danfrodo

it sure seems that CW is popular, so hopefully all these wishes will come true.  "Battle for Scandinavia" module, with all the above forces.  Heck yes.  Probably a bit lighter forces than in fulda gap, we'd get more infantry/AFV and less MBTs.  In the snow!  W forest & hills & frozen rivers. 
campaign where beleaguered force (danes, nords, swedes, or some such) fighting it out in defense/delaying actions w soviet paras & amphib forces, then USMC shows up to help out.  I gotta have that.  I guess could do same kinda thing in Black Sea also, please 😀

Indeed, I love young people, especially women. 

Boy, sure is good that everyone tries to welcome a younger generation of players.  Lets not worry about BFC's future just so we can fell good about ourselves by putting down people who play and communicate a different way.

At 71 I hope to be playing cm3 and checking the forum where folks are complaining the cm3 is dated and when is cm4 coming out.  Oh, and Barbarossa and AK will be out by then on cm3 .  Along w all our current cm2 faves.  And best of all no day job robbing me of my time & staring-at-computer mental budget.  71 is a ways off for me but it's sounding kinda good right now...

At 71 I hope to be playing cm3 and checking the forum where folks are complaining the cm3 is dated and when is cm4 coming out.  Oh, and Barbarossa and AK will be out by then on cm3 .  Along w all our current cm2 faves.  And best of all no day job robbing me of my time & staring-at-computer mental budget.  71 is a ways off for me but it's sounding kinda good right now...

Young people work longer hours than any other age group. They work longer, get paid less, sometimes have multiple jobs, and with the rising cost of living, are priced out of things older generations enjoyed. They are also expected to retire later than previous generations. Many young people are not too optimistic about the future and don't even expect to be able to retire at all.
The generational divide among wargaming is interesting though. It doesn't surprise me that that might be a source of conflict within the community. Most people are pretty friendly and helpful, though I haven't done much PBEMing myself.
I wonder what the average age is among forum users here. It kinda surprised me when CM Cold War came out to see so many posters who were active duty military during the time the game takes place in the late 70s or early 80s. That was before I was even born.

Here I sit in front of my screen playing CM huge scenario it is 8 am and hopefully finish it at 8pm. Age 71 living of my pension. Young people are welcome to drop in and play against me.

does SlySniper actually know any young people?  The ones I know are working their asses off.  And last time I checked, it wasn't the young people who've so massively F-up up the world.  And here we are on a gaming site, dedicated to the fine art of sitting in front of a screen and playing w pixel armymen, and someone is saying OTHERS sit around all day?
This is some of the finest chutzpah I've seen in a while, well done.
Every generation things the next generation is worthless.  There was a ~40 yr old reporter on a boat w a bunch of young people saying how these kids weren't tough enough, were useless, were immature.  Know where that boat was going? -- Tarawa.  Same thing, over & over & over, where previous totally F-up generation thinks the next generation is somehow more totally F-ed up.  How is it older people completely forget what they were like when they themselves were young?  Of course, when I was young all I wanted to do was go to church, do chores, and study.  Didn't want to party at all.  Or play computer wargames.
We're leaving the next generation  a really F-ing mess, so we have no room to criticize anyone.

Disabled panther chooses to not flee, more sherman hits bounce off mantlet.  Then the big round hole lower right, where I brought up a T34-85.  I am keeping my 3 T34s back since they are my best AT assets.  Meanwhile, a nashorn shows up at ~1000m sitting the grass.  But my shermans have buildings and walls and make short work of what should have been a powerful german asset.  The loss of skilled officers at this late stage of the war is showing for the germans.  They'd never have sited this vehicle in this way earlier in war.  Mighty fine shooting by the sherman, I must say -- two holes on the little bit of the nashorn that could be seen over the sherman's wall cover.  (I'm trying to avoid spoilers by not showing where these vehicles are located.)

 

Disabled panther chooses to not flee, more sherman hits bounce off mantlet.  Then the big round hole lower right, where I brought up a T34-85.  I am keeping my 3 T34s back since they are my best AT assets.  Meanwhile, a nashorn shows up at ~1000m sitting the grass.  But my shermans have buildings and walls and make short work of what should have been a powerful german asset.  The loss of skilled officers at this late stage of the war is showing for the germans.  They'd never have sited this vehicle in this way earlier in war.  Mighty fine shooting by the sherman, I must say -- two holes on the little bit of the nashorn that could be seen over the sherman's wall cover.  (I'm trying to avoid spoilers by not showing where these vehicles are located.)

 

Yeah, Leo2 shows up about a year earlier than the Abrams. I wouldn't expect any to be available in 79, since deliveries only just started in late 79. But by 1980 they should be available with about the same rarity that an M1 Abrams would have in 1981. With similar armor protection and FCS to the Abrams, and a much more powerful 120mm smoothbore gun, the Leopard 2 will easily be the best tank within the time period of the game.

F&R berlin campaign russian side, battle 5 or 6.  I spotted a panther hull down behind a railroad embankment, worked my way up through built-up area to 800m w shermans hull down behind a wall.  Panther taking lots of low velocity hits which fortunately are mostly on the weapon mount, with one finally holing the gun -- if ya can't beat, knock out the gun .  Lost one sherman, cheap price for a huge gain, as the panther was holding up my entire advance.
Big nasty panther now nothing but a rolling machine gun, watching the reds advance unimpeded.

Feint in the south with major attack on Moscow. Moscow is the Psychological lynchpin. Take Moscow and break their will and then you may win.

RINALDI, well stated.  That danfrodo guy really just doesn't know what's he's talking about
Seriously, I now agree w you on this subject -- I was thinking too small. 

c'mon, Amedeo, let us dream a little.  It's gonna be 100F (38C) here again today and fighting in the snow is looking kinda good right now

Stop it, Dan! You know how annoying I am when I get impatient! 😁

RINALDI, well stated.  That danfrodo guy really just doesn't know what's he's talking about
Seriously, I now agree w you on this subject -- I was thinking too small. 

RINALDI, well stated.  That danfrodo guy really just doesn't know what's he's talking about
Seriously, I now agree w you on this subject -- I was thinking too small. 

RINALDI, well stated.  That danfrodo guy really just doesn't know what's he's talking about
Seriously, I now agree w you on this subject -- I was thinking too small. 

RINALDI, well stated.  That danfrodo guy really just doesn't know what's he's talking about
Seriously, I now agree w you on this subject -- I was thinking too small. 

RINALDI, well stated.  That danfrodo guy really just doesn't know what's he's talking about
Seriously, I now agree w you on this subject -- I was thinking too small. 

The main issue I take with the criticism regarding Churchill's decision to support the Greeks in their struggle is that they are all purely military criticisms. Churchill wasn't a purely military leader (indeed, constitutionally, he wouldn't be much of one at all in any other circumstance other than total war). 
It was an excellent political decision, and arguably a morally sublime one. The United Kingdom was functionally alone at that point, Western Betrayal sentiments were just beginning to really solidify in Poland and Czechoslovakia, and there had hitherto appeared to be no way to get at the Germans on the continent since being bounced off it in 1940. Intervention in Greece showed that the UK was still very much willing to fight against the odds. Crucially, it demonstrated that it wouldn't further abandon anyone who sought to resist Fascism and Nazism. The decision may have made Wavell despair but it certainly would have been a trumpet blast to occupied Europe, and the Americans, that the British were willing to not only defend themselves on their island, but to seek active decision with the enemy. In short, there were political considerations, very good ones. 
Goodness knows there's a lot to criticise Churchill for, the man was far from a saint. I just don't think most of the grounds for criticism are related to his leadership during WWII. From a top-down perspective he did precisely what was necessary to carry his country through the conflict, and it must be said, quite a few other governments-in-exile. Any further analysis is nitpicking best left to academics with more letters behind their names than myself. 

Note that TIK video series that Centurion52 mentions are based on sources such as Glantz, Jason Marks, others, and he cross references his sources looking for confirmation/disagreement to gain a degree of confidence in what he is reporting.  But the visuals are priceless -- think of maps from Glantz et al except shown dynamically.  Great stuff.

I think it may have been possible for the Germans to beat the Soviets. I don't think it was possible for them to win WW2 mind you, but that's a separate topic (basically there is no way they build a navy strong enough to beat the British and Americans before the Americans get nukes).
I guess my opinion is that Operation Barbarossa went about as well for the Germans as it was ever going to. Some adjustment to decisions made during Barbarossa might make a marginal difference. The real make or break operation (I think) was Fall Blau.
Fall Blau of course was the big plan to take the Caucasus oil fields. The original plan was that Army Groups A and B would be launched one at a time, with Army Group B forming a northern blocking line stretching along the Don and Volga to Astrakhan, and then Army Group A would charge into the Caucasus and take the oil fields at Maikop and Grozny (and optimistically Baku as well). The plan changed early on with initially very weak Soviet resistance, leading the Germans to conclude that the Soviet army had collapsed, so they launched both Army Groups at the same time in order to speed the capture of the oil fields. This diluted the strength and logistical support of both Army Groups. On top of that units were pulled from the operation to reinforce Army Group Center.
Historically Army Group B only got about half way to Astrakhan, stalling out at Stalingrad. Army Group A was able to take Maikop, but couldn't take Grozny. And the oil fields at Maikop had been wrecked by the Soviets before the Germans could capture them. The Germans would be forced to retreat from the Caucasus before they could repair the oil fields at Maikop.
If the Germans could somehow win Fall Blau they could resume the highly mobile warfare that brought them their early successes, and possibly defeat the Soviets. But creating a scenario in which they win Fall Blau isn't easy. The obvious steps involve keeping to the original plan, allowing each Army Group to move with full strength and support (also don't strip any units away from Fall Blau, and prioritize reinforcements to Army Groups A and B, instead of to Army Group Center). This almost certainly would have led to the Germans winning the Battle of Stalingrad, since they were so close to taking the city historically that it seems even the slightest nudge would have made the difference in that battle. But Stalingrad is only a milestone enroute to Astrakhan, and there is no guarantee that this is enough to get them all the way to Astrakhan.
If it is enough for them to take Astrakhan and dig in along the planned northern blocking line, then Army Group A has almost a free hand in the Caucasus. The Germans take Maikop, Grozny, and Baku. Of course the Soviets still wreck all of the oil fields before the Germans can capture them (like they did historically with Maikop), so the northern blocking line needs to hold long enough for the Germans to repair the oil fields. Historically the part of the line that had already formed along the Don did not hold against the Soviet Operation Uranus. Perhaps the line is stronger now that Army Group B is no longer trying to conduct offensive operations at the same time. Or perhaps Fall Blau really was doomed from the start. There is no change I can think of that will guarantee German success, only changes that give slightly better chances of success.