict. Also similar to a system in World in Conflict is the tactical aid menu. A pool of tactical aid points can be spent on support call-ins, such as an airstrike or artillery delivered DPICM or smoke. 

I would also equate the gameplay to be similar to that found in World in Conflict. The game is semi-realistic at best, though this is not a bad thing. Units have armor and penetration values, and individual weapon systems are modeled with their own stats. The autocannon on an IFV is not going to destroy tanks for you, but the mounted ATGM will fare much better. Ammo is tracked as well as a simple percentage, as is the units “durability,” or health. Facing is important, tanks and IFVs are much more vulnerable to shots impacting their sides and rear, but it is not uncommon for units to take multiple side hits before dying. There is also a suppression mechanic, where units taking lots of accurate incoming fire will become more suppressed, reducing their accuracy and overall combat effectiveness, and can even cause units to panic and route, a la Wargame. The game certainly is not a simulator, but it doesn’t advertise itself as one.

The gameplay is very good. It has a great flow to it that is satisfying and engaging. There is skill involved as unit positioning matters, matchups are important, and finesse is rewarded. Plus, the game is very appealing to look at. It has a great art style that immerses the player into the setting, unit models look fantastic when viewed from up close, and the soundtrack is very fitting without being over the top or cliché.

 

The only real drawback to the game is its lack of coop or multiplayer. I don’t mind this at all, but some view this as a complete turnoff. There is a skirmish mode included with three unique game types that provide a lot of replayability, and the core operations (the game’s campaign) also have a lot of replayability built into them, but there is no way for players to really generate their own operations or set piece battles. The developers of the game, Bird House Studio’s, have already promised more content. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) is promised, as are more formations for existing factions, and new operations will come along with those formations.

 Anyone who is a fan of Cold War gaming, World in Conflict, Wargame, or RTS/RTT games in general will enjoy Regiments. Personally, I love the game. I was looking forward to its release for a long time, followed its development closely, and played the second and third demo/playtests and loved every minute of it. It has not disappointed at all, and I am very excited for future content!

It can be purchased on the Steam store here.

What is a Chevauchee?

Chevauchee is a French word that means ‘to ride.’ In a military context, it is a fast-moving, armed raid. The term first came about to describe a tactic that became prominent during the Hundred Years War between Britain and France. The goal of the raid is to sow destruction and chaos in the countryside, incurring military and morale damage against an enemy who cannot defend everywhere at once. The British became particularly adept at the chevauchee, using it as a way to eventually force the French to come out of their castles and fortresses and fight. This tactic is attributed to causing the Battle of Crecy. There were multiple chevauchee campaigns during the Hundred Years War, but arguably the most devastating was the Black Prince’s chevauchee of 1355, where the Black Prince rampaged through the French countryside, causing massive economic damages while never becoming decisively engaged with the French or occupying large amounts of territory. Another well known and important chevauchee campaign was the Black Prince’s chevauchee of 1356, which culminated with the Battle of Poitiers where the smaller English force defeated a French force twice its size and captured the king of France, King John II.

 It is important to note that chevauchees tended to be violent towards civilian populations. The intent was to sow destruction and reduce morale among the populace. In modern terms, the chevauchee has been compared to scorched earth tactics. Though that is not the only context it can be applied to. In a modern context, a chevauchee can also be used to mean a large-scale raid conducted by heavy (armored) forces with the intent of causing confusion, disruption, and destruction of an enemy force. A spoiling attack conducted by armored forces or modern cavalry can be classified as a chevauchee if it involves striking into the enemy’s weaker rear areas with the intent of causing chaos and throwing the enemy off balance. It is in that context that I use the term.

Operation 2: Reaction

For those that care, the following contains spoilers.

It is June 1989. The Soviet Union is withering on the vine, suffering its inevitable, long in coming collapse. Political instability, economic decay and collapse, and a weakened military are all culminating. Sensing blood in the water, citizens in occupied Warsaw Pact member states begin pressing for political and social changes, causing cracks to form. Social unrest has been brewing for some time in Poland, and now spills into East Germany. Strikes turn into mass strikes across the entire country, and soon lead to open revolt. Elements of the East German 4.MotSchutzen Division defect, seizing ground near Erfurt and driving out the local Stasi and Party members. They declare themselves “the forces of the Freie Republik Deutschland (FRD).” A munity of this magnitude cannot go unanswered, and the rest of the East German army is put on high alert. Elements of 7.Panzer Division are mobilized and sent West with the goal of suppressing the mutiny. First on the scene is the 16.Panzer Regiment. They attack into the mutinous FRD, driving them back while linking up with loyalist forces along the way. (This action constitutes the first Operation in the game). At the end of the Operation there is a tactical ballistic missile (TBM) strike using conventional (HE) warheads. One of the TBMs hits a railhead where a train transporting large amounts of industrial chlorine gas is. The gas is released, causing a massive chemical spill, which wafts over the neighboring town and into Western Germany. This sets the stage for the second Operation.

The West Germans are shocked and confused at the military activity on their border. Alarm spreads when the chemical cloud is detected and identified as chlorine gas as it spreads across the Inner German Border and causes casualties amongst the civilian population. The East German government is not communicating with the West Germans, and large amounts of electronic jamming further complicates and confuses the situation. Due to the extreme situation, the West Germans decide to conduct an armored raid into East Germany (hence the chevauchee) with two primary objectives: Secure the source of the chemical spill, and locate the jammers and destroy them. Any elements of the Volksarmee (Nationale Volksarmee, or NVA, the East German Army) encountered are to be engaged on sight.

14 Panzer Brigade (part of 5. Panzer division, III German Corps) is tasked with carrying out this mission. Reinforcements are limited, and more East German army units are expected to be entering the area. The stage is set for a modern armored chevauchee.

The First Attempt

Part of the inspiration for this entry is to highlight a pretty big mistake on my part. The first time I played this operation, I made a fundamental tactical error in my approach. I split my force.

It is easy to see the logic here. Most of my main objectives are clustered on the left side of the battlefield, in relatively close proximity to each other. The outlying objective is far out of the way, with a large urban area directly in between. A single consolidated attack force would have to fight its way across a much larger portion of the map (all occupied) in order to get to all objectives. Further, the train station must be held, which means that I have to leave part of my force there once I take it in order to hold it against the inevitable counter attacks. Sending a smaller strike force directly to the outlying objective in this context sounds like a good idea.

Of course, reality is the final arbiter of all good ideas. This turned out to be an unwise approach. The smaller strike force faced higher resistance than expected, and casualties were quickly incurred that bogged down its advance and eventually rendered it combat ineffective. This incurred losses I could not replace, split my attention, and was unsuccessful. I lost a significant part of the smaller strike force. Reinforcements are very limited in this operation. Replacing these losses is not possible during the remainder of the battle and are very expensive to replace in between stages. Further, the failure of the smaller strike force coupled with the losses they suffered opened that entire flank to dangerous East German counter attacks that I had to desperately parry. I spent the next two stages of the operation (operations consist of 3 stages, or missions, that you fight through to complete your objectives) trying to recover from those losses and parrying counter attacks while still trying to destroy the jammer in that far away objective.

The lesson here is obvious: never split your force. All I accomplished by doing so was to divide and conquer myself. Dividing your combat power is a fundamental no-no. That is doubly true here where I have a small force with few reinforcements. This is an embarrassing mistake on my part.

The Second Attempt: The Plan

Suffice to say, I will not be dividing my force this time. The new plan comes in three phases.

The first phase will be an armored push to the jammer that is furthest away, by itself on the right flank. It will be a tank only push (Leopard 2A4s and a handful of Leopard 1A5s), supported by armored recon (Luchs) and some SPAAGs (Gepards) for local air defense. The goal is to blast through any resistance along the way and find and destroy the jammer. Once the jammer is neutralized, the tanks will fall back and reconstitute.

The second phase is the push to the rail station. The tanks will lead, along with the armored recon and SPAAGs, but this time the mechanized infantry (panzergrenadiers mounted in Marders) will advance as well. The goal is to push through to the rail station, seize it, and then dig in the mechanized infantry to hold the rail station.

The third phase has two main goals. The first is to hold the rail station. The second is to attack the remaining two jammer locations with the tanks. This phase will arguably be the most difficult, because I have to fend off enemy counter attacks while sallying forth to destroy the jammers.

That is the new plan.

The Second Attempt: The Result

Phase 1:

The Leopards and Luchs roll out, with the Gepard in tow. Contact with the enemy is quickly made. Thanks to concentrated combat power, my Leopards make short work of the enemy, who mostly consist of older T-72 tanks and motorized infantry mounted in BTRs.

The push continues, coming into more contact as they advance. Enemy artillery is quick to respond and continually harasses my armor whenever they stop to engage. Additionally, several enemy counter attacks must be fended off, including one that comes from an unexpected direction and nearly costs me my Leopard 1A5s. Enemy aircraft make their presence known as well, dropping napalm and firing rockets at my tanks. The Gepards do a good job of fending off the aircraft, but some of the airstrikes land hits. Despite this, the push is successful and is able to make it to the location of the jammers. Once spotted, the jammers are engaged and destroyed.

My force does an about face and starts falling back to the assembly area where they will be rearmed and repaired. However, they must run a gauntlet to get back. East German counter attacks increase. Enemy tanks and motorized infantry attack relentlessly, supported by lots of artillery and aircraft. At one point, Mi-8s equipped with ATGMs appear and cause some significant damage to my tanks before I can reposition the Gepards and drive the Mi-8s away. Casualties are inevitable. I lose a few Leopard 1s and 2s, as well as some of the reconnaissance Luchs.

Despite these losses and running the gauntlet, a majority of the armored force is able to fall back successfully to the assembly area and begin rearming and repairing. The jammer has been destroyed and a majority of my force has survived. Phase 1 is a success.

Phase 2:

Phase 2 begins much the same phase 1 did. My force rolls out, makes contact with initial enemy resistance and fights its way through with relatively few difficulties. East German army units are destroyed in a map objective designated ‘Bravo’ and my mechanized infantry move in and set up defensive positions.

I begin probing forward towards the rail station with the Luchs and tanks when a sudden counterattack materializes on my flank. The East Germans are attempting to retake objective ‘Bravo.’

The counterattack catches me off guard and forces me to call back my tanks to help the infantry hold. The counterattack is repulsed, but causes some damage among my infantry.

With the attack repulsed, the tanks resume their advance on the rail station. The East Germans are waiting, and a sharp firefight breaks out. My tanks pump rounds into the entrenched enemy infantry as my own mechanized infantry move up to begin clearing the enemy out of the objective. The rail station is the epicenter of the chemical spill making it necessary for everyone to wear NBC gear.

The rail station is cleared and my infantry begin digging in to defend the objective. A series of East German counterattacks crash into the rail station. I am hard pressed to hold the objective, let alone strike out and destroy the two jammers nearby. Enemy artillery continually pummels my position, and there are repeated air attacks from both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.

My Gepards do a good job of keeping the enemy air at bay, and my tanks and dug in infantry are able to repel the many counterattacks. I suffer losses, but they are not nearly as bad as the enemy.

Finally, there is a lull in the action. After a quick resupply from the supply trucks, my tanks and recon move out to the first jammer location. The jammers are protected by a platoon of emplaced infantry, but my tanks make short work of them and then the jammer. Wasting no time, I move my force to the next jammer site where a similar drama unfolds. The East Germans put up a strong defense, and I lose a few of my vehicles. It is not enough to protect the final jammer however, and my tanks destroy it.

With all jammers destroyed, I quickly egress my force back to the rail station where we will make our stand.

Phase 3:

This is the simplest phase. I must hold the rail station objective. However, to hold the rail station objective I also must hold objective ‘Bravo’ which links the rail station to my assembly area. During phase 2, I moved my entire force to the rail station, leaving objective ‘Bravo’ undefended. The East Germans moved in and recaptured the abandoned objective. At the start of phase 3 I send a small strike force to retake the objective. They run into no resistance and easily retake ‘Bravo.’ Besides this action, the first few minutes of the battle are quiet. Then, all hell breaks loose.

Enemy artillery begins pounding my position at the rail station, and shortly after the attacks start coming in.

It’s an absolute onslaught. Enemy tanks and IFVs attack all along my front, enemy recon keeps me under observation allowing the enemy to keep up a steady rain of artillery shells, and enemy fixed wing and helicopter support harasses me constantly.

After just a few minutes of battle, the fields surrounding the rail yard look like a vehicle graveyard. Burning husks of tanks, IFVs, and helicopters litter the landscape. My casualties are moderate, especially among my infantrymen, but my supply trucks allow for losses to be replaced and ammo refilled during the brief lulls in fighting.

Things are going well until there is an enemy attack from an unexpected direction. T-72s and BMPs manage to sneak around and hit me in a weak spot. I’m able to shift some tanks to counter the attack, but not before both my Gepards are destroyed. As a result, I decide to push my Luchs out a bit further to try to provide better early warning. They spot some enemy mortars and SPAAGs, and I take the opportunity to sally forth with some tanks to destroy the soft assets. The enemy mortars and SPAAGs are destroyed, but as my tanks and Luchs are falling back, the Luchs get caught by another enemy attack and are destroyed. The loss of both the Luchs and Gepards is a heavy blow.

More enemy attacks pour in, and my losses mount. My supply vehicles run out of supply and I evac them to the rear to rearm. Though it is doubtful they will be able to return. An enemy air attack comes in and without the Gepards there is nothing I can do to fend them off. They drop cluster munitions directly on my position, destroying some Leopards and Marders. It is a painful blow this late in the fight.

My force is depleted and I am hanging onto the rail station by a thread. The enemy senses blood in the water and throw everything into one large final attack. Artillery pummels me as enemy tanks and infantry press in on my perimeter. Despite this, my men hold. Bolstered by a headquarters section of Leopard 2A4s and every unit having some level of veterancy, my men manage to repulse the final desperate attack. As the last minute ticks down, an eerie quiet descends on the battlefield.

Some Takeaways

Here is the AAR screen for the whole Operation (all 3 stages combined).

I’m quite pleased with this result. It is much better than my first attempt was and is also more satisfying now that I applied a better plan. Despite the results on the screen, this was a hard-won victory. The AI was challenging and managed to attack me from unexpected directions on multiple occasions. The constant stream of air and artillery support was especially difficult to handle, and it seemed like every time I tried to move out and attack the enemy was able to mass against me or along my flank to frustrate my efforts. The Operation was tough.

One of the main takeaways I am trying to illustrate with this AAR is that games do not have to be explicitly realistic to show off tactics, concepts, or realistic scenarios. The first time I played this scenario I committed a tactical sin and divided my combat power. I suffered accordingly, taking much higher casualties and being much harder pressed to accomplish the operational objectives. With a better plan utilizing proper tactical fundamentals (do not divide your combat power) I had a much better result.

This Operation is also a great example of a chevauchee in an acceptable modern context. I conducted an armored raid into enemy territory, securing the source of the chemical spill while causing lots of damage to the enemy without having to take and occupy territory over the long term.

Finally, it shows off Regiments! It’s a great game and I really cannot recommend it enough. I can’t wait to see more content for it in the future, and I really hope its success inspires the developer and others to make more games like this. Regiments is a bit of a rare breed in the current game market, which I think is too bad. Hopefully Regiments will prove that there is still a market for this type of game.