mjkerner

Sun's breaking through from the left.

As a long-time Combat Mission junky, I was extremely proud, a while back, when BF were producing training tools for the NZDF - it says something great about the game and it might help to save people's lives.
It doesn't worry me one jot that it might cause a delay in game delivery - it just makes what we're playing cooler...

So the British Ministry of Defense is subsidizing me playing w my toy soliders & tanks?  And all I have to do for this is wait a little longer for the new release?  I am considering this a win for all of us CM gamers.  So maybe I'll not throw temper tantrums and wet  my pants over not getting my toy immediately.

Excellent Double-Plus Good, you guys!

Nice find, civdiv!

Here´s the link for Siezing Ciembienne The Scenario Depot:

https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battles-for-normandy/cmbn-seizing-ciembienne-for-umlauts-commercial-mods/

If I recall correctly, the armor on the sides of U.S. tanks (not just the Sherman) was not sloped so that the tanks could be loaded, fitted into place, and unloaded more efficiently on/from ships. This factor was something that land-powers like Germany and the USSR did not have to be concerned about as much.

If Market Garden had worked, though, Monty would have been regarded as brilliant. As it was, it was a close run thing. Consider the unfortunate coincidence of the 9th and 10th SS refitting in the area, or if the 1st Airborne had conducted a coup de main directly on the bridge with an LZ on the south side on the first lift. What amazes me about MG, and in fact the entire war, was how quickly the Allies were able to mount operations? Planning and logistics masters, AFAIC...all without computers, mind you.

Wow, this is good stuff, Julian. Thanks!

Mission to Maas V2.btt

Updated huge scenario Axis KG Peiper versus Allies.
Semi Historical based on the actions over 4 days around La Gleize and Stoumont, condensed into a 4 hour period.
4 hours, gives plenty of time. But need to balance force preservation with speed to secure objectives, avoiding enemy artillery and fighting off counter attacks.
Controlling 700 troops and over 50 vehicles is not for the feint hearted
Improvements over Version 1
Improved road layout near Coo and through La Gleize, so game engine doesn't re-route units behind buildings . Ground conditions now allow for more off-road manoeuvre with minimal risk of breakdown, although beware of mines. Some building layouts have been improved. Found Grilles! and added some German recon. German TRP setup is now at the front of the Spitze rather than inconveniently hidden in the woods! 5 action plans, with variable arrival time for USA reinforcements give more replay ability. Start time is 08:30am which provides darkness and poor visibility for the first 15-30 minutes.
Why go large? 
Operational type decisions on when and where to attack / defend with which company optional march routes route security, flank recon, patrols, early warning  creation of mobile reserve to respond to threats etc command challenges, do I move to counter that threat or temporarily withdraw to fight again? Deeper understanding of your own force strengths, weakness, mobility, firepower, combined arms Visual. Attack and counter attack over the same ground lets you fight past burnt out vehicles and damaged buildings, that are reset if occurring in a campaign Not many scenarios produced on this scale, probably for good reason Many thanks to the guys who commented on version 1,  much appreciated, hope you find this an improved experience.

I just found this pro-Houthi Yemeni battle vid channel   
I have watched several videos and the Houthis v the Saudis and their allies would make really good scenarios for CM2. (I realise making games out of other peoples' misery is in pretty bad taste. I do find it hard to reconcile my wargamery side with my humanitarian ethos sometimes). Amazing rocky terrain - ideal for irregulars.
 
NOTE: these videos are from the Houthi side - they indicate their soldiers with green arrows and the enemy (Saudi irregulars?) with red. I think these are total eye-openers. It would be interesting if anyone on the forum can understand Arabic, as the commentary would no doubt be enlightening but I cannot understand it.

NOTE 2: I have heard, but have no corroborating evidence, that the Saudi army can't get any decent soldiers - so  has to rely on desperate people, eg Pakistani poor. The only reliable units are held back against insurrection. Certainly if I was a Saudi tankman trained on an M1A2, and then sent into battle with a T55 I suspect my morale might have a negative modifier. 
This channel's battle footage shows the Houthis being brave and competent against a what I can only describe as a pitiful, unprofessional enemy. Yet there is a truly astonishing amount of arms, ammo and equipment that the Houthis are capturing intact - it's like being in dusty aladdin's caves of war materiel. See for yourself. At around the 9 min mark 15-20 lightly damaged armoured vehicles and about a dozen softskins including a Grad MRL truck are abandoned by the side of the  road.  I'd guess most of them are repairable. If a Western battalion or brigade let this amount of vehicles fall into enemy hands it would be called a major defeat, wouldn't it?

Slowly, Aragorn. RL is in the way constantly.

If Market Garden had worked, though, Monty would have been regarded as brilliant. As it was, it was a close run thing. Consider the unfortunate coincidence of the 9th and 10th SS refitting in the area, or if the 1st Airborne had conducted a coup de main directly on the bridge with an LZ on the south side on the first lift. What amazes me about MG, and in fact the entire war, was how quickly the Allies were able to mount operations? Planning and logistics masters, AFAIC...all without computers, mind you.

Yes, I was just kidding, Frenchy. They are with the socks, but I didn’t bother with them for this very quick job. It was just to show Aragorn that the skin tones on the Nisei need much work.

If Market Garden had worked, though, Monty would have been regarded as brilliant. As it was, it was a close run thing. Consider the unfortunate coincidence of the 9th and 10th SS refitting in the area, or if the 1st Airborne had conducted a coup de main directly on the bridge with an LZ on the south side on the first lift. What amazes me about MG, and in fact the entire war, was how quickly the Allies were able to mount operations? Planning and logistics masters, AFAIC...all without computers, mind you.

Aragorn, I think Aris or someone did some for the Germans (which it sounds like you already have), but I don't think there are any for the British.  However, since I know you've done some renaming before, you can just rez-explode the CW version 110 brz of CMBN, then find the British "skins"  (faces) in the "soldiers" folder, and then copy the weathered German faces, and start renaming them with the British name for faces: uk-soldier-skin 1, uk-soldier-2, etc. The default British faces are numbered 1 through 8, and of course you can number them higher to your hearts content. (If you rename less than 8, say 1- 6, then the default faces 7 and 8 will still be in the mix.)
I hope I explained this clear enough. Feel free to PM me if not.

This^^.  In desperation, I've run regular infantry (with just generic grenades, no specific A/T assets) right at a tank, into it's AS, and it works more times than not. I mainly do it when playing Finns vs Russkies. Fun to watch, too---lots of grenades flying, pixeltruppen going down, confusion, etc.

Bootie put it up at CMMODS IV.  Thanks Bootie!
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-shock-force-2/cmsf2-infantry/cmsf2-british-woodland-dpm-camo/

Bootie put it up at CMMODS IV.  Thanks Bootie!
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-shock-force-2/cmsf2-infantry/cmsf2-british-woodland-dpm-camo/

Bootie put it up at CMMODS IV.  Thanks Bootie!
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-shock-force-2/cmsf2-infantry/cmsf2-british-woodland-dpm-camo/

I agree. I think most of us sense that BF is our only and probably last chance to get the quality games we want. That makes some of us greedy and impatient, including myself. But I agree.
The thought of a future without BF makes me shiver. It really does. Let's hope they will stay around for a long, long time.

Howdy folks
The other day I realized that I had an almost complete mod set of commercial buildings that I´d never finished and released. So now I have brushed up the files and made it sort of ready for release. Mind you: The mod set is not as finished as I would like it to be - that is the reason why I didnt release it, when I made it three or four years ago. But I dont think I will ever get the time to fully complete it - so I have decided to release it as it is, rather than just letting it sit idle on my hard drive. 
I am going to make it temporarily available from Dropbox - but hopefully it will be on CMMODS IV soon and then I´ll remove them again.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f2tl7i0ntkw5r3u/AADyULTXZ40Ms5CDuaQ7B6b7a?dl=0

Here´s a bit of info on it:
Umlauts Commercial Buildings
This set of mods contains modded commercial buildings for CM Normandy.
I have added murals to the gables of some of the buildings and some extra storefronts.
According to my research they should all be typical of Normandy in 1944 – but I could be
wrong.
The mod set contains quite a few extra commercial buildings, compared to the base game:
Buildings 100: Base game = 2 sets – this mod = 3 sets
Buildings 101: Base game = 2 sets – this mod = 15 sets
Buildings 102: Base game = 2 sets – this mod = 2 sets
Buildings 103: Base game = 2 sets – this mod = 13 sets

Mirrored gables
Unfortunately, the game reuses the gable BMP´s for both gables of a house, so if a
commercial building isn´t accached to another buildong, then one of the murals will always
be inverted.
I have tried to fix this by adding two different versions of each gable – with the inverted
part on both sides. This means that you can place two commercial buildings next to each
other and cycle through the building layout (shift-left click), until the inverted gables are
hidden where the buildings meet.
Choosing the preferred layout
I highy recommend that you cycle through the building layout (shift-left click) of each
building to choose the one with the preferred layout. If you leave it to the game, the
building layouts are assigned ramdomly – and you will probably see a lot of inverted
gables and indentical buildings next to each other.
When you cycle through the layouts, remember that there are up to 15 different layouts for
some types. And if you click and nothing seems to change – then it is probably only the
layout of the gable that has changed, while the rest of the building stays the same.
Damage:
I have altered the damage files of the game to suit my tastes. The buildings with damage
showing the brick work through the plaster are modded to fit these damage files. To apply
damage, press shift-alt-leftclick.
Please remember that I do not consider this mod set completely finished. But I dont think I
will find the time to finish it anytime soon – if ever – so I´ve decided to release it as it is.
Enjoy
 
 

Yeah, I always try to get the enemy in a crossfire whenever possible. They *seem* to bug out/displace more easily that way.  Flanking fire, and all that.

I’m biased, because I always split squads not matter how large or small the battle. The only time I don’t is when moving up to the Line of Departure and the troops are very clearly out of the enemy’s sight. So my answer is “Split them”!😉

I guess he could have unknowingly been playing on Scenario Author Test mode..............  .