Andreas

In any case, quite apart from it being a problem, I think we should welcome our stacked overlords. Stacking worked in Real Life. It should work in CMC. How well it works (assuming we are talking about skilled players on both sides) should depend on victory conditions. E.g. if you manage to delay your opponent for long enough for the cavalry to arrive behind you, yet die a horrible death, you have won the campaign. If you manage to destroy some of your opponents most important assets (by e.g. forcing him to committ, and then destroying his maneuver tank force), while dieing a horrible death, you have won the campaign. Etc. pp. I think it is time again to promote this discussion I started a long long time ago: How to attack like a Soviet Rifle Corps This is what well-done stacking can, and should be able to do. Needless to say, it would be a challenging, yet probably frustrating experience, to play against this in CMC, even with victory conditions that allow you to win, if you do your best, even if you die. All the best Andreas

RL Germans did not have borg spotting, greatly increasing the chance of an ATR team opening up at short range to live through more than the next 30 secs. RL German tanks may not always have been accompanied by infantry, e.g. because it was held back by artillery or machine guns, with a similar effect in favour of the ATR team's ability to get back home. RL Red Army formations used their ATRs for a lot more than AT work in any case, and I would not be surprised if a vast portion of them never even saw a tank to fire at. All the best Andreas

ASL is a game. CMC is a game. Both games can have similar style victory conditions. A CMC campaign designer can force time issues to be important. </font>

The time delay will take care of this, I believe. All the best Andreas

Took you a while to show up here. What kept you? All the best Andreas

Of course training makes for a better FO. But you are making an assumption that a replacement FO is automatically lesser quality. What if he is the battery commander who has loads of experience, or another FO who just got re-assigned and is equally experienced? The penalty ought to be a time delay, nothing more, in my view. Anything else is just not particularly realistic. All the best Andreas

I would not introduce such a constraint, it appears quite artificial to me. A time delay in getting the new FO through should be fully sufficient. You will probably need something like that in any case to model damage to phone lines, etc. Of course, once a previously supported unit loses its FO, it could become more difficult for it to hold, and you may want to consider introducing a morale penalty for them, but not for the gunners. But it sounds as if that is what you are considering in any case. Regarding replacement FOs having lower capabilities, that again seems artificial to me. I would not go there. All the best Andreas

I think this is very unrealistic. A prime constraint on the ability of using battalion mortars or IGs to support another battalion would be the lack of signal and FO team assets, plus the fact that the firepower of the battalion assets are a critical element of the battalion position. I think just restricting this ability a bit for the AI, while leaving it up to players whether they want to use it or not, is not sufficient, and I would eliminate it completely. In my view, only regimental level fire assets should be allowed to give support on a flexible assignment basis. All the best Andreas

I do not think the Wehrmacht, or indeed the Red Army, worked like that with higher-level support. Battalion mortars are another story. All the best Andreas

I think he is just jealous that he is not as stupid as you are, because that level of stupidity you have reached is quite an achievement. Do let the door hit you on your way out. Andreas

Thanks to DPhelps my CMBO scenario Into the East, an 11,000 points armoured bun-fight between Poles and the W-SS is now available again on the new scenario depot (under the link above). This was my favourite CMBO scenario of those I designed for a long time. Here is what others had to say about it (spoilers possible), again a great thanks to Denny for keeping the review page on his hard drive: Have fun. Andreas

It is a very good book, although IMO some of his conclusions are too favourable for the US forces. But that is really to be expected in a book that was based on an MA thesis, in my view. All the best Andreas

You are Finnish, right? Don't worry, it'll get better. All the best Andreas

Im Fuldatal (the region) oder in Fuldatal (the village near Kassel)? Wir hatten eine amerikanische Spezialeinheit names 'Cobra Force' die eigentlich die A-Waffen bewachen sollten. Die waren aber eher nutzlos. Alles Gute Andreas

Moin Ich war zur Grundi bei der 1./LAR3 in Mengen, danach 12 Monate Fahrer bei der Sicherungsstaffel 'S' beim JaboG34 in Memmingerberg, drauf aufpassen das die Amis ihre Atomwaffen nicht verlieren. Das ist aber schon etwas her (88/89). Alles Gute Andreas

Dear John, interesting. I'm a lurker since CMBO and that's because my wisdom of weapons and warfare is quite limited. Anyhow, one can learn a lot by reading this forum. What I found out was that the 2 cm ammo came with or without a "Zerleger" ("decomposer"). I think that you are right when you say that these weren't timed fuses but devices for self-destruction of the shell. The following quotation from another forum in German made me want to learn more about the fuses / Zerleger / somefink... "beim abschuß wird durch das beharrungsvermögen des stößels mit nadel und der buchse die spirale in ihrer lage festgelegt. bei nachlassen der Beschleunigug und zunahme der rotation des geschoßes öffnet sich die spirale und gibt die aufschlageinrichtung frei. beim aufschlag wird die membrane eingedrückt und der stößel treibt die nadel indie sprengkapsel.es kommt zur detonation. trifft das geschoß auf kein ziel überwindet mit zunahme der rotation der auslöse-und der ausgleichshebel das drehmoment der drehfeder. beide hebel bewegen sich in pfeilrichtung nach außen bis zum begrenzungsstift. das zusammenwirken desaußlösehebels mit dem ausgleichhebel erfolgt über den am auslösehebel befindlichen stift. die sicherungsfeder wird beim ausschwingen des auslösehebels frei und biegt sich durch die fliehkraft nach außen und entsichert die zerlegeeinrichtung. die vorgespannte feder entspannt sich und schlägt die schlaghülse durch die freigewordene öffnung in der zwischenscheibe auf den bund der nadel, deren spitze in die sprengkapsel getrieben wird. es kommt ebenfalls zur detonation." In short: through setting a spring you can toggle after how much time the shell is going to detonate (if it not smashes in to something before). It reads as if there could be some kind of setable fuse even on these small shells. The small size given there won't be to much of shrapnel but anyway. As I'm interested in this particular issue ... ammo grogs to the rescue. Thanks in advance. [/QB]</font>

Ah well, I'll just wait for that to happen then. Or maybe next time someone calls my mobile and starts talking Swedish, I answer, instead of looking bemused and hanging up. Thanks a lot for taking the time to respond. Cheers Andreas

Dandelion Can you get Mattias to drop me an email? His old email and mobile phone seems to be no more. Thanks a lot in advance! Cheers Andreas

I suck. I need to find easier opponents. All the best Andreas

Greatness has to be acknowledged. To be honest, I hope that your head swells and explodes because of all the praise, giving me an easy victory. Then I will honour Jochen in my sig, hoping for the same result. But maybe Elvis is next. Or Holien. All the best Andreas

Let's see: Leningrad Korsun (as a placeholder for the general offensive) 'Mud Offensive' Crimea Bagration Svir-Petrozavodsk L'vov/Sandomierz Iassy-Kishinev Baltic Operation Petsamo-Kirkenes I think, without checking the link. Do I win a price? All the best Andreas

I'll talk to Tony. All the best Andreas

Quite a few of the battles on I wish it was Der Kessel (link in my sig) are slightly above BB size, but still small. All the best Andreas

Well, nothing until you send me the scenario, since it appears that neither Tony nor I have it. BTW - you are popular. Take care Andreas

Hi, thanks for wanting to supply feedback! Please send it to the one from IWIWDK. I get both, but that one is the primary email. Cheers Andreas