JulianJ

I just found this pro-Houthi Yemeni battle vid channel   
I have watched several videos and the Houthis v the Saudis and their allies would make really good scenarios for CM2. (I realise making games out of other peoples' misery is in pretty bad taste. I do find it hard to reconcile my wargamery side with my humanitarian ethos sometimes). Amazing rocky terrain - ideal for irregulars.
 
NOTE: these videos are from the Houthi side - they indicate their soldiers with green arrows and the enemy (Saudi irregulars?) with red. I think these are total eye-openers. It would be interesting if anyone on the forum can understand Arabic, as the commentary would no doubt be enlightening but I cannot understand it.

NOTE 2: I have heard, but have no corroborating evidence, that the Saudi army can't get any decent soldiers - so  has to rely on desperate people, eg Pakistani poor. The only reliable units are held back against insurrection. Certainly if I was a Saudi tankman trained on an M1A2, and then sent into battle with a T55 I suspect my morale might have a negative modifier. 
This channel's battle footage shows the Houthis being brave and competent against a what I can only describe as a pitiful, unprofessional enemy. Yet there is a truly astonishing amount of arms, ammo and equipment that the Houthis are capturing intact - it's like being in dusty aladdin's caves of war materiel. See for yourself. At around the 9 min mark 15-20 lightly damaged armoured vehicles and about a dozen softskins including a Grad MRL truck are abandoned by the side of the  road.  I'd guess most of them are repairable. If a Western battalion or brigade let this amount of vehicles fall into enemy hands it would be called a major defeat, wouldn't it?

I agree. That's why I keep saying that no country was better prepared for war than Soviet-Russia. Let's not forget the Germans rebuild their war industry in less  than 8 years. Stalin had almost 20 years to prepare for a war he tried to promote in every possible way and hoped to profit from for his own dark plans. And in that period his secret service gathered almost every defence secret in the US, Britain, Germany and the rest of the world. The development of Russian weapons benefitted greatly from that. Apart from that Stalin invested huge sums of money in the Soviet armed forces and war industry, while his country suffered under terror and poverty.
Hey, wait a minute. That sounds familiair! 🤨

That is a great video. 

I live for the day we get a pack with lots of what if's, like, oh I don't know, ...E series Panzers. 😎😉
In the meantime, a little cold water for M-26 fans. 😛
 

This has been racking my brain a bit...
Partial quote from initial post by Steve:
 
"The inevitable question is… when will it be ready?  Winter 2020 is as specific as I think I can be at this point.  That’s only a few months and it seems about right for what remains."
Winter 2020 to me is like saying the Battle of the Bulge happened in Winter 1944. It means that Fire and Rubble gets released at the end of 2020?
I request a more specific answer!
Some suitable answers would be:
1. By the time I get home from work on the day after my first master's degree term is over...say 1730 CST on 3 March 2020. That would be most lovely.
But I can hang for an extra week so the Schwimmwagen looks DoublePlusGood.

Remembering and celebrating the contributions and sacrifice of the grandparents' generation probably helped. 

I think it's something else.  In my old wargaming days we never thought about those items.  None of my old wargaming pals were reading or discussing anyone's memoirs or the other items you mentioned.  In those schooldays (60's) we were brought up on a diet of pro Allied propaganda and maybe we thought of the Germans as the underdogs - maybe it was a revolt vs the post war incessant pro western ally "Ra Ra" propaganda.  Also, post WW2 many of the superior German weapons were either classified or info was suppressed for PR purposes presumably.  During the 60's is when we started to learn about King Tigers and Me 262's and other advanced German weapons.  So, those were the sexy weapons we wanted to play with.  (Another example is that these days most players seem to want to play the Confederates rather than Union in ACW games.  Or even Napoleon rather than Wellington.)
But, players didn't want to play the Italians or Japs (until very recently (eg: War in The Pacific AE).  The Germans had more varied interesting equipment, cooler uniforms, and the cardboard counters used to represent the Germans were more unique (and few) and seemed more versatile and mobile.  The black and white counters used for the SS were just plain sexier and yes, the Soviet counters were like masses of expendable cookie counter copies and looked boring.  The GB units were simply "blah".  Except in the NA desert of course.  That is where the Brit vs German games flourished - although again, everyone wanted to play Rommel and DAK.  That's one major reason there is probably still a market for a DAK NA game - perhaps a CMFI module.  (BF said that CMAK was the poorest selling of the CM1 games.  Maybe the CM1 game system was already old and faltering when CMAK was released.  But, many of us over at WeBoB loved playing huge CMAK scenarios on the 8Km x 4Km maps.)
Something changed in the late 90's.  Perhaps younger players simply wanted to be on the winning side and play the US.  (?)

There is no doubt that designing a great map takes a great deal of time.  Even more time to make a great (playtested) scenario.  Making a great campaign that uses all the features available like core units, ammo and material conservation, branching storylines/missions etc. is a career.  Designers (and modders) are heroes.  But, it's noticeable that we had many xnt user-made CMSF1 campaigns, but since then the numbers have decreased dramatically.  Designers and modders have gotten burned out and/or left the hobby.
Have suggested that BF should create modules of campaigns for sale since a great campaign requires so many man-months or even years of effort.

My suspicion re why WW2 Africa desert theater hasn't had so much demand is that many folks have the idea that deserts are flat, featureless and boring.  Maybe there a a few places in the world that are like that.  But, that is very rare.  Anyone who has been in deserts knows that desert terrain is a) beautiful, b) often with rugged and dramatic vistas, and c) marvelous for long LOS and maneuver warfare.  We need to regularly chant for BF to consider an Afrika Korps module for CMFI.  (Especially if they ever get to the earlier WW2 period.)

There is a reason that the US trains on the Utah-Arizona border -  looks a lot like Afghanistan

+1  Desert terrain may look flat as a pancake, but as you say, it really is not.  There are always undulations that can be used to approach an enemy relatively safely.  WW2 Africa theater often mentions that.  

This morning I watched a possibly rabid possum in front of the house.  It was stumbling in circles clearly having motor function issues.  I thought "gee that looks faintly familiar"  then stumbled in circles trying to go back into the house. (screaming at the possum to get off my lawn!)
Congratulations on retirement, am getting close, but that is only making me more short tempered and irritable that I am close but not yet there.
meanwhile our bathroom is being renovated so yeah that shower thing is a bit of an issue.  I do not however skip meals!  Food is just too good a thing.

Bellingcat.....You are kidding right? 
I guarantee you at least 60% of the people reading this thread know more about Syria than that muppet:
"Higgins' analyses of Syrian weapons, which began as a hobby out of his home in his spare time, are frequently cited by the press and human rights groups and have led to questions in parliament."
"Higgins has no background or training in weapons and is entirely self-taught, saying that "Before the Arab spring I knew no more about weapons than the average Xbox owner. I had no knowledge beyond what I'd learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo." Higgins does not speak or read Arabic."
This is from Wikipedia by the way, not RT:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Higgins
Just follow the links from there.....The bloke is a first class chump. 
Right up there with the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_Observatory_for_Human_Rights
One bloke, in a bedsit in Coventry (That's a city in the UK Midlands, it's just up the road from me BTW).....Another one of those 'authorative sites' so often quoted by the media or politicians with an agenda. 
Ever get the feeling you've been sold a crock? 
 
 
 
 

Well, I have continued with CMx2 training.  I am not a noob, but I think the missions are good for me.  I completed CMBN, CMFI, CMRT, and have CMFB to do.  Yes, I am playing them in order of release.  (Also, I have been playing Alea Jacta Est the classical wars of Rome.  This is not a sandbox game like TW & PD games.)
But I am here to talk about GTMF as I have gotten more time with it.  I playing Shilovo as the Germans in 42.  The op has I think 13 turns.  The terrain is wooded, open, and village ... flat and rolling.  The forces vary between all infantry, motorized, and armor.
The style of play is very different from CM which is both good and bad.  Did anyone ever play Panther Games?  I was a team member.  I you played that one, then you will know there were no turns.  But order delays and time made it very different than many operational games.  How so?  Well, things don't have a beginning and an end.  Yes, strictly speaking an order is given and it with be carried out until termination.  But you quickly learn that the wait for termination is often counter-productive.  Why?  Suppose you order an attack.  I see my attack has succeeded and broken through.  I could wait for the conclusion which involve exploiting beyond the objective, regrouping, and finally securing.  That will take 4 hours of simulated time.  Then, I may have another order like to take up a defensive position.  So, 6-8 hours could go by before the force gets to that defensive position.  If the enemy gets there during that time soon, he could deploy heavy weapons and dig-in.  So, you see my point.  You want to detect the changing state on the ground and react as soon as it is reasonable to do so.  This was the heart of PG's system.
Now, GTOS/GTMF are not exactly like that.  The order delays are not nearly as "painful" in PG full realism was called "painfully realistic".  The delays exist more to discourage micro-management than to simulate the famous OODA loop.  But it is still very much about detecting/sensing transitions; rather than being like a city builder where one step is completed before another ... and all is meticulously done in space and time.  You will have some critical units which you will want to micro-manage.  The best example I can think is an FO and TRPs.  We are talking controlling 3-6 men, but very important.  However, in general, you may not even command platoons (which can be commanded as squads), but at the start of a battle combine platoons into forces.  The force will then get missions like:  clear the woods, deploy in the tree line across from the town to keep enemy occupied, another larger force may be using smoke to make a frontal assault, etc...  The orders you give will take care of lines, spacing, close to contact, close to close combat, close to grenade range, bound, run, find cover, ...  Go mounted or dismounted in support of ...
So, I am defending this town as the Germans on hill over looking a river; in particular a bridge which is the only crossing point for armor.  I will have armor up in about 12 hours.  I have already taken the town and bridge in a prior battle.  I know the Red Army (intel) will be coming across the bridge and mainly hitting one side of the town.  This is suggested, but not guaranteed, in fact, I am very fearful of the woods on the other side since they get close enough to fix bayonets before they are spotted.
I place most troops in buildings mainly on the side overlooking the river.  I set up some TRPs at the bridge choke point.  I set up my very limited ATG resource on a center of the river island which the bridge crosses hoping to catch armor in a cross fire; turn them into a natural road block.  But my real armor plan is to retreat.  I don't have as much as a stick of chewing gum to try to get a T-34 to throw a track.
The battle begins and there is a very heavy preplanned barrage by Soviets of one end of the town.  There are many wounded and KIA.  Besides the heavy losses, this concerns me as it not directly across from the bridge.  I am wondering if I can trust my Intel.  The Red Army has been known to give their officers false plans until the last minute to foil interrogations.
But the intel turns out to be correct when they come.  My TRPs are spot on, but enemy comes well strung out preventing an easy massacre; they will rally after crossing.  My other main problem is that I have great TRPs, but only a few minutes are arty for a two hour battle.  I will draw blood, but by no means will this break their attack.
The Red Army takes the bridge in the first 30 minutes.  This does not bother me.  The town, Shilovo, is everything.  The bridge is one of those objectives that is easily traded ... there are no blowing bridges in this game.  From the river up the town is a steep slope with little natural cover.  However, there are enough shell holes and some former positions that fire and maneuver is quite feasible.
It was said, "How can enjoy the beauty of an RTS?".  Well, I spend most of 60 minutes watching the USSR work their way further and further up the slop and closer to the town.  So, this is no movie.  This is tense live drama.  If they manage to reach buildings and get a toe hold, the whole nature of the fight will change.  Breaking their grip on the town will require many more lives than gunning down Russians climbing the slope.
So, each little group of Russians is a drama.  A few drop to lay down fire, and couple of others race forward.  Yes, we are in a much better position.  But every now and then, a bullet finds one of my men, and I hear "Sheise, Ich bin getroffen."
It has been 60 minutes, the volume of Red troops is starting to wane, and they don't seem to be able to make any closer to the streets than 50M.  Occasionally, a single courageous Russian dashes the final distance, but so far, they have all been gun down before finding an empty building.
Having watched this drama, I am pretty sure this is the main (only) attack.  I now shift the rest of my troops to this flank as I see the Soviets have lost their momentum.  It will take far less now to break the attack.  There are no more green flares sending new platoons our way.  If anything, I am expecting orange smoke, and the attack to be recalled.  But the Soviet command treat their men as dogs; they may just die here.
It has now been 90 minutes, there is no new activity down by the bridge.  If there are reserves, they are not going to be thrown into this attack.  Yet, there are many Russians holding on tenaciously.  No doubt, they would rather face German bullets to Bolshevik bullets.  I order a general attack down the slope to a shell marked area of my TRP.  It is time to push the Russian off my position, and guarantee the bridge will be ready for armor when it arrives.
The first few Germans bursting out the town don't elicit a response, but as their numbers swell, the Soviets either lay down their weapons or turn tail and try to beat my men to the bridge.  The ones on the slope won't make it, but the ones at the rally point may fight another day.
This battle was full of graphic drama.  I think if you are playing this game right, there is plenty of time to appreciate the full glory of the graphics.  Of course, you will always miss something ... but it is the nature of things.  Also, with experience, you soon realize where to bring the camera.  Events tell you where and when an arty strike is starting or new enemy has been spotted or heavy fire is being taken.
---
I originally said this style is better and worse.  You can play in broad strokes.  The AI handles little details like smoke or calling in mortar strikes.  On the other hand, you know with the ability to control 5 men units, positions would fall easier and casualties would be lower.  What you lose in control, you gain back in the campaign game.  You feel more attached to your men in CM; because I ordered them across that street ... they died on my direct orders.  However, on the other hand, I feel more attached to the Town of Shilovo.  German blood is splattered on the buildings.  We have repelled 3 attacks already.  Nothing tells me probe, attack, assault, meeting engagement ... I have to decide will I risk Shilovo if I detach a platoon to go for the bridge.  Will Battalion say I was reckless or demonstrated initiative so that the tanks are not held up?  This operation is not just an exercise in moving shells, men, and armor.  It is a test of German martial skills.  Can German commanders read the battles?  Take ground when needed?  Hold when needed?  Preserve troops for tomorrows push as opposed to squander them and hide behind some notion of maintaining German honor.  For many, the war will be over in hours or minutes, but for our nation and army, we fight the long fight.
I hope this has helped you to get sense of GTOS/GTMF (NOTE:  GTOS is the precursor.  The later is the better game, but the former is well worth it if you are running older hardware.)
PS:  This is not an inducement to give up CM.  I have the battle of Trushinko waiting for me, but tonight is CM time.  I am enjoying the best games on the market for WWII tactical combat.  It is a wonderful time to be a gamer.

I've never played it but I think this was one of Paper Tiger's campaigns who did a lot of good campaigns and scenarios in the early days of Shock Force 1.  It was well-received when it was originally released.  Maybe try searching on the Shock Force 1 board to see if you can hunt down some reviews, although beware that you might also stumble across some spoilers.  If this is Paper Tiger's work, then I would recommend it based on his reputation alone, all of his stuff that I've played has been well executed.

... And ball bearings. Lots and lots of ball bearings.

Part of my job is to do with archive footage. In anticipation of the commemoration of D-Day I rediscovered Hollywood director George Steven's colour home movies of his war. He volunteered at 37 and was put in charge of a combat film unit, filming of course in B/W but he took his 16mm camera along and had access to rare stocks of colour film. These home movies were only discovered by his son in storage after his death.
It's an eye-opener, and useful for modelling and gaming.
 

The expansion of the mod from our initial vision of a, relatively simple, Red vs Red Conversion into a larger multi-tagged & multi-environment ("Delta to the DMZ") modpack whilst adopting the new 3d modelling techniques of @Aquila-CM &, now, going the 'full conversion' route has unfortunately meant an unavoidable delay in getting Heaven & Earth out to the community.
However, we're hoping to have some kind of "open beta" released as soon as possible along with two, possibly three, campaigns and perhaps a dozen scenarios ("before Christmas" is the deadline floating around in my head).
The good news is that, now that we've gone the "full conversion" route, the modpack will be a lot more flexible.
I loaded up the old CMSF1 scenario "Dagger Fight" the other night and I spent a few minutes adding a few palm trees, a few light forest tiles & changing the crops a bit. I then gave the US Army a spin...
 

Not too bad, I think I'll resize the Junks that @Aquila-CM provided us.

I restarted, from scratch, the PBR.

It's getting there.

CM isn't a game in the sense we usually think of games. Yes, it's fun, entertaining, and you use rules and orders to interact with it but it's more a simulation. You don't really finish a CM title like say you would a FPS or RT game. It's designed in a way that it technically could never end. I've been playing BN since 2011 and am still going, still doing things involved with it, whether that be firing up a scenario or modding. Think of it more as an investment in historical immersion, research, interaction, and play. There are a huge number of ways you can enjoy these titles; modding, scenario play, scenario design, campaign design, historical research, loading up the vehicles and studying their design/systems, map making etc. You can watch a WWII documentary or read a good memoir, then jump into one of the titles and experience the battles and fire fights you just watched or read about on a visceral level that engages the imagination—you become the general, the captain, the private locked in fierce combat across France/Germany/Russia/Italy with all the formations, weapons, vehicles and armor that can entail.
When I invest in a wargame I usually shoot for one that has longevity (editor etc.), historical immersion, detail, and a passionate community that will keep it alive for years to come. CM nails that criteria. If the game grabs you (like it has so many of us) your return on dollar spent is in the pennies. These are bar none some of the best bang for your buck titles in the hobby.
 
Mord.

May I suggest MS Comic Sans

The Forging Steel campaign is not set in Syria... it is a hypothetical "Blue vs Red" high intensity, Mechanized war campaign (perfect for a Euroscape conversion).
I agree that TF Thunder is a good starting campaign. I'd also recommend In Search of a Ghost as it provides some decent infantry only fights at the platoon/company scale.
Zawiya Uprising & Guardians of the Homeland are good Red vs Red campaigns & are at the platoon/company size.

Very nice! I was hoping to make it more fun to play as Blue vs AI, sounds like we're on track! I plan on buffing the scenario a little more based on the feedback I've gotten thus far, as well.
Respectfully,
LL

Usually Hapless Did a Al Hawl video swapping out Stryker Brigade for Dutch. Gone are the Javelins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7vxEmCAVwI

I just played the Al Hawl scenario - I was the US Forces.
It was a complete walkover and towards the end I was rather bored.   So many Javelins. 
I think it wouldn't be very good to play as H2H as whoever has the Syrians is in for a pasting.
What I did was race to good positions in the town at or overlooking the objectives then let the Red Side attack my fist with their faces. 🙂
What would improve it would be: reduce the number  of Javelins the US forces have (I was even giving them to my platoon commanders, let the useless Ruperts do something for a change!).  Remove the US air support, and allow the Syrians some artillery/mortars. That would make it harder for me to just occupy buildings and wait for something to come in range. I think the Syrians don't even have enough infantry as the americans outnumber them and are high quality troops.
Without so many Javelins it might necessitate trying to stalk the enemy armour at close range with AT4s: that would be more interesting and problematical. My troops fired off quite a few of these, and failed to knock anything out, so IMO this needs to be up close and fired at flanks or rear.