Bud Backer

Minute 29-28
AOA 1
The plan works perfectly. The Company and Regimental HQ T34/85s, each carrying infantry, move at full speed toward the houses ahead. No one fires on them. The other vehicles fire or engage targets of opportunity, like the infantry team that resurfaces far ahead of the JS-II. 1st Squad 3rd Platoon moves along KT1, sticking to the woods to get closer to the JS-IIs and 2nd Squad.
On the distant right, in a pall of smoke and dust, you can see the knocked out T34/85 just before its crew abandons it.

RU 165
Arriving first, 3rd Squad jumps off the Company HQ T34/85 and rushes into the nearby house. It will provide cover for the men, but equally important, it has windows that from the upper level will give great observation deep into enemy territory.

RU 166
As the second T34/85 arrives, taking cover behind a barn previously blasted by a JS-II, a panzerschreck team is discovered among the trees and shrubs between the barn and the nearest enemy-held house. 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon is in the house behind the barn and marked by the diamond.

RU 167
To my surprise, the HMG team that fled earlier from the JS-II’s large HE shells reappears, not far from its original position and opens fire on the squad in the house. They duck, and sight of the panzerschreck is lost. Not good.
The cowering infantry took some casualties from the JS-II and remains rooted to their tiny patch of grass.

RU 168
The men of 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon are ordered out of the house to quickly locate the panzerschreck team. The moment they step out the door they spot them and open fire. I keep both tanks on the far side of the buildings.

RU 169

Minute 29-28
AOA 1
The plan works perfectly. The Company and Regimental HQ T34/85s, each carrying infantry, move at full speed toward the houses ahead. No one fires on them. The other vehicles fire or engage targets of opportunity, like the infantry team that resurfaces far ahead of the JS-II. 1st Squad 3rd Platoon moves along KT1, sticking to the woods to get closer to the JS-IIs and 2nd Squad.
On the distant right, in a pall of smoke and dust, you can see the knocked out T34/85 just before its crew abandons it.

RU 165
Arriving first, 3rd Squad jumps off the Company HQ T34/85 and rushes into the nearby house. It will provide cover for the men, but equally important, it has windows that from the upper level will give great observation deep into enemy territory.

RU 166
As the second T34/85 arrives, taking cover behind a barn previously blasted by a JS-II, a panzerschreck team is discovered among the trees and shrubs between the barn and the nearest enemy-held house. 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon is in the house behind the barn and marked by the diamond.

RU 167
To my surprise, the HMG team that fled earlier from the JS-II’s large HE shells reappears, not far from its original position and opens fire on the squad in the house. They duck, and sight of the panzerschreck is lost. Not good.
The cowering infantry took some casualties from the JS-II and remains rooted to their tiny patch of grass.

RU 168
The men of 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon are ordered out of the house to quickly locate the panzerschreck team. The moment they step out the door they spot them and open fire. I keep both tanks on the far side of the buildings.

RU 169

Sure - https://discord.gg/ufsbC38z

Yes I'm glad to see this is revived. Was pleasantly surprised when I started seeing e-mail notifications for it again.

Just discovered this myself and read from the very beginning. Great stuff and hopefully you'll find the time to finish it.
MMM

CM is a unique animal. It is not a "computer game". It is a tabletop historical wargame translated to exploit the things that computers are good at. If you have ever sat at a 6 x 3 table and pushed miniatures around, it is the best iteration of that hobby yet. Its graphics more than suffice to represent the elements required to a still-startling degree of fidelity to "real life". It retains gamist features in places, but does not rely on them like many tabletop wargame rulesets these days do. The skybox is way better a background for the game than any wargame club hall I've ever been in, and the ruleset is more intricate a simulation than any hand-calculated set of rules could come close to matching.

But if you expect the total perspective immersion of modern computer games out of it, you're going to be disappointed, cos it ain't that.

As to "all the games are the same", that's true on a very broad and superficial sense, but if you actually play 'em the "progression" between the titles is noticeable. There are common principles, but they are consequences of the fidelity of the simulation: the principles of warfare don't change much. The available tools do, however.

Minute 31-30
AOA 1
My tanks can offer a lot of HE support and suppression.  I will pepper the buildings ahead with HE and charge! This time, the tank riders will be going in on the tanks but not under fire. 
The JS-IIs advance and stop to provide support fire while the Company and Regiment HQ T34s both load up an infantry squad each. The inset shows the action at the map edge to the left.

 RU148
As the men board the tanks, sporadic enemy rifle and HMG fire hits the front of the tanks. The Company HQ T34 fires at the spotted HMG. A Marder is also detected but none of the Russian tanks have LOS. 

 RU149
One JS-II advances, maneuvering to get LOS on the Marder. The German vehicle gets the first shot, which bounces off the thick armour. 

 RU150
The JS-II spots its attacker and returns fire but misses. Smoke and dust break then LOS for both from one another.

 RU151
The spotted HMG and infantry contacts come under fire as well. The enemy is no longer putting out any fire at all at the advancing armour and infantry. One HMG unit takes heavy casualties and breaks. 

 RU152
The infantry in the house behind moves out behind it, not willing to take direct fire any longer. 

 RU153
There is no question I’m pushing him back and disrupting his defences. I have a big open field in front of me that I need to cross but once that’s done I’m actually in the town - the objective itself.
What’s going in at AoA2 is in the upcoming post.

I’ll let the images suggest a story rather than fill in the gaps…
 

 

That started with Big Sur. I have a Mantis report in on it. Both that loading screen and the calculating turn progress bars are missing and have been since the Big Sur update. It's an OS thing and not an M1 issue.

Dave

For the most part, it is working great. I'm comparing with my previous base model 2016 MBP 13". I'm in a large Studienka PBEM with graphics settings on Best and the turns load significantly faster. I experience less stuttering when navigating the battlefield. So overall  a very good experience.
I have noticed some graphical oddities in CMSF2 and CMFI - see the buildings and walls below.

November 1944…

Thanks! It’s good to see some interest still in this. I know it’s a long time since I started it and I really don’t expect a lot of engagement at this point but I want it to be complete at least for the folks who discover it later on and start at the beginning. 
 
Thanks for following along.

When I had my kids and was up feeding them through the night these guys kept me awake and entertained. I think I watched more or less every video they both uploaded, and some of Hapless’s PBEM series are looooong  I didn’t have the time or energy to play CM at the time so it scratched the itch too. Win win. 
MMM

Bud,
I accidentally found that you'd resurrected this post of the AAR.  I'm very happy that your wife is doing well.  
Thanks for continuing this battle.  I am still enjoying it - no problem with delays.  Take your time and do it right.  It's always a treat seeing your work. 
Gary

It occurred to me I didn't explain the powder bags well. An 81mm shell has powder bags attached between the fins and the bulging part of the round. Depending on the range to the target, some of the bags will be not needed. They are taken off and collected for disposal (burning). Similar to an artillery round having powder bags. A 4.2"/107mm mortar round has something similar, but in this case they are plastic-ish "disks" attached to the bottom of the round. I don't know if everyone knows that mortar rounds have variable powder charges just like artillery. 
105mm artillery rounds are semi cased ammo, and the powder bags are in the shell casing - take off the extra, put in them in the pit (they are strung together in a chain). 155mm ammo is separate loading, with the shell going in and then a stack of powder bags. In this case there is no casing, the bags are in a stack, tied up. Remove the extras, retie the stack, shove it in. 
It takes a short time to do this and if there is time and personnel, the crew will pre-make rounds. You don't want to do too many though, in case you have to move and need a larger charge in the new position.
Dave

Minute 31-30
AOA 1
My tanks can offer a lot of HE support and suppression.  I will pepper the buildings ahead with HE and charge! This time, the tank riders will be going in on the tanks but not under fire. 
The JS-IIs advance and stop to provide support fire while the Company and Regiment HQ T34s both load up an infantry squad each. The inset shows the action at the map edge to the left.

 RU148
As the men board the tanks, sporadic enemy rifle and HMG fire hits the front of the tanks. The Company HQ T34 fires at the spotted HMG. A Marder is also detected but none of the Russian tanks have LOS. 

 RU149
One JS-II advances, maneuvering to get LOS on the Marder. The German vehicle gets the first shot, which bounces off the thick armour. 

 RU150
The JS-II spots its attacker and returns fire but misses. Smoke and dust break then LOS for both from one another.

 RU151
The spotted HMG and infantry contacts come under fire as well. The enemy is no longer putting out any fire at all at the advancing armour and infantry. One HMG unit takes heavy casualties and breaks. 

 RU152
The infantry in the house behind moves out behind it, not willing to take direct fire any longer. 

 RU153
There is no question I’m pushing him back and disrupting his defences. I have a big open field in front of me that I need to cross but once that’s done I’m actually in the town - the objective itself.
What’s going in at AoA2 is in the upcoming post.

Thank you very much, Chip, that's very kind of you. 
There will be more to see in the next day or two as I have a number of screenshots prepared and accompanying text written up, as soon as I finish fixing the picture links to the older posts. I'm down to the last two pages of the AAR and then the new material will resume. 

They've all been added back as of a few minutes ago. 
 

Minute 30-29
AOA 1
While 1st & 2nd Squad 3rd Platoon remain in the woods on KT 2 in case my opponent sends AT teams to attack my bombarding tanks, the nearby BA-64 armoured car, along with the one of the two JS-IIs, continue to lay suppressive fire on the trees and houses ahead. You can see the target orders, aimed at areas where I have contacts and haven’t fired on thus far. 
One JS-II is not given any orders, leaving it free to reacts to any targets of opportunity, or more importantly, enemy armour. 

RU158
The Regimental HQ and company HQ T34/85s, loaded with 3rd Tankodesantniki Platoon HQ, 3rd Squad 3rd Platoon and 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon, start rolling toward the houses at the edge of town. The tanks and armoured cars bombard their targets, including the infantry hugging a fence line behind the first row of houses. 
I’ve suffered not a single loss on AoA 1 since the start of the battle. 

RU159
 
AOA 2
Nothing is ever easy on A0A 2. Nothing.
While waiting for my moves from last turn to finish, including infantry and tanks repositioning in the woods to the right, off-camera, 1st Platoon HQ T34/85 reacquires the German infantry unit still trying to creep more into the centre of town.

RU160
It gets a target order…

RU161
The shot falls short and enemy dives to the ground. The T34 reloads.

RU162
A follow up shot doesn’t happen as an armour-piercing round hits the Platoon Commander’s tank. The crew is stunned, and before they can try to find out where the shot came from, another hits the tank, destroying it.

RU163
Any player’s nightmare: where the heck is what just killed my tank???

RU164
This is my first tank loss in the battle.

Minute 30-29
AOA 1
While 1st & 2nd Squad 3rd Platoon remain in the woods on KT 2 in case my opponent sends AT teams to attack my bombarding tanks, the nearby BA-64 armoured car, along with the one of the two JS-IIs, continue to lay suppressive fire on the trees and houses ahead. You can see the target orders, aimed at areas where I have contacts and haven’t fired on thus far. 
One JS-II is not given any orders, leaving it free to reacts to any targets of opportunity, or more importantly, enemy armour. 

RU158
The Regimental HQ and company HQ T34/85s, loaded with 3rd Tankodesantniki Platoon HQ, 3rd Squad 3rd Platoon and 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon, start rolling toward the houses at the edge of town. The tanks and armoured cars bombard their targets, including the infantry hugging a fence line behind the first row of houses. 
I’ve suffered not a single loss on AoA 1 since the start of the battle. 

RU159
 
AOA 2
Nothing is ever easy on A0A 2. Nothing.
While waiting for my moves from last turn to finish, including infantry and tanks repositioning in the woods to the right, off-camera, 1st Platoon HQ T34/85 reacquires the German infantry unit still trying to creep more into the centre of town.

RU160
It gets a target order…

RU161
The shot falls short and enemy dives to the ground. The T34 reloads.

RU162
A follow up shot doesn’t happen as an armour-piercing round hits the Platoon Commander’s tank. The crew is stunned, and before they can try to find out where the shot came from, another hits the tank, destroying it.

RU163
Any player’s nightmare: where the heck is what just killed my tank???

RU164
This is my first tank loss in the battle.