Badger73

Per Slitherine's most recent Tea Time webcast

Calling for @Bootie

That's not a bad analysis. The post-Vietnam US Army was not a happy place. Doctrine was all over the board. Significant Reductions in Force (RIF's) were decimating the officer corps. Remaining draftees were just biding their time, waiting to get out. The NCO corps was in disarray. Drug abuse was prevalent. Overall, it was an All-Volunteer army in name and a Category IV army in performance although some units certainly performed more effectively than the general malaise. The Goldwater-Nicols Department of Defense Reorganization Act did not implement until 1986. It took the decade from '73-'85 to straighten things out and set them on a better path.

Consider joining The Few Good Men. They have a very active PBEM community for all the Combat Mission titles.

Check out Ian Leslie's Combat Mission 2x Scenario List

It was October of 1973 and, as you say, completely revised armor doctrines afterwards.

The M60A1 & M60A2 had a stereoscopic rangefinder which uses two eyepieces and relies on the tank commander to spin a range wheel until the two images merge into a single picture. When you had a sharp single image, it gave you the range to the target in meters and mechanically adjusted the gunner's sights to that range. The TC then gave the fire command (in this case 1,500 meters) as, "Range one five hundred meters. Fire!". To save time and insure first round fired, veteran tank commanders and their gunners would pre-set the rangefinder to a "battlesight" range; either 1200 or 1600 meters depending on SOP. As soon as the gunner "Identified" the target in his sights, the TC fire command would be an immediate, "Battlesight, fire!". The gunner would check for "Burst on Target", re-aim to the point of impact and fire again until TC declared, "Target destroyed."

Quite a good game indeed with very high solitaire playability. It shows Cold War domino-theory thinking well. Only USD $9.99 on Steam.

In '74, I recall this as the doctrine of "Active Defense" championed by Donn Starry. It was a first stab at re-shaping post-Vietnam US war-fighting doctrine based on lessons learned outcomes of Israel's 1973 Yom Kippur war.

Right. By 1976, the US Army was introducing passive night vision devices to active duty armored forces. Passive night vision completely changed night gunnery mechanics.

Perhaps. Try flagging a Hansom Cab to take you there instead . . .

I still have fond memories of the Win95 versions for the "Great Battles of" Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar! These days, I fully concur with those who grant high regard to Field of Glory II. It's a great game and I especially enjoy its PBEM capabilities.

@Bootie - This one's for you, mate.

Same for me. Fraps stopped working on my PC a long while back and I discovered Bandicam which I installed and find more robust than Fraps anyway.

@NPye - please ping @Bootie to make that happen. These really deserve exposure there. Great work.

@Battlefront.com Slitherine has a pretty robust forum community in it's own right. Any thoughts about separation / integration / linking between theirs and Battlefront's own forum community?

No. Only one common skin/markings would apply to all vehicles of the same type in a scenario.

I suspect it has to do with authorized vendors; the bureaucracy of government procurement protocols. While I am not familiar with the British Ministry of Defence, the United States Department of Defense will only award contracts to authorized vendors who complete and maintain a pretty onerous vetting process. I know of several situations in the US where people from small organizations who are not vetted sub-contracted through CACI which is thoroughly vetted in order to perform Defense Department work. It makes sense to me that Battlefront would piggy-back off of someone else's credentials to avoid vetting hassles and costs at the small price of a reasonable fee through the agency of someone like Slitherine/Matrix. Tre' cool video. Thanks for sharing.

What happens when you specify a "Target Armor" arc at the direction of the enemy threat?

Superlative mod, @Mord. I am wholly consumed with exuberant gratitude!!!

Not me but thanks for thinking so . .

Any word on what's going on with the long forthcoming "Patton's Charge / Bradley at Bay" module? I'm very interested in that one.

Off the cuff, I'd check how @umlaut's mods are tagged and then check (in the scenario editor) how that scenario is mod tagged. The original/older CM titles didn't use mod tagging as much as is done these days.

I noticed that there is no sound of incoming shells before rounds detonated on the target area.

@patrik pass - After you get your feet wet in this H2H match, consider checking out The Few Good Men to find future opponents. Good luck and good gaming.