purpheart23

That's conjecture, no i'm a fan of being fiscally responsible where it makes sense, we've already armed them with AT, Artillery, ISR assets, who knows what else. If anybody needs to fork over that money, it's the EU, after all they stand the most to lose. When the money finally moves, because it will, politicians gotta get paid you know, why not get receipts?

Fox is the one that leans right, CNN and MSNBC lean just as hard left. Why is Fox the one you attack? I'm neither Democrat of Republican, but I do that see both sides of the political aisle and their supporting media outlets are incredibly biased and corrupt.

Exactly - the point I wanted to highlight, given my particular trade, is the use of IPB.  It is an effective tool, particularly when you can draw on the expertise of SMEs - in this case a combat engineer who knows the detail on the river and bank conditions.  From there, as an analyst, once you narrow down the likely crossing sites you can start refining your NAIs and TAIs.  He also discusses the likely enemy assets needed to cross that gap and that allows you to work out the echelon you're facing and where that equipment might come from and how it will get to where it needs to be.  This allows you to add more NAIs to locate them and TAIs to strike them.  By knowing the equipment that is likely to be used you can then give clearer direction to your ISR assets - in this instance look for boats.  If deemed a High Payoff Target (HPT) then you are looking to strike that/those asset(s).  There was also some good detail about timings as well as time estimates.
A lot of people outside the intelligence trade seem to think that good tactical intelligence is enabled by super secret technical whizzbangery.  In fact it isn't - it is essentially a speed-time-distance problem that you are solving based on a knowledge of the enemy's orbat/likely orbat and the area of operations.  This is almost a classic case study of how to do this and how, if done competently (as in this case), tactical intelligence provides the decision support to get inside the enemy's OODA loop and to defeat him.

No from the entry and exit tracks they laid it diagonal, which means they likely did not have a fast boat to push into place to anchor it.  That means that the either did not know what they were doing or their boats got dead, or stuck in traffic.  
You can get away with this in a pinch but it is sloppy.  Exit bank will get some really weird ruts over time, so when it rain you have problems.  And you risk warping the connectors on the sections, which means the pontoons are locked and you cannot pick that back up...which apparently was not a problem because the UA blew it up anyway - Bright Side!

In battle?  No way! 
You are seriously going to ask your crew to climb into a smouldering tank with several holes in it and then have them start messing around with the ammo stowage?
 
 

There are no distant shot sound .wav's... which is what I wished for.
There are no "heavy bullet zip" sound .wav's ... which is what I wished for.
The popularity of the semi-transparent tree mods is what leads me to suggest it'd be a good idea to integrate it into CM via Alt-T... which, again, is what I wished for.

Campaign generator.

The interior of a T-72B3 that apparently was penetrated in the turret from the gunner's side, Thales TI controls visible. The blood stains tell a story:

Uh, no we didn't. 

It's on the wish list. Doesn't need to be modern titles either. Perfectly capable of calling in artillery on map coordinates, say on a sound contact that is beyond LOS, with some randomness to the accuracy of the coordinates (for older titles) and of course, your contact location may not be precise.
Dave

We used to do the high angle/low angle simultaneous impacts for demonstration purposes. Only 2 rounds because with a 105mm towed M102 that's all there is time for when you have to hand crank the tube up and down. And you might recall from any physics you might have had, that you can hit the same point on the ground from one gun elevation below 45deg and another above 45deg, with the same initial velocity (same charge). We used to fire the high one Quick fuse and the low one VT so that it would be obvious there were two bursts. Civilian and ROTC cadets enjoyed it at firepower demos.
I can't imagine any possible way you could fire 5 without a very modern computerized, motorized mount.
Dave

My list:
Little things:
1) Follow road command
2)  Adjust fire mission length not just location.
3)  Better survival skills for routed troops (i.e. hide more, run less)
4)  SOP type order for what to do at first contact with enemy (important for turn based play).
5)  Ability to decompile campaign core unit and briefing file.  Important for being able to modify campaigns.
 
Bigger things:
1) Combat medics.  Dealing with wounded is not "optional".  An aidman is assigned to every platoon.  Also, the killed to wounded ratio needs to be tweaked.  The ratio seems way off.  Lastly, there should be incentive to try and save wounded in the points calculation.
2)  Be able to split squads in vehicles.
3)  Be able to use aquire command as part of order string, i.e. run to vehicle, aquire Javelin, come back.
4)  Shading to show what terrain a unit can currently see.  I.e. light areas would be potentially visible to Unit.  Would make it a lot easier than using the FIre command tool.
5)  Some sort of news feed to let you know when important stuff happens. For instance you might get a message that says "Stryker destroyed".  If you click on message it would take you to the right place on the map.  Would be extremely useful in large scenarios.
6)  Be able to see path that AI will take when clicking on end point.  
7)  Some sort of way to let the AI headquarters take over part of command.  Would involve accessing part of the AI plan for the scenario editor for a particular formation.
 

Excellent. Love the graphics and the reporting.  And stuff like this:
 

The Fight
(Apologies for some of the gifs not embedding. It seems Imgur only generates a .gif link if they are under a certain time limit. They can be viewed by clicking on the link, and once uploaded to the blog they will be properly embedded there as well. )
Things start off in typical Soviet fashion, with an artillery barrage.
https://i.imgur.com/Y2yEi2B.mp4
The Soviets pummel the town with BM21 rockets and tube artillery, probably a mix of 122mm and 152mm HE. What’s more, helicopter gunships can be heard over the din of artillery fire. The town is getting shellacked.
However, 2nd platoon and its forward position remain unmolested. There is some sense to this. The Soviets are correctly massing their preparatory fires against the town, which they know to be defended. As they do not know about any of my positions outside the town, firing artillery at random points on the outskirts of town would be a waste. Part of the job of the FSE will be to identify my forward positions and either fix them with fire or destroy them outright, clearing the way for the main attack. The Soviets not knowing my specific unit positions as well as the main body of the battalion being at least 15 minutes away explains why there are no smoke missions either.
The volume of artillery fire reduces from a crescendo to a steady drumbeat as the BM21s empty their tubes and begin displacing and reloading. The tube artillery keeps up a rhythmic barrage. Casualties are suffered but are not nearly as heavy as an observer may think. In fact, the most damage done by this barrage is to prevent infantry and light vehicles from moving around inside the town to reposition the defense. Artillery does not have to kill to be effective. Despite the light casualties caused, reducing my ability to maneuver is just as debilitating.
The men of 2nd platoon breathe a sigh of relief, which is quickly replaced by pangs of guilt as they watch the town get bombarded. These feelings pass quickly as well when they realize they are not out of the frying pan. Just as the Germans were infamous for their counter attacks, so too are the Soviets famous for their massed ground assaults following a preparatory artillery barrage. 2nd platoon does not have to wait long until the lead elements of that assault begin making their presence known.
Through the leaves and mist, and over the din of artillery fire, vehicle engines are heard.

Based on these tentative contacts it would appear the enemy is moving along two initial axes, the small inn, and our forward position in the wood.
The contacts creep closer and closer to 2nd platoon. More vehicle engines are heard as they draw closer.

The men brace themselves, knowing it is only a matter of time now before the enemy is upon them.
The contacts draw closer. The vehicle noises grow louder. And then, it happens.

A T-64 comes roaring into the clearing in the wood. 2nd squad sees it first. The men grab for prepared LAWs and the Dragon gunner begins aiming. It is hard to ask for a better shot than this, broadside on within 100 meters. The broadside behemoth is aligned in the sights, and 2nd squad cut loose.
https://i.imgur.com/u6wRiSf.mp4
The first LAW rocket misses high but the second one slams home, hitting the tank on the upper hull, penetrating it, and detonating the ammo stored in the auto loader carousel. The result is a massive explosion as all the ammo cooks off instantly, exploding violently up and out. 2nd platoon has drawn first blood.
Moments later a BTR rolls up to the edge of the tree line. The Dragon gunner aims and takes a difficult shot through the trees at close range.

The gunner makes the tough shot, dispatching the BTR. Moments later, another BTR rolls up and begins spraying the area with machine gun fire. The Dragon gunner frantically ducks and begins reloading the launcher.

Soviet infantry suddenly appear, advancing forward in bounds while firing.

3rd squad holds their fire till the enemy are at point blank range, then lay into them with rifles, machine gun and grenades.
https://i.imgur.com/tV6vH9Z.mp4
This firefight is short and sweet. The three advancing Soviets all go down in a matter of seconds under the close-range fusillade. Its not over yet though. More Soviets rush in, and a sharp firefight develops.

Both sides exchange fire at close range.

A Soviet RPK gunner gets off a good burst, wounding three men from 3rd squad. The victory is short lived for the gunner. Return fire silences him and his buddies.

Firefights at close range like this with automatic weapons, underbarrel and hand thrown grenades and shoulder fired rockets are very short and very violent. The casualties suffered by 3rd squad certainly sting, but they are not unexpected or catastrophic. Despite these losses, 2nd platoon continues to put out a large volume of fire, killing and wounding the attacking Soviet infantry. After a firefight lasting no more than a minute or two, the Soviet infantry is repulsed, and the survivors flee.

The Soviets aren’t done yet. In a last desperate act, a T-64 charges through the woods at our positions. It screams past 2nd squad guns blazing, wounding the squad leader.

It continues further until it is intercepted by point blank anti-tank fire from 1st squad.
https://i.imgur.com/YAPYY1K.mp4
With the destruction of the tank, an eerie quiet falls over the wood. After waiting a few moments to watch for a renewed attack and with none materializing, the men begin tending to the casualties.

Once the casualties are collected and tended to, 2nd platoon begins falling back by squad, starting with the squads furthest forward. 3rd squad and part of 2nd squad fall back, with the other half of 2nd squad and 1st squad providing security.

After they have safely passed, the rest of 2nd squad and 1st squad pull back to the M113s. The platoon leader and FIST team are the last to pull back to the waiting carriers. The entire movement proceeds without incident and the men mount up.

With .50 cals facing to the rear, the whole platoon pulls away from the woods and back to friendly lines. 2nd platoon has completed its mission.

I will post a small after action debrief along with a link to the entire consolidated post once completed in the next few days. Thanks for the positive feedback everyone!

The following is taken from a write up I am currently working on for my blog. I figured I would post "episodes" here for some interaction before consolidating it all into one post for the blog. It comes from a playtest I did recently on a community made scenario. The small fight that occurred in the beginning of the battle was too good not to share, and is also a great opportunity to talk a bit about the Soviet Forward Security Element (FSE). I also wanted to provide everyone with a change of pace. The Black Sea forum is soaking up most of the attention around here these days, and I figured a break from that might be appreciated. So without further ado:
Visualized in Combat Mission: Killing an FSE
A Tactical Vignette

The Soviet Forward Security Element (FSE) is one of the most common task organized formations encountered by NATO forces. For the Soviets it is an important tool that helps fix an enemy defender in place and shape the battlefield to allow for a successful attack. For NATO it is the first significant Soviet tactical combat formation encountered and a harbinger for a larger dedicated attack by a motor rifle battalion (MRB). The stakes presented to both sides by the FSE are high for both sides. Initial success in a tactical engagement largely comes down to the success or failure of the FSE.
This vignette features some excellent US Army vehicle reskins, done by S-Tank on the CM Discord. He recolored and upscaled the resolution on every US vehicle in the game, and they look fantastic. They can be downloaded here, or for those of you in the CM Discord, a download link and preview image can be found the mod repository text channel.
Forward Security Element
The Forward Security Element (FSE) is a Soviet task organized formation that is approximately Company sized. It is also known as the Advance Party or Vanguard. It generally consists of a company of motor rifle troops (mounted in either BTRs or BMPs) and a platoon of tanks. The tank platoon is often made up of four tanks instead of the better known three tank platoon organization the Soviets use, because in motor rifle regiments the tank units tended to be plussed up. There is usually at least a battery of field artillery on call for the FSE to call upon and may also have mortar sections/batteries in support as well. The FSE is a fluid formation that can have additional attachments delegated to it, such as engineering units/equipment, air defense artillery, forward observers, and reconnaissance units. Generally speaking, the Soviet FSE is similar in composition to a US Company Team.

(This image doesn't agree with the forum software, so I recommend viewing it in full size in another tab. Apologies for that, a graphic artist I am not)
The primary role of the FSE is to make contact with the enemy and either destroy it if it is of a smaller size than the FSE or fix it in place to give the rest of the battalion time to deploy and attack through the enemy.
To better understand the role of the FSE, one must understand how it fits into the larger Soviet warfighting machine. In simple terms, Soviet tactical formations are like a conveyor belt. Way out in front are the regimental reconnaissance assets, but their primary role is not combat. They are there to make sure what is on the map exists in reality and other non-combat related tasks. The smallest formation is the Combat Reconnaissance Patrol (CRP) which job is to find the enemy. A tripwire if you will. The CRP is followed by the FSE, whose job is to put pressure on the enemy by engaging and destroying him or at least fixing him in place with direct fires. The FSE is followed by the MRB (also known as the Advance Guard) which has the weight in numbers and support to conduct a deliberate attack and keep momentum going. Following the MRB is the rest of the Motor Rifle Regiment (MRR), and behind one MRR is another MRR, etc.
Apologies for the resolution on this, it is a scanned and stitched together image:

There are a lot of good resources out there to learn more about the FSE and how it fits into the Soviet way of war on the tactical level. This video does a nice job of breaking it all down, as does this simple yet informative writeup. Other resources worth checking out are TRADOC Pamphlet 350-16 Heavy Opposing Force, and the Cold War Gamer’s excellent blog. Just a heads up, many of the links on the Cold War Gamer’s blog are no longer active, and I think the owner is no longer keeping up with his blog.
A German Town—A Fighting Withdrawal
For this vignette I am going to be focusing in on a small combat action that occurs during a larger scenario. To help understand why the combat action plays out, I will provide some context.
This fight was the result of me play testing a scenario made by Cousin Hubert (Bartimeus on the CM forums). This scenario is the first of a series he is working on at the time of this writing for a mini campaign. Hubert makes fantastic maps, scenarios, and campaigns, all because he wants to add to the CM community and provide us with quality content. His map making skills alone make him a massive benefit to the community. Anyone familiar with how tedious and frustrating the CM map editor can be will have an even greater appreciation for his work. His AI plans are also very well done too.
He is the creator of two campaigns for Shock Force 2, which can be downloaded here and here. He has also produced some fantastic large maps for Cold War, which can be found here. We are very fortunate to have amazing contributors such as Hubert!
Situation
On the 8th of April the Soviet Union launched a surprise attack on West Germany. Caught by surprise, NATO’s front line has collapsed, and friendly forces are now in full retreat. Communications with higher headquarters is severely deteriorated by enemy jamming and artillery fire, but they were able to inform us that a Soviet formation is headed our way and to pull out when able.
Mission
Fox Company must hold the town until intelligence and logistics personnel have finished loading M35 trucks with gear and sensitive equipment. These trucks are located at the fire station and industrial park and should be loaded and ready to go in approximately 40-50 minutes. Then the entire force must be withdrawn from the battlefield. Fox Company must withdraw as much of its combat power as possible and remain combat effective, as it will likely have to fight its way back to friendly lines. There are two egress routes on either side of the river to the rear of the town.

Enemy
An entire Soviet motor rifle battalion and all its supporting assets can be expected to attack us.
Troops
I am in command of a heavy combined arms company team, Fox Company. It consists of two tank platoons equipped with M60A2 Starships (the second platoon of tanks is due to arrive in approximately 5 minutes), and two mechanized infantry platoons mounted in M113A1s. In addition, I have a few support assets on hand, such as a self-propelled mortar platoon (three M125 mortar carriers, which provides all of my indirect fire support for this fight), two heavy machine gun teams (dismounted .50 caliber machine guns), two M150 ATGM carriers, three M48 Chaparral SAM tracks, and 8 M35 supply trucks. The company headquarters (CPT Duvauchel) along with the company FSO is present.
Terrain
A small town on a riverbank rests at the southern border of the map. There is single road bridge in the town that crosses the river, though there is also a railroad bridge and a dam that cross the river as well. North of the town are some plowed fields, a farm, a small inn, and light forests. A single MSR runs from North to South into the town down the middle of the map, and a railroad parallels the MSR on the West side of the map. The terrain elevation undulates slightly with approximately +/- 20m of change.
The weather is less than ideal. It is misty out, which reduces visibility. It is early morning and thus low light, further hindering visibility. The ground is damp, which increases the chance of vehicles bogging and becoming immobilized. There is a medium strength breeze blowing from the North.
Of note for this vignette, there is a small raised and wooded area just North of the town along the Western map edge. It is a forward position with good concealment and good sightlines (given the conditions) overlooking the terrain the Soviets are likely to attack across to get to the town. To its immediate South is a gentle decline that provides a covered route for friendly forces to fall back into the town. It is the ideal location to get early warning on Soviet movements and to conduct a delaying action. This is where our combat action will take place.



The Plan
The larger plan is to use the tanks and infantry to defend the town long enough for the M35s to be fully loaded, then to have everyone collapse back to the rear and take the Southern most exit point and leave the field. The infantry are dug into the buildings, tanks and M150s are in keyhole positions, and the mortars and Chaparrals are in the rear, standing by.
2nd platoon led by 2LT Tassin is occupying the forward position. Their task is simple: disrupt the enemy and fall back. The Soviets must conduct a movement to contact. They know we are in the town, but they do not know the specific layout of our defense. The opening phase of this battle will have the Soviets attempting to shape the battlefield in their favor. This simply means they want to discover where my defenses are while also establishing advantageous positions for themselves that support the attack going in. By disrupting the Soviets ability to shape the battlefield in their favor, I make my overall defense easier and I buy precious time for the supply trucks to load up and get out.
To accomplish this, 2nd platoon will occupy the forward position and lay low. This will allow them to ambush the Soviets if the Soviets bypass the forward position (Engagement Area Primary) or deny the Soviets the forward position while attritting the enemy at the same time (Engagement Area Secondary). If either of these engagements are successful it will hurt the Soviets early, giving me a crucial advantage and a nice time cushion.

The men of 2nd platoon are dug in. They have foxholes (as well as a handful of dummy positions) just inside the tree line along the Southeastern edge of the woods. They are equipped with the infamous (for its questionable reliability) Dragon ATGM, the venerable M72A3 LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon) M60 GPMGs, M16s and hand grenades. The platoons 4 M113s are waiting along the Southern tree line, ready to mount up the infantry for a mad dash back to friendly lines after engaging the enemy.
2nd platoons’ initial positions:

The men of 2nd platoon occupying their fighting positions. The men are keeping low (‘Hiding’ in CM parlance) to keep from being seen:

Instead of being dug in near the tree line facing North, 3rd squad is further back in the woods. They have taken up position in a ditch along a dirt road and are covering an opening in the forest. If the Soviets decide to attack these woods and take the position (which I anticipate) this small opening is an ideal killing ground:

The M113’s, ready to mount up and haul ass:

One engagement. Let the Soviets stumble into our positions, knock off as many as we can in the initial engagement, then break contact and fall back.
Up next is the fight itself!

Speaking of the economy the Russian economy isn’t the only one in trouble-the US economy is looking shaky. Not in the same category as Russia but a severe recession is not out of the cards…
While not highly probable something along the lines of 2008 isn’t out of the question. Putins use of a tac nuke could be a huge shock to the US economic prospects given it’s already fragile state….GDP falling last quarter, stock markets in bear territory, inflation raging and the Fed way behind the 8 ball, forced to aggressively raise rates while dumping 50 billion a month in MBS onto the markets…
Have a great weekend everyone!

Would you rather spend $100,000 on a missile to kill a single sniper, or would you rather sacrifice the life of your son to kill the sniper? I would gladly rot in debtors prison before I even began contemplating the latter option. 
The javelin is a fantastic weapon system that (in my humble opinion) redefines the tactical battlespace. It not only greatly increases the survivability of soft assets on the battlefield (such as infantry, light vehicles, recon assets, etc) but it also greatly increases their lethality as well. The 'holy trinity' of tactical warfare are lethality (firepower) mobility and survivability. The javelin is a real force multiplier of both lethality and survivability. Throw in a stryker for mobility, and the SBCT starts to make a lot more sense. The javelin is a tactical weapon designed to engage threats on a tactical battlefield. A tactical threat can be a tank, an IFV, or a single sniper or enemy forward observer. 
An actual example of inefficient use of assets given the target would be to call in a Tomahawk cruise missile on a single sniper. However this is impossible, seeing as the Tomahawk is a strategic level weapon and is never used for close support. That said, I would still hemorrhage millions of dollars on Tomahawks before contemplating the grim option I listed above. 
The next AAR update will be posted in the next few days, and there is a small tactical example of this discussion in action which is why I decided to address the javelin/cost/target "dilemma."  

Steam Workshop support would be huge. I can see the modding community getting a second renaissance if there was a central repository like the workshop where people could just one click install new mods and scenarios, coupled with a new, more user-friendly scenario designer and opening the game up to more expansive mods a little bit more.

UI/briefing scaling please, I"m getting old and my eyes are failing and this 1440 res makes it really hard to read briefings.

As part of our in-house campaign, Near Peer Simulations is designing CM maps from real world locations, sat imagery, topographical data and refining the final steps for our in-house process for coverting RGB into CSV formats to then utilize as editor overlays displaying raw elevation numbers relative to 8 meter grids. 

This is the result. Currently it is for Professional Edition, with work ongoing for a Black Sea public release. This will be the official thread when that release is available. Attached are screenshots showing the terrain as well as the QB Maps for open source. If you have Professional Edition, it is a plug and play. If you wish to help crack the conversion you may download the files and give it a go. 

Part of what we do is ensure that all content that can be utilized in the publicly available titles, will be free of charge and released with no strings attached. You may edit as your heart desires. 

https://nearpeersimulations.com/
NPS_Lexington&Kharkiv_H2H.btt

As much as I try to do minimal politics, if that team (Hilary and Co) was as aggressive about a Ukraine takeover as they were when Ambassador Stevens was killed, Putin could have personally flown to Kiev, shot the Ukraine president, sat on his chair, and nothing would have happened.
I think more likely the issue was a less-prepared / modernized Russian Army, or a lower sense of urgency, or both.

Low population and resource extraction areas = high GDP per capita

I ran a multiplayer game via stream a few months ago. I acted as umpire and would drop players into/out of my stream based on who was currently "seeing" the action. After everyone ran through their personal turns I dropped everyone who had C2 into a channel together for ~30s. It worked fairly well except that it took quite a lot of time to get through each turn since 4 players (coy commander, 3x platoon commanders) had to each play a turn. I think you could complete a company scale fight in 3-4 hours.

What was most interesting was seeing players react to far more limited info than what CM usually offers. An enemy attack cut off a platoon from the C2 network and all that the other 3 players could see was black smoke from burning wrecks and explosions covering the area. The assumption was that the platoon had been wiped out and the other players reacted by pulling back and setting up a secondary defensive line. However in actuality the platoon had beaten off the initial attack and needed support. And in normal single-player they would have gotten that support ASAP but in this umpired game it took maybe ~5 minutes for the other players to work out what was happening.

 

I definitely remember it was talked about from BFC in 2007. 
 
im too am disappointed it hasn’t showed up yet. 

Same as the other games: faster call-in times, tighter groupings.