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Formerly Babra

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Posts posted by Formerly Babra

    I wish you could use captured vehicles

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>The Crocodiles were put with a division which was to do the final mopping up.

    While they waited for orders, the crews went out into the surrounding woods, where Duffy had given permission to look for souveniers.

    At first they came back with the usual German helmets, which would be hung around the tank for a few days and then thrown away. Then word went 'round that there was better stuff to be had. The rugger coach came in with a battered Opel two-seater, and someone else with an amphibious Volkswagen. Sherrif's crew arrived, riding on a half-track. It became a kind of competetive treasure hunt. MacFarland, who was in charge of the squadron transport now, came in with a big bus, painted in Wehrmacht camouflage and full of Panzerfausts.

    "What the hell do you think you're going to do with that lot?" said Duffy, regarding them like children on a Sunday School treat.

    "Take them along with us," said Sherrif.

    "Oh no you won't -- not if the regiment knows anything about it."

    "The bus would make a fine squadron office," said MacFarland, who knew the right approach.

    Duffy thought about it.

    "Let's see the thing," he said. MacFarland ran after the bus, which a sergeant was racing around a field, still full of Panzerfausts.

    "All right," said Duffy when he had seen the inside. "We'll take the bus. But don't go telling everyone about it."

    "What about the Opel?" said the rugger coach. "It would always be useful when the scout car's busy."

    "All right," said Duffy. "Keep it hidden among the fifteen-hundred-weights."

    "What about the half-track?" said Sherrif. "Surely no one would mind a little half-track."

    "And the Volkswagen, sir."

    "All right," said Duffy resignedly. "But nothing else! Not another frigging thing."

    Just then there was a heavy rumbling. Something quite enormous was pushing its way through the trees. Sergeant Pye and his fitters appeared, roaring with triumph, sitting on a Panther.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

    From "Flamethrower" by Andrew Wilson.

    [This message has been edited by Formerly Babra (edited 06-25-2000).]

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    Pre-arrival question on flame tanks

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    I suspected as much. I hope someday to see "directional fire" or "spraying fire" or "suppressing fire" or some such idea added to a vehicle's capabilities.

    I see two potential uses for such a tactic. One would be to quickly seal off a flank, preventing enemy infantry from infiltrating by creating a firewall. Another would be as described by Mr. Wilson: to quickly suppress a suspected enemy location.

    It would be nice if regular vehicles had this capability too, at least for machine gun fire. It ought to be possible to walk a line of fire along the flanks of one's direction of travel without stopping to target specific areas. Rommel did this in France in 1940 as did the Americans in 1945.

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    Pre-arrival question on flame tanks

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    I was going to wait for the game to arrive and find the answer to this myself, but frankly the curiosity is killing me.

    Can flame vehicles fire obliquely on the move? I have seen films of Wasps moving quickly across country laying a carpet of flame to the front and side as they go. Also, while reading Andrew Wilson's "Flamethrower", about his experiences in Churchill Crocodiles, he describes the same thing as a matter of doctrine:

    <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>The troop ran in, pouring in the flame. A few yards from the trees they split up and ran along the front of the target, flaming obliquely. Whenever he (Wilson - he writes in the third person) saw a gap in the undergrowth he slowed down and gave it a five-second burst. Once he thought he heard screams, but it might have been the creak of tracks on the track guides...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

    I ask this, because, based solely on the demo, this sort of tactic doesn't seem possible with the current game engine.

    [This message has been edited by Formerly Babra (edited 06-24-2000).]

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    Halftracks ... what's the point?

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    B-head is correct. Don't think of a halftrack as a tracked vehicle with front wheels. Think of it as a truck with tracked rear wheels. That's how they began and the concept worked so they stuck with it. The next logical step for military applications was to arm and armour it.

    However, I agree with you. It is far simpler from a production standpoint, if nothing else, to have either a fully wheeled or fully tracked APC. The success of the kangaroo proved this conclusively.

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    The Big Bang

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    That does sound like fun, but I gotta be honest -- the very LAST scenarios I'm gonna play with when it finally arrives are CE and VoT. I'm so desperate for variations now I'm bumping the Axis up to 150%, hiding my infantry and attacking with tanks alone. Surprisingly fun.

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    The post office is a pile of STEAMY POO!

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    So I get home from work, right? And I'm all hot and sweaty and covered in dust and crud, right? And there's this package delivery notice in my mailbox, right? And I'm thinkin' "Holy ****e, that cleared customs fast," right? So I hop it down to the post office...

    "Oops," the ditzy chick who makes twice as much as I do says. "We can't find your package. Can you try again tomorrow?"

    I wanted to Pengify her. I truly did... frown.gif

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    "What If?"

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    Simon, the discussions between Sperle, Goering and Kesselring you describe occurred at a meeting in The Hague on September 3rd. Your analysis is correct in that the London bombings were not a reprisal for Berlin, but an extension of German tactical planning. However, it would still appear that the bombing a week earlier in August was indeed accidental.

    From The Luftwaffe War Diaries, by Cajus Bekker:

    <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>During the whole of August, however, Hitler for political reasons had forbidden any attack on the capital. Unfortunately, owing to a regrettable navigation lapse on the part of a few bomber crews (my emphasis), it had happened. On the night of Augus 24th/25th some isolated bombs, destined for the aircraft works at Rochester and the oil tanks on the Thames, had descended over the London area, and this had sparked off a whole chain reaction..

    The Operations Chief at KG 1, Major Josef Knobel, recalls vividly the teleprinter signal from Goering that early in the morning reached each unit which had operated during the night: "It is to be reported forthwith which crews dropped bombs in the London prohibited zone. The Supreme Commander reserves to himself the personal punishment of the commanders concerned by remustering them to the infantry."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

    So how could a number of bombers make the same navigational error over several hours? Quite easily actually. If visibility was poor that night (and it was), then the bombers were likely flying on a radio beacon. Naturally, mention of this new, albeit crude, technology could not be used to explain the accident to the public.

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    Is the Tiger a dog?

    in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)

    Posted

    <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Zamo:

    Wasn't the Achilles the British version of the m-10?

    Zamo<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

    Yes, indeed. The 17 pounder has a shorter distance from the trunnion to the breach than the American 76mm gun, which made for a roomier, more efficient fighting compartment on a vehicle with a lot more punch.

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