Probus

Thanks BFC for organizing these tournaments. I really enjoyed all the games save one. I hope you learned a lot of lessons you can roll into future tourneys. Since no-shows are just a way of life with projects like this, may I suggest one thing? Make the first scenario worth the fewest number of points and the last scenario the most. Kinda like some game shows. This way you cull out the no-shows with the fewest number of points at steak. Maybe use somethin’ like ~1000-2000-3000 points for the 1st-2nd-3rd games. Looking forward to more tourneys!

Why is the PzIV's gun pointing towards the ground. That must symbolize something.

These are notes as to where to shoot enemy tanks with your Sherman 75mm. Not sure on all the French to English translations. What does NON mean? Don't shoot it there?

If what this admittedly armchair historian points out is that the Palestinians were offered states at different times and for different reasons they said not acceptable. So they are still at loggerheads.

ISW Iran/Israeli/Houthi update. Its a long one but packed with good info and maps: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-january-2-2024

More Houthi missile shots. I swear the UK is going to be shutting that down shortly: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/houthi-missiles-target-french-owned-container-ship-in-red-sea

That's not a fair comparison Capt. Most of the fighting was in the country. I would think something like Mosul would be closer. That was closer to 9000 (in a month?). https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/92961/pdf/#:~:text=According to monitoring groups and,more civilians killed at Raqqa. But that is 1.8 million population over 70 square miles. So even that is less populated per sq mile. I could do the math, but I don't think the results would be acceptable as I'm sure war doesn't scale linearly. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosul

I have a few questions: 1. Is Hamas holding civilians as human shields a warcrime? 2. Isn't reducing the length of a war a big factor in the overall reduction in casualties on both sides, or is that just a myth? 3. Would a ceasefire just allow Hamas to dig in deeper? 4. Are combatants that dress in civilian clothes a warcrime or outside the rules of warfare? Makes ROE rather difficult.

Yes. You are absolutely right! https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/after-u-s-navy-helicopters-sink-houthi-boats-are-strikes-next The Houthis are finally taking some fire. We are not just knocking down their missiles. This combat may be more appropriate in a game like Harpoon, but this is also happening: It also looks like the UK is getting ready to attack the Houthis

I'm sorry @Chudacabra. I was following you until you made this statement. You obviously didn't see any of the videos. This statement undermines the credibility of your arguments somewhat. October 7th was a nightmare not a crossfire or accident.

There is another CMBN and CMSF2 tourney starting shortly on The Few Good Men by SlySniper: https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/threads/official-sign-up-thread-for-field-warriors-tournament-cmbn.36753/

So in your opinion @Chudacabra, what is the long term peaceful solution to the Palestinian/Israeli situation? How do you end the violence (on all levels)?

You are all missing the elephant in the room. With groups like Hamas in power within the Palestinians, there will be no peace until Israel no longer exists. I'm not sure if Hezbollah also has this view, but if the Palestinians want real peace they have to get rid of terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah. I think (at least before Oct 7th) that Israel would be happy integrating with peaceful Palestinians.

This is probably a stupid question but here goes: Why aren't either side using vast amounts of smoke ammunition to fool these less expensive drones during operations? I've not seen (hardly) any action where smoke rounds/dischargers were used. They could even make a smoke round that hangs in the air just above the troops to bork drones.

If my opponent, Limit, is reading this thread, I just wanted to let you know one of our games is borked. I can only play the one where I am Germany. I have @BFCElvis and Slitherine support looking into it. Hopefully they can get it fixed ASAP. It seems like one of our turns got mixed up with someone else's turn in PBEM++. The name of the game has changed to "Myth of Invincibility" and therefore the password is different. Very strange.

Well dang @The_Capt! Neither of these organizations are trustworthy I guess. Who do you trust anymore. At least I checked the 972 website’s About page and what the NGO says is true. They are anti-occupation and pro Palestinian. I guess they are upfront about it.

The name of the magazine “is derived from the telephone area code that is shared by Israel and Palestine.” While the publication claims that it “does not represent any organization, political party or specific agenda,” the “About” section of website states: “we oppose the occupation.” In addition, the blog presents highly biased perspectives on the Arab-Israeli conflict and promotes the Durban strategy to demonize and delegitimize Israel. https://www.ngo-monitor.org/ngos/_magazine/

Other than its neighbors vowing to destroy Israel and kill all the Jews. If they can just get them to take that line out of their “constitutions”, things might get better.

Merry Christmas everyone! Thanks for such a civil discussion.

Dang! I'm fighting in every direction at the same time! I can't tell if I'm surrounded or if I'm surrounding the enemy!

Yeah, I’m beginning to think having a vetted player tournament might not be such a bad idea. Dunno.

I read the report and it wasn't the worst footage. They left some out on purpose. But the footage was pretty bad I'm told. I've only seen a small fraction of it and those Hamas fighters acted like animals.

I did see those vehicles lower down when I was reading. They look like they were the ones tore up by a bulldozer. That's horrible and an attempted cover up makes it worse. I want to hear what the IDF has to say for itself. War is bad but attacking doctors on purpose... That's just horrible. Why??? And I just don't see the motive. What could possibly cause them to do that? That makes Israel look like Hamas, the ones they are supposed to be fighting against.

I'm not giving the IDF a pass on these situations, but the vehicles just look like white vans/cars. I don't see any markings on them that would indicate they are doctors. Did the 'red crosses' get burned off the vehicles maybe?