Andreas

Let me know when, so that I can arrange my own travel accordingly.

He probably just needs to get laid

Mattias, I know that reading (or generally understanding anything) is not really your strongpoint, so I won't be too harsh. I will just recommend that you look at the point of the message I quoted, and then read my reply again. In fact, nothing about consoles is included in my banter. If you still don't get it, have your lovely girlfriend fiancee whatever read it to you, or explain it to you using a set of cardboards with pictures drawn on them. Or get laid with her, I don't really care. I mean come on, even Priest got it Where did you get your university degree? At a raffle, or University of Lund? That would explain your utter lack of comprehension displayed here. Say hi to her too, and I hope things are horrible in the south of Sweden, and that you still collectively suffer for the abject failure of your team against England, or somefink. And then sodd off and shoot a Ren.

I understand what you mean. But if they were not capable of doing that, what was the point of putting an FAC into a HT and letting him trundle along the Panzerspitze when all that he achieved was getting himself in danger of being shot up in the process? The job you describe could as well have been done by him sticking to regimental HQ.

That was actually fairly funny. Maybe it even makes me answer that email of yours one day. Now, who's for a bricking of Kappa?

Hehe, yes we are. 'Runners' are tanks that 'run' into battle on that day, as opposed to hanging around in workshops being repainted, captured behind the Red Army lines, or being figments of Adolf's imagination. Almost by definition the number of runners will be smaller than that of your established paper strength.

Ah yes, you do come up against the Borg spotting syndrome though. If you allowed this in CMBO, you would have the problem that you can fire on something you don't see and should not know exactly where it is, but that you know is there because you are floating above the battlefield. To make up for it, those pesky German HMGs are not allowed to fire into the smoke you use to cover your advance either

I would be surprised to hear they had a system where every company had access to someone like that in world war 2. After all, platoons still had their organic 2" mortars to do exactly this job then. Also, judging from the view memoirs I have read, they don't seem to mention that for the British Army at least. Having said that, I am a bit in the dark how observation was done for the 3" mortars. I know that the 4.2" mortars had their own FOOs, from a passage in Blackburn.

Sorry to put this so bluntly, but you must be mad. The only thing we would get after a sell-out is a crappy piece of junk that would teach kids about as much about anything as Doom modded for Vietnam does.

You are only talking about 1940 here I presume? In 1941 armoured FACs were quite normal in the Panzergruppen (attached to the advance detachments of the divisions), and in Spearhead for the Blitzkrieg, his contribution of the German officer monographs for the Army's historical division, Luftwaffe General Paul Deichmann complains about the involvement of even medium bombers in close-to and on-battlefield operations (suffering heavy losses in the process) instead of doing what they were supposed to be doing. An early version of the RAF's 'bomb dependency' argument of 1944, probably.

Wrong. Read the part about Panzer strength - usually not below Kompanie size. Did you ever have a KOMPANIE of German Panzer on a CM battlefield? Mass concentrations of armour to achieve a Durchbruch and mechanized infantry to exploit it was one of the most successful German tactics, especially at the Eastern front. What you read here is about OPERATIONAL movement, not close combat movement, and CM definetely deals with the latter.</font>

Interesting, but Mr. Beevor comes up against history here and loses. The 'very first' battalion was sPzAbt. 502 and was employed from late August 1942 near Mga, AG North sector (see Achtung Panzer for example. If the rest of the book discards historical fact for hyperbole like that, I am sorry I ever bought it (haven't gotten round to reading it yet). The very best one could say about the way Mr. Beevor says it is that he does not actually say when the battalion was rushed to the East, presumably because it would be less dramatic to say 'was rushed to the East in August and sent to Kirchner's force in December...'

'It'll be released before the end of the year.' (note to self - make sure never to mention which year) From 1999 onwards, this was the line by UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher, when asked about the forthcoming UK government CHP strategy. It appeared in June 2002.

Whose grass are you using in those screenshots?

You're just jealous. So, what about them uniforms? have you flustered, eh wot? Bit difficult on your old days to figure it out, wot? Well, I knew I'd show you up eventually. Wasn't even that difficult. BTW - I would have recommended other small battles, but the only ones I know well enough are Der Kessel Byte Battles™, I just don't play enough. I hope Dalem kicks your sorry rear all over the map in 'Into the East'. Die-a-lot-now™. Then again, seeing that it is Dalem, you should just romp home. (sit down Seanachai)

I would start with smaller scenarios. I am not sure which ones made it onto the CD, but there should be a few of mine that fit the bill, e.g. "Trun". These will enable you to control a few units closely and observe their behaviour. You can also learn how to co-ordinate your armour and infantry very easily. Alternatively, go to Der Kessel (link in my sig) and look under Byte Battles™ for more small stuff. Enjoy!

Uhh - German grogs... Yada!

Just got my order. The three Sharp volumes on Soviet, German armour tactics, and Soviet infantrz tactics. Very very good.

Seph - since you bought the game, there should be a manual somewhere (yep, that's right - the black booklet with the funny tank and tobacco-chewing GI on the cover). A friendly suggestion: read it.

£28 at Amazon.co.uk, Euro 25 at Amazon.de.

Well done, more like it...

Thomas, here is some info culled from this website. Makes it sound a bit less romantic then 'wanting to fight in the real war'.

You want this. Or wait until Battlefront carries more books.

I think CMBO's sharpshooters are underarmoured, should be given torpedoes, and assault boats. BTS - fix or somefink! Do you think that is enough to put this thread out of its misery?

Koniew leading a drive to Paris, while Gretschko is going for Rome across the Alps, and Zhukov takes revenge for the Spanish Civil War, more like it.