Keith

For the next module I would like to request the insertion of fallschirmjager into the German order of battle, as well as a couple of booty French tanks (Souma, R-35) used byt the reserve panzer battalions that faced the American airborne troops, as well as some of the conversions used by 21st Panzer against the Brits. The fallschirmjager defended Caranten as well as St. Lo and Britanny.

I would personally like to see German paratroopers (defended Caen, St. Lo, and Britanny). I would also like to see some of the booty French tanks the Germans used as well as the conversions used by the 21st Panzer.

This is a fun, small scenario with a lot of tactical nuances. The fact that it is a night fight makes it particularly interesting. I recommend improving the scenario by giving the Germans a couple of scout teams and a breach team to help with the force blance. Most importantly, make the scenario a full hour in length because there is simply not enough time to clear the final roadblock without being reckless.

The key to this mission is to spread out your squads generously such that a single mortar strike won't paste an entire platoon. Whenever your troops spot a collection of foxholes, register artillery on them. When the tanks arrive, cautiously edge them forward to provide area fire to supress enemy infantry further. Once an AT gun opens up, hide your tanks and register artillery. Lead with the engineers to mark mines on the road.

I have a computer with 8GB of RAM and a video adaptor with 512 MB of RAM, but on some of the larger battles and campaign scenarios I am getting an out of mememory exception, which crashes the game. Does anybody know what the recommended system requirements are?

Move an HQ unit in the building overwatching the road and position your mortars in the courtyard. The HQ can spot for the mortars when enemy units pop up. Concentrate on striking machine gun teams and enemy guns. Avoid moving units on the road like the plauge. The Germans have the road well covered. Instead, move your men in the bocage, using fire and movement with overwatch. Have your infantry lead and your tanks follow. Take your time and be cautious and methodical. Try splitting off scouts from your squads to identify potential ambushes.

The key for the American armor is to avoid fighting the German armor at long range. Race your tanks to the village and keep an eye out for the Panthers. Position your tanks within the village or hull-down in the ditch behind the village. Strike the Panthers when they present their vulnerable flanks. If possible, try to have more than one tank shooting at a single target at the same time.

I was playing around with the excellent map editor and discovered that for modular buildings, selecting the largest square building pattern generates a building with no roof. The defect is repeatable.

Unit placement works fantastic in my impression. Try adjusting the unit placement using the setting the target arc or unit facing features. I suggest people read the manuals if they feel they are getting frustrated and cannot do something they want to do.

I am trying to decide weather to get Strategic Command 2 or Strategic Command Global Conflict. What are the differences? I know that Global Conflict is the newer game.

Kapitanherr makes some excellent points. His analysis of the failures of German planning and the collapse of the German logistical network is spot on and is also supported in the book "War Without Garlands" by Robert Kershaw. These mistakes were made again when Rommel pushed onto Alamein in 1942 and again in the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans had no grasp for getting beans and bullets to their front-line troops. America might not have had the best tacticians, but it had the best logisticans, which ultimately prooved the decisive factor.

I have a friend and his wife in the State Department that served a couple of years in Egypt. They made friends with some of the Egyptians, in particular with a college-educated woman. Apparently every year the Egyptians celebrate the Yom Kippur War as a victory! We are talking parades, etc. When my friends informed the educated Egyptian woman that Israel decisively won the war, she refused to believe it. My friends gave her some books and she did some research and - surprise The Arabs are spoon fed a steady diet of B.S. propaganda from birth.

I would have to agree with Micheal Dorosh here. The Stackpole books are, in my mind, little more than unsupported German propaganda with very little scholarly value. I avoid them like the plauge. Regarding "Stalin's Folly", I am very suspicious about this book because the author writes as if he was in the room with the Russian commanding generals, recording their conversations word-for-word and documenting their inner most thoughts. There are no historical documents or notes that support these "conversations" and I suspect that they are fabricated out of whole cloth, being the personal musings and hunches of the author. Most of these Russian generals died in battle or where subsequently shot by Stalin. There was not time for them to write memoirs ala Rommel or Guderian for prosperity. [ January 18, 2006, 07:24 AM: Message edited by: Keith ]

I have read that the 37mm AT gun and the 50mm AT guns became quite useful in the hedgerow fighting because they could be manhandled into position, whereas the heaver AT guns had to be limbered and were restricted to where the transportation could go.

That scenario is an example of why recon troops are not outfitted to take on an entrenched enemy. Realistically the division would be throwing away its eyes and ears to achieve an objective properly left to the grenadier batallions and artillery. Recon troops are intended to screen flanks, probe ahead, and discern enemy locations and intentions - not to do direct, frontal assaults against dug in troops. The scenario is practically unwinnable unless you get lucky.