Combatintman

Yes I played a few missions of that one too. After such a long lay off I figured I needed to get a few games under my belt just to get my hand in before play testing my own campaign.

Erwin - it is the final mission of the campaign and will represent part of Op JAMES which was 3 Commando Brigade's operation to secure the southern perimeter of Basra on 29-30 March 2003. Blue forces for this mission will comprise A Company, 40 Commando with a troop of C Squadron Scots Dragoon Guards, a troop from 59 Indpendent Commando Squadron Royal Engineers supported by a Battery of 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery. Iraqi forces will have some dug-in T-55 tanks from 51 Mechanised Division, some dismounts and some uncons.

Final map is done (and it was an epic). This is part of Abu al-Khasib which is 1km south of the Shatt al-Arab waterway (and the Iranian border) and 15km east of Basra city centre. To find it on Google Earth, put the following geo coords in: 30 27 04 28N 47 58 20 90E I had to rotate the map a small amount to simplify the map making process and it measures 1040 x 994m so it is a fair sized map. Google Earth screenshot: CMSF overhead screenshot: Oblique screenshot of the main road in the middle of the map south to north: Oblique screenshot of the same looking from north to south: Enjoy.

I've played a couple of missions of this one as well - I can confirm that I haven't heard any artillery dialogue either. It is quite a fun campaign because of the challenge of playing red on red but I stopped at mission 6. I won't say why as it will act as a spoiler.

Ok ... progress!! This map is of Sennen Bridge and is on the extreme southern outskirts of the Basra urban sprawl. To find it on Google Earth put in the following Geo Coords: 30 26 30 00N 48 00 58 60E Map size is 976m x 464m and although I had to rotate it a bit to make map making easier, I didn’t need to rotate it too much. Google Earth screenshot: CMSF overhead screenshot: CMSF Oblique screenshot: The oblique view is taken from the road exit at the western (enemy) end of the map looking across the bridge and blue setup zones on the extreme east of the map.

Different take on the BEP: Bataillon Etrangers de Parachutistes (BEP ; Foreign Legion Parachute Battalion ; 1951 - 1954) 1 x poste de commandement (PC ; Headquarters) 1 x compagnie Opérationnelle de Commandement du Bataillon (CCOB ; more commonly called « Compagnie de Commandement du Bataillon », CCB ; Command Company of the Battalion) • Section de transmissions (Signal platoon) • Section médicale (Medical platoon) • Section de services (Administrative platoon) • Section de pionniers (Pioneers platoon ; with 4 x 57 mm M18A1 ?) • 1 x section de mitrailleuses (Machine gun platoons) 2 x groupes de mitrailleuses (Machine gun squads ; 2 x MMGs each) • 1 x section de mortiers (Mortar platoons) 3 x groupes de mortiers (Mortar squads ; 2 x 81 mm mortars each) 4 x compagnies de fusiliers-voltigeurs parachutistes (Rifle parachute companies) • 1 x section de commandement (Command platoon) • 4 x sections de fusiliers-voltigeurs parachutistes (Parachute platoons) 1 x groupe de commandement (Command platoon ; 1 x 50 mm mortar) 1 x groupe de fusiliers-voltigeurs parachutistes (Parachute automatic squad ; 15 x men each ; around 6 x SMGs, carbines, 1 x sniper rifle, rifles, 1 x rifle with grenade discharger, 1 x SAW) 1 x groupe de fusiliers parachutistes (Parachute squad ; 12 x men each ; at least 1 x SMG, some carbines, 1 x sniper rifle, rifles, 1 x rifle with grenade discharger, 1 x SAW) • 1 x section de mitrailleuses et d’engins (SME ; weapons platoon) 1 x canon sans-recul (RR ; 1 x 57 mm M18A1) 1 x groupe de mitrailleuses (Machine gun squad ; 2 x MMGs) 1 x groupe de mortiers (Mortar squad ; 2 x 60 mm mortars) This was sourced from the Yahoo TO&E group, I can't vouch for its accuracy but the whole document is pretty comprehensive and therefore appears thoroughly researched to me. Given the structure of the rifle platoons in particular, I wish you the very best of luck in making this work with the TO&Es in the game!!

Not sure if it has been linked to already on this thread but if not this document may prove useful: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/2008/RM4618.pdf I'm not convinced it directly addresses your questions but it will at least give you an angle or two to pursue.

Not as glad as I am I bet!!!

Ok folks I am back in one piece ... give me a few days to get some beer down my neck and I'll recommence work on this campaign.

The section in the Armoured Infantry Battalion is seven based on the capacity of the Warrior and reflects the TO&E of the period in which the module was set. Light and Mech Role Battalions have a section strength of eight.

Hi fellas, thanks for the kind words - not much else to say really - keep hanging in there and you'll have a campaign when I get back.

Hello again everyone - not good news for you I'm afraid. This Afghan campaign I'm in is RT playing at the highest difficulty setting and I haven't been able to find an 'esc' key to hit!!!! Frivolity aside I am very time poor and likely to be for the forseeable future. On top of that I missed a suicide bomber which went off at the same time and place that I was patrolling in 22 hours earlier this week which killed 2 of our US colleagues last Sunday. In the short term therefore I suspect nothing will get done on this project. I reiterate that I will finish it and I have other campaigns planned for CMSF to keep the modern flame burning. Rest assured I am doing my best to keep my head down (especially after last Sunday) and as before I will update you if anything changes. Regards

ECM fits on vehicles that Paper Tiger was referring to above should defeat the Cell Phone and RCIED unit types in game. He is also being modest - Paper Tiger has done some great stuff for this game as well. My experience with IED placement and IED units in self-designed missions has been very hit and miss with emphasis on the 'miss'. I've found it extremely tricky to get the spy to have the right LOS and remain hidden long enough to be able to attempt to detonate the device. It might just be me but at the end of the day this is one of the aspects of mission and campaign design that requires mucho mucho play testing.

Ok you've probably noticed things have gone a bit quiet on this thread. The reason for this is I am now in the place that CMA is set in and will be here for a while now. I'm sure I will have some time to work on this project while I'm here but it will be a fairly long and slow process. Rest assured I will finish this campaign and I will update you guys as I get things done.

Yes it is a truly great tradition and I managed to get a fair amount of beer down range for free thanks to the generosity of people here - hence taking a couple of days off from this project!!!

Work will temporarily halt on this project for the next 48 hours - ANZAC Day: http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp

What's your problem there then - I'm no ninja in the editor but happy to help if I can.

Good work on the rank slides and the blood group and zap numbers - a nice touch.

Sorry I've been a bit quiet of late - had a pretty full social diary and have been back at work. More pictures for a mission that will simply be called 'Armour Action' which in reality took place on 24 Mar 03. This is mentioned in the book that I've been using as my primary source of research but was also featured in a documentary that I'd seen and saved onto the digibox. Unfortunately my wife managed to delete that in favour of a Harry Potter film or some other such nonsense before I got around to looking at this mission in earnest but I remember enough to give the mission the correct feel!!! The area of ground chosen best matches that described in the research but I can't be sure that it is the actual place that the action took place and is on the outskirts of Abu Al Khasib. Geo Coords are: 30 26 32 04N 48 01 37 17E I had to rotate the ground slightly to facilitate mapmaking. The real and CMSF map area is 992m x 704m. This is the place for real on Google Earth: This is the CMSF overhead screenshot of same: This is an oblique taken from the N-S running road (as it will be in CMSF) red will setup on the left and blue will setup on the right. Enjoy!!!

Muj with SA80 ... is this CMSCI-FI?

Time for another photo bone ... This will be Mission 8 and is a place called Al Seeba located at: 30 19 20 32N 48 15 13 88E Map dimensions are 944m x 752m Actual Google Earth overhead: CMSF overhead screenshot: CMSF oblique taken looking down the road from the bottom right hand corner of the area above: Enjoy ...

Ok Gents - I've been working on Mission 2. This is B Coy 40 Commando's heliborne insertion and assault on the Al Faw Pipeline Complexes (PPLM and PPLK) which took place on the night of 20/21 Mar 03. This is a purely dismounted battle and like the first involves lots of walking and again is longer than I would like (90 minutes again). I still haven't got this one right yet as I need to get a decent balance between manageable enemy force levels and keeping the player busy. Right now there are slightly too many 'down' periods. I may also have to work on the victory points allocation as I have just tested it and Blue suffered a tactical defeat when it should have gained a victory of some description although I think I can get round this by ensuring that the brief has all the right information in it. However it is there or thereabouts and after a quick tinker and playtest it should be ready to go.

Ok Mission 1 is in the can - minus briefings because I plan to do those right at the end just in case I have to make some changes to the missions to make the campaign as a whole work. Mission 1 is C Coy 40 Commando's heliborne insertion and assault on the Al Faw Monitoring and Metering Station (MMS) which took place on the night of 20/21 Mar 03. C Coy assaulted after RVing with 3 Cdo Bde's Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF) so while this is essentially a dismounted assault you do get to play with the BRF's WMIKs. Battle length is an hour and a half - longer than I would like but it is a dismounted assault and as you've seen from the map, there is a lot of ground to cover!

It seems pretty popular with miniature gamers - there have been a few Wargames Guild big games set in the period. My own (largely unpainted) figure and vehicle collection is predominantly Cold War/brush fire war stuff.

Chainsaw ... hopefully you won't have to wait for too long. I'm now on the last map - I must admit I'm struggling with it but it is all in hand. Mission-wise I've now got Mission 1 pretty much to behave how I want it to so will finish that off tomorrow before starting on Mission 2. Bizarrely (but that's the way I work) Mission 6 is about where I want it to be as well. This will all be concurrent with chipping away at that last map.