RCHRD

The greatest hindrance to the study of history is the opinions of historians. Glantz does a wonderful job of narrating the unfolding battle in this volume, unlike some of his others, and leaving the pontifications to his peers. The Soviet summer offensive of 43 was the campaign of that year, finally spreading out across the whole front, crossing the Dneiper, piercing the blockade of Leningrad, liberating the bulk of Ukraine, and evolving the Soviet artillery offensive into a weapon of annihilation. All, perhaps, made possible by the unremitting offensives of the year before, most tactical failures, but whittling threadbare German divisions to skeletons. And the 5th Pz would have met plenty of tanks, big ones, too. For every Soviet offensive in 43 and after, special tank units, the ‘Breakthrough Tk Regts’ (KV’s and then Stalins a year later) were assigned the assault divisions, along with the heavy SU’s just then coming into common usage.

The 16th Pz reached the Volga at Rynok, the second of two small villages north of the tractor factory. There is a good 3D map of this area at a website called fireonthevolga, I think.

Beware the Atlases. I have four. They are enlarged copies of German and Russian maps. The German maps are very hard to make out. The quality is really poor. The ones I bought I still think were worth it, but they were somewhat dissappointing.

If I recall, the Serbians were said to have a state of the art air defense, just before it was flattened.

It's not Pavlovs house. It's the mill on the Volga shore. Pavlovs house is across the street and only a tiny corner of it is preserved (and covered in graffiti) The rest of the structure has been rebuilt and is now, as it was, an apartment building. Also called the House of Specialists back then.

I bought it today. Just starting. I'm not sure what credentials the author has.

Dateline Mosul; August 23rd, 2007 Acting on a tip from an informant the 1-6 Marines carried out a predawn raid on a small hamlet about 60 miles west of here. The insurgents were tipped off as well and fled just before the troops arrived, taking only their most precious possessions. It was a huge haul. Stacks of automatic weapons, rockets, mortars, more than twenty thousand rounds of small arms ammunition, twelve high end computers with gigs of memory and state of the art video cards, a dozen empty jewel cases and one prisoner. The prisoner revealed that the Jihadists had escaped with their lives and something far more important to the future of the insurgency. Twelve CD copies of a training simulator called Combat Mission; Shock force. “It’s the core of our training now. Our Jihadists are brave, but come to us poorly trained. They have absolutely no concept of firepower as the Americans use it. We can show our fighters exactly the best way to approach, engage, and separate from the Americans. We can show them exactly how much time they have before the ground in front of the infidels is torn apart by a storm of fire. We can simulate their tactics and counter them. Our strategy is to kill one American without loss to ourselves.” In a related story, a small number of software developers in the U.S. were arrested in raids on sleeper cells, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Patriot act. According to sources, several of the arresting officers were bitten by the bald one. Edited to get the name right. [ October 15, 2005, 09:45 PM: Message edited by: RCHRD ]

but I cannot buy this game. It's purpose is to simulate the combat that ensues from an aggressive invasion, unilaterally, and without just cause. This is a real possibility. 99% of the quick battles played will simulate the war against the Iraqi insurgency. This is abhorrent to me. I am deeply interested in the evolution of CM, a game I love. I'm not finding fault with BFC for their decision, it's just that I cannot support the reality that it represents, in any way. No hard feelings. Flame away.

CM is a distintive game system. I don't think there's another like it. There is more money to be made from a CM module that covers the insurgency in Iraq than a module about the battle of 235 Rue de Paris, St. Lo.

Why Syria? I'm betting that every user created scenario will be about the insurgency. It's who the game is for.

I won't buy it.

Ok Thank you

Why not make several buildings of identical physical properties, say, Large stone 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, etc and let the modders make the skins.

This all sounds just great. I want buildings and more buildings. With different skins I'll draw myself, if I have to.

I remember when CM was due to come out. I saw some screenshots in a gaming mag. They were butt ugly and I decided that I wouldn't buy the game. There were other games in those days that were just as ugly and poor games to boot. But when I played the demo for CMBO I was hooked and have been ever since. CMBB is the only game still on my computer, of the 3. The problem is that it is impossible to make a good Stalingrad map. Will the CM2 Stalingrad mini module have a good map, as in accurate? I have hundreds of photos of the city before and during the battle. Will these help you?

I remember when CM was due to come out. I saw some screenshots in a gaming mag. They were butt ugly and I decided that I wouldn't buy the game. There were other games in those days that were just as ugly and poor games to boot. But when I played the demo for CMBO I was hooked and have been ever since. CMBB is the only game still on my computer, of the 3. The problem is that it is impossible to make a good Stalingrad map. Will the CM2 Stalingrad mini module have a good map, as in accurate? I have hundreds of photos of the city before and during the battle. Will these help you?

Meklis was never an army officer in command of troops. He was a political officer, a commissar.

The Germans were shocked that the same Soviet units that were supposedly gutted during the Kursk battle fell upon them in august. The Germans were outnumbered 2-1 across the Ost Front and with the strategic momentum enjoyed the Russians even greater odds at selected points. In guns and tanks the Germans were paupers, the Soviets as rich as the kings of Persia. Even if the Germans had cut off the Kursk salient they could never win the war.

Mehklis. Mek-lis. I second Paulus for most unfortunate man in out of his depth.

Thanks Steve, for the directions. I did find, by hunting around, that it won't be really soon. Cmbb is still a great game. I'll just wait.

I've been perfectly happy with CMBB. Maybe it's not got the greatest graphics, but the gameplay and subject is all I could ask for. I just don't bother keeping up with CMx2. But I read on another thread (posted by an outsider) that CM2 was coming soon. Is that true? This year? I also read from BFC that much effort has been invested in the sun and the moon and the stars in their courses. I don't want to navigate the North Atlantic. I want to play a tactical wargame. Can someone give me a thumbnail view of what to expect and, maybe, when?

Glantz offers an OOB for Feb and July 1st 43 in one book. Pretty complete.

I just got the book: Stalingrad, the vital 7 days. The author claims that the Soviet agent 'Lucy' who seemed to sit at Hitlers elbow, because of the breadth and accuracy of his information, was in fact fed by British intelligence from the Ultra team.

Einsatzgruppen, Micheal, Einsatz.

It is offensive to me, and very likely untrue.