BletchleyGeek

Ah....good! The list changed!
 
Now we have to hold out as long the ambassadors in beijing 1900...

fun stuff but I gotta wonder what Zhukov & friends thought when Molotov said "great news, we're getting military help from the west!  British tanks!!!".  I suspect they were hoping for spitfires. 

Appreciate the kind words Zloba.  Unfortunately those scenarios are all I have actually ever posted on the blog.  It never became the Tactical Problem repository I had initially envisioned.. instead it went a different direction and became a warehouse for tactical techniques, and AARs.
Good luck in your exploration of these games, and let me know how you get on!
Bil

Here's another one I've been ruminating on for quite some time now:
If you're going to drive your vehicle Slow, ask yourself why you're not driving Fast instead. If you can't think of a reason, why not do it?

See title.
Anyone else got simple advice for new players?
Here's a short list of mine:
Do not get shot at. Shooting makes you easier to see. Cover arcs are not magic. Maybe allow your troops to wait a minute before flogging them onto their objectives. Don't call in that airstrike. No seriously, don't. It'll hit your own guys. It doesn't matter how thick your armor is. You don't assault a position by running straight into it. Use more ammo, you don't get bonus points for frugality. Limit your leaders exposure. Split your squads. Three guys in one action spot are not as vulnerable as six. Maybe we can make a community contributed list Murphy's Laws of Combat Mission.
At the very least, let's have a fun thread for once.

Hahahahahahahahahaha. Brilliant one from MJK (obscure English cricketing reference, because I know @danfrodo will be wanting something obscure).In fact was going to blame the brevity on the fact that it was 04:25 GMT and I wasn't properly awake.
 

what?  that's it?? that's all the Dead Puritan has?  No obscure 80s UK music thing we don't understand?  No obscure UK history thing we don't understand?  No references to other UK things we can't even categorize because we have no idea what he's talking about at all?  This is a great disappointment.

Elvis, that means I’m going to be mercilessly vilified. But thanks for the info. 

From the CM Manual, Artkin:
You are all allowed one mistake, after which Wart’s will vilify you mercilessly. And may God have mercy on your damned soul!
 
BFC plays rough!
 

I'm a brand-new customer and only just heard of Combat Mission thanks to the Shock Force 2 listing on Steam. This despite looking for literal years for a realistic tactics simulation of infantry and combined arms combat, and being an avid player of tabletop miniatures wargames like Bolt Action. Suffice to say, Combat Mission is like a gift from the gods, and checks boxes I didn't even know I could wish for. I've become an instant fan.
This news about my Battlefront purchase being honored on Steam is wonderful, and I've shared it with my IRL gaming group friends. I'm hoping a couple of them may take the plunge with me, as Combat Mission is a perfect replacement for tabletop wargaming in the time of Covid.
Sorry if my reply is overly gushing, but I just want to reiterate how happy I am with my purchase, and what looks like the very positive and healthy relationship between Battlefront and its customers. Though it took me too long to find you all, I'm so very glad to be here.

I get that some people, a small vocal group of people,  are disappointed. I just wish they'd have the humility not to constantly flood the forum with petty bitching

This approach doesn't seem very helpful at all. 
In terms of BF decision making, it seems to make sense. 
Fix the problem behaviour for fleeing under bombardment - affects all titles.
Releast a major module that has been promised and was near completion. 
Prioritise potential major new business opportunity that will mean more security/better long term ability to develop (Develop CM 3 - ditto) . If this means a delay to CMRT, but means more certainty that BF will be around for the foreseeable, that is something I am happy to accept - aren't you? 
 
Also, with a very small team, real life is likely to impact them hard if something goes wrong (Elvis has made a few references to various team members being impacted) . Speaking personally, without being directly affected, Covid has been an utter nightmare for me, affecting my ability to do day-to-day stuff. 
They have tried to give forecasts, but by their own admission they regret this for many reasons (R2V being much more challenging, MoD project, etc). So holding them to past forecasts seems mean to me. 
It is in their interests to get product out of the door. Decision making in BF will be with the objective of making it sustainable/profitable. We can see CMRT is making progress. 
Ultimately I think almost everyone here agrees with/understands BF decisions, and are looking forward to new product as and when it is ready. 
 

Same here - I still have years worth of CM games that I haven´t played yet. But I can understand if some are getting impatient.

As a 21-year veteran I have developed a lot of patience waiting for various games/modules/packs/updates.  When they appear I enjoy them thoroughly - this is a great game system.  Would I like new stuff to pop up more regularly?  Sure.  But I'm OK with the way it is too.  RL keeps me pretty busy too.    

It didn't become obsolete, it became inappropriate. Tbh I often hear the word 'obsolete' a lot and it never fails to give me pause. What does it mean? Since the Bren is obsolete what does that mean exactly? That it's not a threat? Couldn't be since it fires bullets and last I checked, modern guns still fire those. No the Bren's problem just as the problem of the generation of weapons that came before it was that the Armies it was built for reconfigured around light, mobile, and fast cadres of uniformly well-equipped and motorized task-force style military formations. The US Army typically refers to them as "Combat Teams" ie Regimental Combat Team, Brigade Combat Team, etc. Such formations have no use for positional fighting, preferring mobility and fast reaction to the "trench" fighting of the 20th century's wars. Those wars were fought by huge million man draftee Armies that don't exist anymore for good reason. (They were not terribly efficient and tended to lend themselves to excessive displays of aggression and brinksmanship on the part of the host' nation.) 
Small formations are easier to equip uniformly, the most important element of this the near universal-preponderance of motorization and mechanization by modern military forces. Nobody huffs it on foot anymore anywhere really, except for training events. Maneuverability used to be luxury but now battlefields are under such total surveillance that it means survival and this means that formations must be light. This has an observable affect on weapon systems at all levels of these formations from the prevalence of light armor now reflected by the IFV such Marder, Bradley, Warrior etc, and ICV such as Stryker, BTR, Dingo, MRAP, etc. Modern military forces at least in the west are literally the ultimate realization of Guderian's or Liddell Hart's designs, crucially enabled by the circumstances of today's world- a design which did not exist in their time. In these circumstances yeah, the MG42 is the best. It's such an optimal weapon for this kind of force configuration that just about every potential competitor available, the MAG, the Minimi, the M60, the PKM, all incorporate some degree of it in their design be it technical (air cooled, belt-feed, quick change barrel), or usage (the GPMG as a concept). This is where many of the frequent claims that various modern machine guns are all "copies" of the MG42 has a modicum of truth to it, but statements like that create more questions than they answer without some all important context. "Well yes, but no"
First generation assault rifles already numbered the Bren's days of course, (and never could've equipped those huge draftee Armies) but at least for a time what the Bren had on any assault rifle was that it could actually maintain sustained automatic fire while assault rifles couldn't do this without overheating. (The British designed their version of the FAL for this but it ended up being very heavy.) Design being the way it was assault rifles were expected to use automatic fire only for emergencies but otherwise operate more or less as the last generation of battle rifles just had. Shooting mainly at specific targets. Once the MAG and Minimi appeared of course the Bren was toast but for some reason the British decided they wanted to try making an assault rifle (the L86) try to play machine gun and it predictably failed because the SA80 it was based on is a rifle and lacks a quick change barrel and a host of other features that make it a good machine gun. It turns out regardless of design ya just can't beat physics, especially not thermodynamics. 
 

Happy New Year 2021 everybody!
The Missus and I played a game of scrabble as part of our celebratory evening for two. The deal was the winner would get the opponent to perform 1 request. I won! But instead of asking her for some intense, amorous type of action <<wink, wink>>...I said I wanted her to watch me play a short, small scenario in the CMRT Winter Mod and see some of the stuff that was done over 5 years ago! This morning over coffee, she sat next to me and it was fun to explain it all to her. She even made a few tactical recommendations.
I am still looking forward to the real deal from the BFC folks. 
Best wishes to all.

Boy Liddell Hart had a powerful influence on the narrative of World War 1...

This is a long and penetrating piece not just about recent problems, but of how the SAS and commandos are used and super heavily at that. The article shows that current SAS purported war crimes don't exist in isolation, but in fact are but the latest in a long line of war crimes and claims of same going clear back to the Boer War. It lays the ducked responsibility for their continuation chiefly on Australian high command and the pols. The deployment stats are shocking. Some Australian SAS troopers have had eight (8) tours in the same province, and there is apparently intense competition between the SAS and Commandos to receive missions, and things seem to have gotten out of control. Things are so bad the Australian SAS may not survive at all. Got quite the education from the article, but what caught my eye to begin with was the spectacular picture of an SAS motorized patrol in the Afghan desert. Blink twice, and you'd swear it's WW II, but the vehicles aren't the same, and the armament is considerably nastier.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/16/australias-special-forces-problem-why-the-sas-is-facing-a-crisis

Regards,

John Kettler

Hahaha.
I did actually have an Uncle Bob. He emigrated to Australia, and became a Mormon. What a plonker, as Del Boy would say.
Now about these Fire and Rubble updates, where were we?

That still wouldn't be a very good formula to run on given the Reichsmark's fluctuation of value during the war and the enormous hidden or obscured costs involved in the use of slave labor the Nazis applied. In any case, I doubt the rarity costs were thought up based on things like production man-hours or fiscal policy. 

I already made you guys a conical hat (these are for the nonexistent Old West mod- Red Dead Combat Mission Redemption).

Mare Nostrum
The Navy's end of the war kicked off on the 11th of June when French warships bombarded the Ligurian coast and British warships hit Cyrenaica. Despite these raids Admiral Cavagnari would detach no ships to coastal defense. The Admiral felt that the Navy's primary responsibility was protection of Italian supply lines to Libya. The fraught dangers of the Mediterranean sea that year led the Navy to attempt resupply efforts via torpedo boats, submarines, and destroyers at first. These ships could not carry much cargo though and eventually it became clear that Graziani would need convoys if he was to receive proper resupply. 
The first convoy sent to North Africa would be escorted by the entire surface fleet, but was offset by poor coordination with the Regia Aeronautica. A painful system of communication was in place between naval and air liasons that involved 
A. A senior naval officer had to place a request with the nearest shore-based naval command
B. Naval command local passed the support request to the regional RA HQ-or sometimes even through General HQ in Rome. 
C. Order dissemination to nearest airfield.
Unsurprisingly, orders were frequently lost or delayed owing to misinterpretations or misunderstandings. General Pricolo complained that the Navy would make requests for reconnaissance aircraft to cover airspace naval aviation was already observing, thus wasting his aircrews time. 
On July 6th a convoy of 5 steam ships set out from Naples to Benghazi. A close escort screen of destroyers and light cruisers would give close protection to the convoy while a squadron of heavy cruisers screened the route from Malta and the main battle fleet with Cavour and Giulio Cesare  remained nearby. Admiral Campioni's order of the day emphasized an aggressive stance, and he informed Rome that he planned on engaging any British forces he crossed paths with. 
He wish would be granted. The same morning the convoy set out Campioni was sent a wire from Rome. Admiral Sommerville's Force H had left Gibraltar and later that day that Admiral Cunningham's Mediterranean Fleet with 3 battleships had also sortied. Misleading intelligence from the Germans implied that at least one of these forces was heading to bombard Sicily. In fact Force H would return to Gibraltar without ever engaging Campioni citing threats from Italian coastal air cover. The Royal Navy however, had little doubt as to Campioni's intentions...at the end of June they had obtained a code book from an Italian submarine and while not a complete source of information on Italian naval code-it enabled Cunningham to infer what the Italians were doing and where they were to a degree.
Regia Aeronautica failed to establish a corridor of sweeps south-east of Sicily and a gap opened up in the area toward Navarino Bay in Greece. Cunningham was able to move his fleet through this unobserved region, Italian seaplanes only managed to spot his force at 10am on July 8th. For the rest of the day Regia Aeronautica would make attacks on Cunningham's fleet dropping 531 bombs and scoring one hit on Gloucester. Matching a pre-war fear held by the Royal Navy, Italian seaplanes proved very good at shadowing naval forces, sending real time updates of Cunningham's position back to their superiors for further strikes.
Yet Rome proved remarkably meek. While Campioni was steaming toward an engagement he recieved a communique from Rome ordering him to avoid engagement with Cunningham's battleships. The order coming directly from the Duce himself. A few minutes later Italian aircraft attacked his fleet-mistaking it for the British-although they did no damage. 
Although Campioni was prepared to fight, he was concerned the British might move between his force and Taranto, cutting off his escape route. Admiral Carlo Bergamini requested to send out the new battleships Littorio and Vittorio Veneto but this was refused. Their crews were not fully trained and damage from an accidental fire on board Littorio still required repairs. They would've done well to meet with Campioni anyway though. When Campioni's fleet crossed paths with Cunningham's at 3:08pm his forces were out of position. The cruiser destroyer screen he had established ended up behind the fleet's battleships and so were the heavy cruisers most of whom were lagging behind the rest of the fleet when they should've been ahead of the fleets battleships. 
Both sides cruisers began firing at each other at the same time. Giulio Cesare scored a straddle on Warspite, but a minor course change by Warspite threw off the  Italian battleship's fire for the rest of the battle.  Four minutes after fighting began Cesare was hit by HMS Warspite, the warship's 15inch shell blew a 6.1 meter hole in the rear smoke stack of Cesare knocking out 4 of her 8 boilers and lowering her speed to 18 knots. A few minutes afterwards Campioni decided to disengage south west into a zone covered by Italian submarines. Cunningham, aware that Campioni was trying to lead him into a trap, decided not to follow. Italian aircraft continued to bombard both fleets for the rest of the day inflicting no damage on either. 
The Battle of Punta Stilo revealed a number of major deficiencies with the Navy's operations. Gunfire was awful, with salvos suffering from wide dispersment and destroyers launching torpedoes from too far away. The Italian Air Force clearly had a major ship-recognition problem, with Italian airmen only failing to inflict more damage on Cunningham's ships and their own because they bombed from too high up-12,000 feet usually. The Navy had no torpedo bombers because experiments with them in 1939 had been cancelled. 
Most painful of all was the realization that the Navy desperately needed aircraft carriers. Having to coordinate through multiple liaisons for air support from Regia Aeronautica proved an unreliable process under regular load. Once a battle broke out it inevitably collapsed under the strain and communication between Naval and Air Forces broke down entirely. 
In September Italian naval intelligence suggested that the British force in Alexandria had been reinforced to 4 battleships and an aircraft carrier. With the odds now against them, Mussolini forbade any further search and destroy operations designed to draw British forces out into battle. The greatest problem was that limited supplies of fuel-oil meant that the current pace the Navy had only enough fuel for 13 months of operations, and he ordered convoy escorts be cut down to the bare minimum or sometimes none at all. At the same time Mussolini had been prioritizing and goading his Generals into offensive in Africa he was sabotaging Italy's ability to do so...
Greece 
Ever since Munich the Greek Dictator and burgeoning fascist, Ioannis Metaxas, had gone to great lengths to assure Mussolini that Greece had no desire for an alliance with the British. Fascist press and Mussolini were constantly attacking Greece as a British outpost in the Mediterranean and an Allied co-belligerent. As early as July Italian aircraft had been bombing Greek warships and auxiliaries and that month, an Italian submarine sank the cruiser Helli in Tinos harbor. Although the Italians blamed the British, Greek authorities discovered fragments of an Italian made torpedo. They were ordered by Athens nonetheless to cover this up and an announcement of the attack was not made until October-after the Italian invasion had begun. 
On October 25th while attending the play Madame Butterfly Emanuele Grazzi-the Italian Ambassador- was handed an ultimatum and strict instructions to present it personally to General Metaxas. Presenting the note to Metaxas on October 27th, it accused Greece of allowing the Royal Navy to use its waters and coasts for operations, and of terrorism in Albania. Greece was given 3 hours to reply to a demand that Italian forces be allowed to occupy unspecified "strategic points" in his country. Although not mentioned by Gooch, Metaxas reply to this message was a one word 
"No". 
On October 28th Italian troops crossed the Greek frontier. Visconti Prasca'a Army advanced into a region of the Balkans which drastically multiplied the challenges it faced. Only four roads connected Albania to Greece and there was only a single two lane highway from Durazzo to Tirana. Not one railway line existed between the fronts. Most of the available paths were little more than mule tracks and mountain footpaths. With winter weather imminent much of the Balkans was about to slammed by blizzards and blinding winter storms. Between them the ports of Durazzo and Valona could only land 50 trucks and a bit over 1,000 tons of supplies a day. The Italians could not have picked a worse time to invade. 
Things went wrong right away. Bridges blown up by the Greeks forced Italian troops to cross at creeks which turned into rivers in the bad weather. Greek defensive positions were much stronger than expected, backed by 105mm guns which outranged Italian artillery. Italian troops, caught up huge traffic jams and road blocks going on for miles were sitting ducks to bombardments. An Albanian battalion was broken by a Greek counter attack and fled into the Carabinieri unit behind them that had been setup to prevent them from routing. Rather than reform the Albanians got into firefights with the military police blocking detachments. 
After only 10 days all progress had halted. Rome was shocked back into reality. Serious resistance at all points had stifled the invasion. Mussolini wanted a landing of 5,100 men at Prevesa in 48 hours which his Generals universally objected to. Ships in Prevesa would be exposed to attack, and the troops would be landing on an open beach vulnerable to attack from local high ground. The Royal Navy was close and was unlikely to ignore a golden opportunity to easily punish an invasion force. 
Roatta made it clear to Mussolini that defeating Greece would require at least 20 divisions, and they now needed two and half months to prepare for a new offensive. Revealing a staggering disregard for the suffering of his own men Mussolini simply excused the whole endeavor as a genius move of his strategy to influence peace negotiations saying that "when it comes to making peace we'll have more sacrifices and therefore more rights". 
Next time, further humiliation in Greece, the Navy's safe anchorage at Taranto turns out not to be so safe, and Sir Richard O'Connor inflicts his magnum opus upon Graziani's troops...

I decided to try and dig up my first hand accounts - here is part of one
 
 

Well the size of the battle does have a great impact on what type of tactics might be used.
But it really comes down to the amount of troops in a given area as to how scouting and probes are to be used.
But no matter what, scouting is a art in every battle, For most CM battles, it might not be sneaking through enemy lines, but I have found a few where I have done just that.
 
For most, its more of being the lead point, finding out the hard way where the enemy is, being shot at and possible killed , to allow the main group to not be ambushed  and to learn safely where enemy forces are located.

Do you mean "A War Without Mercy"? I think it's an original FB scenario. I have it in my scenarios and assume it has always been there.