von Lucke

BDW: I don't know if you're just wiggling my twig here or what, but if you're looking for a good story about WW2 from the "other" side, you couldn't do better than "the Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. Though there's some controversy over whether Msr. Sajer was actually ever involved in the story he tells, it's still a damn fine story: A common German soldier's first hand account of his experiences on the Russian Front. His description of the action around Belgorod, in it's mundane terror (if you can put those two words together), is one of the best accounts of any war I've ever read. [This message has been edited by von Lucke (edited 02-09-2000).]

Ah, yes: "die Brucke". Haven't seen it in awhile myself, but I remember it as an excellent take on the bleakness and futility of war from the "other" side. Another excellent WWII flick is "A Walk in the Sun". Produced in 1946 by the same director who made "All Quiet on the Western Front" (and would later go on to make "Pork Chop Hill"), this movie deals with an American infantry platoon as it moves up from an Italian beach and attempts to reach it's objective of the day, a farm house. This movie was made with a crew of vets, right after the end of the war, so it lacks the hyper-patriotic cheerleading seen in most period war-movies (something I find rather refreshing!). The actors in this movie act like soldiers --- not like actors acting like soldiers. Definitely a movie worth the effort of finding.

So the only model PSW available is the 234 "Puma"? Not even one lil' ol' 231 or 222? H39 --- isn't that French? And shouldn't it be mounting a 37mm, and not just a Hotchkis MG?

AH: Sind Sie Deutch? Alle kan ich Ihnen erklaren, das ist, das es viele unreife Heiskopfe auf diesem BBS gibt --- ab er is gibt gerade ebensoviele, die wissen, was sie sagen (wie Fionn). Gut lassen Sie schlafen hunde legen, mein Kommerade. "Can't we all just get along?"

I've played CE as the Germans several times, have won every time, yet have never had my StuG's survive to celibrate our victory. It's all about the infantry! The Wehrmacht has more than enough squad-level anti-tank weapons to win this scenario without armor support. And since we're quoting Nappy; he also said, "luck favors the large battalions."

For those of you interested in a little period reading, here's a link to the translation of a Wehrmacht training circular that contains "30 lessons of armored combat at platoon and company level": http://www.uwm.edu/~jpipes/pnzfwd.html

Or, as Napoleon once said of the British cavalry arm: "...some of the best trained --and worst led -- cavalry in the world." I think that pretty much sums up Balaklava.

As soon as you start limiting your "freedoms" so that they apply to only a select group (ie; only those people who agree with you), the sooner you see those self same "freedoms" stripped away. Why do you think the Supreme Court ruled that freedom of speech covers pornography as well as journalism? If I were Jewish, and my neighbor started flying a Nazi flag, I'd probably be (in order): amazed, annoyed, pissed-off. But so long as said neighbor kept it on his own property, and did nothing to harm myself or anybody else, he'd be free to do as he pleased. ('Course, I'd let him know that I slept with a fully loaded Uzi under my bed too...).

Berlichtingen: IIRC, the Totenkopf and black uniform was taken from the elite cavalry arm of the Brunswick army of the Napoleonic Wars --- the skull and black garb were adopted to honor a fallen commander. The SS merely co-opted an already famous Teutonic military image. Chris: Your argument sounds suspicously like the same one that get's trotted out every time some Grognard grumbles about the lack of Swastikas in WWII games. And here's the standard reply: It's a symbol of evil, (among many other things --- but I don't have time for that), yes. Just like the SS are symbols in the same vein of evil. But do you somehow think that by ignoring their existance, it will make all that former evil go away? Keep it out of sight, and maybe it will fade from memory? Just pretend it didn't exist? It's a part of history man! Get it out in the open so everybody knows about it! You think the only people who would be interested in this kind of thing are neo-Nazi's? (what does that make you?). Like somebody already pointed out, it's just a doll! And I, for one, am damn glad it's a historically accurate one! Babra: Nice picture. But shouldn't he have his hands up?

"I have given orders to my Death Units to exterminate without mercy or pity men, women and children belonging to the Polish-speaking race. It is only in this manner that we can acquire the vital territory which we need. After all, who remembers today the extermination of the Armenians?" --- Adolf Hitler, 22 August 1939 From 1915 to 1916 the Ottoman Empire conducted a pogrom of extermination against the Christian Armenian minority within Muslim Turkey. Starting with 100,000 conscripts within their own army, by the end of 1916 somewhere between 1.5 to 2 million Armenians were "relocated" (ie; marched into the desert and shot) and their property and estates where claimed by the government. "Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it."

Gee, I dunno if I should give this move away (since nobody else has mentioned it), but here goes anyway: Since we all know that the Ami reinforcements show up precisely on turn 10 at the top of Hellcat Hill, I just save up most of my off-map arty until around turn 9, and then target it all on the top of the hill. Not only does it usually take out 2/3 of the M18's, but it usually does quite a number on the supporting infantry. (Surviving American troops in village: "Thank God, help has finally arrived! Oh, shi---!").

My experience with Chain of Command pretty much mirrors Msr. Cunningham's: If yr not a Clan (er, Regiment!) member, than your campaigning "life" will be violently short. But even assuming, despite your un-affiliated status, you are lucky enough to come out on the winning side (as I have enough times to make SGT), you still have to rely on the good will of yr sides CO (who usually is a Regimental player) to hand out the post-battle promotion points (ie; if yr not one of the "in crowd" don't expect to be promoted anytime soon). The CO is also the one who hands out the heavy weapons at the start of the scenario, so get used to never having any LMG's or SMG's in your squad... As far as gameplay goes, it tends to be fast and simple (much like the graphics). The only real annoyance I find with the game itself is that you don't know which of the 4 soldats in your "squad" is you untill after the battle, so there is no way to cover your arse during a fire-fight --- just hope you are one of the survivors...

You can argue unto infinity about who the best-of-the-best was in the Field Marshal / General grouping -- but however brilliant the REMF's back in GHQ are, it's the ability of the men on the front line who have to implement those plans that counts! (And isn't that what CM is all about?). In that spirit of can-do creativity in the face of (almost) insurmountable odds, I nominate the following commanders: Allied: Ord Wingate Axis: Otto Skorzeny Look 'em up...

Alright, call me a Hollywood propaganda victim, but how about the Final Battle for the Remel Bridge in "Saving Private Ryan"? Seems CM would be perfect for it... And, of course, anything from Operation Goodwood, Villers-Bocage, the Falaise Gap, or the Huertgen Wood...

Well, I don't know as you can really say that the Brit's won in N. Afrika, so much as Rommel lost the campaign due to lack of supplies

But of course, mein Herr: when I played this scenario from the German side it was a total roll-over . Always remember: The key to a successful blitzkrieg is a good pincer movement...

Much like Hawk, my first try at CM was the Last Defense (note the 's' you nonce's!), and I jumped right into it using the default American starting positions: Other than a brief moment of anxiety when the Tiger attempted to single-handedly roll up my right flank, I beat the German AI handily ---tho, I must admit, not without losses to my own troops that, had not those M18's shown up when they did, would have probably lead to some very nasty hand-to-hand fighting in the village itself. As it was, the AI seemed easily stymied by the harrasing fire put up by my MG's and 60mm mortars; with the SS PG squads content to hold in place at the edge of the forest and trade rounds with me. Even the StuG's and HT's never advanced closer than the stone wall by the main road before being lit-up by the Hellcats. As I said before, the biggest threat came from the Tiger: That 88mm gun can certainly reach out and touch you! But even it didn't stand a chance against simultaneous plunging fire from three 76mm APDS rounds... And by the time the SS troopers finally got it into their heads to assault, my reinforcements were in the town, and the game was over. The only objective I lost was the house far forward on the right...