Gremlin

You may find some useful tips in these articles: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm

Hi, You can find answers to some of these questions in the artillery article here: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm

There's a series of beginner's guides at Manx's excellent site: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm The articles cover artillery, light vehicles, tanks and heavy vehicles, intelligence, combined arms, overwatch, reserves, and related topics. [ 06-11-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I'd like to add, that to the best of my knowledge, BTS didn't advertise in any of the three American PC gaming mags before or when glowing reviews of CM were printed in each of them. The gaming press most certainly reviews games regardless/independently of who buys advertising. The advertising and editorial departments are separate. If you see reviews of a game with a big advertising push, it's probably because many gamers have an interest in it. I've seen sites and magazines pan highly promoted games many, many times, so please don't imply that journalists are on the take or whatever. I've done a lot of gaming journalism for quite some time, and I've _never_ seen any indication of sites or mags being swayed by advertising.

double post [ 05-25-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

You may find these articles useful: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm They don't deal specifically with tactics for Axis armor alone, but they do feature general pointers that certainly apply.

Re: German man-portable AT weapons (including the Hafthohlladung) used on the Eastern Front, you may find this interesting: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/gremlin/panzerknacker/panzerknacker.asp

"Werde mich er der Sache mal annehmen!" The sentence looks a bit ungrammatical, actually. Since there's no "ich" ("I") at the beginning, the verb "werde" could be in the third-person present subjunctive mood: "if only he would" That's debatable, though, since the sentence is using the indirect address form of the subjunctive (Konjunktiv I). This form is infrequently employed for a simple hypothetical use, too, though. "I'll look into it myself/handle it myself" should be, afaik, "Ich werde mich (selbst) der Sache (mal) annehmen." or "Ich nehme mich der Sache an." I think your sentence may mean something like, "If only he'd handle it for me!" What was the context or the surrounding sentences? [ 05-10-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I don't know if these will answer your specific questions, but you may find these tutorials useful, particularly when you start playing the full game: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm

Works fine for me. Trying clearing your browser history and/or going to the site and refreshing the browser.

Armdchair, thanks for the additional sources. I can easily imagine that Grossman's work has come under at least equal scrutiny as Marhsall's, given its controversial points, as well as the way in which they're shaped. Not very far into the book, I'm already struck by what appears to be a tendency to overgeneralize and conveniently select sources, if you know what I mean. That said, a lot of what he says is also rather convincing, and certainly thought provoking and interesting.

I'm currently reading an intriguing book that I wanted to share a little about since it should be of interest to many here, both in terms of general military history and the accuracy of CM. The book is called On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a former Army Ranger and paratrooper, psychology teacher at West Point, and Professor of Military Science at Arkansas State University. I'ts currently in print, published by Back Bay Books/Little Brown. It's a sociological/psychological/historical study of killing, particularly in the context of the American military. I've only started reading it and apologize if I misrepresent it, but the basic thesis as I understand it is that humans have an extremely strong instinctive aversion to killing their own species, and the demands of war, which urge soldiers to do just that, are at the root of the massive numbers of "psychological casualties" in war, not merely fear or fatigue, but rather being forced to override that instinct. Also (here's the CM-relevant part), the book notes that the US Army conducted a massive study after WWII that found that only 15-20 % of US soldiers would fire their guns at the enemy. The rest intentionally missed, didn't shoot at all, found other tasks to do, like calling out targets, helping the wounded, running messages, etc. (That study is summarized in S.L.A. Marshall's book Men Against Fire.) Further studies have shown that figures along those lines were apparently common to most wars prior to WWII, and likely to troops of other nations in WWII. Also, the book argues that the US armed forces quickly learned from that surprising discovery, implementing conditioning programs (think Pavlov and Skinner) to help raise the firing figure to around 90% by the Vietnam War. Essentially, they have aimed to create killing machines--probably the appopriate term since drills aim to create machine-like, unthinking responses to certain combat situations. Also, the book argues that the media have adopted similar conditioning techniques (though not for the same purpose) that help overcome the natural reticence to kill our own kind, with enormous social consquences. The book references numerous studies, interviews with combat vets, combat memoirs, and so forth. That is, it's a readable but scholarly book. It's a fascinating read for anyone interested in the heart of warfare and what it puts soldiers through. It goes into great detail about combat-related psychological illness, the psychology of killing, combat atrocities, and so forth. From the reviews I read of the book, it seems like a particularly valuable read for anyone who either is or knows a combat veteran. Sorry for the long post, but this book seems to have some very important things to say that relate to warfare and violence. [ 04-28-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

I'm sorry some of you guys haven't been able to load the articles I use IE 5, and they look correct to me. Please email Manx directly about the problem, on the off chance he misses this thread. Thanks.

DeanCo, that's awesome! If anyone deserves the opportunity, it's you. DeanCo and I have talked about game design a lot, and he definitely has a true appreciation for both CM and games in general, not to mention artistic talent. Expect the usual excellent work

Thanks, Brian. I'm glad people are finding the articles useful

You may find my Boot Camp articles over at Combat Missions useful.

Thanks. Hopefully I'll be able to add to the series. They're the sort of articles I wish I could have found when I was new to CM.

Glad you found them useful. It seems that sticking to the basics and being patient will bring victories more readily than trying to be too clever, something I used to do and regret [ 04-24-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

You may have seen the news during the sidewalk sale, but if not, there's a brand new article in the series that Manx has posted--same link as above. It covers combined arms, overwatch, suppression, intelligence, and other important concepts of mutual support among units. The article is geared towards newer players, but hopefully anyone can enjoy it and find something useful in it. Thanks again to Manx for posting the articles.

You may find my introductory guides, including one on artillery, useful: http://www.combat-missions.net/bootcamp/bootcamp.htm

Hello all, Some of you may remember the series of "Combat Mission Boot Camp" articles I wrote a while back. These are detailed introductory guides for the newer CM player and anyone wanting a refresher on some basic tactics and concepts. Article topics so far include artillery, half-tracks and light vehicles, and tanks and other heavy AFV's. The illustrated articles include explanations and tips. I had wanted to revise and expand the articles but never found time due to work and other obligations. (I've been out of the CM loop for a while, sadly.) Hopefully I'll get around to that and write new articles too. Manx, who posted them originally, has kindly reposted them at his superb site, Combat Missions. Many thanks to Manx and all those who sent me feedback in the past. [ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

Not all of us jeered. As a rule, editors (and folks in the graphics dept.) are the ones responsible for what you see on the cover of a magazine, the table of contents page, and often article intros and headings. Of course, they often alter writers' text to an extent as well. Don't be too quick to blame writers for what may be totally out of their hands. ------------------ I pity the fool, thug, or soul who tries to take over the world, then goes cryin' home to his momma. --Mr. T

Well, if you want to go that route, you could just disable cookies on your machine. Then again, if everyone on this forum voted, that would probably be more than enough votes in itself. ------------------ I pity the fool, thug, or soul who tries to take over the world, then goes cryin' home to his momma. --Mr. T [This message has been edited by Gremlin (edited 03-30-2001).]

An easy way to find PBEM (play by email) partners is through a ladder (i.e., league). I'd recommend Rugged Defense. ------------------ I pity the fool, thug, or soul who tries to take over the world, then goes cryin' home to his momma. --Mr. T

Head here to show them what we all know: CM is number one ------------------ I pity the fool, thug, or soul who tries to take over the world, then goes cryin' home to his momma. --Mr. T