Hapless

One of the big differences in real life is that AA isn't confined to the size of a combat mission map: when air support in game is circling the map at a few kms distance it can only be fired at by whatever AA the victim has brought along, whereas in reality the planes would likley be having to contend with more significant AA fire from other positions in depth.

I take planes as often as its sensible (strafe-only P-47s are 30pts in CMFB- so basically the only good reason not to take a handful is the weather) and I can tell you that while AA isn't hugely effective, neither are the planes. I've seen them strafe Panthers they can't destroy instead of halftracks full of infantry that they would collander, I've seen them strafe dead infantry in a wood instead of platoons of infantry running in the open... they're not exactly a reliable asset.

They are vulnerable to AA- my planes abort all the time, sometimes they get shot down- but I find the best way to deal with enemy airpower is to have a realistic appreciation of how effective it is, plan to account for it, then ignore it. My airpower does very little physical damage, but has immense psychological impact on human players... which you can discount if you choose to.

Best to treat enemy held buildings like landmines:

If you can go round it, go round it.
If you can't go round it... blow it up before you go near it.
If you can't blow it up... shoot the crap out of it in the hope that you'll hit something important that stops it going off.

Clearing the building is the equivalent of stepping on the landmine- don't do it unless you literally have no other choice.

Best to treat enemy held buildings like landmines:

If you can go round it, go round it.
If you can't go round it... blow it up before you go near it.
If you can't blow it up... shoot the crap out of it in the hope that you'll hit something important that stops it going off.

Clearing the building is the equivalent of stepping on the landmine- don't do it unless you literally have no other choice.

Best to treat enemy held buildings like landmines:

If you can go round it, go round it.
If you can't go round it... blow it up before you go near it.
If you can't blow it up... shoot the crap out of it in the hope that you'll hit something important that stops it going off.

Clearing the building is the equivalent of stepping on the landmine- don't do it unless you literally have no other choice.

Best to treat enemy held buildings like landmines:

If you can go round it, go round it.
If you can't go round it... blow it up before you go near it.
If you can't blow it up... shoot the crap out of it in the hope that you'll hit something important that stops it going off.

Clearing the building is the equivalent of stepping on the landmine- don't do it unless you literally have no other choice.

If you press spacebar in the force selector, you can see what formations/units etc come with each module.

This is CMBN, but it works the same in CMSF2:



The fun things you learn by accidentally mashing the keyboard.

If you press spacebar in the force selector, you can see what formations/units etc come with each module.

This is CMBN, but it works the same in CMSF2:



The fun things you learn by accidentally mashing the keyboard.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

Did someone say explosions?
Fun fact: you can daisy chain IEDs.

A few points:

1. Syrian airpower is comically unresponsive compared to NATO. It can take anything up to 30 minutes to call a CAS mission in. If you are sat in the same place for 30 minutes against a Syrian force that is not only qualitatively inferior but has chosen to spend precious points on off-map assets that are not in your way then you are probably not pushing hard enough.
2. If you're playing against a human opponent, then just agree not to bring airpower. Or agree that airpower is only an option if EW is, then shut all his radios down. Or fight at night. Or whatever- just because its there doesn't mean it has to be used or can't be 'balanced out' by agreement.
3. Syrian airpower is noisy, dramatic and scary. It is also transitory, inaccurate and not likely to be very effective if you have stumbled upon the secret, ground breaking defensive procedures of concealment, dispersion, deception and keeping on the move. I can almost guarantee that learning how to operate effectively despite enemy airpower is going to be a lot more productive and useful than moaning about it.
4. Some of the light Hind missions are 14-15 points each. I assume that's a bug: it kinda makes sense for Allied strafing runs in WW2 to be cheap because there a thousands of P47s about. Not going to claim to be an expert on the Syrians, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have enough Hinds for that kind of thing.

A few points:

1. Syrian airpower is comically unresponsive compared to NATO. It can take anything up to 30 minutes to call a CAS mission in. If you are sat in the same place for 30 minutes against a Syrian force that is not only qualitatively inferior but has chosen to spend precious points on off-map assets that are not in your way then you are probably not pushing hard enough.
2. If you're playing against a human opponent, then just agree not to bring airpower. Or agree that airpower is only an option if EW is, then shut all his radios down. Or fight at night. Or whatever- just because its there doesn't mean it has to be used or can't be 'balanced out' by agreement.
3. Syrian airpower is noisy, dramatic and scary. It is also transitory, inaccurate and not likely to be very effective if you have stumbled upon the secret, ground breaking defensive procedures of concealment, dispersion, deception and keeping on the move. I can almost guarantee that learning how to operate effectively despite enemy airpower is going to be a lot more productive and useful than moaning about it.
4. Some of the light Hind missions are 14-15 points each. I assume that's a bug: it kinda makes sense for Allied strafing runs in WW2 to be cheap because there a thousands of P47s about. Not going to claim to be an expert on the Syrians, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have enough Hinds for that kind of thing.

A few points:

1. Syrian airpower is comically unresponsive compared to NATO. It can take anything up to 30 minutes to call a CAS mission in. If you are sat in the same place for 30 minutes against a Syrian force that is not only qualitatively inferior but has chosen to spend precious points on off-map assets that are not in your way then you are probably not pushing hard enough.
2. If you're playing against a human opponent, then just agree not to bring airpower. Or agree that airpower is only an option if EW is, then shut all his radios down. Or fight at night. Or whatever- just because its there doesn't mean it has to be used or can't be 'balanced out' by agreement.
3. Syrian airpower is noisy, dramatic and scary. It is also transitory, inaccurate and not likely to be very effective if you have stumbled upon the secret, ground breaking defensive procedures of concealment, dispersion, deception and keeping on the move. I can almost guarantee that learning how to operate effectively despite enemy airpower is going to be a lot more productive and useful than moaning about it.
4. Some of the light Hind missions are 14-15 points each. I assume that's a bug: it kinda makes sense for Allied strafing runs in WW2 to be cheap because there a thousands of P47s about. Not going to claim to be an expert on the Syrians, but I'm pretty sure that they don't have enough Hinds for that kind of thing.

Presumably it's so no one would make the catastrophic mistake of thinking it can fight tanks.

Presumably it's so no one would make the catastrophic mistake of thinking it can fight tanks.

Was going to mention the use of modded icons in the force composition diagram, but I was beaten to it by the man himself! Having being momentarily baffled by unfamiliar little icons on the briefing screen, I was going to suggest either using the vanilla ones as a kind of lowest common denominator or that Bil suggests a mod to play with. Which he has just done.
That's a very minor quibble though, based on personal taste. That diagram is actually a very helpful touch, especially when you're a Quick Battler like me and you hate having to work out what units you've got to play with at the start of a battle. I'm looking forwards to giving the scenario a go!
My only question mark over the overall concept is whether the key terrain selected as the hidden objective is going to be consistently relevant as different players bring different plans to the table. This is probably not a big deal because the game is so short and the map is so small but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

I like  @Hapless reaction to the mayhem, settling with "hmm, interesting..."
Thank God I'm not a Youtuber, I would have screamed my head off with profanities. Will check out more of his stuff on YT though.
Yes, the charm with CM, "live and learn", or "die and learn". 
"Fail again, fail better" is sort of a motto for me. Only way to improve your game, especially when taking on human oppos in scenarios never played before.

That minute traumatised me - I haven’t been able to watch a newer one. You should have put a warning about the graphic content... 

Ha! I was wondering how long it would take those 60 seconds to pop up as an example of how not to do things.
My own fault entirely for not covering the basics- one scout team out on that flank and I would have heard it coming and not been caught with my pants down.
But that's combat mission: make mistakes, get punished. The trick is learning from it. You can be damn sure that's never gonna happen to me again.

Ha! I was wondering how long it would take those 60 seconds to pop up as an example of how not to do things.
My own fault entirely for not covering the basics- one scout team out on that flank and I would have heard it coming and not been caught with my pants down.
But that's combat mission: make mistakes, get punished. The trick is learning from it. You can be damn sure that's never gonna happen to me again.

Ha! I was wondering how long it would take those 60 seconds to pop up as an example of how not to do things.
My own fault entirely for not covering the basics- one scout team out on that flank and I would have heard it coming and not been caught with my pants down.
But that's combat mission: make mistakes, get punished. The trick is learning from it. You can be damn sure that's never gonna happen to me again.

Select the IED, then draw a target command:
Target the ground nearby to activate it and the triggerman will try and detonate it whenever something gets close enough.
Target a specific enemy unit and the triggerman will try and detonate it when that unit gets close.

Bear in mind that if the triggerman is a potato, can't see, is suppressed, dead or generally unable to push the button, nothing will happen.
There are also Blufor electronic countermeasures to bear in mind: the British Warriors in Breaking the Bank definitely have little ECM sets on them that may- or may not- prevent IEDs from being detonated.

This is a quick, dirty video explanation which I would embed if I could remember how:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXwfJbSag1g&feature=youtu.be

Note that the triggerman is a green and -1 leadership potato.

Below is my current IED drill: 
1. Click on IED combat order Target to activate IED1.
2. Click on ground to Target first OpFor to pass or click on specific OpFor unit2.
3. Check that triggerman is in range3.
Notes: 1)Radio triggerman needs LOS to IED to activate during game but not during setup. 2)For small & medium IEDs OpFor must enter the A/S to detonate for large & huge OpFor must enter adjacent A/S. 3)Triggermen needs to spot OpFor by IED to detonate.   
And some general notes on IEDs:
There are four sizes of IED: small, medium, large & huge. There are three types of IED: Wire 100m, 10% failure / Radio 300m, requires LOS to activate, 20% failure / Cell phone 600m, 10% failure. IED teams consist of the bomb and the triggerman.  To work the IED must be activated and the triggerman in range (if radio LOS also) and not panicked with an undamaged trigger device.  If this criteria is met when the triggerman observes OpFor enter the Action Spot (adjacent AS for huge or large device) the device will detonate.  (The triggerman will not detonate the IED unless he can spot OpFor next to it.)  An IED can be activated and detonated by any triggerman.  Example: A Wire triggerman can activate and/or detonate a cell or radio IED.  Any IED triggerman needs to be within 300 meters and LOS to activate a radio IED during the game and during setup.  Any IED triggerman needs to be within 100 meters to activate a wire IED during the game and during setup.  Any IED triggerman needs to be within 600 meters to activate a radio IED during the game and during setup.   
Have a BLAST!!