dieseltaylor

The advantage of playing on huge maps ... The effect is that you can have recon units that are effective in the correct role because you cannot cover the map with enough eyes. I have just spent 4 turns chasing a German AC with T34's because it got around behind me. Now when I say chase I got within 84 metres but that AI is no slouch popping smoke like a train and going hell for leather. My opponent and I were very impressed. A battalion of Inf and 20 plus tanks is not that overwhelmimg on a huge map so snipers, LMG's, AC's all have an important role. Mind you if you do not mind having units sneak behind you no worries....

No. It works realistically at present.Your suggestion seems to be using your 100% vision to micromanage the game. I think the game is great because the AI attempts to give realistic behaviour to groups of men. IMHO

Huge map preference. You do not have to utilise all the space but it does provide less certainty than having hard edges to your battlefield. Also it does mean you as the commander do have to seriously consider your force mix and tactics in light of soft flanks. All those who buy ubertanks relying on the edge of the board to cover their flanks in advancing really have to worry about their tactics. Speedy and light units are a justifiable buy and with 3000 points tanks bogging is not the critical game losing disaster it can be in small games. Flags can be spread or centralised and given the distances between it can give some interesting decisions on whether you go for all or not and how heavy a deployment you make for your objectives. With 3000 you get a battalion inf , 3 platoons plus artillery and light stuff so you are using reasonable size assets without having to go short. Its the best scale IMHO

Go to "Opponent Finder Forum" !!!! which is another forum on this web-site !! I have played a relative newby at Deadly Affair which is nice and short and on your CD. You will find that you can play it against the AI but put a human in and everything becomes different. A good chance to practice but without investing huge amounts of time. Do point out your are a newbie. You could also register here http://central.masterzen.net/index.php?showforum=68 Good luck, have fun

If you put the following into the search engine it will lead you to a lengthy thread on firing practice etc you will have to follow the links from it as well. Andreas , as usual , nails it. unlimber time or even flak 88 I have not read all of the threads but it is a game thing. In theory you could fire on the move and move quite quickly. On the original CMBO most people would be shot for putting such long range equipment into a short range battlefield. Hence its restriction in the game. This is certainly true in the 'Road to Sevastapol' also. Whether it is true of the game in total I do not know. However the tractors were a very rare resource on the Eastern Front and given mortar fire, planes, and decent size HE shells from tanks and artillery it would be unlikely that you would do to much prancing around in a fluid game. So fundamentally it looks to me like a game fudge to stop people using them ahistorically. Thats fine by me!

The answer is obvious Rex is not used to them and the AI factors it into the game QED "In our regular Sunday afternoon TCP game my buddy decided to go for the uber-cat and bought a Jagdpanther to the field. We normally stay away from the very heavy stuff so I hadn't seen this problem before." Incredible programming BTS my helmet is doffed. By the way on a tanks first unleashing on the enemy [ presuming they have not released pretty pictures of it on the test track ] how do you describe it? Most soldiers might be in the descriptive " I was **** scared but it was ******* big!" class. So what period were you playing? Given the limited number of Jagdpanthers they would not be seen often anyway. So Panther class .. seems reasonable to me. Of course what gets my goat is cowering from Tiger's that ain't - or come to that vice-versa .....

Darn! Whenever I get to the stage of bemoaning what a useless bunch of ignorant layabouts teenagers are someone proves me wrong... Goodonya sport! Teenagers today don't know how lucky they are ...... etc

Yes you have it. Quick deployment possible then hours to re-limber [well longer than the game then]

Nicely concise. I could use this as a check list. Especially important for me as I have only played one defensive battle out of about 50 games in CMBB

Works for me! Recent game one pass one M17 and the plane never came back. I do wonder where you had placed your AA guns - is there a secret we should know? Where they all grouped closely?, in plane site? [i couldn't resist] Was it V1.03?

I'll bet this works best on the Opponent Finder Forum ......

Wow! rariety off is a different ballgame. Please disregard all previous thoughts as the ZIS2 is good value. Of course you can now have a Churchill aswell. Thinks have only played about 50 games and all with variable rariety..... JasonC has the correct tactics [d***]

I have played my brother many times 1943 and with modest hills and trees the Russians have a reasonable chance. Remember to set variable rarity as this can make for some great purchases. Valentines are really worth considering as the English 6pounder 57mm is the best anti-tank gun you can get. I bought it as cheaply as 70 points. Cheaper than a 45mm AT and a transport and much more versatile. Certainly cheaper than the ZIS 57mm AT which does not always arrive with the necessary tungsten needed to make it a killer. Try and play on a large [huge] map so you can use higher numbers of infantry and tanks to get around his Tigers. Also using the speed of the T34' you can normally arrive at the flags before him and drop of a welcoming committee. ....lol Next invest in some cheap off - board mortars and drop smoke around him or even around your own defensive positions. And do not forget those nice cheap 45's that can be smuggled into wodds to flank fire at his lighter stuff. Lots of options to play with. Airplanes can occasionally work and you should buy them every so often to keep him wasting money on AA assets. He will also spread his tanks wider apart. If all else fails just play alternate games as the Germans and you get to use the forces he used against you .....

QB ME 3000 pointers but on huge maps so you have floating flanks to worry about - or to savour. Not particularly worried about ubertanks because with floaty flanks you can attempt to work around the flanks [ unless of course someone has set up billiard table with no trees.]It does also mean that light elements and halftracks are logical purchases. Also a sort of spatial awareness comes into the game as you have to calculate the time to reinforce one area or another or to time your attacks in. Much more of balancing act as units cannot easily command a battlefield from one position - there are probably several key features other than the flags Humans to choose normally. Random for most things but I cannot abide snow or cities. Win or lose you should still learn and enjoy

Right or wrong the Order of Lenin goes to Denizen for his valiant efforts and the way he has presented his argument. Splendid sleuthing. Armedeo - you could have said the link was totally in Russian ....... But nice work , I think. Thanks to you both as an inspiration to the rest of the board. And now there are Russian players perhaps the translating can become easier

I like to choose my force but to prevent uber-tanking if you leave the terrain at random , and any other factors you like, you need to get a balanced force. I always choose the area i.e. North, Central etc so I have a rough idea what the genaral terrain and weather ought to be .[Thinks does the random engine look at region?] I always avoid not knowing if there will be snow because that makes a huge differnce to tactics and therefore force selection. Particularly if you play over very large maps!!! Best of all chose your own troops and play a human , failing that someone who posts on the bulletin board ....

V. nice ... thanks for the link Now where can I get a T35

Fraps I think would allow you to knit all your AVI movies together. However you are going to be doing a sort of Directors cut. If you use PBEMHelper you can pull up each movie, either sides views, on after the other and then roam the battlefields as you wish. I have not tried this side of PBEMHelper but apparently it works

I always thought the British forces more all-round in CMBO. Fireflies , 95mm gun armed tanks, 2" mortar and cheap 3" made them good value against the Germans.

I've used a tiny little freebie called FRAPS. worked a treat as I swooped around the battlefield. At the high frame rate I used [too high] a minute = 427 MB avi movie. That is the raw capture and then if you are keen you use a compression programme to get it to a reasonable length. The size possibly added to me moving and zooming over a very large map. It does not do sound but I believe there is a workaround. Site is www.fraps.com

If I was unsporting .... 2 King Tigers 2 Hetzers and spare change in infantry if the terrain is bumpy and wooded .... no difference!

Re Napoleons etc Battle of Trafalgar gets 2.25 sides of A4 size. Complete list of ships , captains, numbers lossed and wounded per ship and state of ship at the end Brief comment on global view but no battle details But for mentioning and detail on all incidents e.g. 12/7/1801 Algeciras Naval Clash 27 lines 15/08/01 Boulogne Naval Clash 10 lines [incidentally Nelson was in command for this!] French losses10 KIA 30 wounded [gunboat crews] British 44 KIA 144 wounded so it does go down to skirmish level The sub heading for the book is Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards and Artillery 1792-1815 The author is also known as Otto von Pivka and has written Navies of the Napoleonic Wars

Thanks Michael I am in limbo at the moment b'cos most of my reference stuff is stored up at the moment. I am not really a grog but I like books in general. I think what you refer to is part of a series - I think I have one on the Jap army and one other. On Naps I got - The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book [582 page] by Digby Smith isbn 1-85367-276-9 remaindered for about 15bucks .Incredibly exhaustive day by day account of all skirmishes. Including naval landings in the Baltic etc etc. A bit like a phone book in reciting who was there who lost what etc

I buy them,or half-tracks, in meeting engagements where I have purchased large guns. Keeps me honest. I do not want to start a debate about it it is just a personal thing. If the AT/gun assets are intrinsic to a battalion purchase that is a different case. They appear to be very attractive to fighters so you can save other assets I can conceive of times where I could use them on a road to get infantry and guns to a place ultra quick. Obviously you need to way up the risk but it could be a coup de main[?]. Very satisfying if it works.

Fascinating mathematics. So with 2 Divisions the population density must have been quite high. A few thoughts spring to mind Hard to set up any defence in depth with a restricted area. I assume that the naval forces present had no trouble shooting beyond the perimeter and then the air power to interdict moving columns reacting to a foray into the rear of the Germans. Reliable information from the Italians available? It does appear that gaining [some]the overlooking hills at least would have been a smart move. I am with Andreas and Michael on this one.