AlexUK

Me too.
Not sure if it has been lock down contributing but I certainly have a hankering for this period and really never thought I would see it come to fruition. So what a good surprise and the AAR has really given us a great insight to the game with two well matched opponents.
They will no doubt keep one another happy in the care home of their choice, playing on the local LAN.
I am glad Steve and Charles were persuaded to do this before they sail off into the sunset, which they will do at some stage... (as we all will...) 

I'm beginning to realize how hard you're working for us. I've been pretty unreasonable towards you in the recent past, mainly out of frustration because of the delay of Fire and Rubble. And although I know that you won't lose sleep over that, I think apologies are in order. 

I was up too late last night and it wasn't the only night that I almost woke up my wife because I busted out laughing a few times at The_Capt's banter.

I'm going to cover my butt here and say I have a good feeling about the next 5 days.
That should do it.

@The_Capt.. Warren, this has been a brilliantly written and presented AAR.  Bravo.  I actually laughed out loud a couple times.
Well played game as well... as always you have been a worthy opponent.  
Bil

Glorious March to Victory Post #12 - "We Try Harder" (25-31)
So based on observation, I am seeing quite a few "likes" (thank you btw) but few comments, which tells me that I am probably telling you all something that Bil has already posted.  So for fear of getting left behind in the narrative I am just going to pull you all the way to where we are as of today.
I want to say up front that no matter how this ends, this is a really good game.  This is one for the books.  You can tell when everything feels so finely balanced and you and your opponent are fencing on a tightrope.  every PBEM turn gets the heartrate up!  
When I left you things were not looking so good for the brave soldiers of the Soviet Union.  But like the superior communist system, Soviets know how and when to pick themselves up and get back to it.

So not much but re-positioning in Turn 25 as I scramble to re-establish a parameter up on the ridge, Bil pulled back so that all proceeds.  The only interesting thing happens here near the end of the turn.  Looky here comrade the corrupt capitalist system thinks that they are so clever...looks like Bil is taking the deep left option after all.

The next turn I immediately start repositioning my remaining T64 on the left in order to form a blocking position on my left (that poor BMP got nailed by a second Cobra before I scared it off).  Bil could try and hide in the that wood line but we are past that now, he is going to try and roll me up (more on my logic later).  Meanwhile back on what is now called Red Knoll:

My intent here is to establish a hard point and pull Bils forces in, this time however, I am pushing infantry up front.  Note that an ATGM duel is forming up with that M150 and a BMP on the right here.

Which we win.  That should be about 4 out of 6 M150s killed.  Another sign of a really good game is the emergence of all the micro-dramas.  Here there are literally a hundred small stories all unfolding simultaneously, here is one:

So that brave little infantry squad breaks out of that tree line and sees a M60 monster...do they run and hide...nope they open up like it is the last thing they will ever do (and literally is).  Those are both the RPG 18 and RPG 7 firing simultaneously right at the turns end.  Finally on back on the Hwy:

So yep, pretty much as I expected this is an attempted roll up...oh Bil, you tired foolish old man, did you think I would leave the door open?  So here I am re-positioning another T64 and BMP to bottle up that Hwy ploy.  Onto Turn 28 and things start to turn:

My brave little squad misses, and then die in a hail of glory but they spook the crap out of those M60s, who promptly back off buying time for my T62s.  You can see here another T62 I snuck up from the village in the woods, so I have got a pretty good bead on this.

Meanwhile back on the Hwy, Bil's M60 here get spooked by a lone Recon Pl HQ and I start hunting that T64 forward.  I am starting to feel a bit like we are getting back up and then this happens:

Back in the center, Bil still has some armor with eyes on the objective (note: he is still pounding that nearly-empty suburb like it slept with his wife).  My poor immobilized T64 nails this M60 in a single blistering 125mm of bad-love.
Onto Turn 29.

 So on this turn is a positioning turn on the Red Knoll and Hwy, Bill has brought up at least one M60 to reinforce up here, so a lot of micro-drama potential.  And on the other side:

The bottleneck force is shaping up nicely..so the stage is set for another showdown.  
Turn 30 and things start to click:

It starts with this showdown at near-point-blank range.  The M60 fires first but (I like to think my little infantry squad (now all heroes of the Soviet Union) killed the crew commander and rattled that tank so badly that..) it misses.  My T62 does not, because cold steel runs in Soviet veins

Ok, now this is a Balls Game!  Back in the center:
 
DPICM, the last refuge of the desperate (seriously I think we may have overloaded on arty, and of course EW makes most of mine near useless).  But again Bil doubles down on that lone squad and MG team (who have taken a single casualty after all this)  A hint for anyone who plays Bil...he has problems with artillery.
But all is not good news:

This one hurt but it is a straight up "war happens moment so deal with it".  I start to push that T64 up a bit to try and snipe that M60 and he gets killed...gotta admit that one hurt.
Turn 31 and we are nearly caught up.

So up on the Red Knoll, Bil is stubbornly pushing with his 3 M60s (counting the dead one, that is a full third of his armor)  A second squad wins the Hero of the Soviet Union here by fearlessly opening up on two M60s and here they get an RPG 7 off before also being chopped up.

Which hits but I have no sight on the tank so I can only hope it at least rattled them up a bit.  The back on the Hwy:

My other T64, cooly drops that M60 like first period French (swear to god if I had all T64s this game would be over by now).  Back on Red Knoll the turn ends with this: 
Both barrels are lined up and loaded.  This screenshot pretty much captures this entire freakin game!
Ok, my assessment with 9 mins left on the clock.  So, Bil is seriously considering ceasefire right now cause even int guys can do math.  My force on the objective is still very solid with the better part of an infantry Coy and 2 x T62s (I sent the other one back), so the odds of him taking it (which were never great given his force) are low.  He could try a gamey sneak in the last minute of the game but I doubt it.  
So his problem here is one of points.  The US get points for cutting me down past 50% but they need to keep their own force above 50% and based on losses so far he has to be concerned about that buffer.  I am definitely closer (I may be below 50% right now) but even-losses at this point would be fatal to the US side.  And in the last 4 minutes I have lost a single T64 and BMP to at least 3 x M60s and an M150.   By my math Bils armor is precariously down to 50% (and I suspect at least one tank is gun-killed)...and I still have a lot of those nasty BMPs on the board who can all kill Bil's...well, anything.  
Regardless, even if we ended it now, I think this game is a Draw (at least right now).  In reality both forces are at a standstill (even if the US side has not realized it yet) in what has been a see-saw battle that has left me with scars and some therapy requirements.  The Blood-Red Dice still will roll, so we will see.
Capt's AAR Battle Theme Song
 

Glorious March to Victory Post # 10 - "The Nadir" (21-24)
  So in every engagement it is normal to have a low-point and for my troops this was right here.  Everything that can go wrong, does, and nothing really goes right.  Worse, it is the point that you can clearly see your mistakes...after you have already made them.  I have found that in this position it is where the true mettle (and metal) is tested and one must 1) admit the errors and 2) come up with a way out, cause no one else is not going to do it for you.
   So the decent started pretty innocently enough in turn 21:

That brave little BMP that is responsible for probably half the damage I have done to Bil thus far did not make it out.  It was completely out of AT3s by this point but I wanted that little crew to make it...sadly...

So at this point I am still pushing up that ridge in pursuit of Bil's forces.  My aim here is to keep the old man on his back feet in order to make sure he does not collect enough combat power to re-take the objective...and to kill as much as possible with a pretty potent force.  But then badness started to happen:

Ok, despite being on the wrong end of things, this shot is really cool.  That is a newly modeled Dragon missile about to take out a T62...oh, yes that's right, Bil has Dragons.

And they work.   Then down in the village:

Bil's creeping tank platoon sees one of my T62s first and well...ok, I can live with this.  Going to have to break a few tanks to make a tank omelet.   But as we move into Turn 22 it is time to admit that I have a long standing problem:

Yep, I am an over-extender always have been.  I do not know why the siren song of the offence always pull me in but it does.  And here it is in action.  My armor is taking off on my infantry in the best blitz tradition...and it is not a good thing.  But all is not bad news:

Down in the town, my second T62 takes out another M60.  So all in all, I tell myself, it is not that bad....oh foolish past The_Capt....so foolish.  Turn 23...sigh:

Right about here it dawns on me that maybe charging forward was a bad idea.  That is a second Dragon kill.  So I am thinking about holding up and letting my infantry catch up, right about here.  It is not all bad news though:

As the Soviet player, that is a very happy screen shot.  My MANPADs are doing their job.  But then I notice this:

Ya, so all those other icons up on the hill I have been tracking...but that is a new one and it is very bad news.  So I swing a couple T62s and a BMP over because maybe Bill is scratching around the backdoor.
Turn 24: as with most of these things...just a little too late.  An extra 30 seconds maybe but Bil's last tank platoon looks to have finally showed up.  Of course I suspected there was another one up here and of course it shows up in exactly the wrong place, at the wrong time.  And from here it just get uglier:

This is an interesting shot actually, first that is a second T62 (so 4 lost on that hill in about 3 mins) dying, but that is also a 73mm BMP 1 round actually hitting and penetrating an M60 (I think it was HEAT)...but not enough by a long shot:

So here the gods of war clearly are punishing me.  That BMP died for trying but those two explosions are AT3s that both miss (seriously?!)
Ok, so 'new plan' cause the old one clearly was not working.  I am going to have to swing what is left of my Teeth (now with quite a few knocked out....see that last BMP dying on the far right) and consolidate on the hilltop.  I will fend off this tank platoon, while at the same time really dig in on the objective.  The sad part is that right about here, I am out of offensive options.  I will need to play defense from here on out and am basically fighting to hold the objective.  
By this point I have a couple M60 kills, Bils M150s are pretty depleted, a couple M113s and a some scouts...oh and a Cobra.  That is not enough for 5 x T62s (half my force) and 2 x BMPs.  At least my screens and infantry are intact.  A side-note, Bil is really obsessed with the outskirts of the objective (that hashed blue line) and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.  Seriously, we are quite a few turns ahead as of writing this and he spends the next ten minute pounding the same  peice of real-estate, that basically has a single squad and MG team trapped in it.
Anyway, live, learn and love and all that.  I will post up the next series tomorrow...things do get better.
 

It is now 1405 in the afternoon of an autumn day in 1941. You are just west of the Baraboi River in the floodplains between Dalnyk and the Black Sea. Weather: warm, dry, light wind from the southeast, the sky is clear.
^
Earlier, some of our vehicles were ambushed by Soviet stragglers. Probe forward to locate and rescue any survivors. Secure a suitable location to await follow on forces.
^
Our forces are reorganizing from casualties over the previous days of fighting. Your rifle platoon is at full strength. 

^
Your company commander believes you will encounter only stragglers from a depleted Soviet rifle division that has pulled back to their next defensive line.

^
Use your squads to probe forward and locate the crews from the ambushed vehicles. Wipe out any stragglers. 

^
Primary Objectives: Up to 500 points for several touch objectives that represent checking houses. Secondary Objectives: Wipe out any Soviet stragglers. Secure a suitable position to await follow-on forces (500 points).

Yes, it's all CMSF2 now; I finally caved and upgraded a couple months ago. I just post over here because it's my Ramadi thread.

Glorious March to Victory Post # 9 - "7th Outing Stretching" (19-20)
Ok, when I last left you, we had taken out one M60 and had a bead on the second...and of course it missed:

Well it wouldn't be a CM game if the gods of war were not against me.
Anyway  Not much really happens more this turn as we continue to position:

A shot on my left flank where I thought Bil was going to keep pushing (more on this later):

My heavy mortars are finally landing along that ridge, just as my teeth are starting push up the ridge, I hope they are causing someone pain.

So by end turn it all looks good, I am solidifying the position in the town.  Forces are advancing up the ridge unmolested  and I am pretty confident of my cover on Bil's axis of advance....and then I noticed this:

So that is a TOW missile streaking towards one of my few remaining T64s....
Turn 20.
  Well it would not be a CM game if the gods of war were not with me:

The basic TOW (the M901s are firing ITOW) did not penetrate my T64 but did immobilize it.  The good news is that in its current position it can still cover the ridgeline...so lemonade!  (Oh, check out the interface, it is really starting to shape up)
Ok, so turn 20 and mid-game...and Bil is getting weird:

It looks like he is hooking that tank platoon towards the town...which kinda left me scratching my head a bit.  For the rest of the turn we traded a lot of steel across the valley (you can see that little BMP-that-could's last AT 3 streaking at those M60s...and of course it missed).  Besides me bagging a hapless M113 on the ridge, most of the rest of the turn is positioning:

You can see here that my teeth are up out of that tree line and are ready to start fanning out, I am about as good a position as I can get in the town as that second dismounted infl platoon has managed to get into the objective zone pretty much unmolested.  So time for a mid-game assessment:

So basically, I was worried that Bil was going to push a tank platoon, or more into A0.  This would have been very bad for me, as from that position they can  1) pound the town unmolested and 2) make life for my Teeth miserable as I would have to watch their back and front.  Instead Bil looks like he is taking A1 route, which is really kind of strange but I am sure there is a clever ploy here somewhere.  A1 is semi-covered.  My screen S1 cannot see it until it is right in the town, but S2 will get some clean shots.  I also repositioned both infantry and 2 x T62s to cover this approach.  So basically, I am not sure what Bil is hoping to do with 3 x M60s in closing terrain here.  My next biggest concern is him making a hard push on A2 with that second tank platoon.  I also have infantry and a single T62 in the town on this route but S1 can cover it very well.  A2 has more cover if he uses the wood line but again we are talking almost entirely tanks trying to take a built up area.  
If you look on the bottom left there is that worried looking blue guy, that is scouts and APCs that appear to be lining up for some sort of woods push but between my Teeth and that little det of recon, I am pretty sure I can keep them busy.  Again keeping in mind there is probably another troop of armor up on that ridge somewhere. 
So here at mid-game, I expect Bil to use whatever is left of his arty (which still has DPICM) to pound the town in a hope all my infantry die so he can drive in with tanks and few scouts.  I have laid down two arty lines perpendicular to A2 approach but they are around 15mins out.  I have spread my infantry out on ground floors, mostly hiding to weather the arty and will keep my screens S1 and S2 up to make life difficult in the approach.  
My Teeth are going to push towards those scouts and APCs, but I always have the option to swing them towards A2 if Bil makes a push.  Bils dilemma right now is that he cannot seem to get enough combat power into the town and cover my Teeth at the same time...let's see how long we can keep it up.

Yep. I'm not too happy it works like this, because I really like to do flexible defence tactics where I fall back several times to new positions.
Would prefer it worked with a radius aroundthe contact marker, so if you just moved your tank 20m to the left, it wouldn't count as a new position.

I've failed you all!

A dilemma of doing an AAR for promotional purposes is you don't have 'do nothing' as an option. You're compelled to provide some fireworks to make it interesting. Ideally you provide the fireworks by blowing up the enemy, if that fails you provide the fireworks by getting blown up, yourself.

In fact there are few battlefields where so many interesting battles took place as the Eastern front in 1944-45. Although a rather neglected history, the fighting there was more fierce and fought with more units and material over a larger space than anywhere else. There are just a few authors, like Douglas E. Nash jr.and Aaron Stephan Hamilton, who write about these battles in detail. Of course many authors write about the Eastern front in general, but authors who really research what happened there are few and far between. The average German infantry division at the Eastern front in 1944/45 saw more action in a month than most Western Allied divisions during the whole of WW2. Only a fraction of that action can be found in books, for the real details one has to read complicated documents such as War diaries (KTB) of regiments, divisions, Corps etc. A very time assuming job, for which most authors don't have the time, energy or knowledge. Most of these documents can only be found in archives in Russia, Germany and other countries. Apart from that there's only a fraction left of all documents, since most of it was destroyed at the end of the war by the units themselves or by Allied bombing. German divisional books are usually suprisingly superficial, although there are exceptions, like the divisional account of the 1. or 4. Panzer Division.
Names like Wilkowischken, Goldap, Lauban and Bautzen only ring a bell with hardcore Eastfronters and they are just the tip of the iceberg of battles that raged in the last year of the war in the East.
In that respect I can very well understand the Russian frustration when it comes to the question who defeated Germany. On the other hand war is war and the suffering was no less at the Western front or anywhere else of that cursed conflict.
 
 

I have mentioned for years, I think a better approach would be to just have 3 scenarios. One for blue, one for red and one for H2H, and in truth you could also make one for hard challenge and one that is easier.  Trying to do them all in one makes its hard, you really only make it right for one as to being balanced in the sweet spot and that is verse the AI

Yes, sadly the way the trees are deployed is a bit limited, but as M. Falaise says creative use on maps helps out quite a bit. I don’t think there’s anything that can be done with the actual models since the large structural base model branches are the same for each type and a change will effect each type in its entirety. In the other games there’s a little more variety which helps, and, if I recall correctly, I think that CMBN has a vacant tree slot - possibly something to do with the newer game engine it’s now using, but to exploit it would need some coding I guess.
What would be good for CMx3 is trees that can be deployed with some random height variation built-in, something like a variation of 20% larger or small would work wonders for this.

I feel bad for 37mm as he must have already put in thousands of hours into this project trying to adapt the more modern CMSF2 units, and now CMCW comes along with the more correct looking units.  Hope he doesn't have to redo everything.

I mentioned this over on another thread, but... I am just awestruck by the amazing creativity that you guys have put into this project! My hat is off, truly.

By a sheer fluke, I happened to notice there was a forum for what I thought was a new title for the much desired CM Fulda Gap. Oh, was I ever wrong! Had NO idea there was anything but Modules and maybe Vehicle Packs in the development pipeline, so this was quite the shock, combined with elation and dismay. Was thrilled to see a game coming out covering the sometimes terrifying period when the Soviets and Warsaw Pact were my bread and butter as a Soviet Threat Analyst, but was greatly dismayed that, after what brother George just asserted was two years, am still not CM functional. Indeed, there are times when I'm not even CoC functional. Immensely frustrating to have such a marvel come out, yet not be able to play it.

May do the pre-order anyway and dare to believe I WILL be CM capable again! Congratulations to those who made this game happen. Shall get up to speed by reading the initial AARs which ever precede game release.

Regards,

John Kettler 

P.S.

Over on the product page, it says this is a CM 4 engine game. Already have the hard copy Engine 4 manual from CMBS, so is all that remains is to DL once the pre-orders can be received? Will there be a dedicated CM Cold WAr Manual as there was for CMBS?

Ok let's go with The Plan:
I am going to push some BMPs into a screen to try and take out those M60s on the left, also will re-push my T64s on the left.  Then I am going to 1) continue to push dismounted infantry forward and 2) push the Tank Coy and a mounted Inf Pl into a slot I call "Slot 2.5".  That is some dead ground (I hope) that is also covered by my Eyes on the right.  Once we make it to the dead ground in valley center we fan out and start pushing (I have an arty line up there too to screen).  So this turn I will position to the Slot and push out the screen, then next turn we go for it.  Wish me luck and see you on the other side.
 

Just to add I think you will really like it. Plenty of cool moments already and some of the campaign battles and scenarios are real corkers !
P

No, that was me in my first CMSF play with AAVs stuffed full of Marines: I found out that the game engine has no limitations on how many red crosses it can display simultaneously.  For that knowledge, I thank those Marines.
 
But, back to this AAR: the opening graphics defined the Soviet approach. Teeth and hands scrabbling at eyes...or somefink. I like the Maskirovka baked-in from the outset.
Remember, comrade, we can always send you more men and tanks: we cannot make more time.

Hi all, really looking forward to this module. I served in BAOR from 1983 - 1988, so a little after this initial release. From my time at least i would say one of the main concerns was NBC warfare, not so much Nuclear at this stage but definitely Biological and Gas. I would estimate we spent about 80% of the time whilst on Exercise in our NBC suits.
Nobody really knew what was going to happen, but initially there would of been a big fear of Chemical warfare, it would be good if this could be simulated somehow. i know at the time that any smoke, cloud, mist etc i saw and i would of had my mask on pronto.
Training in NBC gear was extremely tiring and cumbersome, especially in the Summer months so even if reduced visibility, higher exhaustion etc could be modelled.
I'm on the right in the picture below, taken about 85, with a typical bit of squaddie humour 😉. I see if i can find anything more relevant, i think i still have the old 'Survive To Fight' pamphlet in the loft.
cheers all 
 
 

I finaly found my notes so here is my little wishlist of changes for engine 5 or a possible future CMx3 game engine.
 
Trees could be a bit thinner and have a broader variety in general. I often get the feeling that the trees are too thick and look too much the same. Instead of only having one single tree, two trees and three trees of each type to choose from there could also be trees of different height and thickness to each type. This variety could be randomly decided by the AI. If I for example would choose to place two single trees of the same type beside each other the AI could choose two different ones. Maybe one thinner and smaller which is slightly bent towards the east and one thicker and larger which is pointing straight up.
 
Have houses sometimes being able to start burning if they have been hit by a bunch of high explosive rounds or if a vehicle has been hit close by. If a certain part of the grass close to the house burn too it would be even better.
 
It would be good to have the ability to set an AI-artillery fire order anytime in the AI's battle plans and not only for the first three minutes. The ctrl + c command is only for small arms fire, armoured vehicles and mortars. But sometimes it could be challenging for the player if there was a heavier AI-artillery barrage a few minutes before the AI-troops are sent forward to assault a position. If BFC would like to limit this the editor could require that the scenario map is either large or huge for this function to work.
 
Trenches and foxholes that are more correct. Trenches should be a bit deeper so the troops have to stand up to shoot and don't have to crawl to avoid being shot at. It would be good if the troops could crouch when they walk in those deeper trenches to avoid being shot in the head. Foxholes should preferably be single ones and more spread out instead of being in close groups of four as they are now.
 
If a hmg-team is wiped out of their pixel life and a squad or a team of other soldiers are close by it would be great if one or two of them could move to the hmg and use it instead of having the hmg being viewed as abandoned.
 
When talking about machine gun teams I'd like them, and all other troops as well, to be able to move backwards instead of having them turn around before they move to another position and that way avoid to get shot in the back.
 
Have the ability to use triggers without a timed move order, The way it works now we use a trigger, for example trigger by enemy, and a timed move order. This timed move order seems to work as an insurance that the AI-group will move. And the AI-group will later on move even though no enemy has touched the trigger. This behaviour could mean that the AI-group moves away from its position to the new position and thus opens up a hole in the defense line. 
 
If there could be triggers without a timed move order. The AI-group will stay in position and move only when an enemy has touched the trigger. If the AI-groups could be connected to not only one trigger at a time their ability to defend could be better. An AI-group could for example be connected to two triggers which would mean that group 3 stays in the position where it's been placed. But if the enemy would enter any of the trigger areas it moves to the position for defense which the scenario designer has decided for the group to move to in cases of necessity.
 
If both triggers areas would get activated at the same time there could maybe be another string of code, or strings of codes, which would make group 3 move to the position where the threat seems to be the most severe.
 
For this to work It would maybe be helpful if the trigger areas were able to count the amount of enemy soldiers that enters them so scenario designers could decide in advance how many soldiers that are needed to enter to be counted as a threat and cause the AI-group to leave its position to move towards the threat. It would probably have to work a bit differently when it comes to trigger by enemy armour as one or two armoured vehicles can cause a lot of damage.
 
But for this to work we would need to be able to paint more trigger areas and we would need more AI-groups.
 
I would like AT-guns and tanks to be able to hide behind buildings with large holes in the walls so they can stand on the side of the building facing away from the enemy, see the enemy through the ruined house and shoot at them from the other side. The way it works now the inside of the house is a blocking entity with some kind of invisible wall so the direct fire line gets blocked as soon as it enters the inside of a building with large holes in the walls.
 
I would also like to be able to position AT-guns inside large enough houses and barns with parts of the walls missing so they can shoot from there. The Germans and Russians, and probably the Brits and Americans too, used this way of positioning AT-gunss. They seem to often having had the doors to the barns not completely closed or the holes in the walls covered a bit to conceale the AT-guns.
 
I sometimes feel that it's a bit strange that units without a binocula often can stand quite far away from a house and see enemy soldiers inside it from that long distance. It's usually only possible to stand outside a house and from a distance see someone inside it if it's the evening and at least one lamp is lit in the house or if someone inside the house is standing in front of the window and gawking on birds or something.
 
During daylight it's more often that the only thing visible from inside a house, when standing further away outside of it, is darkness. For the people inside a house it is of course not dark at all because of the daylight brightening up the rooms. But that daylight doesn't effect the ability to see whether someone is inside the room if he is further away from the windows.
 
I wish vehicles wouldn't get stuck in a splash of mud as easily as they do now when the weather isn't wet. Dry weather, damp weather and cold weather would most likely not have the mud sticky and deep enough to cause them to get stuck, especially not if the splash of mud is by the road. Mud on the fields on a day with wet and rainy weather or after a long period of rain would more likely be more treacherous and cause vehicles to get stuck and immobilised. 
 
Units who are using the slow movement (crawling) are often not aware or their surroundings but only aware of what is on the ground. I have read on the forum that units see what the animated troops look at. As the troops who are crawling always have their eyes on the ground by their chest, they often miss to notice enemy vehicles and troops being fairly close.
 
If an AI-tank with AI-tankriders get bogged down and immobilised the result is that the AI-tankriders sit on that AI-tank throughout the scenario. It would be preferable if tank riders could jump off a tank by themselves if it has become immobolised, or been standing still for too long, and later on follow their AI-groups following orders to make the battles more enjoyable. It isn't fun to have a look at the map after a battle is over and see a large bunch of soldiers sitting on vehicles that have got stuck in a splash of mud in the beginning of the battle.
 
Campaigns (most likely for a CMx3 engine): It could maybe be fun if a campaign could start with a recon team/platoon going out on a large or huge map to find out about the opponents troops. Depending on how well the player does his recon/probe and how well he manages to return his recon team/platoon by exiting them from where the recon scenario started, he will in the next scenario, the battle scenario, of the campaign get the amount of troops seemed necessary to take on the enemy on the same map as in the recon scenario. 
 
This could be done by using a system where the player must spot enemy troops. When the player spots enemy troops he gets points and those points can be used to aquire the amount of extra troops seemed necessary based on the recon points.
 
For the battle scenario in the campaign, the scenario designer prepares the minimal amount of troops the usual way. Then he prepares certain batches, for example three, of additional troops that the player can receive depending on how many points he got from playing the recon scenario. Batch one could require 200 to 500 points, batch two could require 700 to 1000 points and batch three 1200 to 1500 points.
 
Reinforcements (most likely for a CMx3 engine): It could be fun and maybe interesting if reinforcements arrived only if the AI calculated that there was a need of them. The scenario designer would set up troops of reinforcements the usual way. If the AI's calculations reached a certain value during the scenario it would send in a batch of reinforcements. This would of course have to be limited so that the player or AI didn't get more than one batch of reinforcements unless a certain critical values was met and also if the scenario time was the correct one. If the scenario is close to the end the reinforcements wouldn't maybe make much of a difference and are therefor canceled by the AI.
 
There is of course from me also the usual rambling about how line of sight works. But I'm sure the people in BFC read about that subject often enough so I won't say more about it now.
 
This was my little list which I have written down while playing and making scenarios for Final Blitz.
 

That tracks, somewhat-
Victim is a new term for having extra time to create more stuff- since the mid-2010's, if I track back to when we first started laying down the foundational ideas. It's always been BFC's timeline, but our relatively small but powerful team kept it going and thriving until they said "stop".
Two games, at once. A good thing.
There was no overlap that would create stalls between these two modules, though some of us transitioned to the modern game when done (and I have given some advice to the modern team gleaned from F&R experience). There aren't a lot of us, but there are enough for two fully functioning teams to work somewhat independently (as you now see).
F&R will stand on its own merits. It is a monster of a module.