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Author Topic: 1995 - CSL  (Read 14817 times)

bayonetbrant

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on: October 18, 2019, 09:35:50 AM
After Barth mentioned their sale, I took a look over at their website to see what's there, and 1995 caught my eye, as modern warfare is stuff I really enjoy.

https://www.consimsltd.com/shop/1995

Here's the rub....

Quote
The OOB includes a well researched collection of available divisions and air assets. The Russian OOB is based off the militia which attacked Grozny in 1994. The JNA is accurately represented though assumed to be at full strength. Numerous other Balkan and NATO nations are represented. 1995 focuses more on maneuver and less on chrome as there are no special counters, but lots of units instead.

let's look at the counters, though (attachment include my notes)

the US maneuver units (which I know really well) have designation problems everywhere, especially for claiming to be a "well researched collection of available divisions and air assets"

The 1st Cav, 1st ID(M), 10th MTN are all actually designated as brigades in their symbology.  And 1st Cav, despite the name, is an armor division.

502, 327, 187 IN are all designated as regiments, when they are, in fact, not stand-alone regiments.

Digression follows:
The US Army uses historical regimental designations as a part of the battalion names, but the battalions are not assigned to "regiments" but maneuver brigades within divisions.  Frequently, this resulted in brigades with battalions from multiple "regiments" within a single brigade, but some divisions (notable 82nd/101st) would usually have all the maneuver battalions within a single brigade hold the same historical 'parent' regiment.  So, for example, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne division today has 2 infantry battalions (1-504, 2-504) but that's not the "504th Infantry Regiment" because that brigade also include 2-501 IN, 3-73 CAV, and 3-319 FA, among others.


At the time of the game, the 3 battalions of the 502nd that were still on the rolls were all in an infantry brigade together at Ft Campbell as a part of the 101st.  Ditto the 3 battalions of the 327th.  However, there were another 3 battalions of the 502nd that had just recently cased their colors from Berlin Brigade, which just served to bolster the case that idea of the 502nd as an independent regiment was inaccurate.

187th was even more problematic, as even if you're trying to use the regimental names as a proxy for their respective maneuver brigades, the 187th shouldn't have the same strength as the other two.  In 1995, one of their battalions was deployed to the Sinai as a peacekeeping/observer unit and actually helped in the recovery efforts following the earthquake on the peninsula that Fall.  So they were underpowered compared to the other 3 brigades (er... "regiments"?) in their division.

Moreover, if we're considering that the 3 "regiments" of airborne infantry are the ground maneuver brigades of the 101st, what of their aviation brigade?  You could make the case that the artillery are rolled into the regimental counters, but their aviation brigade is a standalone unit.

Finally, if you're going to parcel out the 3 maneuver brigades of the 101st into 3 separate counters, designated by their regimental/brigade unit IDs (wrong IDs, but justifiable as a game decision to parcel out the units to smaller echelons on the map) then why are you designating individual maneuver brigades of 3 separate divisions with the divisional ID instead of the brigade ID within the division?
And if the shooting is going hot with the Russians rolling in, why are you deploying 1 brigade from Germany, 1 brigade from New York, and 1 brigade from Texas, instead of the other 3 brigades in Germany, the brigade in Italy, or, uh...  any of the brigades that were actually in Bosnia in 1995 (namely, the ones from 1st AR)?


And that's just the units I happen to know....

But here's the thing - you're telling me that your "OOB includes a well researched collection of available divisions and air assets" when there's something wrong with almost literally every single US unit in the game.

If you're that far off on just the 6 counters that I know off the top of my head, how far off are you going to be on the other 90-odd counters?


What initially caught my interest now has me shaking my head wondering what else is wrong in this game.
« Last Edit: October 18, 2019, 09:39:19 AM by bayonetbrant »

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bayonetbrant

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Reply #1 on: October 18, 2019, 09:42:45 AM


 :tickedoff: :tickedoff:  the more I think about this one, though, the more pissed I get about it....




Damn near everything you need for the US OOB in this time period is open source in about 80 different places.  It's such an easy thing to research that it seems insane that it would be this wrong....   >:(

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BanzaiCat

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Reply #2 on: October 18, 2019, 09:48:17 AM
You should let them know directly.

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bayonetbrant

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Reply #3 on: October 18, 2019, 09:55:43 AM
You should let them know directly.


I would've, if they'd followed thru on their forum we set up for them here...

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BanzaiCat

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Reply #4 on: October 18, 2019, 10:09:49 AM

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bayonetbrant

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Reply #5 on: October 18, 2019, 10:12:28 AM

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mirth

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Reply #6 on: October 18, 2019, 10:20:06 AM
I'm buying it!

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


BanzaiCat

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Reply #7 on: October 18, 2019, 10:23:24 AM
 :ROFL:

Do an AAR! I'm sure Brant would love that  :notme:

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mirth

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Reply #8 on: October 18, 2019, 10:30:01 AM
I'll start with a nice unboxing video

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.


bayonetbrant

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Reply #9 on: October 18, 2019, 10:33:50 AM
Go ahead!  I mean, look, ultimately, it's their game.  We should measure by what they claim.  If it turns out the research isn't great, but it's a fun game, then you've got a fun game.
It might not live up to it's own marketing hype, but if you enjoy it, go for it.

To me, there's just big disconnect between what they claim, and what we see based on what they've shown us.

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bayonetbrant

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Reply #10 on: October 18, 2019, 10:37:38 AM

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mirth

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Reply #11 on: October 18, 2019, 10:38:29 AM
Can you go over the counters of the Barbarossa games and ruin those too? I'd rather not be tempted to buy them.

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bayonetbrant

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Reply #12 on: October 18, 2019, 10:41:44 AM
Can you go over the counters of the Barbarossa games and ruin those too? I'd rather not be tempted to buy them.


No, because I don't know/care enough about the WW2 East Front to give a rip.


Email Lou Coatney - I'm sure he could point it all out for you though

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BanzaiCat

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Reply #13 on: October 18, 2019, 10:41:51 AM
Damn  :2funny:

At least the guy seemed open to your feedback Brant.  :bigthumb:

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mirth

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Reply #14 on: October 18, 2019, 10:45:11 AM
He's going to send you a free copy?!

Damn. It pays to bitch.

Being able to Google shit better than your clients is a legit career skill.