John_d

I think they all start dug in, but I don't know where I heard that

Check this out... The most amazing move I've ever pulled off in CM. Soviet force attacking a German held village. The attack is going pretty well. I have a force on the left flank of the village heading through some forest, some Valentine tank destoyers in the centre pounding away at key buildings, and a smaller infanrty force moving up the right flank. Suddenly, the right flank force comes under heavy fire from MGs on the left and a battery of field guns on the right. Getting cut to pieces and I figure that they only have a couple of minutes left before they all die. Unfortunately, the only way to the guns is thourhg the middle of a the German held villge, so I can't afford to send my tank destroyers thorugh the middle and it will take too long to push the forece on the right flank throught to the guns. So I have to think quickly. Suddenly, I notice that they force on the right flank has a couple of jeeps at its disposal. So I load them up with a tank hunter unit each. And send them at full pelt throught the middle of the German lines. I seriously don't expect any of them to make it, but both jeeps speed through the lines (under very heavy enemy fire and indirect fire from my own guns- one stray round landed literally meters from one of the jeeps) and arrive at their destination just behind the field guns. Unfortunately a lucky couple of shots killed the driver of one of the jeep and one of the soldiers on board. But the remaining three charged through the forest behind the guns and managed to capture all 4 of them! 2 of the 3 were taken as casualities during the episode and all of the German prisoners escaped (as my troops didn't have enough time to escort them to a Soviet held area or enough ammo to execute them), but his allowed me to take the town and win a toal victory. Hero of the Soviet Union stuff I feel Any story that can beat that? I'd love to hear them

Its a difficult question to address given that forest types vary massively around Europe. Certainly in the South of England I would say that there should be a bigger difference between wooded areas and pine forest, but I would be hard pressed to how this would be translated into Russian or German forests. Darkmath- I don't think that oak trees are really that common in Europe anymore. Most areas have undergone substantial clearance and simply aren't old enough to have decent sized oak trees. Actually, I've just remembered. Apparently most Russian forests are birch forests. Which are small, soft trees that tend to pack quite densely and have lots of undergrowth.

Stoat, there are very few oak trees in my immediate area. I see your point. Most of the deciduous trees around where I live are birch trees and suchlike. Also, alot of the land is owned by the forestry commission and so is not old enough to have large trees. Therefore most of the deciduous forest is composed of densely packed smaller plants. Perhaps my area is atypical b/c of the high numbers of 'alien' species. Rhodedrenron and even American redwoods grow freely after being imported for ornamental gardens in the 19th Century.

Never been in any type of combat situation, but I do happen to live in the middle of a forest and having grown up there know a fair amount about trees. In my experience there is a huge difference between coniferous and deciduous cover. The pines modelled in CM tend not to provide much cover at all. The branches at the bottom of the tree fall off when the light becomes restricted. Also, due to the huge amount of water that these trees require, pine forests tend to be quite sparse. At ground level there isn't really very much in the way of cover, just large trunks spaced fairly far apart. Its pretty hard to hide yourself in, but one of those trunks could probably quite easily stop a round. Deciduous trees (woods in CM) on the other hand, have leaves all the waydown their trunks. The trees tend to be smaller and more tightly packed, with more undergrowth. However, there probably is less in the way of solid wood to stop flying rounds. I'd reckon that the concealment is better, but the cover softer and offering less protection. Fir forest, which aren't modelled in CM, are a whole different kettle of fish though. Virtually no visibilty, little in the way of 'hard' cover and extremely difficult to move through. These would be awesome in CM. Maybe something to consider for CM2?

Is there a way of doing this without getting mauled? The only ways that I have come across so far are: - Surround the building and charge, spreading the defender's firepower over as wide an area as possible. - Blow a hole in the side of the building and use the rubble and the dust to cover the advance - Land a huge artillery strike in the middle of the building, knocking down a section through the middle. This cuts LOS within the building and hopefully means that you will face half the number of troops in the mad dash in Unfortunately, although these tactics work, they require rather specific conditions to put into action. Are there any more general ways of doing this? Discuss

I was at the Bovington Tank Museum the other day and I noticed that they had a Finnish T-26. I coldn't help but notice that the swastika markings on the hull were the same way around as the Nazi swastika (i.e. arms pointing clockwise). However, in CMBB, the swastikas on the Finnish tanks are the mirror image, much like the ancient Sanskrit symbol (incidently I think the word 'swastika' is also Sanskrit). Is this a deliberate feature? Wondered if it was due to distribution issues in Europe. On an unrelated note, Sanskrit is a beautiful language and everyone should learn at least a few words.

You're not seriously suggesting that Jordan and Syria might effectively be the same place because they share a border are you? That is tantamount to saying that United States and Mexico should be the same, or France and Germany.

Jason, I'm currently playing your partisan operation against the AI and I think I may have encountered a bug. Spoiler..... I am currently playing as the Russians and there is a fairly straightforward way of capturing the two flags, even after the first couple of battles. If the Russians split their force into three parts and use the platoon west of the village to cut in between the two flags, a second force to cut through north of the northerly flag (to form a defensive perimeter) and the remaining force to directly assault the northern flag, then both flags will be captured by the end of the first battle. This is due to the fact that the southern end of the map is friendly to the Russians, thus meaning that the capture of the northern flag will guarantee control of the southern flag. Also, this gives away the German approach when re-enforcements arrive in the next battle. After the remainder of the German forces in the village have been hunted down and destroyed, it is simply a matter of moving your men quickly north to set up defences north of the village. This defensive line need only be held for a few minutes of game time to ensure vistory. Of course, it would be different against a human opponent, who would be much harder to route out of the village in the first place. But the theory still stands to a degree- the friendly sountern map edge means that the capture of the northern flag implies the capture of the southern flag. In addition, it would be hard to see how a human player would lose Vasili, as the terrain is almost ideally suited for hiding people in and there is no compulsion to actually take him into battle at all. Maybe the map could use a couple of hills or something? But maybe not, given that its a marsh But, when all's said and done, the operation is great fun. Very cool idea and the stealth aspect makes a great change from the usual open battles. Much respect for going to the trouble of creating a partisan operation!

Does anyone know of any good partisan scenarios?

No. I think this topic has been covered in the past. It usually gets into a messy 'what if' discussion about how women soldiers in CM would be modelled vs. male soldiers. Very un-PC. Besides, from what I gather, women didn't actually do that much front line fighting. I've heard stories of armed women during the early days of Barbarossa and Stalingrad, but nothing more.

I think this is an example of a model: http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/russia/awstz.htm

Thanks for that! So when they say that they are the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, the regimental number is not directly linked to the division (i.e. its not 506th regiment OF the 101st division, its the 506th regiment of the army) and the divisional number also just means that its the 101st division of the army? How many regiments were there in the 101st? Its only 506th that seem to get any media coverage

Thanks for that! So when they say that they are the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, the regimental number is not directly linked to the division (i.e. its not 506th regiment OF the 101st division, its the 506th regiment of the army) and the divisional number also just means that its the 101st division of the army? How many regiments were there in the 101st? Its only 506th that seem to get any media coverage

Are there any scenarios out there about the infamous 'traitor' divisions of the Wermacht- i.e. the divisions of Cossacks and anti-Communist Russians who fought alongside the German army? I believe there was some kind of last stand by them in Prague in 1945 when they first joined forces with the Czech resistance against the SS units stationed there, then switched sides and joined with the SS against Red Army. Would have the makings of a good scenario I feel. Or maybe even a series of scenarios. Also, does anyone know what kind of equipment these divisions used? Did they use captured Russian equipment or were they trained to use German equipment? A scenario pitching German T-34s against Russian ones would be cool