dieseltaylor

As the forces are chosen I must say how I was entranced by the tank dispositions and the AA complement - I have to assume that on a clear day in Russia you felt that you were suitably safe. I ran two tests to refresh my failing memory as to how soon planes could arrive and in one test it was 4 minutes and in another 15 minutes in a 30 turn game. In both cases both planes were pretty much together. When playing Russians it's always worth a punt as the Russian artillery is great but immobilising a Tiger on the start line or shooting up a few half tracks normally upsets the German player. To be perfectly honest I do not think the map is large enough or the terrain lumpy enough to allow much manoeuvre for the defence. I think particularly where the mobile element ideally wants side angles. However not being fully in on the original set-up I assume it is designed for its purpose. : )

I think the giveaway is the ramrod that followed the musketball : )

JD Salt. I think it is right and proper that evaluation is carried out at testing ranges. However perhaps I ought to make explicit what I was implying. If dropping a large number of obsolescent bombs meant I could get more newly dated ones under a War budget and incidentally save transporting them back to the US, and have some fun, and call it a "test" - I would. Obviously I am a tight-fisted devious fun-loving individual - but then nobody is perfect. And also some one who likes black propaganda as an elegant instrument to wreck reputations and discredit.

This is how "keen" the Iranians are on the report So a big if from them -and I would doubt nuclear completely. Getting some jollies out of dumping ordinance - sure. I take on board the need to synchronise explosions but do not see any reason why it should not be carried out over enemy territory. My favoured approach is it is black information to the detriment of Mr Brown and his organisation and potentially the Iranian Govt.. Well worth a punt if I were in charge of disinformation etc.

Given the known arsenal in of weapons in 1991 it does look unlikely - but unlikely is not an absolute answer. I understand open desert is a favoured place for testing weaponry John - not that I think it was nuclear. If I was to be fanciable and have a quantity of old BLU82 bombs carted laboriously to the theatre and was curious what the effect would be of them dropped together rather than individually I might be tempted to find out before the war ended. Just an idle thought. On a more likely note could it be just black misinformation put out to embarrass the Iranians. Ignoring the item would be impossible but jumping on it too heavily might result in egg on the face. Dammed either way.

Searching for cowering brings many hits on the CMBB forum. This from BD6 I thought quite telling as to the emasculation of of Russian tanks:

Cowering is the very upsetting behaviour where decent Russian tanks see a German tank glancing at them and rather than fire to destroy it they back away in case it decides to turn its turret and glare at them : ) Intensely irritating and one has the feeling it was coded in generally and not changed when the more heavily gunned and armoured Russian tanks arrived. What with this and substandard penetration figures it does make it less satisfying than it ought to be. CMAK is a big improvement with less bogging, less cowering and generally more satisfying to play.

BD6 CMBB is flawed with the 76mm problem, the fortification problem, cowering, sub-morale, and bogging [perhaps]. Since CMAK I play CMBB very little. A ratio of about 110 to 19 since June 2004. When playing CMBB I consistently preferred played on the largest maps - with 2000 - 3000 point games. My reasoning for playing large CMBB was because I knew hail fire worked and that the biggest maps means movement is possible rather than always staring at the front end of German tanks. I am against prescribing what your opponent can and cannot buy so contented myself with having casualties on and variable rarity which meant German, or even Russian cherry-picking was made hazardous. I had many many fun games on that basis but it was never totally satisfying given the cowering behaviour. And avoiding early war morale hits. ...etc.

Curiously today we had two UK papers reporting on GM crops. A big deal in the EU were believing what big corporations and Govt. tell you is greeted with hefty scepticism. Adulterated food, thalidomide etc live on as examples of trust gone wrong. Anyway from the Independent: Just at the same time we have genetic wonder tomatoes revealed and being useful against many illnesses: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5014788.ece Interesting times. In both cases the main problem is that of unforeseen consequences. However there is no doubt that the GM crops can harm and hybridise. Do you believe people with a vested interest in making money from these products think through all the ways things could go wrong or is a pay packet more immediately relevant.

Very interesting. However such a coincidence might be more interesting if we knew the frequency of earthquakes of that size in the area. Once a century very interesting twice a year less so. The Defence statement is beautifully crafted - ruling out nuclear but not airburst. The uptick in illness is very likely DU however the possibility that these large bombs actually create some exotic VOC cocktail that can be inhaled downwind of the blast should not be dismissed. It would have been useful if the article had suggested where the SCUDs were launched from - however if they were mobile [likely] it may have been a reported possible location that got targeted. Or possibly they wanted to use one somewhere : ) First call though is rarity of that size seismic disturbance.

Nice going JK - thats really good digging. SO - re 400 infantry divisions with 45's. I understand that but my contention would be that out of those 400 divisions how many are actually active? I have not looked at the dispositions of number of Russian units but my thoughts are: Nobody has actually quantified out of the enormous number of 45's manufactured how many tens of thousands were lost to the Germans in the early war. To that we could add the presumption that 45's would be the stock weapon for the troops on the Japanese border. Facing the Finn's would you feel the need to send your 57mm's or would you put them to active fronts against the better armour? Not important points but compared to just looking at total production numbers definitely more refined. Infact working backwards if we know what the manifest of ATG's is for each division/force it would give a reasonable idea of how many were in issue.

Excellent!

Bren Gun Carriers - its a team which usefully covers you spotter [with radio], PIAT crew, sniper, 2" mortar, or even a Bren gun! Small and nippy they, and the Universal carrier, can go through barbed wire - unlike halftracks. I have just checked and a Bren carrier will also carry your platoon HQ, or a recon half squad [4 men]. They will not carry the 3" mortar despite it being only 3 men as the ammo is chunky. Things to watch for are forgetting its already loaded! forgetting to move it amongst all the fun.

Unless you have a temperature compensated gauge it is a bit tricky. Amazingly we are told to take the readings in the morning - but my tyre pressure is what it should read at 70F. So if its freezing in the morning I am meant to calculate the real pressure! I just about can. And whilst on the fuel thing

taken from a Canadian Toyota fansite. Actual cost CDN$93 though some places sell them at $150 and the set-up cost Cdn$47 every time you change from winter to summer and vice versa. The strip down of a TPMS shows the parts at under $10 so the car manufacturers are using this to make super profits. I am in favour of TPMS but mandating it whilst there is no cheap common system would be a rip-off. There are cheap tags you can put on tyre valves that will alert you to low pressure - providing you look at the tyres.

There will be sufficient dickheads to lie - and you cannot guarantee that they will cancel each other out. I understand that the US , unlike a lot of countries, has more than one thing to be voted on which adds to the confusion - and leads people to machines. It would be more satisfactory to divorce the various votes and spread the voting dates about. Here is a sample of what is on offer in Sonoma County on November 4th: http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/sn/ You can work your way through all the choices : ) incidentally this is from Wired in 2004 Trustworthy bunch.

Don't worry - they'll throw him back : )

GJK. Perhaps it would be fairer for the Government to fund various organisations, of any persuasion, to hack the system. Then we should be able to rely on the various vested interests trying their darndest for the safest system : )

Possibly ... The test vehicle was a 220D from 1973 : ) More imminent

Thats why CMBO is not played. Buy CMAK, very much improved AI and new commands with converted scenarios available. Go to the scenario depot and see the hundreds available .... http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/

MSB. True. Two party systems bring out the worst as compromising has no benefit. Voting with proportional representation is more likely to prevent abuse. Voting machines suck and should not be allowed

And heres how: [no need for chads] Ten thousand New Jersey voting machines produced by Sequoia Voting Systems are highly vulnerable to tampering, according to a Princeton University report published Friday on a judge’s orders. The release is the result of a lawsuit instituted by Democratic lawmakers and Coalition for Peace Action. Someone trying to manipulate the Nov. 4 election could install vote-stealing software on the machines in as little as eight minutes. And anyone at a polling place can easily change or eliminate votes, by either purposefully or accidentally pressing particular buttons located on the electronic, touch screen-equipped machines, the Princeton Packet reports. ”You can easily change the outcome of an election in a very low-tech way, said Professor Penny Venetis of the Rutgers University Constitutional Litigation Clinic, which has led the four-year legal challenge of the machines. http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4126

I am interested also. And I am going to discuss with Costard off forum what I think so far : ) Just a couple of questions - is it an Assault or an attack - I am guessing attack but wanted to be sure on the points available. And from your comments I guess anything goes bar the armour 50% rule? Is there any rarity on?

Original item was brilliant - but unfortunately irrelevant

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9226/ww2.html Interesting to see an italian view of the naval battles - not a professional piece but heartfelt. Adds a few bits I was unaware of. Showing how bloody the Italian subs battle was http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/SubLosses/SS_losses-italian.html