kipanderson

John, hi, Ok.. I may simply be too forgiving . I take your point that if the presentation is not up to standard the information does not get through. No matter how good the quality of the research. BTW... given your views... have you read the books by Stephen Barratt... Zhitomir – Berdichev operation? Has its own distinctive style I like. Presents the information in very straightforward way with masses of very high quality maps. Wodin, yup I generally agree with you... Amazon is a wonderful resource for seeing what is out there. All the best, Kip.

Hi, I thought I knew every book there was on the Eastern Front, of quality anyway... but have missed the Nigel Askey ones. Maybe the cover as it came up on Amazon looked too like just another popular picture book. Not sure. BTW... in defence of Glantz... he is there to crash out the material and information. It would be asking too much given his output to expect works of literature. By background he is an information man. Analyst and such. Fantastic sources of information. But books like Absolute War are certainly better written I agree. All the best, Kip.

Hi, Just to second what Pete said, if this has happened to you in one of the updated versions of CMX2 you have had bad luck. It was indeed the normal with CMX1. There defenders would suddenly “rush onto the guns..” of the attacker. But this will not normally happen with the current games. All the best, Kip.

Umlaut, An outstanding achievement.. congratulations.. Am amazed by how far you have managed to take the mods... look forward to many an urban fight.. . Thanks again...! All the best, Kip.

Hi, Yup... when you look at the pictures above, particularly the second I think.. and then realise that within the happily accepted limited of what CM is... outcomes are realistic.. it is near unbelievable how lucky we are to have CM . When I look at the competition in tactical wargames.. it is truly amazing how far ahead CM is. BTW.. I too could produce a long wish list.. .. but the true measure is against the existing competition where CM is so far ahead it is massacre.. All the best, Kip.

Erwin, hi, “ Thank God... I too was thinking that... you are just more honest and open than me about being stupid.. . There seems no way in.. . All great stuff, All the best, Kip.

Sburke, hi, Yes.. I agree in the sense that the standard, almost default reason why meta campaigns fail... too few umpires/games master. The greatest wargame I ever took part in was the James Bailey organised Normandy based meta camping using CMx1 about ten or too twelve years ago. However... it was so huge, so well run, that it set an unrealistic standard. But get the ratio of umpires to players right, in my view the umpires should also play some of the games to deliver a certain type of opposition for the dedicated players.. if you follow me... and this is very doable. On a small scale surprisingly easy. Nidan1, hi, Yes very similar.. this is the standard method. A lot of fun.. All the best, Kip.

76mm, Just to reemphasise... your map data base is proving hugely helpful... Really very useful for picking a next game and reviewing potential projects. Congratulations... All the best, Kip.

Hi, We are clearly into “each to their own...” territory but I would define a meta campaign slightly differently to 76mm. More along the lines of combining a traditional operational game with CM. Easier just to describe what I mean. What follows is quite a grand example. Two slightly reduced German infantry divisions with StugIII and units in support defending against a Soviet corps of say three infantry divisions with some armoured regiments and support. Aim to take a town. Map around 20km north to south and 40km east to west. Game length up to a week of simulated time. There are forums for German and Soviet players to discuss operations. The game has turns, say three turns a simulated day. Orders are issued by the German and Soviet players and sent to the umpires or games masters. They in turn move the units around on the maps and decide where clashes have results. Build CM games that the players then fight out and the umpires ply the results to the operational units on their master map. The umpires then send different versions of their master maps back to the players on each side. With Fog Of War tweaked for each side. Then the players discus the their plans for the next turn.. and so on.. However, all this is very grand. If you managed to produce some form of operational layer where we could manoeuvre battalion and company units then resolve the clashes in CM and play the results back to the operational units that would be fantastic and dream come true. Realistically some form of basic operational layer would in itself be incredible. It is context and more context that would add so much more to the battles. Unbelievably lucky to have CM at all... , Great stuff, All the best, Kip.

Hi, In fact women played a far smaller part in the war than the myth would have to you believe. It may be 3% of those who served in Soviet forces in WWII who were women. Overwhelmingly in non frontline combat roles. Could look it up. Glantz gives the figures I think in his Colossus Reborn book. Added to which it was not a success. Both the Soviets and Israelis have tried women in combat units in high intensity warfare with unhappy results. Could point you at the books on that too but am not interested in a bun fight over it. All you hear about women in combat units in the military today, in the west, is based on winning certain segments of the women’s vote. All the best, Kip.

Hind, hi, You have done it again.. . Another absolute stunner.. !! Fantastic work... for sure will have to be put to good use.. . Congratulations.. All the best, Kip.

Noxnoctum, hi, That should be the one... A lot of the stuff about poor Russian optic and such was nonsense. I have read reports from August ’42 in the archives of the Tank Museum in Bovington on a T34/76 and KV I sent over by the Soviets for the UK to take a look at. In both cases the sights, and BTW the gun, are singled out for praise as of particularly high quality. Equally I have looked through the sights of a T34/85 and IS 2 and both were excellent. Easily good enough.. In fact the small turreted sights on the roof of later war Soviet tanks for general observations a quite exceptional. In poor light they brighten and sharpen up the entire landscape as a high quality telescopic sight does. And they are very easy to use. They are Soviet versions of the Mark 4 sight. Soviet sights were easily “good enough...” for the ranges at which WWII combat took place. All interesting stuff, All the best, Kip.

Falke88, hi, This is tremendous news.. Since way back in 2000 or whenever CM first came out I have been hoping for an operational layer of some kind. CMX2 is way better than I could have hoped for some years back... but the greater context added by operational layers would still be a big leap forward. All the best, Kip.

Hind, hi, Truly... one of great maps to come out of CMRT. Stunning... one of the best of best... am very grateful you have allowed us all a use it.. . All the best, Kip.

76mm, hi, Thanks... it is enormously impressive and very useful... . Thanks again for the effort.. All the best, Kip.

Hi, Yup... congratulations it does look incredibly impressive. All the best, Kip.

Rithethe415, hi, Agreed... my favourite too... but for the next “title..” i.e. Eastern Front 43’/44’. Not this module which will be winter 44’/45’. For the next module I vote for East Prussia. More atmospheric than Hungary. But it is bound to be winter 44’/45’ so all of us can build what scenarios we wish. But weather and terrain somehow less inspiring in Hungary.. in my view. All good fun, All the best, Kip.

76mm, hi, Yup... that is very helpful stuff.... Great work .... All the best, Kip.

Nitouche, hi, That is clever stuff... Thanks... . All the best, Kip.

Hi, I agree that Generation War is probably as good as it gets with German war films, series in this case. It is very good. Best war “movies...” by far are Band of Brothers, Pacific and Das Boot. And now Generation War. The problem with cinema war movies... is they all have lots of nonsense sentimental moments in them. Generation War also has more of them than the two Spielberg series. In Generation War the plot is also less real world than in the other two but the production quality in the action sequences is right up there to modern standards. The first twenty minutes of Saving Private Ryan set new standards that the above equal. The rest of Saving Private Ryan was rubbish . All the best, Kip.

Hi, I agree with the caution shown by others here. There is certainly room for a “tank....” war movie or miniseries. But as it’s a movie I am not expecting it to be as good as Band of Brothers, Pacific or Das Boot. I will certainly watching it though... All the best, Kip.

Hi, Sounds like fun... but living in the UK will not be able to make it. We have the “working..” Tiger I, sometimes working any way... . How did the Swiss get a King Tiger? Probably from an enterprising Soviet officer . All the best, Kip.

Hi, RT gets my vote. I still think CMBB was the “greatest...” but that is relative to its time. For those of us interested in high quality, tactical wargames it was an astonishing leap forward. But times move on. The graphics and 1 : 1 modelling and therefore animation in CMRT makes it a way superior game. But this in fourteen years later.. . Lucky to have CM at all.. All the best, Kip. PS. The upgrading system is also a great plus...

Hi, Vietnam would be good.. Generally I am a WWII fan, but for Pacific... Vietnam would get my vote over WWII. Unbelievably lucky to have CM at all... , All the best, Kip.

John, hi, I am sure Charles could easily code blue on blue with small arms.. But... it would make playing the game too difficult. To manage it the player would have to intervene too often.. you would have to pause and then click a lot again and again. Also... the TacAi would no doubt be over challenged... All the best, Kip.