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USAF Turn 7 JSTARS continues to pick up sites as it transits through the area.  The F-111 strike is inbound to H3. I've now corrected the OECM birds and they are JAM only.  Weasels are inbound as well. I've got both Mavericks and HARM's so they'll probably go dry quick like. Ideally the Radar goes down first.  Alikchi's Intruders seem to be doing circles over the Iraqi desert. Hopefully my turn ends in time for him to send them onto targets.  Because it's party time at H3!  Mavericks going in on the entry SA-2 site.  The neighboring SA-2 site started to emit and the Weasels launched 6 HARMs...  I've got about a 60% success rate on these things. Someone at Raytheon needs to take a walk behind the barn.  Both of the sites are degraded a bit. I'll re-adjust the patrol area on my next round to ignore these two.  New patrol area is just the Baghdad area.  The end of my turn finds Alikchi's FA-18's headed in. Hopefully they'll arrive at the target zone just before my F-111's transit. Which would be sweet! My Phantoms are a bit lackluster. Ideally I'd change the WRA to less HARM's but seeing how many malfunctions I'm having I'd rather not.
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Apr 24, 2021 19:19
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Somewhere in the desert there is a Fan Song radar with at least two undetonated HARMs sticking out of its radar dishes like drinking straws in a cup.
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Apr 25, 2021 01:43
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USN - Turn 7 Things are really coming together now. The three Paveway-lugging Intruders with Prowler buddy, led by CMDR Pthighs (AKA "Black Falcon 1"), have been loitering unnecessarily, but they ended up in an advantageous position. I turn them (3) northwest with direct orders targeting the Shilkas. A pair of patrolling Prowlers (4) hang out nearby, blasting OECM and waiting for targets to light up. To the south, a huge wave of Yooper's Aardvarks (2) is coordinating nicely with my eight Hornets, led by hotshot pilot CMDR Gervasius.(1).  CMDR Pthighs is probably saying something cool like "smoke em if ya got em, boys" in this shot.  For once, all my aircraft appear to be doing exactly what I've told them to do.  Cool.  5 minutes later, a mixed strike has departed the carriers: 4 Intruders with Maverick anti-tank missiles, and 4 Hornets - two with Walleyes, and two with SLAMs. They'll be the cleanup crew, presuming anything worth bombing survives the onslaught Yooper and I appear to be set to deliver upon H2 and H3.  Pthighs' wing is soaring in. Here goes nothing... Videos: End of Phase 1& Beginning of Phase 2 (x5 speed)  Success! Looks like two Shilka kills, wiping out the southern platoon, and multiple 57mm AA guns knocked out. All ordinance expended, the Pthighs gang heads home. As far as I can tell, there was no return fire whatsoever. Our guys are gonna have a field day here.  The Navy pilots catch sight of the Aardvarks passing by on their way to H3, low to the east at 12,000 feet. They wave.  02:20:00 and the Aardvarks are launching GBU-15 CWW bunker-busters. It's 5:20 AM local, still dark enough for a bit of visual cover.  Yooper's forces update me on their activities in the Baghdad area during the previous pulse - they've been Wild Weaselling around, and blasted another Bar Lock and AA battery a few minutes ago.  The GBU-15 impacts. Looks like a good hit.  Paveways are next to go after the ammo revetments.  In they go...   02:21:26 Zulu: Boom kapow  This series of disconcertingly large explosions jolts an Iraqi radar tech awake, I guess. An SA-14 Gremlin flips on its radar and starts lobbing missiles at the F-111 Aardvarks. 492nd #11 takes a nonlethal hit as all three Aards dive and evade.  One Aardvark, #14, is lethally unlucky.  But my patrolling Prowlers take their shot. HARMs streak in towards the SA-14. The approaching F/A-18s of VFA-138 "Marauders", led by Gervasius, fire an additional three.  02:23:06 Zulu: Only one of the original three Aardvarks is making it home. A fresh pair more pass it on their way north. The pair of Prowler-launched HARMs are locked on to an SA-6 battery. Another SAM is launched at the Aardvarks..  .. and while one HARM misses, we get a good armor-penetrating hit on the SA-6.  As the new trio of F-111s lines up to dump Paveways on targets, the three F/A-18 launched HARMs... all miss.   More good hits on the revetments.  Looks like that pair will make it out safely. Next wave is up, more GBU-15s are coming in...  Another half-dozen F-111s follow up with Paveways, mostly hitting the hardened aircraft shelters.  Then revetments and surface ammunition bunkers... As the bombardment continues to stream in, I hit 02:30:00 and hand the turn over to Yooper.
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Apr 26, 2021 00:26
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Where is the Iraqi airforce?
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Apr 26, 2021 19:19
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USAF Turn 8  Our JSTARS continues to pick up stuff. I'm going to try and reposition it to cover that area and Baghdad a little better. Kills: 01/21/1991 02:17:30Z // Radar (Bar Lock A [P-37]) with AGM-88B HARM 01/21/1991 02:21:07Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:21:21Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:21:23Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:21:37Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:21:44Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:21:55Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:21:58Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:24:13Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:24:15Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:24:23Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:24:38Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:26:00Z // [Target] A/C Quick Turn Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Medium Aircraft) with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:26:03Z // [Target] A/C Quick Turn Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Medium Aircraft) with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:26:04Z // [Target] A/C Tab-Vee Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Large Aircraft) with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:26:10Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:26:18Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:26:32Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] 01/21/1991 02:27:38Z // [Target] A/C Quick Turn Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Medium Aircraft) with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:27:38Z // [Target] A/C Quick Turn Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Medium Aircraft) with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:27:40Z // [Target] A/C Tab-Vee Hardened Aircraft Shelter (1x Large Aircraft) with GBU-15(V)32/B CWW IIR [BLU-109/B] 01/21/1991 02:29:57Z // [Target] Ammo Revetement with GBU-10E/B Paveway II LGB [Mk84] That's a really good smackdown on targets. I'm really happy with the results here.  This sucks though.  This is the BUK that shot it down. It's a fairly capable system.  MANPAD is not what I expected to see knock out an F-111. Saros posted:Where is the Iraqi airforce? This scenario occurs on Day 4 of Desert Storm. My hunch is most of the Iraqi Air Force has departed for Iran. There is a really good Desert Storm scenario in the campaign pack that really beefs up the Iraqi Air Force and they can be downright nasty in a swarm.  There are a few F-111's inbound and then they will head in for a refit. We'll get one more strike in, possibly 2.  The next wave of F-4G's are inbound to Baghdad. Next round through we'll get our F-16's up and focused on Al Taqqadum. I'd like to make sure the air defences there are nice and degraded.  Time to get some Tacview action!  Can see the arc of the GBU's.   We get a few strikes on the bunker but our GBU-10's don't get good penetration. We may have to send in a second strike to really whomp it.   I had no idea a GBU could do that.  We give it a licking, but it keeps ticking. That bunker is the last target at H3. One of the Weasels fires on a AAA site south of Baghdad. Weapon: AGM-65D Maverick IR #1624 missed AAA Bty (57mm S-60 x 6, RPK-1M1 FCR) by 0nm Weapon: AGM-65D Maverick IR has impacted 57mm S60 (of AAA Bty (57mm S-60 x 6, RPK-1M1 FCR))  Speaking of targets, a Mig-23 makes an appearance.  F-15C's promptly go offensive and move to engage.  Swing and a miss!  2nd missile does a bit better.  Hey! A MIG-25P Foxbat rises up from Al Asad.  One of Alikchi's Hornets strikes a AAA battery and knocks it out completely. A 2nd AAA is taken out a minute later.  At the start of the next turn we'll get the F-16's fuelers up and then the F-16's at the end of the turn. Al Taqqadum looks to be a nice soft target and our cluster bombs should make quick work of it. And the iron bombs too...
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Apr 26, 2021 21:54
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Alikchi posted:
Nice! Drinks'r on me boys*, smoke 'em if you got 'em!  *I've got a bottle of peach schnapps hidden in my stateroom. Narrator: CMDR Pthighs would be forcibly discharged from the Navy after the events of the 35th Tailhook Association Symposium 9 months later. pthighs fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Apr 27, 2021 |
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Apr 27, 2021 00:16
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USN Turn 8 With H3's air defences (and mission objectives) almost entirely neutralized, I shift my patrol/prosecution zones around to focus on airbase H2. Four Intruders with Mavericks are vectored in at low altitude, with orders to attack an SA-2 battery and other SAM sites.   The Intruders fire their Mavericks at treetop level and peel off.    That might have been overkill. Heavy damage reported!  More Gervasius Hornets are directed towards H2.  They launch a flurry of Walleyes and SLAM missiles…  The Walleyes miss their target, but the SLAMs ensure that the SA-2 is extremely, definitively out of action.
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Apr 27, 2021 19:58
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After reading up on the Vietnam-era cat-and-mouse hunts between PAVN air defenses and Wild Weasel Thuds, using SLAM cruise missiles against SA-2s feel like downright cheating.
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Apr 28, 2021 01:03
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USAF Turn 9  Short legged Phantoms are topping up fuel before returning to patrol. The Tornado, which must have a gas tank like a swimming pool, is headed in.  I set up two strikes for the Vipers. First is to knock out the Shilkas, Strela, and Roland. The next is to cluster bomb that chemical munitions plant. I'll also send in some F-16's with dumb bombs to help out.  F-111's are headed in for refit. Hopefully I'll have time to swap one to a penetrator. Probably should have done that earlier...  It seems the Iraqi's are a bit shy to emit...  First F-111's are back at base. We begin to refit the standby birds to GBU-24A's. These bad boys were made on the fly out of a M110 Howitzer barrel.  The F-16's are in the air and headed to target. With any luck the Shilka strike will arrive first and actually knock out the Shilka...
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Apr 29, 2021 03:09
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USN Turn 9 We're clearly still in control here.  I tighten up the Gervasius SEAD zone over H2. Time to scour the place for emitters before we come in with the heavy hand.  Two VFA-82 Hornets armed with HARMs make a flyby of the base..  .. and draw fire, which is returned energetically. HARMs away.  Stay down, SA-8.  A few minutes later, a team of Yooper's F-15s put down a Foxbat that stuck its nose out, about 50 miles west of Ramadi. I hope his ejection seat worked because this feels a bit like clubbing seals.  Another wave of HARM Hornets means another wave of misses, baby!   As my turn concludes, I shrink the SEAD patrol zone yet again. Intruders are bracketing H2 as Hornets provide overwatch. If anything lights up... well, we'll probably miss it again, but the enemy will run out of SAMs before we run out of HARMs. I think.
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Apr 30, 2021 19:13
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What in the world is going on with those HARM malfunctions?
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Apr 30, 2021 23:56
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The ghost of buord strikes again.
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May 1, 2021 00:07
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bibliosabreur posted:What in the world is going on with those HARM malfunctions? I suspect that it's a case of mis-reporting the summary. Most ARMs (incl. the HARM) are airburst by design (frag warhead), so a "HARM missed by 2 meters" situation is effectively a good hit with regards to damage applied to the target. Unless you are inside a tank or bunker, you are going to have a very bad day. Dimitris fucked around with this message at 16:31 on May 1, 2021 |
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May 1, 2021 07:59
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You can see the yellow star that shows up when you damage the target. A full on miss would look different.
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May 1, 2021 08:30
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USAF Turn 11  On the plus side we've knocked out a Roland, Shilka, and SA-9. On the down side we lost a Viper to a SA-3. Bummer.  In the north a pair of Eagles are engaing a Mirage F.1EQ. Here's a HushKit article detailing the Mirage's as fairly capable fighters.  The Viper strike package is just about done fueling.  Alas the super cool Mirage is outdated by a decade and the F-15's make short work of it.   I hope that KC-10A can hurry it up. Heat6 will be the first on target with the Mk82 LDGP. We'll see how well we degraded the defenses in a few minutes.  A SAM rises up at Heat 6. Likely a MANPAD as we have no emissions. A second later he releases his ordnance.  We missed? I think I'll need to wait for a BDA.  Yah baby. Splash damage. Picture the pilot in Heat 6 cranking up some Twisted Sister for the ride back. Hell yah.  Heat 6 takes some AAA on the way out. Not sure which systems are damaged yet until I get back in control.  Cluster bombs inbound!    Looks like our friend lost hid comms. This is bad. Which means he's probably on fire.  Tornado action! The GR.1A fires on an SA-6 while te escorts takes on an elderly F-7B Fishbed.  The Fishbed works in concert with an SA-6 and strikes down two Tornados!  Only the GR.1A makes it. The 4 escorting ADV Tornado's are lost to an SA-6. We've got multiple strikers inbound to the Chemical Plant. I have a feeling we'll be sending more. Next turn I'll be turning the non-critical mission zone into a no-fly zone.
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May 2, 2021 21:32
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USN Turn 10 Well, we did some real damage to H2’s air defences during the USAF turn, but we lost two A-7s in the process.  I put together a small mission with a mix of A-7s and A-6s lugging Mk83 dumb bombs and Paveways. Airspace should be clear enough now to start blowing up the hardened aircraft shelters.  10 minutes in and not much is happening in western Iraq, but I note Yooper’s boys Wild Weaseling west of Baghdad again.  Outkast would never write a song called “HARMs over Ramadi” but it’s what we’ve got.  As the turn ends, two of Yooper’s F-15s are chasing an enemy fighter - a Mirage - over the Euphrates. It’s destroyed in the next turn (see Yooper’s post above, lol). USN Turn 11  That mixed strike is on its way to H2. My map is absolutely littered with contact reports at this point.  USAF Wild Weasel F-4s and F-16s, supported by Saudi/Brit Tornadoes, advance in the east while my Intruders and Corsairs work north in the west.  10 minutes in and I assign another mixed strike, this one targeting the H3 airfield.  Those F-16s are doing good work.  Here come my boys.  Here come my boys’ Paveways and Mk 83s.  One penetrating hit!   It’s raining thousand-pounders.  Only light damage reported on this one. Boo. Hopefully wrong.  Ah well. Zero casualties and plenty of ordnance expended. I’ll call that one a good mission.  The H3 strike is in the air now.  And the Iraqis have put up another Mirage. He seems intent on menacing Yooper’s guys buzzing Baghdad.  As my turn ends, that Mirage is getting a little too close to the F-4s for comfort...
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May 5, 2021 18:52
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USAF Turn 12  It's interesting that the JSTARS is still picking stuff up.  Hooray! Two more down from some solid 500 lb bomb hits.  Ouch! Viper down.  Another Mirage is peaking up. A half dozen Eagles are up to intercept. The Mirage is going to have a bad day.  Our last Viper is inbound with 3000 lbs of bombs. I've tasked the remaining 4 F-16's on this target.  Ahh, we re-acquired the targets at H3.  Bombs away!  Missiles away!  Boom boom!  It took 5 AIM-7's to knock the Mirage out. Ugh. Evasive little bugger.  Not much more action for this turn. We've got 3 hours until the F-111's finish re-arming.  I don't know if I missed the pop up, or didn't get a pop up because this guy appeared on my "off" turn, but a MIG-21 just wiped out our JSTARS with a heater.  So this may be our last turn! CMO is due for a big update tomorrow to coincide with the release of Kashmir Fire. The IKE creator warned me it'll break this PBEM save. Other than watching a dumpster fire of me losing JSTARS to MIG-21's, we may take a break and then do another CMO PBEM mission again in the future! On top of that we have 3 hours of just hitting space bar as the clock runs down and our F-15's patrol.
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May 5, 2021 23:05
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Interested as to what the x-factor is between this and the massive success that it was in reality.
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May 6, 2021 02:41
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That Fishbed pilot is getting some medals. 
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May 6, 2021 03:56
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Hot drat, this is intense, the whole air war of Iraq during the first Gulf War is a pretty fascinating subject. The guys who did the informational video about that F-16 that danced with 6 SAMS also have an overview of Day 1 of the air war. The sheer amount of moving pieces that were being juggled is insane.
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May 6, 2021 10:51
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As expected the update broke our save. But it's a convenient spot to halt the mission. The next few hours of back and forth would be fairly quiet. On the plus side Kashmir Fire is out and I'm losing far too many planes over the Pakistani-Indian border. Thank god for restart! So who won? Obviously you, the common goon! Saddam was very well degraded and would have lost damned near everything. Unfortunately we did lose a lot of planes and to add icing to Saddams cake, the JSTARS. We're going to ask for a rematch at a future date, and until then I'll concede my  to Kiva!Who is our lucky Kiva winner?  Mahmoud of Zarqa Jordan! Totally not a head shop. quote:A loan of $1,425 helps to bring new scents for his customers that will be looking to buy perfume for Eid to give as gifts for their loved ones to keep his business in a good position in the market. A Jordanian perfume dealer. Sounds like a character from The Hired Gooniverse! quote:Mahmoud opened his shop in 2018. Ever since, he has been crafting perfumes for his customers. He brings a new and vibrant feel to perfume. A modern taste for a traditional flavor. His perfumes are excellent as gifts. He hopes this Eid will be a good time for sales. A loan will help him get more scents for his concoctions. He has a good future ahead of him.  Godspeed you crazy perfumer. Should you also want to give a Jordanian Perfumer go to https://www.kiva.org/invitedby/casey9670/for/2162307?utm_source=social_share_link&utm_campaign=social_share_checkout
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May 7, 2021 02:02
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I like to imagine it had to end because Yooper and Alikchi were on that JSTARS .
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May 7, 2021 02:46
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Natty Ninefingers posted:Interested as to what the x-factor is between this and the massive success that it was in reality. CMO gives a lot of credit to equipment and plane operators and models any weapons system as part of their side's information network, with perfect OODA loops that get worse only through longer delay times if the unit is less experienced. It makes it difficult to properly model the fog of war that would be nighttime strikes between two asymmetrical forces. I guess it's possible, but the scenario design would have to happen at a very granular level to make it more interesting (different command structures within a faction having different sides, for example). CMO works best when you expect both sides to be operating in a very modern, very high information environment.
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May 7, 2021 09:43
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Natty Ninefingers posted:Interested as to what the x-factor is between this and the massive success that it was in reality. We've commented in the past on the perils of tailoring wargames too closely after historical results: https://command.matrixgames.com/?p=2793 Humans have a tendency to normalize events after-the-fact: It happened this way, so it was inevitable (or the more likely outcome) that given the circumstances it would happen this way. Sometimes it's true, sometimes you get an outlier. (Ultra-modern F-15Es will be shot down by ancient SA-2s ??? Well, they were indeed shot down, twice).
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May 13, 2021 18:34
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TheDemon posted:CMO gives a lot of credit to equipment and plane operators and models any weapons system as part of their side's information network, with perfect OODA loops that get worse only through longer delay times if the unit is less experienced. It makes it difficult to properly model the fog of war that would be nighttime strikes between two asymmetrical forces. I guess it's possible, but the scenario design would have to happen at a very granular level to make it more interesting (different command structures within a faction having different sides, for example). Have a try at Bekaa Valley (last scenario of Shifting Sands campaign). If you use the historical Israeli playbook (incl. comms jamming), you have a good chance. If you try to muscle your way through, you'll probably suffer massive casualties.
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May 13, 2021 18:37
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Thanks for writing this up. I've been mucking around with this myself. I'm not really past the point of using it to smash action figures together in the knowledge that they're very detailed and accurate action figures. Is there a general thread for it in the games forum?
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Jun 28, 2021 04:05
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Snowman_McK posted:Thanks for writing this up. I've been mucking around with this myself. I'm not really past the point of using it to smash action figures together in the knowledge that they're very detailed and accurate action figures. Is there a general thread for it in the games forum? CMO and its ilk are usually covered in the Grognard Games thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3887173. Stop on by!
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Jun 28, 2021 07:53
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pthighs posted:CMO and its ilk are usually covered in the Grognard Games thread: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3887173. Stop on by! Thanks so much
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Jun 29, 2021 01:31
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A fun read!
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Jun 30, 2021 02:34
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It was a lot of fun! I hope PBEM gets more popular, the implementation is great and I'd love to do more.
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Jul 1, 2021 02:20
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