Patton Musuem Extravaganza

[jgdpzr]

AHA! Looks like I am the first to make it to the board. Those of you who didn't make it, you didn't miss much.

We started with a walkaround the musuem--nothing too exciting for those who've seen it. Then, the Major (Blackhorse), made us all caravan back to these dusty old warehouses where there was nothing but junk. I mean, who wants to spend a couple of hours crawling around, inside, and underneath (to recover a pair of fallen eyeglasses) old WWII vehicles anyway? I mean, there was nothing but stugs, a stuh, a hetzer, Churchill Crocodile, various and sundry Shermans, Pershings, Russian claptraps of all makes and eras, Hummel, Wespe, Marder, Comet, Centurion, Challenger I, Leopard I, various ACs and halftracks, ATGS, field howitzers, a staghound, hellcats, jackson, and Patton's donkey cart, presented to him at Sicily, blah, blah, blah...

Then, the Major marched us off to some glorified "Playstation" (as noted by the staff sargent introducing the thing) tank sim thingee. Geez, you'd think they give you a little more leg room in a $9 million dollar simulator. I've got bruises on my knees from sliding that M1A2 down a hill at entirely too high a speed. Word of warning: You come down too hard off one of those bumps and BAM!, blown suspension housing. But my instructor absolutely forbid me to use the brakes--so what do you expect!?!

Then, we had to sit through several hours of viewing some thing called Barbarossa and Beyond, or something of that ilk. Matt told us not to betray any secrets, so my lips are sealed. Suffice to say, (sarcasm mode off) IT DOESN'T SUCK! Nope, not a bit.

In all seriousness, this was a fantastic day. Blackhorse really laid out the red carpet for us (on crutches for the first part of the day, no less). There was a good collection of 12-15 die hard CM'ers in attendance, and we were all blown away by the new game. Rune and Matt provided outstanding commentary on many of the new features. Folks, we are in for a treat.

Thanks be to Blackhorse (a big hooha for you, my friend) Rune, Matt, and to the army personnel who helped escort us (we've won some converts, methinks), as well as all those in attendance! Hell, Harv came all the way from Saskatchewan(sorry if I butchered the spelling, Harv) for cripes sake. Now, what's your excuse for not being there?

[ August 06, 2002, 08:25 PM: Message edited by: jgdpzr ]

[USTanker]

Darn it; I was hoping to be the first. What a great day! Those of you who could've come and didn't, you really chose poorly. What was not to love? Blackhorse and the Army did one heck of great job in rolling out the red carpet for us. Thanks to all who attended and especially to Blackhorse and the good 'ole US Army. It was a day not soon to be forgotten.

Matt even had some goodies as take-aways.

[Blackhorse]

Guys,

It was a wonderful and memorable day indeed. Nothing beats being able to get together with fellow CM fanatics and to finally meet the guys behind the forum names.

It was a joy to get to know all of you. You are truly a great group of guys, and it was an honor to be able to make all of y'alls acquaintance.

I look forward to the many PBEM games ahead.

CMBB, to put it mildly, ROCKS. It is an exponential leap ahead of CMBO. The changes and additions are many. The changes and additions are great.

The entire Battlefront team is to be commended for raising the stakes to such a high level. If you guys thought CMBO lasted a long time on your harddrives, wait till you get a load of CMBB.

Again, it was a great day. I look forward to the pictures!

Allons,

Blackhorse

[Kong]

What a day! I still cannot believe all the different armor and vehicles we saw today! Better yet we got to climb on and get in many of them! A HUGE Hooha to BlackHorse (and the other great folks at Fort Knox) for setting this up and giving us the grand tour!

Then the M1A2 tank simulators! I'll never look at my PC the same way again. And yes that 40 mph to 0 stop did make my stomach do a few flips. (to keep you from getting completely jealous we were in the "Driving" ONLY simulators).

The "piece de resistanc" (I am sure I butchered that one, lol) was CM:BB! Wow, cool, kick*ass, awesome. I would say more but MadMatt kept saying this was a secret and that was a secret that I can't remember which so I figure I better just keep my mouth shut! The number of units is simply staggering and the sound is AWESOME! I cannot wait to crank this game up on my system!

BattleFront.Com, Combat Mission, and the great folks behind it are truly a gift from the gaming Gods.

Thanks to all who provided the goodies today and it was a sincere pleasure meeting all who were there.

[WWB]

Argh. I got beat to the forum.

Well, all I have to say is WOW! The museum is flippin awesome, and CMBB better still. Many thanks to Blackhorse and the other fine individuals who made the tour possible, and I hope to be posting some pictures soon.

WWB

[Madmatt]

It was indeed an awesome day, to say the very least.

My deepest thanks and gratitude go out to Major Chris Carnes and all the servicemen that were in attendance and volunteered to take a bunch of out of shape civilians around and let us loose on their backlots literally briming with all manner of armored vehicles. Of course the M1A2 driving sim was also incredible to the extreme. 70 tons is a helluva lot of mass to move around let me tell you!

The defining moment of the day was when Staff Sergeant Martinez got me all rigged up to the 9 million dollar full motion tank driving simulator after watching me demo CMBB for an hour. As we activated the system and he booted up the simulator control in the adjacent monitoring room he said to me over the com, "Well, this isnt quite as cool as your game."

Now THAT'S an endorsement!

Again, thanks to everyone that made it out, service personnel and game fans alike!

It was a day I won't soon miss and I had a wonderful time. Everyones enthusiasm for the game is indeed contagious.

Standing from L to R: (Iskander, jeffsmith, Laura Smith, DaveT, Blackhorse, Madmatt, Rune, wwb_99, kking199, Tanker74, Doug Frank)

Kneeling from L to R: (Randl, USTanker, jgdpzr, Harv)

Sitting from L to R: (Junior "evils" Chris Orosz, Nick Orosz)

Madmatt

[ August 07, 2002, 05:24 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

[jeffsmith]

A Hearty Thanx to Blackhorse, Matt, Rune & all the other CMers who made the Patton Museum Rendevous possible (& helped me get around Ft Knox and do some "Tank Climbing") during a simply incredible day

Just got in the door: up at 430am, 4 hour drive from Ft Knox area to Columbus, OH: two plane trips and the commute home

and it was absolutely all worth it !!!!!

& as for CM:BB all I can say is...

I sincerely expect that No-One will be dissapointed

[Randl]

Well said gentlemen, all I can do is concur in the highest. Great folks, impressive sights and experiences; a day of fellowship to be remembered. What an environment to see CMBB in!!

--Randl

[Buckeye]

Man, am I jealous! I think we need to make this an annual event, just so I can go next year! Glad you guys had a great time.

I want to see more pics!

[Iskander]

Originally posted by Madmatt:

Standing from L to R: (Iskander, jeffsmith, ...)

Madmatt

The CORRECT lineup is

"Standing from L to R: (Iskander (holding Critter™ damned and determined to get onto the TD behind us and thus squirming out of the picture), jeffsmith... etc.)

Harumph.

[ex PFC Wintergreen]

Originally posted by Madmatt:

Standing from L to R: (Iskander, jeffsmith, Laura Smith, DaveT, Blackhorse, Madmatt, Rune, wwb_99, kking199, Tanker74, Doug Frank)

Madmatt[/QB]

Pardon my ignorance, but what kind of beast is that behind the group?

[Kingfish]

Originally posted by ex PFC Wintergreen:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Madmatt:

Standing from L to R: (Iskander, jeffsmith, Laura Smith, DaveT, Blackhorse, Madmatt, Rune, wwb_99, kking199, Tanker74, Doug Frank)

Madmatt

Pardon my ignorance, but what kind of beast is that behind the group?[/QB]</font>

[Diceman]

Originally posted by ex PFC Wintergreen:

Pardon my ignorance, but what kind of beast is that behind the group?[/QB]

Heavy Tank, T28, later refered to as T95. Only two produced, 1st one being completed in Sep 45. The second one was destroyed by fire durring trails, so that must be the only one in existance.

[Harv]

Ahhhh, home again. After a grand total of 6250km (3900 miles) of flying to and from (and driving around in) Kentucky I have returned with only minor jet lag. Now, where to begin...

First of all, my thanks again to the US Army, and especially Major Carnes and Lt. LeBlanc for taking the time to herd us around and allow us to see and crawl all over the Really Cool Stuff^TM scattered about the base. This was a once in a lifetime experience, and I cannot express my appreciation enough for being allowed this opportunity. You’d be proud gentlemen…I even maintained three points of contact getting into the airplane for the ride home.

Unfortunately, due to a nasty sinus cold I picked up somewhere I wasn’t willing/able to take the M1 simulator for a spin, but from the looks on everyone’s faces as they emerged it was well worth it. The fact that they were going to allow a Canukianite who had never paid a single tax nickel towards it onboard speaks volumes about the hospitality of our hosts. Kudos to the two Sergeants…Staff Sgt. Martinez & Sgt. ??? (sorry, hopefully the Major can jog my memory here) for putting up with us and taking everyone for a spin.

The CM:BB briefing given by Rune and Madmatt during/after the simulator rides was incredible. To have these two together at the front of the room showing us the features, surprises and details on a large projected screen was something that may well never happen again. The Q&A with them was informative and entertaining, and as I said there (many times)…I no longer want CM:BB,…I NEED it now! There are enough new features and units to keep everyone more than happy until the engine rewrite is done, even if it were to take a decade (hopefully less though) or so for that to happen. Trust me…the wait is well worth it.

For the grand finale of the day, we were ushered into a room at the Leaders Club for some hands on with CM:BB, a draw for some goodies and a general BS session (my apologies to all for not having brought a NIC for my laptop so we could’ve played some head to head). Being able to talk to all of you was great, and if there was one disappointment with the whole event, it’s that it ended much too soon. Amazing how fast 10 hours can go by sometimes. Oh, and for the record, I don’t have an accent…but the rest of you do.

And finally, many thanks to Rune! As the catalyst (instigator?) for the whole trip, he took a simple visit to a museum with his sons and saw it turned it into a big extravaganza, and I only hope he and his family enjoyed it as much as the rest of us. Also, for going above and beyond the call of duty in allowing me to preview CM:BB at his motel yesterday while I waited for my flight out, let it be known that I hereby bestow upon Rune and the Jr. Evils honorary Saskatchewanianite Citizenships! Which, along with a dollar each, might get them a cup of coffee or a can of soda.

Thanks again to all involved for making this such a memorable experience. My apologies if I missed mentioning anyone by name, as my head seems to be reeling still from all we saw and did. It was a great time, and given the opportunity would do it again in a heartbeat! I’ll try to get some pics up soon, and perhaps few anecdotes about some participant’s problems with time zones and car rentals (among other things) will be forthcoming also.

Harv

[tankboy74]

Well, this being my first posting and all I'll keep it short.

I was glad to be able to get the keys and show you all around all day, it was just as much a pleasure for me as it was for you. Yet I must say that my getting into this game has significantly cut down on my sleeping at night since the tour. I think Crack would have been a less addicitive thank you.

My hat is off to the developers and all the attendees, your enjoyment of a mutual intrest always makes it worth the effort.

-Lt LeBlanc

[Kong]

Hey Tankboy74, glad you made it! Tankboy74 was the key master and led us around to all the different buildings where the AFV's were stored. He also was bestowed CM:BO for all his work and has discovered the joy and the dark side, CM addiction!

ps. Where are all the Pic's guys?!?!

[jgdpzr]

I knew we'd be seeing you here Tankboy74. Go ahead and simply embrace the fact that CM will make you its beotch. We've all faced that reality, don't fight it. Or as the infamous CMBorg used to say: "You've been assimilated, resistance is futile."

Seriously, thanks for showing us around. You did a fantastic job and we all appreciated it greatly. But hey, I bet you had more fun than you do on most workdays so I'd say it was a win/win kinda deal.

[Madmatt]

Tankboy,

Make sure and grab the version 1.12 patch as that copy of CMBO I gave you might not have been the latest version.

When the game boots up look at the bottom right hand corner of the main menu screen. It should have the version number there. If its less than 1.12 than you need to install the patch.

Madmatt

[Blackhorse]

Originally posted by tankboy74:

Yet I must say that my getting into this game has significantly cut down on my sleeping at night since the tour. I think Crack would have been less addicitive thank you.

My hat is off to the developers and all the attendees, your enjoyment of a mutual intrest always makes it worth the effort.

-Lt LeBlanc

Lt. LeBlanc,

Welcome to the world of Combat Mission. All other games will pale in comparison hereafter.

Great job on the tour, by the way. Your keen insights and commentary as well as interaction with all the CMers were a great part of the experience.

You will also soon discover that the board here is almost a game onto itself.

Allons,

Blackhorse

[Blackhorse]

Originally posted by wwb_99:

Argh. I got beat to the forum.

Well, all I have to say is WOW! The museum is flippin awesome, and CMBB better still. Many thanks to Blackhorse and the other fine individuals who made the tour possible, and I hope to be posting some pictures soon.

WWB

Looking forward to the pics WWB!

[Doug Frank]

All,

I had a great day, and many thanks to Maj Carnes, Tankboy, Rune, Madmatt, and all those diehard CMers who were there and made this relative newby feel more than welcome. The rest of my month will pale by comparison! It's just a shame I missed out on about half the vehicles, I guess that means I'll have to get in touch with Tankboy and help turn some wrenches here in the future... *sigh*

Doug

[Harv]

OK, I have a bunch of pictures up here.

It's just a quick and dirty job with small fuzzy pictures for now until I can either do it better or find someone that has 130 meg free server space to upload the originals to.

Hopefully the picture title will show at the very top of your browser window. If not, or you have any problems with anything on the page I can *not* be of any assistance whatsoever due to the fact that I have no idea of what I'm doing. And I'm an idiot to boot.

Harv

[DaveT]

J8ust got back in town.The trip was everything everyone above said and more.

Being able to climb all over almost anything you could think of in the way of tanks was a blast. And the simulator was fantastic.

Being able to put faces with names I have been reading on the board for so long was a lot of fun too.

I will be posting pictures soon.

Lastly many thanks to Blackhorse, Tankboy, Madmatt,Rune, and evertone else for a very fun day.

Dave

[DaveT]

Oh I all most forgot CMBB just plan rocks.

Dave

[tankboy74]

Thanks for making me feel welcome here...and as noted (paid political announcement) a good way to see more and get some hands on is to volunteer at the Patton Museum.

This is a fine establishment and is competing for money from every other museum in the gov't. Please if you like what you saw and want to see it last for generations to come (not to mention getting some of the back lot stuff fully restored) please volunteer or make a donation.