IronCat60

I think that I see the start of a behavioral patton developing from these posts
  "They are a scurvy race and simply savages. We could beat hell out of them.”
(Hmmm, who does that sound like? I think he thought he was taking the heil road on this one)

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.

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.

All I have to say is that we need to display the same spirit and attitude we have demonstrated in the past. Qualities that I feel makes up the average Battlefront customer.
That spirit is faith that the BF folks are doing their best to produce the same quality which may take a little longer and we all know no development ever survives first contact with reality. Plus they have lives outside of work which as we all know, can influence job performance.
That attitude is Loyalty. I like to think there are no "sunshine patriots" among our crowd. Through thick and thin, past and present, we patiently wait for what we know will be as great as the last release.
Great products and outstanding customer service has always been the hallmark of companies that garner die hard loyal customers. And this company has that in spades.
And to quote my the great wisdom of my caretaker who says, "sounds like a first world problem to me", when her children complain about how unfair or unbearable it is to endure certain situations that are a want and not a need.
To quote a great movie line:
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient" - High Road to China

All I have to say is that we need to display the same spirit and attitude we have demonstrated in the past. Qualities that I feel makes up the average Battlefront customer.
That spirit is faith that the BF folks are doing their best to produce the same quality which may take a little longer and we all know no development ever survives first contact with reality. Plus they have lives outside of work which as we all know, can influence job performance.
That attitude is Loyalty. I like to think there are no "sunshine patriots" among our crowd. Through thick and thin, past and present, we patiently wait for what we know will be as great as the last release.
Great products and outstanding customer service has always been the hallmark of companies that garner die hard loyal customers. And this company has that in spades.
And to quote my the great wisdom of my caretaker who says, "sounds like a first world problem to me", when her children complain about how unfair or unbearable it is to endure certain situations that are a want and not a need.
To quote a great movie line:
"The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient" - High Road to China

Since CMCW is currently set in the American zone, there should be an independent building (GI pub) called the Green Goose. They were in several towns and cities where American troops were based. 

For those of us that were there ... these suckers are essential ...
 

1983 Pat Benatar, "Love is a battlefield." I have not heard this song for more than half a lifetime.
 

So, what will you listen to while you'll be racking your brain over your pixeltruppen's life?
A bit anachronistic given the time frame, but to me it will be Nena's 99 Luftballons.


 

TBH it really doesn't come any more cold war than this track from Pink Floyd (1983):
 

Ryeforger '79 - "Flatten Cereal"

I keep seeing the topic head 'Promo video' and reading it as 'Porno video', which to cold war nerds like us isn't far from the truth. 

To answer AKD's  question
This first, to help you understand how a a Bradley Mechanized Infantry Platoon vehicles are organized. There are four vehicles. There is a "hull number" consisting of a letter designation and two digits assigned to each vehicle.
Letter indicates which Company it is assigned to; A-Alpha Company, B-Bravo Company, C-Charlie Company. 
First number indicates Platoon; 1-1st , 2-2nd, 3-3rd.  Second number indicates vehicle assignment within the platoon; 1, 2, 3, 4.
Vehicles are further assigned to either Section A or B.
For example:
A Company, 3rd Platoon
Section A
A31 Platoon Leader BFV - Platoon Lead Vehicle when Plt Ldr is mounted, A Section Wingman when Plt Ldr is dismounted
TC: 2Lt (mounted), Sgt (TC trained and in control when 2Lt is dismounted)
 
A32 Platoon Master Gunner BFV - A Section Wingman to 31 when Plt Ldr is mounted, A Section Lead when Plt Ldr is dismounted
TC: Platoon Bradley Master Gunner (mounted at all times)
 
Section B
A34 Platoon Sergeant -  B Section Lead when Plt Ldr is mounted,  Lead Vehicle of Platoon Vehicle Element (all four BFV's) when Plt Ldr is dismounted.
TC: Platoon Sergeant (mounted at all times)
 
A33 Section Sergeant - B Section Wingman to 34
TC: Staff Sergeant (TC trained, mounted at all times)

Did you perhaps read it in two posts from our good friend @Warts 'n' all? 
I think someone once said of he and Elizabeth "what a nice pair of Brits" but he mis-heard and the resulting fracas only ended when the local constabulary arrived.

Oh boy howdy, does that bring back some memories for this cold war veteran who stood on the line in Germany ready to face the "evil empire" (Salute to Ronnie Regan)"
Great video! Covered a lot of the new material in a concise and entertaining way. Haven't heard a load up and start of a VHS machine in years! Felt like I was watching a Camcorder tape that some news crew had submitted of the build up during the saber rattling and commencement of hostilities.
Like a previous post I totally loved the music. But my first guess was Jan Hammer of Miami Vice fame because of the heavy drum beat. Tangerine Dream as I remember was more "ethereal". Either one will have to be playing in the background when I commence to playing this. If my brother allows me to dig into his cassette tape collection "museum" and borrow his ghetto blaster. 

While reading you can listen to this one - to get in the proper mood 🙂
 
 

Just when I thought this year was gonna suck.

Are there some late 70s early 80s German flavor objects?
Very nice would be the old TelH78 phone booth, which could be found everywhere at that time, or a letter box.
A very easy to make flavor object would be a "Fußballtor", for a small "Bolzplatz" a kind of low budget soccer field, which there are many in Germany, even today.
Very typical for rural areas are also these green trailers, with the red wheels. I don´t know why they are all painted the same color, but they are.
Another typical Flavor object of that time could be the VW Golf I in red. Which was a very common car at that time.

Are some of these in the game?

Oh boy howdy, does that bring back some memories for this cold war veteran who stood on the line in Germany ready to face the "evil empire" (Salute to Ronnie Regan)"
Great video! Covered a lot of the new material in a concise and entertaining way. Haven't heard a load up and start of a VHS machine in years! Felt like I was watching a Camcorder tape that some news crew had submitted of the build up during the saber rattling and commencement of hostilities.
Like a previous post I totally loved the music. But my first guess was Jan Hammer of Miami Vice fame because of the heavy drum beat. Tangerine Dream as I remember was more "ethereal". Either one will have to be playing in the background when I commence to playing this. If my brother allows me to dig into his cassette tape collection "museum" and borrow his ghetto blaster. 

Oh hell yeah!
 

This is something I threw together in my own time. Please remember that this is from a beta build of the game and is subject to change. 

So welcome to our Beta AAR.  Introductions, I am The_Capt...hello.  Some old timers may remember me from back in the day but for the newbies (and hopefully there are a lot of you) I am the Simon to Bil's Garfunkel.  While Bil is detailed, deliberate and cool all resting on a foundation of real talent; I am erratic, insecure and hot-headed resting on very occasional unpredictable sparks.  Between the two of us we try to make wonderful music.
So first the obvious, what is CM Cold War and where did it come from?  Well the game is our brainchild, not that it took a serious leap of imagination as people had been talking about a Cold War game for years.  Bil and I had been looking for a title to cut our designer-teeth on for years as well, and after a few false starts we approached BFC with the idea about 7-8 years ago, to which Steve sagely looked at two complete amateurs and said "uh, sure...why don't you guys go pull some stuff together and we will do lunch".  So we did up all the boring and work-like stuff most of you never see; project documents, historical research, backstories, TO&Es (pouring over things like Senate Arms Committee records and back issues of the US Army magazines), and campaign designs.  Once we did all this we came back to Steve like proud children that had just performed surgery on the family cat.  Steve's eyes went a little wider and very Bruce Willis-like said, "ok let's give these kids a shot".  I am pretty sure we were to remain a weird side project in the basement - that is where the older Beta Testers go in the end - but last year things accelerated and we found ourselves suddenly thrust into the rock and roll lifestyle of computer wargame designers...without the groupies, cocaine or leather pants.
So with a very small team, a tight timeline and another look from Steve that was somewhere between "ya, there is no way these guys are going to make it" and "but if they do...?" (seriously, support from the BFC guys has been outstanding) we started the journey.  So when you play the game on release (it is no secret we are on track for Apr, after Easter) you know who to curse when something either does not look quite right or you are getting beat up on a campaign (the Soviet one is particularly brutal).  If you love the game, praise the entire team, if you are angry that the Soviet officer holster does not look right, feel free to vent at either Bil or I, mostly Bil.
Onto the AAR.  Ok in the proudest tradition of this thing, Bil will wow you all with dazzling intelligence products that would make an ASIC weep.  I, on the other hand, prefer a  more tactile and coffee-stained approach...I also tend to lose these fights.  This map comes from the US campaign, a scenario called Dollbach Heights, but do not worry the scenario is completely different so no spoilers.  This whole thing is occurring in the backdrop of a Cold War-gone-hot strategic situation set in summer of 1982, which may seem quaint today but back in '83 we actually came pretty close.  The Soviets are basically making a break for the Rhine as fast as possible before reserves can be called up and fly-overs conducted.  The US forces are the tripwire forces of V Corp with units like the 11 ACR and 3rd Armd Div (for this AAR we do not assign particular units) as the game centers on the Fulda corridor (between the West German border and Frankfurt).  So the strategic game is simple, Soviets have to move fast as possible to get in close to the major urban areas, knock France out and put the UK into close range.  The bet back in Moscow is that at this point NATO will fracture as half of them sue for peace...we will see how that works out.
A couple points on force balance and doctrine.  So this is 1980, the beginning of a vapid and synthesizer-infested decade (trust me I was there). The US forces are still recovering from the entire Vietnam experience.  Goldwater-Nicols has not happened so we are still talking about conventional service competition in the US military, which was unhealthy (still is) and a US Army that was slowly coming out of the old ROADs models and heading towards AirLand Battle.  The TO&Es are based on the '77 force structures (you will note US tank platoons have 5 tanks).  The "so what?" is that US forces are pretty much at their most vulnerable point in this era.  They lack mass and are moving to active defense and maneuver warfare but the equipment has not caught up.  It is going to feel weird to some but this is a modern (well semi-modern) title where US forces do not dominate the battlefield.  They have to be played carefully to achieve parity.  For example the T62 can kill an M60A3 in the front from about 1500m, so the US player must be elegant and clever...like the gentle fox.
The Soviets on the other hand are the bear that eats said gentle fox and then poops him out, barely breaking stride.  The Soviets at this point are pretty much near the top of their game.  Their equipment is solid, if a little blind, and they have mountains of it. Soviet operational doctrine is actually very good, it uses mass much like it did in WW2, and frankly Genghis would be proud at how well the Soviet can throw MRRs at a problem and simply keep going.  The T64 is a beast, probably the best Soviet tank in the game (particularly the B versions), the T80 can throw a punch too.  The Soviet use of ATGM is frankly terrifying.  First, they literally put those things on just about everything, and the AT 5 feels like the modern day Javelin in that, if it can hit, it will kill.  In testing one scenario of the US Campaign, I played sloppy and watched an BMP MRB shred all the US armor in about 5 mins...so there is that.   
At a tactical level the Soviet are all about lining up the punch.  They were not mindless hordes, they would prepare and shape with recon but when they decided to throw that punch...oh, my.  First they would drop the sky on top of you using massed artillery.  Then they would advance en masse  along multiple axis projecting dilemma everywhere for an opponent.  They would then trade shots until your armor is gone and finally they might dismount and clean up any poor infantry you have left.  I say 'might' because they would often simply bypass those huddle GIs and just keep going.
So for this AAR, I will try to emulate the soviet approach as much as possible.  Stay tuned and see how it turns out.       

That is the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, which is carried by Brother Maynard.
"Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."
If they were the Free French forces they would have launched a cow back at the Germans.

That is the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, which is carried by Brother Maynard.
"Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it."
If they were the Free French forces they would have launched a cow back at the Germans.