Pak40

I have 3 or 4 of these and I like them very much for the maps. The battle descriptions are rather brief but coupled with the well drawn maps give a nice sense of what and how it went down. Unfortunately, there are several glaring errors to the OOBs in some of the books. Off the top of my head, one of the diagrams showing the composition of the U.S. "heavy" Armored division shows a ridiculous number of armored battalions. In another error, an AT battalion is shown with a cavalry symbol. Still, I'm glad they were published - the maps alone are gold.

CMx1 would just show you a generic looking tank graphic and wouldn't really show any information about model or capabilities. I agree with you about the gun calibre. I'd bet the Germans had a tough time telling the difference between and M10 and M36. Same chassis with only a slightly different turret and a big difference in the gun.

I've been critical of his tactics from the beginning. Especially force selection. However, having accepted the forces that he chose, he could have still done very well if played correctly. He chose to go with a mobile force, yet he's not using the mobility to his advantage. Most of this fighting has been a slug fest - he's basically putting his forces in the open where it's hard for him to use hit and run tactics. I know he's using the dips and hills to try to hit and run but they aren't enough to mask his units, he needs solid cover such as buildings or forest (which seems dubious as cover for some reason).

Actually it was an awesome feature and the reality of what happened in WWII. Quite honestly I think that the current identification system to be completely unrealistic. There's no way in hell a unit is going to 100% identify what type of tank they see, especially at long ranges, especially with the naked eye, especially when tanks are camouflaged with branches and shrubs. Units with Binocs and scopes should be able to refine they're identification over time. That's they way it was and the way it should be. In prep for CMFB, I'm re-reading some books on the bugle. In the defense of Loshiemergraben, direct quotes from U.S. troops keep describing "Tiger tanks" when in fact, through historical research, the author has stated that the tanks seen by these troops were in fact Stug III or other assault guns. In order to mis-identify a Tiger tank from a SP gun is a pretty major difference. And these were not mis-identifications from great distances. Yet it happened time after time. Whether it was the confusion of battle, abstraction, generalization, exaggeration or whatever - oral and written records prove that it happened.

It's be nice if they could code it to work with relative spotting. i.e. Multiple units could misidentify any one particular unit. If you click on Green squad A then you see a Tiger, if you click on Green squad B then you see a MkiV. Veteran squads would have less chance to misidentify but distance will always play a role in % of misidentification.

Welcome to the forums. Holien is right, if you're interested are peeked at the AAR then you should definitely try one of the demos. CM - Final Blitzkrieg won't be out until later this month and the demo probably wont be out until well after that. However, CMBN and other Combat Mission titles have demos.

I think that was the Sturmtiger in that video, not the JT.

With regards to FPS and smoothness in CMBN, I will say this: I used to be a fickler for running CMBN at the highest graphics settings but I found that the denser larger maps with lots of units would chug a little. I experimented with going down to the next lowest graphics level (I forget the setting name). It improved the smoothness a lot - no more chug. And I tried several times to spot the graphical differences between the two settings - I couldn't see any difference, so I've kept it that second highest setting. With regards to game prices over the years: I find it interesting that in 1986 or so I could buy computer games such as Ultima III or King's Quest for $50 or so. Here we are in 2016 and the price of popular games has not changed much. Many major titles are selling for $50 with a few at the $60 range. Obviously there are a lot more potential customers now but games are also a LOT more expensive to produce. The end game credits on some of these major titles are as long as some movie ending credits.

I remember fighting with GIMP and bitmaps while trying to work with map transparency in the editor. There are some options in GIMP when saving to bmp format, I forget exactly what it is. Anyway, Combat Mission doesn't like one of the options (or the lack of the options). I think I've posted here before about it. Try doing a search.

And who in the U.S. can forget Sgt Rock comics?

I forgot the source but I've read where allied gunners would shoot short on purpose in hopes of skipping the round and hitting the under side of the armor. Not sure if it always works but it seems that it would depend on the surface of the ground. I'm sure it worked well on paved and stone surfaces.

What exactly are you talking about? Be specific. This topic is about spreading fire, so if AI doesn't react in a logical manner in your opinion, what exactly do you mean? And I'm not sure how an AI trigger helps in any way with regards to the topic at hand.

Well, if he gets down to only his 2 M36s before he takes out all of the cats then he's going to loose. The Shermans are the only real effective units that he has against the infantry.

Yes, I'm sure that's Bil's strategy - victory by ammo attrition

True, but his deployment of all (or at least most) of his armor up front is basically saying "I'm taking you head on". M18s are great for cat and mouse engagements from behind cover but he's put them all in the open, and, it's hard to tell the lay of the land but it doesn't seem like they have a safe place to retreat to. He spotted the JT on turn 10 I think and hasn't moved his 3 TDs that are right in front of it - I'm not sure they can just back up to safety behind a crest? It also seems that he's not really waiting for his recon teams to do their jobs and he's rushing into his decisions. Recon by force I guess, but it's a risky gamble.

He moved his armor up so he must have wanted it. I'm actually flabbergasted as to why Bil would attempt taking out Panthers and JT frontally. Deploying his armor in open fields has also shown his hand early and restricted his get away options. Baneman doesn't have too much more guessing to do in order to have Bil's entire OOB.

It's a nice new feature but apparently it's not really treated as water. Water tiles still have to obey the same height rule.

Ug. that's a disappointment. What's the reason for this, other than the obvious weird looking water graphics that might need overhauling?

So with the screen shot of the stream, that reminds me of a question about water and elevations. Can we finally have water at multiple elevations?

For the Northern Shoulder of the bulge, I highly recommend The Shock of War by J.C. Doherty. This is a two volume set and an additional picture supplement. It has very detailed accounts of small unit battles in and around Elsenborne Ridge which was the focal point of the 6th SS Panzer Army, and therefore the entire Watch Am Rhine operation. On the American side the defenders in this area were the 99th, 2nd, and 1st Infatry divisions. The two volume set details small unit battles such as Bouck's I&R platoon as well as the bigger and better know battles of Krinkelt-Rocherath. There is no other book that I know that goes into such detail for Combat Mission sized battles and this would be invaluable for anyone wanting to design a battle or campaign in this area. The maps are a little crude but the text is detailed and well written so that it paints a clear picture for the reader. Also, other good reads for the Northern Shoulder/Elsenborne area are The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw which is solely about Lt Lyle Bouck's platoon and The Battle East of Elsenborn and the Twin Villages by Willam Cavanagh.

I'm not sure if this could have gone more wrong for the US side. Were there any German casualties at all?

Baneman, do you have any idea yet of the visibility distances? This is heavy snow weather conditions, correct?

** UPDATE** Bill has tweaked his final OOB and has managed to squeeze another M18 into the mix. And I should add that I initially thought he had only 2 M36s, but he indeed has 4 M36s. Now he as a total of 13 tanks/TDs. He's also posted up how he's organizing into 3 separate groups which splits up his 4 tanks, the only thing that will be real effective against the infantry. If Baneman does indeed choose to push the infantry into the town on his left flank, then he'll have little opposition on that side. The M18 x5 will be up front with the recon jeeps, probably for hit and run tactics This will make them very vulnerable to the Drillings. These are not the vehicles you want in the town, so my guess is he's going to just lightly defend the town and then scoot out.

After looking over both OOBs again I feel a little better for Baneman and a little worse for Bill. Axis attack: He's got a healthy supply of mortar fire, both on map and off. It wont do much against Bill's infantry because he effectively has none. However, he could use it for good smoke screens and harassment of the TDs. There are quite a few half tracks of varying capability. Baneman could use these as his infantry support which would leave the Cats to concentrate on American Armor only. The only downside is that he has very few Panzershreks - I think I only counted 4. He nixed the rest. American Defense: The lack of artillery is really going to hurt Bill. He almost got the VT fuses which absolutely would have slaughtered Baneman's infantry in the open. He bet heavy that Baneman would use lots of armor instead. The only thing in his favor is that the bottom half of the map is relatively open. The lack of MGs, especially infantry based MGs is also really going to hurt Bill. The Shermans are his best bet against the infantry, but then again, they're all armed with 76mm guns which aren't as good as the 75mm guns against infantry.

Just the top side .50s for the hellcats and Jacksons. I can't remember if they're for anything but AA or not. I'll have to look at my reference books tonight.