KirkeeTim

Down town Al Faw Arch Gateway into Al Faw, on main road from MMS. Communication Tower on MMS site, it's behind the camera on picture 4 in the previous post. Note the cruciform antenna in both photos. Sea King dropping supplies into the MMS. 40 Cdo forming up to move out of the MMS. Note-outside of villages and towns, all ground apart from the roads and tracks, which were on berms, was no-go for vehicles. Deep mud from when the area had been flooded previously. On the night, the mortars were used mainly for illumination, although I recall at least one HE mission was called. The vast majority of close support was provided by AC-130, there was evidence of their accurate fire on trenches to the north of the MMS. The guns of my regiment, 29 Commando RA, were initially involved in supporting preplanned fire to the north, from their positions on Bubyan island. 8 Bty gun group were flown across the border on the afternoon of the 21st into a position I had recce'd with BRF about 2 km from the MMS.

Combatintman, If only I had seen this thread when it started. I'm only a casual player who dips in and out of the game, but I'm eagerly awaiting seeing the finished product. I landed on the MMS on the night of the 20th, in the second wave behind C Coy, as part of 40 Cdo HQ. I was the battery commander's assistant of 8 (Alma) Cdo Bty (having previously served with 79 Bty) and was involved in planning and executing the fire support for the initial assault and Op James. I know it's a little late now but I thought seeing some photos of the ground you have digitally reproduced might be something you'd appreciate. First photo is where I spent the night, HQ 40 Cdo was in the building on the right. Second phot is LZ Elm which was one of the main LZs. The 81mm mortars came in on the same wave as me and were set up on the boundary of this position. The debris in the centre in front of the berm is their ammo cases. No. 3 is the main pipeline manifold. No. 4 was one of the largest buildings on the site, roughly central. Two storeys high but only single floor, like a large garage with some smaller office spaces to the rear. This served as the main HQ for 40 Cdo for about 4 days until we advanced towards Abu Al Khasib. The command tent was set up inside and radios were remoted in from the vehicles outside. The last picture shows 2 of the SEAL vehicles forming up near the building in picture 4. This was on the morning of the 21st as they prepared to move out for subsequent ops. Reached my picture limit for one post, more to follow.

Only had a quick dip into this so far with the first company group. I found the map excellent for light forces. Plenty of scope for platoon minor actions, having to find just the right fire support position and sending assault sections flanking. Personally, as a former 29 Commando Forward Observer I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this one properly.

What do I need to do with a new .wav file to make it sound right in game? I have been playing around with the mod tools and recorded a new artillery request for the British module. It plays in game at the correct time but it's speeded up.

I'm new to CM:SF but downloaded this scenario at the weekend and after a couple of false starts have had a proper go at it today. Spoiler * * * * * Total defeat: Blue- 111 ok, 114 kia, 114 wia, Red- 171 ok, 413 kia, 190 wia I tried to make early use of the vehicle mounted wpns in the compound and had a little success but they didn't last long. When the Marines arrived I had only 1 US and 1 ANA surviving in the compound. Luckily my surviving US had good comms so I could continue the CAS. I took the approach to the HLZ very cautiously and virtually razed the compound to the NE before commiting troops across it. As afreu mentioned earlier, ammo becomes an issue very quickly and due to tunnel vision playing RT I had lost the Marine's trucks and so any chance of resupply was gone. I regrouped before pushing on to the Govt compound but by then was running desperately short of ammo and time. Looking forward to trying again, I don't want to write off defending the compound as a lost cause. Thinking that next time maybe concentrate the infantry to the south and using the CAS to attrit the enemy coming through the trees to the north where good arcs of fire are more difficult to achieve.

Total newbie to CM:SF here but have experience of using MSTAR as an Arty Observer in the light role. You have hit the nail on the head here of the effect that it should have on speeding up the adjustment process and enabling FFE sooner especially over longer ranges.