LongLeftFlank

Cheers, mate. Yes, back in 2012 I did a CMBN scenario based on the 27th Division's landing on Makin Atoll (contemporaneous with bloody Tarawa), since it was very well documented and a reasonable scale of action, plus there were no flamethrowers available (as was the case with CMBN version 1). Once you reach high water the atoll is pooltable flat other than manmade taro pits, so to prevent ridiculous amounts of keyholing through the overgrown palm plantations I used randomly scattered Low Bocage tiles. It worked out quite well and was a challenging fight. Rapid exhaustion of Green troops means that the US commander needs to advance in 'waves' (as historically) rather than just many-on-fewing the massively outnumbered and outgunned Japanese out of their holes. Hand grenades are a massive killer; also the lack of bazookas and FTs to bust bunkers forces you to rely on armour support in spite of the bogging risks. So I can't offer the Sergeant Sledge Marine bloodbaths you probably crave, but it can scratch the itch. Fanatical (modded) British forces stand in quite nicely for SNLF rikusentai. Alas, the mods (wireframes, faces, voices) were done in engine version 1 and were never updated for the new naming convention. Not much new to add on the hoary topic of 'does the CM2 engine work for Pacific?' but the bipolar AI infantry movement consisting of either 'slow painful crawl' or 'run straight at 'em howling' actually reflects Japanese tactical practice tolerably well....

Looks like @Sgt.Squarehead got his wish for the old school 'chunky' building rubble. Cheers, BFC.

Glad to see you're feeling better. You looked like death warmed over for a bit.

I resemble that remark. It took my barber longer to trim my ears today than my head. BTW, any word from Villiers Alpha on playtesting progress?

.... The Postwar Years

Agree AKD, this seems like standard issue human behavior when conditions and lack of external restraint cause moral rules to be suspended by mutual consent. Had US casualties at Fallujah been heavier, you would likely have seen some similar acts out of sight of camera crews and higher ups ("He's faking.... You're dead now, mother******!") Yet these atrocities took place side by side with acts of mercy, kindness and charity by the very same men. I highly recommend this piece to CMers (with strong stomachs) btw, for its unflinching description of the chaos of urban combat, not just the war crimes.

Brutal piece here. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/21/after-the-liberation-of-mosul-an-orgy-of-killing Half an hour later, there was still no news of reinforcements. “Boys, we can’t just sit here. We will lose all our work, let’s move,” said the junior officer. “Two of you go from that side and skirt around them, and we move to the next house.” They divided up the hand grenades, and were preparing to move when the sounds of heavy machine-gun fire came from outside the entrance of the house. The door was pushed open, and 15 Iraqi army soldiers from another column stumbled into the room. “Disperse,” shouted their chubby officer. “And keep an eye on the door.” It was chaos: soldiers were shouting at their officers, and officers were refusing to obey orders radioed to them by their commander. The building they had captured earlier had been set ablaze by Isis fighters as they escaped, and two of their men had burned to death inside. They did not want a repeat of that.

They're both in hell now, together with some other relatives.

Hopefully, it's their fellow Muslims who hunt them down, the MNLF and (wait for it) MILF. The latter trapped and massacred 44 police SAF troopers back in 2014 when they did a raid on their turf without notice (or proper support).

Sympathy don't enter into it. After 10 of 13 Abu Sayyafs slipped out of a daylight 'cordon' held by over 200 AFP and police troops in Bohol back in April, I was terrified hundreds of the Maute including their key leaders would likewise elope out of Marawi to keep building their forces in the hills. But it seems they either chose to stand and die, or else the AFP tightened the perimeter down properly this time and made the choice for them. Based on what I've read and heard this debacle has set the extremists back years - it is a Tet offensive level disaster. They aren't gone, sure, and will still do terrorist acts, but they can't defend an 'emirate' or secure base area anywhere, even against rival Muslim paramilitaries much less the army.

Much of Syria is not desert, so a pine tree (cedar) is entirely appropriate. 1. It would also be nice to have just a couple of modular buildings with nonflat/no access roofs. Use CMFI Mediterranean textures. 2. The barn is pretty versatile when reskinned as a thin walled warehouse / high bay structure (we can do the reskin). 3. Last don't forget the small half sized cottage! Those are ubiquitous in third world slums (again, we can reskin it). That is my bare bones plea list.

No time for CM these days but it looks like the Maute attempt to stage "Mosul East" in Marawi failed dismally, with the trapping and death of most of their command and key combat specialists (trainers) in house to house fighting. Most notable was the near total absence of the suicide jockeys that bedeviled CTS; most of the suicide belts found turned out to be dummies. While Malay warriors are renowned for extreme acts of suicidal bravery (amok), it seems calculatedly becoming a human bomb isn't part of the code. It's about the extravagant display, not the body count. While virgins in the afterlife don't hold as much appeal in a society with relaxed sexual mores (even among Muslims). No doubt there are exceptions of course, but it was a fatal miscalculation.

The Bunker is remanned! I was cold turkey CM free for 4 years before @Sgt.Squarehead lured me off the wagen. But engine 4. Hmm, gonna be hard to resist that one.

I may be proven sadly wrong, but I don't see the Shias fighting that hard to hang on to Kirkuk, or (shattered) Mosul. The IA is nothing without Western overwatch. And the cream of the Sunni Arab travel team just perished under the ISIS banner. So in spite of the implacable hostility of all their (disunited) neighbours, the Kurds are in about as good a place today to carve out a nation state and get it recognized as they have been since the Mongols passed through.

Will there be any way to "bootstrap" CMSF1 maps to the new engine editor? Asking for a friend who doesn't want to spend most of 2018 totally remapping a certain Anbar city....

The wonderful ingenuity of the Pinoy (alas combined all too often with total lack of practicality). https://rhk111smilitaryandarmspage.wordpress.com/2017/07/23/the-wooden-armored-vehicles-of-marawi/#more-6284 Perhaps *not* rolling into tight quarters like this might help some. Presumably the ordnance loads also later ended up as IEDs.

... Just kidding, here's a few from my neck of the woods. Not jihadi rides though... those are mostly Mk-I flip flops, with a few Hiluxes and here and there. Yup, that's Philippine rush hour all right... M113 chopper refits. ... Hey, waddya know. Ok finally found a Maute technical. Nothing exotic, other than the M2 50 cal mount. Most of their weapons come from AFP stockpiles, sold off by corrupt pricks....

Cogent, John? This is a bog standard polemic better suited to ZeroHedge or the (borderline treasonous) Moon of Alabama blog. It states no 'whys', no framework for how we got here or what to do better, only barroom moralizing and generalities.

Oh, I see, I can view my photos again on their site (along with ads or sumfink), but they want payola to share to third parties. Sorry guys, time you learned the actual value of "free" in an internet of infinite content.

Will email it to you, but there is no AI so it has to be H2H.

I personally can't stand this new color scheme. Grey text on light blue background is unreadable for my aging eyes. At least Botophucket unembargoed my photos though.

Interesting piece on the Syrian conflict here. Don't buy it entirely, but worth a read: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-civil-war-rebellion-isis-assad-western-intervention-arms-a7921526.html"Ignorance and stupidity governed the reflexes of Western politicians who preferred moral correctness to the realities of finding a solution: they sent weapons instead."

I did a semi historical Syrian mech vs FSA urban fight at the 2012 end of the siege of Homs: OPERATION ADIYAT (Warhorse)