McAuliffe

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by phil stanbridge: Hey guys - You've got to give me credit for trying! What I really want to do (don't laugh). During the Bridge Too Far film there's the bit at the start (near enough) where xxx corps get ambushed by the forest. The book I read also seemed lacking in details so I put two and two together and got five. I wanted to portray this attack and extend it, as xxx corps made their way down that narrow road.<hr></blockquote> The XXX Corps started their advance from the Belgian town of Leopoldsburg (Bourg Leopold), just north of the canal Albert. The area from there towards the Dutch border (Valkenswaard), is covered with heather, moors and patches of pine forest. Allthough not specified in the movie, I guess, that the "forest ambush" depicts the battles that took place around this bordertown, just a few miles of Eindhoven. <blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Andreas: McAuliffe, great stuff. Does something like this exist for Belgium?<hr></blockquote> Unfortunately not, we're still a developping country. You can order eventually a map at : NGI - IGN e-mail address : sales@ngi.be You can find an overview of available maps here : What map do I need?

Hi I suppose, you mean the "Reichswald", east of Nijmegen. You can find a free on-line topographical map of this arez at following site : Westwall / Siegfriedline Website It includes also all the fortifications in that area. You can acces other regions in the Netherlands by going to following website : Locatienet NL It's a Dutch website Fill in at the righthandside, under "WOONPLAATS :" : the name of the town you're looking for, e.g. Arnhem click "START" A list of streetnames will show click "TOON" (=show")in front of any street name. e.g. "Kerkstraat" (=Churchstreet) or "Kerkplein" (=Churchsquare) bring you usually to the center of the town a map , scale 1/50.000 will show up. You can select at your left scale 1/25.000 by clicking the N,W,E or S arrow you can center the map on your spot of interest. It's very detailed with height indications. However it shows the present situation. Hope this helps

Hi I advise you to go over to the scenario depot : Scenario Depot click BATTLES/SEARCH BATTLES and then specify date DECEMBER and type HISTORICAL One of my favorites is Champs, very well documented with an outstanding map. It then lists pretty much the BoB battles around. Maybe you can try some from the month January too. And ooh... should I mention ? check below.

Well as it 's getting cold and the first snow is falling in the Ardennes, I am getting in the mood for some bulge stuff, just send it over in a zipped file please, thanks The weather in East Belgium, this morning.

Operation Switchback I will post it at the Scenario Depot as soon as Admiral Keth has cleared his problems with his provider. In the meantime I will send it to your e-mail address. You can see some screenshot on my webpage in the ...ahum...news section...okay, okay, I admit, I should update, but apparently there is a life somewhere out there

Okay, I suppose you're talking about the Panzer Lehr and the 27th VG crossing the Our river at Dasburg and moving to the village of Marnach on the skyline drive (Grand Duchy of Luxemburg) This village was the key to the only paved road and suitable for armor that went west. The next station was Clervaux and the road to Bastogne via Wiltz. I made a huge, but accurate, operation map about it, but so far testing resulted in the fact that attacking AI forces get lost and were parading parallel to the allied defense forces (119th) Anyway I digged up following forces : initial clash at Marnach : Co. 1 I/304 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. Co. 2 I/304 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. Co. 3 I/304 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. They arrived on bicycle. some reinforcements same morning: Co. 5 II/304 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. Co. 6 II/304 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. + an armored inf. company : Co. 2 I/2. PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. During the day and the evening following forces arrived on the ridge (skyline drive) dominating the Our valley to the East and moved further west to Clervaux. Co. 1 I/2. PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. (arm inf.) Co. 1 I/3 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. (PzIV) Co. 7 II/3 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. Co. 8 II/3 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. (StuGIII) Btty 1 273 FlaK Bn. 2. Pz. Div. (88 mm FlaK) The next morning the final attack on Clervaux took place with additional following forces : Co. 3 I/2. PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. Co. 4 I/2. PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. (arm. inf.) Co. 5 II/3 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. Co. 6 II/3 PzGr. Regt. 2. Pz. Div. (PzIV) and an extra PzJag bn (probably StuG's) Co. 1 38. PzJg Bn 2. Pz. Div.

I think you find it here : Appui Feu re the Champs scenario, you can find it on Keth Admiral's site : Scenario Depot

Ib am afraid that you have saved your newly created scenario in the "saved files" folder. Now as long as you didn't start it up as a saved battle (the orange titles in the menu), you can still recuperate it. I mean once you entered the set-up turn and aborted afterwards the game, it will be automatically saved under the same name in the saved games folder and eventually overwrite your freshly created scenario. Unfortunately,this automatically saved game cannot be edited anymore. Now if you didn't make it to the set up turn, you still have a chance to copy as fast as you can the scenario into the right folder. Hope this clarifies, however after reading it, I got little bit confused myself. [ 08-24-2001: Message edited by: McAuliffe ]

Not many topographical map based scenarios around unfortunately. They add so much to the immersion of the game. What does it help if you have your OB correct if the terrain doesn't match reality. Terrain is the most important element in determing your strategy. Especially, when you're playing historical confrontations, your mind goes to "how would I have done" given the terrain. I prepared a couple of transparents with a grid overlay. For topomaps at 1/25.000, I use the grid with 4 mm separation. (4 mm = 100 m) / (1/20.000 : 5 mm = 100 m) I put them on top of the topomaps in order to situate correctly the location of the important landmarks in relation to each other (villages, crossroads, woodpatches rivers etc.) I first design the road network. The orientation of the roads is quite limited in the editor as you can work only under angles of 45 degrees. So I try to figure out the general orientation of the road per 100 m square in order to avoid zig-zagging roads. (roads are usually straight where they can) Then I add rivers and villages. River crossings need some tweaking as you can only put bridges in North/South or East/West directions. And please get rid of those bumpy water tiles around bridges. Put rivers one or two levels below the surrounding landscape. Please take into account that most of the blue lines on topomaps just represent a tiny creek or ditch, usually fordable. Use at the most the marsh tiles (if you use Tom's Marsh mod it looks really like a little brook) or just add some brush or scattered trees and a depression to mark these "ditches" Do not start adding immediately the woods or forests. They will trouble you once you start encoding the height levels. The colours of the height levels just don't spring out against colours of the woodtiles in the editor. You will be confronted with a lot of "forgotten" holes and bumps once you open the preview. Avoid to jump more then one heightlevel when around roads. Especially at the 5 m interval selection, keep the road for 2 tiles at the same level before you jump to the next heightlevel. Pay attention to what houses do to the roads on slopes. Put he house at the same level as the road or separate it by one tile from the road. Make villages less sterile by adding hedges and walls. A square in front of the church, a cimetary wall around the church will add to the looks of a typical village. Mainstreets were usually paved with cobblestones. The hills generated by the auto generator are just unreal. Think logic : The North Western European landscape consists of big plateaus, through which rivers have carved valleys. You will not find a "Valley of the thousand hills" in Western Europe. So usually a ridge takes the whole length or width of the map, and gradually descends to the middle of the map, where you have a little town and a rivercrossing. The other side of the river shows a gentle (except for the Ardennes) slope towards the other end of the map with farmfields or regular woodpatches. In the valley you will find roads or railroad-connections. Woodpatches : The auto generated maps with moderate or heavy tree coverage give too much the impression of an African shrubfield. Humans have manipulated the landscape for 100 % in Europe. Even the dense woods of the Eifel, Vosges and the Ardennes are manmade (they used the wood for the mining industry) So, woodpatches have usually nice rectangular forms, align creeks, form patterns around farmfields or are put on top of hills to break windgusts and stop erosion. They are not dotted at random across the map. (except for some scattered trees giving shade to the resting labor in harvest season) Except for the flat country of Flanders and the Netherlands you will come across landscapes that knows height differences of 50 m or more. Please use the height levels at full extend. I just hate to see a "Bulge" map, where I discover in the editor that height levels only stretch between "5" and "8". But on the other hand, when you build a "high" hill don't jump more then two heightlevels per tile (Except, if you want to simulate a cliff) If you make a scenario situated in the low-countries, imagine the dykes, add some taluds for railroads. It's just boring to get your troops across hundreds of meter of open and flat country. Let them fight for the gain of the cover of that railroadtrack, highwaytalud or a simple dyke. Hope I will see some more maps that are more accurate, I refer to the nice efforts of Martin Turewizc (Champs) and the maps you can find on the french site of Appuie Feu Finally, add some landmarks. I mean, you need to know what you're fighting for, no ? Is that road going of the map in the direction of St. Lo ? What way is Nancy ? It helps also people who have read about a specific battle to situate the confrontation. [ 08-24-2001: Message edited by: McAuliffe ]

Vcents, the site is up and working fine.

Stoffel made a battle about this scenario, while I made an operation, I will send you the operation for those who are interested. It has been testplayed several times against AI (you can only play as Allies as it involves an amphibic assault across the Leopoldcanal - not Albert canal) I am currently testplaying the TCP/PBEM possibilities, so far satisfying, but maybe I should stretch the battle window a bit in order to allow the german human opponent having more possibilities for sheltered setup The battle window moves in a faster way against the AI. Hope you enjoy and I would appreciate any feedback. you can look at some screenshots in the - outdated - newsection of my homepage.

Done and working A okay

Great work, I want them BTW I've solved the trivia. 1) Picasso's Guernica - Who mentioned burning cities? 2) Starry Skies, Van Gogh - Anyone fancies a night at Cheneux? 3) Les Montres Molles (Soft Watches), Salvador Dali - I hate hate that counter in TCP/IP. [ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: McAuliffe ]

Admiral, God knows I love your site and appreciate the energy you're putting in. But why should this scenario author be single ? Could you specify his task ? BTW, consider me as a candidate. [ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: McAuliffe ] [ 08-14-2001: Message edited by: McAuliffe ]

Dear Cauldron, I would like to refer to the link, I proposed you in your topic xxx a couple of designquestions (operations) Maybe for good matters sake, you could regroup your questions under one topic, instead of opening one for each headache

Maybe this will help, scroll down til you find the explication of BTS : HEY BTS! A Frustrated Scenario/Operations Designer Speaks Out! (Constructively)

*bump*

I know this was already discussed before, but could we have please, please, a kind of "follow me command". I would like to spend more time on tactics and terrain study instead of plotting. Follow me command : 1 right click group units 2 designate leader 3 plot waypoints for leader Execution : 1 leader follows plotted path. 2 designated group units move to initial starting point of the leader using shortest way and from there on follow the wapoints plotted out for the leader. 3 In order to avoid units bumping into each other at the end of the plotted route, the TacAI should deploy the units in column, in V or W shape around the leader once arrived. If one vehicle or unit get's killed or runs in ambush, The TacAI can make the other vehicles/units go for shelter or make retreat just as now happens during group command.

Well done Admiral. I will surely add some reviews for those I played. I like also the search the engine where you can specify the kind of scenario you're looking for. As more people will add their comments, it will become probably one of the most visited CMBO related sites

Yes, there are ! I counted at least 4 (four) of them on the forum, that much, I cannot recall all their names, but actually one of them is a Canadian living in Belgium Anyway, welcome to this great game. If the convoy is not decimated by hunting U-boats, your copy will take approx. two weeks in order to land ashore. Thanks to "our efficient" national postal service. BTW, I am from Antwerp, and above people had already the kindness to refer to my homepage. Hope to see you around.

Hi Mensch, As I like to see more "real" terrain in CMBO scenarios, I appreciate your initiative. I made also some CMBO maps based on 1/25.000 topomaps, personal visits and pictures. By coincidence, I also made a huge operation map about Marnach - including also the acces and the town of Clervaux. So if you don't mind, I would like to submit that one too. Furthermore, I have several scans of 1/25.000 topomaps of the area around Bastogne and the Ambleve valley in the Belgian Ardennes (La Gleize, Stoumont, Stavelot, Malmedy etc...) Allthough they are in JPEG format, they take still more then 1 MB each. Maybe you have the tools for compressing them even more. If you're interestested, I can submit fragments of these maps too. All maps, I design, have landmarks, townnames and hill elevations included. Projects I am working on or being tested : Clervaux - Marnach : Operation, start of the Bulge offensive. This map is very detailed and accurate, but huge. It's that big, the AI gets lost. Operation Switchback : Operation Oktober 1944 : Canadians have to cross the Leopold canal and fight in the muddy polders of Flemish/Dutch Zealand, in order to clear the Breskens Pocket (south bank of the Scheldt Estuary) Battles : Longvilly : 12.000 pts Battle east of Bastogne. Chateau de Neffe : Team Cherry stops the Pz-grenadiers of Bayerlein at the hamlet of Neffe (Bastogne) Dasburg : Panzer Lehr crosses the river Our (Luxemburg) in the morning of Dec 16, 1944. Krombach : Another spot at the Our river used for the crossing of german forces at the beginning of the Bulge. Later in January 1945, the Americans used the same crossing in order to push the Germans back into Germany. So you can use the map twice Let me know if you're interested and I'll send them to you with more detailed descriptions and/or briefings. [ 07-18-2001: Message edited by: McAuliffe ]

You can find the answer of BTS regarding how reinforcements are triggered here : BTS - Operation Design Hope this helps.

drool........just awesome........drool

WineCap..don't send it over, I'll pick it up on your doorstep next time I am around.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh: AIDs, in the majority of cases, is self-inflicted....(...)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Cannot believe, I have to read things like this on this forum...Hope someone knows what to do with this...Matt !!!! <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Captitalistdoginchina: Questions should be asked how the disease can develop in a "Modern European country" with so called high standards of hygene and modern farming methods. Yet the underdeveloped countries have not been infected? Food for thought.....literaly. CDIC<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Two years ago, I was visiting, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Besides paying USD 100 each time when crossing the border, the car had to be desinfected due to a MFC. Last year, in Kwa-Zulu Natal, (South-Africa) the desease only could be contained by a large vaccination-operation, as they found out that killing all the lifestock in the rural villages would mean catastrophy for the local people. Cannot speak for other developping countries, but I can imagine MFD is allways somewhere around. Hi Mom ! Hey...what happened to the spelling checker ?