BletchleyGeek

Indeed, @chuckdyke if we always all agree with each other we never learn anything new and are of no value to one another; if nobody dare to share their (subjective) opinions than this wouldn't be a forum. Disagreeing is not something bad imo, nor is it to be proven wrong. Actually I personally see it as a virtue to be able to change ones mind after being presented with convincing arguments. I have certainly been wrong plenty of times in my life and will probably be engaged for the rest of my life finding out more of those occasions (learning & improving). Also I like logical arguments and enjoy training reasoning skills by pointing illogical arguments out 😇
Anyway I still don't think the comparison between IS2 or Sherman makes much sense, nor that performance of Israeli M-50/M-51 Supersherman in Sinai has much to do with their WWII performance. That's just my view 
Anyway on another note the strategic importance of the Sherman and all it's variants is probably larger than the strategic importance of the IS2 in WW2. However I'm not sure whether the same could be said for the T-34, which is more similar type like the Sherman.
They were all 'winners' though, as in that their host nations won the war. However also that doesn't necessarily mean that all their hardware was the best from all perspectives.
 

Thanks for that @DMS - always insightful to hear the point of view from the other side of the Iron Curtain
FWIW, I don't think either that a Red Storm Rising scenario of a desperate Communist Party leadership staging a "short victorious war", where in order to conquest the Persian Gulf one had to defeat NATO, ever made much sense. Power politics in the Central Committee were never an straightforward affair after Stalin, so it is not clear how a lunatic plan like that would have gone smoothly through the Soviet Union government decision making processes.
An accident or mistake, like shooting down civilian airliners (quite a few in the 1980s btw), or a missile test being confused as the real deal, both constitute more compelling scenarios. I want to think that the lesson that there isn't such a thing as a "short victorious war" was learnt after two pretty cataclysmic conflagrations.

The only reason is that ruling class war tired of being communist leaders and dreamed to become real bourgeoisie, without limitations of socialistic country. "People of my rank have millions on the West". So, real war was possible only accidentally, because of misidentified rocket launch or something like this. In this case Soviet army wouldn't be well prepared, attacking only with the best units, with the best equipment. 

As Holien said Bill's explanation hits the nail on the head, hull down keyholed armour has a major spotting advantage.
Worth mentioning the terrain is quite strongly in favour of Bill for the nature of this armoured engagement. The Capt's Armour is hemmed into his side of the map by the forest, all the trees and foliage will be heavily limiting the amount of firing angles and positions he has available and spots within the forest will likely have poor firing angles so to engage Bills armour he is being drawn to the edge of the treeline where his tanks face a punishing 30 second crawl back to cover if they are spotted whereas Bill has the choice of the larder, if his tanks are spotted he can pull back into defilade at will and reposition to a new hull down spot.
I'm not the biggest fan of how the T64's were used here but the fact The Capt was expecting better tanks than T62's as his reinforcements goes a way to explaining that, if he had a Company of T64A's as reinforcements the losses on the field would be far less important. As it is most of his best armour has been whittled away in a gun duel that favoured Bill from the offset.

Gun depression is not modelled in game in the strictest sense, but it will become apparent as a large negative time addition to engaging a target after acquiring. Most often you'll notice this when fighting infantry with armored vehicles in close quarters - that's been in game since the Market Garden module. EDIT: I want to clarify this is strictly noticeable at extremely close range, this was an addition in MG to better represent the difficulty a tank (of any era) faces in fighting infantry in built-up or close in terrain. It was meant to even the odds for light infantry when conducting close attacks on armour. 
Soviet-era tanks are squat with a low centre of gravity and a longer or comparable barrel to NATO counterparts. As a rule they had worse gun depression as a result. Again, not modelled in game unless something has changed beyond my knowledge. 

The T-64 is a bad-ass tank.  Take M-60A1s of any flavor (and I have all three types in this game) against it one on one on a flat map and the T-64 wins the majority of times.. mainly because its armor is so tough against the rounds carried in the M-60A1... not until the M-60A3 and M-1 does the curve start to flex the other way due to the superior ammo and optics they carry.
What you are seeing now is a difference in positioning... my M-60s are all hull down, Warren's tanks are not.. plus he is moving into my line of sight, mine are stationary most times... a moving tank is easier to spot.  My tanks are keyholed... his are set up in non-hull down positions in treelines.. now I'm a fan of treeline positions for armor, but I will take a hulldown position over them any day.  One T-64A presented its flank to me in front of the trees.. it lasted seconds after getting spotted.
On average it is taking me multiple rounds to kill the T-64s, in the case of the most recent T-64A it must have taken 8-10 hits (lost count) over two turns before the tank was destroyed... if it had been the T-64A firing at my M-60A1, the M-60A1 would have been destroyed with the first hit in most cases.
Bil

It was interesting to see that the T 64B is rather blind, and also that it took a bit of work for those M60s to get full kills. Kind of reminds me of the duel between King Tigers and ISU-122 in the Red Thunder "Gog and Magog" scenario.
Yet, I am not sure the Capt is toast, nothing has yet taken a decent shot at the M60s. Therefore I revise my previoud estimate of Bil's success probability from 0.3 to 0.5, in true Bayesian fashion
 

The latest "new" mod to be uploaded at the CM Mod Warehouse.  Also if you fancy please do support the new CM YouTube channel. 
 
 

Thirteenth Minute - The Board is Set
 
“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”
Art of War, Sun Tsu
 
Minute 13:
1st Platoon's Tank Section 2 continued to harass the two T-64As on the Soviet left (my right) flank.  These are the two T-64s that took a beating in the 12th minute... and they each take several more rounds into their front hull and turret, both backing into the woods the whole time.

T-64A (right side) manages to escape.. but it has to be damaged.  I am considering it a mission kill until I know otherwise.  If it pops back up later I will address it then.
T-64A (left side) takes a penetrating hit at the end of the turn.. and this one kills it:

 

CURRENT SITUATION
This is a busy image, and I apologize for that. 
Enemy Situation:
Recon Company remnants are pushing forward and are on my extreme left. Warren's dismounted infantry and scouts continue to push toward Dolbach, supported by the Recon Company BMP-1Ps/BMR-1 and the Infantry Company's BMP-1s BMP-1s in overwatch are starting to move forward some, but are remaining behind the infantry for now T-62 Company is still being held in reserve, but is moving forward slightly T-64B Platoon is down to one fully functional tank and one wounded and probably gun damaged tank T-64A platoon is down to one wounded and probably disabled tank
My Support Plan:
2 of my 3 available M-106 Mortars are starting to drop rounds in front of the Soviet infantry.  Timing with indirect fire is always a challenge, but I am liking how this is shaping up
One of 155mm batteries is dropping spotting rounds for a linear fire mission as shown below.  Fire for effect should start in a couple turns.
I do have more planned, but am saving that for the next report!  Yes, I will finally let you in on the planning that I have been working toward for several turns now... stay tuned! Finally, some Tank Porn!!
BMP-1P:

BMR-1 (Recon Company CO's ride:

Yes, it is the badge of 24. PzDiv, one of my uncles served in it, he was flown out of Stalingrad wounded and my grandfather was missing in action while serving in the artillery branch of this division 1945.
And now this is the color of the German recon forces, which I served in.

I grew up just 8 km from the inner-german border and never felt any fear or such - today I think that is strange.
Just the opposite, there are many nice memories concerning the military of that time. We often had the 16/5th Queens Royal Lancers on exercise at the farm of my father. They were stationed at the town of Wolfenbüttel nearby and everybody loved to see them, my mother because we talked english all day, the soldiers because they had warm places to sleep and a shower, and my father because he had an agreement to get a bottle of Famous Grouse for each day of their stay. We did things you never get elswhere, driving a Ferret Mk1 (I called it armored Dune Buggy), a Scorpion tank and even firing a Sten SMG on the meadow behind the barn. Once my father and me visited their barracks for some claybird shooting and the officers invited us to the officers mess. Wow, never saw so many silver cups and a living tradition like that.
When I served at PzAufklBtl 1 (Armored Recon) from '79 to '83 (just the proper time for this game) we were not even allowed to keep our battalion coat of arms, it was from the Black Hussars from Brunswick who fought with the British against Napoleon, but was too similar to the SS sign. That happens to military traditions when you loose your wars.
At that time I met kind guys from the 2nd Armored Division on Reforger exercise near Brunswick and found some nice friends there (Cpt. Hutto somewhere around here?).
And I served as contactperson for the team of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards during the Boeselager Cup, an international competition among reconaissance forces. Still remember the 'Biwak' on the last evening.
One day I heard the sound of a Huey helicopter nearby and it did not disappear. So I looked for the source and found some thee or four Huey Cobra hovering directly at the outskirts of the village. I immediatly fetched my brothers and we tried to follow them with my Renault R4. Tough job, soon they were gone. But suddenly they reappeared one after the other over a ridgeline and took my car as a training target. Oh, man, that was exciting. I tried to make their job as difficult as I could but these helis were really fast and agile. I would love to ride one of those, must be like a flying Kawasaki.
I think Germany really lost something important with all these kind soldiers who are gone now and with them the BFBS radio and the British Wargamers Association with which I had so nice times at Rheindahlen and elsewhere.
And, by the way, a german Recon Btl was a complete all arms force in '79, ideal for a Bundeswehr expansion one day. There was a ground surveillance radar plt, two companies with Luchs and Leopard1, and a heavy company with grenadier plt (on Schützenpanzer kurz, later Fuchs), engineer plt, and 120 mm mortar plt.
And now I am here, working as an engineer on military simulation and looking forward to my retirement next year being excited to have all the time necessary to play my favorite game then, CM:CW.
 
 

LCol actually, but I try not to mix work with...er, other work...kinda.  The handle is how long I have been here.  Thank you for the kind words.

Thanks, sounds good!
@BletchleyGeek, would be a good one after our merciless war has finished 😉
 

A large part of this is also that they use their own engine like many wargames, which means that they have to create and maintain any engine features themselves. While there are advantages in being able to make it however you like from the ground up and not paying royalties, I'm not sure that's worth losing out on all the tools, rendering, and performance benefits for a small team. 
Realistically I'd expect any graphics or performance upgrades are going to be super painful for them. Maybe someday we'll get a tactical wargame on built on modern tech. 

Eleventh & Twelfth Minutes – “…damn your eyes.”
 
“There are not enough Indians in the world to defeat the Seventh Cavalry.”
George Armstrong Custer
 
Minute 11:
This might have been a pivotal turn and Warren must be reeling... his email simply said, “…damn your eyes”.  Warren is a pretty confident guy, but it could be that I am getting under his skin now.
Planned moves for this turn…
Tank Section 1 was moving to the rear slightly to improve their Hull Down status to the T-64Bs near NAI3 Tank Section 2 was moving forward to aggressively interdict the enemy vehicles near NAI2.. note that at the end of the last turn I had one BMP-1P spotted on this flank and this was the only enemy vehicle identified on this flank. Note the identified enemy units important for this turn’s resolution. Also note that the T-64B tagged in the following image, is NOT the same one I beat up on last turn.  I ordered my M-60s to ignore that one and concentrate on this second tank further back in the tree line.
For each of the following overall images, the firing unit is circled in white, the target is circled in yellow.

Tank Section 1 – 1/9: 
At the end of last turn this tank left a round in the air, and this turn it connected with a BMP-1…


Kill #1
 
Tank Section 1 – 1/8: 
Manually targeted the T-64B in the tree line… first round was a penetration but several HEAT rounds later this T-64B was knocked out.  Tough bastards.
Note that in this image, a T-64A has been spotted on Warren’s left flank (my right).


Kill #2
 
Tank Section 2 – 1/5: 
The T-64A was moving laterally in front of the treeline… it was an easy two rounds into its flank.



Kill #3
Note the BMP-1P in the background of the above image…
 
Tank Section 2 – 1/6: 
At the end of the turn, this tank finally killed the last of the Recon Platoon BMPs that was on this flank (this was the BMP that killed my M-150 last turn).  It took two rounds to kill it... a third set it alight.


Kill #4
Note the knocked out T-64A in the background.

 
Finally at the end of the eleventh minute, my 1st platoon’s recon scouts spotted a platoon of T-62s… this will be his final reinforcement.  These are located just beyond the overpass and behind the line of BMP-1s overwatching the infantry swarming toward the town.

 
 
Minute 12:
No images this turn… but in the twelfth minute Tank Section 2 (1/5 and 1/6) spot two more T-64As in the trees near the one destroyed last turn next to the BMP-1P… they hit them both several times (one received a gun hit), no penetrations and both were alive at the end of the turn, but they had both moved back and away from the line.. one or both of these tanks might be severely damaged and will be engaged again next turn.
 I've been building to this.for a while, but now... 
...Warren’s left flank is open.

Wow, this is radically false. Combat Mission is absolutely not the best that can be done with OpenGL. Hell, Doom 2016 runs on OpenGL, and I think any rational person would say that Doom 2016 is superior to Combat Mission graphics-wise.
OpenGL's death has been expected for a decade now, so I hope BFC wasn't too blindsided by that. Still, as long as you aren't foolish enough to chain yourself into Apple's ecosystem you will be able to use your OpenGL software for years and years to come.

March to Glorious Victory Post # 5 - The Bitter Tonic of Sacrifice (Turn 8 - 11)
  So the theme of todays post is to validate The_Capt's rule #5 - never play by their rules, play by your own.  So in this episode we are building to a decisive moment one way or the other.  I posted the kill shot on the M150 for turn 8 previously, beyond that not much to report as I continue to move into a broad tree line position of Eyes.
Turn 9 we score another M150 kill as my tanks pull onto the shoulders on either side.  That is an AT3 and sabot round...it was the AT 3 that does the job.
You can get a good sense of the setup laydown on this shot of the kill.   I have infantry in the center and the two T64 pls on either shoulder.  The setup here is for the impending arrival of The Boys

So the good news is that is a Tank Coy (10 tanks strong) but the not so good news is that they are T62s.  The T62 can still do the job and can kill an M60 from the front pretty well, problem is that they are a little blind.  So I am re-thinking my approach to Kill Bil and Teeth.
Turn 10 is when my original thinking is validate.  If I stay in this tree line and play Bils game he will pick me off from that ridge, mainly because the optics on the US tanks are simply better.
Ok, this first one actually hurt the worst.  There was a Coy HQ and a FO in that BMP.

And the T64s are tough but not invincible, this one on my right.

And on my left another T64 (this one of those frustrating TAC AI shenanigans) and another BMP.  So the tree line and play peekaboo is not going to work, particularly with T62s...we move or die. 
Turn 11 sees no further losses but those T64s do take some bounces as the M60s on the hill have them well dialed in but by the end of Turn 11 we are in position.

So, dear reader, here we are at the edge of eternity.  I have two infantry platoons dismounted because I really do not want them to die inside their vehicles.  They are pushing up a bit towards the town.  I have a tank coy in a good position to push out and I still have a pretty good force on the shoulders.  Hmm...so what should the plan be?  Seriously...discuss.  
Right now, I am thinking about not swinging to the left and up but going straight through the town and up.  The primary issue is that those T62s are deadly up close (1000m or less) but I have to get them there and all that open ground to my left is not looking good.  There is probably at least a US tank Pl on that ridge to the left and another covering from the right both sweeping that open field.  If I can get into those wood beyond the town, we will have the knife fight and I will be in a better position to overwhelm.  The other option is to go right, lotta dead ground there.
So here is a shot of the map from the (included) scenario editor:

Very interested to hear from the audience cause I really have not made my mind up on this one.

wargamer.com has become just another of the 5 or 6 N network outlets for search engine optimisation (or "creating online communities" if you want). Generic articles are written on anything vaguely resembling a wargame, which look and read like product placement.
Computer wargame reviews are dead but for Tim Stone's Tally-ho Corner, and a few blogs (Max Chee, chelco, etc.). 

wargamer.com has become just another of the 5 or 6 N network outlets for search engine optimisation (or "creating online communities" if you want). Generic articles are written on anything vaguely resembling a wargame, which look and read like product placement.
Computer wargame reviews are dead but for Tim Stone's Tally-ho Corner, and a few blogs (Max Chee, chelco, etc.). 

wargamer.com has become just another of the 5 or 6 N network outlets for search engine optimisation (or "creating online communities" if you want). Generic articles are written on anything vaguely resembling a wargame, which look and read like product placement.
Computer wargame reviews are dead but for Tim Stone's Tally-ho Corner, and a few blogs (Max Chee, chelco, etc.). 

1-st of may, Labour day! 

Tenth Minute
“As long as I breathe, I attack."
Bernard Hinault
 
A few key events this turn:

M-60A1(RISE+) (1/8) missed the shot it took at the end of last turn, that round going long.  But it fired an additional four times at the T-64B it spotted last turn.. connecting on two.


That had to hurt.. I know those hits caused at least one casualty.  Its possible this tank is a gun kill, and that's as good as knocking it out as far as I'm concerned.  Still, I am not counting on that.
M-150 (1/5) - I'm an idiot... in he hope of bringing the final (as far as I can tell) BMP near NAI2 under fire, I crept this tank hunter forward to take up a Hull Down spot with visibility of this spot... but I failed to mask the M-150 from the rest of the field.
It was spotted by both a BMP-1 and the T-64B (from the previous vignette) in their battle position.  First the BMP fired it's Sagger:

Then the T-64B fired as well...

The T-64's shell fell short, but the BMP must have had a gifted Sagger gunner, as I swear that missile skimmed inches off the ground...

...but alas it flew true...


 
Finally, for the group playing my "What's Bil Planning?" game... I am moving 2nd Platoon's Scouts to the left side of the field, as shown... what are they up to?  Hmmm  

I promise I won't keep you in suspense much longer, and will reveal what I am thinking with one of my next two posts.
Bil
 
 

Cheers for the overview picture, I was confused by the nap of the earth shots. 
I can see you are going to play the man, not the ball. Let's see if that man is too fast to let himself be injured.