A Canadian Cat

Well I am in that situation now in a PBEM game I am playing. I will let you guys know what happens. The calling unit (has one survivor) is denied - they cannot even see how long there is before the spotting rounds arrive. A recently arrived FO team is also denied because the battery is busy but at least they can see that rounds are 10min out. I hope the battery gives up quickly because 13 minute call times are pretty long...

+1 to that. That thread is where I learned to do it. If there is no HE available use whatever is available. The other piece of advice that has proven fruitful is do not rush. Just because you can set way points to go from building to building all the way down the street does not mean you should Clear one or two buildings at a time. That way no one gets ahead of the supporting units and ends up facing the enemy on their own.

I have had a lot of success with moving away and coming back especially for the long calls: 10min or 13min. I move my spotter back to good cover and then watch the clock. The artillery UI will tell you when you are getting close. If you are off a bit no biggie as long as they get in place soon after spotting rounds start falling. Mine have never been out of place for longer than 1min of spotting rounds so I do not know what the limit is. However I do have a game where the calling HQ died a minute after the call. There is 13 min before spotting rounds and then the question is how long do I have to wait before the battery gives up and I can use them again?

I have completed five full games via PBEM and I have three on the go now. Lots of fun I still have more going on in CMBN. Only one scenario had a bunker but it was an infantry only game so no large caliber gun interaction. No one with the shipping game can play with Elephants yet and those that can can only discuss it in a restricted way:D

Well I am bummed to hear they got away. My Sherman fired two AP shells and a few bursts of MG fire. I was wondering why it stopped firing but when I looked closer I found the bunker destroyed. Well that was easy. This was head on from 75 - 100m ish (I did not check).

I wish Bill would put the time on his:) Is that turn the file number? Or is it the real turn number - remember both players watch the movie of the same minute so two turn files actually represent the same turn.

I vote go with the clock. It is the only thing you can just look at while you are watching and taking screen shots. Going by file numbers or memory or some other cheat sheet means further record keeping but going from the clock can always be checked (it is right there in each screen shot).

This kind of thing just reminds me how much I love this game. It is so fantastic to have true FOW. No one sided information or umpire in a miniature game. No, each side gets x blank counters to confuse the enemy of the old hex games. We get to play with the information we have got.

+1 to that. In CM1x would you have a house rule that you had to pretend that only the unit that initially spotted an enemy unit could act on that information? You cannot unsee what you have seen. It is much better to let the game deal the FOW out to each player and just accept what you get - at least in the context of a particular game.

I'll take the Bren carrier over the jeep - those are tough little buggers.

Sounds very interesting. I have not seen any one attack straight away from a defensive QB. And with a bunch of Tigers. I am looking forward to this!

Canada came pretty darned close. We enacted conscription late in the war (November 1944) and only 2463 conscripted troops actually made it to the front lines in Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_Crisis_of_1944 OK, so it seems that there was conscription for home defense and what they did in November 44 was start the process of sending 17 000 of them overseas.

Yeah, or rush some other mobile AT asset over there. Just look at that angle nice juice flank shot. In my best Ken impression - ATTACK!

First order of business is try to disrupt that Churchill tank party near the farm. I am not sure what I can do here but I want to be ready for any opportunities. I am now down to one Shrek team and two Stug but they are no good against Churchill tanks head on so I need some kind of luck. Let’s see if I can make some by being ready to pounce. A little rearranging in town now that that Stuart has backed off I want eyes back on that side plus my men have buddies that need attending too. Near the other entrance to town my men are almost in position to deal with those scouts. I think I am going to just leave things as they are. Once my infantry have eyes on that field again I will just wait and see what comes. But they will not venture down the road and get anywhere near that immobilized Churchill. Just about ready to move the Panthers towards town.

There is a little Churchill tank party happening outside the farm now. I am going to take advantage of this and take more of the farm. The more spread out my infantry at the farm the better. If I was in Dungeon Tiger’s shoes I would just start bringing those farm buildings down. One by one… Shhhh don’t tell him. Some of my men taking up new positions at the farm. 5 Company is now in their new cushy positions in the woods. Their mortar teams are now setup behind the woods so they can actually fire. One of the AT guns all set and ready near Battalion HQ.

Suddenly a tank crew comes running out in the open. Oh that can be dangerous… …or not. Even uber tank crews are no match for two fire teams with MG42s. But even so they only managed to take out one as they ran away. A fire team heading to the other entrance to town to deal with those pesky scouts. More bad luck with Shrek teams. At least this time they got a shot away and hit too. But since it was against one of those impossible to kill Churchill tanks, it survived. And returned fire. The Shrek team did not survive that 95mm HE round which was right on the money.

Yes, slow is good in many contexts but I would not use slow in the middle of a road for example. Being in the middle of the street is just to exposed. To get a single shot off 5s pause is enough or no pause many even be enough.

Yep, I apologize for being slow - I have a new job and a longer commute so game play time is shorter. Plus my PBEM partner is traveling for work right now so we will be even slower. I have couple of turns to write up so while he is away I can catch up on updating this thread. Re shrek teams: A 5s pause was all that I needed to finally get that Churchill in town. Adding a pause from the shooting location seems to be needed if there is any distraction or visual obstruction. The no pause, just a way point, only seems to work if there is a clear LOS and nothing else going on. It also seems to matter which team member gets to the way point first. If the tube guys gets there first he will usually fire while waiting for the loader to catch up. Whereas if the loader gets to the way point first then the tube guys barely breaks stride as they both head for the final way point. From now on I am going to add the 5s pause unless I think they are in additional danger or there are no visual obstructions at all.

I vote photo shop tweak. Nice and subtle I did not notice the arm band yesterday. Well done.

Over near the farm, since the Churchill tank I was hunting seems to have pulled back I will move my men forward to get a better look at where the enemy has moved too. The Panthers begin moving forward under good cover getting into their final positions before sending the infantry out a head as the make their move to the town. In the town several Shrek teams reposition trying to deal with that Stuart tank. Over at the other entrance to town I order some shifting around to deal with that scout car and the loss of my eyes on the road out of town.

The Shrek team withdraw to cover without firing a around. Again.

All in all it is a fairly quiet turn. I now have armour in the town. One platoon of infantry is taking up positions to protect the right flank of the town. More HE and MG fire from the immobilized Churchill and that scout car cause problems for my scouts at the other entrance to the town. And their luck finally runs out. The infantry escort for the Panthers are ready go to. The plan will be to disembark one truck and move ahead of the tanks and then swap so the infantry can move fairly quickly and not get tired.

Oh yeah - agreed. I only play QBs on maps with a number larger than 200.

Very interesting perspective. So true, hell I spent as little time painting details as possible. I just wanted to spend my time playing:-) Yeah, I think in general things look pretty damn good. However there is one area that is bit off - straight line roads. Many roads curve or run at different angles. In CM maps we can only get certain angles and curves - not really. When you view things low down they always look good. But when you view things from high up you can sometimes see the odd jaggy roads.

As the guy facing them - oh no...