LongLeftFlank Posted May 26, 2012 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I was just reading up on the Battle of Makin Atoll -- the Yellow Beach assault (famous photo below) and subsequent taking of the West Tank Barrier appears quite suitable for the CM scale; the island was only about 150 yards wide in spots. Alligators are the key missing item here; flamethrowers apparently weren't available on D-Day. Oh, and it looks like the medium tanks were Grants, not Shermans. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 First screenie from my WIP 1600x720 map of Yellow Beach, on the north (lagoon) shore of the central fortified zone of Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll. Unmoved by the terrific Yankee air and naval prep bombardment, two intrepid rikusentai sharpshooters of the Sasebo force wade out to a hulk rusting in the shallows near the shattered On Chong Wharf and await the blue-eyed invaders whose barges are now massing in the lagoon. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
permanent666 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 great - i am looking forward to this one 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkerner Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 My father (RIP, Dad) was there as a BAR-carrying grunt with the 105th/27 Inf. Div. Strange to think that when he was 35 years younger than I am now, he went through that (and Saipan)...and I'm playing a game about it at age 58! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Thanks to your dad for his courage; rest easy. The famous photo above actually shows the first wave, "Force Z" of the 105th that preceded the 165th and secured the wharfs flanking Yellow beach. Wading 250 yards over submerged coral, with no cover whatsoever except a few thin-skinned Alligators must have been the stiff of nightmares (they miscalculated the water depth); although enemy fire turned out to be mercifully light. I am going to try to make this a short project, at least by my standards. The Japanese force on Makin didn't 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fizou Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 Great initiative LLF! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 ... move around much on D-Day so AI programming shouldn't be too hard. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 View NNW from the Japanese construction barracks toward the lagoon shore road and the On Chong wharf buildings. The opening barrage should pound this stuff to matchwood. Hat tip to Permanent666 for his wooden bungalow on "stilts" mod visible in foreground. I sank these buildings 1m down into the earth. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburke Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 holy crap LLF next thing you are gonna mod in landing craft. This is pretty incredible. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkerner Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Truly amazing, LLF! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 The West Tank Barrier. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
permanent666 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 if you need playtesters i would be happy to test this map as h2h or against the ai 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WriterJWA Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Me too! I'd be up for the challenge! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Thanks, I'll take you chaps up on that at some point, but I'm out of town and CM-less for the next week. Canada Day, and that Other thing those traitorous Yankee ingrates celebrate. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjkerner Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Hey, some of us wanted to be Loyalists, but we weren't around at the time! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 LongLeftFlank, You faked me out. I thought you were doing the Makin Raid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makin_Island_raid In any event, beautiful work! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 Nah, it's been done to death in shooters. While Carlson's raid *could* be done enjoyably in CM (and my map covers some of the King's Wharf area, it really isn't best suited to the scale IMHO. In any case *I* am more interested in the tactical challenges of securing a beachhead at battalion scale, while staying within a PBEM (H2H) scenario timeframe of ~2 hours. That's the main reason I chose Makin, together with it being very thoroughly documented. And yes, I do hope to convince BFC that a little CMPTO game is well worth doing at some point I didn't want to start with a Betio, Iwo or Peleliu bloodbath, even though John Wayne (and Spielberg) and most of us who didn't have to bleed and sweat there love that sh*t; there really isn't that much for the higher commander to decide, frankly. The plan has gone sideways and all there is to do is for the doughs or Leathernecks to slug it out, spider hole by spider hole. Oh, and there were no flamethrowers available at Makin on D-Day; the oxygen tanks got misplaced. Convenient at this stage of CM development, since I strive for historical realism in my map/scenario design. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 Finally getting a little time for Makin. I'm posting these shots of the battlefield for my own reference -- tree and jungle density, mainly. The west central portion of the landing zone, with fuel dumps ablaze and Alligator trails The east central sector of the landing zone, showing Company E (165th) sectors. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stele Posted July 13, 2012 Share Posted July 13, 2012 Whoa!! Now that is awesome. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted July 13, 2012 Author Share Posted July 13, 2012 Thanks! While flattery won't get you everywhere, at least it will get you some new screenies. 1. Low res pano of the entire Yellow Beach landing zone, looking west from the Kings Wharf observation tower. The sand spit in the foreground is thought to be the location of the "Jap" garrison HQ, and is being heavily bombarded -- see detail shot below. 3. Higher res shot, also looking west, giving you an idea of the jungle density. The buildings are all pretty much placed. Now time to work on the Japanese defensive positions (other than the Tank Barrier, which is done). But since I'm out of town again this coming week, it'll have to wait. Sorry guys. P.S. That bridge in the water in the foreground of the first shot is actually a wrecked H8K flying boat. Like the boat hulks, it too was a Japanese sniper position. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 1040. 5 inch destroyer guns continue to unleash hell on Butaritari as the first wave, mounted in "Alligators", rolls through unexpectedly shallow water atop the broad reef some 200 yards from the beach. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 holy crap LLF next thing you are gonna mod in landing craft. This is pretty incredible. Ask and ye shall receive.! 16 foot bridge atop Shallow Ford tiles makes a stand-in for the tank lighters (LCMs), grounding on the edge of the lagoon reef to discharge their tanks. And before Mr Picky arrives to tell me that LCMs carried only one tank apiece, not two, I need to limit the number of pathways ashore and therefore am doubling up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
necramonium Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 May i ask how you got palmtrees? All this map needs is the pacific theatre uniforms and some Japanese and we got a new module. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongLeftFlank Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 I used a hex editor to repoint the CMBN Tree B (poplar) type to the CMSF palm tree model and textures. permanent666 and I have both uploaded draft PTO terrain mods onto the Repository. The Repository also contains some preliminary mods turning British Army into Japanese (including voices). Browse this thread for the full story. I don't think the USMC mods were ever uploaded though, which is OK by me since Makin was an Army operation and the base textures will suffice. Also, I'm starting to think about downsizing most of the interior buildings on the Makin map to the smallest footprints. That veranda effect is very pretty and all, but I notice they really stick out on the map (which they did not do in RL). And tactically they were pretty useless except as artillery aiming points; the defenders fought from dugouts and bunkers, not the buildings. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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