John Kettler

This is from a Russian 2012 film called The Life and Destiny. It splendidly depicts what an absolute nightmare it would be for BFC to depict melee combat. If you've got PTSD, you may not want to watch this--ugly and intense. Things like this only make we wonder afresh how they can get people to subject themselves to this stuff? Regards, John Kettler

Sniper31, During Barbarossa, Grossdeutschland did NOT have fire discipline and in fact, fired with such wild abandon it used up all its ammo. Disgusted, higher left the Regiment effectively unarmed through a very long night in enemy territory before remunitioning it the next day. Thereafter, GD was a model of fire discipline. Regards, John Kettler

On a separate note, if anyone's interested, I can provide the full breakdown of Lance Corporal Jones's awards and medals. Regards, John Kettler

Sgt Joch, Seems to me that every time the bayonet is again decreed to be useless, along comes a war in which it assuredly isn't. Soldiers have a visceral fear of being gut stabbed, and yes, I used that adjective deliberately. As Lance Corporal Jones many times averred of the bayonet on "Dad's Army" ref fighting the Fuzzy Wuzzies, "They don't like the cold steel up 'em." The British assaulted an Iraqi unit firing from a trench using rifles and bayonets in a 4-hour action and sustained no losses but killed 30 enemy soldiers--2004! StieliAlpha, there are plenty of accounts of vicious had-to-hand combat during WW II. Both the Germans and Russians favored sharpened ETs which did fearsome injuries, sometimes fatal, with a single blow. Men have had their bare skulls smashed in by helmets wielded as clubs. Americans have used brass knuckles, bayonets, Bowie knives, straight razors, switchblades, etc., ETs on occasion, even hatchets, and the lucky ones had this nasty combo weapon: knife, brass knuckles and a skull crushing pommel all rolled into one. In the PTO, machetes were easy to come by, too. Dad brought one back from Korea, and he was Navy! Every nation's soldiers were taught some form of unarmed combat, too. Regards, John Kettler

To those of us who do historical wargaming in miniature (or know those who do) this is a terrible blow to our hobby, for there are few such stores in the entire country. Search FB under "Panzer Depot" to find the particulars. Would post the FB link directly, but info on that page includes extensive product listing and prices, so am not going to push my luck with the Mods. Deep-super deep discounts, depending on what the product is. The store sells minis and everything else to work on them, paint, base and play, including rules and small tools. FB page has contact info, and the store will ship via USPS Priority Mail. Here's a great opportunity to stock up and help a good man whose dream has been destroyed by a too long prolonged lockdown (store closed completely because was classed as nonessential), during which he lost a lot of business to online stores. Regards, John Kettler

markshot, That's fantastic news! Glad it all worked out, even if the process of getting there was decidedly suboptimal. Regards, John Kettler

According to an article by Lockheed Martin, M712 Copperhead production ceased in 1990, making the youngest such munition 30 years old, if the weapon is still in inventory, which I highly doubt. https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/history/copperhead.html So far, the only thing I've found that relates at all to replacing Copperhead is the possibility of adding seeker heads to the state-of-the-art GPS-guided shells developed for the USS ZUMWALT's long range, high ROF 155 mm gun system. https://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/Next-Gen-Naval-Gunfire-Support-The-USAs-AGS-LRLAP-07171/ Regards, John Kettler

Haiduk, Working with the IDF, the US did a survey of loss causes for Egyptian tanks during the 1967 War. This was published as a SECRET level study called COMBAT DAMAGE TO TANKS in the JMEM (Joint Munitions Effectiveness Manual), the CLASSIFIED weaponeering (assigning the correct weapons and quantity to damage or destroy specified targets) handbook set for all US military services. Those analysts conducting the field survey got quite the shock when they discovered that a bunch of sure sure kills by HEAT and HESH had been stopped by things like headlight flanges, brackets, lifting eyes, etc., leading to ricochet, munition destruction, deflagration, premature detonation, munition dudding and more. Here, it was apparently a toolbox performing the same way. Noted with interest that the track appaears intact despite all the excitement above it. Regards, John Kettler

Welcome aboard! Can't get rid of the bolding, so will just say that BFC has NEVER allowed the players to get under the hood of the game when it comes down to weapon characteristics or any other simulation related matters. This was possible with the way older Panzer Elite, and I say this from direct experience on the Panzer Elite Development Group, but nothing that directly affects sim performance can be tweaked in Combat Mission. Since neither exterior appearance nor audio effects fall under that category, you'll find mods for fire, explosions, uniforms, soldier faces, bridges, walls, etc., as far as changes in appearance, and improved sound effects for weapons firing, radio chatter, explosions, aircraft coming or leaving, environmental sounds, etc. The only way to get the under the hood stuff altered is to thoroughly document the issue and present your argument to BFC, which may or may not change the item. If there's an outright error that's provable, then, resources, including game engine limitations permitting, it'll be patched at some point. There was, for example, a long campaign to change the way turning a towed gun around was modeled and how far and fast certain towed weapons could be pushed or pulled, as fell as how big a Fatigue hit resulted. We've had similar discussions on picking up and carrying a fully assembled MMG or HMG for short distances, correct positioning of the machine gunner on German 250 and 251 series halftracks, how best to model field artillery and mortar lethality vs various AFV types, performance of nation specific ERA, etc. As far as the T-90A being practically impervious to frontal hits, I can tell you the US Abrams M1A2 SEPV3 is entirely capable of making a one shot K-Kill on the latest model of the T-90, the T-90AM. The only time I've ever seen that not happen in engagements I've had was when the ERA stopped the first shot but not the second. Regards, John Kettler

Mods, don't know if this is the best place for it, but it seemed most relevant her, given the timeframe. By all means move it if you have a better location for it. There is no longer so much as ingle tank company left in the entire US Marine Corps. Found this out when I saw a piece about Marine tankers switching branches and joining the US Army National Guard. This is why the now jobless tankers switched services, most, but not all, staying with the tanks, now upgraded M1A2s. https://news.unclesamsmisguidedchildren.com/tank-marines-join-the-army-national-guard/?fbclid=IwAR0_g0MDITScmZkq50y7yPeyTwDTsozIMY-qpnh_-u1Dh6JJEuWav1Gsdlc Regards, John Kettler

We always talk about the need for new blood in wargaming, and this Middle School teacher has students wildly enthusiastic, but has done all he can on his own hook. The system is FoW, but I have asked Too Fat Lardies, makers of CoC, which I and others consider far superior, to get involved. The kids need minis, paint, brushes, small tools, cutting mats, tape measures, etc. Contact the teacher for specifics if not minis being donated. I know some-many CM players also play minis, and if you've got such items surplus to requirements or would like to purchase some and donate those, it would really help the war effort. With the help of the seller's price drop to support the project, managed to snag 40+ based and painted US infantry, which will be mailed by the seller sometime this week. The link will take you to the teacher's page for this barely begun strategy gaming club, which I expect will grow rapidly as resources increase. The club is school sanctioned but has no budget. https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/739880293240830/?media_id=0&ref=share_attachment Regards, John Kettler

akd, There was zero intent to troll, only to inform BFC of something I'd seen which could possibly negatively impact the firm. Regards, John Kettler

Bil Hardenberger, The usual--zero. Regards, John Kettler

Warts 'n' all, Have always been impressed with Chinese gongs. Figured I'd know I'd really arrived whe I had one to announce dinner. Regards, John Kettler

Am posting here because it combines CMBN and CMFB. Very good war movie with lots of closeups of the tanks (regular Shermans and Fireflies), static and on the move, US MRLs, cab rank Tiffies, and the Dingo gets some love, too. Looks to me as though the battle scenes were shot in post-war France. Film had full cooperation from all the British authorities, and it shows. Other AFVs are shown, but only briefly, which was disappointing. This is really more about the soldiers and their experiences, rather than combat per se. Have watched lots of war movies, but this is the first WW II film that really focuses on the British tankers and armored warfare. It was made in 1950 when the memories were fresh, and England was still under rationing. Regards, John Kettler

MikeyD, Understood. Didn't want BFC to be potentially harmed by misinformation, if any was being disseminated. As of last channel update (August 31st), views have risen to 1935. Bufo, The relevant info's all in the OP, so no need to watch the video at all. Regards, John Kettler

He was a great blessing to the CM community generally and most definitely to me personally. Glad to know of his passing, but we're the poorer for his loss. Regards, John Kettler

AKD, That was most interesting, thouh I never did get to see that Pion fire. Apparently did while we got to see the UAV for an age. Was a Soviet Threat Analyst when we got the first imagery on that monster Pion, which was a deep strike weapon. GSFG definitely had them, for I saw pics of them on flatbed railway cars. Noticed a radical new high efficiency muzzle brake on the Gvodzika and what looked like a drastically improved (much longer tube) on another. Saw T-14 Armata and the Bumerang, but either missed the Kurganets or it wasn't there. Noticed Kobra was there including the two engagements at once ATGM version. TOS-1M seems eminently applicable at CM map sizes. Akatsiya has evidently been replaced by Msta-S. I know the Tornado is high tech compared to the BM-21, but I don't understand the benefit of going from 40 tubes to 36, unless maybe there's a weight issue because the considerably longer range rockets are much heavier. What's with that FORUM ARMY marking on a bunch of the AFVs? Regards, John Kettler

BFC, one of my wargaming colleagues posted a CMSF 2 video which is part of a tutorial series. In it, the man doing that tutorial indicated he was using the Steam version. What concerns me, and may concern you if inaccurate, is the following exchange describing the Steam version. Also, my wargaming colleague told another one that there was no Mac support for this game on Steam, but the way it was phrased indicated that might apply generally to Steam. Either way, I don't know for I don't use it. The things I've mentioned may or may not be issues, but I thought I'd let you know, since these could impact your sales. This video is barely up and already has over 1600 views. Bravescot2 days ago Having looked it over on Steam, seems like the best option for getting this is to go through the actual website rather than Steam. Devs just took the ageing system and threw it at steam at full price and went “yeah this is fine”. Real shame as when I heard the new it was coming I was over the moon thinking it might get a bit of a fix up....but no. REPLY Hide 2 replies thehistoricalgamer 2 days ago I believe it's currently on Moduel 4 of the engine so it is a remastered version of Shock Force 1, basically all the enhancements that came with Battle for Normandy, Fortress Italy, Black Sea, etc... all rolled into this game. May not be your cup of tea but I think it's worth it. REPLY Regards, John Kettler

For me, my poor and not correctable until cataract surgery soonish vision makes it almost impossible, no matter how I strain and how close I get with my glasses (can see over the top at about 6" range) to see what's in the very dark blue bar, for the contrast ratio is almost zero. Frankly, I don't understand why the site was changed. Worked fine for me, and I've yet to find something about it I now like better than what we just lost. Regards, John Kettler

When it comes to biting martial wit, am convinced nobody can top the Russians. What can be begin to match Coffin for Seven Brothers or my favorite Cold War joke from Russians: What to do in case of nuclear attack? Walk to the cemetery, not run. Why walk? Running might create a panic. Can you imagine the grief a soldier in that overgrown diaper would get from his fellow soldiers? Regards, John Kettler

Not sure this is the. place for this pic of what's likely to be developmental or newly adopted combined midesection and lower torso body armor, but as valuable as it may be to the troops, I fully expect it will be tagged with something like "the full diaper" (probably more scatologically expressed) when they see it. This is the first thing that came to mind when I saw the pic by Alexander Platonov on FB. Regards, John Kettler

At first, I thought I was looking at a fabulous game table, but this is the real deal, and the armor's paint is definitely on the shiny side. Regards, John Kettler

Not the green alligators in the Unicorn song, but they will eat you alive! Regards, John Kettler

mythtrip, Welcome aboard! In terms of content, this available gaming options for a particular title (and not owning CMFI, CMRT or CMSF in any form), would say the hands down best logical choice would be the CMBN Big Bundle. Here's what it costs (substantially discounted presently) and contains. On a side note, somehow I missed Battle Pack 1! Thought I had everything ever released for CMBN. If you want a small, tightly focused battle in CMBN, and it's in the base game, play 18 Platoon. It'll give you all you can handle. Played British vs AI, and despite doing everything tactically useful I could come up with, came back with my platoon so thoroughly shot up it's debatable whether or no I still had a command. https://www.battlefront.com/battle-for-normandy/cmbn-big-bundle/ On the other end of the tech spectrum is CMBS, where the forces tend to be small indeed, the result of smaller than WW II squads typically (because of lower IFV troop capacity) and high point costs for modern weaponry, including body armor making the men harder to incapacitate or kill, especially against cartridges far weaker than full rifle cartridges typical of WW III.The US iconifies this situation, where in all but defined scenarios, you will seldom find a fleshed out American force and it will likely have poorer quality troops than you'd expect, simply to have sufficient troops with which to fight. All that tech costs money (points), and you find you can't afford Paladins but have to make do with mortars. Drones are great but can and do come to bad ends (a less common Russian problem), and precision and near-precision guided munitions provide great capability but drive up costs, too. Can't say much about CMFB, having barely started to play ot before an old head injury's donwnstreameffects KOed my ability to play any CM at all for about a year now. Regards, John Kettler