dbsapp

Thanks guys.
Day 2. just woke up. FEELING BETTER. the body aches seem to have disappeared! Last night I felt painful throat with congestion but I got up and gargled a long time and it seems gone for now. Wife is making a big crockpot of turkey soup! Have not even had my coffee yet and I feel more energetic vs yesterday. 
 
PLEASE PM ME IF YOU CAN RIGHT NOW PLAYTEST A SMALL SCENARIO...thanks
 

This camo is from @37mm All in One modpack.
The campaign is truly well done. It skillfully mixes company size operations with epic scale tank battles. The level of Soviet casualties is really staggering, but most of them come from 2 mission when you defend against waves of Soviet tanks and troops. 
AI never plays well enough when it comes to attack human player.
 

Its a good thing the devs probably used the Steelbeasts '79  M1 Abrams armor values instead of using real life documents because I've looked at real life documents and using real life documents would have been inconsistent as hell.
 
This is especially true pertaining to their ke protection values. A British Army evaluation from 1982 ("Future Main Battle Tank from 1-3-82 to 3-28-83)  rated the '79 Abrams as "slightly less than the Challenger 1" in ke protection. If this is true, then the Abrams would be slightly less than 500mm vs ke. We know this wasn't an M1IP or M1A1 prototype because before those entered service (the IP entered service in '84 and the A1 entered service in '85), both of those carried the prototype designation M1E1. The vehicle in the British evaluation is just called M1 Abrams. 
 
Slightly less than 500 would also imply the '79 Abrams would have been tested to withstand West German DM-13 (penetrates 450mm at 1km) which was more powerful than the Soviet BM-22 we have in game.
 
A CIA document from 1982 ("PROPOSAL FOR INTERAGENCY INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM ON SOVIET ARMOR PROGRAM") rates one version of the Abrams as "400mm rha vs ke and 750mm rha vs heat".
 
Another CIA document from 1987 ("NEAR EAST AND SOUTH ASIA REVIEW") rates the M1A1 as 380mm ve ke attack and 900 vs heat. 
 

 
 
The firepower and armor protection results for the Future Main Battle Tank Evaluation

 
 
A British MOD brochure from around the same time (the very early 80s).

 
 
 
The 1982 CIA document

 
 
 
XM1 Vulnerability Analysis 1977
 

 
 
XM1 British Trial March-April 1978
 

This camo is from @37mm All in One modpack.
The campaign is truly well done. It skillfully mixes company size operations with epic scale tank battles. The level of Soviet casualties is really staggering, but most of them come from 2 mission when you defend against waves of Soviet tanks and troops. 
AI never plays well enough when it comes to attack human player.
 

Finally returned to the "Broken Shields" campaign after long period of oblivion since July. I stuck on the 10th mission "The Whirlwind" and left. Turned out it was the last scenario of the while campaign and I was several inches from the victory.
Well... not the victory actually. 

The last mission ended in bitter defeat for my German troops. It was close to impossible to win it and I guess it was meant to be lost. After all it resulted in complete failure for the Reich in real world. Anyway, the mission did well in conveying the apocalyptical feelings of retreating German troops seeking to save their lives and trying to find exit from the deadly trap among heavy snowfall and dozens of Russian tanks. 
To my surprise Reg Norge HQ himself was suddenly ambushed by the team of bailed out T-34!

I planned to send him to the extraction zone after all of his troops left, but it seems that the old fox decided to save his skin, ignore my orders and to flee first. Actually, he survived and escaped 😆 contrary to great number of troops under his command. 
I lost all of the remaining tanks in this mission.


Despite defeat at the end, the campaign was quite generous to me. 

 

Finally returned to the "Broken Shields" campaign after long period of oblivion since July. I stuck on the 10th mission "The Whirlwind" and left. Turned out it was the last scenario of the while campaign and I was several inches from the victory.
Well... not the victory actually. 

The last mission ended in bitter defeat for my German troops. It was close to impossible to win it and I guess it was meant to be lost. After all it resulted in complete failure for the Reich in real world. Anyway, the mission did well in conveying the apocalyptical feelings of retreating German troops seeking to save their lives and trying to find exit from the deadly trap among heavy snowfall and dozens of Russian tanks. 
To my surprise Reg Norge HQ himself was suddenly ambushed by the team of bailed out T-34!

I planned to send him to the extraction zone after all of his troops left, but it seems that the old fox decided to save his skin, ignore my orders and to flee first. Actually, he survived and escaped 😆 contrary to great number of troops under his command. 
I lost all of the remaining tanks in this mission.


Despite defeat at the end, the campaign was quite generous to me. 

 

Finally returned to the "Broken Shields" campaign after long period of oblivion since July. I stuck on the 10th mission "The Whirlwind" and left. Turned out it was the last scenario of the while campaign and I was several inches from the victory.
Well... not the victory actually. 

The last mission ended in bitter defeat for my German troops. It was close to impossible to win it and I guess it was meant to be lost. After all it resulted in complete failure for the Reich in real world. Anyway, the mission did well in conveying the apocalyptical feelings of retreating German troops seeking to save their lives and trying to find exit from the deadly trap among heavy snowfall and dozens of Russian tanks. 
To my surprise Reg Norge HQ himself was suddenly ambushed by the team of bailed out T-34!

I planned to send him to the extraction zone after all of his troops left, but it seems that the old fox decided to save his skin, ignore my orders and to flee first. Actually, he survived and escaped 😆 contrary to great number of troops under his command. 
I lost all of the remaining tanks in this mission.


Despite defeat at the end, the campaign was quite generous to me. 

 

Finally returned to the "Broken Shields" campaign after long period of oblivion since July. I stuck on the 10th mission "The Whirlwind" and left. Turned out it was the last scenario of the while campaign and I was several inches from the victory.
Well... not the victory actually. 

The last mission ended in bitter defeat for my German troops. It was close to impossible to win it and I guess it was meant to be lost. After all it resulted in complete failure for the Reich in real world. Anyway, the mission did well in conveying the apocalyptical feelings of retreating German troops seeking to save their lives and trying to find exit from the deadly trap among heavy snowfall and dozens of Russian tanks. 
To my surprise Reg Norge HQ himself was suddenly ambushed by the team of bailed out T-34!

I planned to send him to the extraction zone after all of his troops left, but it seems that the old fox decided to save his skin, ignore my orders and to flee first. Actually, he survived and escaped 😆 contrary to great number of troops under his command. 
I lost all of the remaining tanks in this mission.


Despite defeat at the end, the campaign was quite generous to me. 

 

Summer afternoon assault

Having a blast with CMCW single scenarios recently. Almost all scenarios are of an excellent quality. But even among them are some real gems, like "Rumpenheim Rumpus". I give it 6 red stars out of possible 5. 
Very clever, tense and literally perfect scenario. So much fun. 
In this scenario you have to cross the river and capture the town. You are given really powerful forces, tanks, plenty of artillery and aviation support, but the time is limited to 1 hour and only amphibious vehicle can reach the town. 
What's really good is AI paths. Town defenders are not stationary towers, but they are moving making very realistic impression. 
After I called all of my artillery on the ground and my Migs dropped their bombs, the first engagement was ATGM duel. I was surprised, but my BRDM's (bottomed up of course) showed their bright side and won it against M150 Tank Hunters.


One of the BRDMs achieved really remarkable results and will be turned into monument in front of the Communist Youth League building in London after this bloody war is over 🙂

 I gained stable footing and decided to proceed to amphibious landing.

I made a mistake, wrongly decided that the river could be crossed in every part . AI led my BMPs to one of the possible crossing routs, instead of the route I planned, and they were hit by single M60 hidden behind the church. I lost 3 vehicles, but the 4th killed the tank with ATGM. 

Several enemy tanks came from the rear to the front to prevent  assembling forces from attack. Town defenders called artillery right on the place of the crossing, but I launched the amphibious landing anyway, because the time was short.



I found out that my artillery did the job and suppressed the enemy troops in the  ruins, but soon a lot of survived units showed themselves and they received the reinforcements. It all turned into spectacular guerilla warfare. 


When I became really nervous that I wouldn't make it on time, 5 minutes before the timer ends the mission completed with "Total Victory".

The post operation picture of poor town:

 

Having a blast with CMCW single scenarios recently. Almost all scenarios are of an excellent quality. But even among them are some real gems, like "Rumpenheim Rumpus". I give it 6 red stars out of possible 5. 
Very clever, tense and literally perfect scenario. So much fun. 
In this scenario you have to cross the river and capture the town. You are given really powerful forces, tanks, plenty of artillery and aviation support, but the time is limited to 1 hour and only amphibious vehicle can reach the town. 
What's really good is AI paths. Town defenders are not stationary towers, but they are moving making very realistic impression. 
After I called all of my artillery on the ground and my Migs dropped their bombs, the first engagement was ATGM duel. I was surprised, but my BRDM's (bottomed up of course) showed their bright side and won it against M150 Tank Hunters.


One of the BRDMs achieved really remarkable results and will be turned into monument in front of the Communist Youth League building in London after this bloody war is over 🙂

 I gained stable footing and decided to proceed to amphibious landing.

I made a mistake, wrongly decided that the river could be crossed in every part . AI led my BMPs to one of the possible crossing routs, instead of the route I planned, and they were hit by single M60 hidden behind the church. I lost 3 vehicles, but the 4th killed the tank with ATGM. 

Several enemy tanks came from the rear to the front to prevent  assembling forces from attack. Town defenders called artillery right on the place of the crossing, but I launched the amphibious landing anyway, because the time was short.



I found out that my artillery did the job and suppressed the enemy troops in the  ruins, but soon a lot of survived units showed themselves and they received the reinforcements. It all turned into spectacular guerilla warfare. 


When I became really nervous that I wouldn't make it on time, 5 minutes before the timer ends the mission completed with "Total Victory".

The post operation picture of poor town:

 

Having a blast with CMCW single scenarios recently. Almost all scenarios are of an excellent quality. But even among them are some real gems, like "Rumpenheim Rumpus". I give it 6 red stars out of possible 5. 
Very clever, tense and literally perfect scenario. So much fun. 
In this scenario you have to cross the river and capture the town. You are given really powerful forces, tanks, plenty of artillery and aviation support, but the time is limited to 1 hour and only amphibious vehicle can reach the town. 
What's really good is AI paths. Town defenders are not stationary towers, but they are moving making very realistic impression. 
After I called all of my artillery on the ground and my Migs dropped their bombs, the first engagement was ATGM duel. I was surprised, but my BRDM's (bottomed up of course) showed their bright side and won it against M150 Tank Hunters.


One of the BRDMs achieved really remarkable results and will be turned into monument in front of the Communist Youth League building in London after this bloody war is over 🙂

 I gained stable footing and decided to proceed to amphibious landing.

I made a mistake, wrongly decided that the river could be crossed in every part . AI led my BMPs to one of the possible crossing routs, instead of the route I planned, and they were hit by single M60 hidden behind the church. I lost 3 vehicles, but the 4th killed the tank with ATGM. 

Several enemy tanks came from the rear to the front to prevent  assembling forces from attack. Town defenders called artillery right on the place of the crossing, but I launched the amphibious landing anyway, because the time was short.



I found out that my artillery did the job and suppressed the enemy troops in the  ruins, but soon a lot of survived units showed themselves and they received the reinforcements. It all turned into spectacular guerilla warfare. 


When I became really nervous that I wouldn't make it on time, 5 minutes before the timer ends the mission completed with "Total Victory".

The post operation picture of poor town:

 

Having a blast with CMCW single scenarios recently. Almost all scenarios are of an excellent quality. But even among them are some real gems, like "Rumpenheim Rumpus". I give it 6 red stars out of possible 5. 
Very clever, tense and literally perfect scenario. So much fun. 
In this scenario you have to cross the river and capture the town. You are given really powerful forces, tanks, plenty of artillery and aviation support, but the time is limited to 1 hour and only amphibious vehicle can reach the town. 
What's really good is AI paths. Town defenders are not stationary towers, but they are moving making very realistic impression. 
After I called all of my artillery on the ground and my Migs dropped their bombs, the first engagement was ATGM duel. I was surprised, but my BRDM's (bottomed up of course) showed their bright side and won it against M150 Tank Hunters.


One of the BRDMs achieved really remarkable results and will be turned into monument in front of the Communist Youth League building in London after this bloody war is over 🙂

 I gained stable footing and decided to proceed to amphibious landing.

I made a mistake, wrongly decided that the river could be crossed in every part . AI led my BMPs to one of the possible crossing routs, instead of the route I planned, and they were hit by single M60 hidden behind the church. I lost 3 vehicles, but the 4th killed the tank with ATGM. 

Several enemy tanks came from the rear to the front to prevent  assembling forces from attack. Town defenders called artillery right on the place of the crossing, but I launched the amphibious landing anyway, because the time was short.



I found out that my artillery did the job and suppressed the enemy troops in the  ruins, but soon a lot of survived units showed themselves and they received the reinforcements. It all turned into spectacular guerilla warfare. 


When I became really nervous that I wouldn't make it on time, 5 minutes before the timer ends the mission completed with "Total Victory".

The post operation picture of poor town:

 

Having a blast with CMCW single scenarios recently. Almost all scenarios are of an excellent quality. But even among them are some real gems, like "Rumpenheim Rumpus". I give it 6 red stars out of possible 5. 
Very clever, tense and literally perfect scenario. So much fun. 
In this scenario you have to cross the river and capture the town. You are given really powerful forces, tanks, plenty of artillery and aviation support, but the time is limited to 1 hour and only amphibious vehicle can reach the town. 
What's really good is AI paths. Town defenders are not stationary towers, but they are moving making very realistic impression. 
After I called all of my artillery on the ground and my Migs dropped their bombs, the first engagement was ATGM duel. I was surprised, but my BRDM's (bottomed up of course) showed their bright side and won it against M150 Tank Hunters.


One of the BRDMs achieved really remarkable results and will be turned into monument in front of the Communist Youth League building in London after this bloody war is over 🙂

 I gained stable footing and decided to proceed to amphibious landing.

I made a mistake, wrongly decided that the river could be crossed in every part . AI led my BMPs to one of the possible crossing routs, instead of the route I planned, and they were hit by single M60 hidden behind the church. I lost 3 vehicles, but the 4th killed the tank with ATGM. 

Several enemy tanks came from the rear to the front to prevent  assembling forces from attack. Town defenders called artillery right on the place of the crossing, but I launched the amphibious landing anyway, because the time was short.



I found out that my artillery did the job and suppressed the enemy troops in the  ruins, but soon a lot of survived units showed themselves and they received the reinforcements. It all turned into spectacular guerilla warfare. 


When I became really nervous that I wouldn't make it on time, 5 minutes before the timer ends the mission completed with "Total Victory".

The post operation picture of poor town:

 

Agree and disagree. 
Agree that game needs more healthy criticism instead of permanent worshipping. In many aspects it feels outdated, ancient and cumbersome. 
Some things could be fixed quite easily without much time investment (at least it seems so). E.g. movements command, hunt etc. 
Disagree that modules feel the same. In my opinion they are all quite different and require different playstyle, variable strategies and approach. You can't command your Soviet troops in Red Thunder the same way you manage US troops in CMBS. That's one of the best achievements of Combat Mission: basically it's the same engine, but units properties differ substantially and it makes different game every time. 

Ah, yeah. My previous experience with Matrix PBEM++ is that people tend to set up matches between themselves, say here on the forum or FGM (in this case), and then one will post the match, to prevent random people grabbing it. I've done it that way several times with WitW and Flashpoint Campaigns - agree with someone on the scenario and then one of us posts and the other accepts. 
So if you just want to play a random game, probably your best bet is to create one, and leave it NOT password protected and someone will no doubt grab it. It's just a function of how people prefer to set things up, I guess.
Dave

thefewgoodmen or the unofficial discord.

Found the answer in the manual:
Setting Up a PBEM++ Battle
To start a battle with the PBEM++ system either choose a premade scenario or set up a Quick Battle. When setting up battle select the “2 Players - Automated PBEM++” mode of play. At this time you may enter a password if you wish for a specific opponent to be able to play the battle against you. The battle has then been created and appears in the Challenge lobby.
Playing a PBEM++ Battle
All battles available for play are in the Automated PBEM++ Challenges lobby. This can be found by going into the "Saved Games & PBEM portion of Combat Mission from the Opening menu. A drop down menu will present you with several choices. “Automated PBEM++ Challenges” is where you will find battles that are available to be played. You will see the battle that you created listed there, along with battles that others have created that are available for play. To play a battle, simply select a battle from the list and click on “Fight!”. If the battle is password protected, a "*" will appear next to the battle name: you will need the password from the creator of the Challenge to play these battles.
Once you have completed your turn, the file will automatically be uploaded to our servers and sent to your opponent. When you opponent completes their turn you will receive an email notification. Select the "Saved Games & PBEM" option in the Opening menu and use the drop menu to select “Automated PBEM++ In Progress”. You will see your game turn there. Select the turn that you want to play and click on “Fight!”. Continue this until the battle has concluded.

A few screenshots from a new scenario "Opening Encounter" created by @Combatintman  The mission is set in Lithuania's western border with the Kaliningrad Oblast where a US force has hurriedly deployed in response to a thrust east out of Kaliningrad in support of a Suwalki Gap attack.  Below is a link to the topic.  As usual Combatintman used a real world location/map.  Very cool. 
 

Agree and disagree. 
Agree that game needs more healthy criticism instead of permanent worshipping. In many aspects it feels outdated, ancient and cumbersome. 
Some things could be fixed quite easily without much time investment (at least it seems so). E.g. movements command, hunt etc. 
Disagree that modules feel the same. In my opinion they are all quite different and require different playstyle, variable strategies and approach. You can't command your Soviet troops in Red Thunder the same way you manage US troops in CMBS. That's one of the best achievements of Combat Mission: basically it's the same engine, but units properties differ substantially and it makes different game every time. 

Agree and disagree. 
Agree that game needs more healthy criticism instead of permanent worshipping. In many aspects it feels outdated, ancient and cumbersome. 
Some things could be fixed quite easily without much time investment (at least it seems so). E.g. movements command, hunt etc. 
Disagree that modules feel the same. In my opinion they are all quite different and require different playstyle, variable strategies and approach. You can't command your Soviet troops in Red Thunder the same way you manage US troops in CMBS. That's one of the best achievements of Combat Mission: basically it's the same engine, but units properties differ substantially and it makes different game every time. 

I've never had nightmares about CQB. Was he C-3PO's older, evil brother?

Agree and disagree. 
Agree that game needs more healthy criticism instead of permanent worshipping. In many aspects it feels outdated, ancient and cumbersome. 
Some things could be fixed quite easily without much time investment (at least it seems so). E.g. movements command, hunt etc. 
Disagree that modules feel the same. In my opinion they are all quite different and require different playstyle, variable strategies and approach. You can't command your Soviet troops in Red Thunder the same way you manage US troops in CMBS. That's one of the best achievements of Combat Mission: basically it's the same engine, but units properties differ substantially and it makes different game every time.