John Kettler

Bumping this to keep it from sinking into obscurity and to suggest that kmead revisit his link assemblage on the first roadwheel after consulting the new information I've provided. It's way too spindly for the loads involved. Michael Emrys, am glad you enjoyed the models. Was pretty blown away myself. Regards, John Kettler

Important tactical tip! Crocodiles can't bite unless kept alive. Therefore: Keep them away from Panzerschrecks and Panzerfausts 30 and up. Both can kill your Croc frontally when even a Pak 40 can't. I speak from bitter experience here. The Croc's armor will take multiple hits from that AT gun at spitting distance (barring the dreaded Golden BB hits), but one hit from that manportable AT weaponry and it's over. Don't buy them for night battles, especially among buildings. The reason is simple--infantry in CMBO is marginal at best in suppressing manportable antitank weapons in broad daylight, but hopeless at night. If you're close enough to flame, you're lunch. Crew quality is important. Buy veteran or better. You're already paying a premium for the capabilities, so why not get full benefit from your tracked dragon? I've seen a veteran Croc survive point blank fire from a Pak 40 pillbox, win the duel, become immobilized, then go on to destroy a log MG pillbox, shoot up several AT teams and smash a string of AFVs in a blistering duel. I've seen another one advance into the teeth of an AT pillbox, trading shots throughout, take multiple hits, and destroy the pillbox. Do NOT try this with AVREs, at least as implemented presently in CMBO. You'll DIE. Watch for sharpshooters and other threats. If your Croc buttons, assume the TC had a good reason for doing so. Kill whatever's shooting at you first, then unbutton. If TCs are valuable, a veteran Croc commander's solid gold. Treat him accordingly. Naturally, sometimes you have to take big chances, but do so only when forced. Protect the Croc. Armed with the above, go bite someone! Regards, John Kettler

kmead, Maybe this will help. See both of the PzJgIb links on the linked page. If you don't trust the models, then please see the Panzer I chapter in Hart and Hart's GERMAN TANKS OF WORLD WAR II and the Panzer I and Panzerjager photo sections in von Senger und Etterlin's GERMAN TANKS OF WORLD WAR II. The vexed front road wheel is apparently pivoted on a link from the hull and is sprung by a coil spring which angles back to an attachment point just forward of the first idler wheel. The second book referenced has a dead side right view of the PzJgIb, along with a line drawing of the left side. http://www.missing-lynx.com/gallery/german/g-german.htm Happy modding! John Kettler

kmead, Your need for information tickled a semiforgotten synapse, and I actually remembered where I'd seen what you're looking for. It's from the www.jagdtiger.de site. The link will take you to some first rate high resolution color shots of what may well be the last PzJgIb in the world. These pictures should be a huge help to you in your work. They include detail of the specifically sought first road wheel. http://www.jagdtiger.de/GermanTanks/PzJgIB-01.htm Regards, John Kettler

How much closer are we, if any, to completing the last game/games so we can finally see our RoW results and find out how we did overall? Regards, John Kettler

Treeburst155, Given that my CD drive still isn't being read, I wouldn't worry too much. I have zero CM capability other than posting here. You might be interested to know that Drudge.com reported two days ago that an anonymous source at the Moscow Geo-Physical Institute believes that there may be a connection between the U.S. use of powerful thermobaric bombs and other advanced munitions and the 7.2 quake in Afghanistan. The area our bombers are pounding is a highly stressed tectonic plate boundary, you see. TexasToast, I'm sorry for delaying the game, but I'm dead with the CD read problem. Regards, John Kettler [ March 07, 2002, 11:41 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

AndrewTF, Nice work! Now all I need to do is manifest a powerful Mac so I can use your mods. While you're squashing pink and purple pixels, though, you might want to take a look at the Dunkelgelb Marder's track between the drive sprocket and the first road wheel. From what I can see, the track is almost nonexistent edge on and has no teeth either. Looks a bit odd when compared to the other parts of the tracks. Regards, John Kettler

Michael Dorosh, In a book I saw years ago called RAILS AT WAR or some such, the device you describe, called a Track Wolf, was shown in several photos. There may also have been a version which automatically injected small charges at intervals to add to the destruction. The Track Wolf's been shown on the U.S. History Channel and in the old "World at War" series. Hope this helps. Regards, John Kettler

Don't want this one to get lost! Regards, John Kettler

Rebuilt Desktop and restarted. No joy. Checked CM CD. Found no scratches. Tried CD used once. No joy either. CD player's optics are clean too. I suspect this may be some sort of electromagnetic interference, especially since I had DirecTV reception problems earlier on the History Channel. I would also note that I've repeatedly experienced computer problems before a quake hit. My iMac barely worked at all for several days before the Seattle (am in Southern California) quake, but ran great thereafter. Tests by Japanese scientists on blocks of granite in hydraulic rams (simulating plate grinding and crushing) have shown that the uncorrelated electromagnetic emissions resulting from piezoelectric effects as various size quartz crystals are crushed within the rock can cause all kinds of anomalous electronic problems, and that computers will switch on and off spontaneously, open or close windows without appropriate commands. Many people in the Pacific Northwest reported problems like these before the Seattle quake, even outright loss of hard drives and PCs. TexasToast, we will fight, but it may be a few days yet. Sorry about that! Regards, John Kettler

My battle With TexasToast will commence just as soon as I can get my computer to deign to recognize the CD's in the drive. The computer boots fine, absent the CD's presence, and works great on the Internet. It doesn't boot with the CD in the drive, though, and hangs up. If I start with no CD in the drive, then put it in later after the boot, the game seems to load until I get an error message. The same thing happens if the CD's in the carrier, but the carrier's not inserted until after I boot. Either way, I can't presently get the game to load so I can choose my forces. It's as though the iMac's weirdly only partially working. I've tried restarts of several sorts, even cold reboots. When I get this sorted out, I'll be the Germans in September 1944 under Panther 76 rules with a blind map. Regards, John Kettler [ March 04, 2002, 01:37 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

Stacheldraht, I suggest you start with Ian Hogg's ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INFANTRY WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR II. This covers not only small arms, but much else. This book has been reprinted several times. I also recommend the out of print Ballantine's books INFANTRY WEAPONS by John Weeks and GRENADES & MORTARS by Ian Hogg. If you want to get really technical, try older editions of Edward Ezell's authoritative SMALL ARMS OF THE WORLD. The 12 Edition (1983) has considerable information on WW II rifles, SMGs and MGs. Hope this helps. Regards, John Kettler [ March 03, 2002, 11:02 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

In looking through my copy of GERMAN TANKS OF WORLD WAR II, by Hart and Hart, Barnes and Noble Books, 1999, ISBN 0-7607-1581-5, I discovered a series of tables in the very back listing all manner of juicy production, loss, unit equipment, etc. Sources cited look to be pretty authoritative and include captured records of the IG of Armored Forces. June 15, 1944 shows 226 Panthers operational on the Eastern Front, as opposed to 564 Mk IVs. By December 30, 1944, we find 445 Panthers and 550 Mk. IVs. By May 13, 1945, it's a dead heat, with 360 Panthers and 361 Mk. IVs operational. All of this is in Table XIII on page 170. If you need to know the same sorts of numbers for StuGs vs. Panzerjager and Jagdpanzer types, they're also there. Simply put, you need this book. Not only does it have information for CMBB, including which units had what at Barbarossa (a huge boon to your scenario writers), but also for North Africa, the Western Front and the Polish Invasion. This thing's a gold mine. Regards, John Kettler

KwazyDog, The expanded coverage in the model contest seems to be generating a fair amount of interest on the AFV NEWS site. The last time I checked, nearly 40 people had looked at the announcement. May interest be transformed into model submittals! Regards, John Kettler

KwazyDog, If you're really also looking for softskins and guns, I respectfully suggest you might wish to modify your banner and other explanatory material to reflect this. I'll go to George's site and post the new info. Regards, John

Hello, Kitty! Haven't seen you here in ages. Where'd you go? Hope it wasn't anything traumatic. As to how people got into the Invitational, I can't speak for others, but I was invited because the sponsors liked my posts. That my writing skills were no substitute for demonstrated competitive performance was made glaringly obvious when Fionn mopped the floor with my glider company and heavy weapon platoon, using a stripped SS motorized battalion, a concept I'd never even heard of before. The sensation can be approximated by imagining being trampled in a stampede--with the cattle in fast forward and your feet in cement. Why I, a CM tyro barely out of swaddling clothes, was pitted against a CM god (350+ wins in ladder play, 150 game consecutive winning streak), I'll never know. I think I managed to avoid an Axis decisive, but that was about all I did. Call it a major learning experience and the cause of my PTSD! Fionn was averaging 76 points a game (100 point scale), with his closest competitor around ten points behind, when to the intense relief of everyone else who wanted the wine and had yet to face him, he had to go to medical school and dropped out of the Invitational. Attrition in this tournament has been horrendous, with players dropping out like B-17s going down on Black Thursday over Schweinfurt, Germany. Fionn was far from being the only red hot player, too. Claymore was definitely living up to his handle--by cutting a bloody path through his foes. I've learned many brutal lessons and have watched my average plummet into the twenties before I finally pulled out of the power dive and commenced climbing back to a whopping 30, second from last. Fortunately, the margin between me and the other guy is fifteen points. I guess I should also tell you that I've got a rep, so much so that Kingfish adopted Jarmo's comments as a sig for a time: "Rockets! Kettler's firing rockets everywhere! I don't use them as often as some think, but after my last game against Fuerte, I fear my credibility's slipped even further than before. I imagine there'll be another tournament of some sort after this one, and weeks after everyone has CMBB there'll be an Eastern Front version of the predetermined force and scenario Rumblings of War. Of course, to play in that one I'll need to conjure up a much more potent Mac. My 233 MHz/2 MB VRAM iMac won't run the new game at all. I hope your post here marks your return to the fold. I still remember your gorgeous King Tiger, even if I couldn't open the file back then! I definitely can now, just can't display it at even Med-Res. Regards, John Kettler [ March 02, 2002, 06:37 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

KwazyDog, One of the basic vehicle appearance option defaults ought to be mud, as shown in the appropriate Squadron/Signal Panzer Colors. This is what the Germans first did to tone down the standard Panzer Grey paint schemes. As I recall, application was by coarse brush or broom, much like many of the winter whitewash jobs. Regards, John Kettler

TexasToast and I are in the middle of the customary delicate negotiations prior to ripping each other apart in the most horrific ways possible. So far, I've learned he has major heartburn from flak HTs, having had a recent experience fairly characterizable as "ghastly" and that he doesn't like the possibility of knowing exactly what he'd be facing if he didn't get to keep the force he bought under Jarmo rules. We will be playing on a blind map, though. Panther 76 rules are a possibility. Regards, John Kettler

KwazyDog, You're welcome! George replied to me and was evidently concerned I might be some sort of corporate security breach, hence didn't want to post it himself. I assured him I wasn't a tech spy and was proceeeding with your blessings. I finally got the site to load properly and just posted the contest extension at AFV News myself, being sure to point out I worked neither for Missing-Lynx.com nor Battlefront.com. I specifically emphasized the need for the rarer vehicles. Does the contest apply to things like softskins and artillery (AA,AT, field), especially if the latter has camouflage paint? I'd think you could use some help there as well. Regards, John Kettler PS Did you like the Atlanta Model Exhibition photos?

Michael, I could be wrong about this, but CMBO shipped with both versions on the CD. Maybe it's just bad wording on the packaging? Regards, John Kettler

KwazyDog, Thanks for responding. Guess I'll be gluing wheat stalks to the front of my SU-85s! I figure the real stuff would be at or close to the top of the SU-85's fighting compartment. I'd love to see corn, but what I really want are vast fields of tall sunflowers. Practically screams Ukraine! How are we fixed for row crops? Regards, John Kettler

Bastables, The cost numbers you present on the P IV vs the P V were surprising to me. I'd be interested in seeing three other parameters compared likewise: material required, especially high end, hard to get items; some breakdown on what was required in terms of tools and the like to produce a given weapon, and total manufacturing time, preferably with a split on scarce technical specialists. I'm certainly neither economist nor manufacturing specialist, but I feel that if somehow you or someone else could come up with this information, we'd all end up with a better understanding of the true tradeoffs involved and the concomitant impact on the Reich's ability to produce war materiel. I believe that Speer has numbers like these in his books, and he ran war production from around 1943 on. The other issues that need addressing include opportunity cost (what's not being built while we build this particular tank?) and the important matter of production bottlenecks caused by overloading a particular manufacturing sector. If Panthers can be built at only two factories and P IVs can be built at six, this makes a big difference, especially with someone bombing your armament plants. Regards, John Kettler

No, and now my article's finished and submitted. A game, please, from an unfought Invitational foe before the dread CMBO withdrawal begins! (foams at mouth, begins gasping and twitching uncontrollably) Regards, John Kettler

I'm no farmer, but based on lots of stills and movie footage I've seen, I thought wheat was much taller, say, head high. If not, someone needs to explain to me some fascinating accounts I've read of SU-85s hidden in the wheat ambushing Panthers which couldn't see them. Of course, the wheat may be immature as shown, or it may be some dwarf version I've never seen, or it may've been arbitrarily shortened for that particular really impressive image. Would love to know the real reason. Love the new pictures! Regards, John Kettler

KwazyDog, I've notified the above parties. Couldn't get George Bradford's site to work properly, so I E-mailed him privately with news of the update. Regards, John Kettler