von Lucke

Been thinking the fight for Hill 400 would be a good one (December 7-8, 1944; Hurtgen Forest) --- 2nd Ranger Batt. assault, and then defend, against heavy German resistance. The battles in and around Hatten-Rittershoffen (Jan '45, near Strasbourg) were also pretty intense: The 25th Panzer Grenadier Div and 21st Panzer Div counter-attack resulted in weeks of heavily contested (by the 79th and 42nd Inf and 14th Armored Divisions) fighting --- yet the Bulge got all the press... Oh, and maybe something just for fun with the BEF --- the Brasilian Expeditionary Force!

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Madmatt: BODIES, after ALL the commotion these caused for months and months , NOT ONE PERSON HAS STATED ANYTHING ABOUT THE DAMN BODIES! Good...Thats the way it should be... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Hmmmm, this sounds too much like a dare... So here goes: Actually, I find the "corpses" kinda distracting --- especially if you're scanning for targets from a distance. The Targeting function will allow you to target dead troops just like it'll allow you to target knocked out tanks, and from across the map, a cowering 2-3 man element looks alot like a dead one (or vice-versa).

Great! A well done manual is a (rare) thing of beauty!

Just about finished with "the Valley", and my experience with it matches most of what has been said here already, so here are a few highlights that I found entertaining: Took out every bunker (except that damnable 75mm in the left back-field) and the 150mm gun with well placed shots from the Sherman 105's within the first couple of turns --- just lucky there. Pushed my Engineers up the middle onto the hill overlooking the 'ville, and down into the town (with a lot of help from a major flanking maneuver with the rest of my inf on the right and liberal use of arty) just in time to meet a platoon of Germans running into town from the left --- gawd, what a slaughter! Did get to use a flamethrower on the remnants holding out in one of the buildings tho --- must say that the flame-trooper needs to know when to lay off the trigger! Just keeps on pouring it on until he's out of fuel --- and that's pretty quick! Used a lot of smoke to cover that bunker to the left-rear, but he still got in some good shots --- that position can hit just about anywhere on the Ami advance. Best shot was the one that set the trees aflame on top of Hill 216 and sent my .50 cal and two arty spotters fleeing. Must say I found the forest-fire effects rather entertaining. The Panther caught me completely by suprise! After the slaughter in the town, I loaded my one (relatively) untouched Engineer onto the M4/105 there and Fast-moved up the road and behind the one remaining bunker (using a lot of smoke as cover). Thought I had 'im! Then what pokes it's long snout out of the woods and smoke to my rear? Bam! No more M4, and my Engineer begging for mercy! Oh, I just love suprises! Luckily, my reinforcements have just arrived, I've cleared the minefield on the road down the valley, and that 76mm M4 has a cat to chase down...

Meine Gott! Get in from work, check the board, and you'd think war had been declared! (Oh, gee, I guess maybe it has, eh?) Well, off to find out for myself --- Ta!

If "good killin" is what yr after, then "Gladiator" is for you. Hey, I liked the movie: The CGI work is fantastic! Russell Crowe is great! What I don't like is when screen-writers take historical characters and completely and totally change historical fact. Kinda like doing a WWII movie and having the Germans win the war. Kinda dampens the enjoyment factor for me. Tho yr mileage may vary... Oh --- and I'm looking forward to "Battlefield Earth" too.

Oh yah? I grew up around Southern Ethanol myself...

You think "U-571" is revisionist? Go see "Gladiator"! Geez! (or should that be Jupiter?) Talk about re-writing history for the sake of a story...

Ooooh, man! Talk about kismet! I was just about to start a thread asking if anybody had seen this flick on Encore last night! Spooky... Well, for those of you who don't know the history behind this war movie, lemme tell ya: Seems "The Tanks Are Coming!" is based on a script written by the famous American tanker ace Lafayette Pool! Pool based the script on his own life, but by the time it made it to the screen (in 1951), the Hollywood hacks had mutilated his treatment and taken his name off the credits. Pool sued, but never saw any money for his effort. And given what the movie is like, it's probably just as well Pool didn't have his name associated with it! The "story" (mostly stock WWII reel footage spliced with a couple of set-piece battle scenes) revolves around M4A2 tank commander SSG Sullivan (a cowboy-boot wearin', six-gun totin', Texas-drawl/Irish brogue sportin' hard-ass) and his multi-national crew (Polish assistant driver, Italian loader, German gunner, alcoholic driver). High points: They used a platoon of actual Shermans, and some of the action sequences are filmed inside during the battle scenes --- and during one sequence an element of M4's are tooling along a stream bed and get ambushed by a Flak 88 --- a real Flak 88! Don't know where they dug it up, but it was cool to see. There's also an unintentionally funny scene where this lowly PFC mechanic confronts the MG in charge of the 3rd Armored and demands to know why their boys are going into combat riding thinly armored Shermans armed only with 75's, when the Germans have all those 88's? After a brief discussion on the relative muzzle velocities of both weapons, the General tells the Private that he's expecting a new tank, armed with a 90mm, soon, and said private will get the first one that comes along! (All this done with a straight face). Well, near the end of the movie, guess what should appear? A spiffy new Pershing! And guess who it goes to? Yup --- Sullivan & crew! Which leads me to the low point: Said super-tanker-ace then proceeds to plow through the woods with his new toy (supposedly looking for a way through the Sigfried Line), and failing to find it, he and the rest of the Sherman equiped platoon are parked near a row of dragon's teeth when they come under fire. Frustrated at not being able to engage the enemy, Sullivan hops into his shiny new Pershing and proceeds to drive it right on top of the anti-tank obstacles! There he leaves it, high and dry, tracks spinning, and runs back (during an arty barrage!) to find a Sherman dozer to build a ramp over the obstacles for the rest of the platoon (guess he learned his lesson that the Pershing wasn't a super-tank). Platoon advances into Germany and wins the war single-handedly. The End. All-in-all a fairly standard 50's era B-grade war flick, rife with corny dialogue and bad acting --- but with a little more technical hardware expertise than usuall (Pool's influence?) [This message has been edited by von Lucke (edited 05-05-2000).]

Pardon if this has been discussed before, but I don't seem to remember it: Just been reading "Black Hawk Down", and it struck me that the Rangers involved in this tragedy blatantly ignored the first rule of city fighting: Stay off the streets! Advance from building to building by knocking holes in the walls, climbing through windows, etc. This made me wonder if you could do this in CM? I've seen several POTD's that show up to four 2-story buildings all clumped together. Do you have to go out into the streets and re-enter the building next door from the outside?

Somehow I knew that the man who starred in "the Blue Max" had to be a gamer

Well, it is true that the French where given many war-surplus Panthers to bolster their post-war forces --- and many served up to the late '50's. So, I suppose it's possible... I also heard that there where many ex-SS men serving in the Legion Etrangere in Indochina, and that the Legion was not a group that the Viet Rouge messed with without concequence...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ol' Blood & Guts: The English language IS a Germanic language. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> The word "English" comes from Anglish, which comes from the Angles, who (along with the Saxons and the Jutes) invaded the soggy island that has forever borne their name sometime around 450 AD. And yes, they where all of Germanic origin. The "English" language however, bears little resemblance to the Germanic tongue it is named for. Mostly because England has been over-run by just about every tribesman with a yen to go adventuring since the first proto-Celt washed ashore on a raft made from bark and sheep-bladders: You got yer Celtic tribes (who later became the Welsh and Scots), being displaced by the Romans, who got over-run by the aforementioned Anglo-Saxon hordes, who got walloped by the Danes, who were later taken out by a bunch of local farmers who are probably best described as proto-English. Then the Normans show up (bloody Franco-Vikings!)... Is it any wonder that "English" is the most adaptive language around? Because it's a bastard tongue that's already a mutant strain of all the others! PS: While I'm on the subject of language: Did you know that the Continental Congress (this is US History now!) back in 1780-something narrowly missed making German the official language of the new-formed US? Missed out by 1 vote! Ein! (After the Brits, the Germans have always been the next most numerous European percentage in the US). Now mull over the historical possibilities that one vote changed... [This message has been edited by von Lucke (edited 04-27-2000).]

SPR based on historical fact? Here's the fact that SPR is based on: There was a family with 3 brothers (not 4) in the Army in '44 --- with a Polish last name, not Irish. Two of 'em were killed within a week of each other (one in the Pacific, one at Normandy). The War Department got word of the surviving brother, and sensing what could be another PR disaster along the lines of the Sullivans, decided to pull bro #3 out of combat. Said bro was indeed in Normandy --- but not with the 101. The man sent to find him was an officer --- but not with the 2nd Ranger Batt. (He was a priest, actually!). All said priest had to do to find PVT Wachowski (or whatever his name was), was stroll up the beach to the CP where said PVT was waiting for him, introduce himself, and then stroll back to the waiting boat and a trip to England. Music up and out --- Roll credits --- Fade to black.

Damn! I was looking forward to some revealing pictures of Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS!

Damn, Lads! This thread has certainly ballooned out of all proportion since I last checked in. SS: Many others have contributed words of sage advice here, so I'll try not to repeat them. All I have to say is: UNLEARN! CM is not CC. CM strives for realism. (Think sim, not game). In CM you do not play the all-knowing, all-controlling God of the Battle-field! Learn to use the tools at your disposal and work within their limitations. Know the system and use it to your advantage. So what if auto-surrender is enabled in "Competitive Ladder Play"? It just means that if you open up a severe can o' whup-ass on yr opponent the game will be over all that quicker and you can move on to the next. (I must insert here that in the many times I have played the Demo --- against human and AI --- I have only ever seen a forced surrender once). You seem to be basing your case for an auto-surrender toggle on the desire to be able to inflict as much casualties as possible on the enemy in order to narrow the "point spread". Well, what makes you think you'd be immune to any further casualties yourself?If you feel the need to fight it out to the bitter end, only play ladder scenarios that feature Elite units in Fanatical situations --- I don't think you'd have to worry too much about auto-surrendering in that case. And as far as playing a Ladder game against someone in a scenario designed by said other person, I can only ask: Why? Do you intend to loose? 'cuz there's no other reason for you to handicap yourself that way. And as far as people who feel the need to hack the code in order to give themselves an unfair advantage (other than being needle-dicked loosers with severe self-esteme problems)--- well, they usually find themselves forever banished from whatever ladder they once might have been listed on. Oh, and Lorak: You right, bro! I agree with you 100%! [This message has been edited by von Lucke (edited 04-19-2000).]

32% of VL fulfilled = 68% unfulfilled. 13% positive Morale = 87% negative Morale. If a commander ordered an assault under these conditions, I would fully expect the remaining survivors to refuse to obey, and a surrender would not be out of the question. The whole auto-surrender function was put in to stop that o-so-gamey aspect of most wargames wherein you wear your units down to a bloody nub, and yet fight on to the bitter end as tho every man was Audie Murphy. Hey, it ain't gonna happen that way...

I also read that nVidia is about to release it's newest set of drivers (Detonator v5.02)for the TNT2 which will enable FSAA for said cards. Also read that enabling FSAA will be a colassal cycle hog, so ya better have a fast CPU in order to handle the extra load...

Well, I dunno if this is what yr looking for, but here it is: There's a 2hr video documentary on the subject called "Against All Odds" produced / written / narrated by a man (forgot his name) who served in the action as a Captain. It was put out by the War Amputees of Canada, so any money goes to a good charity. http://www.waramps.ca/

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Agrow: Maybe I should join the military and get a few battle scars.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well, when I was active Army, I served with a few women who impressed me far more with their hoo-ah attitude and military bearing than many of their male counter-parts ever did. It's something of a falacy to believe that women are not as agressive as men. Studies done on hyenas (of all things) have shown that, if anything, the female is more agressive than the male: From inception, female hyenas are supercharged in the womb with an excess of estrogen (the female hormone), and they are born snapping, biting, and kicking. Female hyenas are larger, more agressive, and do most of the killing in hyena packs. Ok, hyenas aren't human. But the closest thing to a human hyena pack was the Mongol Horde of Genghis Khan: They, at one point, controlled the largest empire in mankind's history. They also encouraged their women to be warriors. They were also known for their lack of compassion or mercy. Coincidence? It's that old nature vs. nuture argument: IMHO women in our culture just aren't expected to be agressive, so they aren't encouraged in any way to be so. And as you said Agrow, maybe it's better for the human race that they aren't...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Wesy: My parents don't like to talk about the war, but they told me of working in the factories, hiding in the bomb shelter during the B29 raids, running from the fires, getting strafed by Grumman F6F Hellcats, my Uncle's internment in the Soviet Gulag etc. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> When I was but a grub attending college back in CA, I had a class in caligraphy taught by a man who had been through the same things your parents had. (Up to this point I'd only ever talked to one other man who had seen the sharp end of WW2: This other man had been a navigator for a B-29 that had bombed Japan. He'd talked about his bomb runs in the laconic terms of pilots from time immemorial, like it was no big deal --- just a job). Well, on one rare occasion near the end of the term, I got my caligraphy teacher to say a little about what it was like to be on the receiving end, and I will always remember the look on this quiet, patient man's face when he said that the city he had lived in was bombed flat, and still the American bombers came back every day and bombed it again, and again, and again... It woke me up. For all the statistics that get thrown around on this board, what it comes down to is the individual human beings whose lives were irrevocably changed...

Swing music, daddio, Swing! Not only just because it's period music, but because of that jumpin' beat! Besides, there's just something about Glenn Miller's "In the Mood" and small-arms fire that goes well together... ------------------------- "Woof! Woof! Woof! That's my other dog immitation". -- Oddball

It was the last Great Crusade: The last war to be fought by Us (the Good Guys) vs. Them (the Bad Guys). It was also the last good Conventional War (ie; no nukes --- well, until the last minute, anyway), and took the technology of war up to the door-step of the modern age of electronic warfare without quite stepping in. It's vast scale also means that just about everybody on earth is aware of what happened and who the players were.

Ummm --- what's an &endash?

und Grusse zu Ihnen, Jochen!