Kevin Peltz

I had told myself that when version 1.03 was released, I would stop coming to this forum, as lately it has at times taken directions that have upset me greatly. 1.03 is here, and I am gone- but I feel compelled to say thank you to pretty much everybody who ever posted on this board: each post I have read (which is virtually all of them) has either increased my knowledge in some way, or has given me cause for reflection in others. For this I am indebted to all of you. Especially though, I would like to thank Steve and Charles for CM, and to Fionn, MadMatt, KwazyDog, Moon, and the many others who have laboured on the game either directly or indirectly to bring it to the level it has reached today. What is interesting about CM is that even though it is putting a new spin on wargaming, it has brought back, for me, the same fun and excitement I used to get 30+ years ago when I first played "cardboard and paper." Until now, that excitement has been missing- I'm glad it has finally returned...

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/massacres.html

My son learned that bigger is not necessarily always the better way to go when one of my British glider squads destroyed his King Tiger with a Gammon bomb as he was parked next to a building. He spent probably 75% of his allotted points on the beastie. I have used the StuG III,IV and Panzer IV G/H/J quite a lot, and find they do well. You have to be careful with them, but that holds true for all the armour in the game...

Mr Wilder: I think it would be an excellent idea. I would play it. I am currently working on the map for one of the San Pietro (Italy) battles- it is not in the right place or time, but if I can get the map to work to my satisfaction, it should be close enough...

Seems to me that the Canadians gave the SS a hard time on occassion also...

I have been totally involved playing CM since I got it. What really kills me for gaming are the horrendous prices by the time the games arrive in Canada- CM and Normandy '44 together cost me almost $160. They are good value for money, but I can't buy too many games at those prices...

On the Pershing: T26E3 Pershing. Source: Hunnicutt, R. P.: Pershing: A History of the Medium Tank T20 Series. Twenty Pershings were shipped to Antwerp in January 1945. After bore sighting and test firings were completed on 23 February 1945 they were then ready for combat. The next shipment of at least 70 Pershings arrived at Antwerp and Le Havre on about 25 March 1945. These were ready for action in the first week of April 1945. By VE day there were 310 Pershings in Europe of which about 200 had been issued to front line units. Twelve Pershings were also sent to Okinawa but were too late to take part in any fighting. T26E4 Pershing. Source: Hunnicutt, R. P.: Pershing: A History of the Medium Tank T20 Series. This was also known as the Super Pershing. This was a T26E1 refitted with the new 90mm gun T15E2 and redesignated the T26E4. A single vehicle arrived in Europe at the 3rd Armoured Division on 15 March 1945, but was not ready for combat until about a week later. The front hull armour of a Panther was added to the front hull of this Pershing. As for the Jagdpanther, it's thickest armour was about 80mm IIRC- if it was 76mm M4's firing at it, they may have been using tungsten rounds, which at 500m would be a problem for the JP... I am not sure what "price structure" is used to attach a value to a piece of equipment in the game.

Don't know what your video card, etc. is like- but the flash and smoke are there, at least on my box anyways...

If you could be the game designer, and put in Rangers, how would you feature them that would make them radically different from the American units already in the game?

I read that near Arnhem, at the time of Market-Garden, there was some sort of Panzer training unit that had six Pz III (mark unknown) on hand...

"They won't hit the tank either..." lol. Reminds me of what my friend's dad used to say about the Sten gun (he was in the 6th Airborne)- it was at it's best in close-quarters combat: first you empty the magazine at the enemy from ten metres (if it didn't jam), hitting nothing, and then you wallop him over the head with it...

Flank, flank, flank- use every bit of terrain you can, and try to approach the enemy from at least two different directions: while trying to engage/protect itself against one direction, it's flank will be exposed in the other. Be patient- withold your armour until your infantry element has had a chance to scope things out on foot. A rule of thumb I use is 1/3 of the time can be safely spent feeling things out (if game is 15 turns, allow at least 5 turns for recce). In a high threat environment, like a village or town, the trick is to keep in some contact with your infantry, but let them move far enough ahead to clear out AT weapons, snipers, etc. Position some element to overwatch another while it moves up- if there is high ground, grab it and use it. Create your own "terrain" with smoke if need be. In truth, there weren't a whole lot of pure tank-on-tank battles in Northwest Europe- the terrain was against it- your best defence against enemy tanks is your own infantry.

I have played about half a dozen games with the grid on, and in truth, I get so wrapped up in events, I forget that it is even there...

The first thing I thought of was comparing games that I have that also use grids: Alpha Centauri, Chaos Gate, Final Liberation, and S.M.'s Gettysburg. The only one of the four that I don't use the grid on is S.M.'s Gettsyburg, mostly because it is ugly enough to knock a buzzard off a ****-wagon. The other three are unobtrusive, and this new grid thingie looks just fine to me. I am too lazy to count squares, the LOS tool is good enough for distances. I have no trouble finding hull-down posits. But the grid will help to get a better feel for the terrain with just a glance- this will be important when TCP/IP comes in, and my opponent is trying to climb out of the chat box screaming at me to hurry up with my frigging move, will ya already?

Try playing a scenario in heavy fog, with the "sound contacts" jumping all over the place. The FOW of this game is one of it's best features, IMO.