SelfLoadingRifle

Andreas, Silly question: Some of the other troops in the enclosure are not marked 'Garrison' and are not included in your orders. These are the other two sections in the platoon, 'Sir' the Platoon Commander, and Zero Alpha. (aka Major Heath) 1) Are these non garrison odds and sods allowed to come out and play at the start of the scenario, or do I begin with only the section outside the enclosure, the breach team, the MG team the MFC, and Sniper Team 4? 2) Have you decided to take the risk and issue 'Sir' with live ammunition? SLR

Jeremy Clarkson really took the p1ss out of the Robin Reliant three wheeler (aka the Plastic Pig) and this was the response. Dear Mr. Steve G... Can we have one of these in the (hopefully) forthcoming CMBS Brits module? Pretty please, with strawberries on top. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avhEQFNKfOw

Apropos the subject of suppressive fire... Firstly, what a fascinating thread. For what it's worth, here are my thoughts... 1) I'm getting a strong sense of deja-vu here, particularly as I seem to recall once reading that pre 1914, accepted military thinking was that the new-fangled Vickers gun was clunky, inaccurate and definitely no match for the magazine rifle plus an acceptable standard of musketry. To be fair though, this didn't apply to the Germans who at that stage were way ahead of the curve in all matters Maxim compared to us Brits. 2) With regard to the new all singing all dancing M27 rifle... Yes, improved accuracy is always a plus and yes, with the M27 I'm sure this could be achieved on a gallery range, with firing points every hundred yards, ditto flags to show how the wind is blowing, beautifully mown grass, an inexhaustible supply of tea (coffee for our American cousins) plus a NAAFI wagon. It would be a completely different story though when you are trying to win a firefight where the enemy is shooting back at you and is exposing himself briefly if at all. It's even worse when you are assaulting up hill, doing the fire & manoeuvre thing, you are knackered, out of breath and the sweat is trickling into your eyes. Under those conditions, getting the rounds down is what matters. Having a sooper dooper Gucci rifle that can shoot the pips out of a playing card at 300 will make no difference at all. 3) An eyebrow was definitely raised at some of the arguments that stated that accuracy of fire trumped volume of fire. What these arguments seemed to be saying was that the highly accurate Bren gun was better at putting down suppressive fire than the MG34 or the MG42. Er… Yes! Quite!! I would have loved to have seen someone try and run that one past my old man who served in the 8th Army. SLR

Based on my CMBS experience: 1) With the advent of APS, if an IFV tries to duke it out with a modern MBT it will lose and lose badly. Ergo, to get best use out of the thing it is probably best to revert to the battle taxi /infantry support role. 2) What CMSF/CMBS do NOT simulate (for reasons of playability) is the game of musical chairs that results with Warrior and Bradley due to small (7 pax) passenger capacity. Inevitably, this results in more of the things being needed to transport either a British or US infantry platoon. 3) Comparisons may well be odious, but the BMP3 carries three more troops than Warrior or Bradley, has a better gun, lower silhouette AND is fully amphibious. 4) If a Bradley goes toe to toe with BMP3 it is probably likely to prevail, but arguably that misses the point. Provided IFVs don't get ideas above their station and are kept out of the way of serious opposition, then surely BMP3 does the job best. 5) If I am wrong, I would be delighted to be shot down in flames over this provided the person doing it explains WHY. SLR

"If you can wait and not be tired by waiting" I have been using the time profitably by getting to grips with Command Modern Naval Air Operations which has to he one of the most brilliant (and complicated) game/simulations on the market and guess what? I am starting to make real progress. The tactics are something else though. I used to wear green not blue and as a result I have absolutely nothing in the way of tactics or SOPs to fall back on. However, I have done a lot of research (which is still ongoing) and I am beginning to get results. I am currently on the last strike scenario. It is called Dodging the Bullet and it has been proving a tough nut to crack although I think I have finally worked out what to do. When I have finished with that I get to learn how to drive a submarine and with that done I will start playing with those floaty boaty things that are blunt at one end and sharp at the other. I think they are called ships... Any all tips/advice gratefully received. SLR

Herewith a song for that nice Mr Steve, in the hope that it will soften his heart and put us all out of our misery!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_Fz2Np-Z4

"I do not believe I have ever witnessed effective sidearm fire." Unfortunately, I have. I remember an occasion when a solitary crewman turned out to be the reincarnation of Wild Bill Hickock, taking out a complete fire team! Take particular note of the effective range of 50m given in the manual for the M9 pistol. This is completely OTT. 20 yards max under combat conditions would be more than enough. Also, it should be noted that pistol ammo has very low stopping power, particularly when compared to any kind of rifle round. Unless the pistol round connects with something vital such as head or heart, not only will your target still be on his feet, but it can be guaranteed that he will also have a bad sense of humour failure. Even worse, he will probably even be in good enough shape to return fire. If he is armed with an assault rifle and the change lever is set to A, this is likely to wreck your entire day!!! "Every time I used snipers, I was entirely disappointed in their marksmanship." Totally agreed. A long time ago I was a sniper. I know EXACTLY what can be done with an L42 or an L96, both of which are now out of service with the Brit Army. Let's just say that the pixelated Battlefront snipers couldn't hit a barn door from inside the barn. Their field craft sucks as well as they are far too easy to spot. If it was me - the young me that is - I would using cover in depth. You wouldn't see me at all. In fact, I would be so well cammed up that the only way you would discover me would be if you tripped over me! Happy days. SLR

Dear Battlefront people, I was delighted to read that at long last, CMSF was being recoded and brought up to date. Now, I don't know how far along you are to completing this, but if your work is still in the early stages, I have two small requests to put before you. 1) Would it be possible to redo the artwork for snipers and show them wearing ghillie suits? Also, I feel that a bit of tweaking to the codes is required. The snipers in the game are far too easy to spot. Also, their marksmanship is definitely not up to real life standards. In the real world, snipers would be taking headshots at 300 with complete confidence. 2) Pistol marksmanship standards are way too high in the game. Most soldiers are lucky if they shoot a pistol once in an entire year, and this is completely insufficient to develop any skill at all. In the real world, 20 yards would be accounted extreme range and at that sort of distance, the soldier would miss 90% of the time. At 10 yards, less than 50% of rounds fired would be on target, and it would only be at ranges of five yards or less that most of the rounds would be on target. Take particular note that the stress engendered in a combat situation has a highly detrimental affect on accuracy. What is achievable on a gallery range is one thing. What is achievable in close quarter combat is quite another. Looking forward to all the new stuff as and when it is released. SLR

Rab C. Nesbitt is a cult comedy character. Think of a more aggressive repulsive and alcoholic version of Archie Bunker and you'll be on the right lines. You are doing very well if you can understand his accent. Enjoy!!

The bus stops were rather boring where I was. Russia is truly the country of the unexpected though. It will always have the capacity to surprise!! SLR

While I'm still thinking about this, a hockey rink is another must have feature. They seem to have one of these in almost every residential square, whether in Russia or the Ukraine. Ditto miniature children's playgrounds. These are typically a slide, a swing, one of those spinning roundabout things and a climbing frame, all painted in a cheerful rainbow colour scheme and mounted on black rubber matting to minimise injury. Also, every town contains a central square with fountain, small rather garish looking prefabricated clock-tower, plus a large statue of Lenin. Also, there will be a separate Victory Square consisting of a huge parade ground with (typically) hideous concrete war memorial at the far end complete with eternal flame. Any depiction of a Slavic townscape would be incomplete without these features. Could Kieme, or some kind modder please consider adding these as flavour objects? SLR

Duh!

So that's where they were hiding the damn things Thanks, SLR

A friend of mine once said. "Richard, when you return to England, you will find that part of your soul has become Russian." A wise remark indeed, as I am finding out in unexpected ways. Recently, I completed a major upgrade of CMBS. I bought the new battle pack, and then embarked on a major project. I downloaded and installed almost all of Kieme's mods. The next thing I did was to explore the Korsun 2017 map. Suddenly, I found myself back out there again, so much so that I could even smell it. It is always the small touches that hit home the hardest. The skyline (courtesy of Kieme's background) was dominated by a line of giant electricity pylons. Elsewhere, the horizon was broken by a collection of dirty looking factory chimneys. In yet another direction, an oddly shaped water tower loomed. These features are ubiquitous, and form a part of virtually every landscape. What really brought me back was how accurately the artwork depicted the general decay. The paintwork of the buildings was faded with cracked and crumbling rendering. Properties were surrounded by hideous concrete walls formed from prefabricated sections and the soulless 70s vintage apartment blocks were everywhere. All of this is so, so Slavic and so, so right but you have to have lived in a place like that to truly appreciate it. One area that Kieme could look at is some of the brickwork. Many buildings survive that were built by German POWs and the quality of the bricklaying is truly, horrifyingly and jaw-droppingly awful. It would be a nice touch to see this depicted. Also, woodland areas should have assorted crisp (chip) packets, coke cans, discarded portable barbeques and empty vodka bottles modded into them to capture that truly Slavic atmosphere. It might actually be an idea to produce the blackened remains of a bonfire as a feature as these are absolutely everywhere, particularly near tracks which run next to rivers. I have yet to see a village accurately depicted though. Villages, particularly those near cities, contain many Dachas. Dacha is a synonym for country house/man cave. Most well-off families possess them and at weekends, half of the city drives out to the dacha. Russian villages, particularly those in dacha-land, are truly ramshackle in a way that you simply wouldn't believe. Prefabricated concrete walls are everywhere. Corrugated iron (used for all sorts of things including roofs) is an important feature, as is the ubiquitous picket fence. Sometimes the juxtapositions are truly startling. Decaying wooden Hansel and Gretel style gingerbread houses rub shoulders with ultra modern swanky mansions. Some houses are rendered and some are not, consisting of bare cinder blocks. The architecture is often surprising and sometimes downright alarming. I have even seen a retro-gothic mini-castle, complete with turrets and battlements, plus a villa roofed with bright blue tiles that was actually painful to look at. Almost anything goes. The only thing that should be absent is any sense of planning. Perhaps I am nit-picking though. All I can do is what many others on this forum have done before me which is to thank Kieme for his wonderful artwork. SLR

Vanir, you are a gent. Thank you so much for this! SLR