Wisbech_lad

And you think the UK and US troops are not paid to do what they do? Seriously, given a volunteer paid military, what is the difference, apart from standards? As Nijis says, some merc groups are better at what they do than national troops, some are worse. Vern_S, what is wrong with being a merc? Professional soldiering is an honourable job. Should all gurkha's, who often got involved in offensive military actions, be denigrated because they fought for money? It is a job.

Don't professional soldier and mercenary mean the same thing? Some one who fights as a career, and in return for payment. Modern merc groups (e.g. Sandline) do work very closely with their national government (Sandline went in instead of the British Army for example to Sierra Leone, because politically more feasible, and that was an offensive action) Most governments have non-citizen merc units (Gurkhas, Irish Regiments for the UK, French Foreign Legion, US used Hmong in Vietnam, plus you can be in the US armed forces as a foreign national) Heck, they even rent out their own units (Brunei paid UK for military protection for a long time, friend of mine fought for the Sultan of Oman while in the British Army, both he and the UK govt were recompensed well) To me, I would criticise Blackwater for being cowboys, not mercs. They have a reputation ISTR for hiring wannabes, vs Sandline's ex-professionals, with slightly higher ethics.

PS, long time no see MrSpkr! Welcome back, you paleoconservative lawyer you! (and no, I don't count the Peng thread as being back...)

Yes, but Ford did build a car that only cost a few hundred bucks in the 1920's. So BFC, stop shilly-shallying about and go build us a car. For a few hundred bucks.

Quite. Soldier is not a title, rank or name, it is a normal noun. Private, Major, Sapper, Gunner etc. should be capitalised. Soldier basically means someone who is a professional warrior, paid to fight. As opposed to a feudal system, where it is one's obligation to fight, or partisan troops, fighting without recompense.

Mr Picky would like to point out that Syrian taxis (well at least some) are white. http://www.taxitel-sy.com/ Looks a mix of Toyota Vios and Skoda Octavias... Here's a yellow one though http://www.project240.net/photo/syria/cars_2.html

Mini-Alesia: Blue forces are seiging a high value enemy human target, but don't want to assualt just yet (talks going on, religious significance or just waiting it out) Large numbers of poorly trained, but fanatic, red forces attempt to break the seige and get Abu Vercingtorix out Another one I tried to make in CMBB, but the victory conditions didn't allow. Basically, US forces have got intelligence of a planned partisan attack, and the location of their staging area. A light force is sent to break them up, kill/ capture as many as possible. The partisans must withdraw to safety, while trying to fight a delaying action. Need plausible reason why US force has minimal/ no air support though!

On attack frontages - I think it is one of Keegan's books where he discusses the UK attack, during, ISTR, Epsom. With "2 up, 2 down" and "left behind units" a multi-divisional attack, at the spearpoint, came down to a couple of sections walking gingerly through cornfields to contact. With huge numbers of gun tubes behind them...

From the thread "Big Price Differences" "Remember guys... there are TWO versions of the basic game; Paradox (retail) and Battlefront (direct). They are not the same, nor are they priced the same. As for the pricing, we have one price and that's it world wide. Paradox customizes its price based on the country being sold in, which means you might be able to pick up the game cheaper in the Netherlands, for example, than in the UK or vice versa. The big difference between the two versions is the Paradox one has an 80 page printed manual, ours has a 200 page printed manual. Obviously that affects the price Steve"

Exel - According to another thread, the Play.com version is a manual-lite (80 pages) but BFC direct is full fat manual (200 pages) So it is 7 USD for a bigger (& better?) manual. Reasonable given printing costs

I would guess that CMSF the Syrians will mostly be numerically superior, less mobile than the US forces. In CMI terms, you probably need troops of vet or better quality, to be able to break contact without getting pinned. I think mobile defense will suit better the US forces in CMSF

Yep, I'm a Jewry and so's my wife! Shalom, Mum!

"ww2 took over 25 millions life of soviet people - you dont see them benefit themselfs over that and occupying Europe or Jerusalim do you?" ...Can't resist... Uhm, so what the hell would you call the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, 1945-1989?

Uhm, because it isn't a middle east wargame? It is a wargame about the Stryker brigade, and it just so happens the middle east is the most likely place for it to fight organised opposition. Guess Korea would be the other. ISTR we can play blue on blue, so I think first and foremost this is looking to be a simulation of Stryker brigade concepts...

What types of bird song do they have? What dialect of Arabic do the Syrians speak?

Interesting point - do we confuse "war on terrorism" with "these opponents use terror tactics?"? Iraqi insurgents are using terror/ urban guerilla tactics and strategy. So did the IRA 1916-1922, or FLN 1956-1964, or Indonesians 1945-49, or the Greek civil war, or Lebanese civil war. Meh, the Americans can do what they want. I'm British, and the quicker we get out of Iraq (and concentrate on Afganistan) the better.

Bah, should have chosen the FN/Enfield .280 back in 1950... Or even the .256

Uhm - I though we were in the peacekeeping/ insurgency suppression bit of the conflict? MRAPS - hmm. I would put my bet on the insurgents coming up with a way of getting those to, much faster and cheaper than the DoD process of designing and procuring them... Besides, designing a Humvee replacement to cope with ied's in Diyala is guaranteed to mean it will be a bad Humvee replacement just about everywhere else (heavy, slow, expensive, poor visibility, uncomfortable, poor mileage etc) By all means, get some specialised MRAPS in quick (think the South Africans had one for use in Namibia) but as a general HUMVEE replacement? Ugh.

So, an attack that knocks out about three sections (squads) worth of men took seven hours... I think that this shows that CMBB morale system is still too aggressive!

Civdiv loves the troops! Civdiv loves the troops! Civdiv and the troops, sitting under the tree! Civdiv and the troops, K.I.S.S.I.N.G! (sorry, just in a silly mood. Besides, a good commander should love his troops)

Patti? They are sending aged rock-stars out to fight now? OMGWASS. Good to hear about the candy, IG. My mother was liberated from a Japanese camp by GI's, and still remembers the candy & Hershey bars! Glad to see you are keeping up the tradition.

So, where do you put the Hershey bars...?

Hmm, thought homosexuality was halal myself. Still, Allah is all knowing and oft forgiving, so maybe the Farsi dude won't end up in hell.

Colonial police forces are very different beasts from "knock the door down" forces. Think the average housewife in Duluth is somewhat more sensible than she is given credit for. Just because one has the ability to sustain an idiotic war of choice, doesn't mean one should...

Interesting stuff. From their report "Later reporting produced very different numbers. According to work by Alon Ben-David, the IDF concluded after the ceasefire that some 45% of the IDF main battle tanks that had been hit by ATGMs during the war had some form of penetration. A total of some 500 Merkava were committed to battle. Roughly five were destroyed by underbelly mines and tactics. Some 50 Merkava 2,3, and 4s were hit, and 21(22?) were penetrated. A total to 11 did not result in fatalities, but 10 other penetrations caused 23 crew casualties. ATGMs also produced major infantry casualties, particularly when IDF reservists bunched inside a building hit by an ATGM"