Holien

Yes CMAK.... As for ROW I Vets there are one or two in the wood work but not many. The written part of ROWI appealed to me and might be a way to get people to commit. If they can not be bothered to write a bit of an application then can they be bothered to finish all the games? The other thing that appealed about ROWI was a lot of the scenarios were based around the Normandy battles and were based on real episodes. As Normandy is my main interest that was the icing on the cake. Anyway that was ROWI and not ROWIV. Not long to go... H

Jim, I will not be playing in the games and felt it was time to give you a chance to get into the finals. I do get to play the scenarios and my lips are sealed on what is in them. As for the perceived lack of spaces I really don't think that will be a problem. Yes you will always get some people who don't make it into the tourney but that is life. As stated above we want people who will complete all the games in a reasonable time frame and produce AAR's. The Vets have been there and done it and if they want to play again and sign up within the time limits given then they will earn a place because they are known to meet the critera. Jim was in the same boat as you Panther Commander, last tourney and he managed to get in. So please don't feel hard done by it is just a way of ensuring we have a succesful tourney with players who will complete the games and give the community AAR's. H [ January 21, 2004, 02:17 PM: Message edited by: Holien ]

Hi Brent with regards to sewer movement I had never used it before and saw your comments (due to FOW) until too late. I now know what and what not to do. I guess it was lucky for Lou I did not have an extra 4 platoons beating him up. Then again maybe they would have been hurt by the Soviet heavy Arty. The score was 75% to 25% a Major Victory. He lost 837 men to my 477 and I captured 173 men. I lost 8 vehicles to his 17. Lou lost it in not applying his artillery effectively and did not use his armour well. In the first turn Lou saw some of my tanks and assume that my men would be with them. His 152 Arty hit that area. Fortune was with me as I had placed my armour well back from my start lines and as Lou had not seen my possible deploy area it killed two T/C's and that was all. If that had hit home that entire flank would have been wasted as my men were grouped quite tightly and they were the vital engineers and HMG crews on the right flank. I was lucky with some tank duels (1 stug took two T34's on the left flank) and in other areas careful manuver ensure some good kills on his remaining armour. Lou had a tendency to park his armour and so I could play the angles on it. It was a great game and even though Lou lost he said it was fun to play. Of course he enjoyed the bit where a stray Stuka bomb took out a factory that I had occupied. Again luck was with me as there was only a HMG and Platoon HQ in the building at that time. H

The last file was sent last night but due to the forum being down I could not post. I won a pretty convincing victory in the end and the game ended with all the Soviets throwing up their hands with a total collaspe of morale. I will post exact details when I get home. The key turning point was in the last five or so turns when I managed to kill all the Russian tanks. With them out the way I was able to ravage the Soviets with DF HE from my tanks. Only one of the Soviet tanks (KV) was taken by the Stuka. The rest were whittled away by some good shots and careful use of the German tanks. IMO the key to the game is removing the Soviet tanks so that you can mount effective attacks on the various buildings held by the Soviets. Sewer movement was a total failure for me and of the four platoons I commited to this (all with +2 Stealth) I had about three squads turn up where they were sent. I perhaps sent them too deep as it was 23 turns or more moves under ground. Those four platoons would have been far more use above ground and I will never again use such long distance moves. I enjoyed the surprise of having Soviets behind my lines and these units caused me some pain. Lou my opponent messed up with one platoon of these and had them machine gunned down by me as he tried to move them across a street. The other group caused a lot more pain as I lost a useful Stug to some Tank Hunters. This is certainly a tough game for the attacker but it can be won if you use the right approach and work hard to co-ordinate your efforts. The Soviet airforce and artillery was a pain in the bum. I guess if Lou had better luck with his tanks I would have been in quite a different position. H

Hi, Just a quick answer to the question posed about sign up. When the sign up period is over the list will be scanned first for Vets of ROW I, II and III. These will be moved up the list to ensure that they have a place. Then Vets of any two of ROW's. Then Vets of any one ROW. Then overflow tourney players. Then anyone else if there is space. The only exclusion to this would be if Vets of ROW I, II, or III had dropped out of any of those tourneys. It would have to be considered if they had earned a Vet Status or would be grouped at the end. This would be I guess a case by case decision. The overiding aim is to get players who will stick with it and commit to playing the games in a reasonable time frame. This time frame will be established when the rules are issued. As for the issue on patches in the past we have stuck with the game as started. That way everyone is on a level playing field. The only way you could change that is if everyone in the tourney agreed to upgrade. If you have just one objection then it stays on the same level of patch. I hope this helps? H

Good news and thxs for the update. I had another instance yesterday where I could have done with the Patch being sorted. Excellent news. H

I still plan to get out to China at some stage in the next few years and will certainly do my best to swing by. The game is just about finished and it looks like a white wash unless the Soviets are hiding in the cellars. It would seem that I have been able to gain all flags. I am hoping to wrap the last turns up this weekend. A magnificient scenario and I have had a blast playing it. More comments to come.... H

Just finished this HTH Blind with a good player. I took the Canadians and managed to win a Tactical victory by taking the winery (nice Vino Tinto) and the main VP Flag across the river. Lost a single Sherman and rather too many men for my liking. The bridge was an absolute sod to cross and at one point very ready to throw the towel in as I had achieved a draw without having to lose shed loads of men on an exposed bridge. Really missed not having any serious Arty and this would have reduced casulties (for me anyway). I would think this would be damn hard to win if the Germans held the bridge and nobbled a few tanks. Getting across the bridge and keeping the few tanks alive is the real key. I really enjoyed the game on the whole (bar on spot of seeing all my men die on exposed bridge as the smoke lifted too soon.) The Italians were a waste of time and soon broke. They were placed in defensive positions around the winery and soon broke and a lot ended up with their hands up back inside the cellars. I absolutely loved the map and it looked the business. I would say the scenario favours the Germans and should be played HTH double blind to get some good PBEM moments out of it. Many thanks for the design.

Just finishing this off AAR to follow... Very good map and a highly recommended just to play on the map. Some sticky bits but more on that later tonight. H

Me tooooo... When it is ready let me know or e-mail it to me. Cheers H

Hi Redwolf, Getting buy in from players is a hard thing to do and if you have any suggestions to help with this then chime in. As WWB says things are being put in place to support ROWIV and if anyone has suggestions now is the time to speak up. Mail Kingfish or post them here. Cheers H

That last story has a ring of human truth about it. If I was inside enemy land and stuck inside my safe KV (for that period) I would stay put if I thought I had a chance of help arriving. You know that if you open your hatch you are likely to be shot by the Germans. What do you have to lose? Mind you I would think come night fall if I was on the outside with the Germans you would find a way to get some grenades or explosives on the side of a staionary tank with the crew having limited visibility. H

Mantra don't worry, not all vets will be playing so there might be a place or two... More on that later.... Just keep an eye on this area and ensure you sign up quickly. H

Hi, Sorry to raise a dead horse but just came across this looking for info on the scenario I am just playing with a mate. He got the Brits I got the Italians. Both playing it double blind. I would not recommend this for two player play unless it states that the Italians are on a hiding to nothing. The use of Maltildas by the British (sore subject ) means that the Italians are hard pushed to defeat them. The Italian crews being Green mean you can not engage in a long range shooting war. (Found this out too late ) I would imagine this is best suited as Italians against the British AI. I would also like to suggest this might be worth a revisit and change the scenario so it becomes an attempt to exit forces (Italians) not an attempt to hold ground. I think this would then make an excellent game for HTH play. The map IMO is very good and with a bit of tweaking this Scenario could become a stonker of a game for HTH play. Pretty good as it is for Italian vs AI play if you ignore the aspects of the forces etc... Many thanks Rune for your work and as always I am happy to explain further in a positive and constructive manner. Cheers H

Hi, Sorry to raise a dead horse but just came across this looking for info on the scenario I am just playing with a mate. He got the Brits I got the Italians. Both playing it double blind. I would not recommend this for two player play unless it states that the Italians are on a hiding to nothing. The use of Maltildas by the British (sore subject ) means that the Italians are hard pushed to defeat them. The Italian crews being Green mean you can not engage in a long range shooting war. (Found this out too late ) I would imagine this is best suited as Italians against the British AI. I would also like to suggest this might be worth a revisit and change the scenario so it becomes an attempt to exit forces (Italians) not an attempt to hold ground. I think this would then make an excellent game for HTH play. The map IMO is very good and with a bit of tweaking this Scenario could become a stonker of a game for HTH play. Pretty good as it is for Italian vs AI play if you ignore the aspects of the forces etc... Many thanks Rune for your work and as always I am happy to explain further in a positive and constructive manner. Cheers H

Hi, Cheers and I shall point him at this thread and get him to do what is suggested. I guess he is asleep at the moment. H

Hi, No compression whatsoever. File sent to your Hotmail Address. Very odd as the first time it happened I asked him to double check and he has and re did his turn. So not sure what is happening. A scenario by Combined Arms, a dodgy designer if ever there was one. H

Hi, File sent to me of CMAK from KR in Australia is refusing to load up on my American Version of CMAK. I believe KR has American version as he lives in Australia. He swears he has created game file on CMAK. (I can not load it onto any of the other games.) Has anyone had this issue of incompatible CMAK PBEM files? I can send his file to anyone to see if they can load it up. It fails before Password prompt so if you can load it to that stage then it might be my copy of CMAK to fault? However, I am in the midst of other CMAK games (PBEM) with no problems, even vs other CDV versions of the game. Any help gratefully receieved. H

Hi Thxs for the response. I have just waded through the morass of thought on those pages... Phewwww..... Right I have seen it said by some how they use the List page and how poor the page is. I can see their POV but for me I don't care what I play as long as it is somewhat balanced or tells me which side the stronger player should take. The list allows me to zoom in on what people have rated highly. I don't search by type of game just what is rated highly. As long as I can still pull up a list of all the scenarios with five stars and which have had a lot of people rate them. One or two reviews don't count in my search. (Sorry but that is the way I look). So if I could see a list with the scenarios listed by the total number of 5 stars that would be great. Perhaps you could produce a total by doing the following. Each star is worth a point and you add all those points up based on each persons review. I.e. 3 review it as 1 = 3pts etc.. This would give you a variable rating. I am glad you are keeping the list page and if ou can intriduce a search on star rating (or whatever it ends up being,) that would be great. H

Hi, Capdog, We are into our last few turns and it has taken a turn for the worst for the Defender and looking good for my attackers. Just waiting for the sewers to release my four platoons that have got lost in the tunnels. I won't be doing that again as I would have been better placed with them on the top rather than underground for the last 26 turns. A good scenario and I will elborate more this weekend if we manage to complete it. Also looking forward to reading all the points above this and seeing how I compare. If you have some time to test a few scenarios let me know as I have switched sides for a certain event and become a gamekeeper rather than a poacher. H

Hi, What I really use and want to continue is the ability to find games that are balanced for HtH play. If all the authors go over to text based responses then this will be lost and I will not be bothered to search through all the scenarios trying to find that. Will you continue to provide the top ten list or allow us to search for balanced games? I have limited game time and want to ensure a good game for both players. I feel cheated when I end up playing something where one or the other player has a side which stands little chance of winning. Not fun IMO. H

Ohhhjoy of joy just tried to play a UK mate with a CDV version of the game... So any news of a Patch? H

Sorry guys I am being lazy / pressed for time and want to ask if the thread has discussed search features. The way I use the Depot is to try and find balanced scenarios for HTH Double Blind Play. I only tend to look at the page where the top ten are shown. It would be useful to be able to have more shown in a ranking. So display on a page all the scenarios reviewed for HTH play (PBEM Suitability etc..)and show them ranked in order of the balance, or perhaps by any of the other ratings if you could re sequence it by your own choice. A bit like how you use Excel to sort data. Not sure if I have explained myself well? Or if it has been brought up before? As for getting people to review this is an ongoing push of awareness and places like here and the main forum will help in maing people aware. H P.s. Just checked the other search feature and perhaps that could be expanded so you could pull up a list of scenarios with your chosen rating or higher. I.e. I could enter a 9 on PBEM Balance and see what comes up, even if it has not had many reviews. [ January 14, 2004, 07:08 AM: Message edited by: Holien ]

Hi, E-mail sent to you and thanks for posting your view on this. I was just in a rant mode on Sunday and wanted to sound off as I like to keep places for what they were intended.. Reviews... H

Hi Runyan99. I would rather not get into specifics but I have noticed twice now where someone jumps on a reviewer (perhaps legitimately) by posting a zero rated review. Just narks me off that someone other than the designer needs to jump in. By all means try and engage the person in debate by private e-mail or here on the forum but not by jumping at them in the review section. H