Jager 7

My signature too. No illegal copies. Loyalty is important.

Years ago I envisioned a computer rendition of Advanced Squad Leader that would allow the player to concentrate on tactics and good gaming vice wading through the rules and counter rules to get it right on the board. A friend and I day-dreamed about the day that some talented soul would deliver a game with cool graphics and realistic playability that captured not only the feel and excitment of a good ASL game but the historical and topographical accuracy of the real thing. Steve and Charles have done it with CM. That day is finally here! (Ok...not quite yet..but perhaps next week) ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Quote "The turning point in the war wasn't the Battle of Britian, Staligrad, Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, or any other land based battle. The turning point was Pearl Harbor. We may not have even committed troops to the ETO if this event hadn't happened" I have to agree with you MantaRay. Without Pearl Harbor causing the U.S. to get whipped up into a war frenzy and getting onto an industrial war footing it is unlikely the Soviets would have been able to do what they did against the Germans when they did. Once the U.S. entered the war and began producing weapons, ammo, aircraft and tanks by the tens of thousands, Nazi Germany's as well as Japan's fate was sealed. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

I agree with Jochen, The AI as it is now presents a suitable opponent and is far better IMHO than anything else out there. There are always surprises and these alone cause you to want to try it "just one more time." The replayability and flexibility of the full version CM is really something to look forward too. Thanks again BTS for breaking new ground with CM and giving us all a game with literally endless challenges and excitment. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Would be interested if anyone else saw this...back a few years ago (3?) on a CNN news clip from Bosnia I saw a very familiar tank all decked out with extra armor and brush for camouflage. The camera stayed with the vehicle for a few seconds and I was thinking...that is very familiar...what is that??? Then it hit me about two seconds later...it was a German Panther being used by the Serbs. This was as late as 97 or 98. I was very suprised. I IDed it by turret shape, the distinctive interleaved roadwheels and that unmistakeable 75mm/L70 with muzzle brake. Anyone else see that? ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Blackhorse, Outstanding piece on a great warrior! Thanks for sharing that with all of us. Someone above echoed my thoughts...this is a great forum.

Yes, I just ordered some things from them a couple weeks ago and was pleased with their service.

I'd say 5 to 10 times daily I check the this board. Never have I done that before with any other site. I wonder if that means something??? ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

I'm not sure the time scale of the game would allow for effective digging in. Improving position is handled somewhat by the "hide" order. I also doubt supply drops would be feasible given the limited amount of time. Maybe there could be some sort of resupply option between battles of a campaign or operation and I would bet that has already been attended to by Charles and Steve. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Charles, Thanks much for the reply...the ability to hide pillboxes will be great! ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Not to exclude any wargaming females but I think war is primarily a male "sport". It is the ultimate contest (second place really sucks) and simulating war and battle is the closest most of us can come to that and still make it home for supper. The thoughtful among us (most on this board I believe) have an idea what real war is all about. Either by having been participants or dedicated students of history most know that in it's raw reality war is not fun at all...for anyone. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Charles, Great to hear about the targeting tweaks in the patch. I was wondering if there couldn't be some sort of "priority targeting" for direct fire weapons to include MG's and pillboxes. On a related note; is there any way to keep the pillboxes from firing at every available target? I.e., keeping them camouflaged and hidden to ambush an approaching enemy would be a nice feature,...possibly by using range or threat rings etc. Just a thought as right now the wooden pillboxes are nothing but tank fodder unless they are completely out of sight behind buildings or hills. Thanks in advance. Out here... ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Very nice write-up John, I've been playing PE for several months also and find it the best tank sim out there and an overall decent wargame. CM's attention to armor detail is going to produce some amazing tank battles. I can't wait. Out here.... ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Mike and Allan, Sounds great to me. Haven't done a PBEM yet but am looking forward to it. I'm up here in Lawton by the way. Have a great time in Japan Mike. Out here... ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Mike and Allan, If you get a Texas group of PBEM guys don't forget us up here in SW Oklahoma. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

I agree with the lack of funding and the doctrine neglect. I would consider something else too; The Soviets developed the T-34 as a direct result of being faced with superior German armor. It was a do or die scenario. The Germans countered with still better, albeit more expensive tanks. The U.S. meanwhile had no direct armored warfare experience to go on and didn't get any until late 43 onwards. The idea of cheap, easily transportable tanks produced in huge numbers probably got ahead of quality. When they did find themselves outgunned they had the numbers to overcome the setback. A good example of quantity over quality. Out here... ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Mikester, Good stuff on the Proximity fuse in the ETO. I would assume it became more widely used during the early months of 45. The Variable Time (VT) fuse was first used in the Pacific on Okinawa (same as proximity fuse)between April and June '45. Don't know how much illume was used for illuminating the battlefield in the ETO but was used extensively against the Japanese at least during the latter part of the war. I only caught part of the WP debate but I would suggest WP as a quick building smoke and not to be used too close to friendlies. Don't know exactly what smoke round was used during WWII but do know that HC (chem smoke) was used in artillery for about the past 30 years or more. WP being used for marking and the quick build of the initial screen. The HC smoke round being the main smoke screen producing munition. Anyone else got any data?

An eloquent and meaningful post JD. I agree completely.

GTP

PS...There was no stipulation that the KC had to be awarded by Hitler personally. In the early years he signed the award document as time permitted, or a fascimile. Hitler did personally present the KC with Oakleaves, Swords and diamonds. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

You guys are hard up for entertainment...I hope the game ships soon. However, since you got me interested here is some information for your vast files. There were in actuality five classes of the Knights Cross. 1. Knights Cross 2. w/Oakleaves 3. w/Oakleaves & Swords 4. w/Oakleaves, Swords and diamonds (of which there were no less than 27 awards) 5. w/GOLD Oakleaves, swords and diamonds. (Presented to Oberst Rudel on 1 Jan 45.) There were possibly as many as six of this medal struck..all for Rudel. He retained one at wars end. Another ended up in the pocket of an American GI. Another one found its way into the hands of a British officer and the others, if they existed, have never surfaced. Just thought you might be interested. Ref: For Fuhrer and Fatherland by John R. Angolia 1976.

I saw a panzerschrect fire from the second story of the church in CE and start the building on fire with the backblast of the second shot. A HQ and two other german squads fighing on the first floor were forced to bail out and seek cover elsewhere.

While there is a finite number of shells in the scenario for each FO it appears to be somewhat abstact since there is no break down per shell type. Yes, sometimes one FO can have more than one battery or even a battalion or larger of arty at his disposal. That would give access to more shells of each type...however smoke is still a very limited asset and ought to be used sparingly. A by shell availability for each FO might be something that BTS may want to look into for future updates and releases. Just a thought as there is a great deal of other realism built into the game. Out here... ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

Greetings, About the availability of shells at an FO's disposal. In a real situation there is a set number of HE rounds, a set number of specific fuzes (Time, Point detonating, etc)per battery, per day in a combat load out. Smoke and illumination are two shells of which there are the fewest available unless specific requests are made in advance to support a specific operation. It appears that CM gives you a set number of rounds and they can be anything you want them to be when you decide to target the enemy with artillery. Not all that realistic but I am still happy with the way the designers have represented artillery in other ways. Hope that helped. Out here ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian

"mike_in_texas, In my reccomendation you're better off concentrating your 105mm fire on the wooden bunkers or strong infantry positions. I plastered all my rounds (both mortar and howitzer) from two spotters against one concrete bunker with no effect." Mike, After reading your post and a couple others I guess my experience with VoT is atypical When I played the scenario the first time I was able to knock out or get abandonment on all the bunkers and pillboxes within the first 10 minutes of game time using arty/mortar fires. That was probably just several lucky hits. I had plenty of arty and mortar ammo left to deal with dug in infantry and a mysterious gun that made an appearance...it was also tossed into the hurt locker in short order. As for your question I would put some 105 missions on the wood bunkers if you are not getting good results against the concrete ones. Realistically a 105 is not a good weapon for bunker busting of that nature. Tanks, flamethrowers and brave engineers with satchel charges are. Good luck and I guess I will have to give it another go to see if I can get lucky a second time. Have a great day. Out here. ------------------ When the situation is obscure....attack! CGen. Heinz Guderian