Erwin

+1  Thank you.  One of the most useful mods after Marco Bergman/JUJU's weapons silhouettes with range and caliber data.
Whatever happened to those guys btw?  Would be great to have the weapons silhouettes updated for BS and CMSF2 (and CW).  Eve

Another use for MAX duration and LOW intensity is so one can move the FO to locations with better LOS and walk the barrage onto desired targets with little or no time delay. 
Did a test once and it seemed that more enemy casualties were caused by longer less intense barrages than a short high intensity barrage.  Of course all FO's should always be in the most protected locations.  (Easier on larger maps.)

Amazing AAR Rinaldi.  Very entertaining.

Amazing AAR Rinaldi.  Very entertaining.

In the Fulda Gap, that most terrible dawn came and went for the US V Corps. The 11th Cavalry had bent, but it had not broken. Exercising units that had been caught flat-footed largely made good their escape, battered but capable of reconstitution. NATO deployed, alarmed but resolute, to protect this retreat.  The allied air forces made a herculean effort to create space through strikes in the enemy rear areas. The Elbe crossings were hit, hard. Much closer to home, crossings over the Werra were hit with equal violence. The cost was great, the Soviet air defence asked a high price for admission to these lucrative targets. Nevertheless, the initial Soviet supplies and follow-on forces were slowed.  The powerful shock forces immediately in the battle area still had to be dealt with, but that was a more manageable battle.
Anyone who knew anything, knew this: the initial move was a Soviet masterstroke and had shaped things to their advantage nicely. NATO, however, hadn’t been put in checkmate.
It was a different B Team, but the situation is not all that different: once again thrust into a nightmare scenario against the best an enemy had to offer. That is the situation B Company, 2nd of the 28th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 8th Infantry Division found itself in as July 16th dawned.
CPT Booth was still attempting to recover his balance. The war had come as a violent shock to everyone. His company’s war was not even 24 hours old, and yet his command had already been handled roughly.
First had come hurried orders on the 15th of July to take blocking positions. They were to hold until friendly exercising units could retreat through them. The friendlies had all gotten away and clean, but the enemy forward security element that had been hot on their heels had only been stopped at egregious cost. B Team’s first ever fight started well enough: the company’s ITOWs and attached scouts had flamed several enemy BMPs and a tank. Then the sheer force of enemy fire had sent them reeling backwards to new, hasty positions. An unexpected and sudden flank from several T-80s creeping through dead ground had almost spelled disaster. They been stopped at the ten-yard line in a point-blank engagement. The effort had nearly destroyed Booth’s command. When they received the order to pull back, they left behind three burning M60s – one containing the decapitated corpse of the Tank Platoon leader (he couldn’t even remember the man’s name) – a scout track, and several ITOWs, some from the Scouts, some from his Weapons platoon.
That had been the toughest moment of his life so far. Booth had learned from his first day of OCS: don’t leave your dead, never, ever, leave your wounded. The bastard that had said that had clearly never imagined what this war would look like. Booth’s FSGT, a dependable, quiet Vietnam veteran found him early that evening, weeping in the woods, a shuddering mess. Without a word the NCO clapped a hand on his shoulder, then turned around to go make sure no one would find their CO before he regained his composure.
Though Booth could hardly take credit for it, things had improved after that. An ambush conducted by his 2nd Platoon, surviving scouts and ITOWs had mauled a Soviet security element in the thick forest astride the MSR.  When they pulled back in their M113s, th
ey had left a platoon of T-64s and almost a company’s worth BMPs burning, piled up on the asphalt and along the shoulders. Similar, less dramatic, ambushes had been pulled off by the TF’s scouts and A Company. It had bought the battalion what Booth had already learned was the most precious resources of all in war: time. More importantly, it had burgeoned their sagging morale and showed them that the enemy could be defeated. So violent were these ambushes, they had compelled the Soviets to halt for the evening and night, to deploy their main forces for a deliberate attack.
TF “Dragon” had been able to dig in, lay obstacles, rest, reorganize, conduct proper terrain walks of their next intended battleground and even rehearse planned movements and retreats. Better yet, Booth had been able to sleep. The Soviets were now facing the unenviable task of regaining momentum through a set piece attack into prepared defences. Booth’s company, deployed in front of the suspected main effort, was going to stop them.
Chapter 4: Equilibrium
Neuhof, Forward Edge of the Battle Area. July 16th, 1100 hours.
Ten Fateful Minutes

A quiet stand-to. The Soviets didn’t come in the morning mist. The TF’s S-2 had estimated they were not capable, but Booth hadn’t really believed it. It had given the men a chance to have a hot breakfast, and for his rifle platoons to rehearse their drives into their pre-selected fighting positions. They had now once again returned to their hides, and Booth was going over the plan one last time with the headquarters’ team. Sitting on the ramp of the M113 with an overlay awkwardly spread out over both knees, he went over the scheme, taskings and timings once more.

He had called in the unfamiliar commanders of two attachments made to his unit: 1LT Lyles, a tanker cross-attached from a neighbouring armour Battalion and 1LT Swafford, a platoon leader from the Anti-tank company. They so far had made good impressions. They had been deferential but confident in advising how their commands should be used and had had a great role in shaping the battle plan. Lyles’ M60s were equipped with Tank Thermal Sights and were referred to as TTS. They would be a key component of the plan, a potentially decisive advantage. Swafford’s TOW launchers were older M150s, and would work closely with the TTS to make up for this.
“Let’s make sure we’re all clear on this. Each BP needs to position its vehicles to be able to fire into at least two EAs. We need to create a cycle of combat.”

There it was again. Booth had used that phrase ad nauseum all through yesterday evening and morning. It would have made his special platoon leaders exchange wry looks if the situation wasn’t so serious, and if the plan didn’t make so much good sense.
“Forward deployed units need to get their shots in and hand off the engagement quickly, falling back after the first couple of shots. No delay. The scouts, with some help from your platoon, Lyle, will handle those early engagement areas.”

Nods all around.
“We’re going to operate on the assumption that the other team are going to get to the goal line. We’re going to let em through but make sure they arrive in no position to cross it. Rifle platoons will clean up, Lyle’s main BP will hit anything heavy that manages to get into these final EAs.”


"Alright. That’s it. Get to your positions. Expect them before the morning is through.”
Booth had learned from his first encounter with the enemy. If they wanted to get through somewhere, they could do it the first time with high probability. It was better to bend rather than put up a wall early and watch the Soviets knock it down. He also remembered how his Company had almost immediately descended into chaos when trying to fall back to several successive positions. Too many successive BPs complicated things. A set of main BPs to fall back into was preferable.
He moved into the cargo space of his command track. As the ramp closed behind him, he went over his scheme once more…
His thoughts were interrupted by a squawk over the radio. Through light interference came the report: Dorfborn was coming under artillery fire.

“The centre of town is being hit hard. No casualties so far.” Dull crumps reverberate through the hull of Booth’s M113. “Sir, Neuhof is getting hit pretty hard” the gunner informs him. In the latter case, at least, the Soviets were not at risk of hitting any of his men, who remained to the rear in hides. The locals who had remained had, he hoped, listened to his missive to remain in their basements.  

Here we go. Booth thinks to himself as he tightens the straps of his steel helmet. Further reports were coming in now from Dorfborn: enemy vehicles in column, fanning out into line. Nodding at the company FIST, pre-planned fires are called upon to begin laying a thick fire down in front of the enemy’s axes of advance. The battle for Neuhof had begun.

For the Soviets, the fight begins disastrously. Several BMPs are destroyed trying to run the gauntlet of artillery fire. The FIST’s face betrays no satisfaction, or any other emotion, as he acknowledges the fire and attempts to keep the artillery fire shifting in line with the enemy’s advance.
Despite the pounding the bulk of these lead forces push through the fire, T-64s in the lead. The first direct fire engagement then begins, as the forward deployed TOWs and armour pick up these targets. In two minutes, TOWs managed to destroy several enemy recce, anti-tank and ADA elements that had exposed themselves in the treelines lining the valley floor. They also engage several T-64s that are furtively pushing forward, with catastrophic effect. Within two minutes, a platoon of the enemy’s tanks are burning. 


Scattered throughout the valley are American OPs, who help Booth tightly control the battle and report these initial successes. Prompted by the reports of the continuing Soviet advance, Booth’s attached TACP requests the pre-planned interdiction sorties to begin. A-10s which had been flying a race-track pattern behind friendly lines acknowledge, drop altitude and vector themselves in.

Within two minutes, the better part of an enemy company has suffered severe attrition. The start of the battle has gone almost precisely as Booth had planned. Almost. The initial exchange of fire is not one sided, and just as one of the forward ITOWs start to pull back, it is struck by a Spandrel. Its crew does not survive.


In Dorfborn, the NCO leading the scout section can see another enemy company crossing the River Fleide, entering into engagement area Blue. His men take up the awkward, cross-legged firing position with their M47 Dragons and remove the covers from the thermal sights. Concentrating hard, and trying to ignore the reverberating thumps of artillery hitting the town only a few dozen meters behind their positions, they begin to engage. A T-64 is soon burning.



A second soon joins it. The third shrugs off the Dragon as if it was nothing. Its turret orients towards the village, and sweeps back and forth, trying to pinpoint the firing position.
“That’s it, pack up and move next door. They’re onto us!” a SGT screams at his two scouts, straining to be heard over the screaming howls of the still-intensifying artillery. The Scouts brave the streets for brief moments at a time as they dash between houses, safety, and new firing positions. As new positions are taken up, they continue to report back to Booth. The enemy are flowing like water on either side of the village, and are beginning to present their flanks. These are choice shots, and the scouts make the most of the opportunity, hitting another pair of BMPs.
Then, the A-10s arrive. Two are shot down immediately by ADA, but the other pair close up and push through. Cluster bombs drop onto a buildup of enemy BMPs crossing the bottleneck at the River Fliede.

Back in Booth’s command track, 2LT Bartels, the TACP officer, officer looks shaken. Despite all the artillery fire onto identified enemy ADA, the Soviets still had more out there. It had been so effective. The remaining pair of A-10s don’t try their luck for a second pass and try to burn their way out. One of the two remaining A-10s is badly damaged by an anti-air missile and comes down extremely hard on landing back at base. Three A-10s for, at best, a handful of BMPs. He reports the ineffective air attack to the CO. His part in the battle is done. He can’t help but feel he’s somehow let his comrades down.
Meanwhile, the enemy continues to bypass Dorfborn on either flank. The Scouts are beginning to run low on Dragon missiles and their escape window is closing. Radioing a warning to the forward deployed TTS on their left flank of the targets coming their way, they close up shop and mount up. A harrowing cross-country dash in their M113s shortly follows, but they are all able to pull back behind Neuhof intact and in good order. The scouts never learn just how timely their retreat is, for as they are pulling back, a platoon of enemy BMPs finally breaks off from the pack and enters Dorfborn.

As the scouts are preparing to pull back, Booth is able to piece together the battlefield based on the reports from them, and the forward deployed armour. The enemy, as was expected, is bypassing the village on either side. Neuhof was clearly their destination. With the covering forces displacing, it was time to put the rifle platoons into their battle positions. With a terse codeword across the company net, he orders his tracks out of their hides and into their positions around Neuhof. They had rehearsed things excellently: it will take around 5 minutes to get set up.


As the tracks rumble towards BPs 1A and 1B respectively, the platoon leaders exercise the independent authority Booth has trusted them with. The first of many decisions: do the M113s remain in the BP, or out? In 1B, the platoon leader decides he will order his three M113s to pull back to their hides. His position is closest to Neuhof’s town centre and he knows enemy artillery fire can intensify on it quickly. In 1A, the platoon leader has already decided he will disperse the tracks into fighting positions. He needs as much firepower as he can get, as there are a lot more ingress routes to his position for an enemy to take.
The covering battle is over, and the fight begins to shift to the main BPs. SFC MacDade, Lyles’ platoon NCO opens up the engagement. Hidden away in BP2 with a OP/LP, he is told that a better part of a MRC is fully in EA Blue now. He orders his TTS and his wingman forward, using the treeline, a cottage and its hedged garden as a attack by fire position. MacDade accounts for two T-64s in rapid succession, guiding his gunner on with alacrity with his commander’s override.



The savage enfilading fire seems to sap the Soviet company in EA Blue of some impetus. They hesitate, then briefly halt. MacDade and his wingmen hit several more BMPs, despite the enemy attempting to return fire. The laser rangefinder equipped TTSs are proving as decisive as Booth had hoped.

The BMPs surging to the left of Dorfborn run into the outposted TTS that had covered the scout sections’ retreat. In quick succession, the gunner knocks out two BMPs as they push past the treeline. The TC, a SSGT, is too focused on looking through the CTSD at his gunner’s handiwork. He never identifies the third BMP, skulking in the treeline, as it hits his tank with a Spandrel. The jet of chemical energy eviscerates the entire crew. The SSGT never knows why he died, indeed never has a chance to realise he is dying. The M60 shudders and burns.


The surviving Soviet squad leader has no radio transmitter with which to report that the way around Dorfborn is open; and so he clambers out of the forward hatch, awkwardly fumbling to produce a green flare pistol from below. Aiming straight at the sky he fires it through the canopy of the treeline, willing it to be seen. His prayers are answered: his Battalion commander sees it, even in the bright summer morning, and immediately orders the surviving elements of this MRC to push towards it. He promises a redoubling of the artillery effort to the Major leading this thrust.
There’s a gap in Booth’s armour, and he doesn’t yet realise it.
MacDade, for his part, knows he’s overstayed his welcome in the firing positions. It has only been two minutes, but he knows that is a long time in this type of environment. He orders his wingman to pull back after his own tank. Just as his tank is arriving in cover behind one of the German cottages in the BP, his wingman’s tank is struck by a missile. He doesn’t see from where. Immediately, he thinks: that could’ve been me, and then, glad it wasn’t. A pang of guilt at the selfish thought when four men have just died. Then, relief: the TTS stirs. A slight move of the gun. Hatches open, cautiously, and a man clambers out of the turret. He turns around and helps lift an unconscious second crewman out, aided by the third, who unceremoniously is pushing the stricken man out by his boot soles . A fourth crewman is seen rounding the front end of the tank, arriving to help take the wounded, with almost careful reverence now, down from the engine deck of the tank.
MacDade waves them into the nearby cottage. The three men, a bit shocked but otherwise alright, quickly comply, the burly driver fireman carrying the wounded, unconscious gunner.

Across the battlezone, the Soviets bite back, no longer mere targets in the distance. Unbeknownst to MacDade, the T-64 that took out his wingman is itself shortly knocked out from BP 3B, as 1LT Swafford orders a pair of his TOWs to move forward and engage from the giant potash pile that looms over Neuhof.  As these TOWs are pulling back from the edge of the plateau, one is struck, and it is ripped apart in a blinding flash as its missiles touch off.

This gory disaster doesn’t discourage them. Swafford then orders his other pair of TOW carriers forward in BP3A. These, at the base of the potash mound, creep into hulldown positions on a forested slope. Another T-64 burns. This time they pull back safely into their hides.

The direct fire engagement in EA Red and Blue slackens as MacDade and Swafford pull their vehicles back into hides. The Soviets regain their composure, close formation, and surge onwards. The battle will have to be picked up again in EAs White and Yellow, as Booth’s infantrymen bottle up the Soviets on the mine fields protecting the approaches to Neuhof. For now, the tanks and TOWs lay low, their commanders seeking new firing positions in their respective BPs, anticipating the next engagement.
In BPs 1A and 1B, the infantrymen have debussed from their M113s. Booth and his command team have joined them in 1B, near the two intact bridges that help the town straddle the river Fleide. The decisive engagement was now a sure thing, as the Soviets seemed intent to press forward despite the mauling. 

Booth was fighting the surging adrenaline, trying to stay objective whilst monitoring the engagements on the company net. His XO was sending him SITREPs from the rest of the TF but whatever he was told was forgotten almost immediately. The rest of the Battalion could be on Mars, as far as he was concerned. His entire universe had shrunk to the small area of Neuhof and its approaches. So far, he was still master of this domain. Despite the almost non-factor combat aviation had been, the engagement had gone almost as well as he had planned it. He took mental stock of the situation, collating the many reports that had come in over the last few minutes, trying to form a cohesive image:

The company team was doing alright. For the loss of two tanks and two TOWs, they had accounted for an estimated eight T-64s, nine BMP-2s and five BRDMs.  The equivalent of a tank company and an MRC had been mauled across the first two EAs. So far, the enemy’s courses of action had conformed to what he had expected. They were bypassing Dorfborn, and appeared to be aiming to strike Neuhof from his left flank with one MRC, whilst another beelined for the train station to his front-right. What remained to be seen was whether they would stick to the low ground on the right, heading directly for BP1A, or try to climb the flat hill he had emplaced his surviving two M60A1s, under the command of SGT Marx, on. Another unknown, and a growing disquiet in his mind, was what was happening on his left. They had no eyes there since the scouts had pulled out, and the outpost TTS never pulled into MacDade’s position. It was tough terrain, but if the Soviets wanted to squeeze through it, they could.
It was 1110 hours. It had taken only ten minutes for this carnage to develop.
The Decisive Engagement
Artillery once again dominates the battle on both sides. Dorfborn, despite the Soviet intrusion into it, is hit once again, hard, by their artillery. Just as they did in the start, they pummel empty air. BMPs begin to press forward again, a bit more raggedly now, behind this renewed barrage.
American artillery answers, with fires coming down on TRPs that hope to close the exits from Dorfborn. 1LT Snook, the company FIST, had rode into BP 1B with Booth and had deployed forward in a rail house so to better guide the artillery. Now that his fires were under direct observation, rather than simply being from an overlay, the American artillery began to show increased agility. Fires chase the Soviets all the way and punish any halt.
A brief conversation between Booth and SGT Marx about the situation, results in his tank section pulling back to an alternative position behind BP 1A. They pull back swiftly, grateful to no longer be out on a limb with what’s left of a MRC bearing down on them.

A brief lull, filled only by the artillery fire from both sides, ensues. At 1116, the first Soviet BMPs erupt forward, nosing into the second and final set of EAs. A BMP enters into EA white, and is engaged from BP3, with Lyle and Swafford’s vehicle creeping forward once more. A TTS misses, but a TOW doesn’t. A second one follows, and this time it is shot up by the riflemen of 2LT LeBlanc’s platoon stationed in BP 1A.

The OP/LP assigned to MacDade’s BP feeds a steady report of more enemy vehicles.
“Oscar 2 send for Bravo 26. This callsign currently observing three times BMP in EA Blue and two times BMP in EA Yellow.”
“Bravo 26 copies. Out.”

Booth forewarns BP 1B’s platoon of the encroaching Soviets. It’s leader, 2LT Clausen, affirms and goes about ensuring his Dragon teams are deployed and ready. By 1117 they spot the enemy. Clausen wisely orders his men to hold fire, waiting for clearer shots, husbanding the limited ammunition his M47s have. Over the next three minutes, the OP/LP report more and more contacts heading for Neuhof via Dorfborn. It is the missing third Soviet MRC.
At 1120, the BMPs in EA Yellow are close enough and providing good silhouettes. Clausen orders his anti-tanks to engage at will. A BMP platoon is destroyed several hundred meters away from Neuhof. 


Clausen, like the scouts before him, instructs his Dragon teams to displace between shots. The men dash between neighbouring suburban houses. The civilians, almost all sheltering in their basements as instructed, wince every time they hear the heavy thuds of GI’s boots thumping against their floorboards and stairwells. Their terror is borne out of a helplessness, and ignorance.
“The Soviets must be at the edge of town!”
“Hush! Stay quiet, lay still”
A whispered exchange in German between an elderly man and his wife. They cannot know that the battle is going splendidly, that the Soviet advance, in the face of their losses, means nothing.
1LTs Lyle and Swafford continue to conduct berm drills in BP 3, nipping at the flanks and rear of the enemy surging into EA Yellow. What the infantry are unable to see or engage, they do. The dispersion of fire is excellent, and to Swafford’s particular relief, none of the finite number of TOWs are wasted firing at already destroyed enemy targets. 


The fight in EA Yellow reaches a crescendo as the reinforcing enemy MRC arrive in strength. Burgeoned by the reinforcements, the Soviets redouble their efforts to break into Neuhof. As the BMPs surge forward, they strike the minefield that had been laid through the middle of EA Yellow. Many strike mines and are immobilized. Several other BMPs managed to skirt the edge of the obstacle belt, moving along the rail line. That fight falls to Clausen.

For the majority of the MRC, milling along the obstacle belt, their situation soon becomes incredibly hot. First, they come under crushing artillery fire. Booth, from his forward command post in BP 1B, can see that a unique opportunity has come to destroy the majority of this MRC in a very short span of time. The ITOWs that had fallen back harass the halted enemy, knocking out a few from the agricultural plots behind Neuhof. 


Booth thinks quickly. Then, taking the handheld from the RTO, broadcasts across the company net. Like the voice of God, his voice punches into the ears of all his mounted platoon leaders.
“This is Bravo 26, all Bravo Tango callsigns to move forward and attack by fire enemy MRC in EA Yellow at 1125 hours. Repeat: H-hour is at 1125 hours.”
To Booth’s grim delight, he sees more and more enemy BMPs begin to pile up in front of EA Yellow’s obstacle belt. A target rich environment.
For surviving veterans of 2-28 INF, in the decades that follow, at reunions amongst themselves and in interviews for the media, much will be made of B Company’s “mad minute at Neuhof.” For the men who were there, it would become a moment of pride. Enlisted men would, during their dusty recollections, say this was the moment they believed they would win the war.
At 1125 hours, SGT Marx, 1LT Lyles, and 1LT Swafford order all their vehicles forward. Booth, likewise, orders the ITOWs under his command to engage. The TTS open the wound, with Lyles’ tank striking a BMP in EA Yellow. 

Then, an ITOW behind BP 1A adds to the tally.


The surviving TOW vehicle on the potash mound picks off a straggling BMP in EA Blue.

A TOW in BP3 claims a second BMP in EA Blue. The carnage proceeds: SGT Marx’s wingman — even with the far less accurate M60A1 — manages to destroy a BMP in EA Yellow as well - an ITOW behind Neuhof hits a BMP skulking in Dorfborn. Finally, Lyle’s wingman engages a BMP just as it fires a Spandrel missile. The BMP explodes as its missile pitbulls harmlessly off into the sky, to destinations unknown. 


The assault is utterly devastating on the Soviets. Within 60 seconds, 7 BMPs are burning. All that make it through the gauntlet of fire are the aforementioned pair of BMPs, which snake their way into Neuhof along the low ground. Dutifully, amazingly, fanatically, they disgorge their infantry, who storm into Clausen’s positions. The 2LT cannot but admire the courage of his Soviet counterparts.

Nevertheless, admiration doesn’t translate to pity. A M60 and a Dragon were already pre positioned to watch this entrance into town, and their fire forces the Soviet dismounts to duck into an alley, and right into his first squad. It’s hardly a fight. Caught in the open, the Soviet riflemen are gunned down in a violent fusillade. The only return fire the infantry receive comes from the final Soviet, caught by a M60 burst, who fires his AK in a reflexive spraying arc as he slumps over, dead. Mercifully, his steel helmet slides forward and covers his face, sparing his killer from having to humanize him in the fatal moment.


By 1135 hours the enemy’s attack is clearly shattered. The only surviving enemy are seen deployed at the forward edge of Dorfborn. An eerie silence momentarily falls…but is quickly shattered by a heavy Soviet barrage on 2LT’s Leblanc’s position in BP 1A. The initial pounding kills a pair of men, but the platoon is able to crawl into shelter on the bottom floor, and wait out the barrage in relative safety, even as it ruins and rubbles the buildings they are in.

Again, the American artillery responds in kind, with much more effect. Guided on by 1LT Snook, 155s expend their remaining munitions on the forces in Dorfborn. The fire, so heavily concentrated in such a small space, rips some BMPs apart, flips others, and peppers the survivors with shrapnel. 

Booth briefly toys with the idea of counterattacking Dorfborn, encouraged by the scout sections report that a covered, undefended route onto the flank of the shattered village is open through the trees. He ultimately declines to do so, however. Cognizant of the diminished ammunition of both his direct and indirect fire weaponry, and the importance of making sure Lyles’ and Swafford’s platoons do not suffer unnecessary losses (their parent units will need them, after all), he decides against risking a broken neck so late in the battle.

It becomes a moot point: under the cover of smoke and diesel splashed on engine decks, the surviving Soviets pull out of Dorfborn, slinking back in the direction they came. The Battle for Neuhof is over. It is 1142 hours.
As the pounding of artillery fades, the first thing Booth notices – strange as it seemed – was that he could hear birds chirping; had they returned that quickly, or had they simply stayed throughout the fire and fury? The next thing he noticed is that he didn’t feel tired, at all. Wasn’t he supposed to feel fatigued as the adrenaline poured out of his body? All he felt was exhilaration, and satisfaction. They had stopped the Soviets cold, and mauled (no, he corrected himself, destroyed) a MRB for functionally no loss.
His XO was already taking stock of the casualties. Booth knew he would not have many more letters to write, not much more than a dozen, at best. Unlike yesterday, he did not feel a man’s life had been lost in vain. That made it easier. His dependable FSGT had already departed in the TACP’s track to go fetch ammunition from Battalion. Battalion, he thought, how had the rest of the TF done? He couldn’t hear any sounds of battle on either flank…but he could see in the distance to the right, black smoke spires wafting over the forest dividing him from A Company’s engagement areas. A good sign. He concluded. Turning to his RTO, he dictated his SITREP for TOC...

Interesting - never noticed that b4.

I especially appreciated the tests on blast radius of different calibers as well as the calculation re how many rounds needed per 75 meters of treeline for suppression of any units hiding there.

FWIW have seen many situations where there is no indication of an enemy unit, so nothing to go thru the C2 system, and a tank will rotate to face a particular direction - revealing that there is a so-far unseen enemy unit in that direction.  Was playing a H2H game recently and my oppo was complaining bitterly about this sort of thing as his turretless TD's were rotating to face something unseen which made them vulnerable to getting hit in the flank by something else that the unit did not see.

This is not really new news.  We played wargames vs military professionals back in the day (15-20- years ago) when my company was designing games for DoD and gamers regularly beat the milpros.  Yet it is ludicrous to conclude that means that the gamers would make better commanders.  The reason is that these are games and simply do not have the fidelity to accurately depict the complexities of war, and also, as gamers we can play vs the game system(s) better than the less experienced at playing games milpros.  Even on these forums I vaguely recall one of the frequent poster milpros post that he doesn't play the game much.  Playing a lot of games simply makes you very good at playing the games due to a better understanding of the game system.

While others have mentioned the WW2 games, a beginner may consider CMSF.  The challenge for new players with the WW2 games is that mistakes are costly and one can lose (and possibly get depressed) and have to restart the game very easily after committing only one or two errors. 
When playing CMSF Blue vs Red (Syrians) one nearly always has massive fire superiority and the main challenge is to win with minimal or no casualties.  It may still be hard to win given those victory parameters, but at least the Blue players generally takes few casualties and always has a lot of units left to overcome errors and still learn tactics... and have a good time.

Very good.  Thank you Bootie and rocketman...

I suggest using a number suffix based on the onscreen "clock" so that one can easily return to a specific time or turn if one wants to view it.

Looks amazing, Nigel.

I recall that that I deleted this shiny helmet mod and used other Syrian helmet mods from other mods available.  

Very atmospheric... thanks...

Very atmospheric... thanks...

Lovely - Thank you...

D'oh....Didn't realize I was logged in with that account...

Gyrene

The biggest problem with any attempt to get a "hull-down" position is that many times, the vehicle goes from "partial hull-down" to "no LOS" without achieving the ideal "hull down" position.  I have spent lengthy periods of time moving a vehicle a tiny distance (a meter or less) this way and then that way and it's too often impossible to get "hull down".
 

Balconies in CM are generally a death trap.  The "trick" re keeping troops away from windows is to give them 180 degree arcs away from the windows so the troops position themselves at the far wall.  Of course if one removes the 180 degree arc, and they see a target, they will rush to the windows to fire.

I had always thought that exhausted troops suffer other penalties beside movement.  But, even if not, like buddy aid and other abstractions, keeping em in good shape just seems like the right thing to do.  Esp if one wants to play more "realistically".

A "Wait in Ambush, Shoot, then Displace to Another Location" order would be very helpful for snipers, and any unit waiting to ambush something.
A complete revamp of the "Acquire" process so that any unit could exchange weapons and ammo with any adjacent unit - up to a reasonable amount of course and with a time delay - like when one sets up a crew weapon.  (ie: Do away with the clickfest "Split into Teams, Mount Vehicle, Acquire, Dismount and Rejoin Original Squad" process.)
A "Scout Order" - one can simply click on a target location and the scout team uses an AI routine to carefully scout towards it while maintaining self-preservation.  (Currently, scouting is a virtual suicide mission - at least in WEGO.)
 

You will be happy to know that there are mods that adjust sound to what you like and also that create different % of transparency.
Tanks a Lot made a semi transparent trees mod for CMRT and Rocket Man did translucent trees for CMFI.  Not sure if they also work for other titles.  There are many sound mods to choose from.

Pics would look even better if you disabled the colored bases.  I forget the keyboard command, but it is simple.

Remind folks that this last mod includes a zip with 3 tanks also with zipped files.  So one has to unzip a 2nd time.  
Thx for the mod renaming laurent...