IronCat60

When they shoot the heil out of you.
They built this one to standards.
 

Oh yeah and I forgot to add that NATO doesn't fear the Soviets!
The U.S. Army had United Federation of Planets technology. They had "starships". 🤣
For those who remember this "wunderwaffen" 🙄

If you think living in the United States during the Cold War was scary think about the folks who were living in Western Europe.
If you lived next to one of the many military bases then you had a pre-registerd artillery, air attack, nuclear, chemical (take your pick) target as a next door neighbor.
You basically lived in a occupied country where hundreds of foreign strangers were rotated in and out. Strangers who you had to hope could be trusted to be good people because they drove your streets, visited your towns, communed with your local citizens.
Where if hostilities broke out and no matter what side won, you would still be the loser.
Those were some perilous times that somehow we survived despite several close calls where by luck, fate, or people that remained calm and thought things out prevented the start of what would have surely escalated into the end of humanity.

This guy has some serious talents (and hopefully this post will not slide into insanity)
 
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/world-of-tanks-russian-student-builds-realistic-full-size-tank-out-of-snow-93215.html

 And this article  
https://theblogidentity.wordpress.com/2016/01/02/russian-tanks-made-of-snow/
 
 

This guy has some serious talents (and hopefully this post will not slide into insanity)
 
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/world-of-tanks-russian-student-builds-realistic-full-size-tank-out-of-snow-93215.html

 And this article  
https://theblogidentity.wordpress.com/2016/01/02/russian-tanks-made-of-snow/
 
 

Sorry can also not resist !

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

Not from Bil's perspective 😉. 
Liking your graphics by the way 👍.

I approve, both the map, and the plan. 
Good luck.

All this talk of people without pants makes me think this is Fulda Gap: Burlesque. 

The graphics are priceless. 

Fairly secure against espionage too! 

March to Glorious Victory Post #2 - When Bourgeoisies Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (1-4 mins)
So we are off.  On map, I have a Recon Company of the finest young men that the Soviet Union has ever produced.  Given my relatively crappy position the good news is that there are a lot of trails and cutline so I have room to spread this Coy out and take a wide - EYES (wink, wink) stance.  This shot of initial setup turn one from Bil's (soon to be my) side:

You will note that I am going to leave my tank platoon back, saving it for the big push.
Then in the second minute I immediately see that decrepit old goats little ploy:
 
Oh Bil, you dirty capitalist dotard!!  Yep, he knows that Soviet troops do not do so well in smoke, while a lot of his units have fancy sights etc.  Next turn the smoke continues to build:

So this was turn three and by now, I am all along that tree line, playing the role of the Sneaky Pete, while Bill continues to pollute the planet.  S'ok, my tanks are still back and I have a screen of BMPs out there playing silly buggers.  Turn 4:

First shot, you can see my recon squads, already dismounted and starting to push out across the open area.  They are dead men already but they play their part.  My FOs are already laying in this nice red lines in my brilliant plan, but it is going to take a looong time for that to drop (18mins for big guns...thank you EW).
Second shot:

And there on a hill, through the smoke is a suspected contact, probably a TOW, which means it can see through the smoke like the world sees through the corrupt Yankee economic system.  That's it Bil, up on your hill....feeling so safe and superior...I can hear him whispering "come to me...come to Dollbach"...oh we are coming alright....
 
 

Fantastic AAR, thank you Sir.
Your military sketches remind me of Napoleon's with their clarity, functionality (and brevity!) The contrast with your opponent's over produced slick images with fancy shaded 3D directional arrows and mind numbingly boring acronyms is truly stark and imho splendid
 

Apparently they have the same taste in hats too. 

Watch this next one from 4:00 for the WW2 Armor
 
 

Watch this next one from 4:00 for the WW2 Armor
 
 

Ah the old problem of the M1 tank outweighing the M88 tank retriever. If you get going too fast and try to slow down quickly or go down a hill, the weight of a M1 can shove a M88 off the road. So far as I can remember two M88's where attached to a M1. One towing and the other pushing and acting as a drag brake.
There is two standard heavy tow bars. One is rated for M1 tanks and the other for armored vehicles of a lesser weight. If you look closely at the back of the M88 tank retriever you will notice a broken tow bar still attached to its tow pintel. It appears they used the wrong tow bar assembly which is not rated for that type of tow weight.
The M1 rated tow bar has two pivot points where the tow bar arms attach to the Lunette (head assembly).  These two pivot points where the arms attach to the Lunette provides the tow bar arms some limited side to side shift which relieves the lateral forces applied to their connection points at the Lunette .
The tow bar for the other armored vehicles has one tow bar arm fixed/welded on to the Lunette (head assymbly) the other tow bar arm is attached with a solid pin and forms a pivot point to allow the legs to be brought together for stowage or spread when connecting to a vehicle. This one fixed arm attachment to the Lunette does not allow for the relief of lateral forces on the fixed arm side. This can cause the bar to break at that point. This failure of the fixed arm can lead the other bar to flex beyond its limits and break which can occur anywhere along its length. This catastrophic failure usually occurs when the tow bar assembly is used to tow weight greater than its design limitations.

I only got this game last month myself. Barring some technical difficulties, I'm just blown away by it. It's so much more than a sandbox. The fact I could go in and make a map to play on or experiment with all sorts of things with these games make it more like a toy box and I swear, I feel like a kid playing around with this. And I rarely get that feeling with contemporary AAA games. 
I'm feeling it. I don't know what I'm doing half the time but I'm feeling it. 
Though I have to admit this whole thing is terrifying at first. I don't think I've ever felt my heart really sink in any game, but seeing a whole squad get obliterated while inside their Stryker definitely did me in more than once...
I'd also want to say thanks to whoever is responsible for having regional pricing on these titles. I live in a third world country so getting games  is pretty rough on me, but when I saw these games on sale I immediately bought everything up. SF2 first, then the very moment Black Sea came out I got it as well. 

@Mogarth
Congrats; you have been aCMilated!

Always wondered why they called the Black Sea the Black Sea. Play US Marines now, their usual tactics go in all guns blazing, kick doors in and blow holes in the walls. Actually, I admire them. Remember Private Jessica? They were offered a key when they looked for her. Nah blowing the hinges with a shotgun is more fun. You can't get rid of tradition that easy. Just read she was rescued by the Green Berets.  

Haha, sounds like me in 2014 when I first heard about black sea.

Literally never heard of this game until i saw it on Steam last year and i scoffed at the price at first.
5 months later I have purchased every single game and module except for CMFI, im going to buy it but my wallet lol
Massive respect to the developers for creating something amazing, that seems tailored for me personally.  I've been trying to get my friends to play but they arent tactical
Sorry if this is a boring post but I heard a podcast with a gentleman from BF and he mentioned they were testing Steam out and just wanted to provide this feedback
Stoked for F&T and CW
 

I don't think the war would have dragged on for another year. The Western Allies would have reached Berlin first. If the attack in the Ardennes had been cancelled AND the counteroffensives in Hungary too the war might have dragged on longer, but perhaps some months, not a year.