Lethaface

At the risk of going further off topic (which is my 2nd nature probably), there are several Asnieres I learned on the way there lol. This is the one I meant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asnières,_Eure Nice chateau! We had a similar accommodation although probably a bit less fancy as in they were still renovating it. I guess that's a good thing because we had to rent the whole building (large group). And yes the Calvados was nice.

Yes. You need to create an account on Slitherine and use your BFC serial to register your license, that will unlock a Steam key. If you search the forum (or better with google probably) you will find detailed how to.

I understand, my mistake And now @kohlenklau has even showed me there are actually scenario's in France (which I probably played years ago). Technically I guess the 'Ardennes' are also in France (and Germany) so I was wrong in that aspect as well. Anyway sure enjoyed my stay! It was relaxed, with family. We stayed in Asnieres where there live less people compared to the building in which I usually reside. So a good change of pace, nice scenery and good food/wine to top it off.

Just like I said, can you select a French region in CMFB? AFAIK it is Ardennes and 'Holland'. And I do know about the terrain I have driven through it many times. Last year 'all the way' to the province you reside. Anyway I was mistaken 'free-french' for resistance fighters. Which would seem a bit out of place outside France imo.

That bodes well for CMBS2 I guess.

Git Gud This is actually a scenario in the current tournament and fwiw I'm having fun with it, as USSR & USA. So far my USSR forces aren't slaughtered.

Is there even France terrain in CMFB?

To add to that, Donbass and or Crimea aren't really important to NATO or EU as long as Ukraine continues to exist in it's current form.

And to add while I'm on a typing spree, I personally think it is not wise/good/healthy to intake the daily loss of life and destruction going on and phantom that into rational thoughts about the situation. Of course if one looks at all the hell going on everyday whole day, emotions start building. Send in the kitchen sink or better yet throw it at Russia is a normal emotion I guess, but not necessarily a realistic thought on the geopolitical spectrum. I for one need to take some breaks sometimes because of RL but also to prevent becoming too emotionally attached to whatever is going on at the front. Perhaps it's hard to say it, but it's not 'my war' as in I'm not fighting in it. I might have given some support, but that's not the same.

If that's all true, throwing more equipment at the problem (which seems to be a popular opinion) doesn't necessarily make things better. One could also question whether the initiative has really 'shifted' back to Russia. Russia has capabilities, which includes rounding up and sending a lot of 'meat' into Ukraine. Less than a year ago almost everybody assumed the combined quality and quantity of the meat, including their metal containers, was enough to overrun Ukraine without much issue. Within a year Ukraine has managed to contain the invasion and even push back almost all fronts. Most of the supposed fine cuts of meat have been expanded, including their shiny metal boxes, without much result to show for. Death and destruction yes, but Russia could do much of that without having anyone in Ukraine. Ukraine has not only fought back and beat back / contained the invasion; they have also become more successful in denying the death and destruction. Obviously the war also takes it toll on Ukraine, including it's armed forces. There is obviously a very 'difficult' read: ugly situation. I think 'deliberate' is a hollow word in this context, I know it's a military term but it's not like some of Ukraine's defensive/counter offensive operations weren't 'deliberate'. Taking back land on/in which Russia has been able to organize anything resembling some form of competent defense is of course different compared to many operations we have seen so far. Even in CM counter attacking an overextended formation is much more easy compared to taking good defensive terrain, even if the defenders are of poor quality. Especially if you can't level the whole place. It's also not like 'we' haven't seen this coming. For example you have been talking about defensive hedgehogs with overlapping artillery since March probably ;-). Crimea/Donbass was always going to be a different ballpark. Not that I think it is bad to discuss this subject, but imo there is some form of unconscious defeatism in the unsatisfiable need for daily progress in the media. Not uncommon in the age of digital (social) media, one has to keep reporting progress every X instance or people start imagining all kinds of doom scenario's. We've seen that on this forum as well Anyway imo full scale unlimited conventional wars between large nation states aren't over in a day. However Ukraine has already forced the war to become a limited war for Russia, although Russia isn't yet sure about the limits yet. It might end up with packing it's bag and calling it a day. They are rather stubborn though and have proven at least that. The question is obviously how long they continue hitting the wall, in theory the wall can give in as well. So far I didn't see much signs of the wall collapsing. We don't have all the information, but instead of imagining how the lack of news might be very bad news I'd prefer to the more 'relaxed' and imo wise principle of 'no news is good news'. Ukraine still beat back most of the operational endeavors Russia went on. Russia can only grind. That's the facts we have seen. Now our expectations might have been higher, but is that a sign of Ukraine losing? It might just be Ukraine needs more time to prepare for things they want to do, but obviously they aren't telling those things in public. Russia is still in loss aversion mode (instead of annexing Ukraine mode), so as long as Ukraine doesn't run out of will/soldiers/ammo/equipment and the front isn't collapsing I'd say Ukraine is good. The West / supporters of Ukraine just need to make sure they keep up the support while organizing it in an efficient/effective way. Talking a lot about it by politicians doesn't necessarily help imo. 'Geen woorden, maar daden.' And if we want to know how effective employing a dozen variants of different tanks is, we can look at Germany in WW2 ;-).

Boris being Boris he could accidentally find himself a job as a Ukraine(/whatever) lobbyist. Perhaps lobbying to convey a message to certain individuals is at least something he's sort of competent at. The man can fabricate a story after all

Any and all rules are subject to change and or at risk of becoming irrelevant. But for the foreseeable future I don't see the play happening that Ukraine joins NATO and Russia says 'oh I guess we'll move out then'. And if not that it's just paper plays with no current relevance on the ground. Although I don't want to rob anyone of their happy dreams ;-). Anyway from your post I understand that for US internal politics this can be considered a worthwhile opinion piece. Outside of that context, well I didn't see the value lol.

Well NATO membership isn't going to happen *during* the war. We have actually seen how fast the process can go, *if* everyone agrees (see Sweden/Finland).

I don't think this is one of the better examples of Russian propaganda. They seem to get worse at it lol. I chuckled at one of the comment 'new Command & Conquer trailer just dropped.'

Old Boris feeling relevant again. It's mostly hindsight and calling for the obvious.

I think neither USA nor China wants a shooting war with each other. Very bad for business ;-).

There was an interesting documentary about 'the world map according to China' on Dutch TV a while back. It might be country blocked and quite some parts are in Dutch obviosuly, but there are quite some interviews in English and you can skip the narration: https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/tegenlicht/kijk/afleveringen/2022-2023/de-wereldkaart-volgens-china.html

Some images provided in discord: T-64B cupola with an extra periscope for the remote operated roof MG. T80B cupola without the extra periscope:

I still think that if China decides that action is necessary they'll just blockade Taiwan instead of an invasion.

Someone on Discord mentioned it and I thought to post the bug here. The user mentioned having the the manual and pictures of the inside available. But also Wikipedia mentions that the remotely operated roof MG was introduced on the T-80U, not on the T-80B. @BFCElvis fyi.

I think you already got in contact with the official reporting 'system' @BFCElvis Perhaps the 'Who's turn is it' interfered with the PBEM++ functionality? @IanL wrote that AFAIK (as in wrote the code). Maybe he can theorize about it with some more evidence/knowledge.

Thanks 18:20 here

Do you care about the planet? I'm not so sure how much it would change the power balance in the Middle East. Anyway I'm not 'pro-Iranian nukes' but they (Iranians) are people like any and all of us. Their leadership is scheize but that's not uncommon among Western countries. Fortunately we are usually less extreme since a couple of decades, but we made Iran into what it is today. Anyway I digress. Good day.

Is that the strike from today/yesterday or another incident? Even with some beers this sounds rather RUMINT++ for me now. And even if Iran has nukes now, it's not like other countries including Israel don't have them so I'm not too afraid that they'll deploy a nuclear weapon.

Ah lol thx I missed overlooked that I don't know whether I'd consider it as a warcrime. It's a complicated story and I can recommend everyone reading the book 'Countdown to zero days'. Don't know if / how many civilians got killed because of it. There are also quite regular assassinations of Iranian researchers/etc. I do think that the way the West has treated Iran came to bite back. And probably like anyone with some fair wisdom think Nuclear energy should be available to Iranians although I don't necessarily like the current regime there having access to nuclear weapons.