theforger
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Posts posted by theforger
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Hi no probs with being pedantic, and hope you enjoy the campaign. Absolutely correct, and you cannot beat walking the ground in scenario design. I've discovered more info as time goes on, better pictures of Buchholz station and Lanzerath have come to light, for example the location of the old church as opposed to the modern one, but you can only try your best with resources you have access to at the time. I did base Losheim water courses on the attached, so genuine error if incorrect.
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On 2/14/2023 at 8:04 PM, Bulletpoint said:
Finally managed to wrap up this monster.
The last mission saw Peiper stumble back to German lines like a national socialist after a failed beerhall putsch.
While I think it's interesting to include the exfiltration of forces after the fiasco, I don't think stealthy stuff is what the CM engine does best.
Also, the big map promises several different ways to cross the river, but there's no real need for being clever, as you can just go straight up the left flank.
Was surprised to see McCown as a prisoner, and I think it was a nice touch. However, I feel there should have been some kind of points penalty if I had lost him along the way. I didn't, but still.
In conclusion, it's been a masterpiece of a campaign. Thanks again.
Appreciate your comments, and thanks for playing through. I put sooo many hours in building and testing it was a project that somewhat snowballed! I did enjoy the research.
I'm on the eastern front atm...but it's going to take awhile.
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They've been generously donated quite a few from Russia. Over 550 abandoned and captured tanks to date.
https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/2022/02/attack-on-europe-documenting-equipment.html
Captured includes approx 87x T-72B, 145x T-72B3s 138x T80s and 13x T90s. Excludes abandoned, and captured but damaged.
Agree with the sentiment though. The West should be doing everything it can in terms of supply and weaponry. Russia is on the back foot and this is the best opportunity to clear them out.
ISW on August 14 reported
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-14
Russian military leadership has likely rushed a mix of forces to this area to defend it against an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, which likely explains the wide variety of force groupings in this area. ISW has observed elements of the 35th and 36th Combined Arms Armies (CAA) of the Eastern Military District (EMD), the 22nd Army Corps of the Black Sea Fleet, the 49th CAA of the Southern Military District (SMD), 76th Guards Air Assault Division, and Rosgvardia throughout Southern Ukraine.
To defeat all that was some achievement...it depends how much of it remains intact.
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What next? Winter pause? The Russians used a lot of the best of their rest defending Kherson to no avail. What do the Ukrainians have left in the tank? Morale will be sky high but logistically? Redeploy and split the land bridge, drive to Melitopol / Berdyansk and the coast? With Kerch Bridge not operating at full capacity, could threaten Crimea and supplies to all the Russian forces "trapped" in the south?
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On 11/8/2022 at 3:03 PM, The_Capt said:
And finally the peice by Karber - the guy actually got so close he got hit in an MLRS strike:
https://prodev2go.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/rus-ukr-lessons-draft.pdf
In this peice Karber goes on at length at the effectiveness of the BTG and the emerging "Russian way of War
this was a decent prediction...
"Nevertheless, Putin seems determined to make Ukraine an example – possibly seizing a land bridge to Crimea, or even extend Moscow’s control of Novorossiaya all the way to Transnistria."
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On 10/4/2022 at 4:00 AM, Vergeltungswaffe said:
Welcome and nice first post.
I think most of us have been there.
There's a particular place on a highway where I drive fairly frequently that has a hill top 2 miles away from where I turn onto it and I always play the what can I spot and ID at that range game.
There's a tree line on a crest of a slope near where I walk the dogs...always look up, checking for movement. Thought it was just me.
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This was Rollbahn A on Saturday. Just returned from my first tour of the Ardennes provided by Leger, with the highly knowledgeable Paul https://www.legerbattlefields.co.uk/guides/paulerrington
It was fantastic for me to experience some of the battlefields first hand and compare with the scenario landscapes in Combat Mission. Will attempt to walk the ground before releasing campaigns when possible.
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14 hours ago, Fenris said:
Got from another board. Was posted as a response to us wondering how did it come to this. It's a lecture about the evolution and nature of what you could I suppose call the russian national psyche and how that is playing into the decisions that have been made to get us to where we are today. I don't know enough to critique his analysis but I will say I found it quite interesting.
Evaluation of Russia by Finnish Intelligence Colonel (subtitles) | December 3, 2018
fascinating. I learned a lot. Thanks for posting.
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4 hours ago, kraze said:
According to that map it looks as if russians occupy every single village and town they have passed on the road. Which is not true, especially in the northern half of Ukraine - they have no effective holding force in any number, not even a good protected rear - hence why their supply convoys keep burning daily.
And in the south they were stalled by several dozens of parked choppers suddenly catching fire - to a point where their whole VDV had to f off back to Crimea because they have nothing to drop them into Odessa with atm.
Mariupol itself is surrounded and is getting the beating bordering on genocidal, yet hardcore vets of Azov still manage to go out and mess up russians bad, taking whole trophy tanks.
This map is true if it is WW2 era thinking, but this isn't WW2.
The only frontline that can be drawn semi-reliably is in the south, the other area is a mess of surrounding forces getting surrounded themselves.
Good to know...
The only Ukrainian ground Russians occupy is the ground they are currently standing on.
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Pressed into service because of lack of reliable armour support for the Paras.
Page 126/196/197 Duel In The Mist volume 2 has some good pics too, "under new management"
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On 2/25/2022 at 9:27 AM, Bulletpoint said:
The Stummel did surprisingly well by the way. First it knocked out my Drilling AA vehicle that I put into a clever keyhole position, secondly it moved up and knocked out another AA vehicle even though I had LOS on where it would pop up.
Looks like you were unlucky there. During testing at best it took out one vehicle.
Glad you are cracking on, very much respect your opinions and observations.
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8 hours ago, Probus said:
Are the Ukrainians spiking the tires?
Trent is a great source for low level info
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https://www.understandingwar.org/report/russias-military-posture
Report dates back to 2018 but interesting insight into strategy against Baltic States / Ukraine and includes detailed OOB.
https://www.fpri.org/multimedia/2022/03/examining-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/
Rob Lee's take on the events so far, and what could happen next
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2 minutes ago, dan/california said:
discussion at his request,
I think that could be significant, Putin requested the meeting.
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6 minutes ago, Haiduk said:
Russians are turning Kharkiv and other towns of Kharkiv oblast in ruines
The building of Kahrkiv university campus
senseless destructive vandalism.
Zelensky...Russia: Learn the word reparation. "We will restore every house, every street, every house"
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from instagram nicklaidthelaw and @sbreakintl
apologies if this has already been seen...quite tricky keeping pace with this thread.
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the original video @MotolkoHelp
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note the red arrow in Moldova
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CM need to consider adjusting scales within the editor...
Motivation: Poor thru to Ukrainian
Leadership: -2 thru to Zelensky
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ha ha! definitely!
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11 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:
Might have been interesting to let the player make the decision whether to dismount or not.. a nice little "what if"...
In any case, while I agree that the recon infantry is too weak to work as a real company; the main issue is that I have no way of dealing with the enemy armour. The darkness lets me get close, but not close enough, as they are sitting in a sea of enemy infantry.
(These are not complaints - I understand that they are missions meant to be lost, or at least to be extremely difficult to achieve, just as they were historically).
Agreed.
Since building what was my first campaign I've taken a closer look how experienced designers have an historical thread to their campaigns, with semi historical branches, and will take that on board on my next effort. (Couple of maps are under construction for a working title of Fire and Roubles).
With this one I had a singular goal of trying to re-enact what happened step by step.
Fortunately for the player, even in the latter stages of the battle there were opportunities to fight on the front foot, but there's certainly some one sided or difficult engagements.
Next month I'm hopefully doing my first walking tour of the area so I'll be able to see for myself how accurate the maps feel. Thanks for giving this a run out and providing feedback.
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2 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:
I noticed the Knittel missions are some of the only missions where the units involved differ a lot from the ones in the stock campaign. In those, you get a lot of armoured cars with 75mm. A couple of those would sure have come in handy in this version
I feel your pain. Pg 331 of Worst's brilliant book on Knittel, Knittel insisted the attack went in on foot.
"He [Coblenz] was in favour of an old fashioned motorised attack on Stavelot, one which would see his company forcing its way into the town to capture the bridge in a lightening strike at full throttle. In Coblenz' opinion it would ensure that the American defenders had very little time to react. But Knittel believed that the vulnerable 1/2 tracks were unsuitable for street combat and opted for an attack on foot.
Coblenz argued that his company was too weak to act as infantry. He explained, "Once dismounted the reconnaissance squad was smaller than an infantry squad. The driver and another trooper remained in the vehicle....so there were only 6 fighters in each squad.
But Knittel dismissed Coblenz complaints, the attack would go ahead as planned."
Coblenz's approach may not have succeeded, but with the additional firepower and mobility it would have offered a better chance of success IMO.
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Fantastic effort.
I gained a new respect for Stuarts. Words I doubt you'll ever say
Rollbahn D Losheim scenario map issue
in Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg
Posted
its on its way my friend