Lethaface

On my right flank, my armour and tank destroyers spring the "trap."
 

 
Upon cresting the hill, I see that my opponent's armour has turned and is facing my force. I should have acted earlier and caught them broadsided.
 

 
KERBLAMO! A Khrizantema gets all blowed up.
 

 
A T-90 follows in short order. But...
 

 

 
Its mate takes out an Abrams. One Abrams for a T-90 and a tank destroyer isn't bad by my account.
 

 
Smoke fills the air and the T-90 and Khrizantema reverse into the treeline to take up another ambush position elsewhere.

I fixed that for you.  Damn I so much want to see that game updated.

IMO the revolution is CMBN being up to date with CMBS, engine wise. Too bad that ship has sailed for CMSF, although I hope CMSF 2 will make it one day (++ if original content is still usable).
I understand your point Scipio, there are many changes from CMSF to CMBS but there are plenty of things still the same or similar. Graphics and UI mostly so. Sometimes people long for a fresh experience even if the current one isn't bad ;-)
 
Personally I think the graphics can look very good in the right circumstances, other circumstances less so. The gameplay has kept me coming back since 2007, unfortunately since this year my time budget hasn't allowed me to play at all. Sorry for any PBEM partner waiting for my files and reading this

I have four PBEMs going, got off work early today, and only Stagler sent me a file. :-(

That leaves me some time to browse YouTube. :-)

After a bit of searching, I found what I believe is an appropriate rendition of a good theme song for this battle!

Quite sobering. Not sure if this has been posted before.
 

This is a playtest of my rules for applying C3 effects in CM.. myself and The_Capt, my normal sparring partner are playing through this test scenario to get a feel for the viability of these rules.  We have just begun, I have created workbooks for each of us and we have both given our initial orders.
 
The scenario is a modified version of the Roadblock training scenario.. I added a tank platoon to the German side and adjusted some of the unit settings.  This should give a good appreciation of how the rules work.  I will be making the scenario and the workbooks for the scenario available for all to play with and follow along if you like.
 
The key to these rules are the workbooks... more on them to follow.
 
 
I will be revealing the rules as we go, starting with the Introduction...
 
INTRODUCTION
 
One of the most important aspects on the battlefield is command, control, and communication (C3).  While the command and control (C2) status with a superior is identified in Combat Mission (CM), the effects are not enforced or modeled past affecting morale.  Communication as well is represented as will be seen in this document.  
 
The intent of these rules is to simulate the effects of battlefield C3 plus the friction normally prevalent with the communication status upon a force in battle.  Communication is how units and formations are given orders; if that link does not exist then information cannot move up, down or laterally.
 
The inspiration for this set of rules comes from this outstanding thread started by MOS:96B2P on Command and Control and information sharing.  Upon reading his findings a light bulb came on and I began to think about a way to take advantage of the in-game representation of C3 in an easy to follow manner and with little record keeping by the players involved.  I recommend reading the linked thread until you fully understand the concepts within.
 
To get the full benefit of these rules the game must be played on IRON difficulty against a trusted opponent.  I recommend that both players have the same level of expectations, basically both should have a passion for representing combat in the most realistic and uncompromising fashion and be more interested in the journey rather than the destination.  In other words, the effect that is being represented should be more important than who wins or loses.
 
The intent is to keep these rules simple to use and easy to understand.  To that end I will be providing an Excel workbook that can be used to track Tasks and will automatically calculate when the player can change a Task or use Initiative.

Made new video:
 

Well said and very true, although the 7 families of the drunk driver victims might not agree

Not going to repeat myself, it might be the same type of game it's a whole different ballpark or league. The Frenchies and the UK have had their dirty laundry too. But the world isn't a contest to get the most dirty laundry (congrats your way ahead of the competition! ). Anyway if you don't see the problem of you fighting the symptoms of 'something' and just that symptom fighting has become a larger than law enforcement bloody war with organizations around the globe, while you do away with 'something' as a vague thing outside of your control (haters gonna hate us anyway), your missing the whole point. 
 
   
Here it is. Of course hypocrisy is no reason to kill although some nutjobs think it is. Anyway a group of people thought what you done to them is so bad (rightly or wrongly) that a couple of nutcases from that group fly planes in the WTC. 14 years later you're still bombing people in retaliation and it isn't helping. It's time to check the mirror instead of justifying your own killing.
 
I'm not listening to many anti-American or anti-Western speakers, I'm just thinking critically and have the ability, as a Western person, to accept that we might have our share in the origin of certain stinking mess in the world. I have had the opportunity to travel the world and getting to know local people in many different countries which has probably influenced me. Personally I don't think the insights that gave me are fantasy, more on the lines of a paradigm shift.
 
 
I'm thinking you are mixing up hate with a couple of things: healthy skepticism of foreign 'invaders', severe distrust of any authority, generally not caring and or minding your own business (probably a smart thing to do when living under Saddam) and of course there will be those that will always hate. While the majority can be the average intelligent person + the 50% that's less intelligent, I'm not accepting your statement that most of them will hate the West one way or the other and will pick up weapons to go and kill us just because they feel like.

Panzer wrote:
 
"Contrast this to the Russian army which can give locusts a run for it's money, if locusts could rape and install puppet governments.  That's actually rather another reason I strongly dislike the Russian military, it's like having another company that does what you do, only sans morality, decency, and gloats about how it gets away with a lack of either.  Which almost loops back onto the topic, it's why I hate the Russian "victory" day parades.  They're in effect celebrating the nightmare they brought through Eastern Europe, the Stalinist oppression of thousands of innocent people, and the systematic rape and looting of anything with a correctly sized set of holes, or that could fit on a train back to Moscow.  It's like if the US Army had a "Wounded Knee Victory Parade" or the Brits held a festival to celebrate the first use of the maxim gun on indigenous people.  Then pair it with being a celebration of a return to Russian militarism and it just honestly gets sort of sick in that regard."  
 
Panzer, you just gotta look at Russia as a country that is going through the cycles that all other major countries went through 100-400 years ago (sort of, delayed evolution). What you describe, is exactly the same as what the British or the French did to their colonies. Or what the young (first founded) Americans did to the Indians or the African slaves. Russian people themselves are people who have been enslaved for hundreds of years by the Mongol-Tatars, then by the Imperialist Tsarism, then by the corrupted "freedom" of Communism, then by the Mafiosi of the 90's, and now by the current dictatorship. This, and the huge population losses of two world wars and the subsequent Stalinist repressions, has really made the people "bitter". I know its not an excuse, but Russia (well, certainly Russian mentality) has not evolved as quickly as the rest of the civilized world. You can still sort of consider it as a, maybe not 3rd world country, but definitely 2.5 world country. I feel that for my homeland to reach similar levels of Morality as is exhibited right now in the West, it will take about 50-100 or so years, and a few regime changes. 
 
HAVING SAID THAT, I believe that Russians actually need a strong Dictator leader at the present moment, because without one, the country will just return back to the 90s, with various fragments of society all vying for power through dubious means. 
 
Regarding the Victory Day parade celebrations - you got it wrong mate. Its like saying that you guys celebrate 4th of July Independence day as a celebration of all the pillaging your nation did in its birth, and then got away with it by cutting ties to "civilized" european "motherlands". Russians celebrate Victory day, because 20 or so million people died in WW2, and about 2million in WW1. The looting/raping/oppression of Eastern states is a by-product of a harsh and severe attitude that was exerted onto Russians during the Nazi advance. My Grandmother on my Father's side was raped by Fashist Poles (she is from Western ukraine). My Nanny, from when I lived in St. Petersburg in my infancy,  was captured by the Norwegians and mutilated during the 300 day blockade of Leningrad. And there are MILLIONS of stories like that. How do you think the Husbands, Fathers, Brothers of such women would react, when bitterness is deep in their soul and they are finally pushing back into the lands of the invaders? There you go. 
 
You Americans have never experienced such loss/terror/anguish, because all your wars of the last 100 years are far away from home. Don't judge Russians for their attitude, because there is A LOT of history that got them to this attitude. 
 
Of course, the flip side, is that - this was 70 years ago, Russians should move on, let go of the bitterness, forgive and forget so to say, act more "honourable" etc. like the rest of the world is, become friendly with neighbours, etc etc. I dont know. I see that the African population of certain cities in the US is definitely still bitter about certain circumstances that used to happen more than 150 years ago (before slavery was abolished in the States). I mean heck, they BUILT your country and its economy, but yet probably more than half of them live much worse off than a poor Russian family currently lives (and I have been to the States many times, so I do know what I'm talking about). 
 
So, not to take a bite at you or anything with the above, but Russians are a proud people (maybe not noble, but definitely very proud), who respect their past/history, celebrate the memory of the forefathers, like to flex their muscle (even when its made out of cardboard), think the rest of the world is out to get them (not just because of state propaganda, but because of the lessons taught by history), and will continue to do whatever the hell they want until either (a) they are knocked on the head (internally or externally), or ( throgh the years they travel west more, see how the rest of the world lives, and try to bring good moral principles back to their homeland for improvement. They definitely do not view the Americans or the States as anything that should provide them with a good moral compass (you guys have been ridiculing Russia waaay to much in the past - Hollywood et al, which just adds to the Russian's "bitterness"). They do view Germany and the UK in quite high regard, as well as Finland/Sweden.
 
Oh, almost forgot to say, regarding the behaviour of the current Russian Military - you gotta remember that the RF military has not fought alongside any of the Western militaries against a common enemy in like, ever? I think for the Russian Military, in order to act in the "morally correct" way that you describe, would need to be deployed somewhere along side Western forces, so as to learn from their behaviour, emulate it, and garner respect from their comrades in arms for emulating such behaviour. I mean, isnt this how you guys became so "polite" while waging war? Because you did it alongside the French and the Brits, who would say - Oi, you there Sir, why are you acting like that to those poor farmers? It must be a psychological thing - if you are criticized for your behaviour from the OUTSIDE, then the Russian troops are like - whatever, youre not here, dont tell us what to do and what not to do. Whereas, if your troops are next to theirs, pinned in an arty bombard, losing comrades in arms equally, and then if the Russians start abusing the residents of a village that you both have just stormed, and you say - dude, thats wrong - they may listen to you closer, because they wont want to look bad in the eyes of their comrades in arms.  

Sublime, USA was/is more under the spotlight 'cos it is #1 global player who proclaims itself to be one of the "good guys" while it's actions are sometimes somewhat "debatable". Russia is making up for it with it's Ukrainian debacle so USA is less under global attention now.

That might be justifiable, if it was true, and certainly that is what the administration is feeding the american public, but in fact the target list is very broad.
 
being a deserter was enough to have a death sentence:
 
Just having the wrong phone could trigger a strike. No verification was made to see who was there:
 
civilian casualties were considered acceptable "collateral damage". Note also how the definition of "civilians" was deliberately curtailed:
 
 
the procedure to "identify" a target was also a bit vague:
 
Drug dealers, farmers and couriers were also considered to be legitimate targets, whether they had any connection or not to the Taliban:
 
 
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/secret-docs-reveal-dubious-details-of-targeted-killings-in-afghanistan-a-1010358.html
 
The U.S. governemnt likes to give the impression that the drone program is a hi-tech "James Bond" type precision operation, but when you look into it, it is just another variation of the same type of terror bombing we have seen before, like the WW2 saturation bombing or Vietnam type "Kill ratios".
 
Is it making "America safer" or just creating the next generation of enemies?

Lethaface, I agree with what you've got to say on the matter, it's just this part that I would also like to see happen but it's a bit naive to think we as humans can act that way. Still, a lot can be improved - not saying it's impossible, just very very hard to achieve. Maybe if whole world gets an outside enemy we will turn our aggression towards the attacking aliens.  
 
 
Exactly. I as a teacher can't give a negative score to my pupil in advance although I know 99,99% for sure he/she won't be able to score positively.
 
I already had similar debate about Iraq with panzersaurkrautwerfer in some other thread a while ago. This thread went way offtopic anyway already so I'm not feeling particularly guilty for popping in.
 
I think it's hard for anyone who was more or less directly or indirectly involved with Iraq or with other activities his state did/does to be totally impartial and subjective on the matter. I hold panzer in very hard regard when it comes to his views on the matter since his are a lot more down to earth then to many other people I know. BUT your counter arguments Lethaface come spot on. It's hard for someone who is claiming to operate from a higher moral ground then the other to remain seated in that position for long. In most cases, not that it's not possible. 
 
Cudos to both of you gentlemen, really. 

Exactly my experience. Although somehow I feel it's worse when something intended well ends up nasty, versus just plain being nasty. Might have well just been nasty, would have saved a lot of people with good intentions a whole lot of work

Well apart from Afghanistan and Iraq, JSOC is presumably assassinating people in countries they aren't at war with, without having brought them in front of a judge. While I agree the latter can be a little impractical and there are circumstances in which it is irresponsible to let certain individuals roam the world unhindered. But instead of debating acceptable collateral damage, I'd like to zoom out a bit.
 
If I as a state have to resort to outside of the law, large scale, (international) assassination operations to maintain national security, I'd be asking myself what I have done to make the situation so FUBAR that I'm even considering debating collateral. It's not 'normal' for a democratic state to have hitlists with several thousand people on it. While there is more to debate I think that alone is enough for me to rephrase your example of the thief and the murderer: I think it's more like the murderer confronting someone, who is both a thief and a murderer, about his thievery. 
Let me be very clear again that I'm not defending Russia at all, just a little picky on who's calling them out ;-)

Well said.
   
Agreed that it was coming regardless. However, usually a judge or jury won't let you get away with murder simply because that person would have died anyway sooner or later. ;-)
 
It is indeed arrogant of the West to assume they know what's best for everyone, apart even from having the power to let everyone have that what we think is best. While I respect people feeling moral obligation to help countries were our 'grandfathers' made a mess colonizing (for which I personally feel 0% responsibility as I wasn't there), I think the help isn't helping making things any better. Best leave everyone to fend for themselves, favoring cooperation as equals going for mutual-benefit deals over 'let us help those poor people over there'.

Exactly my experience. Although somehow I feel it's worse when something intended well ends up nasty, versus just plain being nasty. Might have well just been nasty, would have saved a lot of people with good intentions a whole lot of work

well, hello there !
 

 
This is going to hurt !
 

 
Bad day at the office...
 

 
Furious Fight !
 

 
Comrade Badasski !

Well said.
   
Agreed that it was coming regardless. However, usually a judge or jury won't let you get away with murder simply because that person would have died anyway sooner or later. ;-)
 
It is indeed arrogant of the West to assume they know what's best for everyone, apart even from having the power to let everyone have that what we think is best. While I respect people feeling moral obligation to help countries were our 'grandfathers' made a mess colonizing (for which I personally feel 0% responsibility as I wasn't there), I think the help isn't helping making things any better. Best leave everyone to fend for themselves, favoring cooperation as equals going for mutual-benefit deals over 'let us help those poor people over there'.

There is an idealized view of our past for sure.  
 
Either way not entirely trusting one's government, even when you're working for it is hardly a bad idea.  It's not even in the sense that the government is out to get anyone, or is malicious, just that it's a big organization with most people trying to do some shade of the "right thing" some people doing the wrong things, and then some people counting down the years until they can retire while shoving the paperwork they're supposed to be doing into a very large file cabinet and forgetting about it.  
 
I guess that's my experience at least.  It's rare anyone means to do ill, but often once an action has worked through the various agencies and the like it can become something quite nasty.  Lots of roads to hell paved with great intentions.  

Well apart from Afghanistan and Iraq, JSOC is presumably assassinating people in countries they aren't at war with, without having brought them in front of a judge. While I agree the latter can be a little impractical and there are circumstances in which it is irresponsible to let certain individuals roam the world unhindered. But instead of debating acceptable collateral damage, I'd like to zoom out a bit.
 
If I as a state have to resort to outside of the law, large scale, (international) assassination operations to maintain national security, I'd be asking myself what I have done to make the situation so FUBAR that I'm even considering debating collateral. It's not 'normal' for a democratic state to have hitlists with several thousand people on it. While there is more to debate I think that alone is enough for me to rephrase your example of the thief and the murderer: I think it's more like the murderer confronting someone, who is both a thief and a murderer, about his thievery. 
Let me be very clear again that I'm not defending Russia at all, just a little picky on who's calling them out ;-)

As much as I love my country-I do think that pre 1945 America was closer to the ideals of the founding fathers than what we became after WW2. Better or worse I'll leave up to the experts to decide.
 
What I do see is many who seem to distrust America and its intentions. As an American I think this is not only a good thing, but a smart thing to question what our intentions are. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the founding fathers and those who wrote our Bill of Rights and Constitution were deeply suspicious of government and wanted citizens to always be wary of big government.
 
As an American and if I were someone living overseas I would be be highly suspicious of the fact the 2 front runners for the next American presidental election is a Clinton and Bush. Since when is the presidency the personal play thing of 2 rich and connected families?
 
The Supreme Court has opened the door for unlimited money to pour into our politicans pockets and that that leads to undue influence by big money. Combine that with the fact our congress and senate have quietly rolled back all laws that pertain to themselves and their aides regarding insider trading and the fact that the Clintons, Bushes and other big name politicians get loads of money from Wall Street and banks, while they are shielded from profiting from decisions they make or inside information they have access to, makes one wonder just how much better we are than other countries we go around lecturing.
 
I think its a good thing to question and be suspicious of any big government and politicains in general.

Well apart from Afghanistan and Iraq, JSOC is presumably assassinating people in countries they aren't at war with, without having brought them in front of a judge. While I agree the latter can be a little impractical and there are circumstances in which it is irresponsible to let certain individuals roam the world unhindered. But instead of debating acceptable collateral damage, I'd like to zoom out a bit.
 
If I as a state have to resort to outside of the law, large scale, (international) assassination operations to maintain national security, I'd be asking myself what I have done to make the situation so FUBAR that I'm even considering debating collateral. It's not 'normal' for a democratic state to have hitlists with several thousand people on it. While there is more to debate I think that alone is enough for me to rephrase your example of the thief and the murderer: I think it's more like the murderer confronting someone, who is both a thief and a murderer, about his thievery. 
Let me be very clear again that I'm not defending Russia at all, just a little picky on who's calling them out ;-)

Good post (no sarcasm, ).
 
Regarding the Iraqi locals, look at how that country/region/'nationstate' has been managed the last 500 years or so and it does make sense to me that the general population really lives literally day by day. Obviously not all do, as I can tell from first person from some Iraqi people I know.
 
One thing I do miss in your analysis and posts is slamming of the west. Yes democracy is the best of the bad and I'll take US leadership of the world over any Russia, China or even divide et incompetente EU. We West are supposed to have become 'civilized' after killing each other in several guiness world record wars and are relatively free. Still we are at times violently and lawlessky intermingling in affairs on behalf or our own interest; means to an end. That democracies tend to more bureaucratic and 'evil' over time makes me not very inclined to push our 'superior ways' down the throats of other (be it oppressed) people around the world. I wasn't sad Saddam went but thinking of being involved and at least partly responsible for the slaughter and wholesale plunder that has happened and is happening there, I can't judge that as mere 'thievery'
 
Ending with Russia: power hungry ex-military oligarch mafia been running the state for a few decades, no need to say more.
 
Feels good to have our own, semi off op topic men being men, parade here