John Kettler

KwazyDog, Good to know! Had no idea whom you'd notified, given your doubtless immense workload. Will personally post deadline extension on AFV NEWS site and E-mail new deadline to Brookhurst Hobbies and the War Room for you. For an amazing paint scheme, check out the one on the Hornisse in Kubinka. There should be a link from Valera Potapov's Russian Battlefield. Regards, John Kettler

KwazyDog, I hope for all our sakes that you long since put the word out about the contest to all the I.P.M.S. chapters. If not, it seems to me that you're missing out on who knows how many potentially usable for skin models. I just sent another message about the contest to the webmistress@thewarroom.com, since no one acknowledged the first one I sent. The War Room is a huge game and model shop and hosts the local model club. I also did a bit of digging and found this site covering one of the model contests the Northmen (my Atlanta, Georgia model club) hosted. Just hit the Armor button, find the category you want, and enjoy the feast! Link follows. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4762/2events.html If you have any questions, E-mail Paul Cotcher. His particulars are at the bottom of the page. He took the pictures and knows me. Regards, John Kettler [ February 27, 2002, 06:31 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

KwazyDog, I checked last night at the Brookhurst Hobbies site (www.brookhursthobbies.com) and found all kinds of goodies, including a substantial set of photo galleries, but amazingly there is no section for finished models actually in the shop. If SCAHMS, Duxford, or the last two Euromilitaire's are of interest, though, you're in luck. Regards, John Kettler PS Good one, Bullethead! With overnight messenger delivery, yours shouldn't be more than a C note. [ February 26, 2002, 02:26 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

My RoW duties are now finished, but I have a magazine article deadline the end of this month. I therefore have but one slot in my dance card but am willing to begin negotiations forthwith so that play can commence in a few days. Shall we dance der Totentanz? Regards, John Kettler

I tried to post the glad tidings early this morning, but the board was down for maintenance. My last AAR ("Sounds in the Night") is finished and has been sent to Treeburst155, with a copy to Tom. The fight was grueling; the writeup even moreso, with lots of nitty gritty, yet important, details to be covered. My thanks again to all who helped make RoW possible. With my work here done, I now return to my remaining unfulfilled Invitational obligations and to working on my "conjure CMBB capable Mac" spell, so I'm ready to fight in that upcoming tournament. Regards, John Kettler PS Some here seem to be saying too much about the forces in scenarios unseen yet by most. Please protect the terror index and fear of the unknown! [ February 22, 2002, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

In spite of brain death and the Winter Olympics I will finish my AAR. The old rule of thumb that the last 20% takes 80% of the effort seems to be holding true. Also, I think that certain posters here need to remember scenario security to preserve the proper atmosphere of terror for those who follow in our trailblazing path. Regards, John Kettler

Kwazydog, A few days ago, I got to go to Brookhurst Hobbies in Fountain Valley, California. There I spoke to the well informed man behind the counter and gave him the rundown on the contest and related matters, together with contact information and the all-important deadline. He seemed excited and said he would pass it on to the armor modelers. I spoke briefly with the owner, but had to cut it short because he got a phone call. Brookhurst had some marvelous information resources I'd not seen before. There is a big Schiffer hardback book devoted to Czechoslovakian tanks during and before World War II. DETAIL IN SCALE magazine has some excellent color pictures of a real, mudded up 250/1 that someone restored. It also has high resolution photos of a real UE tankette; photos are much better than what AFV Interiors has. Got to glance through issue No. 10 (in current volume, I assume) of STEEL MASTERS magazine, which is in French, with English photo captions. It has an incredible Eastern Front diorama of an early Marder (Rutch boom) in combat, together with massive photo coverage of French armor during World War II. While it may be only somewhat useful now, it'll be worth its weight in gold when you do France 1940, Invasion of Belgium, etc. Hope this helps. Regards, John Kettler

PondScum, I'm glad you found them worthwhile, however frustratingly expurgated. It was most challenging to describe the action without blowing scenario security. redeker, I hear you. My last one's almost done. Regards, John Kettler

Treeburst155, There is a huge disconnect between what both Fuerte and I have told you and the peculiar conclusions you have reached. I said that in watching the battle in FuerteVision I noted right off how favorable the terrain was to him, and I mentioned several particulars to back my view. Fuerte then posted the relevant excerpt from what I had found and said "I wholeheartedly agree." Further, he went on to say that he noticed it right off and kept silent about it. This latter remark was followed by a smiley. To recap, both my then opponent and I agree that the ground heavily favored him, in multiple ways, right from the start. Fuerte reinforces my argument later in the thread when he concludes: "I should have won the game hands down..." In spite of this, and in spite of a detailed breakdown of his advantages and the resultant very strong tactical and victory level positions he had throughout most of the game, you conclude that because I somehow clawed my way to a draw, the scenario was balanced. You reached this conclusion even though I clearly and directly stated that Fuerte would've beaten me by thirty plus points had I not taken the huge risks attendant with my last turn push to seize both VLs. This was based on carefully looking at both of our displays at the end of turn 24. Having seen Fuerte's position and strength, he would've won big had I not pushed that last attack home. He still had a functioning force well in excess of a platoon, and that was just what was close to the VLs. I had at best half a platoon, and that in tatters. My company CP was in the infantry battle because it was all I had left to bring in to influence the outcome. His sat back and ran things. His could afford to, for he'd lost something like one platoon HQ in the whole game. Mine were actively in combat from early in the game, and they had the casualties to prove it. He still had two pieces of armor: the M-10 and the Priest. I had none. While casualties were essentially even, I took 30% more KIAs from his withering fire. In terms of survivors, he had 151 to my 97, and I had evacuated four FO teams and several vehicle crews. How you got from my parlous ending military state to your conclusion that the battle was balanced, based on nothing more than the outcome, is simply beyond me. Yours in martial perplexity, John Kettler PS I may play Fuerte later for grins, but first I have to finish my RoW AAR and fight some three battles in the Invitational.

I now have but five turns remaining to cover in my AAR for "Sounds in the Night." This is going to be a long read. Regards, John Kettler

Someone asked for configuration data on German multiple rocket projectiles other than the 15cm. Nebelwerfer. I therefore dug out my carefully guarded copy of T.J. Gander's FIELD ROCKET EQUIPMENT OF THE GERMAN ARMY 1939-1945, Almark Publications, London, 1972. Page 24 lists the 21 cm Wurfgrenate Spreng as being conventional in layout, with the exception that the warhead was fitted with a false ogive. The warhead proper weighed 90 lbs., of which 22.4 were TNT. Weight overall was 241.3 lbs., with propellant amounting to 40.25 lbs. Page 27 lists the 28 cm Wurfkorper Spreng as being of conventional layout and weighing 181 lbs., of which 110 lbs. were TNT or Amatol. Whee! This rocket constituted 5/6 of the loadout of a Schweres Wurfrahmen 40, the last rocket being a 32 cm, incendiary of almost identical construction, weighing 174 lbs., but with a warhead of 11 gallons of mixed petrol and Diesel fuel. Propellant was 14 lbs. 9 oz. Page 30 lists the 30 cm rocket as being of conventional layout, weighing 277 pounds, of which 100 lbs. of amatol made up the bursting charge and 33 lbs. were propellant. Hope this helps. Regards, John Kettler

Okay, I've now more or less recovered from that time vacuum called FuerteVision Invitational and the inevitable analysis it generates. I have therefore resumed work on my technically still not overdue AAR for "Sounds in the Night." Am delighted to report that I now have two thirds of it done. Yes, I will complete and submit this excruciatingly detailed monster, thus discharging my remaining RoW obligation. Since my door hasn't been knocked down by a stampede demanding my presence in the finals, I conclude that AARs or no, I didn't make the cut, either by Section win or by being second overall in the field. I did my best, though. Regards, John Kettler

Treeburst155, From what my battered brain recalls, in addition to an end of game randomizer, CMBB will include logic triggering an extra turn when a flag changes hands. The side losing the flag will have a turn to get it back. Real sudden death OT! That in turn triggers the same opportunity for the other side and so forth, until the flag can't be retaken. If we get into massed infantry attacks in CMBB, there may be a problem. The conclusions you came to about the map baffle me utterly. Did you look at the VL approaches, observation, fields of fire and the like from Fuerte's final positions? The Priest alone controls the entire approach to the VLs, as it demonstrated by raining direct fire into the trees, up and down the road, and into my infantry in and around the rubbled VLs, blasting my first two drives to bits. By contrast, the firing position from which my StuH 42 blasted the VLs had far more limited LOS, and the same problem dogged my enfilading pair of HMGs nearby. It was only an AI fluke that allowed me to engage and kill his last halftrack. Apparently the mortaring caused the halftrack to pull out of its cozy defiladed hollow and advance uphill into my gunsight. Otherwise, it would've been there waiting for me with both MGs. Next to the Priest were a .50 cal. MG, a now moved 105mm FO, and a 60mm mortar, all in command and all with the same fields of observation and fire. I might add that this same position dominated my entire left side approach. Nor was this his only such dominating position. I'll be happy to send you the last order phase for Fuerte's troops. That way, you'll be able to use the LOS tool directly instead of having to guesstimate by peering over the top. Regards, John Kettler

Treeburst155, I'm glad you responded to my analysis and are looking at that map. Fuerte, Before you get too self-congratulatory on your end, I suggest that you bear in mind that your guys were conducting observed fire, whereas most of mine was unobserved; that after repeated viewings of the turns in which artillery fell on your forward engineer platoon, it appears that some of the treebursts may have been your own 105 fire; that you had a bunch of mortars on the board which I did not; that the terrain forced me to come to you, thus enhancing the value of your weapons, and that even having by your own admission major advantages from the start, I still fought you to a draw. In terms of indirect fire, I had two sustained assets, a veteran 120mm mortar FO and a regular? 81mm FO, plus two spasm assets in the Nebelwerfers. You had the green 105mm howitzer FO and I'd guess three 60mm mortars, all looking down my throat. The Russians have a rule of thumb that direct fire is 10x more effective than indirect fire. I don't know what the multiple is for the effectiveness of observed over unobserved fire, but I do know it's significant, allowing you to get a lot more combat performance from your fire support resources. The responsiveness issue alone saved you from a pounding on at least two occasions. In both, the M-10 was able to displace shortly before I could bring down 81mm mortar fire upon it, saving the M-10 and causing me to waste almost priceless ammo. My FO has considerably fewer rounds than his U.S. counterpart, so I have to make them count. In the direct fire HE engagement, you had three 75mm or greater weapons to my two, and the Priest had an ammo load at least half again what my StuH 42s combined had. These assets all had a big positional advantage through much of the game. As for direct fire AT work, my StuH 42s certainly were capable of frontal kills against your heaviest armor, but only one per, because of niggardly hollow charge issue. Your M-10 did the same with impunity and had loads of ammo. The Sherman could kill me frontally at close range and long range from the side, while the Priest had a fair stock of hollow charge for frontal work and effectively unlimited HE for flanks and lighter armor. My brace of 250/9s was more than matched by your multigun HTs, the .50s on your Sherman, Priest and M-10, and the ones on tripod mounts firing from the hills. I suspect that under CMBB procedures, the game would've gone into overtime, allowing your larger and less damaged force to take the flags, but I'm not sure whether that's triggered by outright change of ownership of a flag or merely by shifting its state from the previous value. Some things to consider. Regards, John Kettler

Don't you just hate it when you can't tell whether message got through? I do! This was the second duplicate. [ February 12, 2002, 09:06 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

Computer got hung up; multiple post. [ February 12, 2002, 09:05 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

Multiple post! [ February 12, 2002, 08:09 PM: Message edited by: John Kettler ]

Having just watched the battle unfold in FuerteVision, I learned some fascinating things. Treeburst155, I hope you're paying attention. Map and Its Impact The map may've been a special creation, but I thought we were playing all the games on terrain mirrored maps. I was way too engrossed in my own tactical problems at the time to notice, but the map heavily favors the player on Fuerte's end, offering excellent observation, lots of cover for men and vehicles, multiple covered routes to approach the VLs, and superb fields of fire on offense and defense, including a lovely ridge for hulldown firing positions and another one which totally dominates both VLs. By contrast, the person on my end can only advance armor by exposing it repeatedly and for deadly periods on the flanks, because of a big forested hill in the center directly in front of the VLs and lots of exposed fields on the flank approaches. Observation is much poorer across the board, is limited to a few good areas, and blind spots abound even close to the VLs. This crippled my artillery in both responsiveness and effectiveness. TRPs helped cut the delays and could've been deadly had I known where certain of his CPs were, but generally didn't buy me much. I was under observed fire through most of the game. The upshot of this was that my veteran armor got butchered, even when in cover. It was sharpshot, killed by bazooka fire, smoked by a hulldown Sherman and a TD, and blasted, along with considerable infantry, to bits by that Priest. Fuerte basically owned both VLs by the end of turn 3 and thoroughly controlled them through most of the game. This was precisely because he had fast, covered routes to get there and I didn't. Also, he rolled downhill into position while I had to slog uphill most of the way to get to the same place. Big difference! This explains why he didn't flap at all until late in the game. He was kicking my butt on his display and mine. I had to fight past his platoon which had moved beyond the VLs to even reach them, where he waited in heavy cover, FTs sizzling. I don't know whether the map was an oversight or what, but something needs to be done to offset the huge difference in terrain between the two sides. Bluntly put, I was both skilled and lucky to get a draw on such unfavorable ground. If you keep the map, the person playing my end needs more points for a fair fight. Fire Support This was what inflicted a major fraction of Fuerte's casualties. Regrettably, his CPs had repulsion fields which got them unscathed even through multiple treebursts right over them. Even so, my turn 6 Nebelwerfer and mortar barrage knocked out a green M-3A1 HT, broke the crew and inflicted 1 casualty; immobilized a second M-3A1; pinned an engineer squad in his forward platoon, inflicting 4 casualties; shook an engineer team, inflicting one loss; inflicted one casualty on another engineer squad, and pinned an FT, inflicting one casualty. The Sherman was near missed by multiple projectile types, but being both buttoned and lucky, survived utterly unscathed. The next turn's remaining two rockets did nothing, but the 120mm mortar fire into the woods very nearly destroyed the engineer platoon, raising the aggregate casualties to 50% except for the CP and bazooka team, breaking or pinning virtually everyone. The third turn of fire was shifted to deal with vehicles. A direct hit by a 120 K-killed the immobilized M-3A1 and vaporized the crew. Fuerte lost every vehicle crew when I got a K-kill. The deadeye M-10 survived volley after volley of mortar fire, but a volley intended to kill that Priest missed and dropped a round onto a 60mm mortar, knocking it out. The other big killer of Fuerte's troops was my surviving StuH 42. It killed a Sherman, a third M-3A1 HT, and disposed of at least half a platoon of infantry by itself, probably more like two thirds, chiefly by blowing the VL buildings apart, occupants and all, aided by pinning fires to encourage the dwellers to stay put. I didn't have the energy to analyze HMG effectiveness per se, but it put men to ground a lot and greatly inhibited movement. The Gamble on Turn 25 Careful analysis of the last few turns, from both sides, shows Fuerte would've won by thirty some odd points had I not taken the chance and stormed the VLs. Regards, John Kettler

I see Fuerte has stolen Treeburst155's reportorial thunder before Treeburst155 even got to see the end of game screen, which I just sent to him. I fully expected to win that fight by either taking both VLs or taking at least one VL while disputing the other. I thought his buttoned M-10 would probably die in a hail of grenades and that even if unsuccessful, the squad close assaulting the M-10 might distract the Priest while advancing, thus protecting the main advance on the VLs. Even after the movie ended and my StuH 42 lay in ruins, I figured I'd still win, for the display showed my live men on and near both objectives, and much closer than Fuerte's men. Also, I knew I'd hurt Fuerte by killing three specialist teams--two FTs and a bazooka--worth lots of points, while having earlier evacuated every FO and crew I could, and having lost no specialist teams myself. These added to his armor casualties indicated that taking a flag and disputing the other would give me not only the game but a substantial win. Didn't work out as planned, though. Regards, John Kettler Password "sieg" (victory) Shows I was optimistic going in.

Amid a hail of large and small hostile direct fire, my final assault went in, supported by every weapon I could bring to bear, and that includes from my HQs. On the left, infantry and a Panzerschreck team advanced through a small copse, aided by the fires from a damaged but game base of fire platoon minus and HMG. The infantry was to deal with a cut up squad and brought same to bay. The AT team was intended to fork the Priest and the M-10, the latter also being close assaulted by infantry. The firefight in the woods continued, with neither side yielding, while at the same time my infantry elements crossed the road and in spite of punishing fire from the Priest and at least a platoon of infantry, managed this time to occupy both VLs and still remained functional. The same, alas, can't be said for my StuH 42, which, in spite of thorough terrain analysis from multiple angles and magnifications before issuing a carefully considered and planned hunt order, somehow was moved by the AI right into the sights of the Priest from hell. And blown there in a single catastrophic shot! Fuerte did not move directly against the VLs, apparently believing that his enfilading Priest, much closer buttoned M-10, and considerable infantry in the treeline would be enough to shoot up any force of mine up so badly it wouldn't matter, or even offset any force which might get to the VLs and survive. He may well be right, especially factoring in the unexpected loss of the StuH 42. I figured that would be a big factor in control of the right side VL. I believe that the other factor in Fuerte's nonmovement against the VLs was the combination of heavy frontal infantry crossfire and enfilade fire into his force opposite the right VL by two HMGs under command. All that flesh could do or try to do was done, but the outcome is still unknown. Regards, John Kettler

Well, from my end it looked like I finished off one of Fuerte's squads, put a second to flight, and I also took some lumps. We still have troops in contact, too. The Priest with an apparently unlimited onboard ammo supply blasted away at my base of fire on my left. A little more to the center, Fuerte and I shot at each other from our respective patches of trees. Firing continued at a presumed bazooka team located to the right of center, putting it to flight and driving it to ground and out of LOS. I've issued final orders for this amazing, bruising, murderous fight. I say murderous because the woods are full of dead men, ditto the VLs and immediate vicinity. Now begins the wait for the ultimate outcome. As predicted, it's gone down to the wire. Both VLs are in dispute. Regards, John Kettler

Multiple orders have been issued for the penultimate turn. If my display's to be trusted, I finally control one VL, with the other one in dispute. Hypothetically, that means I'm winning. I have set many things in motion this turn, to Fuerte's planned confoundment. Regards, John Kettler

I think that instead of increasingly heated debate here the modders should straightaway start collecting Eastern Front pictures of German soldiers wearing civilian gear including women's fur coats and even fox stoles for the inevitable winter '41 mod. This would be both historically correct and fun. Regards, John Kettler

Feldgendarm, Infantry guns are currently crunchable in CMBO. Infantry isn't because of coding limits. Remember, they're using three figures to depict as many as twelve. This means that the squad is distributed over an area. Infantry which is overrun by armor does take a substantial morale hit in CMBO. Since there won't be an engine rewrite until CM2, I don't expect things will change all that much in CMBB. Many people would like to be able to crunch infantry directly and cite actual German orders to Tiger crews to crush men whenever possible in order to conserve MG ammo. Hope this helps. Regards, John Kettler

rexford, I've seen combat accounts by a surviving Panther commander where a Panther took a 122mm glacis hit which penetrated the glacis, passed through the entire fighting compartment, smashed through the engine compartment, and drove the engine out through the rear plate and onto the ground. The writer reportedly saw this happen to a nearby tank and though his own tank was unhit, immediately ordered out the entire crew, being in shock, horror and fear of being next. I first saw this account in a popular scale modeling magazine (SCALE MODELER, I think), have seen it elsewhere, but don't have it handy. Suffice it to say I found it stunning. Regards, John Kettler