LRDG Raiding Action! (L Patrol Part IV)

Sean and I were very excited with the redo of the raiding forces in Burning Empires. So we picked up where we left off with L Patrol! To see the previous battles, take a look at the batreps page! The mission was "The Convoy" and would see the LRDG Forces attacking at dusk, ready to wreak havoc on German supply lines! PREVIOUS BATTLES IN THE NARRATIVE: L Patrol Part III L Patrol Part II L Patrol Part I Note: We fudged the captured M13. The LRDG don't have access to that in BE, but we thought it was cool. We last left L Patrol as they were surrounded by a platoon of M13s! They clearly escaped that situation and have a trophy to show for it. We affectionately referred to the captured tank as "Bella". 2nd Note: This battle report is being generated by a piece of software I wrote to take the tedium out of it. I will release it for general use in a few days.

LRDG Raiding Party HQ (2 Jeeps w/ extra MGs) 3 LRDG Trucks (all w/ extra MGs, 1 upgraded to .50 cal) 3 LRDG Trucks (all w/ extra MGs, 1 upgraded to .50 cal) "Guns" Patrol: 3 LRDG Trucks- 1 with upgraded breda AA gun and the other 2 w/ .50 cals "Bella" Captured M13/40. Limited Interdiction Raiding (5 dice to intercept reserves!)

German Motorized Infantry HQ Schutzen Platoon (Full Strength) Schutzen Platoon (Full Strength) Schutzen Platoon (Full Strength) Mortar Platoon Light Panzerspah Patrol 2x Panzer IV E Limited Stukas

TURN 1

As the sun begins to set in the West, the raiders prepare to descend on their prey.

"Alright Boys, we'll bring up the rear!"

>>>>CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE AAR

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Dirty Jon's German Halftracks

I continue with the theme of transports, transports, transports! I got these in the German Panzergrenadier Box Set -- it's a great deal to get 4 Half-tracks, a platoon of Grenadiers and a TON of decals. I needed some additional guys for my platoons and decided that the price could not be beat for what you get in the box. I had the old box, so no info on the plastic tracks, wheels and guns.

I went for my standard German Camo again. I will use these guys for Earth and Steel and Dogs & Devils lists.

The platoon rumbles through a French village on the way to the front.

The commander points out potential areas of danger -- leading from the front!

The troops are alert for any sign of US or British forces.

A river crossing is always dangerous -- look out for Bazookas!

I went for a clean look this time. Some people like a muddy vehicle, some do not. I will decide if I want to mud these up later -- for now, they are just new vehicles rushed up to the front.

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EW German Infanterie vs Colonial French

Tom and I hadn't played Early War in a while, so we decided to try two infantry forces. We rolled up Encounter.

German Infanteriekompanie (old Org) HQ Full Strength Infanterie (old) platoon Full Strength Infanterie (old) platoon Mortars (2 sections) HMGs 4x Panzerjaeger I Assault Platoon w/ 2 Stugs Heavy Panzerspah w/ 2 6-rads Limited Stukas

Colonial French Infantry HQ Colonial Infantry Platoon Colonial Infantry Platoon Colonial Infantry Platoon Colonial AT Gun Platoon Territorial British Rifle Platoon Colonial HMG Platoon 4x Laffly W15 TCC 47mm SPAT Colonial 75mm Battery Deep Recon Platoon w/ 4 Panhards Light Cavalry Tank Platoon w/ 4 H39s (1 long, 3 short) Sporadic Interception

INFO SUMMARY

NOTES This battle went on for many many turns, so it's not going to have a turn by turn breakdown. Instead, I will break it down by the early game, mid game, and late game. Also, I'd just like to say that the iPhone 4S takes great pics. It was really quite dark in there and it adjusted very well. CREDITS All of the German models are Battlefront Miniatures. All of the French infantry & guns are Battlefront Miniatures except the 25mm AT guns which are Old Glory. The French armor is all Peter Pig. Both armies were painted by me (Steven) Buildings by Crescent Root. Swamps, river, and bridges by Battlefront/Gale Force 9. Explosion Markers by Paper Terrain. Kill Markers (Pizzas) by Litko Aerosystems.

DEPLOYMENT & EARLY GAME

As the Germans, I combat attached my HMGs giving me 6 platoons. I started with both of the gigantic infantry units (now with 14 stands!), and the mortars. Tom started with 2 infantry, the 75s, AT guns, and HMGs. Objectives are at the Y intersection and the hill in the bottom. The wheat field and the building to the top left of the T in the top. German infanterie on both flanks with mortars in the middle. Tom has infantry, HMGs, and AT Guns in town in the top left. Infantry and guns + HQ in the top right.

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Dirty Jon, Ted, & Luke's Fall-In Tournament Prep

The WWPD Crew decided to test out our team lists for the upcoming Fall-In i95 team tournament. This tournament is limited to the new D-Day books, plus Market-Garden. As many of you know, Dirty Jon and Big Ted have teamed up to play a Grenadier list. Luke and his partner are playing a Light Tank Company and an Armoured Rifle Company.

In keeping with this teachable game, we decided to play a terrain-heavy Fighting Withdrawal game. Ted had never played a boccage game or a Fighting Withdrawal, so we gave it a shot.

Here are the lists:

Germans:
Dirty Jon's Grenadiers (CV)
HQ with Knacker upgrades
2 Grenadier Platoons with Knacker upgrade +Trucks
2 Tigers
3 Nebelwerfers + Sd Kfz 11s

Big Ted's Grenadiers (CV)
HQ with Knacker upgrades
2 Grenadier Platoons with Knacker upgrade + Trucks
4 Panzer IV Hs
3 PAK 40s + RSO Traktors

US Forces
Luke's Light Tank Company (CT)
HQ - 2 Stuarts
Stuart Platoon - 5x Stuarts
Stuart Platoon - 5x Stuarts
Tank Destroyers - 4x M10s
Armoured Rifle Platoon

Eric's Armoured Rifle Platoon (CT)
HQ
2x Armoured Rifle Platoon
Stuart Platoon - 5x Stuarts (Cheaters!)
Tank Destroyers - 4x M10s
Armoured Mortars

Setup

The Germans put their objective on the left of the line in some woods. This was the one objective that could not be taken away. The US forces put the other two objectives in the middle and to the right to force the Germans to spread out.

We ended up with 2 Grens and the Tigers on the left objective. On the other two, we put 1 Grenadier platoon, with the middle group supported by the Panzer IV Hs and the right group backed up by Nebelwerfers ... pretty thin. We figured that the PAK 40s in ambush could go where needed, and the mobile Panzer IVs could help either objective.

We also figured that the left objective had to be held -- it was the one we could not remove later -- so we put 2 interlocked Grenadier platoons on it with Tiger support. Pretty solid.

The US plan was a good one -- drive toward the middle objective bisecting the defense. This plan would require very fast movement.

Armoured Rifles, Stuarts and M10s prepare to move on the German left flank.

Luke's Armoured Rifles and Stuarts move in on the German right flank. This force will attack while the left is held in check by Eric's forces.

The German middle/left. The Grenadiers will hold the middle objective (pictured) while the Panzer IVs are available to support either this objective or the one on the German far right

-- which is held by a Grenadier platoon and the Nebelwerfers.

As usual for Luke and I, we got into the heat of the battle and forgot to take more pictures! I know, we suck. Anyway, the Germans won this one in a nail-biter! Luke and Eric went crashing towards the middle. Luke lost a bunch of the Stuarts to Tiger and Panzer IV fire, and Eric lost a platoon of Armoured Rifles to MGs/Assault by the Grenadiers.

We did think that keeping the Fighting Withdrawal rules vanilla was a bit of a burden on the Defender in a 2 Company list at 1000 points each -- the minimum is 4 platoons, so one will always remove units.

Dirty Jon

ps - Eric cheated and put an extra Stuart platoon on the board. Heh

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Want to Join the 1st WWPD Panzer Division?

World of Tanks Wednesdays by Christopher Hecht!

So you came over to the dark side of things and decided that you want to play World of Tanks with the WWPD staff and subscribers, well here is how you can go about getting into the clan so you can platoon up with your fellow WWPDers, meet up on TeamSpeak3, and have a group to play with! Here I will show you the quick, down and dirty, way to apply to the clan!

First things first though, you must go to the World of Tanks Forum Page. From there you will be prompted to either Create an Account (which is separately created from your initial log in but still linked together), or if you already created an account, you can Log In!


Once you create your account or log in you will then have full access to the WoT's forum page. There is plenty of useful information in there, but for the purposes of this article, none will be used or discussed.

Now that you have logged into the forums we can then direct you to the 1st WWPD Panzer Division clan page. Here you will again be prompted to log in with your game account information this time.


Once you have logged in the option to apply to the clan will appear on the right hand side in the box below the arrow in the previous picture. An application will appear once you click the submit application link prompting you for your reasoning why you want to join the clan. Here is where most of the more hardcore clans filter their applications by asking for certain information. Simply give a short message saying who you are from the WWPD site and then eagerly wait until on of the senior staff members can check the applications. Once we receive the application we will send you a private message in the forums which we had you log into earlier. That message will be a simple questionnaire to more or less verify that you are indeed interested in WWPD instead of a random application spammer (believe me, it happens). Most of the higher end clans will ask for important information such as your statistics in the game, play style, etc. We are not like that, we simply want to make sure you are a friendly person who will have a great time playing the game and hanging out with us. Fill out the form, return it to whomever PMed it to you and then wait.

Within a day or so the senior staff will review it and accept you into the clan. We are a friendly bunch and you would have to try seriously hard to not get accepted, but once that is through we will send you another welcome PM containing all the information related to the TeamSpeak3 server, WWPD.net information, etc. From there, the next time you log in, you will notice the clan chat window at the bottom of your screen. Welcome aboard and we cannot wait to see you in game!

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US 3rd AD vs 21st PD Panzergrenadiers in Breakthrough

Sean was eager to try running US armor in preparation for Fall In, and I was happy to oblige by running some 21st Panzer Panzergrenadiers! The mission is Breakthrough.

US 3rd Armored Tank Company HQ- 2 M4 Shermans + Recovery 4x M4 Shermans 4x M4 Shermans 4x M4A1 Sherman 76 5x M5A1 Stuarts 5x M5A1 Stuarts Priest Battery + AOP

21st PD Panzergrenadiers HQ w/ fausts Panzergrenadier Platoon w/ faust Panzergrenadier Platoon w/ faust Scout Platoon Nebelwerfer Battery 2x Tiger IE 3x Panzer IV H, 1x Captured Firefly 3x Pak 40s 10/5 SPAA

TURN ONE AND DEPLOYMENT

I begin with my Tiger Is on the board dominating the center. Pak 40s cover the bridge in the south. Panzergrenadiers hold the church and farm in the top left, blocking for the nebelwerfers behind them. The recon unit is deployed far forward to limit american deployment. Objectives are visible in the top right. Sean puts his 76s and a platoon of Shermans in reserve.


The yanks prepare to roll out.

>>>>CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ENTIRE AAR

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After Hours Episode 10- Video Killed the Podcast Star

After Hours 10- After recording episode 26, The usual trio talk Confident Vet vs Fearless Trained, and generally ham it up.  The dudes offer to care for your pets during the rapture, so this episode may be of particular interest to you!

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Encirclement and breakout

Guest AAR From Anatoli's Game Room
September 16th, 1939(Page 39, the September campaign, last scenario in "Arm Wrestling the giant" operation)


Background:
The Polish counteroffensive started on September 9th  had come to a halt and the tide had turned as the Germans rapidly reinforced the weak spots in their lines. Following the success in the battle of Lowicz the Polish was faced with a strong German counterattack which broke any hopes of turning the tide of the situation in the west.  The battered armies of Poznan and Pomorze under Polish general Kutrzeba engaged in a fighting withdrawal towards Warsaw, hoping to somehow escape the tightening noose of German armies descending upon them from all directions.
>>>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE AAR

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WWPD's View From the Turret in Bastogne

Our buddy Paul from The View From the Turret sent us some pictures from his recent trip abroad! They also have some very kind words to say about the n00b zone compilation volume 1 which you can read right at this link! Thanks guys!

Hetzer's Gonna Hetz

Staghound!

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US 3rd ID Rifles vs HG Panzergrenadiers in Italy

It had been a while since I got a solid game of FOW in, and Dirty Jon was willing to help change that. Jon is loving his HG lists from Dogs and Devils, so I whipped up an appropriate 3rd ID force and we faced off! The mission was Front Line Domination by the I-95 crew. Blue chips are worth 3 points, red worth 2, and white worth 1. Sorry every single one of the overhead shots is off. We set up differently and I couldn't get as good of pics as usual!

US 3rd ID Infantry HQ Assault Platoon Rifle Platoon Rifle Platoon Mortar Platoon (4 tubes) Armored Cannon Platoon (3x 75mm TDs) AT Platoon w 3/57mm 4x M10s 5x Stuarts

HQ w/ knackers + 2 Schrecks (combat attached) HQ HG panzergrenadier Platoon HG panzergrenadier Platoon Heavy Platoon (2 mortars, 4 HMGs- all attached to the combat units) Nebelwerfers 4x Panzer III M 4x Stug IV Limited Stukas

DEPLOYMENT AND TURN ONE

The battlefield
>>>>>CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE

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What is This World of Tanks Thing You Keep Talking About?

This is the first post in a series of World of Tanks Wednesday by Chris Hecht
Hello all, you are probably asking what this World of Tanks thing that we all keep talking about every now and again is. Well, as the newest member of the WWPD staff and leader of the World of Tanks WWPD Division, allow me to show you this whole new mysterious world!



First off let us go over what World of Tanks is. Probably the best and easiest way to describe it is to take a quote from the wiki:

World of Tanks is a freemium 3D team-based massively multiplayer online game featuring historically accurate fighting vehicles
from the 1930s to the 1950s. World of Tanks is a PvP-focused project that promises action and strategy based gameplay. In the release version,
World of Tanks includes more than 90 armored vehicles from Soviet Union, Germany and USA. France, England and Japan have also been confirmed to
be in development. The vehicles have been carefully detailed with historical accuracy. All in all there will be around 500 vehicles
available in the game. World of Tanks was released on April 12, 2011 on the territories of Europe and North America.

World of Tanks is the first game of the Belorussian company Wargaming.net to be released under "Play 4 Free" model, which will see the game released for free with revenue generated from micropayments in the form of Gold.

World of Tanks holds a Guinness World Record in the category of Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO Server. The record was registered on January 23, 2011 when the number of players on the game’s Russian server totaled 91,311.
World of Tanks - Wikipedia

This game has quickly become a great hop in - hop out break from the norm where one can focus only as much time as they want without losing out on any sort of participation, activities, gear, etc. Some people play nightly to take advantage of offers of double earned experience while others simply drop in just for a few casual rounds and to socialize with the group. The beauty of this game is the no-obligation standpoint and allowing you to commit only what you wish to commit. As a free to play, there is little to no negative effect for not taking part in the "Premium" purchases, as the producers have done a fantastic job of preventing World of Tanks from becoming a "free-to-play-but-pay-to-win" type of situation.

WWPD maintains a friendly and casual gaming group within World of Tanks that averages around 90 full time members. Sadly as people drop out or lose interest we must make way for new members as we recieve a constant stream of applications between fans of the WWPD podcast group and fans of Darqueling's (myself) YouTube Channel. Many members have become regulars and can be found nightly either playing or simply hanging out on our voice chat (TeamSpeak3 Server) that we maintain.

Sounds interesting and you want to join us? Well here is how you can install the free game, sign up for the clan, and get involved!

First thing you will need to do is head over to the main World of Tanks page at www.WorldOfTanks.com and click the "Play for Free" button to begin the quick registration process.



From there you will be prompted to register with all the standard information that would be required to get you started, username, email, password, etc. No credit card, address, or phone number here!



After you have completed the registration form you will be sent an email containing a confirmation code (also a confirmation link if you prefer to do that) in order to prove you are not just spamming some poor user's email inbox. Now if it doesn't appear within a few minutes, you may want to check your spam folder, sometimes over zealous email clients may filter things into there that you need! So either copy and paste that confirmation code you received into the box and click the "Activate Account" button, or click the link they provide in the email.



Once your account has been activated you will be brought to the client download page. Now this only works on Windows clients, so if you use Linux or MacOS you will have to dual-boot or use a Windows emulation utility, which is well beyond the scope of this article. This short download will contain the launcher for the game client where the real download exists.



Once you open this .exe file, you will be presented with the World of Tanks launcher, similar to that of World of Warcraft's, StarCraft's, or any other current computer game's launcher. As with your first time opening the game, it may take a while to download, install, and patch the full game as it will be over a few gigs. Let it run for an hour or so and once it has completed, you can go ahead and hit the "Play" button and jump in game.



From there you can log in, jump in one of the 3 starter tanks, and go to town! Go ahead and try out a few tanks, see what you enjoy, what play style suits you. If this is your thing, hop in the World of Tanks section of the forums tell us what you think and if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!

Next time I will cover joining the WWPD Clan in game!

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What is This World of Tanks Thing You Keep Talking About?

This is the first post in a series of World of Tanks Wednesday by Chris Hecht
Hello all, you are probably asking what this World of Tanks thing that we all keep talking about every now and again is. Well, as the newest member of the WWPD staff and leader of the World of Tanks WWPD Division, allow me to show you this whole new mysterious world!



First off let us go over what World of Tanks is. Probably the best and easiest way to describe it is to take a quote from the wiki:

World of Tanks is a freemium 3D team-based massively multiplayer online game featuring historically accurate fighting vehicles
from the 1930s to the 1950s. World of Tanks is a PvP-focused project that promises action and strategy based gameplay. In the release version,
World of Tanks includes more than 90 armored vehicles from Soviet Union, Germany and USA. France, England and Japan have also been confirmed to
be in development. The vehicles have been carefully detailed with historical accuracy. All in all there will be around 500 vehicles
available in the game. World of Tanks was released on April 12, 2011 on the territories of Europe and North America.

World of Tanks is the first game of the Belorussian company Wargaming.net to be released under "Play 4 Free" model, which will see the game released for free with revenue generated from micropayments in the form of Gold.

World of Tanks holds a Guinness World Record in the category of Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO Server. The record was registered on January 23, 2011 when the number of players on the game’s Russian server totaled 91,311.
World of Tanks - Wikipedia

This game has quickly become a great hop in - hop out break from the norm where one can focus only as much time as they want without losing out on any sort of participation, activities, gear, etc. Some people play nightly to take advantage of offers of double earned experience while others simply drop in just for a few casual rounds and to socialize with the group. The beauty of this game is the no-obligation standpoint and allowing you to commit only what you wish to commit. As a free to play, there is little to no negative effect for not taking part in the "Premium" purchases, as the producers have done a fantastic job of preventing World of Tanks from becoming a "free-to-play-but-pay-to-win" type of situation.

WWPD maintains a friendly and casual gaming group within World of Tanks that averages around 90 full time members. Sadly as people drop out or lose interest we must make way for new members as we recieve a constant stream of applications between fans of the WWPD podcast group and fans of Darqueling's (myself) YouTube Channel. Many members have become regulars and can be found nightly either playing or simply hanging out on our voice chat (TeamSpeak3 Server) that we maintain.

Sounds interesting and you want to join us? Well here is how you can install the free game, sign up for the clan, and get involved!

First thing you will need to do is head over to the main World of Tanks page at www.WorldOfTanks.com and click the "Play for Free" button to begin the quick registration process.



From there you will be prompted to register with all the standard information that would be required to get you started, username, email, password, etc. No credit card, address, or phone number here!



After you have completed the registration form you will be sent an email containing a confirmation code (also a confirmation link if you prefer to do that) in order to prove you are not just spamming some poor user's email inbox. Now if it doesn't appear within a few minutes, you may want to check your spam folder, sometimes over zealous email clients may filter things into there that you need! So either copy and paste that confirmation code you received into the box and click the "Activate Account" button, or click the link they provide in the email.



Once your account has been activated you will be brought to the client download page. Now this only works on Windows clients, so if you use Linux or MacOS you will have to dual-boot or use a Windows emulation utility, which is well beyond the scope of this article. This short download will contain the launcher for the game client where the real download exists.



Once you open this .exe file, you will be presented with the World of Tanks launcher, similar to that of World of Warcraft's, StarCraft's, or any other current computer game's launcher. As with your first time opening the game, it may take a while to download, install, and patch the full game as it will be over a few gigs. Let it run for an hour or so and once it has completed, you can go ahead and hit the "Play" button and jump in game.



From there you can log in, jump in one of the 3 starter tanks, and go to town! Go ahead and try out a few tanks, see what you enjoy, what play style suits you. If this is your thing, hop in the World of Tanks section of the forums tell us what you think and if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!

Next time I will cover joining the WWPD Clan in game!

Read More

WWPD News From the Front Episode 26

"They Mosthly Come out at Night... Mosthly"
The 3 amigos are back and getting started early! Join the dudes as they discuss Fall In, Flames of War news, Burning Empires, Grey Wolf/Red Bear, some basing tips, and advice on how to use your transports! Plenty to sink your teeth into this time around. So jump in, crack a cold one, and hang out with your gaming pals!
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 0:00 - Intro/contest info/etc
• 0:15 - Fall In Details and Discussion
• 0:28 - Luke's Editorial re: Battlefront as a Company
• 0:40 - Battlefront News & Burning Empires Preview
• 1:04 - Discussing Basing
• 1:19 - Southern Front AAR
• 1:25 - Grey Wolf/Red Bear
• 1:34 - N00B ZONE: Transport Teams

Download this week's episode directly: http://www.archive.org/download/WwpdNewsFromTheFrontEpisode26/WwpdNewsFromTheFrontEpisode26.mp3
Subscribe via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wwpd-news-from-the-front/id398903039
Subscribe with other: http://feeds.feedburner.com/WWPDPodCast

Links discussed in this episode:
Flames of War News
Easy Army
Triangle Simulation Society's Southern Front
WWPD on Facebook
Wounded Warrior Project


EDITOR'S NOTES:
Whew, another early one! Check out the video on Youtube to see why we're radio personalities, and not video stars! (Except for Luke's side business....)

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News From the Front Episode 26 behind the scenes sneak peek!

Episode 26 will drop tomorrow, but until then check out the first 10 minutes in our first ever "behind the scenes" video!

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Foxhole Terrain Review by Chris

Review by Chris Miller
Dan and Janet at http://foxholeterrain.com/index.htm sent us extra items along with an order I placed to be reviewed.   All their terrain is resin that is thick enough to be solid without being bulky.  You can order from a nice variety of buildings, roads, rivers, fences  unpainted or talk to them about having your order sent painted. 



Here are just 3 different examples of buildings with a T-34/85 and a Soviet SMG team for scale reference.  I like the overall paint job with the exception of the blue on door and windows.


The roofs come off with room for two infantry stands in the square building and one infantry stand and a command stand in the narrow building



Both River and Road sections come in 2 inch and 4 inch widths with straight, curved and forked sections available.  The dirt part of the road is darker then shown in the picture.  The grass is firmly attached and is holding up well to handling.



Stone walls should be a support option for Soviets. 


Here a Neb crew is situated in a nicely painted gun pit.



These are two unpainted trench sections sent for review.


3 different sizes of ruins for cover  that will be easy enough to paint.

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