Kevin Peltz

The real "uber weapon" is properly used infantry...

Ya done good, Martin...

Check Moon's site for good topo maps- the area you need is covered, I believe... http://www.gamesofwar.de/

This guy has three Kettenkraftrads! http://www.kettenkrad.de/

AVRO? Oh! You mean an AVRE...thought you were dropping Grand Slam bombs from a Lancaster or something...(now THAT would be a big explosion...)

Still nothing for me- my brother got his copy literally within hours of it getting shipped. We pre-ordered within a day of each other, and we only live about six miles apart. What makes it worse is that he hasn't told me a damn thing about the game, not a peep. I don't know if he even likes it or not. Plus- I was the one who put him onto the game- he has never checked this forum, or any of the sites, nothing. I downloaded all the patches and scenarios and sent them to him, and I got nothing. I need a scrawny neck to wring right now...

For the Vosges drive towards Bitche and Strasbourg, I found two units called "201st/202nd Mountain Infantry," looking to be battalion sized, parent unit was the 16th Volksgrenadier Division, which looked like a catchall for a bunch of disparate units. The Gebirgs units seem to have appeared in the Strasbourg area.

Vosges...? The drive on Strasbourg and Bitche?

Jonathan: I do not have the game or the demo with me right now, but I will try to do what I can from memory. I am almost bound to get something wrong, but, as I find in common with both my job and this forum, there is always a plethora of people who will be quite willing to point out my mistakes: Gebirgstruppen- These are troops that have been trained for mountain fighting, and their skill sets and equipment reflect this: the ability to move and fight on skis, the ability to move rapidly and efficiently on steep terrain and in a thinner atmosphere, using special variants of equipment that can be broken into pack loads that could be carried on horseback or mule, etc. In reality, the Gebirgstruppen fought in almost every kind of terrain, on all fronts, including North Africa. Training and ability would range from elite to green, depending on time period, place, and circumstances. Volkssturm- these would generally have been elderly men or very young boys, usually out of the normal age range for military service, conscripted to fight in the locale they were drawn from. They had no uniforms to speak of, other then an armband, and would be armed with whatever was available- a Panzerfaust seems to have been a favourite, at least in the photos I have seen. Training would be poor to non-existent. Fallschirmjaeger- German paratroopers, which were nominally an arm of the Luftwaffe. Trained to land by parachute/glider, but after the terrible losses in Crete (1941), basically served as ground troops for the remainder of the war, on all fronts. Some other Luftwaffe units, mainly anti-aircraft units, could logically be in the game, too. The Luftwaffe even had a Panzer Division- the Hermann Goering Parachute Panzer Division, that fought in Sicily, Italy, Hungary(?), and Poland...Training levels could be from elite to green. Wehrmacht- part of what most people would call the "regular" German Army, or Heer. Volksgrenadier- often confused with Volkssturm, Volksgrenadier units started appearing in 1944, and were used as an expedient to try and give Germany more divisional sized units to work with. Although they could consist of a lot of green troops with only a small amount of training, they could also be leavened with a lot of veterans from disbanded/destroyed regular units, so in some cases, their level of training could be quite high. Their organizational table for equipment would generally not be up to par with a like size "regular" unit. Their level of training could be anywhere from conscript to crack... Waffen SS- I have left these guys for last, because I find it difficult to explain their origins correctly, mostly because I have a lot of trouble getting it straight- hopefully someone will throw their oar in here for me: in a nutshell (my nutshell), they started out as a few regiments of bodyguard troops answerable to Hitler, and as such, were treated as a seperate elite branch, not belonging to the Wehrmacht. Originally, they consisted of what was considered to be racially pure Aryans, and as elite units, got preference in training and better weapons (sometimes, but not always). As the war progressed, standards were lowered, and there were SS units consisting of anything but Aryans- one example would be SS Division "Handschar," that acted in Yugoslavia mainly as an anti-partisan unit, and consisted almost totally of Muslim Croats, who had strict religious and dietary requirements in line with their religion. Anyway, SS units were looked upon as fanatical, tough, well trained, and well equipped- but in the reference of CM, they could range in quality from green to elite. I don't know if this was any help now or not, after reading it over...

I thought it was pretty neat that Gebirgstruppen made it into the game- but I could not remember seeing anywhere where they were used in NW Europe from June, 1944 onwards. I found this info for anyone who wants to be historical in their scenario making: 6th SS Gebirgs Division "Nord" Dec.'44: held in reserve, Norway, 20th Gebirgs Armee. Jan.-Feb.'45: part of LXXXX Korps, 1st Armee, Landau/Lothringen. Mar.'45: part of LXXXII Korps, 1st Armee, Trier/ Mosel. Apr.'45: held in reserve, 7th Armee, Rhein (Thuringia)until capitulation. 2nd Gebirgs Division Late '44: moved out of Lappland to Denmark for reorganization. Feb.-May'45: fought in the Wurtemburg area until surrendering to US forces at the end of the war. [This message has been edited by Kevin Peltz (edited 06-29-2000).]

LOL- I think there are more Ami tourists in my town then Canucks, after the kids get out of school for the summer... [This message has been edited by Kevin Peltz (edited 06-29-2000).]

Damn government, time to foment unrest and rebellion...or, maybe the US could invade us and make it stick this time as the 51st State- we don't have Laura Secord to "save" us this time...

Yes, please do hang on to your safety stock, as I still haven't got my pre-ordered copy yet...

For those chosen ones with the full game- has anyone seen their name, or someone they know from here, that got their last name into the list of randomly generated leader names?

When I lose a crew served weapon, the crews head to the rear- I play as if they are out of the fight as much as I can. I justify this by considering that they are too traumatized by their circumstances to be of any use for the time period covered in the game. The point of trying to preserve specialist units within an operational game is also a valid one, I think. Setting a house rule is a good idea...

MantaRay: I think the game is very challenging- as it should be. I don't know what size scenarios you have been playing- why don't you try making smaller ones and playing with them for awhile- just to sort of keep the workload down a bit. In the demos, I liked to toss everything out of the way into a secluded corner of the map, except for maybe one platoon and a tank, and just fiddled with them, trying different tactics and seeing how things worked...Also, if the strategy side is getting you down, I really recommend Moon's site, especially the Tactics section- he has some excellent examples on how to use real world tactics in CM- and it is growing by the day...I am envious of you- I still don't have the damn game in my hands yet, wish I COULD be playing it...

I don't have the game yet, so I can't look for myself: how many MG's are represented on the HT's in the unit data? The M3 had a .50 or .30 cal in the "pulpit," sometimes mounted another, perhaps even two, along the sides above the passenger seats, for example...

I think in the case of this particular weapon, it simply depends on whether you want to play realistically in terms of how available it would have been vs the scale of the game, or not having to worry, and just having fun with it. When compared to the hundreds of thousands of Panzerfausts, and thousands of Panzerschrecks used, the Puppchen was small potatoes numerically speaking. If anyone on this forum wanted me to play them as the Germans, and I could pick my equipment, I would limit myself to one of these in a scenario, possibly two, if it were a very large one. For me, it is not the cost or the effectiveness, it's historical availability- I wouldn't choose 36 King Tigers for the same reason, even if I had the points to do so. On the other hand, if one of you said, "Let's see what happens if...," then super, let's go- just as long as we are aware of what type of play we agree to beforehand.

Just for general information, here are some stats for the Puppchen ("Dolly"): 8.8 cm (fired the same round as Panzerschreck, but with a slightly more powerful motor) Weight: 315 lb Length: 9 ft 9 in Barrel length: 63 in Projectile weight: 5 lb 13 oz Traverse: 65 deg Elevation: 23 deg Muzzle velocity: 475 fps Maximum range: 765 yds Penetration: 100mm This is from one source, others will vary, naturally. There is a photo in this book of one captured in Italy, plus I have seen a German training/propaganda film illustrating the use of Puppchen and other AT weapons (including the Hafthollandung) on the Eastern Front. Production figures quoted as "relatively few." I will just use Puppchen sparingly whan I get the chance to use them, I think. One in a scenario would be enough- but to each his own...

Scott Clinton: Actually, it wasn't recoiless. It had a breech block that the rounds were loaded through that closed as usual. This of course trapped the propellant gases and gave the added range when fired. I believe that what the Puppchen is firing is basically the same round as what the Panzerschreck used- but I may be wrong on this point.

I dunno- if you are the size and build of Hulk Hogan maybe...actually, she is a very nice lady to talk to.

Tom: He has a rural post box: the green ones by the side of the road. He didn't say whether it was there or if he had to go and get it at the PO. Either way- you would think that the bigger places would get it first, especially back east...who knows? Like I said, I am about ten minutes up the road, and I haven't got mine yet. I am not on a rural delivery route- don't know if that makes any diff or not. All I know is that if people are actually getting the game in Europe, before we are seeing it here...doesn't say much for the efficacy of CP. But, it must be a crappy job in a lot of ways- I wouldn't want to be lugging those bag fulls of whatever all over the place when it is -40 outside. Mind you, you get exercise. You should see the big strapping blonde that delivers to my house- I wouldn't want to Indian wrestle her...

My brother just got his copy today, here in Prince George, BC. I live ten minutes away- no joy for me yet...

My brother got his copy today, here in Prince George, BC. He lives about ten minutes up the road from me, but no sign of mine yet...

What do you do with ten of them if your opponent has no armour, or, worse, holds his armour back and tears into you on foot, with lots of artillery to back them up? As Fionn said, they are not small, and that causes it's own troubles (I'm thinking of the sIG 33 as I write this- fearsome weapon, but big as a house...) I think one of the most interesting aspects of CM is the interplay between armour and AT weapons- armour can be an incredible force multiplier, but it is also very fragile in an environment where almost every "leg" present has the ability to destroy a tank or AC single-handed...