Bimmer

Here are a couple of wide shots that show how the fields are often laid out. These are from southern Devon, which is hillier than Normandy, but this makes it easier to see the layout of the fields.

OK, here's a few shots of typical bocage. These were taken near Longues-sur-Mer. You can see how difficult it is to see through the foliage at a distance, and how tangled the branches are. This particular hedge was made up of fairly young growth; some include considerably larger trees. Also visible is the high berm on which the hedge is perched; this is quite typical, and would provide excellent cover. There are not many of the small roads/paths bounded on both sides by bocage, but there are a few. I was unable to get photos of these, but they are extremely narrow and would be almost impossible to maneuver in for any vehicle larger than a bicycle. The bocage on either side is often heavy old growth with many large trees, creating a sort of tunnel effect.

There don't seem to be any gendarmes in France any more, just speed cameras. I haven't figured out a way to moon them at more than 110kph, but I'm working on it.

I'll see what I can do. I've been to St. Lo and Hill 112 in past visits, but I'm not sure I'll make it out there this time. I might have a couple of wide shots from 112 at home; I'll check when I get back. I'll try to find some bocage, but as noted above, it's not so common any more. I do have some shots from Devon in southern England, where the hedgerows are far more intact than what's left in Normandy. Heading up along the beaches today. No nude beaches I'm aware of, but they'd probably be full of 350-pound Germans anyway. Unless that's the sort of subject matter you were looking for....

I'm in Normandy, based in Bayeux, for the next three days. If anyone has any photo requests, I'll try to get some shots, though I can't promise anything.

Since wire comms were obviously most useful for defenders or in static positions, I wonder if fortifications could be made to include "radios" simulating field telephones, or at least offer the option of purchasing fortifications so equipped. Not perfect, certainly, but it might offer a reasonable work-around.

I had a problem with corrupted PBEM files once or twice very early on, but switching over to a Dropbox exchange solved all those problems, and made things a lot easier besides. Highly recommended.

When on the attack, I usually look at the map and plan out where I'm going to move, then consider where I would least like to encounter defenders. Put another way, if I was defending and knew the axis of advance, where would I set up? Wherever that is gets plastered. If there's nobody home, that's fine; either way, I've got an easier shot at making my advance successfully. Given the delays, I tend to use the larger stuff in preliminary barrages and save things like battalion mortars for contingencies.

Looking good. It would be nice to see a laminate stock for the Kar98 as well.

Judging by the pre-war buildings I've seen in Normandy, a pretty good percentage of them (especially the older rural houses and farm buildings, and the ground floor of many in town) have stone walls a good 8-12 inches thick. That should be enough to protect against rifle-caliber rounds. I've got some photos - I'll try to dig up a couple of good examples.

What I've set up with a couple friends who also play is a single shared folder with subfolders for each player, almost like mailboxes. Just drop the outgoing file in your opponent's mailbox and it can be retrieved at leisure. Check your mailbox and you instantly see what's waiting for you.

***SPOILERS*** My own little AAR for Ecoqueneuville: Looking over the map I figured I'd push two platoons up in a wide sweep, bypassing as many of the bocage-bounded fields as I could, and using a squad of attached engineers to blast through where necessary. The main road would be the unit boundary between the two up platoons. The remaining infantry platoon, the weapons platoon, and the attached armor would be held in reserve. Two clusters of buildings would form intermediate objectives, with troops consolidating at each before resuming the advance. Machine gun teams would displace forward when each of these was captured. The initial advance went well. Scattered resistance, where encountered, was broken with concentrated fire from the rifle platoons. The medium machine gun teams were brought forward a couple of times to support where necessary. The first set of buildings was seized with few losses. By now fire from the buildings in the town was becoming more intense, but was not enough to significantly slow the advance. With the seizure of the second intermediate objective, which included a tall building with good overwatch on the village center, a base of fire was established with machine guns. The light mortars of the weapons platoon were brought up, while the additional machine gun teams were moved into covering positions. As the tanks were being brought to holding positions in the yards of the first intermediate objective, the lead unit was destroyed by fire from a concealed AT gun firing down the road. This was brought under concentrated machine gun fire, which kept it suppressed until it could be destroyed by assault. The platoon on the right blasted its way through the churchyard to establish a base of fire through the village center. From here it was able to support the advance of the platoon on the left through the village. The AT gun was destroyed by a combination of close assault and light mortar fire. The assaulting units were fired upon by a hidden unit (which turned out to be the Company HQ), which caused significant casualties (40% of those sustained in the engagement). This too was destroyed by mortar fire and assault. The village was cleared, with several prisoners taken and no remaining enemy resistance. Friendly casualties totaled 31, with one tank lost. The reserve platoon was not engaged, and no non-organic artillery assets were employed.

Just finished the second battle and I'm really enjoying it. I'd be enjoying it more if I hadn't run into a rather fanatical company HQ that pretty much doubled my casualties in the closing turns.

For whomever might be interested: Q93000, 6GB RAM, Vista 64, eVGA GTS250. Trying to start up a PBEM game of "Closing the Gap". First file OK, first return file OK, then game crashed - full BSOD lockup - when I close after entering password and saving file 003. File is saved in outgoing directory, but fails to appear in the game menu for my opponent. I copied it to the incoming email directory and checked on my machine; same deal. Tried to rerun the turn; same crash.

Delving into my personal ammo stash, five 70-round bandoliers of 7.92x57 light ball in 5-round stripper clips weighs approximately 19.5 pounds. German heavy ball would have weighed a bit more (154-grain vs. 198-grain).

My approach to using the armor on the American side was to split it up, send half to each exit from the covered road, and rush it quickly toward covered positions closer to the town. I expected to lose about half; I did a little better than that, but losses are inevitable if the Panthers are up on the ridge. Next time through I may try a heavy smokescreen dropped on the Panthers' position (assuming they do the same thing) with the 105s, though they have proved quite useful in slowing down the German hordes with HE.

That would be very helpful, especially for tanks and machineguns. In rereading Doubler's discussion of 29th ID bocage tactics (essentially what's been included in the scenario briefing for Busting the Bocage) the single tank per field was supposed to lay suppressive fire along the entire facing hedgerow, something that is not easily achieved right now (in WEGO, at least).

Seems like most have had similar ideas about how to approach this one, myself included. I pre-plotted my 105s in a slow area barrage covering the entire village in hopes of keeping it suppressed while I swung one platoon down the right with a pair of PSWs. This seemed to work fairly well, and I was able to reach the small wood behind the crossroads and the adjacent fields with no losses. I brought the two HMGs from the right side down as well to set up flanking fire on the village. Once this was accomplished (~10 minutes) I began moving the second platoon down the orchards in the middle behind a rolling smoke screen (two linear smoke missions, one behind the other, one mortar each, 3-4 minutes apart). This got them in relatively cleanly, though a few losses occurred as the smoke cleared. The remaining American infantry seemed largely unaffected by the barrage and was putting up a fight, though they were badly outnumbered. The tank battle evolved very slowly and sporadically, as the Shermans and M10s seemed quite reluctant to come out under the guns of the Panthers. By the end of the battle I had killed most of them, but they'd taken down two Marders and a PSW as I pushed them forward. I continued to push the second platoon forward into the buildings, but they began to take losses from unsuppressed infantry firing from the CP area. I was unable to get effective suppressing fire on these with the assets I had in the area, and I wanted to hold the Panthers guns ready to deal with any tanks that might appear. I tried to run two Marders into the village through the orchards; one made it, and proceeded to demolish the CP buildings from 40m. The second platoon had no further difficulty mopping up that area. Meanwhile, first platoon had reached the wood with the small stone bridge. I now assaulted along the dry streambed into the rear of the village, sweeping though the remains of mortar teams and stragglers from the barrage. A plucky bazooka team killed three with a single shot before being felled themselves, but otherwise this was merely tying up loose ends. I was very happy with the result, and more happy that it played out authentically. All the basic rules that should apply seemed to do so. Play it smart and get fire superiority and you're likely to be able to move forward; rush into things hoping for the best and you probably won't like the result.

Yeah, my MG teams have been drawing tank fire like flies due to highly dubious decision-making on their part. An adjustment to this behavior would be most welcome (in lieu of target-specific cover arcs, which I understand are some way off, yes?).

Pfffft......

All this delay is putting quite the dent in my single malt reserves. BFC fix or do somefink!

The pre-order for this damn game should have included a script for Xanax or something.

It seems to me that, for much of the ground covered by this particular game, large maps are not worth the effort (speaking as a scenario designer). The nature of the terrain makes close fighting the norm, and force densities are such that there would have been little opportunity to wander a klick down the road to look for a better way around without running into an adjoining friendly unit or more of the enemy. Wide-open maneuver is just not going to be very common in anything remotely historical, with the exception of perhaps D and D+1 (especially the airborne), or specific penetrations, which would likely fall mostly outside the scope of the game. I'm not opposed the large maps and scenarios - I made a full-scale version of Meyer's attack on the Canadians in CMAK, with a map that extended from Les Buissons to Carpiquet inclusive - but I don't see much use for them in this particular corner of the war. Now, if you're going beyond in location or time frame, then all bets are off.

Refighting the Civil War in AACW via PBEM. In April 1863, the Union is driving south toward Richmond after an abortive attempt on Washington by Jackson and Longstreet, and has just taken Nashville, in case you were wondering.

The phrase "inspired by actual events" keeps coming to mind every time I see "semi-historical."