ThomasZ

sure..I think I can http://img73.echo.cx/my.php?image=finalmap0oz.jpg that is allied side, looking at the hill. and this is axis http://img154.echo.cx/my.php?image=axis2io.jpg up on that hill you see in distance. So you see allied had huge bulk of force on map edge by my flank..why didn't it scroll you see.

ok, so you think that if he'd deployed his for differently it would have scrolled? Or maybe because I had to manymen still? I guess I could open the operations files and see what criteria someone might have set no?

Hmm, so there isn't any real way to know what creates the scroll huh? It's just odd in that he's flanked me and wants to go by the the game won't seem to let him.

no it did'nt but I"ve opened the file and seen that there is a ton of map behind use. The real question I have is what is the criteria that makes a map scroll?

ok, thanks for that. Any ideas about my particular operations question. Do I misunderstand how they function? Shouldn't they scroll when the enemy reaches edge of map at days end?

**SOME SPOILERS ABOUT OPERATION ISLAND HILL** A friend and I are playing "Island Hill" and are about to begin battle 3, greatly surprised to see that the map didn't scroll. Last night (game time) I made a large defensive fortification atop the hill, he probed it twice but decided he'd just go by so he called a cease fire (I had since turn 1) when his forces were fully pressed up against the edge of the map. We had both thought that this meant the map would scroll. Anyone care to explain why it didn't? Does he have to come up the hill and kill my men to get it to advance (The briefing certainly implied to him that he could go on by). Finally is there some way for me to withdraw off the hill? There isn't any exit zone for me to do so. Thanks in advance for any insight you guys can provide. P.S. Anyone know a good sight for user created operations. We generally enjoy them but are running out.

Just curious if there has been any word about reworking of Operations in the new version. In the original I thought they had a great deal of potential but never could really find one that worked very well (though another thread in this forum has recomended others I will try). -Thomas

Not sure if I'm in the majority on this one but "I" for one would rather the movie with a pause overy min then no movie at all. I get some of my greatest joys out of looking at battles after they are done, against AI or Humans..would make AAR SO easy. Hope they get this in but I've heard rumor it's a "no"

I'd offer this, the excellent use of your arty has certainly been a real factor in the AAR's I've read. But then again the scouting is clearly more critical and dominant.

looking at AAR now..seems movie 19 is missing.

Fionn, Please do add me to the challenge list. I'll gladly give you the Soviets you so love and I'll take the much maligned Germans (being of Italian decent the axis makes more sense…then again..considering the behavior of the nation of my ancestors maybe either side works *grin*). If for some reason CMBB isn't out by then we'll do CMBO or put on hold. Hopefully after my beating you can look over my decisions and suggest where I went wrong, and let me see your turns so I can see where you went right *grin*. Don't mean to be defeatist but..let's say I know when a battle is lost. Yet, there can be honor in defeat. Thanks for the clarification, I had thought that Soviet WW2 doctrine was somewhat different then what you did so the explanation that it's prewar mostly was useful. Most of my military history comes well before WW1 even..but I know some things of WW2. Judging from this I'd say your not one who believes in large feints..come to think of it I've not seen you do one yet so I guess that is self explanatory. You seem more interested in keeping your main attack hidden then trying to feint and get your opponent to react and then attacking somewhere else. Check, recon units need to be saved. Well that is useful to know to be sure! I am always loath to use large numbers for recon for fear of there loss. Splitting so units and flinging them so far afield is so unlike me (I tend to want a spearhead) but you've repeatedly shown it not only works but provides critical intel. I'll keep at it. I've read the AAR's several times and noted very carefully the thoroughness with which you explore terrain. Even better then that is that I've learned the hard way what can happen if you don't, and best of all what you can do if your enemy doesn't. On a side note, when I place forward elements to recon on defense these so often get overrun or they do ambush but so rapidly succumb to masses of enemy fire I sometimes wonder if it isn't better to spend far less on recon in defense. This is, however, against the computer so that does taint my experience somewhat. I'll get into the habit of buying, by "Bn" battles I assume you mean aprox a Battalion against a Battalion? Correct me if I'm wrong but your AAR's usually are bigger then that no? You say Bn to Bn, care to share a rough point value for such exchanges? You lost me there on OODA loop. Forgive the ignorance but can you explain? I actually do pretty well in city fights most, I have learned that you need to get a mass of forces pretty close, surpess the hell out of the target and then rush in some men for close assault. It's interesting because it can be such a one sided affair, if I go to early I get cut up BADLY, if I go at the right time, they get cut up *grin*. Email is: ThomasZ@microsoft.com Please do send the city AAR. Movies are great if possible but if not the AAR is useful without. I'd welcome any others you had as well. Yes, as you say a, "manicurist defense". I for one would find it very interesting to see. I tend to really enjoy active defense (aggressive forward movements etc or just big shifts in troops when I can't cover a whole line) as interesting challenges, would love to see a good AAR of one. I figured there wasn't one place to get the AARs but..hopefully with the movie feature in CMBB it will be easier to do for sure. -Thomas

Kay, thanks I'll try some attacks and defends and see how it goes.

Fionn, First off thanks for the response, and I'd love to get taken a part in a PBEM game with you. I find I learn a lot more in defeat then in victory, even more so with an opponent willing to share his turn files afterwards. Sadly I mostly play one opponent and I beat him fairly frequently so the learning has slowed. I travel a lot for my work but I'm back in town at end of June, mind if I drop you a mail then for a game? I'll remind ya who I am as I'm sure you get a bunch of game requests. I look forward to it. A few other questions: I'm curious, you say your doctrine differs greatly from western, in what way did you mean here? up to 75%...hmmm..ok then clearly I need to focus on not losing so many of my recon troops. I have noticed that you tend to suffer minimal recon losses but I always assumed you found thoes troops somewhat expendable. I take it this is not the case? In otherwords you do depend on having your recon forces in good strength and order by the time you reach the enemy MLR (in your open field tactics AAR on CM-HQ they actually form the spearhead of your attack on the left). So if you had a company at your command and a map with say.."average" cover (moderate trees say) you would expect to dedicate at least a platoon to the job. I guess what you really mean to say is to dedicate whatever forces are necessary to making sure you touch each piece of cover (I notice you touch each one quite religiously, my opponent I play usually doesn't which often creates great ambushes for me…though he's learning *grin*). Ironically your tactic of protecting armor is something that I used to do but recently have been trying to use them in more of a support role. Then again what I think I really need to do is think of it as you did in your last AAR, support vehicles for recon, anti armor forces and direct fire forces to use on enemy MLR. The fact that I play somewhat smaller battles (a bad habit I should probably break) and let the computer buy forces probably limits me here. I'll try some battles against the computer this way and see what happens (any scenarios you want to recommend are welcome). I've also noticed you use your FO's well forward..and you do tend to gain LOS very effectively, I am not as good about guessing where good LOS will be (always have trouble deciding how tall trees are!) but I'm working at it. Your statements about using them over armor explain this well. Thanks. By recon games you mean using your recon rules I take it, I'll certainly try some QB's against the computer while on trip (ahh love that laptop) and some PBEM's when I get back..even a city fight or two (though it's odd you say that for recon, I wouldn't have thought recon was as important in town…but then again I fight mostly the computer. On a separate note, do you have a single place where you have saved your AAR's? I'd love to read more of them. Your sunken lane AAR is probably the most influential thing I've read, I tend to advance quickly to surprise enemy by how forward I am..and then doggedly defend the ground. Taking the ground usually costs lives but I do make it up later as I turn a meeting engagement into a defense. Also, if you ever take requests, I'd love a good AAR of either the following… Defense of maneuver City fight. -Thomas

a good point, I should have mentioned that up till now we've used computer buying units..so that can make things a bit random. We can use limiting rules to be sure. I guess my main question is the ratio of points that CM gives generally fair?

I can live with the loss of suspence to some extent..Fionn's AAR's are always a blast to read even if I know the outcome.

Some time back I read a thread that said in computer generated QB's they thought that only Meeting engagements were fair. Interestingly enough the person said that the attacker gets way to many points in attack/defend missions. Is this a general opinion? I've been playing some PBEM with a friend and and we've only been doing meeting engagements. We're ready to try other things but we're wondering about what good point ratio's are to use for trying to get fairly well balanced scenarios. Any other general things about PBEM would be nice as well since I'm about to go looking for some new opponents so I can see some other tactics. -Thomas

Two Quick questions if I may. The first is just a general request. The second a question for Fionn as he offered to answer general questions earlier. 1. Can the owner of the AAR sight please post here when the AAR is finished, I'm just dieing to know what is next. 2. Fionn, having watched 4 or 5 of your AARs (mostly on Combat HQ) and tried very hard to emulate some of your tactics (for obvious reasons) I notice your belief in aggressive recon. However when I try to emulate your tactics (split squads, 2 to 3 platoons worth) I run into a repeated problem. You managed to repeatedly get your recon units with few losses into the combat area where I tend to make contact with them and they get cut up pretty badly as they are split and spread out (and moving from clump of cover to clump so not necessarily in the best position to fight). I imagine what I'm not doing is keeping my follow on forces close enough and not leaving enough of my units that are on recon on overlook. In any event, could you give some thoughts on how you approach recon, rules of thumb for how much of your strength to dedicate to it, common problems other runs into etc. Any thoughts would help. And above all thanks, I have found some of my most interesting CM experiences have been reading your AARs (can't wait till CMBB and movie playback, now if we could just get annotations and text in the playback it could REALLY be good).

thanks

Is there a way to do this, I run the program on a different system from my mail system so having to copy over the files is a bit of a pain. I'd like to have cm look in a dir on my other computer and save there. Is this possible? Please send email to ThomasZ@microsoft.com with answer

I travel a lot so I tend to play CM a bunch on the plane so it's AI play for me. My recomendation. Play scenarios only once (so you don't know what's coming), play the attacker and give the AI a 25% force and +1 exp advantage. Doing this I"ve had some very fun AI battles, especially so if you stick to scenario defaults on a well designed scenario (move it or lose it is a LOT more fun on the attack, the defensive position is quite good for the americans). Just my 2cents

Thanks for all the feedback.. out of curiosity, can't they prevent these kinds of fights by raising the costs of the uber tanks. Sure I love them as much as the next guy but given the choise of 6 stuarts and say 2 panthers in open ground I'll take the stuarts.

I've seen it mentioned in several AAR's and I suspect it limited american and german armor purchases but I'm not clear what the rule is. Can someone clue me in?

DUH! Ok sorry about that one..thanks

Where do I control the placement of victory flags?

This might be a stupid newbies post but please help anyway I'm setting up my first self built scenario but I can't for the life of me figure out how to place flags, i've got 2 on the map but where how do I move them?