LongLeftFlank
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Posts posted by LongLeftFlank
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In Baba Amr I am the Syrians and am on the offensive having to sieze a couple objectives held by the rebels. It is a fairly heavy task force, but LLF already scared the crap outta my troops by landing an RPG round into a BMP which somehow survived. Where it stands now is my force clearing one of the main avenues block by block while I presume LLFs rebels are prowling my flank looking for an opening and possibly setting up an ambush ahead. It has been a very tense methodical push by my forces so far.
I agree with LLF trying to do this as a human vs AI would be hard. Trying to get the AI to adopt the tactics either of us is using is pretty much an impossibility.
LLF I may have some thoughts on this once your PC is back. If you could send me the map sans forces or the whole scenario and I will try to delete them without looking, I may have some map ideas to run past you. If that isn't possible I may create one and take screen shots to throw some ideas your way.
Erwin, the only way I could make static ambushes work is to give the FSA rebels a whole pile more troops and RPGs than they really had (e.g. plant a static ambush on every streetcorner, almost), which could make a challenging game, sure, but it would be more Berlin 1945 than a representation of what's going on in Syria now.
Again, I build scenarios for my own reasons which aren't always exactly what gamers like most; in this case, it's to better understand why it is the Syrian army needs entire armoured battalions to enter urban areas defended by small and very poorly armed rebel groups.
SBurke and I are on that nasty little voyage of discovery right now -- his force is overwhelmingly stronger than mine, and he is being very smart and systematic with his infantry combing buildings for RPG ambushes and tanks blasting my snipers (no rules of engagement here). But he's still chewing his nails off wondering when he's going to miss something and leave flaming wrecks and charred corpses in the streets for UgaritNews to post triumphantly on YouTube. While for me, every RPG rocket counts, and any fighters forced into a stand-up fight are going to die, fast. Tactics which, as SB says, are impossible for the AI to replicate.
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Guess what? I'm back up and running! The HP so-called "help site" says that if the power module shows overload (blinking light) and you unplug your motherboard and peripherals and the light goes solid, that means your power unit is fine but the motherboard is fried -- so sorry! you need a new one or even better, a new computer. $$$$
But once I googled around a bit, it appears there's a hack where you unplug everything, use a blow dryer on the power unit to warm it up, put the power back in and then (carefully) replug in your motherboard, it clears the overload and reboots. Sure enough, it worked!!!!!
Job hunt remains priority, but I'm going to get down to some long overdue CMing this weekend. I want to get that La Meauffe recon scenario published, and then maybe we can resume Baba Amr if you have time.
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Are there any scenarios covering the siege of Brest? heheh, he thaid "brest"! heheh!
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Hush now, Herr Feldmarschall. Take your cyanide, there's a nice boy.
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Well Streety, if you're gonna write that book, be sure to look closely at the role of the pressmen who fed, and when it suited them, demolished, the reputations of said EBs, often to feed their own particular narratives of the war. Just as they still do today.
PS Respect and peace to your great uncle. Keep talking about this stuff and maybe you will talk me into doing Kohima when I can run CM again. Hmm, I wonder if my mum still has the book on it I read when I was a teen.
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Hmm, before Kettler wanders in here to Wikipedia me to death again, it appears that Slim was never in fact a sergeant. Nor was Stilwell a Hoosier. OK, on that basis you may disregard everything I've written above as a pack of lies and calumny.
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I'm about 1/3 of the way through Slim's autobiography. Don't lionize him too much -- he would not want you to, either. Although you are also right in flagging him as a major exception to the EGOTISTICAL BASTARDS rule. Joe Stilwell is a borderline case.... he shamelessly used the press when it suited him, but never to polish his own "brand" except maybe as a cranky plain-speaking Hoosier.
Slim certainly can't be blamed for the 1942 rout in Burma and did extremely well at Imphal and Kohima against the odds -- but of course it's easier to show pluck and initiative when you're against the wall and the enemy has left you no choice.
Arakan on the other hand was a complete waste of time. And while he certainly proved an able logistician and diplomat (with the Americans he depended on, as well as with nutcases with powerful friends, like Wingate), the 1945 offensive was, face it, six months too late to make any difference to the war, falling on a hollowed out Japanese army whose own logistical incompetence had reduced its soldiers to cannibalism.
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Well that's the thing -- the English class system has never been purely about Toffs vs Toughs, even though those of us who were raised on English comics in the angst-ridden Seventies (yup, I'm not *that* Transatlantic) have come to believe that. That's a relatively new paradigm, partly an American influence.
The English inherited from their Anglo-Saxon and Celtic tribal forbears the notion that the Leader must also be dux bellorum, willing to lead by example. And no matter how Europeanized (i.e. French) their aristocracy became, it was never entirely allowed to shed that idea and isolate itself entirely from the commoners. You might be born into the nobility, but you also had to earn the right to be there.... at least, that was the ideal. And ideals do matter and persist.
Also, don't overestimate the "aristocratic" opposition faced by Montgomery; he was of quite acceptable enough class and had worked diligently to check the right boxes, as had many of his peers. Bill Slim in contrast -- a sergeant who had risen to flag rank -- was still a rarity.
Monty was genuinely popular with his men as well, because he got results, even before Alamein. Even hardcore skeptic and lampoon-artist Spike Milligan fondly remembers the positive changes that swept through the Army when he took over in 1941. The Army had had its arse handed to it by the Germans, with only the Channel standing between it and total defeat. At the same time, it needed to absorb the hard lessons and put them promptly to work using the US materiel that was starting to flow across the ocean. And the willingness to change isn't just about intellectual capacity -- it's all about attitude. And Attitude was what Monty brought to the table in spades. Don't waste my bloody time telling me what you can't do..... find a way! (oh, guess what? sometimes you'll be badly wrong)
The men didn't expect or need Monty to be a working class hero though, in spite of the sweaters, unless they were hard core Socialists (but in that case, they'd have hated Slim too as a class traitor and tool of the system, until the Comintern told them to believe otherwise). It was enough that nobody doubted that Monty would cheerfully share a dirty mug of tea with his lads and if Germans came across the rise would be the first to pick up a rifle. That was what they expected of their leaders, aristocrats or not.
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Thank you, "Bushido Ken". If my CM PC was functioning, I'd throw together an Alligator Creek scenario just for you!
P.S. You need to put that in your sigline. We will razz you mercilessly for quoting yourself, but it'll still be less egomaniacal than Emrys.
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SBurke and I were playtesting exactly such a map (Baba Amr), although it's been on hold for nearly 6 months, and my CM PC is presently dead.
I'd send it over to you, but the catch is that I was unable to come up with a coherent AI plan for either side to enable reasonable 1 player mode -- the AI is no damn good at sneak-and-peek guerrilla tactics or systematic block-clearing in a dense urban environment, so it's H2H only.
In JOKER THREE, the real battle Iraqi uncons behaved a lot more like CMSF AI troops, dashing recklessly through the streets in search of glory and martyrdom, so it worked. Also, the Marines had a lot fewer troops and firepower to use for the rescue mission than the Syrian Army 4th Armoured does in this planned assault. Those tactics would be futile and fatal for the FSA forces.
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Move a team forward to engage it, preferably not from your defenses... He'll likely stop scouting to engage it, or open fire with other forces, possibly betraying his attack concentration.... do YOU have artillery too?
More lead time on a fire mission (e.g. not Emergency) makes a huge difference. -
My 6 year old daughter is beating me at checkers although she cheats like a fiend. And invariably asks if those are the Good Soldiers or the Bad Soldiers in my Game. We'll see how it evolves in spite of Mom's disapproval.
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And by the immortal Major Wigram ("gutful men") of course.
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"Uncle Bill" Slim wasn't quite a gentleman though, having risen from the ranks. Class still meant a lot even in Depression era England (my own Dad, a degreed engineer but the son of a lorry driver emigrated in the Fifties for this reason). Slim was quite good enough to take over the battered "Indian Army" out in the colonies, where white skin plus ability to last 6 months without perishing of fever or dysentery had long been the primary class distinction. He only became a proletarian hero well after the war, and he himself did not embrace that identity.
No, in the existential struggle for England, the supreme commander had to represent how Englishmen saw themselves: confident, rational and calm in the face of, well, everything. The demographic catastrophe of WWI and Marxist class struggle had badly damaged the fondly held notions of England's elite being a bunch of Sir Robert Scotts-- cultured and educated men of judgment, yet willing to stoically endure hardships with their stout yeomanry..... "Waterloo being won on the playing fields of Eton" and all that (just finished Robert Graves book Goodbye to All That, btw, which puts me in this frame of mind). Yet national myths die hard.... there's a reason Prince Harry feels a need to be in harms way in Afghanistan, and not because he intends to run for office.
Interesting point about the RAF liaison though; Tedder was quite close to the Americans, wasn't he? Also, General/FM Alexander got along decently well with Clark and the other Mediterranean front commanders (Although admittedly he was the one nominally in charge there and didn't hog credit... what little there was to claim down there). Could well be wrong about that though.
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My Grandpa was a tanker. He told me they never turned off the engine in-case it wouldn't start again. That's why it is this way, for sure.
Oh, it might be a little hard to turn the turret, too, without the hydraulics...
GaJ
Exactly. Unless this vehicle is a pillbox, you'd kill the engine at your peril.
But the OP raises a good question: does HIDE for vehicles give it any practical benefit other than it (maybe) not opening fire? I continue to plead for an abstract "% Concealment" slider spotting benefit analogous to the CMSF Pop Density benefit for Uncons; the simplest hack would be for it to apply to Hidden units.
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If you want to beef up your tommy guns as a scenario designer, cut the headcount of each rifle squad to 80% and add 3 Scout teams to the platoon. The 3 man teams carry 2 Thompsons and 2 demo charges. Very handy for Assault type actions. Only drawback is permanently split squads (tho you can still split the reduced squads).
OTOH this may be an accurate representation of how Airborne squads actually worked on the (ad hoc) attack during the chaotic first days behind enemy lines in dense country, especially if the Scouts are a step higher than the squads in exp and morale. Lots of anecdotes of "Sgt Rock" types doing most of the killing themselves while the others largely follow like dazed sheep (SLA Marshall's Night Drop is what comes to mind though, so season to taste)
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Your last line about says it all. That's your book title right there.
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Sorry Broadsword, I'm just kibitzing here, as my CM PC is dead. I don't own CMFI anyway and have no plans to buy in the near term.
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Lordy, Broadsword, you sure can pick 'em! -- as in gawd awful spots to defend.
My specialty of course, tends to be the reverse: gawd awful spots to attack.
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Do you know whether in the real battle the American TDs engaged the panzers at range like this, or conducted a reverse slope defense?
I'm not a tank warfare god by any means (I'm hardcore infantry combat), but it seems like you'd use low-silhouette towed ATGs (if you have them) to engage at range and let the high silhouette TDs stick to reverse slope.... if they're only good for 1-2 shots anyway before getting popped, might as well let them do it at close range. Discussion?
Also, that first screenie is presenting some mighty fine mortar targets, clustered together in the open like that. Which relates to the first point -- are you slowing the overall German advance with this long range armour duel in spite of the unfavourable attrition math, and can you make the Hun pay for that fact?
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JonS says RELAX?
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Yeah, and our families were planning a beach vacation together too.....
So you SEE where this leads? DO ya?! huh?
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[Facepalm]
Like a bunch of old women! No, really, my wife's been feuding with a neighbour (formerly close friends) for a year now; all the sadder for Dad, since said neighbour is a blonde, pouty-lipped goddess with huuuge.. tracts'a land.
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Mord, go back to the Bunker and cool off, man.
Take a little browse through the last 5 pages of Erwin's posts... you will find a large number of extremely courteous "Thank you's" and "Great works" with no backslap following. Including one such addressed to you and one addressed to me.
SBurke already manned up and stood down like a gent. Why can't you just do the same? The dedicated CM core is too small to slag each other like this. And I'm just not seeing any evidence of trolldom here. On the contrary, I have a long record of detailed, timely and useful feedback from Erwin. Each of the core team contributes in his own way.
More lead time on a fire mission (e.g. not Emergency) makes a huge difference.
Allied assault/SMG prowess
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
Keeping my fingers crossed for flat-roofed "industrial" buildings! And maybe high-bay warehouses (like barns, but bigger and sturdier walls).
Try playing with the equipment quality settings for various subunits: Excellent to Poor. In some cases, it will give them more or fewer automatics relative to riflemen. It definitely made a big difference in CMSF; I haven't explored the feature so much here.