Vet 0369

Yup, CMRT module within the next ten years.

I think @Arktin was just referring to @BFCElvis post script on the previous page. Plus, this is FI after all, and there might still be some M5’s around with canister.

U.S. Marines used “Foo Gas” defenses during the war in Vietnam. A friend who was in the infantry showed me some 38mm photos he took when his battalion base was attacked. He had to smuggle the film out when he rotated back to the States because they showed the Foo Gas trenches after they were fired (I think they used napalm for the Foo Gas). They also showed the ammo dump and fuel dump brewing up after they were hit. The photos wouldn’t been good for enhancing the public image. Seeing as they had to use the Foo Gas, it must have been a pretty major attack. My buddy didn’t really want to talk about it, and I respected his reticence.

@Warts 'n' all, thank you very much for that Time Team segment! I watched one or two of their first seasons here in the U.S. on cable TV. The most memorable ep. I saw was one where they excavated a flint hand axe work area that was worked by early hominids 600,000 years ago. I still get chills of wonder when I think about it. The cable channel took it off and I never watched that channel again. Can’t even remember the channel name. Again, thank you!

@user1000, interesting! One of the surviving A-36As is part of the Collings Foundation here in Massachusetts.

What’s this”telephone” thingy?

I cut my wargaming teeth on Squad Leader and ASL. The biggest problem with ASL is that it’s really difficult to play solo, so you pretty much must have a partner. Finding an opponent is pretty easy now if you use the online Virtual Advanced Squad Leader (VASL). You must have the actual module for that, and they’re becoming very expensive and scarce as hens teeth (unless there’s a black market ASL scenario website). I believe I have every original module that Avalon Hill produced, but they’ve been shelved for decades in favor of BFC CMx1 and CMx2. I believe i’ve even recognized some ASL scenarios repurposed for a CM scenario. As much as I loved the cardboard counters, I’ll stick with BFC.

Ok, if you have a mouse with a left and a right button, right-click on the CMBN icon and select “show package contents.” If you don’t have a two-button mouse, single-click on the CMBN icon, go to the “file” menu, and select “open.” Then select “show package contents” from the drop down. Open the “Contents” folder, then open the “Resources” folder. The “Data”folder is in the “Resources” folder. You must follow the same process for the all other CM games, except CMFB and CMSF2. Those are the latest releases, so BFC made installing mods on the Mac OS easier by placing the data folder in the game folder.

Bud, you’re absolutely correct. My response with that was actually “tongue in cheek.” However, English is an active and evolving language. Yes, in “The King’s English,” “who’s” is a contraction, the same as it’s. However, it is used in some dialects as a possessive. I personally use “whose” as the possessive because my dialect is that of eastern Massachusetts, which is closer to “the King’s English” than most other dialects in the U.S. it’s similar to using “shall” as a mandatory requirement. I never used it when writing regulations because it’s so ambiguous. It was used to indicate a mandatory requirement in legal writing all the time, but when someone argued for using it, i’d explain the ambiguity by asking “Shall we dance?” That usually got my point across. As I said in my response to IanL, “we speak the same language, sort of.”

LOL, not anymore! Retired and joined the Gramma Kops. At least we speak the same language, sort of. MALEFACTORS BEWARE! I AM ON WATCH!!

And then it doesn’t matter what the language is, the tone and inflections are universal!

Well, since it was initially scheduled for release in August, and is now pushed out to September, it probably is too late considering how much that would need to be done to include it with the release. Patience young warrior. A CM module is never late. Nor is it early. A CM module always releases exactly when it means to!

I tend to call in an initial fire mission after I read the scenario briefing and do a visual recon of the map. I look on that initial fire mission as a prep fire mission. It’s delivered within one minute of hitting the start button. All subsequent fire missions I see as being opportunity missions and know that they’ll take a significant amount of time.

Yeah, OK, I understand. I had to repeat the third grade because I had trouble learning to read. Five years later, I was tested for reading speed, comprehension, and retention. I read 460 words per minute with 80% retention and comprehension, so I guess being held back worked. I probably used the wrong term, and should have said the autocorrection part of the spellchecker. As I said in the “Edit” reason, the autocorrect changed “were” to “we’re” in two places. I tend to be hypercritical, as I wrote Airworthiness Directives (instructions to address unsafe conditions on aircraft), and Regulations and policies for the FAA, and you really don’t want errors in those. My apologies if I offended.

Two very good examples of the small unit campaigns are “Devils Descent” and “Das Komen.” I believe both are in the CMMODS IV. Devils Descent in particular is good as it’s an Airborne Company, and follows a single commander. I really liked it. You can probably get some really good pointers from playing/dissecting it. One of the best is in CMBS. I think it was done by MOS, and IMHO, is the most ingenious and creative single-map campaign that I’ve ever seen. It’s also on the CMMODS IV.

Thank you for your direct experience input. It is welcomed. Although I had a section of 60mm mortars (three guns) in the USMCR in the mid to late 70’s, I have absolutely no experience with the FO’s, so my timing experiences were different than yours. One thing that sometimes colors my perceptions in the game, is that my experiences are based on “modern day” fire missions being called in by FOs using radios either on the ground or by aerial, and the mission directors using computers to do the plot. I sometimes forget that FOs and those plotting the missions didn’t have those aids except in a rudimentary form, so it took much longer to call in a request for a mission and to plot it before the first splash for adjustment. The CM families are so well researched (and trust me, these forums would light up like a Christmas tree if they were inaccurate) that I tend to accept things, such as fire mission times, at face value. I just don’t question it.

“Patience is a Virtue” I recently listened to a news report that said how societies are becoming less “virtuous” because many have no patience. The study attributes it to our modern “conveniences” such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, computers, and most importantly, the internet. “We’ve” (notice the apostrophe that indicate this is a contraction for we have) become so used to instant gratification, that we get stressed when we have to wait for a stop light to change, or for a walk light to cross the street. I grew up in a time when the F-51 Mustang and F-4U Corsair were still front line fighters, and the P-9 Panther and F-86 were developing jet fighter tactics in the Korean conflict. If you wanted to read the “latest” book, you walked or rode your bike to the library. I was a teenager when jet-powered commercial flights became viable for the masses, so we developed patience. I remember setting for one or two hours, patiently untangling a bird’s (notice in this case, the apostrophe indicates possession, the nest of the bird) nest tangle in my fishing line because the the only alternative was to cut the line and lose half my line (as an impatient person would do) that would mean that I’d have to buy a new line, which I couldn’t afford. What has this rambling have to do with the thread? The BFC staff and owners are patient. They are not rushing pell mell to create content for sale, not caring if that content is correct, accurate, or as free from bugs as possible. While we are all free to “suggest”changes and “improvements” to the BFC business model, NONE of us know anything about the specifics of their decisions. “We” are nothing more than the children who constantly whine “Are we there yet?” Take a break, sit back, and play a scenario that you haven’t played yet. BE VIRTUOUS! A previous poster sardonically questioned some word usages; Loose - the opposite of tight (My trousers are so loose that they fell down in the middle of the mall.) Lose - the opposite of win, or to misplace something (I hope the New York Yankees lose the next game to the Boston Red Sox. They might if Mookie Betts doesn’t lose his edge) Whose - generally used as a possessive for a group (The council, whose responsibility is to manage ....) Who’s - possessive for an individual (That loose woman who’s dog peed on my trousers on the floor of the mall ....), or the contraction for “who is” (who’s going?) While a spellchecker can be a buddy (I actually consider it a crutch for the lazy), a dictionary is your best friend. I was a technical writer for more than 30 years, and used a dictionary for that entire time, unless I knew that the spellchecker was correct.

As far as I’m concerned, based on the past history of BFC, I’m sure that any campaign in R2V will be challenging and outstanding! I own every CM title, and I’ve managed to complete only one campaign in any of them ( U.S. in CMBS, although I have only one mission to finish in the Russian campaign). I’m really excited for R2V with it’s new content. Talk about spoiled by BFC!

Sorry about the trips down Memory Lane. To get back on subject, I bought the pre-sale as soon as it came up. I love the way the formations, equipment, and tactics change with each release as we move through the war years. I might play all of the campaigns and scenarios, or I might not, but just having the module is a comfort for me.

The only Lurps I remember were the Army Ranger long-range recon patrols (LRRP). I’m with you on the “it’s all good when you’re really hungry). My Father had a stock phrase when I was being picky at meals. He’d say “Just wait until you go to Boot Camp! You’ll eat anything that’s near you.” He was right of course, he was a Marine after all.

I’m sorry, I was being facetious. My Mother was given some by FEMA after a hurricane in FL.She didn’t want them, so she gave them to me. They were good. I got out of the USMC Reserves in 1981, and still had never seen an MRE.

Ham and lima beans or beef slices with potatoes? your unit must not have worked you hard enough if you could’t Eat more than 1 1/2 rats a day. I got C-rats that had Marlboro cigarettes with no filters in the accessory packs (1940’s vintage I believe). I must say though, that wasn’t really unusual. It was in 1969, and only 24 years after WWII ended. By the way, regarding the P38 can opener, I knew some assemblers/mechanics who worked for NASA on the space program, and they used P38s to open rocket component cans.

What’s an “MRE?” Is it like a C-ration?

Were they French Marines

Avalon Hill did a cardboard counter game in the 1970’s called “Arab-Israeli Wars” (I owned it along with “Starship Troopers”) that morphed into “Squad Leader” and “Advanced Squad Leader (ASL).” Combat Mission is an evolution of ASL for computers. It could be that there is way too much “ENERGY” around the whole Israeli/Palestinian issues and conflicts for BFC to want to open that whole can of worms. As much as some want to use CMSF2 as a base for “real world” conflicts, CMSF2 remains a FICTIONAL setting, and before anyone tries to use CMBS as a counter-argument for a real-life, reality-based example, CMBS was in the pipeline for many years before the actual event occurred, and CMBS still remains a FICTIONAL event, not a game about a contemporary conflict. I suspect BFC wants no part of that type of game.