Zamo

So, BTS, Steve, let's hear it from the horses...mouth. Was the cutoff the beta Demo as initially reported, or the Gold Demo as you seem to have implied in this thread? Chris

Soldier by day, Lover by night, Drunkard by choice, Marine By God! Oh yeah...these days I run a small networking company in the Puget Sound. And I'm still a drunkard.

How dare you disagree with me Maxm2! Why I ought to find out where you live and fire bomb your begonias. You are such a complete individual that I hope your milk spoils. Why I should call you a rascist and other vile names for even suggesting Mother Teresa and Ghandi might be more patient than Steve and Charles. I hope BTS banes people like you for having an oppinion different from mine, which is the only one that could possibly EVER be correct. Regardless of who is right, or who is wrong...I am the one who is right and everybody else is WRONG! ...Get the picture folks? I'd fill this post with smilies, but I never have taken the ten seconds to figure out how to make them. Naturally I meant this post in jest and satire. I am not trying to belittle any single individual for their actions on this board, I just want to point out that patience IS a virtue, and a good many of us here need to cool our heads before jumping on ANYONE for ANY REASON. This is supposed to be a forum to better the game and our pleasure from it. Not a den of backstabbing cutthroats bent on character assassination and ideological zealotry. I yield the floor... Zamo

I've been to Munster, and the Auto-tecnik museum at Sinsheim as well as the WTS at Koblenz. All great museums, even though I found Sinsheim a little too "Campy", the Sturm Morser Tiger was worth it. I did tank school at Ft. Knox and unfortunatly never...NEVER did more than drive by the museum. Shame on me (all we wanted to deo then was drink beer and chase skirts). I plan on returning one day soon. I also have never been to Aberdeen, but have seen lots of pictures and one of the reasons I haven't gone is I'm sure I would just get angry and sad by the deplorable condition of the vehicles. Storage could probably be constructed to protect ALL of them from further decay for the cost of one new Abrams. Tough idea to sell, but I see so much money being squandered on "the arts", (which are about as artistic as cow dung), and these treasures just flaking apart, year after year... Really shows the apathy our nation feels towards its history. Look at the WTS in Koblenz, which is there so budding engineers and soldiers can look at examples of how it was done before and how they might do it better in the future. Capital idea. No wonder the Germans always have such wonderful products, military or otherwise. Too bad somebody at APG didn't capitalize on the sentimental feelings flowing around with the release of Saving Private Ryan or the 50th WWII aniversary a few years ago. It's all such a damn shame...

I just finished reading all the whiney little girls yelling at each other on this board over this little issue here, or that little issue there, and it really sunk in how much CRAP Steve and Charles have to put up with. Kudos to you guys for taking the time to BABYSIT all the egos on this board...and STILL put out a great game. I really hope people here start growing up and stop attacking this person because of different moralitys or that person because he doesn't know how many grains of propellant were in which sprengrenate. It really gets old... I'm not saying I'm holier than thou, I'm a big dick too, and can't stand some of the people here. I however try...TRY not to be combative or confrontational. Failing that occasionally, I ask you all forgiveness and "can't we all just get along?" I apologize for my peers conduct, Steve and Charles, and hope you guys have lots of aspirin...or Guiness. Zamo

Does Aberdeen have any donations program? It seems to me that with all the modellers and gamers, somebody should be collecting cash to build some sort of structures. If anybody knows of any, please post it. I'd throw in the cost of a new kit or a new game to help them annually. It is a CRIME to allow irreplacible artifacts rust away like that. They wouldn't even need climate controled buildings, just some simple overheads to keep 'em dry to start with.

Just finished a game as the Wehrmacht in VoT and had just about admitted catastrophic defeat when my reinforcements arrived. The Ami's had pounded all my troops to ruin and had 5 shermans breathing death on my poor lads. Once reinforcements arrived, I quickly moved my Panther forward and brought it to bear from a hull down position atop the hill. Within seconds ALL FIVE of the American Sherman's were brewed up and their infantry was taking heavy casualties. Soon my regrouped MG, mortar and pillbox crews, their main weapons smashed, began the counter attack and with the now unstoppable Pzkfw V leading the way, pushed the broken and dispirited Americans back the way they had come. Major Axis Victory. What a game! I never would have thought such a reversal possible. Wow. I CAN'T WAIT for the full version! I am astounded. Zamo

I disagree Herr Von Lucke. The ability to "Drag and Drop" entire company sized elements makes it all work well enough. Just because you "Can" give each squad individual orders doesn't mean you need to. Perhaps the engine could be tweaked to only allow company sized movements.... I don't think anyone is saying simply replace the Garands with Springfields and have at it...changes would certainly need to be implemented.

...and how long to the little island in the Pacific Northwest called Seattle? (Ok, so I don't really expect an answer, I just wanted to get in on the fun) Z

Yeah, I know Steve and Charles have no desire to go here, but I am hoping somebody will. I read "But Not in Shame" a few months ago and it really set me on fire to simulate the Japanese onslaught during the first few years of the war. Especially the Phillipines debacle, and Burma. I hope somebody makes this into a two part game, ala before and after say August of '42 (When the Japanese swept across the Pacific). Or maybe the battle for the "Island of Death" could be the final part of the first game, thus setting the stage for a post-Guadalcanal sequal (where the Allies get a chance to sweep across the pacific). Wishful thinking. I'd like to see BTS make so much of off CM I-IV, that they might see fit to hire somebody who IS interested in developing a Pacific version. Again, wishful thinking... Semper Fi! Zamo

In reply to Babra, Yes, I think if the South had won, it would indeed have come to be known as "the Second American Revolution", and been classed as a war of independence (at least in Southern schools!) Once again we see that history is always written by the victors! And thus the Confederate solders are still "rebels" and not "revolutionaries" or "freedom fighters". Zamo

As an aside, I just browsed through the BMP directory in my gold CM demo directory to look at the uniform bitmaps and see how easy they might be to change to USMC herringbone and Imp. Japanese regalia, WOW! What terrific art BTS has done. I never really noticed how good the details were while playing. Check out that directory sometime and look at the uniforms and accoutriments. The good news is it COULD be done. At least superficially. You'd still have 7.92mm german ballistics for the jap 7.7mm, etc. but....I think I'm going to have to get one of the those neat "Uniforms of the Imperial Japanese Army" books and start playing with the scanner and photoshop!

PS: I'm not a big civil war fan, but I do think that the CM engine would be great for it if the scale could be done correctly. Bringing this back on topic, I have been having a lot of fun leading bayonet charges over the hils in VoT. So let's imagine a similar wargame, say, five or so years in the future, buliding on what BTS has done here, with the extrapolited power of tomorrows computers to handle the larger scale...WOW! Then maybe we will see some great ACW and WWI wargames. Let's hope CM is just the start of a trend! Sorry to lead the topic off with the last couple of posts... Zamo

Yeah, I do agree that the new state slave issue was a major bone of contention and a true root cause. I must admit I overlooked that point, and that was one they were debating hard for many years prior to the war wasn't it? I must be getting old. My main point was that the war did not begin with the North screaming "Abolish Slavery or else!", as much as it began with the South saying "Stick your Yankee federalistic dogma up your Northern Arses and let us do what we want!"

Blacksilver, "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" - By E.B. Sledge, great book. Did you ever read Manchester's "Goodbye Darkness"? I am hoping someday we might see a CM or CM clone portray the "scorpions in a jar" fighting of the Pacific island campaign, but BTS has made their decisions and reasons well known on this issue, and I think their reasons are valid (if unfortunate). Oh, well. We'll see what sort of hacking we can do with the scenario editor. Perhaps not first rate, but, I imagine it might be possible to cludge something interesting together.

Without trying to stomp on anyone's toes, you all are educated enough in terms of history to realize that slavery was NOT the principle reason the Southern states seceeded, nor why the Northern states invaded the South. It was much more about the division of governmental control via state government versus federal government. Along with the tantemount differences between the agrarian South and the newly industrialized North. The abolishonist movement was essentually a fringe group of extremists until midway through the war when Lincoln used it as a noble means of bolstering support for the great costs (in terms of both men and materials) that the North was incuring. Despite the fact that the North won, and slavery was rightly abolished, I can certainly see why some people call it the "War of Northern Aggression". In reality it certainly was. At that point in time the nation was not nearly so federalized as it is now. Now states are little more than big counties, not independant nations working together as originally envisioned. What real "right" did the northern federalists have to enforce themselves on the south? Slavery not withstanding. Americans have long loved forcing our morality on those who see things differently. I have long wondered what Messrs. Jefferson, Franklin, Washington and the rest would have thought of the origins of the Civil war...and the reinforced federalized nation that emerged from it. Just my two cents...Not trying to piss anyone off, or condone the morality of the South, just trying to maintain an unbiased, neutral perspective on a very fascinating aspect of history. Zamo whose BA in history dates from the late precambrian

I also had a panther about face, back into an obvious kill zone and get...obviously killed! I don't envy BTS the job of trying to figure this one out...but I've seen enough posts here to think this is a trend. It seems most people have seen this with the Panther. Chris

Yeah, I really have to agree with OB&G. Upgrade. All your computing activities will be nicer. New motherboards can be had for well under $100 and take your pick of CPU's. You don't even need the latest and greatest, if $$$ is a problem, try getting an AMD 450, or a Celeron, or something in that "last year" category. They can be found for under $100 as well. I upgraded a friends PC from a 133 to a 400 for less than $140. Time to retire the fossils and come join us in the year 2000. You'll be much happier. Chris

I too had my panther go daffy. Panther advanced to contact, got ambushed by an M1919, took no casualties, threw itself into reverse, neutral steered so it's ass was facing the ami hords and backed right into the LOS of a nearby M4. End of Panther, never even fired a shot. I was aghast... While I know troops do wierd things in combat, I think we are deffinatly seeing the first traces of a potential "Patch" concern. Though, right now I am having so much fun with this "Demo" I could care less!!! Zamo

Farley Mowat would be very displeased at all the bird singing going on. I thought that was supposed to go away after the first fire fight? I know I'm nit-picking, and it really doesn't bother me at all, but it's somewhat eery to hear MG's burping, arty belching, men screaming, and birds singing... Zamo

The first time I played that scenario I tried it with the default balance and had surprisingly good luck rolling back the hun. "Chesty" Puller would be proud... Zamo

Hey CCJ, That's a really nice Jagdpanther wall paper you have featured there. No doubt that's the new, ultra top-secret still shot from CM II, huh? It won't be too long and we'll be playing games with vehicles that good... Thanks for a great site! Chris

Does the military still use SMEAC? And what was the other one with "bullets and bandages"?

You tell 'em Smedley! Semper Fi!

Ah! That explains it! I have puzzled over that one for sometime now. I didn't know we still had any in the inventory, but I'm sure there are all sorts of things at various depots... ...Now we can get back to home-made napalm and model mayhem... Zamo