LongLeftFlank

By the way, I noticed that while the Wikipedia page(s) on the Ramadi occupation are still pretty fragmentary (maybe I'll take that project up at some point lol), the home page on Ramadi city has added a 2008 beautiful high res aerial panorama of the north Ramadi suburbs, looking east along Route Nova. This area isn't on my map, but if you zoom in you will see some sterling examples of the residential rowhouse compounds I attempted to replicate on large sections of my Ramadi map. Many of the houses are mansions though -- this was clearly a wealthier section of town, presumably prized real estate due to the greenery and low density population in the palm groves along the Euphrates. One thing I also notice though is the propensity of even well off folks to accumulate large heaps of trash and rubble in their yards. Some of this is a function of irregular services during the siege, but as a resident of a poor country (Philippines, where families still live in garbage dumps) I can tell you much of it is just traditional people not fully adjusted to the modern luxury of efficient mechanized trash removal. It also led American troops to view the local people with disdain ("don't these people care about living in a dump?"). So look for a lot more trash and rubble tiles scattered around my submaps....

Next step: battlespace. Saddam mosque sits smack dab in the middle of the map, keeping the two US groups out of visual contact. MAP-3 is nearest the camera on "Racetrack" while DEVIL SIX hit an IED just before the road (ASR Michigan) branches beyond the water tower (just out of photo top left). Entering or damaging Saddam Mosque is strictly against ROE, even if moojies are shooting you from there. I will find some fiendish way to smite those players who dare profane it with their infidel Crusader boots (that's a later scenario, btw).

ERRATA: Delete the paragraph above about the air support and Bradleys etc. That is from the following week's action on July 21st. I really don't like this new Forum format btw; it does weird things to my fonts and I can't save edits to posts (the button literally doesn't work on my android device). Fix or sumfink?

Here's the assembled background on the MAP-3 action on the other side of Saddam mosque from DEVIL SIX, from quality sources: [Oliver North] SSGT Drake: "We received a call while we were at the hospital with the battalion commander that the brigade commander had been hit by an IED and was taking fire and they were forced to respond. We hurried to their location, became engaged behind the [mosque] and took heavy fire for over four hours." At a Y-intersection, his platoon received gunfire from the north. The unit divided into two sections and engaged their attackers. The battle lasted about 4-½ hours, during which 12 members of the insurgent "Coalition of Iraqi National Unity" were killed, four were wounded and 15 were detained. Remarkably, only two Marines were hurt during the fight, and none were killed. "This was a remarkable effort, and it was led by Staff Sgt. Michael Drake," said North. Two heavily armed AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters and fixed wing aircraft... provided air support. Backed up by armored Humvees and Bradley fighting vehicles US Marine and Army infantry men slugged it out... house to house and room to room. By the time it was over a dozen enemy combatants were dead, four were wounded and taken prisoner and fifteen others were detained. Nearly one hundred enemy weapons and truckloads of ammunition and explosives were captured. During the fight eleven Marines were wounded. These included Capt. Mark Carlton, the Fox Company commander [BADGER SIX], who suffered scores of shrapnel wounds from an enemy RPG. Further notes from video narration: - 120 degree heat. - Kennedy and North were with officers of 2/5 Marines due to take over in September - was 5 minutes north at hospital - Began receiving RPG rounds near Saddam Mosque - Lt Crawford commands MAP-3 (WHISKEY 3) - Whiskey SSG Drake maneuvered on the ambush - Direct fire from rooftops pushing south, engaged north. - 21 enemy KIA - Coalition of Iraqi National Unity political party HQ was base for ambush http://www.1stmardiv.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/540728/marines-battle-back-enemy-after-ambush-in-ar-ramadi/ "Ramadi was like a ghost town July 14, and that's never a good sign. Anti-Iraqi fighters detonated an improvised explosive device near Saddam's Mosque in the city, hitting a convoy from Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team. [SGT] Anthony and other Marines from 2nd Battalion's Mobile Assault Company and Company G were called to reinforce the soldiers. "Devil 6," the 1st BCT convoy carrying the brigade's commander, was attacked with the homemade bomb at about 12:30 p.m. Shortly after, anti-Iraqi forces opened up on the soldiers with rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other small arms. The attack occurred along main supply route Michigan, which is an important transportation route for Coalition Forces operating in and around Ar Ramadi. "We were escorting our battalion commander to the hospital when we heard on the radio that Devil 6 got hit," said Staff Sgt. Michael P. Drake, platoon sergeant for Mobile Assault Platoon 1. "The commander wanted to go over there and see what was going on." Drake and his 27-man platoon loaded up their vehicles and drove about a half mile toward the firefight, but they didn't make it to Devil 6 right away. "There was no traffic,' said Anthony from Roseburg, Ore. "There were no people. It was just dead." The lack of people in the city's busy industrial area was a telltale sign something was wrong. Drake knew something "very bad" was going to happen as they approached Devil 6's location because the road had been blocked off with concrete blocks and tires. "We knew we were about to get ambushed," the Charleston, Ill., Marine said. "We just didn't know where it was going to come from." The Marines could hear gunfire coming from a little further up Michigan, but they couldn't see any enemy activity. They continued to push forward and that's when Drake said all hell broke loose. Enemy fighters began firing at the platoon. "We couldn't tell where the firing was coming from because the sound ricocheted off the walls and buildings," Anthony said. "It was like it was coming from all around." Immediately, the Marines set up a 360-degree security perimeter and searched for enemy positions on the rooftops. "I pulled my vehicle off the road into a parking lot and about thirty seconds later, I saw seven or eight explosions where we had just been," Anthony explained. "That's when I saw two guys looking over a wall on a roof across the street." Anthony used the scope on his rifle to make sure the men were armed. The two men were ducking in and out of a bunker fortified by sandbags. The gunner on Anthony's vehicle aimed in with his .50-caliber machine gun and "lit up the building." As he sent a wall of lead to the rooftop fighters, the other Marines also laid down suppressive fire with their M-16A4 service rifles. "They were firing from booby trap holes in the buildings," said Lance Cpl. Justin C. Hairston, heavy machine gunner. "They could see us, but we couldn't see them." Hairston was manning an M-K19 automatic grenade launcher on top of a humvee. The vehicle's driver positioned the truck so Hairston could get a clear shot of the rooftop.... about 250 yards from where the Marines were positioned. The bunker was destroyed and the ammunition on the roof began to ignite. As the Marines fought with anti-Iraqi fighters along Michigan, a platoon-sized element from Company G was making its way to the battle. The company was ambushed southeast of where Devil 6 was pinned down. At the same time, a quick reaction force from 1st BCT was also headed to the firefight. "The worst of the fighting only lasted about thirty minutes," Anthony said. "Maybe it was only fifteen minutes. I really can't remember. Time seems to speed up when you're out there." By the time the Marines from Company G arrived, most of the fighting had died down, but there was still firing coming from the same building across the street. The Marines continued to engage the enemy fighters. The Company G Marines then cleared the building. "Apparently when they went inside, the guys inside put their hands on their heads and gave up pretty fast," Anthony explained. "We put so much firepower into that building they were scared not to give up." The Marines detained 15 men who were holed up inside the building. They also found a large cache of weapons, computer gear, body armor and communications equipment. Twenty-one enemy fighters were killed and four were wounded during the battle. The Marines and soldiers accomplished all of this without taking any serious casualties. After the fighting ended, Marines and soldiers spent the next four hours clearing some of the surrounding buildings but found nothing. They loaded up the detainees and seized weapons and headed back to the camp here. " And here's what actually held up the Golf QRF coming from the east: http://jarheadjournal.blogspot.com/ July 14 2004 Cpl Halladay, 2/4 Golf " On July 14th, I took my squad out of the lines and conducted a patrol to relieve the squad that was on post at the Ag Center. We took over the Observation Post at around 1100. Around 1230, we received a call over the radio that an Army convoy was to be moving past our location on its way back to Junction City. Just as the convoy moved out of our line of sight an IED went off where the convoy should have been. As soon as the bomb went off, all civilian traffic, pedestrian and vehicle, stopped and got out of the area. One of my squad members told me there was a car speeding around the corner and heading for the stopped convoy. I told him to give him a warning shot in the windshield. The driver didn't stop and I shouted, "Light him up!" He and I fired several rounds into the car. It stopped in front of the soccer stadium across the street and the driver got out holding his side and staggered off the street. As soon as he stepped onto the sidewalk, gunfire erupted around us. We were taking fire from all directions and immediately called in the QRF. .... We were keeping the enemy from advancing on our position and were able to pin enough of them down for the QRF to flank them. Unfortunately, the QRF had stopped across the street because of the suspected VBIED that was still in the middle of the road. I tried to signal them that it was clear, but by this time they had also come under fire from the north. A secondary QRF was rolled out and pushed south to rout the enemy there. The initial QRF pushed the enemy in the north back and moved to the west to link up with the Army convoy. The battle lasted for more than 2 hours and we had killed or wounded more than 30 insurgents and captured 5 others. There were no Marines injured." Again, all I need now is map work to pin out the battle space.

Job 1 in doing a historically faithful tactical action is to trawl the internet for AARs. Ollie North's video above is obviously a key source for the Marines of MAP-3; there are others too I'll post in a moment. But the view from Col Connor's trapped unit isn't so easy to find. Until.... http://cgsc.cdmhost.com/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll13/id/16 "Sergeant James Henry... went to Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division. As an E-5, he served on the personal security detachment of Colonel Buck Connor at Camp Junction City in Ar Ramadi. Along with nine others of his security team, Henry received an Army Commendation Medal with "V" Device for Valor for his efforts in a closed ambush and in the attendant two-hour firefight. Improvised explosive devices posed a constant threat during his deployment: "I want to say once every other week, probably. These weren't always close. There were some not-so-big ones, but probably a good 10 to 15 real memorable ones." While I was over there, we did mounted and dismounted patrols, basic security for the commander, the sergeant major and other VIPs... Colonel Buck Connor. We would mount up. We had six vehicles, two teams. So whichever team's turn it was to go out, we would escort him to where he wanted to go, provide security while rolling obviously, and then when he got out of his truck and wanted to walk around, we would have our dismount crews walk with him to make sure he was secure. One in particular I was awarded for. We were returning from a meeting, one of the routine meetings, and we were ambushed by the enemy. It was a closed ambush, meaning it was blocked on both sides. This particular engagement went on for probably a good two hours. We were receiving constant fire. They took out one of our front vehicles with an IED. So, immediately we stopped and started engaging the enemy. They started shooting at us from the rooftops. What made this a closed ambush was they set up a VBIED [Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device], which is a car bomb. I want to say a quarter of mile ahead of us, another a quarter mile [400m] behind us. They had two of them. What this did was, it kept us in our area and it kept people from coming to help us. I was dismounted at the time. So, I was running through buildings and clearing buildings. We killed, I want to say, 15 to 20 that day when they found the bodies. We didn't lose a single person. Our crew, our dismount team, consisted of about 10 people. We knew our drills. Better fire power. We had our M-16s obviously. We had some AT-4s, which are rocket launchers. We had Mk-19 grenade launchers. Probably our most effective weapon during that firefight was the .50 caliber machineguns, M-250s." Henry is one squared away sergeant; no wonder DEVIL SIX kept him close. Short of a map, he gave me everything I need to know to model his part of the action. The rest I can deduce from map work.

At long last, I am looking into resuming work on Ramadi, for as long as my elderly Dell laptop can take it. No promises on timetable. This action is interesting to me because like JOKER 3, it requires the player to unite separated small forces to relieve a pinned down unit, and to fight off insurgent attacks from many directions while keeping friendly casualties minimal. But it's more vehicle (Humvee) based than the JOKER 3 scenario. And the enemy is better prepared. For further background, Oliver North did a series for Fox on 2/4 Marines, and was actually present during the July 14 2004 action. Starts at minute 9:10 although the entire 42 minute piece is worth watching.

That happens when a scenario designer adds buildings after he places units.

As you know better than I, even scattered chunks of close terrain presents challenges of fire coordination among separated units, while presenting covered routes to both sides. (The AI pretty much stinks at using the latter though) My beef with CMx2 terrain sets in general is that they're far too open. Woodlands are like manicured parklands, giving huge advantages to ranged weapons, especially AFVs (higher off ground so can see over grass and under trees). And when infantry has no real need to enter CQB, tactics get slipshod (base of fire borgs) and utterly ahistorical, at which point you may as well play Arma. One man's view.

I'll be curious how you handle dense tropical undergrowth given the very limited terrain set in CMSF. Long grass plus a mix of small and large orchard trees is about as close as I can come, but there's still way too much LOS. Absence of thickets of young vegetation remains a sore point for me and the Cmx2 game system in general. It adds to the uberness of armor.

"When you're chewing on loife's gristle / don't frown, just give a whistle..."

Do some texture swaps and you can get European faces on the Syrians too.

Indeed. I live here and it's considered a national disgrace. A regular Army battalion was close by with mech and mortars and could have saved some of the kids but nobody told them the raid was happening. Conspiracy theories of course also abound (CIA and Delta Force was there too and ditched their SAF escorts, etc.). Plentiful what-if scenarios. Heck, I might even sell some CMSF copies to the AFP command schools (hey brods, don't do this!). More than one way to fund an upgrade lol!

I have lately been sorely tempted to do a mod and scenario covering the infamous 2015 "SAF 44" raid and massacre of Philippine police commandos by Moro militias in Mamasapano, Mindanao. (Heheh, he thed "MILF", heheh)

Also interesting how the mid '44 US Army seems so dogmatic about night laager when they can't tie in to adjacent units in the line. (Same story with the 27th ID in Death Valley on Saipan). Was the night infiltration threat really worth presenting this kind of dense artillery target? [Bloody Sunday, July 29, La Buste] "The battalion's [3/134th Infantry] attack had moved off at 0900, in about the same way that it had on many previous monrnings through this country, except that almost immediately it had run into heavy opposition. The battalion had not had a chance to deploy fully from the wagon wheel formation which it had adopted for night security. As a consequence, all its elements were close together. The battalion CP was only one hedgerow in rear of the front line. Other parts of battalion HQ and the battalion therefore came under fire when any part of it did. Hours passed with nothing to show but casualties.... Tree bursts caught the battalion CP."

Yup, the author was here all right. "The only way really to appreciate distances in infantry battle is to get out and walk over the ground. "Here is the hedgerow where LtCol Alfred Thomsen and his battalion staff had their foxholes after the first day's battle; there is the field where Lt. Halley Dikey and an aid man who had come to pick him up were killed by mines, and where Major Foster H. Weyand and another aid man were painfully wounded; down there is the bridge where mines blew up a tank, and then a jeep of Company I; up the slope is the ruined house which burned all one night and became a reference point for the infantrymen; that curve is where a German tank rolled head-on toward a battlion column; there is a house where a German machine gun team held up a company until billows of white phosphorous drove it out; there is the farm known as Emelie, the first objective where so many men were hit; there is the orchard, near the church, where Colonel Thomsen had his command post at the edge of St Lo.

By digging a deep foxhole behind these hedgerows and covering it with logs and earth, the defender could make himself almost immune to practically all ordinary small arms or light artillery fire. Moreover, he was able to maintain observation which was denied the attacker. He could have his guns zeroed in, put an observer up in a tree, and wait. The attacker, on the other hand, usually could not see more than one hedgerow ahead, could seldom see any enemy activity, and when he did discover the enemy's presence by coming under his fire, he was too close to employ his artillery. In a well-organized system of defense in the hedgerows, the Germans usually would hold the first dike with only a few men - frequently armed with machine pistols - as an outpost line. The second row was likely to be defended more strongly; it would have riflemen and machine guns well dug in, with firing slits through the hedgerows. The third line, also held with machine guns and rifles, was more thoroughly prepared, with extensive tunnneling and digging. Sometimes machine guns were mounted in trees on the hedgerows and then fired from a covered foxhole by means of a wire. The entire position was covered by well coordinated artillery and mortar fire. When a heavy attack came, men from the first hedgerow would withdraw to the second or third to continue the defense. Key positions were those at the corners, near junctions of hedgerows, where machine guns could cover the entire field in an exchange of fire with a machine gun in the next corner. These automatic weapons would pin down the attacking troops - would fix them on a target where they would become easy prey to the bursting shells of high angle mortar fire.

Many thanks for this. Clearly the author fought and bled over this ground himself, at a guess in the BHQ of 3/134th. Below are a couple of other interesting snippets from the chapter, providing some 'grit' and paralleling the Green Books and the works of Doubler, Balkoski, et al. "The farms in Normandy, like those in Brittany, generally are in contiguous tracts where the farmers live near the center of their own land in relatively isolated farmhouses. This is in contrast to other parts of France, and much of Europe, where farmers live in villages and go out to till widely separated fields. These earth and plant fences enclose fields - usually meadows or apple orchards - of irregular sizes and shapes which seem to average toward a rectangle about a hundred yards long and fifty yards wide. A wartime aerial photograph of a typical section of Normandy showed more than 3,900 hedged enclosures in an area of less than 8 square miles. As a matter of fact the terrain is so difficult that the local inhabitants did not believe that the landings would come in this area.

Most wargamers are more interested in standing in the boots of historical commanders than in watching stuff and troops blow up messily. Plenty of shooters cater to the latter. That said, I've long felt the building cover and damage model needs a workover, and some more ambient smoke and haze (a more persistent version of the large explosion effects already in game) would be immersive.

Just read this thread; many thanks for sharing. I learned a few useful things. A couple of random observations: 1. with ops in an urban area even in the wee hours you might encounter a few civilian vehicles driving (parked vehicles would mainly be inside compounds), as well as local vagabonds (Spies) lurking about. Perhaps tempt the CIA agents to board a (friendly) pickup, but then need to deal with the roadblock. Not essential, I suppose a curfew might prevent traffic, but an interesting random factor. 2. For my Ramadi work, I made extensive use of the angled wall segment to create narrower apertures accessible to men, but not presenting a full sized gap for defenders to fire through. 3. Did the raiders black out the power grid in the district? or just the compound? Any ideas on how to account for streetlighting etc.? Cheers!

Just curious (and too lazy to search); did anyone ever try doing a Mideast mod for CMBS? There was a "Syrope" mod for CMSF, a North Africa mod for CMFI and a Pacific mod for CMBN. The basics would seem possible to work up with a little texture swapping.

To me, this is all why a CMSF reboot should be by way of a CMBS arid terrain + Uncons "forces expansion pack" (focus on units, not content). Upgrading CMSF itself wouldn't deliver sales justifying the effort in my view, however much it might delight the few fedaykin here. The world has moved on. Such a module could also offer 200x/Client forces kit options to allow the community to recreate fights from Iraq and Astan, as well as any old fave scenarios from the CMSF mythos. While with a few tweaks, NATO task forces can likewise find their way into the 201x Slavic/Caucasian brushfire wars of CMBS. I know BFC has rejected the "sandbox" concept generally, but this seems like a solid way to recycle an existing investment - in both CMSF/CMA and CMBS - with limited incremental effort. And what alternative direction is there for CMBS?

I regret my memory of the how tos has all faded since 2012, but it is entirely possible to remove sunglasses, chinstraps, backapacks, webbing, have troops wearing berets instead of helmets or go bareheaded, etc. by fiddling with the hex editor. No Python programming required. Ryujin was the guy who cracked the nut on this so that's why I referenced the old forum thread.

I am happy and honoured to be remembered, but you have me crossed with someone else. I am not in the gaming industry; I'm in Power in SE Asia. I had to quit the CM timesink cold turkey to focus on work, but I drop by from time to time to see how CM is evolving. No flame like an old flame. Cheers.

Search a c2008 Ryujin thread in this subforum on using free hex editors. I'll warn you, it gets involved, but OTOH you don't need to be a code programmer to use it.