Joachim

Maybe he mistook those units from the home barracks of the LAH in Berlin as the whole division. Gruß Joachim

1.) Yes, and the defender is usually on the hilltops or close to the flags . 2.) No attacker has to put all of his troops at the start line. With infantry forces, it saves several turns, but they usually can hide. When spread out (read: RL tactics), receiving some incoming in turn 1 is as bad as receiving it in some later turn. Advancing across the open always allows the defender to unleash his arty. I doubt anybody would find it gamey if the arty came down in turn 4 just 200 m behind the start line. If a CM player wants to ride his troops as passengers, he can move them very quickly across the whole map. There is absolutely no need to park vehicles directly at the start line. 3.) Packing units in view of the enemy is usually gamey and everything is done to ensure a hidden assembly area. Had the attacker spread out his forces, the defender would still have been able to unload lots of arty - with results usually not worth spendign a whole FO Please ask your opponent if he would have travelled on these tanks in RL. If yes, he's an id... If no, he is gamey! Gruß Joachim

Ok, so I got the setup for the 120 turn battle. Some thoughts about it... First thing I saw was May 1942 - cooool! I just might have some armor capable of piercing any of his armor. Huge map. Open country. Infantry force type. Clear sky, dry(?) ground. Time to man the rant stations! Checking the terrain, the first thing I find are some excellent lines of communication - on his side of the map. A big forest in the center around a big flag, 2 big flags on each flank - in open terrain. Mostly open terrain in front of the woods. Little cover around my starting positions. Then a big surprise: Damp ground. Checking my own forces... What the hell do you do with PaK 3,7cm vs enemy infantry??? Ok. There might be some bunkers. But how to transport my guns???? Now I know why it is a 120 turn monster - this is enough time to shove them across the whole map!!! Then I had to guess what the enemy has - and where exactly he is. This is a semi-historic scenario, and as of now I have not seen what the other side has (and I guess this will stay so for about the next year ) From my force I deduce he has a btn of infantry, the briefing suggests it has losses of 20% or above. It is dug in in the central forest with outposts guarding some patches of woods and trees covering the routes to the 3 flags. (If I was a scen designer, I would have used 2 or 3 Soviet setup zones to ensure that there is a limited number of outposts and I would have fixed the trenches in some clusters...). But maybe he has his full map side at his disposal, and can put the trenches wherever he wants them. Then I'll probably face some bunkers and infantry guns, maybe some Soviet 7,6cm Pak. And of course some arty - with TRPs. If he has an abundant amount of them, any attack will falter... Now after reading any post of JasonC, especially those regarding advances across open terrain, I'll complete my setup. Then I'll check most of Fionn's articles re maneuverism and apply them to my abundant armor force. Gentlemen, this place is idealy suited for an attack. The bolshewist hordes will crumble in front of my massive onslaught. My armor will easily be able to take out any of his armor - and I doubt I will loose a single tank! :cool: I'll fight war, and the red horseman will return upon a lame pony, and his sword will be used as a plough! Gruß Joachim

Playing campaigns based on some external rule sets, I do not play to win a single battle but to win as many battles as possible. To do the latter, I have to preserve my forces (plus you start to love that crack tank crew). If I have to stop the attack or retreat instead of defending, I do it. Losses above 15% in a given battle are rare for me (excpet for pre-battles casualties I roll according to the rules). Additionaly, rules can favor a more cautious approach by subtracting points for losses of AFVs and guns. A scenario is a very different thing. But even here pushing for all flags is often not the best strategy. You can take all flags and wipe out all of your opponents troops and still loose the scenario. Gruß Joachim

Set a very small covered arc for the mortar (or gun, or tank) and the area target will (usually) stick. For mortars it works best with HQs as spotters, so there is no threat to the mortar, it will probably never see anything itself and it will not shift. Gruß Joachim

I do about the same for big scenarios. But I add the leader bonus to your list: Command bonus is good for scouting, stealth for ambush or flanking, morale for the assault troops or the crucial position (or guns!). Combat bonus helps everywhere. This list is the base for any decision in the setup and my plan. If I have less than 2 Coys, I usually just evaluate the plts as a whole. E.g. "B1 Cmd+2 Mo+1 S+1 Cbt+0 VRC- PzGr42" is B Company, 1st plt: a PzGr42 plt with a Vet HQ with the denoted bonus, 1st squad regular, 2nd squad crack, 3rd squad missing. If there are initial losses, the unit gets a marker (light/hvy losses). If there is a huge number of MG42 or PPSh's in the plt, it gets another marker (Long range, short range). Hvy plts are listed with groups for each weapon type. Coy or btn leaders are listed separately. Gruß Joachim

Try the map-packs at BCR. There is a categorized list of the maps. Most come in 7 versions, one for each battle type, including ME.

Mail with my email address is out. In a 120+ turn monster I'd expect finishing sometime before christmas . BTW: Do you know "my" forces and setup zones or just yours? Gruß Joachim [ November 12, 2003, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: Scarhead ]

Me likes big battles. If you don't mind occasional slow turn rates, I'll give it a try. (Occassional TCP/IP in the evening or on weekends - if I figure out how it works). Gruß Joachim

Which was exactly my tactics vs the TDs. Either the tanks/JPz/StuGs got them, or those threats close got them. Gruß Joachim

Human waves in CM do work - both in QBs and the Editor: QB: Allied Parameters are Low experience, Infantry only, attack. Give the AI a bonus of at least 100%. Number of turns at least 50 for a medium sized summer map - to allow the Soviets to find your positions. Then wait. Do use mech or infantry force type for yourself. Combined arms if you are less daring. Make sure the AI has enough points to buy full Co's or even btns. It needs the leaders. Scenario Editor: Buy the Soviets lots of conscripts%greens. Group them in 3 waves, each at least 10 turns later than the first. Or play a campaign with BCR. I promise you will see lots of those fights... AAR for a recent QB with those campaign rules: Even on the offense, my armor-heavy force (about 3000 points, 8 tanks, 4 guns and a reinforced Co of motorized PzGrens in '42) was stopped in a ruined city by 1400 partisans. I ran out of ammo, my infantry was stripped from the tanks in dense terrain, I had but little smoke. Was only able to contest 1/3rd of the flags, kills made it a lucky draw. A more realistic scenario: What is probably more realistic is the GD Romanian Defence scenario. The intro says a first wave of 8 T34 is followed by 20+ T34s and 300 grunts. GD forces consist of 2 PaK 75/L48 and two infantry companies, one of them at 60% - plus lots of StuKas, including Rudel. You've got a wave of T34s followed by a moderate amount of infantry. That moderate amount of infantry (acutally about the same amount than what the Axis player has) will look like a big human wave to the few survivors and annihilate the remnants of what the T34s left over pretty soon. (Spoiler: Move the PaK to the trenches. You can rotate fixed trenches and get PaKs behind a crest in a trench. ) Gruß Joachim [ November 11, 2003, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Scarhead ]

Did you set a covered arc to ensure only a big threat cancels the smoke order? IMHO any possible target showing up will be targetted - with the usual result of sitting idle afterwards. Gruß Joachim

IIRC It might happen that the btn and rgt reserves appear in the same battle. If one side got a really severe trashing. Note that units outside or moved back to the setup zones are not supplied. Gruß Joachim

So from what I understand of this, a tank may only get experience if a minimum number of casualties greater than 1 is reached. However, the example then contradicts this: I am confused because according to the above note #5, 2 casualties should not be enough to gain +1, (min. 3) so there should only be +1 for the pillbox, not the casualties. Am I correct in assuming this is a typo here or am I interpreting the rules wrong? Cheers, Haoh </font>

IMHO the easiest way for a better attacking AI are dynamic flags at 2000 points. You have to hold any flag as favourable exchange rates at half the flags held won't win the battle. Or have mobiel reserves. Some of the maps have dynamic lags, other can be adjusted. Gruß Joachim

The map size (large, med, small) in the map packs does not correspond to the map size in CM. Be warned that some custom maps play different than generated maps. Depending on terrain, flag positions and setup zones. (The AI might find better places to defend or avenues of apporach on custom maps.) Take something big (except if it is a city battle). Remembers me that I had started a list on map sizes for different force sizes. IIRC the battle type did not matter... Now where have I put this... Probably accidentally found its way to the round file :mad: ... Oh... if you select a map with dynamic flags. These don't work in QBs. The real flag is randomly choosen. BTW: Have fun! Gruß Joachim

Maybe the target was pinned or hiding behind a wall or ridge. Exposure is 0% then. As you can't hit a target you can't see (as it is 0% exposed to your LOS), area firing to a place you see is much better. Probably some remnant of the "ATG on reverse slope bug". Just imagine the tank saw the gun, the gun was pulled back a bit and the tank can't see it anymore. As he knows the gun is there, a TC would order area fire. Just what you do. If you are absolutely convinved no other better target will appear, use a small (say 20m ahead of your tank) covered arc after setting the area target. This way only some incoming AP should stop your tank from firing at the target. Gruß Joachim

If a tank approaches a squad or team in cover, the squad can't come from every angle - they come from one direction. If one of the 10 gets spotted, an MG blasts away, suppressing others. In a 10-man squad, it is much easier to say "hey, let the others do the job, I'll keep my head down for a while". As an NCO or officer, everybody is looking at you. If you cower, everybody else will take cover, too. Besides, if you want to be brave, it is much better if your superiors see it. The leader has to write a report, so if he did the bravery, he will write that in his report anyway so his superiors will notice. Green soldiers tend to bunch up. If the vet in the squad found perfect cover and concelament for one man, you bet that the two conscripts will run there to reveal the position. Oh, I am an armchair general, too. But some of these reasons apply outside the military, too Gruß Joachim

I used it in a test with GE plts from reg to crack with different leader bonusses. Long range (20 minutes). Losses above 10%. Units scattered all over. In the two live events, I lost too many men. Plt sent across 10 m, each time a vet or crack squad under double stealth bonus got lost. Maybe I'll give it another try... Gruß Joachim

Never heard of any campaign for CMBO. If you want to do one, then you have to research (or guestimate) the following parameters: Weather on the frontlines. Either a given path with weather for each day or week, or you allow for some randomness. Likelihood of combat in a given month (i.e. there is a lull in October '44. Influences how many battles are fought in a given month. Likelihood of who attacks whom: Who is on the offense - axis or allies Who is fighting along your troops (aux forces from Steel Panthers...) Whom are you fighting (Volkssturm, PzGren, ...) How big are the battles? Only small scale fighting or the huge ones? Correlation of these factors. Ie less fighting in rain or the attacker has more armor than the defender... Special events (Market garden, Siegfried line etc) influence it. What terrain was fought over. Now mix this into some existing Rule set (e.g. BCR) and you have your own campaign. If you want to add this into BCR - feel free to do so. If you have questions - feel free to ask. If your sig line is true... prepare to neglect your kids ... No, just a joke. The rules don't take the time, doing some automated spreadsheet in excel takes time. Gruß Joachim

Do you get a bonus (in CM) from exactly being behind a tree? Do all 10 men of a squad fit behind the same tree or crate? Sqauds/teams are abstracted. The icon appears in the place where the center of the squad is. Tiles are abstracted and the same bonus applies for the whole tile. If the tile is providing cover, it depends how deep into the cover you are (A squad some metres in the woods is less exposed than at the egde). BTW: Reminds me of that only joke... 2 Statisticians at the frontline. One standing a metre to the left of a tree, other one a metre to the right. "Regarding statistics, we've taken cover behind that tree!" Gruß Joachim [ October 30, 2003, 08:37 AM: Message edited by: Scarhead ]

The GE plt HQ teams were made up of Plt HQ (Officer or NCO, depicted by the guy with the pistol in CM), some NCO (SMG in CM) and 2 runners (carbines). At least on paper. There were not even enough NCOs in the Wehrmacht to command every squad, so there were not 4 of them in a HQ team! It was important to have the experienced men in the squads, too, as they could teach the others "on job". Remember "All quiet on the Western Front"? The privates herding the fresh recruits? That's the best way to handle recruits, especially when they did not have proper training. Gruß Joachim [ October 30, 2003, 08:21 AM: Message edited by: Scarhead ]

Nice AAR. Using sewers as cellars... Don't think it is worth it, but nice as an insurance. At least they will come back unsuppressed. If they return. Gruß Joachim

Indeed, the bloody Germans got it first (19th September 2002) and refused to share it with the rest of Europe for another 4 weeks. </font>

QBs: You can choose your won or let the computer select them for you. Scenario/Operations: Trrops bought by the designer. Scenario maps can be used in QBs. You can import the map instead of auto-generatint a new map, and you can import and add troops in QB mode - besides from editing the scen, of course. No. A few hours of battle don't increase the experience of a unit up one level. There are user made campaign-generator (needing some bookkeeping and spreadsheets or programs) trying to emulate things like the old Sttel Panthers campaigns. Yes. Each level is about 15% more. No. The smallest unit is the team. you see how many weapons the team has, but that's it. You can see the capabilites of plt leaders (or higher) regarding stealth, morale, command and combat. Each "bonus" affects the troops under his command as they behave one level better in that regard. Gruß Joachim [ October 30, 2003, 07:32 AM: Message edited by: Scarhead ]