lucero1148

I'm free at the moment and would be willing to give my 2 cents worth also. If you need another tester send me a PBEM setup: lucero1148@netscape.net All best

I guess I won't be modest also. I'll suggest my "Minsk June 1941" scenario or if you want to try an operation "Break at Glukhov". Minsk is an early war armored assault /ME as German panzer troops attempt to seize a crucial bridge during the encirclement of Minsk. Soviet forces battered by the blitzkrieg are hastily regrouped and thrust into battle to thwart the enemy advance. I think its a lot of fun (of course) Glukhov is a ficticious op based on the collapse of Army Group Center in summer of 44. Give it a twirl, both are at the Scenario Depot. All best Patrick

von Lucke Loved that screenshot as I had similar results wrecking havoc and mayhem against my opponent in both my battles. However in regard to the islands being an advantage for the Germans I managed to row 2 Soviet platoons to the islands set up a reverse slope ambush by the flag nearly 2 turns before my opponent casually walked into my flamethrower. I think the point is everyone sets their strategy differently and if they are careful in the deployment and execution of their movements and orders will have a higher chance to succeed. Of course if your boats get tangled midway in its approach making you lose a turn or two in deploying efficiently you're not going to win the islands in this battle or for that matter takeover the KGB bldg. Others above have stated their approach to winning the battle by blowing up the bridges and just occupying the peninsula. A really sound and viable tactic and one in which I'm glad I didn't have to fight against. Since I went for a conventional approach if my opponent had chosen to be a bridge burner I think I'd be on the sidelines. All best Patrick

I like to play for the excitement and the challenge of pitting my strategy against and opponent and getting a good fight out of it. Designing a scenario or operation though is what I like to do to relax and think out a "what if" tactical problem. I also notice that designing a scenario has also helped me read a tactical map and gives me clues as to how best to approach a situation. Especially for a blind battle as in the current RD tournament. Lately I've also been doing a number of reviews as well since there still seems to be a lack of reviewers compared to the number of battles and ops out there. Hopefully that will encourage others to put their two cents in. All best Patrick

Well that's a novel approach. I didn't realize you could blow up bridges. How is that done, by targeting the bridge with your enginneers? I guess my approach would be considered the conventional approach. All best Patrick

For those of us in the current round of the RD CMBB tournament how do you like/dislike the Midsumer Madness scenario? What's your rating? As for me at first glance I thought it was one of the oddest scenario I ever had the pleasure to fight on. Actually I hated the idea of rowing across the swamps to my objectives as it would mean a very slow start brfore the action begins. In the end though I found myself actually finding this scenario quite an intellectual challenge. Both sides are equal in capability and no one has any advantage in terrain at the start. The only way to win is speed and tactics. Whoever gets into position first with the mostest has the edge in wiping out his opponnent. In my mirror battles I pushed my troops and got into ambush positions at least 1.5 - 2 turns before my opponent and massacred and panicked my opponents forces. I give this scenario a 8++. All best Patrick

from a photographer's point of view the last skirt plate is angled and catches a glare from the sun. I would think a better photo would show that the entire skirt is camouflageded the same way. I'd continue on doing the the last skirt as the others are. Patrick

Well the current RD tournament battle (I think its midsummer madness) is very even for both sides. About the same number of infantry making its way through the Prypet marshes. Both sides are also equidistant from their objectives and must cross over bridges or use the 20 assault boats to get to their destinations. Whoever moves the fastest and sets up position first has a huge advantage. As the tournament is mirror play I can say both sides have the ability to get to there objective if they move efficiently. Worth checking out. All best Patrick

Thanks! That's a good point I didn't think about.Will ask him. All best Patrick

Yeah a Mac version would really be nice. All best Patrick

Question? Why would a scenario created in CMBB v1.03 not show up in the game scenario list? I know if the game is an older version and not updated to 1.03 new scenario's won't show up, but what if the game is the updated version and the new scenario still doesn't show up? A fellow d/led my "Minsk June 1941" scenario and cannot see the operation file in his updated game list. Any ideas? All best Patrick

HI Enjoyed playing your Rommel scenario. Now I understand about your forgetting to overwrite the German brief. I agree it's not necessary to have the mortars or the FO for the scenario as it would betoo easy to win against the AI. Although HTH I'm not sure. All best Patrick

This is a 5 battle operation and located at the Scenario Depot for downloading. (Sorry don't know how to add the url here). With the central front collapsing a small AT company with a platoon of infantry are attempting to retreat to their secnd line of defense. Soviet armored recon and breakthrough forces are hot on their heels to destroy any fleeing units and to locate enemy positions for follow on forces. Best played head to head or as the German defender against the AI. AI forces should be set 100% higher. All best Patrick

Great battle. tried it the first time and got a minor victory but it was quite bloody. I attacked from 2 fronts getting 2 platoons into the town under a smoke barrage while a company approached the hill on the right side of the town after crossing the road. I left my 50mm and mg squads by the road looking into town and was able to provide adequate suppression fire against the reds on that side of the town. The 2 platoons that made it into town came under incredible amounts of fire it seemed as it seemed to draw fire from every possible angle. By the end of the game I had about 65% losses in those 2 squads but they occupied the defenders to make the advancement of the other company easier. If I hadn't runned out of time I'm sure I would have captured the other 2 flags and destroy the remaining Russians. Very challenging and well thought out. All best Patrick

Getting the AI to lauch a barrage or fire it's rounds during a game depends on target of opportunity from what I've experienced. Say you want the AI to commence a barrage at a start of a scenario. It has to have LOS of a suitable target (e.g. convoy of trucks) and the % of it firing a barrage is pretty high. The AI will fire off it's artillery later on in the game if it can pinpoint an enemy force long enough for it to bring its rounds on target. However if your ground forces rout the enemy force before the FO can hit the target the AI will cancel the firing order. That's my observation. All best Patrick

Tools Hey who needs an excuse to drink beer. We'll have to down a few tonight after you fly in. looking forward to seeing you and starting up a game or 2. All best Patrick

For us guys in Asia as we lounge around barefooted on the beach I'd have to say San Miguel does the job to cool the sun off our brow. If you're in China, Tsingtao beer is pretty good too. All best Patrick

In my 2-games I had a 68 win as Axis and 57 win as Russian. My 1st impression was that the Russian player is a dead duck and as the German forces kept pouring in I wondered how an Allied player could win at all. My strategy as the Russian was to set up ambush zones behind the village in the right edge forest. Sacrificing a bunker and a platoon of infantry since my opponent bore down on them like a ton of bricks. Which was fine for me since that allowed my 76mm to kill 3-MKIV's and a halftrack before being KOed. When my reinforcements showed up his remaining 2 MkIV's were facing in the wrong direction and gave my T34 a rear end shot. By turn 24 I eliminated all of his armor and was in the process of doing likewise to his infantry when the game ended on the 28th turn. As the German attacker I thought the battle was very easy. Attacking from my left and sweeping to the center leading with my infantry to spot his MLR then bearing in and engaging from long range with my armor as much as possible. Once I conquered his left flank I made my way onto the center but made sure to cover the 2 roads in the rear just in case any reinforcements showed up. When they did in the center I was able to KO 3 of his T26's in the first minute of arrival. As for the T34's when they arrived on the scene I made a point to direct all armor in the vincinity to attack enmasse and the T34's never had a chance. As for the Russian pillbox I suspected it would be on theright edge forest and had my Stugs take it out from a frontal approach. His 76mm was a bane for me killing 3 Stug's but I was able to silence it with my little mortars. In the end after he lost all of his armor and AT assets I allowed a ceasefire as it seemed pointless to continue slaughtering rest. All in all I thought the scenario was exciting and surprising a I didn't expect any reinforcements for the Russian player and was happy when they showed up as it saved the day when I was Russian and as the German made the fight all the better. All best Patrick

IS 3 would be nice to get as all the different variants that BTS didn't have time to make skins for. All best Patrick

As far as copyright goes they belong to MG since he has possession of the negs. Simple as that until someone will contest and show proof of ownership. All best Patrick

That ws pretty interesting about the Kodak box camera. Who knows maybe there really was a camra of that format able to hold a 100 shots but it'll be a bit more sophisticated than the Kodak box camera. For one the descriptions of the photos state a variety of shots from close up to far away. So the lense might have been on an camera body that had interchangeable lense's. If that's the case there has to be a focusing system and that would mean either an accordion bag type or a lense with a rotating focus (like SLR lense). The Kodak camera appears to me as a fixed focus camera and a simple one at that. If the photographer was able to take a variety of shots from indoors and outdoors all with available light than he'd have to be very good with his exposure. A beer hall shot I would think was probably shot indoors with some sort of flash bulb. If that's the case the lense is another step up in sophistication compared to the Kodak one. All best Patrick

That is an exceptional find. However as far as I know there has never been a camera made in that format (2.5x 3.5) that could hold 100 shots in a single roll. The nearest equivalent for modern film cameras would be a 220 roll film (about 12 shots) or a camera with a special 70mm film back (which could give you 200 shots). That would be a large and heavy camera to carry around along with a tripod. Considering the type of candid shots that the original photographer shot and up close as well it would be difficult. I would think he found a camera bag with a dozen rolls of film to process. That would make more sense to me. One way to check is to look at the neg and see what sort of sequential numbers you might find on the film's edge. If there aren't any well then there's no way to verify if it came from one or several rolls of film. If you do find numbers on the edges then you might be able to determine how many rolls of film the shots came from. Storing of the negs should be in acid free envelopes which you can get from a pro camera store or order from a NY photo shop like B&H Photo or Adorama. Film won't flake off from it's base unless it's been sitting in water for a couple of days. Pressing the negs flat in a book will realy be rather complicated. If you do you might want to see if there is such a thing as acid free archival tape? You should tape each neg separately along four edges to a sheet of acid free cardboard cover the neg with a glassine paper . That way there won't be any errors with the neg accidentaly curling as you try to lay it out flat and it getting creased when you apply a book on for pressure and the glassine paper protects it from scratches. As for scanning negs as valuble as what you described do not lay the negs on the glass of a flatbed a scanner as you'll get unusable scans due to newton rings forming. You'll need a professional film scanner since the format of your film is outsized and commercial film carriers won't have the correct size. You may have to make your own out of plastic or cardboard of the correct thickness and then tape the neg to the carrier tautly so that there is no sags across the film (to prevent out of focused scans and newton rings across the film) I also wouldn't recommend a drum scanner since that involves applying a special solution onto the film and then taping it down on the glass tube. If the technician is sloppy you'll end up with a lot of dirty and oily negs that will need a lot of sensitive cleaning. Hope this of some help and good luck, Patrick

I believe it's the same as other on board mortar units. At the start of battle the HQ unit must have a command line to the mortar halftrack . If either unit moves away from each other throughout the game then they also lose the Hq's ability to order indirect fire. all best Patrick

Mike Howdy! Didn't realized you were still making scenario's. Always enjoyed your designs for being complex and challenging. All best Patrick

Glad that the patch is out, but is there another link to try and download the English Mac version. Your server must be tied up as I keep getting connection errors whenever I try to d/l. All best Patrick