Jump to content

Neutral Party

Members
  • Posts

    222
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Neutral Party

  1. I'm also interested in a few more pbem games. I have BN/CW/MG and RT and also use dropbox/CMH. I'll play either side and can usually turn round a few turns per day (EST). Joe
  2. Thank you both for responding. JoMc67 - sounds good but I don't have drop box (I'll look into it). email address is in my sig. eniced73 - haven't done any real time play so far and don't know about Hamachi group. Don't know if I could cope yet with real time but will give it a go if you're up for it. Again email address in sig. Joe
  3. Thanks. Will contact you once I get it.
  4. Long time ago, when there were wolves in Wales, I used to dabble in CM1 and with a great deal of time and effort managed to raise my game to the level of mediocre. Now that CMRT is here, I feel I am ready for further humiliation. However before being humiliated in CMRT I feel I should first be humiliated in BN/CW/MG. I therefore would like to start some games (BN/CW/MG) with willing opponents. I'm still kind of feeling my way around the new version and would prefer smaller scenarios/QBs. Best to all. Joe
  5. I'd like to sign up. The "Luga Breakthrough" competition was well designed and well organized and I'd like some more. Joe
  6. As junk2drive mentioned we have now finished Jason's ME. It was a close game and a tough slog but most enjoyable. I think there are a few separate issues worth mentioning. The first one is - it's a great idea. having forces arrive piecemeal really changes the focus of what you're trying to do. Although getting to the flags the fastest with the mostest is advantageous, you don't necessarily want to do this and won't be able to with a German infantry formation against US mechanized forces. It may be more beneficial to have your initial forces cover the approaches to the flags while the later follow-on forces attempt to control them if that is necessary. Of course it may not be necessary to control the flags at all. The second issue is map design. Because speed and mobility is a big issue it will be important from a game point of view (as distinct to historical simulation) to carefully design the map. If a highly mobile force with a lot of firepower gets into a position where it can see the enemy entry zone it could end up a turkey shoot - especially if forces are arriving mounted in trucks. A related issue is approach routes - to make a game of it there has to be some relatively covered approaches so that the slow side can get to the battlefield in a reasonably intact state. The third issue is force composition, balance and timing. Say for the sake of agument both sides have armor but on one side, the armor arrives en masse in platoon or greater strength and on the other it arrives in singles with long periods between each unit then the side with mass has an advantage in the armor battle even if the total force strengths are similar. So there are design issues for these kinds of ME that are less significant for "regular" MEs. One of the other interesting features is that it would make it possible to have more fluid and variable battles. Initially fast recon elements arrive and fight for the ability to provide information to their respective follow-on forces. When the heavier units arrive this information will be very important in the decision of where and how fast they should move to - can they move in relative safety to good positions for interdiction of enemy forces or do they have to participate in the "information" battle. In summary I think this a great idea. It requires a lot of thoughtful scenario design and balancing but opens up the possibility of fluid, kaleidoscopic and engrossing battles. Joe
  7. You might be right it's just that I usually can't work up the enthusiasm to play the AI
  8. Thanks J Ruddy I'll pbem either side if anyones's interested. Joe
  9. JasonC I'll give it a go as pbem if anyone (junk2drive?) is interested. Joe
  10. Of course it will be WW2 - like duh! Western Europe 92.75% Eatern Front 7.24% Something else 0.01% chances of these numbers being wrong 42.725%
  11. I think as a whole the Tournament was very well put together. For me at least it gave a feel of how bad it must have been to be Russian in 1941 Of the scenarios I think my favorite was the first one. There was something really nice about the map and the force compositions were such that I felt that the Russians could have done some damage if handled well. The only thing I would have changed was to either have put more VLs near the bridge or made it a German exit scenario. The bridge after all was the military objective. The second scenario was a real kobayashi maru. It had a great map but IMO the Russians were hopelessly outmatched. The only reason I got a half decent score in this one was that all my units routed off the map before the Germans got a chance to kill or capture them. The third scenario was also a killer for the Russians due to having to attack with conscript forces with long command delays against an enemy that could kill the armor and break the infantry from a long way off. Also the map was a bit dull IMO. The fourth scenario was great fun and gave the Russians a chance to get their revenge. Very short LOS and T-34s (Oh my! - what I would have done for T-34s in the first 3 scenarios). The flame tanks were comically effective - definitely produced the biggest explosions of the entire tournament Having pioneers was nice too. I think the trick here was to have these guys hidden in cover with short arcs when the German armor came along. Due to the fact that complex route planning would have been impossible in this scenario due to all the rubble and fires, I finally figured out what to do about the Russian command delays i.e., just click on the desired destination and let the tacAI figure it out. In all cases there was always going to be an element of luck involved. Apart from the last one, all scenarios were very short, so attacks had to be carried out quickly and if the initial plan didn't work out there was no chance of trying another one. The defender has a plan, based on what he thinks the attacker will do, and vice-versa. If the plans match the defender has a chance, if they don't he's screwed. For a tournament of longer duration, the player matching system might not be ideal as it is inevitably geared towards reducing everyone to an average score. However it worked ok in this case as there were definite winners. All in all I had a great time and ain't got no complaints. Many thanks to everyone who contributed. Joe
  12. Well gentlemen thank you for your understanding. I expect I would feel the same way if the boot was on the other foot. We haven't finished for a variety of reasons and I fully accept responsibility for my part in this. I was out of town and did not have usable internet access for 3 weeks. This meant our start was delayed for that period. Since then I have been turning my turns round within 1 hour of receiving them. I did try to organize a tcp session over the weekend to finish the game off but unfortunately this did not occur. I have enjoyed playing in the tournament so far. I think the scenarios have been well designed and my opponents have been sporting. I have also taken the time to write AARs during the course of the games I've played in order to provide useful feedback to the designers. As Ted mentioned neither of us are going to win and having substitutes jump in will not change that. Probably the best idea would be exclude our game from the end results. At least that way us slackers will be able to enjoy the scenario at our own doddering pace. Best Regards Joe
  13. I just got back from vacation where I didn't have particularly usable access internet. I have now sent the first turn to a1steaks so hopefully we're off. I'm sure we'll turn the turns round pretty fast as my regiment of T-72s have arrived and I expect to destroy the Hitlerite scum in next to no time. If the worse comes to the worse we can always tcp it. We tcp-ed the last half of round 3 and, in a life replete with unpleasant periods of several hours duration, this was one of the worst. Joe
  14. First turn sent to Akula2. Like Holien, I was surprised to see so many high scores for the Soviets in round 1 and would be really interested to hear how these games played out. Hopefully people will post AARs. Anyway FWIW I have attached the view from the other side of the hill that corresponds to Brent's AAR above Luga Breakthrough – first encounter AAR The Soviet Mission is to "slow the German advance at the town and prevent them from capturing the bridge to the Northeast of town". Initial impressions on the map: Looks good. The road layout gives the attacker a few options. Defensive forces are woefully inadequate (as usual ) but generally well positioned. I would have preferred the sharpshooter(Kurtanidze) in a more concealed location though. Set-up: Moved Lt Neretin with the associated 82mm mortar (and also the 50mm) to better see down the Luga road as I might want to drop some harassing fire on it. Although the Germans could be coming from anywhere to the South, if they're in a hurry they'll be taking the road. Neretin is in the rocky zone near the building that has LOS rather than the building itself in case the Germans just blow this up – on the assumption that if they can see it, it can see them. Hopefully Neretin's +2 stealth will keep him invisible. I want to re-arrange Katukov's platoon so the HQ is not the first one to die. The rifle squads are to set up in the woods to the West. Generally get rid of the foxholes as I can't put them where I want them and don't want the Germans to get them. However, I leave one for the conscript Maxim MG. Mogilny's platoon needs to move out of their set up zone (white zone) ASAP - make a dash to the woods west of the village church. Zelepukin's grouping will relocate to the woods to the East of the bridge to put down flanking fire to any Germans that come close. The AT gun has been relocated to Dolidze's command on the other side of the bridge. OK - all set Action: On set up I see a couple of armored vehicles in the cross country to the West of the Luga road and decide to drop some 82mm mortar that way. Here they come in all guns blazing over country and down the Luga road. Targets are the church the crossroad area and the light building I decided not to put Neretin in. Best I could hope for here was to cause some of the tank riders to jump off - looks like one did. I decide to drop some mortars on some of the scattered trees to both sides of the Luga road on an area they must come through. I think (incorrectly as it turned out) I might have immobilized an AC. Still they come. Most, if not all, tanks seem to be armed with 20mm cannon. Maintain harassing mortar fire. Where is he going with his armor to the West? - looks like he's driving into the open ground behind the woods but that doesn't go anywhere. Must be planning to unload some infantry. Reinforcements - an infantry company of three platoons arrives but there's no way I can get them to the village with the German armor where it is. I order them to spread out and get into cover. Maybe later when the Germans move through they can counter-attack. Enemy armored force keeps heading for the shelter of the woods to the west of the village - surely they must be planning to drop off infantry. My infantry are in place for ambush - hopefully they will do some kind of damage to any Germans infantry coming through the woods. The German commander will probably support them with his armor. I can't see what I can do about that unfortunately. Keep up the harassing mortar fire - probably will be out of ammo next turn. I will also try to work one of the reinforcement platoons round hill 131.2 to the SW into the trees might catch something moving along behind his main armored force. It looks like the troops that came up the Luga road will probably turn to the North rather than head East. Some more reinforcements arrives (a couple of partisan squads armed with pitchforks) - I'll try to get them over to the bridge. Maybe the flag will go red and make me feel better. Put the final touches to the ambush positioning. Drop some smoke on the approach road to hopefully block LOS of the armor to the woods. Continue the movement orders as before. Wait. The Germans are definitely unloading troops...building up. Some armor arrives as reinforcements on turn 7 (3 T-26s). These have better cannon than most of the German tanks I've seen so far. Must try not to lose them too quickly. They are ordered to position to the East of the village with the aim of eventually getting into sheltered firing positions. Germans begin their move and the ambush forces start shooting (not all of them to start with). German armor is in support. I guess we'll see how long this firefight lasts. To the east some German scouting forces appear and an AC is targeted by my tanks. I change their movement orders to hunt. The German commander will want to take the village before my armor can do anything about it. Well that didn't work out too good - my tanks take out the AC but when the following tank appears the idiots back off - instead of stopping and slugging it out. End result is a gun-damaging hit on one tank and another backs into a long range shot from what is tentatively IDed as a MK III and is taken out. The first of my squads breaks and runs from the ambush. Way off to the West I see an artillery FO coming to visit me and I hope to take him out next turn - that should piss the German CO off I expect my last remaining usable tank is screwed by a 20 sec command delay. For what it's worth I give him a fast move order (not hunt this time). I bring another squad into the firefight in the approach woods. As feared I lose my last usable tank but kill the FO (81mm mortar) so it's not all bad. The woods defenders are being slowly wiped out under infantry, mortar and tank fire. Galistian’s squad gets a mention in despatches for still shooting even though it's down to five guys. One of the other squads begins to crack and panic. I lose the last tank - not great loss as the gun was kaput anyway. German MKII(?) tank zips down the SN road at the far East side and into the AT gun covered arc. Gun shoots and misses – probably spotted! The AT gun is ordered to open fire as is the other AT in the village as he has a couple of potential targets with relatively good kill probability. I'd rather he shoots something and dies rather than stays hidden only to get overrun later. Turned out not too bad killed 2 tanks (the tank on the bridge turned out to be a 38(T)E). The hero squad is down to 1 man but their buddies are back in business - for the moment. Half-way stage. Try to get the out-of-ammo mortars over the bridge and shoot that German tank crew down. (It eventually takes 2 turns of wild partisan shooting to kill the solitary surviving crewman who in the meantime causes both my bridge crossing mortars to panic, forget where they were supposed to go and offer their throats to the Wolfgangs with the red roses) Over the remaining turns the infantry in the woods gets gradually worn down - eventually a couple of squads (very annoyingly) surrender. That won't help my score at all. I decide to keep the infantry company in the West in place until the German armor moves off and then launch a counterattack. As it turns out they are in no particular hurry which means (1) the infantry is unable to move until very late and has no chance of developing a significant counterattack and (2) I don't get to use my guns in the Eastern woods. At the end although I don't technically "possess" the bridge to the Northeast, the Germans don't have it either so I consider the mission orders accomplished. End score: Tactical defeat for Soviets (Germans 71: Soviet 29) Things that went right - infantry defence of the woods - these guys held up the Germans a lot longer than I thought they would. Things that went wrong - biggest failure was the armor fiasco. I guess the main reason for this were the “hunt” orders with the tac AI taking care of the rest. In addition, I should probably not have tried to get the mortars across the bridge as this just led to their deaths.
  15. Originally decimation was an extreme punishment inflicted on Roman Legions for being very naughty. It involved the execution of every tenth man. Nowadays it is often misused, as you have done, to denote the killing or destruction of a large proportion. Anal retentives like me, and presumably Matthias, find this insufferably annoying. Moreover, requesting an anal retentive to bugger off can often have unfortunate consequences.
  16. In my experience targeting the top floor of an enemy-occupied building when there is no LOS to the lower floor is easiest done using overhead view (6) with 1 or 2x mag - move your viewpoint until the side of the building you want target is at edge of the screen. Due to perspective the upper wall is now displaced from the lower wall and you can area target the outside edge of the upper wall.
  17. I presume this means that there have been no changes to "green line" artillery retargeting if the initial strike is off-target. I still think there's a problem with this. Did BFC investigate and decide it wasn't an issue ? Joe
  18. I guess Steve knows what he meant but a theological debate on the interpretation of his sayings ain't gonna help much.
  19. I've now seen a few threads start up and fizzle out on the problems relating to adjusting off-board artillery and have never been able to find a definite answer on the best way to deal with it. I believe in the vast majority of cases the artillery arrives on-target or near enough that makes little difference. I have not examined this in any systematic way but my experience is when it arrives significantly off-target green-line readjusting does not bring it back on-target in contrast to what is stated in the manual. This is not a question of LOS. On the several occasions when it's happened to me the FO did have LOS and the relatively short time delay to recommencment of firing confirms this. I have previously sent game turns to Steve where this kind of problem occured and can only hope some attention is paid to it in the patch. Even a statement on the specific issue would be welcome. The net result of this behaviour when it occurs is an almost complete waste of ammunition. This thread seems to have headed off on a discussion of artillery pricing which, while interesting, is really another subject. Joe
  20. In game terms armor turning can be speeded up. Say your vehicle is stopped and you want to turn through 90 degrees. It's faster if you start moving directly forward or reverse (i.e., 0 or 180 degrees) and then steer (forward or reverse) through a series of short straight-line tangents to the turning arc till you're pointing in the desired direction. Joe
  21. I think it was Lee Trevino who said "the more I practice the luckier I get". I don't believe luck is generally a major factor in CMBB but if one piece of bad luck loses the game for someone then it indicates they made some bad choices somewhere down the line. I also think there is a false distinction often made between "ladder" players and "historical" players. It is of course possible to be both. I think ladders and tournaments add a little extra spice to the game experience. Although I prefer to win it's no big deal if I don't. Actually some of my most fun games have been where I started with an almighty screw up and then have to try to claw my way back to a minor or even (God forbid) a tactical loss. Joe
  22. Well that was an excellent AAR Ron. I very much enjoyed it and it was illuminating to see how your devious mind works rather than just suffering the consequences of it One of the things that strikes me about the report, and you allude to it in your summary, is that you never seemed to be placed under any significant pressure. It will be interesting to see what it was like from Priest's "side of the hill". If you ever fancy a game of BB drop me a line. Joe
×
×
  • Create New...