Chupacabra

Does anyone know of a free or shareware image editor which can insert comic book-style dialogue bubbles into images? Thanks. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

O that this too too solid flesh would melt/ Thaw and resolve itself into a banana. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Ebb and flow. The game's been out for a while, major design issues have pretty much been talked to death, consensus has pretty much been reached. If you want discussion, there's always usenet. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Boriarty Your setup has been received. You might want to presend your surrender as well, just to speed up the process. No need to muddle through the harrowing and rending and burning of your things, is there? EvilLawyerBoy Oh yeah? Well, you just try to get your mortars back, tough guy, 'cos you can't have 'em back! So there! And, proof that the Peng Thread shall regain its former glory: Mr. T supports the Peng Thread, do you? ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

*sigh* Pushbroom, you tiresome Frenchy, your impertenance never ceases to amaze. Would you like me to beg? Would you like me to say, "Oh, dear, dear Pushbroom, please send me a setup? I would be ever so grateful." Sucks to that. Send me a setup, or I will eviscerate you and make traditional Burgundian specialties out of your vitals, such as oeufs en meurette avec rate de Pushbroom et reins de Pushbroom au vin. Or perhaps I'll just go simple, and have a nice testicule de Pushbroom au poivre. Finished off with a Chateau Sang de Pushbroom '00 and a nice hunk of chevre, and I'll have myself a lovely little Pushbroom meal. Now hop to it! ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Sgt. Poot - No. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

As I pointed out, it is my understanding, backed up by anecdotal evidence such as the quote I provided, that solid AP shot, ie, the type of shot which was generally fired at tanks, was typically not as deadly to the crew as were man-portable LATW. Let me see if I can dig up another quote... Here are a few: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> "The next moment we were hit. A shell burts beneath the turret, completely destroying the engine controls, and one of the tracks was severed. No one was hurt, and we received the order to evacuate at once."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>"...we were hit by an 88 which entered just in front of my feet, injuring the sub turret gunner, he subsequently died from his wounds. The driver was injured, but not severly, just bruised... As for myself, I did not even have a scratch, but the tank was on fire and I had to get out fast..."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> (my emphasis) <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> "The Tiger traversed its big 88mm gun very slightly. Wham! We were hit... A sheet of flame licked over the turret and my mouth was full of grit and burnt paint.'Bale out,' I yelled and leaped clear. I saw my crew bale out.... Miraculously they were all safe."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> (my emphasis) All quotes again from The Desert Rats by Neillands. Several of those interviewed had several tanks shot out from under them between '41 and '45. While getting hit by an AP round wasn't pleasant, and was often fatal for one or two of the crew, it wasn't by any means certain death for all inside. I also wanted to point out that in the second and third acounts, the tanks brewed up, and in the second account only one crewman died, while in the third all were uninjured. Scenarios where everyone died certainly happened, and CM models this, but I think it happened less than one might expect. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Sure it's a WW2 era coat? Sounds like an East German article - Deutsche Demokratische Republik. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Interestingly enough, one account I've read stated that tankers were more scared of Pfausts and 'schrecks than they were of AP. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>...a Panzerfaust strike usually set a tank on fire, unlike the solid AP shot from a gun which frequently went right through, or knocked off a track.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Neilands, Robin. The Desert Rats: 7th Armoured Division 1940-1945. (London: Orion Books, LTD. 1997) p. 216 The book is largely an oral history, and while the author's voice is not hugely compelling, when he lets the soldiers talk the book's great. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Yep, you're absolutely correct, ASLVet. I'm just a failed CC player. I loved all the things that went BOOM and made the pretty 'sploshuns and fire, because I am simple, and quite easy to please, and in addition my medication lowers my attention span to that of a hyperactive ten year-old. I turned to CM because I couldn't make my tanks dance as well as the other boys, and they all laughed at me. And CM was Good, and I was happy. But still something was missing. I fell to my knees and shook my tiny fists at heaven and screamed "why, Lord, why? Why can't I find a WW2 wargame which models horse transport?" And Lo! a beam of light shone down, and I head a deep voice say "ASL does, my son, as well as bicycle troops and nationality modifyers and the Italian army's pasta provisions." My voice quaked as I wept: "Thank you Lord, for this bounty I am about to receive! Thank you Lord, for giving mankind the strength to produce a wargame which models horse transport!" And He said, "You're welcome, my son. And by the way, your nickname is sweet. Keep up the good work and I'll see what I can do about getting you out of purgatory a few years earlier." So yes, my friends, ASL is clearly the divine standard to which we all must hold. In horse transport...and in life. All sarcasm aside. ASLVet, if you're so cocksure about your position, I wonder if you can find a reference to any battles on the Western front where horses played a major role once a battle was joined. Nutrition affected front line squads as well, should we model that? How about modelling how clean the infantry kept their weapons? Or the quality of their uniforms? Well, if ASL did, I guess CM should hop to it. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Shermans have a flexible MG mount, IIRC. 360 degree horizontal firing arc. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Updates! JDMorose is a lawyer. That is bad enough. What's worse is that he is, I am sure, a horrible cheating gamey bastard who found a way to hack PBEM games, the swine, since there is no other explanation for the current situation of our game. Oh, for shame. And of course now that BTS has acknowledged the inherant imbalance of defense scenarios, I feel on solid ground whining about that as well. On the bright side, since his band of jackals is responsible for the American legal system, there is surely some loophole in American tort law by which I can sue him for everything he's worth when I lose, which will be within five turns. Now go find some ambulances to chase. Scrota is about to receive my probe. Yes, Bauhaus, you may probe Goata as well. Plenty of room in there for the both of us. His German people will shortly be doing a lot of 'mein bein'ing and 'kamerad!'ing. It will be glorious. Boreiarty has set himself up for defeat on a custom designed Burlesquetingen (with whom I shall deal shortly) map. Ha! Ha! Ha! This ought to be fun. Seanachachoociechacha has brought forward a wittew sissy tank for me to destroy. Yay! I shall finish dismembering him shortly. His vital organs shall go towards my quilt o' vital organs. Especially his pancreas. I need a good pancreas. Ooh, and how're your lymph nodes? JShahahahahahahahahaaaaaaandorf is getting a damn good reaming. By me!!! He thought it would be a good idea to try to advance his men quite deep into my territory on a bocage map. Which means lots of me ambushing him. Perhaps you should have told your Fallschirmjaeger squad not to make so much noise, eh? "Ach, Hans, wir sind so schneaky, ja?" "Ja, ja, die Amerikaner finden nie uns." "Magst du ein Wurst?" "Ja, gern." "Also, was ist dieser Ton? Es klingt wie ein kichernder Amerikaner." "Es gibt keine hier, du hast gerade Wurstangst." BLAM BLAM BLAM! And now, on to Burlesquetinger! Yeah, I'm talking to you, chubsy-ubsy. Some say you are evil. Some say you like fire. Some say you have an odd growth on your neck which you should really have looked at. Well, some haven't yet met the forces of HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Send me a setup and taste the wrath of an elder god, simp! PushBroom The above taunt applies to you as well, but more so, because you are French, and that just isn't right. So if you've got time between your busy schedule of simultaneously proclaiming your cultural superiority and aping styles and music that Americans thought were cool ten years ago, you might send me a setup. Try not to make it too Frenchy though, willya? I get these awful rashes. I hate you all. If I've forgotten anyone, it just means that I hate you more than the rest and the mere thought of your awful selves causes a viscous black mucous to jet from all of my orifices, quite incapacitating me until Time's gentle hands purge your foul memory from my mind. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh. [This message has been edited by Chupacabra (edited 11-21-2000).]

Wow, go von schrad. That sure came out of left field. Interesting to accuse someone of being pompous and arrogant in a thread where pompousity and arrogance are a prized commodity. Way to completely miss the point. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Horses were certainly not used in combat except, IIRC, by the Poles in '39 and by anti-partisan units on the Eastern Front. Hell, at CM's level, I'm not so sure that prime movers should be included at all, let alone horses. CM models the front, not the logistics train. IMO it would not add a single whit of realism to the game to model Trigger. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

When BTS starts coding Logistics Mission, I'll be the first to lobby for horse transport. Until then, let's leave the animals to Deer Hunter. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Are either of you ambulance chasers? Cos I have this trick where I can throw out my shoulder. Say the word, big money. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Rigging a bridge to blow was a long process, and wouldn't be something you could do within the time frame of a CM game. I do think it would be interesting to give the defender in attack/assault scenarios the option of blowing bridges, but it certainly wasn't something that engineers could just run up and do. I'm sure there are some ex-sappers on the board who can talk about demolitions ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Weeeeell...terrain analysis is pretty handy for figuring out where a guy's gonna be. If he needs to advance infantry through cover, slap a TRP on patches of woods that look like good jumping off points to your defenses. If it's a heavily wooded map through which he needs to advance armor/mechanized forces, put TRPs in clearings and along roads. Dunno, I've bought four or five every time I've had the opportunity, and they've always served me well. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Are they useful? Well, think of it this way - is it useful to you to be able to bring in arty within a turn? If it is, then yes, they are. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Sounds more likely that this is a FOW issue. Probably something you never saw popped the Panther. The .50 cal's penetration at close range was something like ~14mm, IIRC, so it would have to get damn lucky to punch through a Panther. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

Do you have baby tees? I have a belly button! Giggle! ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

I agree. Although I can back this up with nothing more than my own suppositions (a bad place to start, acknowledged), pillboxes don't feel right, for the reasons your pointed out. If anyone has more concrete evidence than I about pillbox employment and the techniques used to reduce them, I'd be grateful to read it. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

I feel that mortar carriers are crippled by their inability to have HQ units spot for them. I see very little point in using them, as HTs need to remain mobile or hidden to survive. Mortar carriers can do neither, and so are doomed to a quick death. This is something I very much hope BTS remedies in CM2, in fact. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mace: I thought we were based on a fuedal military system. Where's the proles, freemen, squires, and the might Kinnnnigits? Mace <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Bah, nuts to this D&D wankery, let's get back to basics. Enough blabbering about squires and Knights, and lords and ladies. Next thing you know we'll be talking about our Level 99 paladins. I say, enough! What made this thread great wasn't some sort of imposed feudalistic structure. The Peng thread in its heyday was a pure tauntocracy, where a man was judged on the quality of his taunting ability and nothing else. I hearby renounce all these artificial, imposed, neo-colonialist frameworks! They only oppress our true taunting strength! I renounce the title Knight, or Kanigwhatever the hell Monty Python-inspired lunacy it is!Down with the system! Up with the tauntocracy! PENG RAGE!!! ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.

It happens. There's no real explanation other than war's a bitch. ------------------ Grand Poobah of the fresh fire of Heh.