Monty's Mighty Moustache

Thanks. No it's not my own, I do have some mods installed but I can't remember which. I'll check later and report back. MMM

Some screenies from some recent PBEM battles (I am the Soviets): MMM

Oh and petrol peaked at almost £1.90 per litre for unleaded, it’s dropped to just under £1.70 but it’s still crippling for a lot of people. MMM

I’m on a standard tariff with the supplier (fixed deal ended at just the wrong time) and it’s 27.09p per kWh and there’s a standing charge of 48.91p per day for electricity. It was half that this time last year and not looking forward to October when it all goes up again. Won’t stop me playing though MMM

Basically how I approach it is to do the same analysis you have done but from the defender’s point of view. Identify the attackers likely AoAs, check observation onto those AoAs, identify obstacles and choke points etc (basically OCOKA) and then think how you would set up a platoon using that info. Helps identify likely positions that the enemy may occupy and the type of defence they may employ (defence in depth, strongpoint etc). The forces they have available will influence that too. MMM

I think he could absolutely get there with enough time and effort, my reservations were around his very aggressive timescales. MMM

Thanks, yes starting to. Need to get this finished off so there should be more regular updates coming. MMM

Ahh I recognise that bunker, I'm playing through that campaign (slowly) at the moment. I smoked it up and went around to the left of the trees and hit it from behind with a platoon of Shermans once the resistance ahead at the stream was mopped up. Glad you got rid of it. MMM

Only just saw this. I applaud his ambition but having been through the Reddit thread and watched the video I would be stunned if anything half-way decent is released by the end of next year. I work in software and the biggest pain for us is always integrating third party software, he seems to think that plugging software in to handle LOS and such is going to make his job easy, oh boy is he about to get a shock. Also with only one yaar of development under his belt, and not even low level programming at that, I don't think he'll have the chops to pull it off. Shame, as it's a great idea but as others have pointed out with large companies like Graviteam and CA taking years to implement this stuff I do think he's bitten off more than he can chew. Hope he proves me wrong. MMM

Yes it would be good to compare. It's certainly an interesting dilemma: take a rag tag mix of units that are underpowered as far as infantry go and secure an area this size against overwhelming numbers. I thought long and hard about whether to split them up or not, we'll see how it turns out. MMM

What chuck says, or if all else fails smoke them up and go by. MMM

The One Hundred and Fourth Minute (Much Delayed - soz) KG Leino - Die Mitte I decide to pull Jean back under covering fire of T2 as he has the spotting contacts wrt the armour and I want to get the info to the Tigers asap. He does not come under fire, and is almost back at turn's end. On the right I've still got troops watching the road to the farm. I'm thinking of sending a team out to check if that T34 is still in the trees guarding that approach to make sure it isn't sneaking up on KG Perala on the right. KG Koskela - die Links The Panthers are area firing the trees and the bend in the road as that's where he seems to have concentrated his forces. The dismounts come up level to the StuG and start taking scattered mortar fire. One man gets slightly wounded but there are no other casualties. The culprit is soon spotted sitting out in a field. Strange choice of location, he'll get some love next turn. KG Perala - das Rechts The StuG nudges forward into visual range of the road... ...as does the Tiger... ...and the AT team stops in place hoping to get a shot into the flank or rear of the repositioning T34. Alas they never get the spot and the T34 makes it to wherever it is going. It's time to begin the assault, the KG is far too exposed out here in the tundra and I've pushed my luck as far as I can, I'm expecting him to launch an attack to wipe out this force any moment. SITMAP A bit of a pity we couldn't get any spots on that T34 on the right but them's the breaks. I'll pull the Tiger and StuG back and start advancing on GRAU. KG Koskela may be up against more than they can handle. I'm going to do a little test to see if he has infantry supporting the T34s in the trees, I would be shocked if he didn't but hopefully we'll know soon. I also am curious as to what he has done, if anything, with the forces that were in the trees "guarding" the highway. In the middle I'm going to share the intel that Jean has gathered and then start to advance to see if we can find where those T34s went and if they are indeed still on this side of the stream. MMM

Just to check, when listing the saved games you haven’t got the filter set to exclude the PBEM files have you? MMM

Fair points, and I am certainly not trying to change anyone's mind, people like different things Curiosity satiated. It does strike me thought that one could level a lot of those arguments at Normandy too: small QB maps (for the most part), better suited to infantry-centric battles due to bocage etc yet it's the biggest seller and certainly gets a lot of love. MMM

@Artkinwhat is it about CMFI that you don't like? I see this a lot, it seems to be unpopular but I can't for the life of me figure out why. With the expansions it covers the most time (1943 to end of war), has the most nations (I think) and has all kinds of terrain to fight over and weather to fight in. It's one of my favourites. MMM

The answer to these questions are “it depends”. The objective of recon in a recon pull is to find the enemy, his dispositions and as much of his TO&E as you can in order to formulate plans to attack. In a command push then it’s there to engage the enemy along the chosen avenue of approach to clear the way for the main body. The link that Bil posted above to the article on his blog about having the patience to see is really a great read and if you haven’t already then I’d recommend doing so. MMM

Apologies for the delay, RL has been a bit bumpy recently and we've actually finished this battle and the one we're fighting now is utterly massive so it takes me a while to do my turns. I'll get the next update out in the next few days. MMM

Loving this, I engaged in similar tactics when I played the Hasty Attack. Must get back to that campaign at some point. MMM

It’s available direct from the website, why can’t you buy it from there? You will also get a Steam key when it is released https://www.battlefront.com/battle-for-normandy/cmbn-big-bundle/ MMM

Seems it’s been officially announced Ukraine war: US to send longer-range rockets in latest aid package https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61655577

I think if you try and move them they will stop and take rest breaks, about 90 seconds IIRC. It's been a long time since I tried it though. MMM

Great video! I'm glad it's not just me who gets his vehicles pinned in place by not realising there is no way out MMM

Yup, I refer to him as the national rabble-rouser. Can be entertaining to listen to people complain about nothing but other than that I pay him little heed. MMM

Looking forward to it all kicking off, following this one! MMM

ISW update is up for yesterday for those that haven’t seen it: https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-april-23 This part caught my attention and would appreciate insight from those with more knowledge and experience than I. I find it curious that they are not being allowed to rest and refit. Could this be because there isn’t time? Or perhaps there are no forces and equipment available to refit them with? Or perhaps they aren’t that badly degraded? A combination of all three? MMM