kohlenklau

I modded a splash background just to set the mood a bit better. Here is the scenario cover view Here is the map I made. A farmhouse on a small hill beyond the creek. In the distance is some road the Germans use for running supplies as they race towards the Meuse or the English Channel. The French are using the farmhouse to spot for artillery and this Waffen-SS platoon must eliminate the farmhouse. Here is my Waffen-SS platoon trying to be as "France 1940" as I can get them. I am not a TOE expert. I asked one of the BFC bubbas for help and I got no reply. Maybe I am "persona non grata"? I attached a 50mm mortar to the platoon of 4 squads. I can only do what I can do. If you don't like this, I know it isn't perfect, but please just move along... I am not Audie Murphy so this thread isn't about great tactics but I will use what Dick Winters taught me when I watched "Band of Brothers" and set up a base of fire off on my left flank. 2 of my 4 squads will go over there along with the 50mm mortar. Suppress the farmhouse and allow the remaining 2 squads to make their approach and close assault the joint. If needed. But first I gotta cross the creek. I made the map so I know where all the fjords are. FJORDS? They are in Norway son! What we have here is shallow fords. Like a Pinto with bad shocks? hahaha, what a jokester. I do not know where Falaise has set up but I will use the magic of television to show what his troops look like. He made some great gear mods and I think our France 1940 French Army ensemble looks tres magnefique. That is French for "we can do this crap but BFC can't?"

Voulez-vous PBEM avec moi ce soir? @FalaiseFalaise and I decided to do a PBEM to showcase the infantry aspects of the new mod. He defends as the French and I am the Germans.

Savage fire erupts from a well-concealed French Colonial with an LMG! The French soldiers at the stone wall throw down their rifles and surrender The brave French colonial gunner goes down... Another French fire team gives up or runs away... Sumbrunn orders a squad to approach the farmhouse. The artillery might be firing at any moment. The trucks are unknowingly in the cross-hairs of a great barrage... The farmhouse is well defended

I don't think THAT is really a reason for people not using my mods to make a scenario. The complexity and challenges of organizing mods and they get misplaced. It is a good thing to discuss. Thanks for bringing it up! Tony loves to bang on my head about this! @Erwin So first let me try and remember back then to discuss this particular scenario and the mod pack it was sent with. As I recall, when I uploaded the scenario to "The Scenario Depot" I also DID upload the mod package to a site called CMMODS III . CMMODSIII is now non-existent and not all its contents were slid over to the new CMMODSIV. So, the mod pack for Kasserine Rear Guard has likely vanished. Tony might have it! He is the duty archivist. $0 pay. I will PM you a link to my goody bag so you can have whatever you would like from my collection. Crawl through my attic and take what you like from old boxes with army gear, canteens, maybe a Luger? hahaha

The fire team crossing the field is hit by flanking fire and 2 men go down in quick succession. The fire team approaching first to the farmhouse is wiped out by grenades from the French riflemen. Sumbrunn's command team takes the French under fire and drives them off Sumbrunn orders 1st squad to swing around behind 2nd squad and take over the assault. The mortar is told to shift fire to the HMG's new position. Sumbrunn's team takes a casualty. Muller, the young Schutze from Munich. Sumbrunn takes out one of the French to avenge Muller.

Meanwhile out on the supply road... the drivers are told to look over the engines while they await a tow truck for Johan's Opel Blitz. Sumbrunn runs forward to the hedge along with 2nd squad. 1st squad covers the right flank and suppresses the barn "just in case"... Sumbrunn orders 4th squad to cross the field headed directly north to the farm road. As a diversion and then to come around behind the farmhouse and catch any escaping French troops. It was a wise decision as they quickly detect the French squad leader with his SMG... ... and one of his rifle teams. The French HMG team has displaced from the foxholes and set-up near the stick fence! The mortar rounds land perfectly into the unoccupied foxholes!

The squads use the firepower of the MG34 to get the French HMG gunner to duck his head. Sumbrunn eyes the barn but sees no windows on the 2nd floor facing his men. It might be ok. But they will stay on the near side of this hedge. Or is it a low bocage? Hmmm. There is a chance to be ambushed by some hidden defenders. Perhaps a short burst of fire at the barn is prudent... Sumbrunn adjusts his plan. 1st squad will come up to suppress the barn and the entire hedgerow while 2nd squad takes the assault mission up through the crops (Lucky_Strike's gorgeous mod) and towards the farmhouse...keeping a clump of trees between them and that HMG. The mortar rounds fall near the HMG's position... 2nd squad splits into 3 parts and runs forward through the crops.

a link to info on 1940 KSTN for German rifle platoons. Good stuff There is apparently some debate if in May-June 1940 the German platoons had 3 or 4 squads. It was in flux from three squads of 13 men to four squads of 10 men. https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=217913

Meanwhile...out at the road. The convoy is stopped as one truck has suffered a breakdown. Can the French OP be wiped out before the artillery can target the convoy? Obersturmfuhrer Sumbrunn brings his final squad up on line as he orders the other 3 squads and the mortar to pour it on to suppress that HMG and the farmhouse 2nd and 3rd floors. He will accompany the assault squad.

I agree. I have had a good balance so far. Your map tools could really help the community. I hope it will be worth all of your effort. Only you can decide I guess. You cannot see if they use it. Maybe you can detect a good level of usage through downloads from your sites. Or from questions people ask you. Or if your youtube tutorial gets a ton of views and you become rich. Rico Nico!

Falaise's troops have a can or 2 of paint and Caporal "Lancome" does a quick make-up change camo job. No, perhaps it was Caporal Gauguin? It looks like corral reef islands in the Pacific.

The mortar team aims their weapon as the platoon comes up to the stone wall "phase line" The enemy has brought up an HMG in the foxholes at the base of the farmhouse. But our mortar is slightly out of range and so they must pack-up and reposition closer.

I was thinking that I would do CM stuff until the end of the year but this mod is going faster than I thought. I might be done in just a month or maybe 2 at the most. The summer will be great to not have CM modding in my head. I still will play a few games now and then but no more modding CM. Maybe on June 1st 2023 I will stop CM modding forever. I look back at my various mods and I might be wrong but I think only 1 guy ever did a scenario with my mods. Dragonwynn took the CMRT Finn Mod and made an entire campaign. I think I did use my mods to once help a guy or 2 or 3 learn the basics of scenario writing. Nobody else ever did anything with them on their own. Maybe a few guys made stuff for their own use but not released. I asked a few folks but nothing ever came of it. Oh well. Nobody owes me anything. Just an observation. But maybe I also have not used other people's mods to make a scenario? Hold on. I did use a bit of NPye's stuff for CMRT Stalingrad to make a scenario or maybe 2. Here again lately I have asked in the forum posts for folks to feel free to use my mods to make scenarios but no nibbles at the hook. Speaking of nibbles at the hook...I am thinking of getting into fishing. A buddy of mine is a Korean war veteran. He is 90 and is at the end of his life. Going through chemo. I will have lunch with him and his wife on Wednesday. He loves to fish. I hope I can take him soon. EDIT: OK, I now remember that I think KevinKin (maybe that guy?) DID make several CMRT scenarios using the winter mod from 2015. Credit to him! Maybe I forgot a few others. So, not zero but a very small list. EDITED AGAIN: I am not fishing for compliments. I am not special and I do not need any encouragement or appreciation party. I think this same thing happened to other folks who do mods in CM and even other games. Maybe some modern titles get more usage because they are more popular. Perhaps 37mm has seen use of his H&E stuff by others. I don't know. one last thing. Nobody MADE ME do all this. I 99% enjoyed the effort and learning to use software and make things. A lot of fun and mental challenge. For some reason I felt the urge to make stuff not normally seen and that might be a curse. The curse is soon over. Thanks to everybody who did enjoy the stuff. I hope you did. I will be here a few more months and then "toss in the towel" as WimO said. Many folks pulled the wagon alongside me AND STILL DO. It was often a team effort and I met great guys along the way. BarbariCo with the winter mod comes to mind. What a fabulous talent. Juju made me special custom stuff. So did umlaut. A few other guys helped. Frenchy with 3D stuff. Jace11 and another guy helped with splash screens. I forget right now to name everybody.

This is a good opportunity for me to see MY ERRORS. Falaise reported that the Opel on his screen had my old DAK palms insignia. ooops. I had forgot to add the new modtag [france1940] to my new textures with the tricolour and roof aerial recognition roundel.. I also need an icon.

The platoon mortar team gets into position on the far left flank. Under the cover of 2 squads that have already crossed, the remainder of the platoon wades across the creek. We see our first French soldier. But maybe he also sees us. (Stick fence from CMRT. Wall texture from a CMBN mod or maybe stock, I forget.) The mortar team has binoculars and reports seeing a small vehicle approaching the farmhouse. It seems to be some hack job mod of the Opel Kadet from CMRT. Needs a better paint job but at least has some markings. The platoon is doing just as they trained.

Good morning, we now will fire up the old DAR machine. FRAPS activated. Paint.NET activated. Imgur activated. All systems go. @Falaise is there right now in France as I play from Texas. We will work together to have a fun PBEM and maybe he will post some screenshots now or maybe later to preserve his security/securite'. No worry

My sincere thanks to everybody that dropped by to see the last few posts as my good buddy Gary and I had a fun FRANCE 1940 PBEM.

La grande conclusion We shall see what happens in Saint-Grammont-sur-Merde... The Bufla destroys an R35. Maybe the last of them? Major Tron watches Pelou enter the village... <I will recommend him and his crew for medals!> DRI-VERRRR!!! FORWARDDDDDDD!!!! Cross the bridge and go to the left of those houses! Pelou's tank moves slowly down the main street. The Bufla is only around the corner. Major Tron comes around to draw fire for Pelou. Pelou is ready to turn sharply as soon as he clears the small bicycle shop. Major Tron pumps his fist! Now Pelou! Now!!!!! Pelou's gunner fires and hits. SAINT-GRAMMONT is ours!!! FIN

...and now Part 6 Bufla...a name which the men will fear. Floch is no more. The 88mm round makes its mark. Again the Bufla punches a hole through a 2nd Char B1 bis. Major Tron bites down and spits out his cigar: 2 destroyed. Only 1 left to try. I must stay here and observe its progress... He looks at his men and then smiles. DR-IVER! FORWARDDDDDD!!!!!!! ...to be continued...

OK, Gary is back. ...and now Part 5 But first some gameplay video from the big action! I held off to tell you my Franco-phile audience, that this last turn was very bad for our gallant men riding the iron horses. This a composite image of great horro. Major Tron ordered or suggested with great fervor, a temporary halt. 2 of the light tanks took that as permission to basically shut down the engines and maybe have a smoke. They were under the close observation of the enemy tanks and both were eliminated. We have but just the few still fully operational Char B1 bis, just 2...and 2 remaining R35. Driver: <But mon commandante, are we not 3 Char B1 bis, including our tank?> Major Tron: <Driver! FULLLL REVERSE!!! Take us to a good vantage point to observe...> Driver: <MON COMMANDANTE!!! It is Floch! He has returned to sanity and is attacking!!!> They gasped to see an unusual weapon. A massive gun mounted on a half-track! The irony stung them with pain. The French army had been the first to experiment with half-tracks. The Germans took careful note and went onward. The French leadership dropped any special focus to the concept...

Thanks Nico!

sorry, Gary is eating dinner... I am a HUGE Ennio Morricone fan, so you get 1 more.

The Danish orchestra! Damn, I would have loved to be there when they played this.

We now take a pause to remind everyone that rivet counting is not only bad etiquette but can cause hemorrhoids! Burning, bleeding ones!