Trooper117

I've still got mine and all my recognition pamphlets... I used to teach this stuff!

France withdrew militarily under de Gaulle didn't they?... (I was never very good at history by the way)

No, the .50 cal mg was originally installed for that job as it was matched to the 120mm main gun... after getting strike on target the gunner would switch from the .50 and engage with the main armament, making manual corrections as normal. (Using HESH you could expect a 3 round engagement). Using Sabot I would normally get a first round hit due to the very flat trajectory. The .50 was considered superfluous as we had the TLS (Tank Laser Sight) for ranging, and although we still had the .50 we never carried ammo for it anyway. The 7.62 GPMG was our co-ax, used for soft targets and for killing enemy crew bailing out, and attacking infantry etc.

When I mentioned 'steam gunnery' I was talking about a gunnery system which was laid onto target by the gunner using his hand controls after receiving a fire control order from the commander, and making manual corrections... a system that any WWII tank crew would have been familiar with, as opposed to the IFCS system which was like playing a computer game in comparison. By the way, as commander I could override the gunner at any stage and lay him onto any other target that pops up that may be a more immediate threat...

I can't remember the exact date I left Germany, but I was there from 1980- 1984... we were on the MkV Chieftain, we still had a .50 mg fitted, a GPMG 7.62 co-axial, Laser rangefinder (prone to overheat) so we usually used the Mk I eyeball for range estimation, lol... main armament ammunition was the APDS and HESH rounds. (only got to fire live APDS in Canada). As to APFSDS, never saw one, although the Regiment taking over from us had been training on the IFCS system (we still used 'steam gunnery') back in the UK so they were probably training for APFSDS at that stage as well. We took over as the Medium Recce element of 5 Airborne Brigade and never saw an MBT again, but quite a lot of us became paratroopers, lol!

Looking at the TOE for the base game the Americans have a Bradley and an M1... I was stationed in Germany in the early to mid 80's as a Chieftain commander. We did large exercises (FTX) with the Americans and others and I never saw them about. Their main battle tank was the M-60 at the time.

Very excited when I heard CMCW had dropped out of nowhere and was to be included. As a Chieftain tank commander stationed in West Germany (Detmold) during the 80's, I was a bit deflated not to see the BAOR in the mix. Any hints as to what will be added down the road after it's release?

Regardless of whether it's historically accurate or a whitewash, people love war movies... if it's a gripping story with decent action people will watch it and enjoy it. Cross of Iron for example, I remember thinking how great it was to actually see a war film set on the Eastern Front... at the time I didn't think of the political reasons or the barbarism inflicted by either side, it was a new outlook and perspective of WWII I hadn't seen before.

Oh boy...

What a great tank battle! It enthralled me from beginning to end...

Yes, saw this the other day... a good documentary!

Great fight that!

Great little video... and a reminder just how good our combat mission games are. I'm pretty sure when I played this mission my casualties were quite a few more!

Great pics mate!

Lol!...