I just changed sides for a new scenario and now openly defend the open minded, liberal government of Ka-bul...
so
I have a M1 HA in play and
the sneaky bearded defenders of the universal faith (see I am now PC) have decided upon a deployment of smoke in front so "you can't " see and PID them...
I can't find the manual for the use of thermal sights in FOF (must have been written for the Egyptian army?)
My tank commander claims he can see through non heated smoke. Surely the second hand taleb Chinese 82mm rounds are not that sophisticated?

proposing:
see through but
-1 reaction -1 Overwatch
can't PID targets (blurred yellowish shaped)
though targets can be pinpointed by other troops.
30° frontal arc vision.
Btw thermal optics appears in two basic rules event cards...though not defined as such in the rules. Or maybe we do have , again, another bout of the famous "sodding foreigner syndrome". (dixit my Oz special forces)
jc

The tank should be able to see the Taliban just fine there is only one kind of smoke that Barely degrades the thermals and the bearded ones don't have it . The smoke should only affect the Mk1 eyeball as in the main rules. BTW Heat only degrades the thermals to a certain extent it does not make engagement impossible

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"All Men for the rights of Every man, every man for the rights of all Men"

so M 1 and others with TI could work just as daylight? including PID tests?

I lost the game bec. of the talebs mortars; no way to hide and fire on the "leaders" solo away out of optimum ranges. The tank could have taken them away but...
defective scenario I think. (mine)

Yea rough break Ill be doing some small tidbits on tactics to win with D6 troops and also how to defeat them soon.
Its really important to either have a F/O or JTAC with any coalition troops for this reason you balance it by limiting the amount of off table Arty or Air you allow them to have. say only 3 turns worth that would have been enough to close with and eliminate the mortars.
Most vehicles with either a CROWS or CITV will have advanced sensors not affected very much by smoke ...The early thermal sights where degraded by a special smoke that included bits of plastic (think Chaff) But now they have a counter and only one kind of smoke degrades modern thermals (US and UK and IDF) but thats classified. The Soviets and Chinese are maybe 2 generations or more behind.
One word of caution when fighting D-6 troops i always engage 1 Regular unit with no less then 3 of my UNITS. I never shoot unless i can engage with 3 or more units Instead i react with movement to get out of the way and move to where i can mutualy support my units. I try to form fire sacks to draw the Nato troops into like an open ended U with heavy stuff like MG,RR and mortars at the end and rifle along the sides .
I try to group my RPG gunners in units of 2 or more with a leader to volley fire at enemy vehicles.
It only takes knocking out a fire team or two to get well on the way to winning...Mikey

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"All Men for the rights of Every man, every man for the rights of all Men"

I don't think the Chinese are that far behind now. Photos of their modern vehicles suggest they have access to the best of European technology in this area. Interior turret shots show a pretty sophisticated set-up.

I agree with Mikey's D6 tactics. In my experience with irregulars you need to gang up as much as you can on the regulars, and every time you can't do that react with movement to get out of their way and get closer to your insurgent friends.

Not to let out any secrets, but anyone using the new -20s (ENVG) wouldn't even notice the smoke. Think Predator style vision. The IR/Thermal combo makes targeting dismounts in the high grass easy in broad daylight and night only enhances the capability.

thermals are pretty right on. except when it rains. when it rains hard it screws them up