General Jack Ripper

Why did you guys only run the Kickstarter for a week?

I'm not surprised that crew bailed out. That second shot hit directly on the star in the center of the glacis plate! Talk about good shooting!

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmW_vcwM_qxvTqoBaHn7MjwVt_oCCr2vt It's a series of West Point Training videos about various weapons. I don't know if it's in the correct order, I'll have to watch them all first.

He does have an epic m'ustashe! I actually found the rest of these, I had the guys name wrong. It's Arthur Alpin, I dunno where I got Richard from. Once I police up all the videos I'll post them here, they're pretty good.

I just use the new Windows Movie Maker, much better than the old version.

Those are Vein's Tracers. The contact disappeared within a couple seconds, and the range is currently about 500 Meters, so no, my Sniper doesn't have a chance. There's no harm in trying though, I have a whole truckload of ammo on standby, so fire away I say! I'll have to tweak my settings down one more notch, but I'll start recording video too. Would you rather have micro-sized video bits, or wait for a big video?

Personally I play with a house rule that I do not Area Fire anywhere EXCEPT a contact marker, with the sole addition of Recon-By-Fire. To each his own I guess.

There used to be a whole series of these videos on YouTube, but now I can only find this one. http://youtu.be/lu37r-2sfkQ Does anyone know where I can find the rest of them? I would like to preserve them for posterity.

Now that's some good testing. I hope you had a good sound mod. Most WW2 era weapons were battle sighted between 100-200 meters, so you could engage a target anywhere in that range without having to adjust your sights. I don't know if that's the exact case here, but it's a possibility. Until you get past 240 meters, where the LMG's have a marked improvement over the Bolt-Action rifles in terms of performance. I was actually surprised by that result until I realized with an LMG, you can adjust your fire from the previous burst, where as a bolt-action rifle doesn't have that option, being required to work the bolt and reacquire the target for every shot. Having the actual 'Marksman' soldier type makes a big difference, but you also need to factor in the relative quality of the optics mounted on the rifle. The game simulates differences in optics quality. Excellent work with this testing.

Shots Fired! My overwatching HMG's spot what looks like a scout team moving into the hotel. They quickly prepare their well-reasoned reply: "BRRAAPP!" They said. Sounds good to me. I would ask Ithikial's boys what they think, but they're too busy cowering. Meanwhile, one of my mortars adds to the discussion: All he said was, "BOOP!" Battalion HQ is still pondering the meaning of the phrase. Perhaps it has something to do with an explosion? I've ordered my overwatch elements to area fire on the hotel, including a [Target Briefly] from my AT Gun. I figure while I spotted this one team, the two story part of the Hotel is a good place for an FO to setup, so I'm going to say hello with a couple of 75mm High Explosive rounds. Meanwhile, my Scout and Sniper teams have gotten overwatch on the road leading up to the Road Bridge objective, and they immediately spot this guy: Have you ever felt like there's a target painted on your face? Just ask this guy now that I've cancelled my sniper's cover arc. Elsewhere, my StuG is moving to the head of my armor column. It turns out there is LOS to the Hotel from the road corner, so it's time to lay in some HE. I'll wait for the smoke mission to finish firing before moving up my StuG, then when the smoke clears I'll let rip. After tomorrow's turn I'll post an overview of how things have shaped up.

Good fights in that show.

^ That Game of Thrones fight was my favorite so far. A straight up bar brawl!

Looks good, I'll watch it tonight with dinner.

I was about to say the defense of the town had passed the "stubborn" point and had moved into the "suicidal" range, but then you posted about losing a tank, so it seems the defenders still have some teeth. Soon-to-be-knocked-out teeth, but teeth none the less.

That's good shooting soldier! Keep pasting them!

That's good to know, I wouldn't have been opposed to it regardless, the two of us had not discussed any "house rules" to follow prior to the engagement. My big concern was losing my O.P.'s to a sudden artillery barrage as part of a general attack I would not have been in position to receive. I'm also trying to piece together some intel as to force composition, and the presence of any off-map artillery would have required trading for either infantry or armor. Granted it's far too early for any assumptions.

Contact! I finally spot one of Ithikial's troopers. He's running through the woods towards the hotel. I had already predicted this movement, and here is my first countermeasure: Fire Mission, Smoke! I'll lay down a smoke barrage in front of the hotel. I don't have any heavy guns on the line yet, so blinding the position is my first option. The rest of the minute passed uneventfully, so at least Ithikial didn't target any pre-planned artillery strikes at the 5 minute mark. That was one thing I was genuinely afraid of.

"Tanks, hose that orchard, I don't want a single tree standing!" "Mandrake, put those machinegun teams on Condition Red!"

Another turn down, my observers are getting into their positions, and the leading platoon of the attack company is almost at their first objective, the tree line near the Road Bridge. Tanks have moved up slightly, but I'm not going to commit them yet, not until I spot enemy armor. So far I haven't spotted anything, which is both a relief, and a source of worry. Last turn I had one, this turn two, next turn four, and the turn after that six. If Ithikial was making a mad dash for the river, I'm pretty sure I would have seen something by now. Two more HQ's are crawling into position, my Sniper Team is about 40 seconds away from his post above the Road Bridge, and my Scout Team is continuing to Quick Move towards the bridge. One of these teams is going to see something, I hope. The only problem with my spotting is the Rail Bridge, my teams can see the ford, but not the bridge itself. Once the ATG is setup, I might detach an XO team to scout ahead. That's exactly what I needed, thanks Doug!

Play H2H against yourself, then the battle only ends when you want it to.

The long spotting process begins... so too does the nail-biting tension!

Can the Russians use UAV's for targeting airstrikes?

Another turn gone, some adjustment of waypoints, nothing to report. Tanks moving slowly forward now, and I have binocs on the Hotel. Still no contacts, but I'm not surprised by that given the weather conditions.

Looks like you're stuck into it now.

You're comparing an independent game software company to the Soviet Union? Let me guess: Steve = Stalin Charles = Lenin ChrisND = Dzerzhinsky Moon = Khrushchev ummm, Paper Tiger = Zhukov? Okay, I'm out of ideas, and I'm out of this thread. Good night everyone!