Combat Mission Fortress Italy - North of Gela Map and Scenario

Does anybody have a good 1940s map or aerial reconnaissance photos of the town of Gela (Sicily) that can be used for map-making in Combat Mission?

I started with this narrow street ...

Combat Mission Shock Force NATO - Canadian LAVIIIs in a Presence Patrol

Light armored vehicles ... How much controversy around their use in battle! I don't see the Canadian Army shying away from it in the foreseeable future, though.

This custom-made scenario starts with a platoon of Canadian Army soldiers on their way to a presence patrol in an insurgency theater of operations. It is very well known that the civilian population sometimes doesn't appreciate or are less cooperative when armored vehicles are marauding in their streets. So in this case the platoon has dismounted and left their LAVIIIs in a so-called satellite patrol, hundreds of meters behind them.

Iron Front Liberation 44 - AAR - A Pak 40 Platoon (-) Protects the Flank of an Armored Counterattack - Mission Debrief

The almost Lanchesterian precision of armored warfare in open terrain is sometimes uncanny. Marching into battle with two antitank guns against an unknown number of enemy tanks was not a choice but a necessity.

Game Vs Book II - The Polish-Soviet War 1919-1920 - Part Three

The virtual war was marred by bad leadership, awful logistics and other assorted operational diseases that almost killed many of the real life armies.

In this entry, my hard won victory against the Polish Army.

Landing the C-130: Almost Decent Now - Video Included!

I've mentioned before that I want to perform a tactical landing in the C-130 in the civilian flight simulator X-Plane 10. A quick reality check took me back into the drawing board: how to avoid the huge tendency of the C-130 to yaw during my flights.

Flying over Lake Ontario. In my flight from Andrews AFB (MD)  to Niagara Falls International Airport (NY), I strayed a bit too far north, almost reaching Canada.

Iron Front Liberation 44 - AAR - A Pak 40 Platoon (-) Protects the Flank of an Armored Counterattack - Mission Briefing

A custom made scenario to try out the pros and cons of the use of AT guns in support of offensive tactical missions. I am in command of an AT gun platoon (-), at the minimal strength allowed by German WWII doctrine (2 guns).

Combat Mission Fortress Italy - Map Making with Google Maps

The pillbox array shown below was hard to resist and I immersed myself into map making in Combat Mission Fortress Italy.

Pillbox defenses east of Licata. Way east, I must add. Pardon the black bar in the bottom, it's my tablet's.

Tactical Leader's Trait 1: Vision (Part 2 of 2)

I've just eliminated a serious threat to my Marine's advance, and I just understood my role as a fire team leader a bit more.

Tactical Leader's Trait 1: Vision (Part 1 of 2)

Phaeden sent me a new beta version of his Twentynine Palms ArmA 2 map (thanks Phaeden!) a while ago and I got the privilege to play a bit more on it. Today I played in a location named "Camp Phaeden", which looks like a MOUT training area.

The training mission I created was simple. What I got out of it, not so.

Combat Mission Fortress Italy - Scenario Design at the Postgraduate Level

This is the type of scenario quality that I hope everybody can appreciate as much as I do. "Biazzo Ridge", by Jon Martina, is a great scenario included in Fortress Italy with added value in the form of a history lesson and  scenario-design know how. Not that other scenarios in the Fortress Italy game don't deserve praise. I just chose and played this one today and I thought of writing a bit about it before calling it a day.

Yes fellows, that guy with the binoculars is the legendary partrooper Colonel Gavin (see the unit info at the bottom left, user interface menu). He is close to the Acate Rail Station looking towards the Biazzo Ridge.  Many of the other subordinate leaders  in the scenario have their correct names too.