The Commissar

I dont think people use the M-24 enough for someone to mod it. My recent exploits with the tank left me dissapointed, since it cost as much as an Uber-tank and has none of the armor thickness.

David, Although I do not agree with you, I can see where you are coming from with the morals of this issue. However, I think that if BTS provided an option for mixing and matching nationalities, and did not include any such scenarios in the game itself, the option would be there but would not be forced upon the player. Keep in mind that such scenarios can already be accomplished in CM1. It would not be realistic if I changed the Germans to look like the Soviets using CM's modding capability, but I could if I wanted to. Besides, there's lots of silly mods out there that no one is getting offended by. Like Kitty's light-hearted Hamster mod, for example. I think its funny, but if you find it offensive, simply don't use it! You see where Im going with this? It's all about freedome of choice, IMHO. ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

You must remember, there is that whole issue of getting the hatch open. A grenade placed on the hatch won't do much, I think. Maybe something up the exhaust pipe? Oh yeah, and you should have moved your Stuarts to the rear of this tank as close as possible. Unless this assault gun of yours was an Uber-tank like a JagtTiger or JagdPanther, the Stuart's shell would surely penetrate. ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Marc, That's some good shot your tank had! The last time I had a brit tank go against a Tiger (and this was a regular Tiger), the poor sods wet themselves and backed off, even though the tank was a Vet and I managed to manuerver them behind a hill and into the PZV's flank. That was another game, against another opponent, BTW. ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

I would love the chance to lead my comrads in arms to defeat the capitalist swine! I can just see the butchery... T-34's VS Shermans, M-26's VS JS3's, Guards VS Marines, Patton VS Zhukov - err, excuse me for a second - *wipes up drool* - now where were we? Ah yes, crushing the capitalists... Too bad BTS is probably against any "What if?" scenarios. Well, here's hoping anyway! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

I go out to see a flick for 2 FREKIN HOURS, and I come back to have a boat load of posts awaiting reply! LOL, well, lets get down to business. Dan and Iron Duke, Looks to be just about right. Great example of an armored battle, btw, Iron Duke. Seems you get around quite a bit, eh? Y'know, if you have any time left in your schedule, I'd like to play a game or two against you. Would be a good learning experience, and Im sure the fine folk round these parts would love to hear of a good stomping ! If you're interested, e-mail me, or simply leave a mssg here. Baseball, I actually love combined arms, and sometimes, simply all infantry games. It's just that my current opponent has gotten me interested in armor battles, and brought up wide and clear that Im not the best I can be when it comes to armored engagements! So here I am fighting. I actually have lots of other battles going on, and all of them are combined arms engagements. Zaraath, Interesting...so close turreted tanks can be incapacitated by heavy arty, eh? I wonder, can a KT be, oh lets say, immobilized by some of those 150mm's? Wow, thanks for making this post one of the best guides for armored combat, all of you, but especially the Duke. Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Supertanker: I think I suffered a CC flashback or something & thought he would be like Bruce Lee in hand-to-hand combat. Instead, they just sat there and stared at each other. I finally moved him a 150m away, and he shot the observer dead. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You know, thinking about this a bit more, why DO sniper not work at hand to hand combat now? I hope BTS fixes this by CM2, since snipers were trained in hand to hand combat. Besides, some Soviet snipers were female, and you don't want to be the unlucky German squad to stumble into the same house as one of those big Russian-lady snipers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

This is actually pretty realistic. Look at any down town city block. The houses are close together, but you can't cross from one to the other through the side. Some have side doors, but these are usually locked. So the only option is to go through the front or back doors. Now the engineer-blasting makes sense. Unfortunately, an engineer's satchel can severely damaged a house. For example, in one of my games, I rushed a building with 2 rifle squads and an engineer squad. The enemy was defending the house (which wasnt damaged) with 2 squads, and my men were winning. Then, just before the enemy was about to rout out of there, one genious engineer decided to toss his satchel. The house collapsed all around us, killing his depleted squads and leaving my own men severely damaged. Argh! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

LOL, Marshy, you...knock me out! HA! Get it? Get it? GET IT? Dont tempt me, m8, there's more god-awful humour where that came from! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Although shrecks seem very effective, Ive never killed a damn bloody thing with an American bazooka! What would you guys recommend to be more effectice over all? A Piat team or a zook? It just came to my attention that I didnt get to use a Piat team yet, just zooks! Maybe I should give it a...shot! SHOT! Ha-hahah...get it? Aww, thats it, screw you guys Im going home! Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Mahone, No offense taken whatsoever. I take critisism lightly. Let me say that I dont mind losing to opponents who are clearly of superior skill. I play them several times, and I use the opportunity to learn from them. This guy, I do not feel is any better then me. He does exactly the same things I do, but during the course of most of our games is saved my luck or armor superiority. In the first game, where we had the "flat as a panacake, as wood-covered as the moon" map, the armor superiority made all resistance futile. The second game, the one I described as going down in the town map in my first post, was luck. Then again, there is a saying that what appears as luck to an imbecile is actually the skill of a master (or something of the sort). Maybe I am an imbecile, and he is a genious of armored warfare. Correct me if Im wrong, however, but a genious does not make stupid mistakes. A genious doesnt have to relly on shots bouncing off to win. As illustrated in several examples found in my first post, he made many mistakes. So I will keep playing this guy until his luck runs out and his inherent strenghts are countered by my personal skill and the aim of my armored collumns! BTW - Unfortunately, no update for tonight. It's my birth day (feel free to send large sums of money or expensive items by e-mail), so I will be busy relazing and partying. On the weekends, however, we should have plenty of time to rumble! Thanks to all of you for solid advice, comments, suggestions, and the eagerness to participate in helping me out of a tought spot. I love you guys *sniff*! Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE! "American armor division attacks German-held town during a snowstorm! Germans are shocked and are being pushed back! Here all about it!" Well, since our battle has stopped for the evening (I was dropped and we just can't get the TCP/IP to reconnect again!), I took this opportunity to update you fine folk on my current condition. And guess what? They look (drumbeat please)...GOOD! E-Gads! Ok, enough with the coffe-fueled hyperness. Here's the low down on my latest armor clash with my arch-nemesis (really this guy I met at my wargaming club)! The setup was as follows: Medium hills Town map 2000 points Allies attack Random weather Day time Prefs: Only one German "Uber-tank" allowed. Arty is allowed (I managed to convince him). My selection: 12 Regular M-18's 5 Veteran M-18's 1 Regular Rifle platoon 2 Regular 81 mm spotters 2 Regular 150 mm spotters 4 Regular sharp shooters The action begins! As I look at the map I will be forced to conquer, various Christmas songs related to snowing spring up in my mind. Yep, you guessed it, although the date is set to May the ground is finely cowered with snow and a light shower is coming down all about us. Visibility is surprisingly low at somewhere around 200-250 metres. My tanks start up in a well covered position - although it wouldn't matter anyway with this low visability - but I space them out. After all, my opponent and I have agreed to arty, and you never know when a burst would come down on my poor open-turreted Hellcats. Seeing as this is a town battle, I thought to myself that a mass clump of tanks would not be the wisest way out in one piece. I decided to slowly advance, my infantry heading into the town to spot any tanks, while a "reconnaisance in force" on my left flank would encircle the enemy. My reconnaisance in force consisted of 3 regular M-18s. The first few turns, going is slow. My opponent bitches at me to go faster. I bitch back saying he shouldn't of picked random weather. Finally, our collective bitcheness is cut short as first contact is made. One of the tanks from my recon element briefly spotted what appears to be several assault guns on the top of a hill my force was climbing. On this hill is a single small house, blocking the enemy's view from the side. I decide to use this advantage, and send one of my cats out and around the hill using the building for cover. Meanwhile, my 2 other cats come under fire from these three assault guns (later revealed to be Hetzers) and both brew up without inflicting any damage. At this very moment, my M-18 speeds around the building. At 5 metres range from the clump of enemy armor, the M-18 fires and knocks TWO tanks with the same round, before retreating back into cover, as per orders. I send two more M-18's to reinforce my reconnaisance force, which is now reduced to one tank and a sniper I brought along. The sniper is positoned in the house, and keeps track of the movement of his Hetzer. In several turns time, my 2 other tanks arrive. Suddenly, from the same direction where once there was a single Hetzer, pop up two, and smash up one of my M-18's I left too close to the edge of a hillock. I spy a sound contact of another tank encircling my other two tanks. I turn one of my tanks in the enemy's direction, and use the second to encircle the enemy. Suprisingly, it works, and what is revealed to be a 3rd Hetzer is brewed up. Meanwhile, in the town... The first few turns were tediously slow. My scouting infantry did not make steady progress, due to constant exhaustion from running in the deep snow. Finally, at turn 10, an enemy tank was seen straight ahead. I quickly sped 4 M-18's into the street, and the tanks quickly ganged up and destroyed what appeared to be a Stug without casualties. My platoon re-organized and started a lively fire fight with a single enemy squad from the building next to the destroyed tank. Next turn, things got hairry. Out pops another assault gun and KT, and brews up 2 M-18's. 2 others are safe behind buildings. I use one of the tanks to attempt to encircle the Tiger from the left, but encounter trouble in the form of an assault gun to the left side of the building which my M-18 sped past. The M-18 is destroyed before reaching its target. All looks gloomy in the town, and I back my men off a bit to hide in the backs of houses. On my right flank, over open terrain, over 9 M-18's move in groups of 4 and 5. Topping a hillock, they encounter a concentration of German assault guns. Several M-18's are lost, but I quickly concentrate all my fire on the group and a collection of Stugs and Hetzers are shred into scrap metal. I now have 5 totally free tanks on my right flank, and encircle them in the direction of the town. Meanwhile, on my left flank... The two enemy Hetzers do not make any moves, but destroy that single building on the hill, routing my sniper out of there. I decide to attempt a risky manuever: One of my M-18's goes into a wide turn behind some woods and circles up the hill and behind the Hetzers, while my second M-18 Hunts up to the edge of the hill and into view of the Hetzers. All goes according to plan, but my opponent sees my circling M-18 the turn before it speeds up the hill towards his Hetzers and starts turning his tanks to face mine. My M-18 speeds into the turning Hetzers, firing off shots left and right. All seem to miss. Now, both tanks have turned to face my M-18, and just then my second M-18 hunts up the hill. The Hellcat gets a beautiful view of two shiny Hetzer asses, prime for the kickin'. Unfortunately, my flanking M-18 is brewed up, but so are both of the Hetzers. Typing "Viva la Victory!" I charge my single remaining tank over the hill and into a wide turn behind the town. Meanwhile, in the town... My opponent, thinking my infantry have retreated, charges a building with a squad. My infantry, waiting for him in the back of the building, open fire and eliminate the attackers without suffering any casualties. I regroup my men, and position the HQ with a good view of the building next to which was parked the KT and the two assault guns. The assault guns are still there, but the KT has mysteriously dissapeared. I have a sudden urge to pee my pants. There's a big cat lurking somewhere around this town, and I dont know where. This CAN'T be good! Then, in what perhaps is my most idiotic feat of the entire game, I rush two M-18's left over from my right flank into a street which leads to the two assault guns. I thought it was an easy target, but it was more of an enemy trap. Without warning, both my cats are brewed up by a hidden enemy platoon. I proceed to pound my head against the desk until my family rushes into the room and barely manage to stop me from diving out my 2nd story window. A Veteran and a Regular M-18 are lost. And now, I wait until tommorow, when the fate of my men will be decided. The enemy wields what appear to be 2 platoons of SMG infantry, 2 assault guns of an unidentified type, and a clearly defined KT which has gone missing from my LOS. I still have a number of M-18's, 4 unused arty spotters, and a fairly unhurt platoon of infantry. I am left with several questions. Do I have the man power and skill to prevail? How can I maximize my chance of survival when I inevitably come to face the Big Bad Cat? Will I be able to command my men well after I've given myself a cuncussion? The answer lies in the future - AND IN FURTHER UPDATES OF THIS POST! Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

The infantry I don't mind. Seeing as how just about anything an hand-held doesn't stand a chance of scratching a JagdTiger, JagdPanther, or a KT, much less knocking it out. The infantry will simply be used to hold VL's, and thus can be seperated into half teams as needed. The main of the fighting will be between death-wielding, multi-ton behemoths of steel, no question about it. Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

I see only one cookie option (the one under cookies), and it is enabled.

Chupy, (can I call you Chupy? No? Too late.) I've thought about the whole arty thing since he told me not to take any, and I've already made up my mind that I will indeed take some. I've made that exact point to him - about being gamey and how thr Allies had a clear Arty superiority which they used very well - and got no responce. He does seem to be a bit gamey, so I think I can disobey the "rules" a bit to get him. If he complains and refuses to play, I report my game as a win and if he rebutes that, I plead "self-defense" on gameyness issues Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Cool, thanks for the advice, Duke! I'll keep you updated when we get through the game. We won't be able to finish all of it, since I have work and school tommorow unlike today, but we will get through about half way most likely. I'll see if I could get in an update before retiring to some rest. Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

This is probobly something I did without realizing it, so I'd appreciate anyone telling me how to fic this. My user name and password do not get stored even though I clearly specified in my prefs that I wanted them stored. What gives? It worked fine before, but my computer had its HD cleared and it does not work anymore. Please help me, retyping the hard to remember password every time gets annoying quick... ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Iron Duke, Thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate it! Now, to question some tactics, and ask why I did some of the things which cost me big time. I come from a school of thought that to sorround the enemy is the key to defeating him, and massing up in one huge group is an invitation for the skillfull opponent to sorround you. Of course, this seems to be the wrong school of thought as far as tank combat goes, and I'm eager to learn. I am also afraid of being flanked, as this has happened to me several times in the earlier days, so to seperte my force to cover both flanks SEEMS logical. The Super Pershes had indeed failed my expectations. It appears that the only way to defeat those crafty German mechanics is through speed and a steady aiming hand. My opponent and I will start another game today, and I will apply the lessons I have learned and your advice to it. It should be a challenge, for the setup is this: I as the Allies (anyone here surprised?) am on the attack. 2000 points. Medium trees, medium hills, town battle. He is setting up the battle, but I requested that the weather and time of day conditions be set to random. Although I realise that as defender my opponent may have an advantage in a night time battle, I believe that I can use the darkness and low visibility to trap him. He insists on no arty and 200 max points of Infantry. Obviously, he did not enjoy my little 81mm's last game I will see if I can at least get more arty though, as I am eager to try out those juicy 150mm's! Well, wish me luck, and once again and again and again, thanks for the adivce. Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Thanks for the quick reply, Steve! Here's a question: If I issue a movement order to a certain location, then select pause, and then issua another movement order, will the unit pause before moving (like before) or actually when it reaches the waypoint like intended? This could be very useful in tank battles... Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Thanks for the advice, Peter! We have another game going up tonight (I'll be damned if I dont beat this guy up a few times!) and Ill be sure to learn from my mistakes. Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Well, heres an update on my current situation, and I sure as hell am pleased with it! At about 9pm yesterday my opponent and I decided upon another armor engagemtn over TCP/IP. 3000 points. My setup. While frequently minimizing the setup screen to take a quick peek at some of the advice in this post, I made my selection. Since my opponent did not like the idea of attacking and prefered a ME, I discarded some of the suggestions for deep mud and lots of guns. I've done this a lot in other games against other opponents, and it works beautifully, but this opponent obviously experienced something of the sort and wasn't too eager to go through the meat grinder again. So I settled upon the noble Duke's adivce for my core force. I've never tried M-18 Hellcat's, although I meant to one of these day, so today was a perfect occasion. As per suggestion, I took 13 of them (lucky number, eh?), with 4 vets and the rest as Regs. I accompanied this with 2 Veteran Super Pershings, 4 regular daimlers, a single Reg M-10 (had some points to blow) and a platoon of regular Rifle inf with 3 snipers, 2 81mm spotters, and a bazooka team. For the terrain I decided upon an overcast evening attack, and visibility was pleasently reduced to slightly over a 800 meters at best. I took medium tree coverage and modest hills. The main battle field would be some god-forsaken town sorrounded by lots of hills, lots of woods, and lots of flying lead. So here comes the setup. Again, as per advice, I settled for seperating my battle force into 2 evenly divided groups. Studying the battlefield, I decided that the best vantage point for tank fighting would be 2 large hills, and I assigned a tank force to each. One of the hills was just south of the town, overlooking the collection of buildings and thus giving my tanks a solid LOS to any enemy entering the town. The second hill was to the East of the town, and overlooked most of my right flank and some of the town as well. My 4 daimlers I sent out far away from my forces, one to my right flank advancing behind a ridge line as a scout, another a few hundred meters to the west of him, a third all the way on my left flank, and the foruth several hundred meters East of the 3rd. The battle begins...30 turns of destruction follow. On the second turn, the tank group on my right flank encounters what appears to be 5 erman heavies overlooking my line of advance. An m-18 explodes into flames from what appears to be a Tiger hit. Several more are in the line of fire. I regroup my forces and attempt to have as much as possible firing in unison. Shots bounce off of the Germans like tennis balls off a wall. I send one of my flanking Daimlers flying over a small hillock and square into the side of one of the German tanks, which is revealed to be only a veteran Hetzer. In 5 seconds, it becomes a dead Hetzer. My M-18's are getting toasted. I back off a few and advance with 3 of the M-18's flying in different directions firing on the go, while my Super Pershing sneaks around a lone church closer to the German tanks. M-18's fire and cause no damage. Germans fire and miss the high speed M-18's. The Daimler which killed the Hetzer is ordered to go into the rear of the group of tanks, distracting them, just as my Persh lumbers out from behind the Church. The Germans are indeed distracted, and all 4 of the remaining tanks turn around. My Super Persh fires off two shots into to back of a JagdTiger with no effect. The Tiger and JagtPanthers turn around and toast up my Persh. The Daimler is killed and an M-18 which stops in the middle of a field for no good reason is also toasted. A single M-18 is left flanking around the Heavies. Meanwhile, a similar disaster is going down in the town, only this time, for the Germans! German tanks along with 2 KT's appear out from behing every building. Infantry are engaged in a fire fight with my platoon. My snipers are popping heads left and right. I order both of my Arty spotters to target the German inf. not 100 meters away. Meanwhile, my tanks rush over the hill and out of a valley which was hidden from the sigh of the Germans, effectively flanking them. 3 m-18's and a Super Pershing gang up on a trapped KT and brew it up. Hetzers, JagtPanthers and PZ4's go up in flames everywhere. A KT manages to sneak around from my flank and is about to wreck havoc on my armor. A sniper which I positioned in a building snipes off the TC just as the tank lumbers into range of my M-18, exposing its soft side armor. The shocked KT goes to kitty heaven. My mortars are meanwhile suppressing his infantry. On my right flank, the flanking M-18 circles around the 3 Jagt-thingies and destroys a JagdPanther before stopping in front of a JagtTiger (what the heck is with this uncalled for stopping?!) and becoming yet another burning wreck. My men and several tanks with HE rounds push the German inf out of the town and capture the VL's. Meanwhile, his 2 remaining tanks, a JT and a JP are topping a hill with a platoon of Inf, defending by a bazooka, one of my surviving Daimlers, an M-18 and a M-10. My Pershing succumbs to a lucky Panzershreck hit and immobilizes behind a building. Thankfully, at least it is in sight of all his infantry and quickly forces them into panic and rout. As his two heavies round the top, I order my 2 tanks and a Daimler to go to different sides, hoping to confuse the enemy and expose his side armor to me. A Daimler is unfortunately quickly picked off by a JagdTiger and fails to make the beast expose its side to my M-10, which advances into certain dath. My M-18, circling around the two tanks like a bat (or is it cat?) out of hell, pops off a 2 shots at the JagtPanther and on the third, knocks it out. It speeds past a wrecked M-18 from a previous battle, but manages to lumber on into it, slowing it down while it tries to free itself. What results is a few seconds lost time, although his JT still has not made a complete turn. My M-18 speeds past, fires off a shot, misses, and is about to pop the JT into its slowly turning side when a well-aimed grenade from one of my enemie's squads lands into its open turret, knocking it out. That German should play for a Basketball team, heaving a grenade into a meter-wide opening on a vehicle going 55 mph Anyway, by this time its the 28th turn, the enemy tries to rush my inf to capture some VL's, but is cut short by stubborn defense and lack of time. What results is a tie. Man, t'was some battle and I learned quite a bit. The first, being that M-18's roaring past at top speed are the cat to be feared. Second, scout better next time so as not to fall into a stupid bush wack like I did on my right flank with my tank group. Third, don't use your damn Super Persh to help out your Infantry, dumbass! Fourth, a well placed sniper can ruin a tankers day. Finally, what seems to be a glitch report: I figured out why my M-18's were stopping in the middle of the open. Y'see, I extended the line of movement on accompaing turns to adjust it to circumstences. Seemingly, all tanks (and infantry too) stop at an extended waypoint now, even if they were not close to reaching it before and I included no pause order. I don't know about anyone else here, but I think this needs to be fixed. If the tank/platoon/whatever did not yet complete its original movement orders, it should continue moving when I add new ones to the original. After all, with radios in tanks and Platoon commanders recieving new orders on the go, the unit should keep moving Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe this is a glitch, but whatever it is it's a bit annoying. Correct me if Im wrong here. Well, thanks for all the sollid advice - I couldn't of done it without all of you! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Wow, thanks for all the input and friendly suggestions, fellers! This stuff is really great, and I hope to get my opponent on similar ground as soon as possible. To answer some questions posed: Iron Duke, 1) We usually play smallish battles (1500-2000) so I never get a chance for gigantic collections of tanks. I attempt to use the Lowski/tophat tactics so skillfully deployed by some, so my tanks are usually popping out from behind ridges and trees in groups of two. 2) It was for the first few battles, but now I get some tree cover! Yippie! 3) He usually keeps all his tanks in one large group, with a pair or two on each flank. He likes to manuever his KT alone once in a while, though. 4) No, he usually has a single KT, a Tiger or a JagdTiger, and many PZ4's, Hetzers, Stugs, etc. 5) In our latest game he bought what seems to be a volley of 250mm rockets. The things fell all over the map, but inflicted almost no damage other then panicking one of my hidden inf. squads and inflicting a single casualty on a tank crew. 6) He usually buys one platoon of Infantry. He rellyes on his tanks to first destroy my armor and then systematically blow up every single building in a town (VL's are usually in towns) looking for my troops which he inevitably finds. 7) The battlefield is usually a square or a rectangle, with deploy zones always opposite each other. Hope that helps you help me, heh-heh Again, thanks for all the great advice submitted by everyone. Cheers! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Heh-heh, thanks for the support, fellers! Unfortunately for myself, Ive tried most of your suggestions. Arty is something that I did not indeed try, but slow deploy speeds of artillery fire against tanks is something which hinders performance. Infantry? Dont stand a chance. Why? My opponent blows up every building in a town even if there are no men in it, exactly for this reason. What is left is a barren "no man's land". I tried the Super Pershing in the last game I mentioned. It costs about the same as the KT, but his KT knocked out my Pershing with its first shot. The Pershing, it appears, has a 20 mm difference in armor (the KT has something like 180, while the Super Pershing 160). Tis' a crazy battle...I gotta find a way though, or I'll never live it down! Can't ignore the guy forever, you know...or can I? Hmm... ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

This post is in part a place to release my anger at this incident, and part to ask if anything like this was ever experienced by anyone else... what follows is a story of endless fields of burning Allied tanks who never stood a chance for no apparent reason. So Im playing this opponent whom Ive met at my wargaming club. He's an interesting fellow, since he only plays all armor battles and insists on being the Axis every single time. The first few games we played were pretty much butchery. My poor sod 76mm Jumbos would bounce shell after shell after useless shell off of the thick steel of his KT's. He also enjoyed taking terrain which is wide and open, so any manuevering is out of the question, and the battle reduces to "whos tank can last longer at long ranges". We all know who wins these things with no trees and flat as a panacake battle fields. However, deciding that I can at least best this guy on fair ground, I managed to pursuade him into a combined forces battle over a town, with moderate trees and medium hills. However, despite countless mistakes made by my opponent, what seemed to be a force field of impenetrable luck sorrounded every single one of his actions, leaving my forces in shreds. For example: The force selection was randomized for more "fun" (really to stop him from having a butt load of KT's about the place), and playing as the Allies, I had a bunch of HT's, Stuarts, and a single M-18. He had around 6 veteran stugs. So the battle commences. We both reach the town, and I capture the flags first. Now comes the fun part. Despite major mess-ups which would cost another player victory, my opponent survived every single one of my attempts to encircle him with my quick-moving tanks. On my left flank, my M-18 was about to speed over a hill top and ambush 2 Stugs turned 180 degrees facing away from me (read - fatal mistake). Almost up to the crest, going on a "Hunt" order, my M-18 bogs and immobilizes in clear open ground. The Stugs escape, and my one really powerful tank is rendered useless. To further destroy these two annoying Stugs, I send one of my Stuart to encricle them using buildings for cover. My opponent, seeing my movement, send a single Stug across a clearing to intercept my Stuart. The Stuart rushes past the stug, stops about 30 metres to the side and behind it, and fires off 2 ROUNDS FROM 30 METRES missing both, before the Stug finishes slooooooooooowly turning, sloooooooooowly aiming, and quickly brewing up my Stuart. On my other flank, with yet another encircling movement, one of my fast moving Stuarts is picked off by a slowly turning Stug. My opponent makes the often fatal mistake of moving 2 tanks down a crowded alleyway, and my hidden bazooka fires off a shot. Guess what? The building sets alight. Big surprise. Incidents like these totally and completely incapacitated all my armor and nearly crushed my infantry. My opponent got a Minor victory, simply because his luck finally broke for one tiny bit. In a heating fire fight between 2 of his platoons in a building and some scattered remains of my own 2 platoons (mine being Regs, his Vets), one of his squads fired a Panzerfaust and set the building aflame. His men rushed out into my guns. Now, thinking to myself "what a bloody damn horrible streak of bad luck I had", I challenge my opponent to another game. He accepts, and we play an all armor again on a small map, me as the Allies (again and forever it seems). Now, I specifically requested that the date for the QB should be as late as possible, so I could have some heavies of my own. This proved almost useless. Again, through what seemd like the wildest streaks of luck or stupidity, I only managed to destroy a single tank. His tanks, outnumbered as they are by my own, and no matter what sort of encriclment tactics I attempt to use, get destroyed mercylessly. No matter if I gang up on one of his tanks, no matter the range or the experience level, it just seems that his tanks are as close to indestructible as one is liable to get in a realistic wargame. Now, as of a few hours ago, I quit the TCP/IP game in frustration. I thought I needed time to rethink what Im doing wrong. I haven't been able to come up with much, so here is this long rant of a post. Am I a bad sport and a sore loser? I guess I sort of am. Am I just extremely unlucky? Either that or Im extremely stupid. Am I extremely stupid? I dont think so, since I am doing pretty well in all my other PBEM's and consider myself a pretty fair tank-fighter. So...what gives? What do I do with this opponent of mine? Im just looking for some answers and probobly a few flames from some of the purists around here. Go ahead and fire, I probobly deserve it. Sorry for the lenght of this post and the inevitable spelling errors I am too lazy to check for. ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"

Wow, thank you thank you THANK YOU for all the great tips and info, guys! It's good to know that there are so many friendly fellow CM players with loads of info available to help a gamer in need. Thanks again! ------------------ "...Every position, every meter of Soviet soil must be defended to the last drop of blood..." - Segment from Order 227 "Not a step back"