Andreas

What grass is that you are using?

London UK, that is. Okay, before the inevitable whinging starts: 1) this was a long-planned BBQ that got turned into a sneak preview at short notice. Hence - capacity issues in my small flat 2) If other London dwellers do the whinge on me, I won't do it again. If however there is some genuine interest and people manage to control themselves, I will consider a re-run in 2-3 weeks time for those interested. With that said: I had a few people over tonight, Simon Elwen, James Crowley, Mike Urquhart and his mate Chris, Justin (Justin15471), Kip Anderson, Mark (Holien), Cory (Runyan99), Shane (Kiltie Lad) and, err, that's it. Yes, some people came over from the US to experience THE GAME™. I think all were suitably impressed, or at least polite enough to feign an interest. Mike brought his iMac G3 (8MB ATI card) and the game runs just fine on it and looks good. So there is some good news. We did not manage to get an Apple Talk network going, mostly because I am a dolt, but had a few QBs. This thread is for the attendees to comment on the game. Please remember there are some things you should not mention. It was good having you all over at my place, and I just counted the beers left in my fridge, and I am very happy. Fire away whenever you get home.

That's what you have 'fanaticism' in the scenario editor for. Already in CMBO.

Hmm, not quite sure about this WWB. Did the original SS Polizeidivision have a bad reputation? I have never heard about that, and as far as I know they acquitted themselves well in the fighting up to Leningrad. A potted history could go along these lines: - At the start of the war, a lot of the junior officers made up for lack of tactical skill by displaying dashing spirit, with consequently high losses. To get over the frustration of being seen as tactical nitwits who got in the way by the Wehrmacht, one could always massacre some POWs (Le Paradis anyone?). - In the middle of the war, when the SS divisions acquired their reputations for combat prowess, they were equipped about twice as well as a standard Heer division, so one would expect them to a) do better, and find themselves more in the thick of it as a fire brigade, much like Grossdeutschland would have (which the Red Army identified as an SS Division in their general staff study on Kursk, interestingly). - towards the end of the war, a lot of soldiers in the Waffen SS were drafted into it, and were by no means that special. 12th SS for example never really recovered from the losses in Normandy. CMBB will handle all this quite well, as CMBO already did. Enough of this hero worshipping already Michael

Play green troops and conscripts with no fanatical setting. They surrender alright.

Michael, seems a bit incomplete to me. What about LSAH in Rostov 1941? You only have them down in their role as PGD and PD. Anyways, if you have time to do silly posts with bad German topic lines here, you have time to tell me who the guys in the picture were. With a family tree if you please, and on the double. Go to it

John, that's as maybe, but in period pieces they are referred to as e.g. 'SS Wiking' on maps and in narratives. E.g. my copy of Steets 'Gebirgsjaeger zwischen Dnjepr und Don' (1957).

SS Totenkopf (AG North) SS Polizeidivision (AG North) SS Das Reich (AG Centre) SS Wiking (AG South) SS Leibstandarte AH (AG South) All participated in Barbarossa from the start as far as I can make out. They were either pure ID or ID (mot.) formations as far as I can make out. No guarantee on completeness and correctness of AG assignments.

My unhinged cognitive function reads that as 'ARSE' when glancing it over. So maybe better not...

Hey, I'd rather live in Toronto than in the UK. Blame your silly immigration laws, Canucks.

Sorry Tom, unfortunately for you I am in London UK, not London Ontario...

Come on Tom, you should know that BTS would not stoop as low as to take on Beta-testers from Buffalo. They have some modicum of pride and standards. These Buffalo people go to Toronto to shop. Enough said...

It will also be called CMBB - 'Combat Mission: Beyond Buffy'. I still plan on doing that 'Giles has a cup of tea' scenario. Last I heard Hakko was getting excited about the new opportunities for Grog Porn that this new release would entail. Hmmmm, Buffy...

[cue=silly French voice]I've already got one[/cue] Snigger Go to scene 8. [ July 11, 2002, 06:53 AM: Message edited by: Andreas ]

You can try this tactically now. Get in some Shermans (green/conscript). Remove most of the ammo (all of the ammo for some of them). Button them. Let the AI attack you, with no infantry support. Defend with infantry, Panzer II, Pak38 and the odd 88 Flak 36 thrown in. Buy German air support. Now imagine you had a vehicle morale and command model and what that would do to the Sherman attack. When Barbarossa started, the vast majority of Soviet tanks were of the light T26 and BTx variety, which could be handled perfectly well by Panzer 38t, Panzer II, Panzer III and Panzer IV short. There were a good number of KV1 and T34 in the Soviet arsenal, and while these could be devastating, most of them suffered from some or all of the following: - untrained crews (many of the vehicles only reached their units in April/May 1941) - absence of ammo - drivetrain prone to failure on the KV1 - absence of fuel - lack of air cover - badly trained unit leaders (there was a massive expansion programme going on in the Red Army, but it could not cope with demand for qualified junior leaders) - absence of radios - 2-man turrets - absence of formation training. The Soviet tank forces were reorganised, reorganised again, and because that had been so much fun, reorganised some more, prior to 1941. - Unwieldy formations. The initial tank formations were just too large, and suffered from weakness in combined arms Err, that's probably not it, but that should be a good start.

Kasei, I assume you could always order it from Amazon.co.uk. I regularly order books or computing equipment in Germany, where it is cheaper than in the UK, even after postage. It is a free market in Europe, and I don't think you can prevent goods flowing from one country to another.

Courtesy of Justin. They are here and they are not modem otimised, yet. But they are nice. Pictures show how bloody big the KV1 was, you can compare the height of the T34/85 and the KV1, and see the T34 go over the knife edge. Cory, there are pictures of me and John, should help indentification at The George tomorrow.

Right, those people wanting to come along, who don't know me or anyone else coming, email me to make sure we actually meet.

Infantry Weapons of WW2 site In particular: LMG HMG Has most of this info it seems.

Last I heard is that people with flatcaps and 1930s fashion tanktops are already endangered. Extinction can not be far off... There's a light at the end of the tunnel for you mate...

You... You... You whinging Pom! You Island Monkey!! You are a disgrace to Die Sturmgruppe...

I hope I am not breaking the NDA by telling you that it runs very well and looks great on my machine. AGP G4/400, stock 16MB ATI Rage 128, 384MB RAM

Andrew, I am really not one of the 'as long as it wears pea camo it is better' faction. With that said: 1. Yes, the Germans were offensive minded. In that case, I'd rather have a 31kg 'HMG' to lug around than a water-cooled 54kg or 58kg one with the same or a lower number of guys servicing it. 2. The operational and the tactical should not be confused. I am perfectly aware that the Germans lost the war, and all operations on the western front, apart from Market Garden (probably a draw). But that does not mean that on the tactical level, the German machine guns did not present a problem. You overcome it by using decent combined arms doctrine, and having superiority in e.g. artillery or armour. It is not insurmountable, but a problem it is, though.

There is a picture on my site (link in the sig) of a German used (don't know what type it is - if someone knows, email me please) water-cooled HMG in the AA configuration. See under 'unknown soldier' page.

Andrew, I think that in the time-frame of CMBO, the Germans were defending and that would make a big difference. If you are attacking, lugging around a very heavy water-cooled HMG is just not very practical. IIRC the weight of e.g. the Vickers is about 1/3rd over that of the HMG42 (~41kg versus ~31kg on tripod), not allowing for ammo (although one could argue that to take advantage of the Vickers capability for sustained fire you would have to lug significant amounts of ammo, too). The M2 weighs 58kg on tripod. Whether the US platoon with all the support was as good as the German is neither here nor there. Outside a CMBO QB, they would rarely meet with all their support, instead it would be the US platoon with no support attacking the Germans in a prepared position. Good luck. Another advantage of the German HMG team maybe (and I dread to say this) superior observation capabilities. I have seen a number of pictures of HMG crews utilising stereoscopic range-finders. ISTR they were standard issue, and could well have made a difference in long-range firing. I do not know whether any of the Allied HMGs did come with this sort of equipment. Finally, while the US company would have all this support organically, as did the German company, a UK company would not have Vickers organically below battalion level (I think). If you have not read it, Jary is excellent on this discussion.