purpheart23

Some great shots taken by @George MC featuring the T-80:




And a bonus shot of an M577 in the Fall:

Canister or Beehive rounds are terrifying, and yes, 400m is a good number. We practiced with them in our 105 artillery battery. They would be used in an artillery battery for last ditch self defense. A battery of 6 guns firing a volley of Beehive rounds to the front will turn anything not armored out there to mince meat. Imagine an infantry company trying to assault the battery and facing 60000 flechettes flying through the air.  And then a second volley for anything still moving. 
For a tank, it could be used in assault but also as close defense if you had dismounted infantry attacking. 
Of course it you are in the artillery and ever have to use them it means that things are really, really FUBAR.
Dave

Steve: "final phase of the 'last minute details"'
Me: F5

Ah, I see. Well at that point some may question the quality of said friendship, for true friendship transcends time. But, I totally get your beef, the damn things been in the making forever, let's go already.

I will always remain a dedicated fan of BFC, that hasn't changed. But the long wait inflicted quite some damage on our 'friendship'. But as soon as I have FR in my greedy (almost wrote that with a 'c') hands I'm willing to forgive and forget. 😉

Ah, I see. Well at that point some may question the quality of said friendship, for true friendship transcends time. But, I totally get your beef, the damn things been in the making forever, let's go already.

Roleplay in CM can be both fun and efficient. So, step into your officers' shoes. If memory serves, here's my rundown of the mission:
a. You've taken a village. Now, the Hun is trying to take it back. As a rule, the defender holds a qualitative advantage. The counter-attack will be most effective, when the enemy is beaten and bloodied. So, let's focus on the defense first.
b. Set up your forces in ambush. Think as your opponent: where would you attack if you were him? Where would you call in artillery? Try to set your forces in a safe place, that offers overlapping Line of Sight on suspected enemy advance routes. Try to space out forces that may get stonked, and run back to fall back positions when spotting rounds start falling.
c. Put your observers, heavy support and tanks on the wooded hilly terrain (behind the village). Keep an eye on the hill in front of the village, the Hun may have STuG (s) there. The Hun usually concentrates his forces in a so-called Schwerpunkt. If they manage to achieve a local breakthrough, use mobile units from quiet sectors to bolster the defender's efforts. 
d. Let the wave break against your shore. Once the Hun's assault stalls, it is time to strike! Have your observers call the rest of your artillery any buildings or wooded cover in the enemy's rear. Move up your rear line, as the front line keeps watch. This is called "leap frogging". Use HUNT to cautiously advance to the hill, to the front.
e. Divide and conquer. Every time you encounter an enemy unit, stop and shoot everything you have at it, until it is dead. A thoroughly broken enemy will surrender, and hand you an automatic victory. At the end of the day, you want as many of your troops to see tomorrow. So, don't bite off more than you can chew.

Man, that's the business of making games. I don't know what is Battlefront threshold sales to break even - 2,000 copies, 5,000 copies? Those volumes, in the context of actual war games are "best sellers".
Hence why so much (board) war games now run campaigns on a variety of crowdfunding platforms, have "pre-order" targets (like GMT Games does), and so on. You make an elevator pitch, people put their credit cards on escrow, and then you get a sense how many more sales than the ones you already have in prep orders are statistically likely given historical sales data.

Is co-operative multiplayer something that BF are contemplating?  t would be cool though... 

I hope not! After we have a minimum release time of 1 1/2 weeks for F&R , I hope, that CMCW comes out earlier

- Improved AI scripting
- Co-operative multiplayer
- Persistant map damage
- H2H campaigns
 

I've been to Palm Springs, I don't see the harm in attacking it.

I've been to Palm Springs, I don't see the harm in attacking it.

I've been to Palm Springs, I don't see the harm in attacking it.

The desert really has a special beauty to it. The more you explore, the more you find beyond the stereotypical flat plains and rocky mountains. Like Mastiff said, you can find wadis that would swallow a platoon whole.
'

 

Switching between regions is waaaay too much fun. I need to stop this and find some work to do. 

The game install will of course come with a .pdf Cold War manual along with it, like all the other titles.

Yeah, I played a few games of that with a friend connecting over LAN using a Hamachi server. What CM really needs on top of that is multiple players on each side or co-op so each can take care of their own formations. Frankly, I would pay for an engine upgrade that includes this.

When you say Tobruk, I am humble and I know you all really mean the official BFC module in 2037.
But sometimes I can mod and dream...

Thank you, as a Fighting 41 I hope I squeeze my way into that testing group! haha

It's a good time to be an eastern front fan, GG's WitE 2 just came out, currently waiting on that sweet sweet manual, and Fire and Rubble should be out "soon" tm.

It's a good time to be an eastern front fan, GG's WitE 2 just came out, currently waiting on that sweet sweet manual, and Fire and Rubble should be out "soon" tm.

Not much to look at, just a staff map. The title "Location of troops in the Western theater of war on D + 18"
Staff Map
A map from the early 1980s. In this scenario, NATO troops are doing quite well. Weapons of mass destruction are in use. In 1980 I was 7 years old, there is a blue mushroom in the place where I lived with the description 150 kt - airburst 8.10 am 🙂

*stubs out cigarette* "The waiting game it is". I got a good feeling about this one. Will it be worth the 3 year wait? I don't know, but at this point what's one more month?
 

Been re-reading "Decision in the Ukraine, Summer 1943, II SS and III Panzerkorps", and have scanned maps (L-37-6-B Dmitrijewka, 1939-ish) from the archives at the Library of Congress.
Time to finally break down and try to create a Campaign based around Aug., 1, 1943. Tons of action in the book as the Germans try/push the Russians back across the Mius. First comes the map work. Probably multiple master maps as the scope of the battles spans from east of Gerassimova to south of Marinovka, some 10km by 10km, at least at first blush. First up, where to divide the map?