Ari Maenpaa

When were your christmas present books published? Latest research about the matter seems to indicate that the whole negotiation process was only a diversion from the the Soviet Union's part. Here's a Russian scholar's take on the thing: http://www.helsinki-hs.net/thisweek/48011999.html At least two Finnish researchers (Rautkallio and Manninen) have also come to the same conclusion as stated in their most recent books (both published in 2002). So the Soviet Union (= Stalin) had already decided to occupy Finland even before any territorial claims had been presented. Ari

My comments: Kriegstadt against Cogust. I played the Fallschirmjägers. A nightly infantry meeting engagement with even forces in a small town. Pretty nice scenario although I don’t particularly enjoy the randomness of night fighting. Men just keep dying without clear reason which is frustrating. Played the first 3 turns. Both sides took some casualties and a look with the Allied password reveals that both of us had concentrated almost all the forces on the same side of the map. We had chosen pretty much identical method to crack this scenario. An extremely violent shoot-out would have most likely ensued in the very next turns. But unfortunately before that point Conny completely disappeared from the CMBO scene. Fluid against Mattias. I played the Yanks. Nasty scenario for the Allied player. I think the key here for the “supposed” attacker is to make very throughout recon, whereas the Axis defender should try to keep his main force hidden for as long as possible thus luring the attacker to make overly optimistic moves. The vast mine fields are poison against fast advance and coupled with TRPs they can seriously hurt the attacker’s infantry and even armor. Also because of the water obstacles the defender has some very sweet spots to place AT-guns on without fear of incoming enemy infantry. And the city roads offer great tactical mobility to the defender’s numerous SP guns. Lastly but not leastly the heavy buildings are excellent shelters against the attacker’s HE fire and also offer almost unlimited vantage points with good view. In the actual match I almost right away lost both of my Greyhounds to a veteran 50mm AT gun in a lightning attempt to KO nearby StuH with flank shots. Then my troops bumped into the mine fields and wherever they tried to close in the town, they were met by defending volksturm and sicherung troops and enemy armor. Bit by bit it cleared up that the defender probably wasn’t the underdog at all. I took the nearest flag, but the furthest one was clearly out of reach. By turn 24 my advance had almost stopped and I begun to worry about a potential counterattack, because the defender still seemed to have lots of reserves left. Anyway before committing completely on defence I decided to make one good try to the flag in the mid town and first preparations were under progress... Twin Valleys against Tuomas. I played the Brits. Interesting scenario with many options left to the attacking player. The relative freedom was refreshing after Fluid’s shackling atmosphere. From the very beginning I decided to concentrate most of my forces on the right side of the map. Well reconnoitered attack breached the defences although Tuomas’ defenders took their toll, and my tanks become relatively free to operate on enemy’s left flank. Big load of 3-inch mortar rounds helped enormously in cleansing the central forest and after that the main battle was over. Luckily one of my forward observers spotted the Hetzer before it sneaked into it’s hiding place and I knew to keep my men out of potential firing lines. I was constantly worried about possible AT guns, because the map has lots of good places for them, but fortunately it turned out that the defender has got only one. -- Thanks to all the opponents so far and particularly to Tuomas who has been the only one to finish a match with me in the finals. Cogust’s early departure was a big blow and I think that along time it affected everyone’s play, because he didn’t inform anything to anyone. Hopefully we will be able to solve the Nordic Championships with CMBB. Ari

Yeah, I agree, we could resolve the championship with CMBB. Mattias disappeared from the radar couple of months ago. Said something about moving. But he has got CMBB too. Ari

Yep, I agree. In fact that’s pretty much what I tried to say, but my wording could have been better. Ie. pointwise the Tiger I is an “expensive” turreted tank, but on the CMBO battlefield it has to be played like a turretless one. So a “cheaper” turretless SP gun version of the Tiger would have been very nice for CMBO gaming purposes, because the (almost useless) turret makes the Tiger I too overcosted for QBs IMHO. Particularly true in CMBO, but CMBB introduced the ARC commands which help to utilise the benefits of the turret. Also in CMBB the hull rotation have been made painfully slow (ridiculously slow, I’d say) which punishes the turretless vehicles. Ari

The CMBB optics model basically gives the German tanks a small accuracy bonus on long ranges, but with several drawbacks. The luck factor is still prevalent. That's not the case. Unfortunately Many times I have hoped the Tiger wouldn't have a turret, because for my playing style that very-slow-turret is often more a burden than a benefit. The Tiger has a very nasty habit to idiotically die to rear or side turret penetrations. CMBB brought a big help in this problem by introducing 'cover arc' commands. Ari

Shake that nutrient tank for me, Madmatt. Thanks for the great games, Charles. Ari

Finnish books about Finnish war history. Soon we can't accuse you of ignorance Good books and easy to read. Lots of photos. This must be the shipment Steve talked about in September. Ari

Silvio, Vanir B, Vanir's summary is very good, thanks. But one thing I would like to point out is that the SU-100 offers thick armor, strong firepower and great mobility in one extremely balanced and cheap package whereas the Pz IV/70 clearly lacks in mobility. If the Axis player wants such a great-in-everything vehicle he must pay at least 233 points for a Panther and the Jagdpanther costs huge 250 points. Ari

Yep, the Nashorn can't take hits. In RL it was equipped to win it's duels by hitting first. And I naturally thought that "long-range optics" in CMBB would mean considerably better chances to hit distant enemies than they can hit back. Well I was wrong. Basing on the LOS tool's information and actual game experience the advantage from 'advanced optics' is in 0 - 5% marginal. And then there are the potential negative effects on short ranges... In my current game three separate regular SU-100s achieved three first shot hits on hull down targets from 1000 meters whereas a veteran Nashorn needed six shots to hit an immobilized SU-100 on the side armor from 1100 meters. The new optics model doesn't change much from the days of CMBO. Ari

SU-100's frontal armor: UH: 75/50 LH: 45/55 IV/70(A)'s: SSTR: 80/curved UH: 80/10 LH: 80/14 Both have 90% quality armor. The IV/70 has mysteriously lost it's MG although it had one in CMBO, so neither one have a MG, but the IV/70 has the nahverteidigungswaffe. It must be pointed out that I'm making the comparison to the A-model of Panzer IV/70 which costs only one point more than the SU-100 (149 points against 148, both regulars). The V-model with better armor costs 164 points as regular. Ari

I would say that the SU-100 is roughly equivalent to the Jagdpanther. But for some reason there's an enormous difference in the point costs. Even the Panzer IV/70 is more expensive than the SU-100 although it has considerably worse mobility and weaker gun. It seems like the tactical mobility has been somewhat neglected when the point costs were calculated. Ari

SU-100 is an excellent killer. Great mobility, powerful gun with formidable armour penetration and big blast value, good sloped frontal armor, small silhouette, cupola for easier spotting and all this with remarkably low point cost. In fact currently I think the vehicle is almost dangerously undercosted. It's only downsides are smallish ammo load (34 rounds) and just a little bit longer loading time than the German 88L/71 gun has. But then on the other hand the 100mm shot has excellent stopping power. One hit is almost always enough to annihilate the target. That's a very nice feature compared to the relatively ineffective "needle puncturing effect" which is characteristic for SU-100's German counterpart Panzer IV/70's 75L/70 gun. Seems very odd to me that the latter one is more expensive of the two. Also based on couple of games and some tests it seems that the much talked optics bonus for the German tanks is actually very marginal. At one kilometer range veteran Nashorns repeatedly lost shootouts against regular SU-100s, for example. Ari

I agree with all of Vanir's points. I can still remember some interesting QB maps from my first CMBO games. CMBB's generator seems to offer more generic and soulless maps. Also what purpose does the flat hilliness setting serve? Isn't such completely flat "pool table terrain" totally unrealistic? One big reason for not to use random setting for hilliness. And why should it be so hard to set the ground condition dry in QBs? "Don't play with the StuGs!" seems to be the message for the players. Ari

Unfortunately I'm not so sure the step in CMBB is that big. Things like "good" optics are relative. Even if the German optics are currently modelled accurately in CMBB, what good it makes when the point of comparison, the Soviet optics model, is based on speculation. At least that's how I understand what the manual says of the subject. In fact in CMBB terms the difference between "good" (German) and "standard" (Soviet) optics is very small (at least in daylight conditions). Put a crack Tiger I and a crack IS-2 face to face 2000 meters apart from each other. The LOS tool tells that both of them have 16% hit propability against the opponent. The only real advantage the Tiger has, is it's faster firing rate, which helps to achieve hits quicker. So much for superior optics Also I haven't noticed that the "better" German optics give any advantage in spotting. I have to make more tests, but at the moment it seems that in CMBB the German advantage in optics is only marginal. Ari

Sorry, dunno at the moment. But Palgrave, the publisher of the English translation, has more information HERE. Even a sample chapter. I happened to bump into the English version in the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa. Seemed to me that the book depicts Finland in the WW2 quite objectively. The main downside appears to be the relatively high price. But the book can be obtained from the libraries too. Ari