Badger73

The name Donn Starry looked familiar so I looked him up. It turned out he was the author of a book I owned 'Mounted Combat in Vietnam' from  1978. I didn't realize it was the same guy who had  created 'Airland Battle' doctrine.

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.

Rather unique wee training film. The first few minutes is rather entertaining!
 

Graveyards up until tonight have been giving me a hissy fit - in particular, lining up the graves.  I think I've found a solution ...
Step 1
Make your graveyard boundary and select your grave flavour objects.  My cemetery is a German military one so we need gravestone 4.  Pick as many as you need and them plonk them on the map in the area of your cemetery.
Step 2
Make a grid in your cemetery using the cross shape fence tile.  Top tip - use a wire fence or one that you can see through rather than a wall or hedge.  I have used a wire fence.

Step 3
Go into 3D view and line up your gravestones.  This is still fiddly, but I find that having the grid gives a better alignment and when you look to check the alignment you have a reference point.

Step 4
Go back to the editor, delete your fence grid and go back into 3D mode and wonder at your awesomeness ...

Clearly, I have just done the one row in the image above - but you get the picture.

I'm had 20 years of enjoyment from playing the various Combat Mission games, having bought every title and module except 'Afghanistan'.
There's a lot to learn, in terms of gameplay, tactics, unit capabilities, and so on - it's endless. Mistakes are messy.
That's why it remains such fun.
When you want something different - there's a whole world of map, scenario and campaign design (I love making and playing my own QB maps).
It's an amazing game - the frustration is part of the challenge. Just buy it

You seem to be suggesting that BFC games are some sort of 'open beta' games or something.  That's not the case.  Bug tracking is not chaos for BFC.  Actual software that is designed for bug tracking is used by the company in order to get the appropriate information to the appropriate individuals and the beta testers are charged with providing the appropriate information through the use of that bug tracking software.  While it is appreciated when players find things in the game that may need to be addressed the gaming public has no obligations of any kind in terms of bug tracking.  Customers play the games and enjoy them if they like playing them or stomp around angrily if they don't like the games.  Players can report things or not report things as they desire.  Customers will know that a bug has been addressed when a patch gets released and the patch log is published.  Bug tracking, reporting, and fixing is the obligation of BFC to the customers who buy the game.  There is no obligation by those who play the game to track, report, and fix bugs.  If something gets reported on a public forum more than once or even not at all then it really makes no difference because the public forums are not where the bug tracking is done.  Describing BFC bug tracking as chaos is wildly misinformed.  It may be different than what some are used to, but that doesn't mean that it's chaos.
Leave the bug tracking to BFC.  Perhaps if you get invited to the Beta team some day then you can participate in all the bug tracking and reporting that you would ever want, but for now just go and play the game and enjoy yourself.  

You will find plenty of games at http://thefewgoodmen.com
 
 

You mean proofread?
 

This is a bit of a red herring, since native English speakers also make all sorts of grammatical errors. Even the venerable BBC is not immune.
For example, they might write "try and" instead of "try to", or use "was" instead of "were" to speak about hypothetical situations.
I've also noticed that many native speakers seem to struggle with the difference between "its" and "it's".
Its not quiet write.

I sea what you did they're...

Don't know the occasion, but these are my thoughts exactly, having been an Anglophile for about 60 years!  Same thoughts I have about our folks, too, btw!
Worth sharing, IMHO.
 
 

Found this extremely informative and will, because it spans years, have broad application as the CM time coverage of the GPW continues to expand. As it is, there is much here applicable to CMRT.
 
Regards,

John Kettler

Wargamer has a short interview with Steve up:
https://www.wargamer.com/articles/combat-mission-shock-force-2-steam-interview/

A good place to find CM opponents (and several other games) is at The Few Good Men gaming club.  The link is below. 
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/whats-new/posts/1619797/

I can't speak for combat periods before the 1990's, but I can say that for the U.S. Army Infantry from Desert Shield/Storm on to the present, we carry LOTS of ammo. Hard lessons learned from WWII, Korea and Vietnam. During my period of service, the basic combat load of ammunition for a rifleman was 210 rounds, and most times it would be doubled. I cannot remember exactly the loadout for SAW gunners and M240 gunners, but in combat, in my experience, our gunners always had an abundance of ammo. Now, even so, in Afghanistan re-supply is much harder than other theaters, and it was not uncommon to burn through much of that ammo quickly, if not careful. Fire discipline is another skill we trained on A LOT. There is a time for 'recon by fire' methods, but those are usually very specific situations. Also, I can say that even in modern times, from the many personnel I talked to in other types of support units, ammo wasn't always as plentiful as it was for us in the Infantry. Lastly, the old addage of you can never have too much ammo is very true in combat. Very true.

As a retired Light Infantry Platoon Sergeant and Sniper with 28 years of service to include several combat tours, this has got to be one of the more interesting threads I've read on a gaming site in eons. There have been some great points made by several people, and it has been very interesting to read all the differing views and opinions, as well as the shared ones. I also have enjoyed how it all relates to CM. Great stuff!
Some general points of consideration regarding combat and firefights that I would like to make in relation to this topic:
1) Most times in a firefight, there is so much noise that it's very hard to hear near misses. You might know you are being shot at by dirt and debris being chipped at you by near misses, but many times you won't hear it due to the multiple, loud weapons being fired, Soldiers and Leaders shouting out orders, and information on the enemy. It's chaotic and loud.
2) As far as U.S. Infantry training goes, when enemy fire is received, the SOP is to take cover and return fire. Almost always 'take cover' means fall prone, and then seek to improve your 'cover' position. For example, you are prone and returning fire, but there is a nice fat tree five feet to your left that would make better cover. You do what you can to move to it, usually by crawling. 
3) Usually, when a firefight starts, there is an initial round of firing, people hit the dirt, and then people start yelling. For the trained U.S. Infantry, that means enemy identification. As an example, it might sound like this "Contact 1100, 3oo meters, squad size". The direction is important obviously, as it alerts the formation to the general direction of contact as well as the distance. The element size is purely an initial estimate to give leaders an idea what they are up against. Of course this whole contact statement gets echoed back down the formation so that teams and squads at the back of the formation know whats going on. Also, it gets refined as the firefight goes on. As you can see, this equals lots and lots of yelling. Add in to that calls for medics, special weapons teams to deploy, new enemy sightings on the flanks or, Heaven forbid, in the rear, and one can quickly see how chaotic it can get. And then there are all the weapons firing and explosions. Like I said, chaos. 
4) Now, all that said, the mark of an experienced and/or well trained unit will handle that chaos much better. That is why SOP's are tantamount to success. When bullets start flying, Warfighters have to react without thinking, for best success. LOTS of time is spent training and practicing on initial contact with the enemy. It is the basic building block for all other Infantry training and operations. How your unit reacts to initial contact can make or break your unit.
5) I must absolutely agree with those above that said you shoot what you can see, and you suppress what you cannot see but suspect might be there. Also, as a trained and experienced sniper, I will always be of the mindset that well placed, accurate single shots are more effective at taking a target out then suppressive fire. But, suppressive fire has it's place. When an Infantry platoon is conducting a standard platoon attack on an objective, and you are in the Assault Element, you definitely want that suppressive fire to be hosing the objective before your assault begins, and then following in front of you as you assault across the obj. When the enemy is keeping their heads down from the barrage of M240 and M249 fire as well as some 40mm grenade fire mixed in, a trained designated marksman or sniper can more easily pick off specific targets on the obj, especially as the assault element is moving across. When all this is executed by an experienced unit, it is a thing of beauty. 
 
Anyhow, some general thoughts. I could talk about this topic for hours and days, but hopefully I've made some salient points. 
 
Cheers!

A nice video describing Bocage types and how many per Kilometre wartime vs peacetime.
 

Answered this already in another thread but will re-answer. 
Press the older posts button to go back through all the scenarios.

This is why I always suggest to my opponent that we agree to play with all troops being Regular +0. I find it makes the game more realistic, and saves time from having to cherrypick and min/max experience and soft factors.

This is a pretty good free online tool which requires no downloads for those wanting to create great tactical maps for their scenarios:
https://www.map.army/
Example graphic that I knocked up in half an hour using it:

 

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.

Sainte Marie Du Mont with new grass, Bushes and trees from Hedgerow Hell mod, (highly recommended)...
 

Beautiful natural countryside around Sainte Marie Du Monts, where para fought para on the first day of D-Day.

To the north of St Marie du Monts is the Brecourt Manor Battery, lets see how many men you would need to extinguish this threat to Utah Beach.

In St Marie Du Monts

In St Marie Du Monts

In St Marie Du Monts

The grave  yard in St Marie Du Monts

In St Marie Du Monts, note the Normandy stone farm houses where no windows or doors face the roadside, this is very common in Norman villages.

In St Marie Du Monts, buldings with advertising hand painted onto the brick work.

Destroyed Wespes

Destroyed farm on the way to St Mari Du Monts.