[Map Size Limit]

It's a typo in the manual (actually it was me not fully realising how you could make the map bigger!). I can confirm that you will have 4Km by 4Km maps. Just a question of whether you can play anything on it - by that I mean CMSF is light years ahead of what we all know in CM. The maps alone will blow our minds, but they do take a while to make, and they have a hit on the frame rate of your PC. So although you can make large maps it might be more of a challenge for people to play out scenarios on them depending on what the spec is on their machine.

As Rune has stated you have to mind that I wrote this a while back. The manual is being updated so what is being published at the moment is still a draft and a draft based on a BETA build from several months back. Things have moved on considerably in all respects. Plus I was still working out all the ins and outs of the game (The editor is a game in itself and a very additive one at that - although it is easy to use so you can equally dive straight in and start building scenarios).

But then when CM came out most people coul'nt play the large scenarios, now several years down the line large actions are playable. I guess the same will hold true for CMSF. Many people now would not have a machnine that could handle a 16sq Km map with several compnaies worth of stuff on map, but a year or so down the line it will be possible as machines upgrade.

FWIW I have found myself playing in RT more than WEGO and enjoying it - but you need smaller units to make RT play enjoyable. Guess it'll be each to their own but whatvere people like/want I'm sure CMSF will give it to em. I'll tell you one thing - you won't be disapointed!

Cheers fur noo

George Mc

[We need a “high-intensity” warfare opponent module ;).]

Originally posted by Caesar:

Sixxkiller, How would you rate the AI (both tactical & strategic) compared with the earlier versions of CM.

As Mickey D says - the strategic AI is only good as the person who designs the 'AI Plan'. For the AI to attack, defend or whatever the scenario designer has to design a plan for it to operate to.

This is one of the fascinating aspects of the scenario design editor (I reckon the editor is a game in itself - the more you use it the more you learn about it. Frankly it knocks spots of the old CMX1 Editor, which good as it is not a match to the flexibility a scenario deisgner has with the CMSF editor).

What I found for designing an AI plan was having to think more in the role of the overall commander and think "How will the enemy attack?" - then base a response on possible course of actions. That's one main option. Then you have to take into account the 'What ifs' and before you know it you are designing a symphony of movement. I must admit to getting a kick out of designing an AI plan - then effectively playing against myself when testing the scenario

The other great thing is you can design several differant plans and set their frequency of use. So even when you re-play the scenario you are never sure if the AI will attack the same way. It might, but then again it might not. The scope for evil scenario design just got bigger

This more than anyother aspect I reckon is going to set good scenario deisgners apart from the others. The map tools you have pretty much make it hard to design a poor map - it's got it all

Cheers fur noo

George

[*MarderII, Marder IIIm , Wespe & Panzer II gelb mods posted*]

Nice one Pat!

Just downloaded your SPW mods the other day - great pieces of work as well

Cheers fur noo

George

[Target Wide how?]

means the unit moves to contact then stops. Combine it with a reverse command and the unit will move till it meets bad guys then reverse. handy for using recon units.

If they don't explode before executing the command. Still they've done their job then...

Cheers fur noo

george

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Hi DAF!

Thanks for playing it out. Yeah I was afraid that this one was going to bomb (we'd real problems getting anything to even get part way playable) - I think what we have is the best but ultimatley I think the terrain in CMBB beats it. Be keen to see your AAR - could you email me it please?

Cheers fur noo

George

[Divisional level game using CMBB]

Originally posted by Si32:

Thank you Jason, that is a great help. I have now come to the conclusion a full divisional game on one map is too much, even if half the forces were kept in reserve until late in the game.

I'll probably halve the force sizes, which would be a little more realistic and far easier to manage and wont scare off potential opponents so much. Still though, it will be a sizable game, which is what I am looking to create and enjoy playing with other like-minded individuals via pbem.

One more quick question : How were Tiger units deployed? Were they thier own seperate units (brigade,company?) and used where needed most?

Thanks

I just finished playing a PBEM with both sides having 30 000 points and spread over a large 4km operation map. By the middle of the game is was becoming ahuge pain to plot commands as the lag was to great. Processing each turn took nearly 20 minutes...

I would'nt do it again - the time lag etc detracted from what a great fight

Cheers fur noo

George

[Any Tactical Use of Panzer Grenadiere?]

Hi Antman

Aggressive use of SPW when tanks and PAK are around maybe it not a good idea You have to pick the time to use aggressive tactcis I guess. Glad you are enjoying it

Cheers fur noo

George

[Any Tactical Use of Panzer Grenadiere?]

Hi Andreas

No offence taken

Charie and used Agte, Lehmann, Nipe, Restayn, and Glantz. With some other stuff from After The Battle. Reading between the lines me could deduce that Peiper for all his dash with SPW was not a hot favourite with the panzer crews of the division. When he took command of the panzer regiment a lot of his senior officers in the regiment promptly asked for transfers...

Cheers fur noo

George

[Any Tactical Use of Panzer Grenadiere?]

Originally posted by Andreas:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by George Mc:

Peiper made SPW an offensive weapon and these scenarios recreate that use.

Err, no. Sorry to intrude on the hero-worshipping, but Peiper did no such thing, it already was an offensive weapon. Just read up on what the armoured KG of 1. PD did in 1941.

All the best

Andreas </font>

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Hi Patboy

Good selection of videos - some interesting combat footage. Still not convinced though

I passed the link to Charlie (who did the major chunk of research on this for his opinion), here are his comments:

"The videos are great but as with everything on the Internet I have doubts about what we're actually seeing. And given the source, doubts are certainly in order: nothing like Nazi propaganda films for truth. So, with some very few exceptions, I can find no hard evidence that this footage is even from the Narva region, and there is no indication at all of dates. There was bitter fighting around Narva throughout the depths of the winter. By the end of March the Soviets had called off their offensive, and I'd guess that thawing weather was a consideration. There are some clips that look right to me--swampy woody type terrain with little patches of snow.

I remain unconvinced that there was serious snow on the ground in the area of our particular battle at the end of March. This area is not far from the moderating effect of the Baltic. Patches? Probably, especially in the trees. Freezing over during the night? Probably. But I just can't imagine any competent commander taking armor into a snow-covered swamp. Show my a shot of Strachwitz in a Mark IV heading into a snowy swamp and then I'll believe." Charlie Meconis.

Another consideration from a CM game play view is that we had real problems balancing terrain Vs movement. Snow on the ground a la CMBB would slooow the whole attack right down that it would have little or no fun. So guess as it stands we'll stick with no snow. Be great if CMBB allowed patches ect just for 'atmospheric' purposes bit it does'nt, so it's on or off. We'll stick with off for jst now

Many thansk for digging out the videos and for your comments on this, it's much appreciated. I'd rather people took critical interest than no interest. If you dig up conclusive proof - yeah of course we will change it

Now it's off to Riga...

Cheers fur noo

George

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Hi Patboy

I think we might be talking about differant battles here - the account in Carius's book covers the latter ones. He only mentions briefly the action we describe - in this the Panzer IVs went into the swamp via a small embankment/corduroy road.

Cheers fur noo

george

ps mind this area is very near to the coast so I guess it could have milder weather. Even in the Soviet hinterland snow did'nt/does'nt lay on the ground all the time - re Kharkov winter 1943. Be keen to hear what you come up with though

Cheers fur noo

george

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Originally posted by Mies:

Are these battles depicted in Otto Carius' book Tigers in the Mud? The descriptions above do sound familiar.

Mies

This action gets a mention in Cariu's book - but it does not cover the latter ones he describes.

Strachwitz at Narva 1944

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

26 March 1944. Dawn, at the edge of the Körge swamp 25 kilometers south of Narva.

Oberst Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz, the “Panzer Count”, has been given another difficult mission: eliminate a dangerous Russian salient threatening German forces in northern Estonia. He is far from the scenes of his famous exploits in the south that have earned him the Knight’s Cross with Swords and Oakleaves. But he is at home: in the lead tank.

In the 8 months since he was badly injured at the height of the failed Operation Citadel at Kursk [see our scenario “Strachwitz at Kursk”] things have gone badly for Germany and for the Panzer Count himself.

Upon recuperating, he had returned to command the remnants of Grossdeutschland’s panzer regiment in September 1943 during the bitter retreat to the Dnieper River in the Ukraine. He left the Regiment that fall under mysterious circumstances and was removed from command in November, ostensibly for reasons of health. The consensus is that he clashed constantly with the Division’s commander General Hornlein over operational and tactical decisions, and one of them had to leave.

The Germans were now in full retreat on all fronts, and an offensive (and haughty) expert like Strachwitz found himself out of work despite his brilliant record. Normally he would have been slated for divisional command at this point in his career. But that did not happen.

Then in January 1944 he was finally given a new command with an imposing title: Panzer Commander, Army Group North. There were two major problems with his new command: Army Group North had few tanks (not even the III SS (Germanische) Panzer Corps), and the swampy, wooded terrain was mostly unsuitable for armor operations! Army Group North had been stripped of all its panzer divisions to bolster the German forces in the south. The only substantial panzer unit in the Army Group was Schwere Panzer Abteilung 502 with its Tigers. But these had to be parceled out to several units to “stiffen” infantry defenses as the Red Army broke out of Leningrad and threatened to storm into the Baltic countries of Estonia and Latvia south of Russia.

By March Soviet Marshal L.A. Govorov’s Leningrad Front had besieged the northern Esontian city of Narva. His Second Shock Army under Col. General I.I. Fediunsky had also established a dangerous bridgehead across the Narva River south of the city that cut the main rail line and threatened to pocket all of German Armee Abteilung Narva.

Army Group North Commander General Walther Model had pleaded for armor reinforcements but there were none available. In February the Führer finally reluctantly released his own body guard unit, the combined-arms Führer Begleit Battalion from the Grossdeutschland division, with 1 company of Mark IV tanks! Such was the state of the Wehrmacht’s panzer reserves in early 1944. The unit was designated “Kampfgruppe Bohrend” after its commander, and it became part of “Panzerverband Strachwitz”. The Count had no division, but he did command a force again, bearing his noble name.

By March 22, the fierce resistance of the III. SS Panzer corps had held firm in Narva, and 25 kilometers to the south General Johannes Freissner’s 18th Army had barely managed to stave off a Soviet offensive attempting to break out from the swampy, two-pronged bridgehead on the west side of the Narva River. This victory was largely due to the heroics of the tankers of the 502 Tiger battalion’s second company under the command of young tank ace, Lt. Otto Carius. Thus a Soviet breakthrough to the Baltic coast and the entrapment of the III SS panzer corps had been narrowly averted. However, the two bridgeheads, named the West Sack and the East Sack by the Germans, remained under Soviet control and enabled them to cut the main north/south railroad and threaten a future pocket attack. The Ivans from Lt. General I.P. Alferov’s 109th Rifle Corps were starting to fortify their positions. They had to be eliminated.

The call went out to the Panzer Count: work your magic, come hell—or high water.

After his usual meticulous study of the situation, Strachwitz decided to eliminate the West Sack first with a surprise attack at dawn on the 26th of March. He would naturally man the lead tank.

The “Last Cavalry Man” rides again . . . with tank ace Otto Carius under his command.

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Originally posted by patboy:

Hi George Mc,

Happy you're come back with a new geat scenario.

About what I read about "Strachwitz at Narva "

It seems this scenario describe the first attack against the "Westsack" in the salient. The second attack against "Östsack" started April 6 & the third attack April 15.

I know is it a semi historical scenario but I'm wondering why the scenario use damp condition

whereas, if I recall(what I read and saw), ground condition was cold, deep snow with low visibility!

I should have liked find on the map the hill between the "Rollbahn" & "Kinderheim" the fortified farms & bunkers and above all the railroad.

Thanks again

Pat

Hi Patboy

How you doin? We could'nt find any definitive proof there was snow on the ground - I'm sure there was some patches, but we thought it unlikely that 'Der Graf' would attack into a heavily snow covered swamp. There was more snow in early April granted. So given that CMBB does not do 'bits of snow' we elected to have no snow. If you have definitive evidence that there was a lot of snow at the time of this attack for sure we'll revise it - like to see some of your snow mods drive into action.

The orginal map had all the other details, but at the end of the day the map was too large and for this action these features were academic. This attck focusses on the small scale thrust into the swamp to isloate the 'westsca' and is not the action that Carius describes in detail in his book.

In reality for this action the Tigers were not used in the swamp but launched a diversionary attack to draw the Soviets away from the main effort. We give you the choice of taking Carius and his Tigers into the swamp

Cheers fur noo

George

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Strachwitz at Narva 1944

26 March 1944. Dawn, at the edge of the Körge swamp 25 kilometers south of Narva.

Oberst Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz, the “Panzer Count”, has been given another difficult mission: eliminate a dangerous Russian salient threatening German forces in northern Estonia. Using elements of the newly arrived combined-arms Führer Begleit Battalion from the Grossdeutschland division, “Panzerverband Strachwitz” launches a surprise armoured attack into the Soviet defences in the Körge swamp.

Map size: 2.4Km x 2.1Km

Total points combined: Approx 9 000 combined.

Number 5 in a CMBB combat history - “The Panzer Count’s Ostfront” designed by Charlie Meconis and George McEwan.

This scenario is in Beta version and you can download it from The Proving Grounds

Feedback most welcome.

Cheers fur noo

George Mc

[NEW Scenario - "Strachwitz at Narva"]

Strachwitz at Narva 1944

26 March 1944. Dawn, at the edge of the Körge swamp 25 kilometers south of Narva.

Oberst Hyazinth Graf Strachwitz, the “Panzer Count”, has been given another difficult mission: eliminate a dangerous Russian salient threatening German forces in northern Estonia. Using elements of the newly arrived combined-arms Führer Begleit Battalion from the Grossdeutschland division, “Panzerverband Strachwitz” launches a surprise armoured attack into the Soviet defences in the Körge swamp.

Map size: 2.4Km x 2.1Km

Total points combined: Approx 9 000 combined.

Number 5 in a CMBB combat history - “The Panzer Count’s Ostfront” designed by Charlie Meconis and George McEwan.

This scenario is in Beta version and you can download it from The Proving Grounds

Feedback most welcome.

Cheers fur noo

George Mc

[Any Tactical Use of Panzer Grenadiere?]

If you want to fight using SPW as they would be used and not on some 1km by 1km battlefield check out these Blowtorch Battalion Scenario Series

Peiper made SPW an offensive weapon and these scenarios recreate that use.

On the otherhand SPW in your average CMBB battlefield have limited use, mostly due to the size of the battlefield and latter timescales used (where AT weapons and PAKs become more prevalent).

Cheers fur noo

George

[Maximum battle size?]

Originally posted by sgtgoody (esq):

Wow!

Does this mean we can look forward to a CMSF version of "To the Volga?"

Yes.

Fancy making it

Cheers fur noo

George

[Mark IIIN]

The Panzer N carries a 75mm L24 gun - from what I mind is was designed as an assault panzer so guess it was more used for supporting infantry units as at that time the 75mm L24 was not all that much use for engaging enemy armour (at short range using special ammo is could do damage).

So keep it behind your footsloggers and use it to blast enemy Mgs etc.

Sure someone else will give some more detailed advice shortly

Cheers fur noo

George

[Soviet late-war attacks and casualties]

For what it is worth. I've had the pleasure of climbing with Russian climbers (as in Ethnic Russians) in the Tien Shan in the early nineties.

These guys were tough as nails, and what is more to boot, had a vastly differant attitude to climbing than us Westerners. Where we went for small fast teams, they tended to have larger. slower teams (albeit less experienced overall).

BUT, they climbed mountains as a team effort. Casualties due to cold, exhaustion etc were par for the course, and expected, but if one guy made it to the summit the whole team celebrated. Sometimes some of their team died.

What struck me was the team oriented approach which contrasted with our more 'individualistic' approach. A friend (a lecturer in history) at the time (who died the next year in a serac fall) described it as 'Stalingrad Climbing'.

Draw your own conclusions

Cheers fur noo

George

[STUG III G early winter grau]

Hi Pat

I like it! The Stugs with Rettlinger's battery appear to have had track links and another spare wheel on the superstructure side of the vehicle - so if you were thinkiing of making Stugs that went with the scenario...

In the photos I have of Stugs in the Kharkov action it appears snow builds up inside the rims of the lower track wheels, idler and main drive wheel. But I can live with what you have

Hope you are enjoying 'Chariots of Fire' - be keen to hear how you get on.

Cheers fur noo

George

[Using FRAPS]

Hi

Used FRAPS to make this the video you get here.

Problem I found was that the video is very jerky - could be by video card (which is pretty basic) or maybe something I am doing wrong. Be keen to hear how you get on.

Cheers fur noo

George

[***2 (well 10) NEW MODS Posted - SPW 250 Series in Ambush Camo***]

Hi David

Wow these puppies are brilliant! Like the mud look, and the ambush camo is brilliant as well. Great job!

Cheers fur noo

George

[The case of the missing Panzer IV/J?]

Hi John

The Panzer IV/J is in CMBB, if I mind it starts to come in around 1944 - I've just uploaded MikeyD's excellent Panzer IV/J mods. Nice they are too

Cheers fur noo

George

[The Panzer Count's Ostfront: A CMBB combat history of Graf Strachwitz]

Hi Hetzer38

Sounds like you are holding your own against the Soviet attacks. Nice one! The KVs can be taken out of action using hail fire against them - this causes the crew to panic and bail out, even better are close assaults from infantry teams as you have used.

Re damaged tanks - I'm not very sure - I think it depends on what the operation repair parameters were set (I can't mind exactly, but given the historical situation where the Germans were cut off from supply etc they will not be all that great I'd suspect - the briefing might have more info. I've had some gun damaged tanks repaired for the next battle in this, and others (immobilsed tanks)abandoned. I guess you can't rely on stuff that is damaged or immobilised being OK for the next battle.

Looking forward to the AAR - sound slike some fight you are in

Cheers fur noo

George Mc

[The Panzer Count's Ostfront: A CMBB combat history of Graf Strachwitz]

Hi Hetzer38

Many thanks for your comments about Dubno. I've not long finished playing it in two PBEMs and it is very full on. Glad to hear it is the same for yourself!

Re your questions about the 16th panzer Division markings. I'm afraid I don't know anymore about the markings than what you have found. I also added my own 16th Pz div insignia to MikeyD's mods just as you have done. 'Fraid I don't know if any of the units used other emblems - maybe someone on the forum here will be able to add more. Be keen to hear how things progree for you. The KVs are a real thorn in the German players side - just as they were in reality but there are several ways to take em down

Best of luck!

Cheers fur noo

George Mc