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CANADIAN
INFANTRY TACTICS
TOURNAMENT
TL:DR
What: Represent your favorite Canadian Infantry Regiment and defeat your rivals in a collaborative online tournament using Combat Mission Shock Force 2.
Why: Prove who is the best Canadian Infantry Regiment. Demonstrate your tactical prowess. Have some fun!
When: From now until the end of December. A few hours a week of asynchronous play and team planning
How: Sign up. Join a team. Collaboratively fight in three varied terrain scenarios. Become the champions.
Who: Any serving, veteran or civilian associated with the Canadian Infantry and Canadian Army is welcome.
How This Works
The ‘Canadian Infantry Tactics Tournament’ is an initiative designed to test participants’ tactical acumen by pitting teams representing the three Regular Force Infantry Regiments (RCR, PPCLI and R22eR) against one another using Combat Mission Shock Force 2, a commercial off-the-shelf software. This free opportunity for Professional Military Education (PME) will be facilitated online, external to CA activities, to maximize involvement from both serving and veteran personnel.
It is hoped that this tournament will
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Promote internal Professional Development.
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Foster Regimental Competition
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Encourage the use of wargaming at unit level
The Tournament will run from October until the end of December and is expected to require 'a couple of hours' per week from participants.
Once you sign up using the form at the bottom of the page we will...
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Assign you to a team of 3-5 people representing one of the three regiments.
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Determine who among your team will be the game 'Player'
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Provide your team player with a CMSF2 + NATO DLC license (if not owned already) and the three mission files
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Arrange your battles with opposing teams via a jointly accessible folder to store the game files in a shared drive.
Each team will play two battles in each round against the other Regiments (see below for example). The winner of each battle is the team that destroys more of the opposing force than the losses they sustain. The team/Regiment that wins the most battles is the overall tournament winner. In the event of a tie the team with the highest number of points (earned by destroying enemy forces) is declared the winner.
Where are you fighting and with what?
The tournament will feature three rounds each of three battles for a total of nine battles. Each round has a different terrain map (rural, forest and urban) and force mix (mechanised, motorised and light). The force mix is symmetrical in that both sides have either identical or near identical forces in all battles. All engagements are ‘blue on blue’ in that both sides will command Canadian Army units. There is no requirement to ‘emulate’ Red/Donovian tactics. Large calibre artillery, UAS, attack aviation and air support is out of scope to encourage the maximum application of infantry/armour centric tactics. Players will have access to 81mm Mortars, ATGWs and tanks in all battles.
The tactical setting for all battles is a meeting engagement with no dedicated attacker or defender; thus the team that reacts fastest and best will usually be the victor. The forces arrive in waves as they would if coming off a line of march so your team will have to skillfully employ each new force package as it arrives into a rapidly changing battlefield situation. That means the team that reacts the fastest and best is the one most likely to win.
Round 1 pits a Mechanised Infantry Combat Team against a symmetrical Mechanised Infantry Combat Team in a rural meeting engagement. With limited vegetation the skillful use of the low ground, intervening terrain features and quick, accurate direct fire ambushes will be key to victory on this map.
Round 2 pits a Mechanised Infantry Combat Team against a Motorised Infantry Combat Team in a forested meeting engagement. Lines of sight and engagement distances will be shorter in the wooded terrain of this map which opens up more opportunities for ambushes and flanking. The mechanised combat team will find itself challenged by its lighter opponent as it hunts them through the forests, but this hubris may be its downfall.
Round 3 pits a Light Infantry Combat Team against a Light Infantry Combat Team in an urban meeting engagement. The urban terrain will challenge observation and C2, quickly devolving into section level actions and house to house fighting. Indirect fire will be less effective due to the dense cover so the judicious use of armour in cooperation with dismounted infantry will be the key to success in this scenario.
FAQ
How do I communicate with my team?
Internal team communications are up to team members to arrange. You can use email, encrypted messenger apps or an online platform such as Discord. You might even meet up to plan your moves in person.
What role do the non 'player' participants have in the tournament?
Whilst only one member of your team can be 'playing the game' that doesn't diminsh your team's contribtution. There are a number of ways you can divide the team: 1) Give each team member a slice of the Combat Team (like a platoon) and let them come up with the orders for the 'player' to input; 2) Take it in turns giving orders for each turn of the game 3) Have one player think like the enemy, one player acts as the 'Commander' and the others as their advisors. Rotate this each battle you play.
What are the minimum specs for the game?
OS: Windows 10
Processor: Pentium IV 1.8 GHz or equivalent speed AMD processor
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: 256 MB VRAM or better and must support 1024x768 or higher resolution in OpenGL
Storage: 10 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 10 compatible Sound Card (Windows only)
Do we need to conduct a full planning cycle or combat estimate?
Absolutely not! This is an unexpected meeting engagement so adjusting your tactics on the fly is exactly what the situation calls for. If you feel there would be a benefit to formally developing a plan then that's totally up to you.
What if I haven't played Combat Mission before?
We will try to create a team where at least one person has played the game system before. If you have the time to learn you can download the CMSF2 demo or watch Usually Hapless's excellent YouTube Playlist.
What happens if the other team stops playing?
If the other team fails to comply with the tournament direction they will automatically forfeit the battle in question.
Submit the form to enter...
Thank you for Playing!
Single Player Option
We are now opening up the Tournament to solo participation. That means you can compete against the AI in all three missions and compare your score to other players. You will need to have your own copy of Combat Mission: Shock Force 2 to play.
How do I participate
Simply download the mission files from the links below, play as the blue side on the hardest settings and then take a screen grab of your end of mission summary. Upload your scores via the form below and we will be in touch in early 2025 to confirm the winner.