John Kettler

Scase, russwg1970, QuiGon, alaskanbiker56, Blyskawica
Welcome aboard!
 
I've been reading these pre-release CM discussions, including the one for the CMBO Gold Demo scenario, for 15 years now, and I must say the quality of the discourse has improved dramatically. Never did I think I'd be encountering cogent analyses of software development pros and cons, let alone waterfall marketing. Even the quality of the fulminations against BFC and its overseas shipping practices has gotten better! That said, I'd be mightily perturbed to be stuck with an additional 75% just to get the game across the Pond and into my hot little hands. Historically, the typical post in a thread like this was rather akin to...
 



Bravo Zulu, people. Repeat. Bravo Zulu.  
Regards,
 
John Kettler

sburke,

How about paying attention to the information, rather than deriding it because I won't reveal my sources? Every single day there are dozens of unattributed stories--"a senior White House official said today;" "according to an intelligence source not allowed to talk to the media;" "said an official at State who didn't wish to be identified," to name but a few--presented to the world. No one even blinks over this. What seems to be the case here is that you find it a) difficult to believe I have such sources myself and that they would tell me all sorts of highly classified things. I have them, and they talk to me because I have the peculiar skills to understand the information, place it in an overall context, look at it critically and present it with great discretion. This information is provided because the suppliers, at great risk to themselves, seek to inform the American people about pertinent matters, some of grave import. I walk a very narrow tightrope between getting the word out and saying too much.

You fail to realize that secrets are the lingua franca in DC and elsewhere. They are leaked accidentally (would you believe a very much still classified S/NOFORN/WNINTEL satellite pic of an Su-27 prototype at Ramenskoye, outside of Moscow, a pic which appeared in the Defense Authorization Hearings volume? Nearly gave spook types a heart attack) and on purpose, as in JFK's using highly sensitive missile intelligence (briefed to him since he might become president) for slamming the Eisenhower over the "Missile Gap" before the election of JFK. "Scooter" Libby outed CIA clandestine officer Valerie Plame for political gain.

I believe gratitude is in order, not to me, but for those brave Americans who care enough to at least partially alleviate the information gap; to pull aside, however briefly, the curtain of secrecy and show us what's really going on.

Regards,

John Kettler

Behold the case of a police raid in Brazil which could've been catastrophic for the officers involved. Vicious dogs reasonably likely? Check. Go with the territory, but no one ever expected to find not one but two... Seems like something out of a weirder than usual Hollywood comedy film pitch.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
 
 
 

Michael Emrys,

Speaking as someone who took major hits on high school papers because of the odd typo and who once worked in the rigorous financial printing environment (mandatory filings with the SEC) as a proofreader; who also peer tutored Expository Writing in college and is a multiply published author, I understand where you're coming from. I seem to have developed a kind of typing dyslexia, and I don't always catch the mistakes. I have to constantly ensure that "command," "commander" and "comment" are typed correctly to begin with, or caught and fixed if not right the first time. Else, for an unknown reason or reasons, what emerges from my fingers are: "commnad," "commnader" and "commnet." Also, for some reason, I now seem to hit the space key in such a way as to lop off the planned last letter, which then appends the putative last letter to the front of the next word, creating several opportunities for uncaught errors. For real fun, try typing a URL with a comma where a period goes, then hitting Return! I tend to do most of my posting while up way late and oft in pain, neither contributing to stellar grammar, punctuation or, embarrassingly, spelling. Am an excellent speller under good conditions. Further, I've also been known to change my thought path during a post and then fail to make certain upstream adjustments to things like number, tense, noun-pronoun agreement and such. Were I not under so much stress, often in pain and being hammered on the sleep front, I guarantee you the hobgoblin counts in my posts would drop precipitously. Nor does a resounding crack to the head help matters. Naturally, it is precisely after the posting correction clock has run out that I discover "minor" stuff, such as having left the verb out altogether in a long, complex sentence. Not good.

molotov_billy,

Here's a look at what a US 5th Grader is expected to know.

http://www.playbuzz.com/gregs/are-you-actually-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader

And if that doesn't frighten you, take a look at, for example, the 1st and 2nd Grade questions for Science here. The competitor had a 3.6 GPA in college. The intellectual mayhem begins at around 3:30.

Excerpt from the hit US TV show "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" According to the pertinent Wiki, all questions were taken from actual textbooks for Grades 1-5.



Regards,

John Kettler

panzersaurkrautwerfer,
 
I've got half the answer, thanks to a smattering of transliterated Russian.  "Nekulturny," which means "uncultured" on the face of it, but a great deal more in reality. While trying to find the second item, I discovered Live Journal has a page called 
 
Russian Language Swear Words and their English Translation
 
Fascinating stuff. I used to work with a guy at Rockwell who, though an American of German extraction, spoke fluent Russian and loved their obscene limericks, for which he happily provided not just translations but the cultural context after reciting each one. Imagine, if you will, scatological humor delivered gleefully by an oversized Botticelli cherub! Am deliberately not posting a link, but I think the extensive list may offer an opportunity for the sound modders to swap out existing epithets for altogether more colorful ones in CMBB, CMRT and perhaps, CMRT. After looking at the variety, force and ingenuity of the Russian expressions, I have to say American English seems woefully deficient. Time for a national effort to close the Swearing Gap!
 
Meanwhile, I've now learned the other word is "svinya," Pretty straightforward, right? Thus, nekulturny svinya, perhaps? I couldn't help but recall, though, that the Russian HVAPFSDS rounds are termed Svinets. Hmm.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

Uncultured Swine, 
 
Welcome aboard!
 
Absolutely agree with your assessment. The CMBS Beta game and superb turn by turn commentary from the two doughty opponents are excellent advertising for CMBS and BFC in and of themselves, but in turn spawn the Holy Grail of advertising. Word of Mouth. Just yesterday, I was talking to my youngest brother, whom I two days ago helped get into the CMSF Demo, about the wonders of CMBS. He's now aware of both the game in progress and all the video treasures ChrisND has put up on YouTube showcasing various aspects of the game and its wonderful toys.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

ikalugin,
 
I've read Red Army, though right now I don't remember much about it. One thing which did stick was his description of a BMP-2 supported infantry attack in which the hapless character, like his fellows, went into battle with a whole 90 rounds for his AK-47--one mag in the gun and two on his web gear. I remember reading that with disbelief, but with the references I had on hand, I was of the opinion Peters got it right. Contrast that with the 300 (admittedly much lighter) rounds GIs carried in Vietnam for their M16s. Unsurprisingly, the Russian guy got into a firefight, ran out of ammo and became a casualty as a NATO counterattack mopped the floor with his unit, which I believe had taken a farm and was holding the buildings. I recall, too, how desirous I was of getting the book when I saw the author's background in military intel.
 
TacError may be a member of the forum, but a search on this BB found no one of that name. Am guessing it's a different one. I did learn a fair amount of Russian military vocabulary, had an official Army Russian-English dictionary, could figure out quite a bit if I had the transliterated words, many of which were essentially ports from English and elsewhere: artilleriya, komandir, komandny,divisiya, raketnya, punkt (straight from German, as schwerpunkt), avtomat, granat (again German) and learned others. Zenith Rocket Troops baffled me when I came across the expression, but it eventually made perfect sense. Grau was gray in German, but as GRAU, something altogether different. Was absolutely blown away by the incredible level of detail on Russian military maps, and I had a symbol interpretation manual for such things. Some military-technical terms confused me, such as shell or weapon of cumulative effect. Eventually, especially after looking at drawings, considering the knowns and such, I decided it had to be HEAT. Arrow or arrowhead was also a problem, but I figured out it was APCR/HVAP (US parlance, "T" in CM).
 
I owned the Officer's Handbook in Russian, which I couldn't read, but from which I was able to learn a great deal of interest, ranging from tube artillery, mortars, projectiles-various field fortifications. It didn't take a college degree to decipher what categories the tables represented, either. I had that coffee table book I mentioned and another one commemorating I forget how many years of the Warsaw Pact, and it featured the armed forces of satellite countries. There was even a pic of all the Russian and foreign military big cheeses in their COP/KOP watching one of the big military exercises. Clear large format photos which showed me things my threat docs didn't have, such as incredible close shot of the SA-13 GOPHER/Strela 10, with a spectacular view of the radar. I had a similar but smaller format book on the Russian Navy, and it had a threat analyst's Christmas worth of close range color pics of the various radars, optical and EO sensors, jammers, weapons and much more. But for real fun, as an English speaker, try making sense of a crude machine translation of A. Tonkikh's Overcoming Antitank Defense where every thee or four words the computer presents no less than three possible meanings for a word it doesn't understand. Almost went nuts plowing through that. I couldn't read Russian, but I had several file cabinets full of classified documents covering the full spectrum of the Russian military--from hand grenades all the way out to capabilities to mess with satellites in geosynchronous orbit. I read the Soviet Military Thought series, which GRU Colonel Oleg Penkovsky obtained for the West. These were TOP SECRET and SECRET General Staff pubs when he purloined them: Grechko, Malinovsky, Sidorenko, Rotmistrov and many others were in my bookcase at work. I read widely in open source and, as noted, had access to back channel data as well. When the Chief Technology Officer, an ex-Project Paperclip scientist, for Hughes Missile Systems Group needed to know about the threat, I was summoned, despite the fact he had clearances which dwarfed mine. Nor is it my opinion I knew what I was doing, for I had the generals and admirals from multiple services practically dislocate my shoulder shaking my hand after briefings, there were attempts made to recruit me for one alphabet soup agency, and on several occasions I caused huge uproars by looking at threat issues in such a way I uncovered black projects. Would I have been even better knowing Russian? Doubtless, and I'd begun working on it before imploding health forced me out of military aerospace.
 
You should also understand that I'd been immersed in espionage and covert ops since early childhood, studies I continue to this day. So extensive was my reading in espionage that when I interviewed with the CIA for a field officer trainee job, I'd read all but two espionage books on the "here's what this is all about" page 8.5 x 11" list. And I came into military aerospace with a considerable wargaming background at the tactical level, too. In fact, it was knowing Russian organization and equipment which allowed to make a big splash when I was being interviewed at Hughes. In walks this big cowboy type,a great guy who turned out to be a retired Army LT COL who'd been battlefield commissioned in WW II and had basically gotten TOW into the Army while serving. He ran TOW analyses for all the TOW projects, both US and foreign. He wore a perplexed look and said "I can't figure out where these 130 mm guns go in the division." To the surprise of everyone there (department manager, assistant manager, section heads and senior people), I reply "That's because the 130 mm M-46 isn't a divisional asset; it's found at Army and Front level." Lots of eyes went wide over this young lad presuming to speak in such august company, but what I said triggered a synapse in the cowboy, and he responded that I was right. I have no doubt this incident was key to getting me my first job in military aerospace. Summing up, I was by no means as crippled or clueless as you think I was, even lacking Russian language skills.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Uncultured Swine, 
 
Welcome aboard!
 
Absolutely agree with your assessment. The CMBS Beta game and superb turn by turn commentary from the two doughty opponents are excellent advertising for CMBS and BFC in and of themselves, but in turn spawn the Holy Grail of advertising. Word of Mouth. Just yesterday, I was talking to my youngest brother, whom I two days ago helped get into the CMSF Demo, about the wonders of CMBS. He's now aware of both the game in progress and all the video treasures ChrisND has put up on YouTube showcasing various aspects of the game and its wonderful toys.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Newsweek explicitly stated here on January 23, 2015 that thousands of Russian Federation troops--Special Forces, no less--finally allowed the capture of the hotly disputed, fanatically defended Donetsk Airport Terminal, breaking, pardon the expression, the Ukrainian Army "Cyborgs" who held it for months. 
 
I think this report is a very big deal. We're no longer in the category of "misidentified vehicles" and "misunderstood actions" in some obscure village or near some town people have barely heard of. This article is describing a significant main force Russian infantry attack with the best Putin has: Spetsnaz FSB or FSB Spetsnaz, in any event the most elite combat troops of the Russian Army, the men who formerly formed the striking arm of the GRU (Chief Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff). Men spearheading the attack at what is, in many ways, the focal point of combat in Ukraine.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

I'm surprised not one person has replied to this post, since it would seem highly topical.

Regards,

John Kettler

After hearing of his failed attempts to get the CMBN demo going (some Windows issue), I learned Charles, my youngest brother,  preferred ARs to M1 Garands, so suggested he try the Demo of CMSF. Happily, this one worked, and he dove in headfirst. When last heard from, he won his training mission (turn based single player; figured RT would drive him mad), but unsurprisingly, found the experience "frustrating." But how frustrated can he be if he plans on having another go right after dinner? I believe he's hooked and have so notified him. Taste E-crack once, and you're done. He's also run into Mr.Clausewitz and his friction.
 
Since I've been talking up the wonders of CMBS and the latest version of the game engine for some time now, I believe that the CMSF Demo will prove to be his gateway to CMBS, though the Stryker Effect may come into play, for now retired brother George was an SFC in the first SBCT to ever be deployed, though he didn't actually crew a Stryker, being busy running the TOC or driving around in bad places (Anbar Province, Iraq) in an armored Hummer with Ma Deuce or MK-19 on the roof. Even if this is the case, I believe brother Charles will inevitably be seduced by all the cool toys in CMBS, and he's already predisposed to such seduction, having worked with the Night Stalkers when at MD Helicopters, being an avid shooter and tech junkie to boot. Time will tell.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

rickyd89,
 
Welcome aboard!
 
We're a lot less formal than many other boards, except for the Peng thread here (run while you can; it's currently over on the CMBS Forum, I believe), where there is a strict protocol to be followed.  Here's the first tutorial in a series on good CMBN tactics. Please know that the game has developed considerably since the series was made. Though the specifics may've changed, the core tactical concepts haven't.
 

 
If you need training in how not to play the game well, I can assist. Okay, I did eventually get better, but even my wins were terrible for my troops. Learn from their exsanguination! See for yourself here. My dubious martial saga has the same caveats as above, for I started with an early version of the game and patched and upgraded from there. There's nothing past 2.12.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

After hearing of his failed attempts to get the CMBN demo going (some Windows issue), I learned Charles, my youngest brother,  preferred ARs to M1 Garands, so suggested he try the Demo of CMSF. Happily, this one worked, and he dove in headfirst. When last heard from, he won his training mission (turn based single player; figured RT would drive him mad), but unsurprisingly, found the experience "frustrating." But how frustrated can he be if he plans on having another go right after dinner? I believe he's hooked and have so notified him. Taste E-crack once, and you're done. He's also run into Mr.Clausewitz and his friction.
 
Since I've been talking up the wonders of CMBS and the latest version of the game engine for some time now, I believe that the CMSF Demo will prove to be his gateway to CMBS, though the Stryker Effect may come into play, for now retired brother George was an SFC in the first SBCT to ever be deployed, though he didn't actually crew a Stryker, being busy running the TOC or driving around in bad places (Anbar Province, Iraq) in an armored Hummer with Ma Deuce or MK-19 on the roof. Even if this is the case, I believe brother Charles will inevitably be seduced by all the cool toys in CMBS, and he's already predisposed to such seduction, having worked with the Night Stalkers when at MD Helicopters, being an avid shooter and tech junkie to boot. Time will tell.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

When I compare what I'm seeing in various pics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_Regiment_(United_Kingdom)#mediaviewer/File:Private_Smith_8th_Parachute_Battalion.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parachute_Regiment_(United_Kingdom)#mediaviewer/File:Four_men_of_the_1st_Paratroop_Battalion.jpg

and the 1946 docudrama "Theirs Is the Glory" regarding the individual loads for the Paras vs what the 101st airborne guys had on D-Day, I find myself wondering why the British came to the party so seemingly underdressed? Their field packs look like something more suited to a picnic than war, so I marvel they lasted as long as they did, considering they would appear to have had very little per man to begin with. Obviously, pockets figure in as well, but the Americans had roomy pockets, too.

http://www.101airborneww2.com/equipment.html

Regards,

John Kettler

Tank Net has a great thread on Armata, a subject of which I know very little. Am pretty sure some of our members are there. Of particular interest, per information officially released very late December of 2014, is that Armata will first publicly appear in the September 2015 Victory Day parade, after which several dozen will start Army trials (my comment: which may or may not go well). Great are the lamentations of those there on Tank Net  who wish for a whole new tank and the abandonment of 125 mm guns, even the more powerful 2A82. If the date of appearance given is correct, I'd say there is a, pardon the expression, fighting chance that Armata, depending on how it fares in the trials and tweaks needed if generally okay, could be available, at least in small numbers, within the CMBS time frame. I can already hear tread head chops being licked! 
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

Wicky,

As usual you're behaving rudely. I do wish you would stop. I especially wish you'd stop invoking matters which you know perfectly well I'm not allowed to discuss. This allows you to pot away at me, knowing I am defenseless in terms of specifically replying. Ungentlemanly and boorish behavior at best. I will say, though, that I can comprehensively refute your sweeping generalization. Anyone desirous of such proof may PM me.

I'm still trying to reconstruct where I saw the statement about HM applying persuasion to Hackett, and more and more I'm starting to think it was a brief instant during an interview. Meanwhile, here's a thought model for you to ponder.

General Sir John Hackett had a glittering career as both a top-notch solder and an academic. His British Empire level awards were: CB, CBE, KB, KCB and GCB. Do you really believe, for one second, that were word passed from the Queen to the effect "We do not consider it wise for to publish the book as currently written, and We most strongly suggest you rewrite it as a warning and show how NATO barely scrapes by," that he would even think twice about complying? She is, after all, his Sovereign and he her loyal Subject, a man who has shed blood on behalf of the Crown and endured mortal peril on its behalf many times. If the US government can obtain advance copies of books it finds threatening and arm-twist changes before publication to meet its concerns (see Agee, Inside the Company, which came out redacted, likewise Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers), do you really believe the British Government couldn't and wouldn't do the same? Here's what the British Government is attempting to do right now--for vastly smaller stakes than something which could be deemed as affecting what some might deem Security of the Realm.

http://boingboing.net/2014/10/17/writers-condemn-uk-book-censor.html

Understand that Hackett was not some Tom Clancy type. He was a revered and august man of international stature and renown, a man who was, in a real sense, the glory of the Nation. Consequently, when he wrote, from the perspective of a man who's known war, including helping launch the LRDG, SAS and Popski's Private Army; who organized and was CO of 4th Para in terrible strife at Arnhem, who commanded the BAOR and NORTHAG and finished his career as the DCGS; it was of immense gravity and import. If you don't think so, I invite you to see for yourself some of the major journals which reviewed his book. Here's one: Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: January 1980 (p. 50 et seq)

https://books.google.com/books?id=VgsAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA50&lpg=PA50&dq=the+third+world+war+august+1985,+reviews&source=bl&ots=rVa8iSiS4j&sig=cGEfQ97pngw4kJz8_rayllAXyl4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k6KCVPqHHdKZyASj0YLABA&ved=0CDkQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=the%20third%20world%20war%20august%201985%2C%20reviews&f=false

Rest assured, I will eventually find the item I mentioned, your insults notwithstanding.

Wicky and JonS,

I am really tired of these attacks on me. Every time I think you've finally learned to behave, you show me my optimism was misguided. Both of you have been warned about your bad behavior to me, and others, by BFC, and I have stood on my head to deal with your abuse without myself stepping across the line. And I have been goaded in the past, to such effect I got an Infraction for it. Your posts No. 14 and No 15 appear to be straightforward, knowing violations of the Forum Rules, as seen below.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_bfc_forum_rules

General Rules

4. Members agree, through use of this service, that this Forum will not be used to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. Members agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by self, Battlefront.com, or its agents.

Abusive Personalities

5. Axe Grinder - it is only natural that people will occasionally have to agree to disagree. An Axe Grinder is someone who goes out of his/her way to make sure that such a topic remains a thorn in the side of an individual or the Forums in general. Usually it resurfaces in the form of snide comments or opinions restated as if previous debates never occurred. This causes old arguments, that likely have no resolution, to spark up again.

Regards,

John Kettler

Then-Soviet Ambassador to Cairo Vinogradov's file, evidently a memo draft to the Politbureau, makes the word "bombshell" seem grotesquely inadequate. What he describes may well unhinge readers steeped in the story of the Yom Kippur War, its run-up and aftermath. Sure did a number on my head.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/22/what-really-happened-in-the-yom-kippur-war/

The Vinogradov shocker is particularly interesting in light of something which surfaced when the Soviet Union collapsed: ironclad proof of a highly successful Soviet/Egyptian strategic deception before the 1973 War began.

http://pjmedia.com/blog/forty-years-later-sovietarab-secrets-of-yom-kippur-war-revealed/

In turn, Brezhnev's scathing riposte (p. 2 of second link) speaks directly to what former Tk Co and MRC CO Suvorov/Rezun described in The "Liberators" based on firsthand experience and direct reports from his fellow officers: the stripping of the Soviet Army's frontline combat weaponry to provide the Egyptians with everything they needed to defeat Israel. Because Sadat wanted a war.

"After the war, Brezhnev discussed re-establishing relations with Israel. When he was told that this would make the Arabs upset, he responded:

They should go f— themselves! We’ve been offering them a reasonable method for many years, but no — they wanted a war. Okay, as you please! We gave them the equipment, the most modern one, unseen even in Vietnam."

Regards,

John Kettler

Elvis has achieved a military first--a Parthian grenade throw! Am pretty sure this is the earliest I've ever seen Bil take a casualty, never mind two. Now, if Elvis knocks off his ill-advised game of "Go hunt Ivan" and hunkers down somewhere (not within reach of Bil's OT-34!), he may find many opportunities to put Bil on the receiving end, without having to hope for grenades airborne and outbound even as their throwers are chewed up by PPSh 41 fire.

Regards,

John Kettler

pnzrldr has started dishing out pain, rather than watching his forces die and die? Alert the media! Wait. Someone has!
 
(Stentorian intonation and blaring graphics WAR IN UKRAINE!)
 
"We interrupt this program for breaking news. CNN has just learned that main force US-led NATO units have arrived at (insert location) in Ukraine and are in heavy contact. We would've had this report sooner, but heavy jamming interfered with cell phones and our satellite systems. We go now to (insert name of war correspondent not allowed to be an embed).(Helmet and body armor clad field reporter is seen momentarily and with intermittent audio before screen dissolves into unrecognizable hash and producer tells anchor to come back) (With aplomb anchor states) We'll come back to (insert name) just as soon as technical difficulties have been resolved (which doesn't happen, since Putin's mightily determined not to show the flaming wrecks his once triumphant force is being turned into). Judging from early reports, it appears that the defending Ukrainian forces (details), together with unknown numbers of American advisers (more details), were previously savaged by (insert pejorative) Russian artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. It is feared the relieving force may be too late, though CNN has learned the newly arrived American tank and mechanized force is exacting terrible vengeance on the Russians, as it smashes through the Russian force in a headlong effort to destroy the besiegers and rescue what's left of the stalwart defenders. We turn now to our (talking head) military adviser (show Ukraine map first, then Digital globe hi-res imagery and maps of combat zone) who will use his expertise to fill us in on what's likely happening there." (Pontificating begins and continues until anchor becomes exasperated and abruptly breaks off because military adviser won't shut up). We'll keep you abreast of details as this important story continues to unfold. Stay tuned to CNN.
 
(Cut to same as at beginning)
 
"We now return to our original program."
 
(Gets back just in time for a cat food commercial)
----------------------------------------------------------------
 
AMP round info from Army.mil site on March 2013.
 
That was then. Here it comes. Presolicitation from Department of the Army. Lots of changes and amendments right through November 4, 2014.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

WARNING!

In light of the very graphic imagery on the site, I've deliberately left the URL off these links. Nevertheless, should you choose to go to Kaotic, you will find two first rate, crisp clear set of large format stills illustrating the aftermath of WW II armored warfare, after which you may see hit decals in a wholly new light. Probably not good with meals, but many pics I'd not seen before or had seen only in small format on crummy paper.

Regards,

John Kettler

Noltyboy,
 
Thanks for sharing this with us. Had not crossed paths with this one, but I like the idea. A 30 mm, two 23 mm guns (GSh-23 is a twin barrel design, found, inter alia, on the MiG-23/FLOGGER B and D) and a 7.62 mm coax + ATGM?! Wow! Good thing it isn't a scout vehicle. Why? The scouts might get the wrong idea and fight!
 
I do find myself thinking about the IDF's Merkava, "chariot" in Hebrew, so named because the horses, so to speak, are in front. This engine relocation for the T-64 heavy IFV should help enormously in crew survivability if hit, as is the known case for the Merkava. At least vs RPG. Many moons ago, during the Cold War, the Germans were looking at regunning the Marder IFV with a 57 mm gun (had a 20 mm) to deal with the pretty tough BMP-2 and whatever else was coming. Take a look at what a modern 57 mm can do, firing a round with no less than six operating modes.
 
vs a boat


 
vs numerous targets, including an antiship missile, but the real attention-getter is what even target practice ammo can do to 30 mm armor plate!
 

 
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

BletchleyGeek,
 
Whoever designed those catapults should be fired for gross incompetence, starting with the fact the Ancient Greeks had no onagers! The onager aka scorpion was a 4th Century Roman invention, possibly because it was easier and cheaper to build a torsion weapon which had only one skein assembly than one with two separate torsion assemblies, which, like carburetors, had to be carefully synched--because they were both driving a single bowstring or stone slinging doubled bowstring with projectile band or pocket. Here is what the Greeks and Romans used when rock hurling was required. This one talent (60 lb) ballista is a very large specimen. Note the twin skein assemblies which provide the power.The quote here from Ammianus Marcellinus (cited from the classic and brilliant two-volume set,  Marsden, Greek & Roman Artillery) tells you what an onager is. Please disregard the mangonel (a Medieval term) picture and claim an onager is a mangonel. This is an onager, a line drawing of a full scale one (threw 8 lb rock 400 yards) taken from the historical reconstructions done by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey and presented in his seminal The Crossbow, referred to at prior link. Those game onagers are terrible engineering designs, too.
 
Yes. I am a catapult grog. It has been a passion of mine going back to elementary school. There was stuff in LIFE magazine at my uncle's, and when I got back from visiting him in another state, Boy's Life had instructions on how to build a simple toy catapult. I was hooked and built a series of ever more capable small working models through which I learned the same hard design lessons the ancients did--and got whacked by the arm and ricocheting projectiles a few times! This is a great Victorian catapult drawing, by Sir Edward John Poynter, a drawing which is wrong in a host of military-technical ways, but is still cool.

SLIM,
 
I shall be most interested to see what antiarmor ordnance is fitted to Bil's Su-25 and attack helos. Could be anything from HEAT bomblets in an RBK cluster munition to any number of guided bombs and TASMs, not to mention air-launched ATGMs possibly (haven't checked helo list) clear up through the 9A4172 Vikhr/AT-16 STALLION, which is operational on the Su-25T/FROGFOOT, the KA-50/HOKUM A and the KA-52/HOKUM B. Don't know whether it's modeled in the game, but the Russian trained for and used helicopter delivered bombs, the same types as delivered by fixed wing aircraft.
 
A related issue is whether the modeled APS can deal with top attack weapons or is instead in the same boat as Arena, with only limited elevation coverage. I would hope the former is the case. 
 
Krasnoarmeyets,
 
Thanks for the info on Russian MANPADS system allocations! The 9K35 Strela-10/SA-13 GOPHER is not, contrary to your assertion, radar silent. It has an active millimeter wave radar used for establishing range and radial velocity. The 9K333 missile is scary, with a three channel seeker: IR, optical contrast and HOJ (Home-On-Jam).  
 
sburke,
 
Of course, R&R for pnzrldr! You have no idea how exhausting it is writing a DAR cum novel on the fly!
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler 

Bil,

Looks like I need to read more closely, or at least not in such wee hours! So the M16 nearly ate a platoon of your Landser? Daresay had it done so, that would've taken some starch out of your textbook advance. And it was a textbook advance. What's the German equivalent of the Sandhurst "pink" solution, I wonder?

Regards,

John Kettler

Raptorx7,

Thank you for sharing that post, which I carefully read. I also read a good chunk of the enormous number of comments, which seem to be thoughtful in the original sense of the term.

I have a love/hate relationship with war. I find it endlessly fascinating and intriguing. Equally, disgusting, nauseating and hideous. It at once embodies the very best and worst of our species; of single mindedness; of breathtaking innovation which has forever changed the course of our lives, both militarily and in terms of resultant tech. Of selflessness; of sacrifice; of sheer dogged persistence in the face of seemingly unending disasters and crushing defeats.

My father was a defense engineer (both parents were in the military during the Korean War), so I grew up not only surrounded by nonfiction pertinent books and magazines, but also read lots of military fiction, such as C.S. Forrester's fabulous Hornblower series. It's fair to say I was immersed in studying war and weapons--on a spectrum ranging from the Neolithic through nuclear--from early childhood.

Fundamentally, checkers and chess are wargames, with the last explicitly so and hailing from India. Chess didn't have a chance, though, when my wonderful maternal aunt and uncle gave me AH's Tactics II when I was 12. The subject matter, per se, didn't float my boat, but it alerted me to the existence of AH's historical wargames, an interest which fully flowered some years later. The call to see if you can outperform some major leader from history was irresistible. AH, in turn, was my springboard into modern tactical games, published by SPI and SimCan, to begin with, followed by others. Meanwhile, there was also SL, COI, but I drew the line with ASL. Too much for my budget. Besides, I had discovered many other engrossing games, including tactical warfare with miniatures.

My modern wargaming background was a major part of what got me a job in military aerospace, as was my immediately prior involvement in an intercampus elaborate WW II strategic level wargame.

While it's certainly true that, with either malice aforethought or with no context/support, wargames, especially shooters, can be used to create and foster belligerence, they can also be exceedingly valuable teaching tools, with or without an academic context, and can promote peace by creating a pretty deep understanding of what war actually entails. The counters removed from the table in a board wargame become something else altogether when you read the eyewitness accounts and watch the footage. Just yesterday, I read the initial German air attacks on Stalingrad killed 40,000 people, roughly 2/3 of the total fatalities at the Battle of Gettysburg. I'm much more at home with tactical matters than the broader swathes, but my mind is reeling over what I'm encountering in Bellamy's Absolute War, in which a single major operation could and did produce fatalities exceeding total US KIA in WW II.

I think people's enthusiasm for war has lots to do with excitement, whether genuine or cynically engineered, and young men coming of age are wired to prove themselves as a way of attracting desirable mates. As such, war is the ultimate test of people's and peoples' mettle.

All this is a way of saying that, the more I wargame, the more truly I find myself with a richer and deeper understanding of wars, weapons, those who plan and wage them, particularly on the sharp end of the spear or in the maw of a chipper which devours miliions. An understanding, may I add, not based on experiencing either military service or war directly. But my gaming, my reading and research, along with being slaughtered in paintball decades back, have utterly convinced me Tacitus had it right. Speaking of the Roman way of warfare he said: "They make a desolation, and call it Peace."

Since war is arguably the single greatest focus of mankind/not so kind, I find it entirely relevant and appropriate to explore it via wargaming. I will say, though, that at the level we play, I cringe over my mistakes, such as practically wiping out my 18 Platoon in CMBN:CW because I screwed up. But the martial punishment is nothing like what I feel when it comes to what I know aren't, but my heart and guts perceive, as my men, whose wellbeing and lives depend on me. My results to date suggest depending on me in such matters is exceedingly ill advised. Reading such harrowing accounts as that of the Hallamshires in France during WW II only drives home the reality of what we wargame, for the account below lists the losses individually: who they are, what they did, where they're from and who their parents were. This takes war out of the realm of statistics and makes it chillingly personal. I've long since reached the point, knowing what I know, where I find it incredible they can find people willing to fight war anymore. I think we should use war fomenters, war profiteers and perhaps their generally exempt from the wars offspring, as penal battalions. Were we to do this, I'd expect the conflict rates and scales to drop precipitously. It's easy to start wars when there are no direct personal consequences, but considerably more daunting when the war starter has to face the machine guns, artillery and bombs raining down!

http://www.irdp.co.uk/JohnCrook/yorklancs.htm

Other than those in the military or the supporting establishments, or in or affected directly by military conflict, wargamers probably have the best appreciation for the misery, havoc and unbelievable destruction war and its aftermath bring. They are, therefore, if we ignore the testosterone and caffeine fueled gore fest crowd, often very peaceful individuals. This is based on decades of gaming, game cons, online battles and attending two different CM Beta Demos. Another aspect I would like to bring out is that wargaming is a socially acceptable, albeit geeky to some, way of safely working out frustrations and aggressive instincts. For me, and I suspect many here, it is an intellectually stimulating form of stress release. Indeed, to play well, you have to focus on the game. Because of that, wargaming becomes a kind of meditation, substituting a few stimuli for the normal TOT we call modern life. This can and does create issues in other social interfaces, but for many, wargaming is an island of stability amid maelstroms.

Regards,

John Kettler

Was hunting for something else when I came across this useful writeup. Regrettably, the details on the firing test parameters are few. Even so, I believe having all this information in one link is worthwhile.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler