Erwin

Thanks for all the work you put into this.

Great news. Thank you, Steve and all the hard-working BF guys. Errr, that's not meant to imply that Steve is not also a "hard-working" BF guy... I am sure Steve works harder than all of them combined... Um... that's not to say that the other BF guys are slackers who don't work hard enuff... I am sure they are working to their max capacity... Ahhh... that's not to imply that their max capacity is inadequate... Oh nevermind, I havn't quite got the hang of this "political correctness" thingy... Am stoked that CMSF v3.0 or whatever is coming (eventually). Thanks!

"The people you are talking to on this thread know more about the matter than any men living." This worries me a bit. Does that mean that the "people" being talked to on this thread are actually dead or zombies? It would explain a lot.

ehhh, sideshow... East Front is coming.

I thnk what he means is something to fill the void between the tabletop gaming area and the horizons. There is a nasty-looking green gap when viewed higher than level 2.

Maybe the Pink buildings should have a high wall around it to prevent Blue from occupying it so easily? Or at least have limited entrances that could be covered by Red snipers etc. I think that once Blue occupies the Pink, it's all over for any Red attack on Pink unless they come from several directions to overwhlem the defenders. The troops in CIMIC never got to see action at all. And I was easily able to keep an entire Brit platoon in reserve to guard the right flank of the two platoons that attacked through town and the objctives. Am still curious why your playtest was slower than my play. Did you accomplish the mission(s) with fewer casualties than I did? If you do a v2, suggest you make it harder for the CIMIC defenders and develop more strenuous/smarter Red attacks than to cut time from the scenario.

Please don't forget CMSF also re upgrading to 3.0...

Wonderful. This will greatly enhance vs AI play which is how most of us play.

These scenarios would be even better if we had an updated CMSF to latest CM version with all the wonderful new CM2 (or CM3?) features available.

+1 re paying a new game price for an updated to v2 or v3 of CMSF. It's too good a game to allow it to languish in inferior form especially considering its astonishing timeliness.

At 30 mins to go have occupied all objectives fully so ceasefired. 412 points vs 320. enemy casualties 343 vs 3KIA, 10WIA and 4 Warriors KO'd. Failed objective to destroy Mahdi rmy, but since this wasnt a search and destroy mission, not sure how I could have killed more. About 140+ enemy still alive somewhere. Great training game. Could have been a tougher challenge with better ambushes (requires more cunning building placement), and no repetitive attacks directly into my waiting defenders. Thank you for all the work you put into designing this!!

Yup. Wonderful news!

Wow... That's probably why they gave it to me for free!!(?)

Ssssssssssssssssssssuper...

+1 A simple "spread out more/keep more distance between individuals" command would work in many cases.

I would predict that there is no way the US (or NATO) would enter into a land war a huge distance away from logistical support and on another superpower's doorstep with essentially the same ultra lethal weapons that we field. Anyone who thinks that probably believes that the US would invade China.

Oh... well I am still enjoying it. I figure that I would try and occupy the entire of the final objective bridge zones b4 CF. Am playing WEGO which is usually a slower game than RT. So, am surprised that I am making better progress than you did. Or, did you do it with fewer friendly casualties? All I did was make sure that as much as possible, many units were supporting each other as they advanced. The relief force is like a moving bunker with many units having eyes on the same sectors. I really didn't have to dismount more than one platoon as scouts - and that was not until the last few hundred meters when the road gets very close to buildings. The rest of the time, I tried to keep the vehicles as far from buildings as possible. When fired upon, the massed fire of tanks and APC's took out the firer quickly. Only lost one Warrior in the force to an RPG a couple of turns ago, altho' some Challengers have been damaged. (The other Warrior ran over an IED.) Only lost a couple crew and a couple inf from this force. The CIMIC troops had the heavy lifting as the "urban" terrain meant very close quarters fighting with two Warriors being KIA and maybe 9-10 casualties so far. However, tw platoons were more than adequate to advance, while the third stayed guarding the flank. They easily massacred any Mahdi attacks thru that part of town. Putting a platoon of contractors into the Pink Govt buildings was key as they easily massacred all the Mahdi attacks towards the buildings with maybe only one friendly casualty. In terms of making it a more challenging game, maybe put so many IED's offroad that the rellief force has to stay in column on the road. Also, maybe don't allow such easy occupation of the Pink buildings, or have the Mahdi attack someplace else not so easily defended. A Mahdi attack straight across the town splitting my two attacking platoons from the reserve platoon and units guarding CIMIC and the Pink buildings would have been interesting. I would have had to deploy the third platoon away fom their well-defended positions. Another question is whether there is a way to tempt the contractors to leave their comfortable and secure defensive positions and move into an attack. I have MUCH more trouble with the WW2 CM games. Designers have figured out how to put enemy ambushes in buildings that are impossible to see from any distance. You basically have to be adjacent, and by then you're in trouble. In this CMSF map, it was easy to occupy several buildings with LOS to a target building and blast anything that moved with vastly superior firepower, rinse and repeat... So, it could be that buildng placement is an issue. Playing this sort of scenario was MUCH harder on the Ramadi map JOKER 3(?). But, that was much more heavlly urban.

******** SPOILERS ********* Am always a very methodical cautious (paranoid?) player. I hate charging in without knowing what's there. So, am surprised that you consider my progress 2 B fast. At 40mins to go, both forces have reached the edges of their respective final bridge objectives. Opposition is very light. An occasional RPG or sniper units pops its head up and is immediately shot down or suppressed by massed and/or accurate Brit fire. No further Mahdi attacks on CIMIC or the Pink Buildings. The streets are littered with their dead. I don't think I have ever seen so many pixel enemy lying about. The AI sucks in attacking. Three Challengers have received minor damage, and 4 Warriors total KIA. In terms of troops, 3 KIA and 10 WIA vs about 330 enemy casualties so far. The Brits have a Minor Victory at this point. However, I shall play on to the bitter end to see if the enemy surrenders (or what...?). The Brits have plenty of ammo still, altho' most (in vehicles of course) is not in the ideal locations so I may have to run resupply runs across the map. (I hope not.) I rarely prep fire a building as one tends to do with US forces, as Brits have to be more economical with ammo - esp the Challengers and Warriors with their (amazingly) limited HE rounds. A couple of my casualties were "interface casualties" due to AI pathing issues. But, not sure if I could have saved any others as they were sniper casualties, or lucky RPG strikes. This is a very enjoyable and satisfying scenario in which I feel rewarded for good tactics. For CMSF fans this is a good and fun trainer to practice methodical clearing of built up areas with minimal casualties, as well as running a convoy through enemy ambushes in urban areas. Of course with no ATGM's or enemy CAS (they may be a little inaccurate enemy Arty) to worry about, it's more about practicing discipline and technique. We'll see what "dice" the enemy have left soon.

"never gotten much utility out of flamethrowers." Gotta disagree with you there. One does need to know how best to use em. (Less for assault, where in CM they can die easily, but more for mopping up quick when the enemy is pinned.)

Never used VASSAL. Sorry. Did anyone check out Shrapnel Games site?

Cos I actually enjoy PLAYING the game lol.

Liked the guy's beat up camo pants as well. Also:

Why do I suspect they were the first to get spotted and shot after landing?

+2 We're forming a chanting circle to convince Steve and BF to implement their ideas for a CMSF2 version that would bring CMSF up to current CM2 standards. Send a message of support?

I always thought the OPFOR forces were supposedly manned by elite troops, so maybe they thought you was good?