Amedeo

Glorious March to Victory Post #12 - "We Try Harder" (25-31)
So based on observation, I am seeing quite a few "likes" (thank you btw) but few comments, which tells me that I am probably telling you all something that Bil has already posted.  So for fear of getting left behind in the narrative I am just going to pull you all the way to where we are as of today.
I want to say up front that no matter how this ends, this is a really good game.  This is one for the books.  You can tell when everything feels so finely balanced and you and your opponent are fencing on a tightrope.  every PBEM turn gets the heartrate up!  
When I left you things were not looking so good for the brave soldiers of the Soviet Union.  But like the superior communist system, Soviets know how and when to pick themselves up and get back to it.

So not much but re-positioning in Turn 25 as I scramble to re-establish a parameter up on the ridge, Bil pulled back so that all proceeds.  The only interesting thing happens here near the end of the turn.  Looky here comrade the corrupt capitalist system thinks that they are so clever...looks like Bil is taking the deep left option after all.

The next turn I immediately start repositioning my remaining T64 on the left in order to form a blocking position on my left (that poor BMP got nailed by a second Cobra before I scared it off).  Bil could try and hide in the that wood line but we are past that now, he is going to try and roll me up (more on my logic later).  Meanwhile back on what is now called Red Knoll:

My intent here is to establish a hard point and pull Bils forces in, this time however, I am pushing infantry up front.  Note that an ATGM duel is forming up with that M150 and a BMP on the right here.

Which we win.  That should be about 4 out of 6 M150s killed.  Another sign of a really good game is the emergence of all the micro-dramas.  Here there are literally a hundred small stories all unfolding simultaneously, here is one:

So that brave little infantry squad breaks out of that tree line and sees a M60 monster...do they run and hide...nope they open up like it is the last thing they will ever do (and literally is).  Those are both the RPG 18 and RPG 7 firing simultaneously right at the turns end.  Finally on back on the Hwy:

So yep, pretty much as I expected this is an attempted roll up...oh Bil, you tired foolish old man, did you think I would leave the door open?  So here I am re-positioning another T64 and BMP to bottle up that Hwy ploy.  Onto Turn 28 and things start to turn:

My brave little squad misses, and then die in a hail of glory but they spook the crap out of those M60s, who promptly back off buying time for my T62s.  You can see here another T62 I snuck up from the village in the woods, so I have got a pretty good bead on this.

Meanwhile back on the Hwy, Bil's M60 here get spooked by a lone Recon Pl HQ and I start hunting that T64 forward.  I am starting to feel a bit like we are getting back up and then this happens:

Back in the center, Bil still has some armor with eyes on the objective (note: he is still pounding that nearly-empty suburb like it slept with his wife).  My poor immobilized T64 nails this M60 in a single blistering 125mm of bad-love.
Onto Turn 29.

 So on this turn is a positioning turn on the Red Knoll and Hwy, Bill has brought up at least one M60 to reinforce up here, so a lot of micro-drama potential.  And on the other side:

The bottleneck force is shaping up nicely..so the stage is set for another showdown.  
Turn 30 and things start to click:

It starts with this showdown at near-point-blank range.  The M60 fires first but (I like to think my little infantry squad (now all heroes of the Soviet Union) killed the crew commander and rattled that tank so badly that..) it misses.  My T62 does not, because cold steel runs in Soviet veins

Ok, now this is a Balls Game!  Back in the center:
 
DPICM, the last refuge of the desperate (seriously I think we may have overloaded on arty, and of course EW makes most of mine near useless).  But again Bil doubles down on that lone squad and MG team (who have taken a single casualty after all this)  A hint for anyone who plays Bil...he has problems with artillery.
But all is not good news:

This one hurt but it is a straight up "war happens moment so deal with it".  I start to push that T64 up a bit to try and snipe that M60 and he gets killed...gotta admit that one hurt.
Turn 31 and we are nearly caught up.

So up on the Red Knoll, Bil is stubbornly pushing with his 3 M60s (counting the dead one, that is a full third of his armor)  A second squad wins the Hero of the Soviet Union here by fearlessly opening up on two M60s and here they get an RPG 7 off before also being chopped up.

Which hits but I have no sight on the tank so I can only hope it at least rattled them up a bit.  The back on the Hwy:

My other T64, cooly drops that M60 like first period French (swear to god if I had all T64s this game would be over by now).  Back on Red Knoll the turn ends with this: 
Both barrels are lined up and loaded.  This screenshot pretty much captures this entire freakin game!
Ok, my assessment with 9 mins left on the clock.  So, Bil is seriously considering ceasefire right now cause even int guys can do math.  My force on the objective is still very solid with the better part of an infantry Coy and 2 x T62s (I sent the other one back), so the odds of him taking it (which were never great given his force) are low.  He could try a gamey sneak in the last minute of the game but I doubt it.  
So his problem here is one of points.  The US get points for cutting me down past 50% but they need to keep their own force above 50% and based on losses so far he has to be concerned about that buffer.  I am definitely closer (I may be below 50% right now) but even-losses at this point would be fatal to the US side.  And in the last 4 minutes I have lost a single T64 and BMP to at least 3 x M60s and an M150.   By my math Bils armor is precariously down to 50% (and I suspect at least one tank is gun-killed)...and I still have a lot of those nasty BMPs on the board who can all kill Bil's...well, anything.  
Regardless, even if we ended it now, I think this game is a Draw (at least right now).  In reality both forces are at a standstill (even if the US side has not realized it yet) in what has been a see-saw battle that has left me with scars and some therapy requirements.  The Blood-Red Dice still will roll, so we will see.
Capt's AAR Battle Theme Song
 

Glorious March to Victory Post # 10 - "The Nadir" (21-24)
  So in every engagement it is normal to have a low-point and for my troops this was right here.  Everything that can go wrong, does, and nothing really goes right.  Worse, it is the point that you can clearly see your mistakes...after you have already made them.  I have found that in this position it is where the true mettle (and metal) is tested and one must 1) admit the errors and 2) come up with a way out, cause no one else is not going to do it for you.
   So the decent started pretty innocently enough in turn 21:

That brave little BMP that is responsible for probably half the damage I have done to Bil thus far did not make it out.  It was completely out of AT3s by this point but I wanted that little crew to make it...sadly...

So at this point I am still pushing up that ridge in pursuit of Bil's forces.  My aim here is to keep the old man on his back feet in order to make sure he does not collect enough combat power to re-take the objective...and to kill as much as possible with a pretty potent force.  But then badness started to happen:

Ok, despite being on the wrong end of things, this shot is really cool.  That is a newly modeled Dragon missile about to take out a T62...oh, yes that's right, Bil has Dragons.

And they work.   Then down in the village:

Bil's creeping tank platoon sees one of my T62s first and well...ok, I can live with this.  Going to have to break a few tanks to make a tank omelet.   But as we move into Turn 22 it is time to admit that I have a long standing problem:

Yep, I am an over-extender always have been.  I do not know why the siren song of the offence always pull me in but it does.  And here it is in action.  My armor is taking off on my infantry in the best blitz tradition...and it is not a good thing.  But all is not bad news:

Down in the town, my second T62 takes out another M60.  So all in all, I tell myself, it is not that bad....oh foolish past The_Capt....so foolish.  Turn 23...sigh:

Right about here it dawns on me that maybe charging forward was a bad idea.  That is a second Dragon kill.  So I am thinking about holding up and letting my infantry catch up, right about here.  It is not all bad news though:

As the Soviet player, that is a very happy screen shot.  My MANPADs are doing their job.  But then I notice this:

Ya, so all those other icons up on the hill I have been tracking...but that is a new one and it is very bad news.  So I swing a couple T62s and a BMP over because maybe Bill is scratching around the backdoor.
Turn 24: as with most of these things...just a little too late.  An extra 30 seconds maybe but Bil's last tank platoon looks to have finally showed up.  Of course I suspected there was another one up here and of course it shows up in exactly the wrong place, at the wrong time.  And from here it just get uglier:

This is an interesting shot actually, first that is a second T62 (so 4 lost on that hill in about 3 mins) dying, but that is also a 73mm BMP 1 round actually hitting and penetrating an M60 (I think it was HEAT)...but not enough by a long shot:

So here the gods of war clearly are punishing me.  That BMP died for trying but those two explosions are AT3s that both miss (seriously?!)
Ok, so 'new plan' cause the old one clearly was not working.  I am going to have to swing what is left of my Teeth (now with quite a few knocked out....see that last BMP dying on the far right) and consolidate on the hilltop.  I will fend off this tank platoon, while at the same time really dig in on the objective.  The sad part is that right about here, I am out of offensive options.  I will need to play defense from here on out and am basically fighting to hold the objective.  
By this point I have a couple M60 kills, Bils M150s are pretty depleted, a couple M113s and a some scouts...oh and a Cobra.  That is not enough for 5 x T62s (half my force) and 2 x BMPs.  At least my screens and infantry are intact.  A side-note, Bil is really obsessed with the outskirts of the objective (that hashed blue line) and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.  Seriously, we are quite a few turns ahead as of writing this and he spends the next ten minute pounding the same  peice of real-estate, that basically has a single squad and MG team trapped in it.
Anyway, live, learn and love and all that.  I will post up the next series tomorrow...things do get better.
 

An update on our friend the PT-76 since the last post. The game continues to be massaged. They've abandoned the rather absurd huge roof hatch  for 'open up' command in favor of the more reasonable (but more rarely photographed) small commander's hatch.
 
 

I feel about the increasing possibility to capture Berlin riding a T-72 sooner than on T-34.

Air support continues to suffer the bane of generic weapon listings (in this case 152mm ATGM), but we have confirmed that the AH-1S and AH-1F have basic TOW (BGM-71B) 1979-80, then ITOW (BGM-71C) for 1981-82.  The AH-1G can't use TOW.

For the US, they were essentially strategic screening forces. They were meant to absorb the initial Soviet attack (even if it was a complete surprise attack) and buy enough time (slow down the Soviet advance) for other units in country to get assembled and move into defensive positions. They were a tripwire. 
Because of their precarious position, they tended to get all the best equipment right away. They had mostly Abrams and Bradleys once those vehicles came into Germany, as opposed to a lot of the other US units in theater, which were still largely equipped with Patton tanks well into the mid 80s. 

Well, Prinz Eugen was the "lucky" ship, among German cruisers. As its WW1 (Austrian) namesake, she managed to survive her sister ships.
On the other hand, Blücher sank at her first combat, just like her WW1 namesake.
Maybe the Deutsche Marine should reconsider its criteria for deciding new ships' names! 😁
 

Hello, I am Rice and I am about to start my first trial run of my Combat Mission Afghanistan dynamic campaign; Afghan Dust.
This dynamic campaign will feature 6 total players and me, as the Game Master. I will post screenshots and updates about the ongoing game here. As for introduction to how the game is intended to work I will provide a brief description. Currently the trial run is meant to serve as a Beta Test to make sure it holds up as an actually playable game.
- - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - -
What units do the players command?
Each team has a battalion starting out. The Soviets in this trial run will be starting with an Motorized Rifle Battalion using BTR-60PBs. Each player gets one of the three companies. They must then decide as a team where to deploy the remaining assets (for this game, they will have an Anti-Tank platoon to allocate where they all agree it would be best). The Mujahideen has an Islamic Battalion backing them as well. (Same player to player distribution as soviets in terms of command)
Each team will get addition assets such as artillery, aircraft, and more units as per GM allocation.
What is the map like?
The map is a patch torn out of Afghanistan's mountain highways. The game centers around the town of Anjoman and the surrounding terrain.
(Game Map on Google Earth)
How long is the campaign?
This depends on the objectives but games objective but I am not sure how long it will take in real time to play out. I expect 3 weeks to 1 month.
How can I join?
The game will open up to the public once the Trial Game has concluded and I have had made time to review and alter the games rules and structure for a more fun experience. I will post on this thread when that happens.
- - - - - - - - - - -
More posts to come explaining more details. Please reply with any questions.
 

I never thought to ask what TOW type Cobra gunships fire. The game fields Cobra S, F and G models. I've never played with them and don't know the difference in-game.

ITOW on M901 and M2/M3 Bradley.
TOW on M150 and Infantry Battalion TOWs (both on and off Jeeps).

Do my eyes deceive me? Are people really comparing "kills per minute" in some hyper sterile lab test to actually argue whether or not a weapon of suppression is better than a different weapon of suppression? In a combined-arms game where individual weaponry is basically irrelevant unless you exclusively play tiny scenarios? Has anyone here actually gotten into combat and just sat completely stationary with a Bren and an MG42 firing at each other and just waited to see who would win? 
 
The Syrians aren't underdogs because the RPK is probably worse than the M249 or something and the Italians aren't underdogs because the Carcano is worse than a Garand, they're underdogs because they're basically at least a full generation behind at every level and can't even split squads
 
Do people here actually play this game, or do they just post about it?

The Nineteenth & Twentieth Minutes
“The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions”
A Book of Five Rings - Miyomoto Musashi

Starting to get HOT... this is a long one.. so buckle up!!  
These two minutes of action unfold a lot of important developments for this battle.  On my right, 2nd Platoon/s tanks made it to the low ground that composes the Short Option...

...one of them gets a spot on Warren's star killer BMP-1P in the treeline across the map and after some back and forth missed shots it finally lands one... damn fine shooting for a vanilla M-60A1 on the move.

 
One of 3rd Platoon's M-150s spots and fires at the T-64A that was beaten up by 1st Platoon's Tank Section 2 last turn (and again in these turns) as it withdrew through the woods into the open ground... the M-150 does hit with its TOW.. but the T-64 shrugged off even that blow.  However.. I would be surprised if any of Warren'e two surviving T-64As have a working gun now.  


 
On my left Warren is indeed up to something, the action was preceded by an artillery strike on the the woods in this area.  Sadly the only casualty was the Scout team that was calling in my Cluster mission... isn't that the way it always works?

...initially three BMP-1s and two T-62s broke cover.

The 2nd Platoon leader team fired a Dragon at one of the BMPs.. which missed long.


The BMP then oriented on the 2nd platoon Leader's M113, which was caught too far forward and put one gun round through it's front armor... killing the vehicle and it's crew.


 
After reloading, 2nd PL's Dragon gunner took aim at the T-62 traveling with the BMP and succeeded in killing it.  FYI, the Dragon firing animation is still a work in progress, so I am keeping zoomed out from it.  Hopefully losing this tank will make Warren pause or change his tack towards my Scout teams.

Remember that my units on my far left were originally meant as a decoy.. and hopefully his attack will orient itself on them and away from my main combat power. 
 
By the end of the twentieth minute there were five T-62s (including the dead one) and five BMP-1s identified... so I think at least two Platoons of tanks and two platoons of BMPs.  I suspect these BMPs do not contain any infantry, so this is probably meant as an armored raid into my rear.  That's how I see it at this point in the game anyway.

I have started moving 1st Platoon's Tank Section 1 across the map to hopefully hit his attacking force in the flank, or better.. the rear.  It'll take a few minutes for them to get into a position where they can begin hunting.

 
Back on my right, Warren has pushed at least one T-62 forward to blunt my tanks coming up the stream route.  Spotted by the same M-60A1 that just took out the BMP, with this result:


So to recap... if Warren pushes towards my Scout teams on my far left.. then that suits me.  It's less fire power for him to devote to blunting my tank movement on my right. 

My scouts and M-150s (which are withdrawing as fast as they can) will transition into a Delay operation now.
 
Final bit of action... on my right, 1st Platoon's 2nd Tank Section (tank 1/7) took a penetrating hit from the T-64B across the valley (should be the final undamaged T-64 on the map).  The M-60 suffers one casualty and minor damage.  Damn... well hopefully I can pull it out of the line before it gets hit again.

The Eighteenth Minute - Relearning Old Lessons
“Lost in a blurred confusion of yells and groans... down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned, bleeding to death. The counter-attack had failed.”
Siegfried Sassoon
I seem to be relearning the same old lessons over and over again.  I had my 2nd Platoon tanks driving through the open to get to the low ground for the Short Option… the lead M-60A1 was spotted by both the T-64B and the BMP-1P across the map, and after exchanging fire with them, the BMP (of course) hit…

…at least the smoke from the burning tank should mask two of the three tanks which are following.  They are too far forward to reverse and use a covered route, so pedal to the metal boys!
Lesson learned.. again.
The 2nd Platoon tanks that are already on this “open route” will continue as fast as possible behind the burning and smoking wreck of their comrade… the tank that hasn’t broken cover yet will remain and take a safer route. 
3rd Platoon will also be taking a safer route.  Details next turn.

1st Platoon Tank Section 2 moved forward slightly and was able to take the T-64A in the blocking position tree line under fire...

...actually got a couple hits, but alas, no penetrations.  However this tank did start to withdraw from the line.  By the way, this was the final undamaged T-64A... but these things are very hard to kill.

Glorious March to Victory Post # 9 - "7th Outing Stretching" (19-20)
Ok, when I last left you, we had taken out one M60 and had a bead on the second...and of course it missed:

Well it wouldn't be a CM game if the gods of war were not against me.
Anyway  Not much really happens more this turn as we continue to position:

A shot on my left flank where I thought Bil was going to keep pushing (more on this later):

My heavy mortars are finally landing along that ridge, just as my teeth are starting push up the ridge, I hope they are causing someone pain.

So by end turn it all looks good, I am solidifying the position in the town.  Forces are advancing up the ridge unmolested  and I am pretty confident of my cover on Bil's axis of advance....and then I noticed this:

So that is a TOW missile streaking towards one of my few remaining T64s....
Turn 20.
  Well it would not be a CM game if the gods of war were not with me:

The basic TOW (the M901s are firing ITOW) did not penetrate my T64 but did immobilize it.  The good news is that in its current position it can still cover the ridgeline...so lemonade!  (Oh, check out the interface, it is really starting to shape up)
Ok, so turn 20 and mid-game...and Bil is getting weird:

It looks like he is hooking that tank platoon towards the town...which kinda left me scratching my head a bit.  For the rest of the turn we traded a lot of steel across the valley (you can see that little BMP-that-could's last AT 3 streaking at those M60s...and of course it missed).  Besides me bagging a hapless M113 on the ridge, most of the rest of the turn is positioning:

You can see here that my teeth are up out of that tree line and are ready to start fanning out, I am about as good a position as I can get in the town as that second dismounted infl platoon has managed to get into the objective zone pretty much unmolested.  So time for a mid-game assessment:

So basically, I was worried that Bil was going to push a tank platoon, or more into A0.  This would have been very bad for me, as from that position they can  1) pound the town unmolested and 2) make life for my Teeth miserable as I would have to watch their back and front.  Instead Bil looks like he is taking A1 route, which is really kind of strange but I am sure there is a clever ploy here somewhere.  A1 is semi-covered.  My screen S1 cannot see it until it is right in the town, but S2 will get some clean shots.  I also repositioned both infantry and 2 x T62s to cover this approach.  So basically, I am not sure what Bil is hoping to do with 3 x M60s in closing terrain here.  My next biggest concern is him making a hard push on A2 with that second tank platoon.  I also have infantry and a single T62 in the town on this route but S1 can cover it very well.  A2 has more cover if he uses the wood line but again we are talking almost entirely tanks trying to take a built up area.  
If you look on the bottom left there is that worried looking blue guy, that is scouts and APCs that appear to be lining up for some sort of woods push but between my Teeth and that little det of recon, I am pretty sure I can keep them busy.  Again keeping in mind there is probably another troop of armor up on that ridge somewhere. 
So here at mid-game, I expect Bil to use whatever is left of his arty (which still has DPICM) to pound the town in a hope all my infantry die so he can drive in with tanks and few scouts.  I have laid down two arty lines perpendicular to A2 approach but they are around 15mins out.  I have spread my infantry out on ground floors, mostly hiding to weather the arty and will keep my screens S1 and S2 up to make life difficult in the approach.  
My Teeth are going to push towards those scouts and APCs, but I always have the option to swing them towards A2 if Bil makes a push.  Bils dilemma right now is that he cannot seem to get enough combat power into the town and cover my Teeth at the same time...let's see how long we can keep it up.

In another thread I mentioned I had a set of links saved away I called a set of FAQs. I promised to share so here they are.
This is an export of the bookmarks for the folder I call FAQs on my bookmark list so nothing fancy and, while I did a little fixing up, this is really how disorganized it is on my computer. This is a combination of stuff I think will be useful to me, issues that come up frequently that might benefit others and totally useless topics that I got tired of answering again and again and or I got tired of googling for the last answer that was given. The order below is not really planned either. It's just the way they are organized in my bookmarks. Sometimes the link titles are what the poster used sometimes they are my rewrite. The description was automatically added by FF, except when it didn't. I left it all so some of the spelling mistakes are mine and some are yours I could not careless and only mention it cause I don't want to hear about it . It is possible that a link or two is to an internal tester only part of the forum or I might have repeated a link. If that happens - sorry. I would not mind knowing about those.
You might or might not be able to tell which is which. Either way I hope you all enjoy them! Hey, lets collect your FAQ or Important links in the follow on discussion.
Scenario and Map Design
Scenario designing with AI
Hi,I have had reason to be inspired to create a SP scenario that will feature the player as the attacker.It has occurred to me that there are some basic gam...
Making OP Neptune Spear – A Scenario Design Tutorial
Ok a couple of people (yes you @Borg ) have been screaming out for a ‘Special Ops Mission’.  So I thought – hell why not?  But there is a twist to this … ...
Scenario Test & Discussion Thread
I did a lot of work on the scenario yesterday, mostly in the AI Plan. Here are the highlights: Fixed the runaway MG team problem (yes, it was just th...
AI triggers small tutorial
Using Google Earth to create contours
Adding spoilers using the editor
CM Maps Universal Translator Tool - Manual hex edit instructions
Flavor Object Placement and limits
Is there a limit to the number of flavor objects you can insert into a map? Or the number you can have within some set number of square meters? I keep...
Spotting Objectives
An interesting discussion of how Spotting objective work and how you might use them
How to use Mod tags
Instructions on how to use mod tags with scenario authorship
Another Mod How to
This one includes how to add multiple tags
Supply platoons and ammo dumps
A post discussing how vehicles from the same platoon converted into ammo dumps combine into a single ammo dump.
 
Mods
How to install mods
The short and sweet explanation of how to install mods.
Mods and sub folders
Because the short version didn't make it clear.
 
Tank fighting positions
Static defenses
OK I went and did some experimenting.  Here is a scenario with four different prepared tank positions on each side one is T90s vs M1s and one is T90s vs Bra...
Battle positions for tanks/AFVs
I think M1A1TC's description of how BPs are used goes to demonstrate just how hard it would be to code the AI behaviour for them.
 
Writing Briefing Info
CCIR in briefings - Combat Mission - Black Sea - Battlefront.com Community
Commanders essentially do two things - they lead and make decisions. CCIRs are designed to allow them to make informed decisions and are recommended to th...  
 
Destroying Bridges
http://community.battlefront.com/topic/94780-how-do-i-blow-bridges-up-staftesters-q/?tab=comments#comment-1235110
Steve's direct answer to why blowing bridges is not part of CM
http://community.battlefront.com/topic/110304-destroying-a-bridge/
What can destroy a bridge.
http://community.battlefront.com/topic/110851-can-pioneers-blow-bridges-in-mg/
Market Garden specific discussion
http://community.battlefront.com/topic/124968-blowing-bridges/
A discussion about blowing bridges
Spotting
LOS Through Trees and general explination Good discussion.  Picking up on the last train of thought... design for effect vs. engineer for effect...   Spotting and Multi-threading So if the spotting cycle were reduced the chances to spot in any given cycle would have to be reduced to keep the results in the game the same. An increase in resources dedicated to spotting checks could allow the game some room to tweak some corner cases but that is about it.   Spotting cycle explanation   Tactical Tips
Learning the ropes of IFV combat 1 hour ago, Ivan Zaitzev said: I don't know much about modern warfare.I'm more of a WWII guy and can't say I'm very good at that either. So,...   YouTube Play List of Tactic Instruction This playlist includes: Combat Mission Normandy Tactics - by Jeffrey Paulding Combat Mission: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures - by Chris Maillet Combat M...   Tactical Lifehack - Getting solidiers to Stand up when not moving 15 hours ago, Vanir Ausf B said: The Pause + move command thing does work with the caveat that the unit must be already moving when the paus...   HQ in BMP impoves spotting and engagment I did some tests... 1 BMP-3M  at 300 meters open field against 2 strikers.   Only gunner and driver: average spotting time of strykers and engagem... Hull Down & Partial Hull Down Advantages
V4.0 Hull Down question
           How to use the command and other disagreements.
Sniper Tactics
           Some thoughts on how to utilize snipers - some advice from an actual sniper!
 
New To Multiplayer
Announcing "Whose Turn Is It?" a PBEM turn management program
Use Dropbox / WTII / CMHelper for multiplayer games
PBEM opponent wanted
Search for PBEM opponents
New player resource list
In the meantime, Mishrae, welcome to the forums. Don't forget to bookmark both the repository, and The Scenario Depot III:http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/ts...
  Unit Behaviour
Command Connection - Company CO commanding section   C2 & Information Sharing - Redux   The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue    Preface Hi all, I'm pretty new to the BFC forums but I've been milling about over . Buddy Aid: How to handle casulties at the border of AS
XO or 2IC taking over command
 
Targeting Buildings
Targeting with tanks in an urban envionment   City fighting, what are the isssues?? - Page 3   It's got to go It really has. Before we come to the wide open plains of the Rodina. What has to go? The requirement to be able to spot the ground plane at the centre of an...   Urban Combat: share your tips and techniques that work for you With the market garden module on the way and some improvements to urban combat mentioned by BFC I thought now would be a good time to start a thread about w...   It's got to go. - Steve's comment I know this thread has been quiet for over a month, but today I stumbled upon it and figured I would address the issues here since, no doubt, they will come...  
Performance Discussions
Ben's Video settings This what I have ticked "on" in the Nvidia Control Panel ...   Performance Optimization   Notes on Performance for NVIDIA gpu And now for some hard data to prove my point regarding inconsistency in antialiasing levels with my hardware/drivers: AA 4x (default in-game setting) vs AA 16x (set in Nvidia control panel) --> AA 16x wins with higher FPS's. ...   Performace Discission With Steve As my topic, I'm wondering if there's any optimization done on the new Combat Mission. The mouse and control lag is really painful when there's more than a ...   CM:BS Performance Nvida settings   Erratic frame rate investigation Open GL instructions analysis   AMD Graphics card Recommended Settings     Full Battle Playback
Review entire battle?
Future Feature Request: Save Replays for Playback Battle video - Combat Mission: Shock Force
Full replay some thoughts  
 
IP Address Problems
blocked battlefront site
I really, really want to buy new CM .... but My ip is blocked for 2 or 3 years already I know at least 10 other CM fans who can't access www.battlefront....
not allowed to buy your product?
Dear Publishers/Admins/(Devs?)   I am a big fan of your games and products. I find it disappointing that I can not access and purchase any of your games usi...
Battlefront site blocked
While traveling, I found that this site is nearly always blocked at airport lounges even though other game sites are not blocked. Just thought maybe someth...
 
Bones and Future Plans
May 2018 General Update
May 2018 Engine 4 Patch update
May 2018 Update on Shock Force 2
May 2018 CMFI Rome to Victory Bones
May 2018 CMRT Module 1 - to be named later - Bones
2017 Summer Bones
15 hours ago, Apocal said: Someone in another thread mentioned that BF's programmer had left. I immediately assumed it was ChrisND since he ...
July 2015 what's next post
It's been a while since we've laid out our development plans. Time to change that As always we are hard at work on more than one thing at a time. The big pr...
 
Unit Encyclopedia
In game unit encyclopedia Hello. I am a long time Combat Mission player that started with Beyond Overlord and have played most of Battlefronts Combat Mission games. The one thing I ...   Other / Not Categorized
How to update a PBEM game after applying a patch or upgrade of the game   Sell on Steam? Steve's summary   Steve's discussion of DRM   Load Time Varies with Number of Mods?
AT Guns: Re-crewing There are three basic technical complaints as I see it: 1. Rotation speed 2. Pushing speed 3. Ability to take cover far from the gun CM presumes battle...   Any plans for Vin's animated text to be updated On 23/05/2016 at 8:55 AM, CMFDR said: "Cas" versions have casualties in plain letters instead of signs. As you asked for Erwin:  ...   Crews Re-manning Tanks There are a lot of aspects of crew behavior that could be looked at, but I think it would be helpful to keep in mind that tank and crew behavior in Combat...   150mm heat from a 50mm AT gun   Indirect Fire
General Advice
Rate of Fire and Rounds Used
Artillery and Smoke
How come smoke rounds are unusable (and who's responsibility is it to keep track)
 
Saved Links
Command Friction - Applying C3 Effects A set of Rules   Newbie H2H questions - Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy - Battlefront.com Community   Combat Mission Victory Calculator One for the scenario designers. I've been thinking about a dormant Carpiquet campaign I really want to get done and realised it's a bit hard to test objecti...   CM Career Record System CM Career Record System [Now featuring Red Thunder] Combat Mission Red Thunder   Best way to structure objectives for screen scenario What do you want each player to do? Figure that out, then reward them for doing the 'right' thing. It seems to me that the two sides have quite differ...

March to Glorious Victory Post #8 - Riddles in the Dark (Turn 18)
Well only a single turn to report, again apologies but we are kinda busy.  I am new to the whole game development thing but I believe it is call "the crunch", so named I believe for the sound our bones make when Steve swings his bat if we fail to meet deadlines.  Regardless, the war continues:

So my push up the center continues, I am just getting my infantry forward to sweep those woods, particularly on the right because I am starting to see movement.  I  couple M113s and at least one M150 are shuffling around up there, I expect Bil has caught on to the fact that the bulk of my combat power is at his midriff.    I am also going to push those recon assets on my far right forward to start seeing if I can't bag a few of his scout teams.  I am worried about armor on that ridge, as I still see a couple ? icons but if I know Bil he will hold them back.  My bet is that Bil is going to try and bottle my forces up coming out of that treeline.  In other news, my fire mission is finally starting to fall on that treeline which may provide some cover.  I have to admit that I have not used arty well in this game.  Part of the problem is I agreed to EW for the Blue side...never do this, as it means really long spotter-wait times. 
On the upside I still have good Eyes, so I know Bil can't get too aggressive up there.  Things were moving apace when suddenly:

Well looky here!  That frisky old mule looks like he has decided to try to change the shape of the battle.  So that is the lead tank of an M60 platoon that Bil [aside:  I have known the guy for almost 20 years and I still have no idea why he uses only one "l" in his first name...the human heart is truly a mystery] is pushing on my far left.  Bold move.  If he can get armor up into that far treeline on my left he could theoretically make life difficult for the center push...but he has to get there first:

Here the Eyes on my right are kicking in.  Both T64s and that lone BMP (the one who has killed at least one M150) have got clear eyes on Bil's route:

Ouch, that was the BMP btw:

So here you can see the situation better.  At the end of the turn there is a 125mm sabot round coming at that second M60, the other T64 and BMP are reloading.  In the town I am moving 2 x T62s around the village to get them covering that approach, the third is covering the village on the other side.  I am going to keep pushing the center but now have a BMP and a T-62 taking positions to reinforce the cover on that far right flank.  I am also continuing to push dismounted infantry into the objective, going to spread them out and cover any approaches from the wood line.  Next 120 seconds are going to be very interesting, stay tuned.

Well I like to think "knowing my opponent" and audacity had a lot to do with it but lets not discount simple dumb luck.

But probably much more fifty tears ago? 


https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127914602&t=1612748818936
Let's not kid ourselves that we did the Afghans any favours by 'freeing them from the yoke of communism'. 
It was the west that brought radical Islam to Afghanistan, the country that had previously lain at the end of 'The Hippy Trail'. 
It came with the Saudi money & madrassas, the CIA & ISI's helpful advice and full western support. 
We might choose not to remember this, but you can be bloody certain that the Afghans do. 
PS - @Combatintman  Any idea if we're going to do anything for this guy:
https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/son-of-famed-afghan-commander-massoud-steps-into-spotlight
If we'd listened to his father (pbuh) a little bit more closely, Afghanistan (and the world) would be a much better (and safer) place right now.

That's only one scenario, in which case the land war probably wouldn't even happen. I mean, who cares at that point? What is there to fight over?
What MikeyD describes is exactly the tactics and mindset that was in place. Dispersal to avoid WMD attacks, whether thy be nuclear, chemical or biological(less likely), versus maintaining close enough distance to quickly concentrate at a point of attack or defense. That's what we practiced all the time. The tactics of the day assumed that if there were release of WMD, particularly nuclear, it would be at the local, tactical level, and not a full nuclear exchange, meaning there would still be a land war to fight. That being said, the prevailing opinion was that once nuclear weapons were used, there would be no way to stop it from fairly quickly escalating to a full nuclear exchange. 
We all expected to never see our 30th birthday, one way or the other. I've said this in another thread, but being FA primary specialty and Nuclear Weapons secondary specialty, one of the most important things we learned was how to safely blow the nuclear artillery shells into little bitty pieces so they wouldn't fall into Russian hands if (when) we were overrun. No one thought we would ever use them. 
There was more worry of an accidental nuclear war, and the more information that comes out the more we realize how lucky we were to avoid it.
Dave

Excepting the 'magic bullet' depleted uranium rounds for M60A3 and M1 Abrams which can get penetrations at 2k, sabot sucks. APDS is all but useless. Titanium core M735 APFSDS becomes increasingly useful the shorter the range. None of this stuff you want a hit squarely to a Soviet MBT's turret front because its likely to just scratch the paint. Its (almost) like WWII American guns versus Panthers all over again.

I was impressed by the opening pages of Hackett's novel too, with the cavalry Sheridans fending off the Red Horde(TM). 😁
Anyway, if a US Airborne/VDV module is in the works, we might get the M551 someday (and the ASU-85!).

March to Glorious Victory - Post #6  "The Devil's Red Right Hand" (12-15)
First off I apologize for the long return on this one, beyond Bil's glacial return pace, the main reason is that nothing really happened on the Soviet side of this thing.  I am sure Bil is doing a frame-by-frame Warren Commission-esque analysis (because that is what int nerds do) but frankly he has already missed his early victory boat.
When I left you we were discussing options and landed on the least suicidal of the bunch given the somewhat less-than-optimal starting position.
The only question left is "what will Bil do?".  I have thoughts on this but let's leave them til the end (someone remind me if I forget).
So the only interesting thing to happen before the big push was the loss of another T64

This little fella bought in on my left, which was unfortunate but I also observed something interesting before the kill.  

These two T64s soaked up over a dozen hits between them from those M60s on the ridge.  Clearly not bullet proof but from the front these beast are very hard to kill.  This also speaks well for the Plan, as I would rather Bils tanks pinging off my T64s rather than killing my BMPs and T-62s. 
So here was ol Bil's shot to end this thing about 13-14 mins in:

You can see here we are all bunched up moving into position for the slot.  If Bil had DPICM'd this traffic jam, that pretty much would  have been it.  The bridge may have saved a couple but it would have been a bloody massacre.
But he missed that boat.

Turn 14 and I can start to breathe, the troops moving up the slot saw no direct fire.  Bil is lobbing shells into the area but frankly the steel soldiers of mother Russia give exactly zero F's about artillery.

All that arty has about 2-3 casualties on me so far but I am sure it makes the old man - sitting in a faded bathrobe, the one from the 70s, his old-lady slippers, old man underwear with the torn waistband - feel better.   By end of Turn 15, we are about 1/3 through.

So on the far side of the slot we have pretty much a tank pl and 3 x BMP.  In turn 16 I should be at 50%.  The dismounted pl on my left is looking good and pretty much unmolested.  They are going to link up with that scout pl and be my hands.  You can see on my left I have a screen in place of 2 x T64s and about 4 BMPs, that is a very good position in case Bil gets frisky on my left, which based on that smoke I am guessing is a possibility.  The biggest threat now is a DPICM strike but I am less worried about it now as my Tank Coy and BMPS are spread out and moving fast, so at worst I may take a few casualties.  Main concern now is getting that inf platoon on my right into those buildings.  The HQ and squad did get pinned so I need them to get going.
And let's not forget the Eyes on my Right.

 So I have 2 x T64s on the right with good LOS (I just noticed one got immobilized, which is a pain but it is in a solid position).  That little BMP in the little clump of woods nails another M150.  These guys on my right can actually cover the ridgeline and the left, so pretty happy with that for now.  I am very happy at nailing the M150s.  It may seem odd to a bunch of tank nerds but these thing are actually more dangerous right now.  They have TI, so can see through smoke and those TOW are not going to take 6 hits to kill me.
So now what?  Well finish moving through the Slot and then we spread out and start the knife fight in the woods.  So what is Bil going to do?  Well my bet is he is looking longingly at my left flank, two or three columns of smoke are singing sweetly to him do doubt...I welcome him to try.
Next he could focus on the village and do a center push but in about 120 seconds I am going to have 2 x Inf platoons at near 100% with options for tank and BMP support.  Bil has ACR scout teams, M113 which are basically halftracks and a bunch of M60s who will not do well in an urban fight. 
So that leaves the woods on my right.  Here he has better approaches but if thing go even half decently I will have a another Soviet infantry pl back up by a lot of armor for this little dance against Scout teams, who are not really designed for this sort of thing.  So all in all, I am liking my odds...but...and there is always a but....the next 120-180 second have to go well.  That and I know that Bil has Cobras...so this thing is not over yet.
 

If any Beta testers wants to share some tank porn of this....uh....dynamic duo in action, please do.  It was a poster boy for the Goldwater-Nichols Act and I've been morbidly curious about it since the opening chapter to Gen. Hackett's future history novel 'The Third World War.'

If you want some Shillelagh porn, here's a missile missing a T64B by inches.