jwxspoon

Speaking for the scenario designers, I can tell you that we really appreciate the aar's. Its an amount and type of feedback that we rarely see from scenarios that we design outside of the ROW tourney. jw

Speaking for the scenario designers, I can tell you that we really appreciate the aar's. Its an amount and type of feedback that we rarely see from scenarios that we design outside of the ROW tourney. jw

Oh.... right

Oh.... right

Oh.... right

Muhahahahahahahahahahahaha aaaahahahahahahahah bwahahahahaahaaaahaa ahahahahahaa jw

Muhahahahahahahahahahahaha aaaahahahahahahahah bwahahahahaahaaaahaa ahahahahahaa jw

Muhahahahahahahahahahahaha aaaahahahahahahahah bwahahahahaahaaaahaa ahahahahahaa jw

Kingfish is constipated again.

Don't know if any of you ever played my ROW2 scenario "Fire on the Mountain". I am in the process of converting it to CMAK and revising it as my next project, followed by a huge Caen battle. jw

SPOILERS CONTAINED THROUGHOUT THIS THREAD. IF YOU INTEND TO PLAY THIS BLIND, DO NOT READ FURTHER. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I designed this scenario with a specific tactical situation in mind. What I wanted was a German prepared defense upon one side of the river, and a conventional allied attack in difficult terrain on the other side of the river. I also wanted to exhibit two other variables, first the type of stupid orders the German high command gave throughout the defense of occupied Europe (ie - Hold the bridge to the last man, do not destroy the bridge, etc.) and the type of non-linear thinking that defines the very best (and all too often discarded) out of the box ideas that the allies thought up during the war. Of course, we all know that the allies certainly had no monopoly on successful subterfuge, but for my design purposes it fits for the scenario. I decided that an airborne attack would fit the bill nicely and designed the scenario around a surprise flanking attack. My perceived flow of the battle was such: 1. Allies begin frontal attack on the town. Germans hit the recon/forward elements of the Allied forces and bloody their noses a bit. While the battle rages, early on in favor of the Germans (from a psychological point at the very least) the paratroopers sneak up to the German rear. 2. Allied paratroopers hit the bridge rear areas hard. Confusion is rampant among the Germans, even panic. Germans are now caught between a pincer with their retreat blocked and superior forces attacking. The Allies should get the upper hand and slowly take the village. 3. German reinforcements arrive. A smart German player will have noticed the keyhole LOS I set up and will deploy his Panther in the rear to cover the bend in the road of the allied attack. Long range fire from a virtually unkillable Panther will help win the day. The other German tanks and the infantry should advance to retake the German side of the bridge. The opposing sides should meet in the middle and fight it out, with the victor holding the bridge and winning the scenario. Thus the 'pendulum' of the battle should swing first to the Germans, then to the Americans, then to the middle for the endgame. Testing: We tested this scenario repeatedly, with somewhat strange results. I found that the Americans were so psychologically damaged by early losses, the fear of the unknown (there must be german at's around every tree) that in several cases there was an American surrender early in the game. Originally I had two sandbagged AA positions on the bridge and they were fearsome in their ability to destroy the lighter American vehicles. After initial testing I reduced the Germans forces by about 20%. Still, this scenario is very dependent upon the skill of the attacker. I have found that a skillful attacker in this scenario will almost always win with the force balance as it stands in the tournament version. An attacker that does not have a long ranged, proactive plan, or is uncoordinated, or lets a few early losses get in the way of a virtually overwhelming allied frontal assault will get bogged down. Hence a couple of the surprising total victories by the axis in this one. I expected that the allies would win roughly 70% of the battles. PLANNED CHANGES: For balance purposes I plan to make the following changes in the scenario. 1. I will beef up the German forces slightly. I will add back the second AA gun, and add a 75mm infantry gun. I will expand the setup zones slightly to allow the German player to setup some of his allied-side-of-the-bridge forces on the other side of the bridge if he so chooses. I will keep the low quality rear area troops padlocked as they are. I will probably add a pair of MG42's to be placed where the defender desires. 2. I will fix the briefing to eliminate the incorrect cardinal direction refernces. Don't know what I was thinking on that one, possibly a freudian slip on my part. 3. I will adjust the briefings to add exact oob of reinforcements and their time of arrival. I hope you all enjoyed the scenario and found it worthy of play. I did not design this scenario to be balanced; I wanted a desperate defense on the part of the Germans. I knew that it would take a very skillful deender to even eke out a draw on a good attacking opponent. Thank you all for your excellent AAR's. Best regards, Jeff

That's an excellent article on map making. I was going to post a follow up on it, but alas I could not figure out how to reply to the post. :[ jw

ROFL!!!!!

ROFL!!!!!

ROFL!!!!!

Both

My 3 daughters gave me the Teddy for Fathers Day. However, I have noticed that during the design process he occasionally has a good idea. You can blame the keyhole los from the bend in the road to the Axis rear on Teddy. jw

Just a sneak preview of scenario designing evil in action: muhahahahaha jw [ June 30, 2004, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: jwxspoon ]

Mak and I have been playing it; we are on battle 6 and have had no problems. jw

I will be posting a designers notes section on "Squeezing the Melon" as well as my intended changes for the public release version of this scenario this weekend. Ace Pilot - the briefing thing was a freudian slip, I think. jw

hehe

Well, I am sure your ego can handle it. jw

Melnibone: This was intentional. There are several 'keyhole' firing positions on the map that benefit whichever side uses them. In particular on the hill overlooking the town, an AT gun placed to fire back into the town area can have protected los that covers everything from the initial bend in the road al the way to the other side of the river, and everything in between. jw [ June 17, 2004, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: jwxspoon ]

You can do it. See the CMBB Operation, B&T The Beginning of the End. One side is technically the defender. But the operation can be made a very effective ME. jw

Eric, having played your previous CMBO scenarios, I want to be first in line to help test! Jeff