Bil Hardenberger

Sorry I can't answer that question... haven't read anything that mentions heavy tank doctrine specifically. Hunt is too slow for my taste. Hard to be sure exactly what factors actually effect targeting.. I've seen a lot of misses at moving targets, and I've seen a lot of hits. I think it depends mainly on the movement status of the shooter, distance, terrain, smoke in between, etc... I don't want to ruin any of the upcoming action, so I will only say.. yep. You can't split a crew, but yes you can dismount, do some foot recon then remount later. Thanks! Bil

June through August is correct.

How does this work for everyone:

user38, Warren and I are on our second QB PBEM since this battle.

gunnersman, don't forget this is still a BETA and not evrything you see is finalalized yet.

Erik, yep Israel and Indonesia so far.. maybe Imageshack doesn't like countries that begin with the letter I. Regardless I'd like everyone to be able to see these, so I'm looking at other options.

Hopefully this will work... I have created a flickr album that contains all of the images I have posted so far. I can't promise that they are in order though. http://www.flickr.com/photos/60872699@N08/with/5542510363/ This is not the solution I'm looking for, only a way to get the images posted so far out to everyone who is having trouble seeing them.

Thanks. I'll get something that will work for everybody.

Great. I can't go back and edit my posts with new links, sorry about that... all I can do is maybe zip them up and e-mail them to anybody who missed the earlier images. Please PM me if that is what you would like. Bil

PT and Khane, is this better?

To my eye they all seem to rock back very realistically when firing in CMBN.

Damn, sorry guys. I guess I'm going to come up with some other way to display the images. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. Bil

Khane, I don't know why you would be getting a logo instead of the image... is anybody else having this problem? I would check at imageshack's site and see what the issue is. If you click on this link what do you get? http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/297/023tank432a.jpg Please PM me and I'll see if I can't help you see these pictures in some way. Bil

Pvt. Ryan, no the small arms weapons you see them with are what I've seen them bail with. I think the US crews have a grease gun in their kit, but not sure how many per vehicle, maybe only one.

I actually meant to answer this question earlier (I apologize if I miss some questions, PM me if you want something answered that I missed). Yes, tanks in a hull down position WILL depress their guns if given a target or target arc order. These tanks don't have one so they just point straight ahead. Later in the game you will see this in action.

Yeah QB maps on average are not as detailed as maps made for a historically based scenario. But they serve the purpose when the game is being used as a sandbox to practice and examine tactical principals or just to have fun on. Dont worry Longleftflank there are plenty of Maps that will give you that Normandy fix. However I appreciate the different map styles in the QB folder for a change of pace once in a while.

First Contact! First Blood! Part 3 1st Platoon, Tank 4 Continued… 58:19 – Tank 4 HIT! Firing unit is as yet unidentified. 58:16 – Tank 4's momentum forces it to roll forward before coming to a halt and then it is hit again by the unseen shooter and the crew bails (I believe this was already under way when the second round hit). Notice the HQ tank's turret in the blocking position on the ridge in the rear of this pic, and Tanks 1 and 2 in their new positions. After the tank was destroyed, the crew bailed, and it had rolled to a stop the US tankers continued to fire on it hitting it one more time (as noted above) and missing once. I think this little sequence gives you a good idea of what armored combat is like in CMBN. It is thrilling to watch, rewind and re-watch these sequences from both sides. Watching the tanks rock back on their haunches when they fire, and shudder to a halt when hit is mesmerizing. Tank 3 also had some action in this turn, hitting and knocking out an M-20 armored car. Note that in this image you can see a third tank. This M4A1 appears to be the tank that did the shooting on Tank 4 before I could spot him. Tank 3 took a hit in return by another as yet unseen shooter. Note the change in vehicle status post hit (that track damage will slow him down some): Elsewhere there was no action. Still no activity to be seen along AA1, I might start moving 2d Platoon up some to see if they can get a better view, and perhaps get eyes on AA2. Next: Rubber Bullets

First Contact! First Blood! Part 2 1st Platoon, Tank 4 The saga of Tank 4 is interesting to watch unfold. Here is the blow by blow: [note: times are counting down from 59:00 – start of turn to 58:00 – end of turn] 58:40 - Tank 4 makes its turn towards the tree line: 58:32 – Tank 4 spots enemy tanks: 58:25 – Tank 4, while moving fires at the M4A1 which is also moving (these two screen shots were taken at the exact same time): Dammit! The shot is high, which is to be expected as I was firing on the move at a moving target (hard to see in this pic, but the round passes directly over the M4A1): 58:22 – M4A3, at the halt returns fire on Tank 4, and thankfully also misses high (again it's hard to tell here, but watching the Sherman rock back and the barrel recoil during the firing sequence is a beautiful thing):

First Contact! First Blood! Part 1 Tank Movement I follow German doctrine when I maneuver my tanks. If I am moving, I move at Fast speed almost every time from point to point, none of my tanks ever move Slow, or at Normal speed except under certain circumstances. One of the exceptions (yes there are exceptions) to the above rule is when I am moving into a hull down position. When attempting to get hull down with a tank I will move the last leg (10-20 meters or so) on Hunt, the tank will immediately Halt upon sighting any enemy and your tank will be in an ideal hull down position to engage that enemy contact. Minute 2 I might have made a slight mistake with the orders for this turn. For 1st Platoon I order tanks 1 and 2 to move forward out of their hull down positions into positions behind some trees to get more eyeballs and guns overlooking AA3. Perhaps I should have kept them in their original positions? I just had a feeling that they needed to be further up the map. In accordance with the following tenant, I guess I was feeling at the time like the two lone tanks forward would be out on a limb, and thus needed some closer support. Well, time will tell… in the meantime the HQ tank takes up the blocking role for now (who knows how long I’ll keep him there ). I love using trees for cover, and you will see a lot of that in this game by me. You will actually see some of both sides of this figure: The German Platoon in WWII: Its Training and Employment in Battle I will say this, trees in CMBN, if used correctly (the right hand side of the above figure) really works as it is supposed to for both making it harder for the enemy to see you, and harder for him to hit you. While if you are at the proper depth, and not too shallow (so you can be hit easily) or too deep in them (so you can’t see out), can hit at will.

Opening Moves PART 2 (here is the link to Part 1: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1238847&postcount=100 ) 2nd Platoon: From those screens you should be able to get tank commander (TC) names, experience, command and control (C2) status and type of comms to its leader (on the left of the UI you will see a radio and an eye icons, these tell you that that tank is in radio communications and can see his Platoon leader (PL), so has two types of command links active), rank, etc. I’ll let other BETA testers jump in and answer any specific question on the UI so I can concentrate on the battle itself. I am going to be giving a minute by minute account of this action as you will see it will become important as it unfolds. Minute 1 You can see my initial orders in the screens above, at the end of the first minute the positions are as follows: 1st Platoon: No contact. Tanks 1 and 2 have taken up hull down positions and are the blocking element and providing overwatch for tanks 3 and 4. Tanks 3 and 4 are driving through the blocking element and still moving towards their final positions in the tree line as indicated earlier. There is a beautiful ridge that 1st Platoon tanks take up some nice hull down positions on: 2nd Platoon: No contact. Tanks 1 and 2 are in their final positions and watching for any movement down AA1. The rest of the tanks in the force remain in their start positions. They will not move out until I see how Warren is maneuvering his force and can make some informed decisions. Next: First Contact! First Blood!

Opening Moves: Before we start into the actual game itself, I think a few introductions are in order. I am going to shut up now and let the following screens do the talking: Company HQ: 1st Platoon: Seems I've reached my image limit for this post... continued in my next post.

Chops, the map is 1200m wide and 1000m deep.

eniced73, I will be showing how we deal with heavy trees in the game as we go along, no mod necessary.

GhostRider, I will speak to the terrain details in the following installments. It is an important aspect as to how the battle played out.

PRE-BATTLE PLANNING My start postion: It is my belief that almost every battle must be preceded by a battlefield reconnaissance. I will normally assign up to a third of my force to this mission in the hopes of identifying the enemy main avenues of approach (AA), the types of units I am facing (I do an Order of Battle analysis from the contacts identified), and his main course of action (COA). From the hints given by the spotting reports the recon units send in, I can usually identify what he, the opposing player, intends to do, or sometimes more importantly, what he intends to not do (for example, like not move down a potential avenue of approach, which could open up an opportunity for exploitation). I am always on the lookout for these hints and suggestions. I am not going to give you guys a class on recon, you can find that elsewhere. What I am going to do is show you the main AAs I thought Warren might use and how I intended to reconnoiter those avenues. I will share some of the conclusions I came to as the battle unfolded. Here I have highlighted a few of the avenues that I expected Warren could take. I must point out that he could always do something completely different. That is why a thorough reconnaissance is so important in these early stages of the battle and before you get over hasty and commit your forces before you should. AA1 would be a fair approach for Warren because he could hold his right flank and set a base of fire up in the trees to cover that entire flank and potentially cover the objective as well. AA2 would be a very good approach, especially if he could rush through the objective and take up positions in the tree line (as identified). He would have possession of the objective and control the center. AA3 could be a superior move. Sending a force this direction in conjunction with another force down AA 2 could potentially be very effective and AA3 could be used to flank me if I concentrated in the center to cover the objective. If I didn’t defend this avenue he could roll up my flank and the battle would be over very fast. On the left I was mainly interested in identifying movement down AA1. To be honest, I thought AA2 and AA3 together were the most likely approaches because enemy units on each could potentially act together and Warren could shift resources from one to the other with his interior lines, where a unit coming down AA 1 would be separated from any other maneuvering element and at risk. In fact, if there is an element moving down AA1 then I will want to strike it with the majority of my combat power and eliminate it before it could be reinforced. Another two tank element was sent to overwatch AA3. The other element of this Platoon I sent to take up a good blocking position a little to the rear of this scouting element as a reserve. I like a strong flank. After I began to see what Warren was up to I would start to make some decisions and commit my tanks. Next: Opening Moves