Wisbech_lad

Hunter - many thanks for the quick reply! True - it would annoy the hell out of many people! But well worth having in, if the aim is to simulate operational events. If you really want to annoy people, put in weight limits on bridges, then howl in laughter at the Tiger company unable to cross...

Good point. Guess there isn't much MTBF data out there! OK - is there any reliability/ breakdown/ bogging in the movement, or if I move 5 PZIII's can I guarantee that 5 PZIII's will turn up?

Two questions on things I haven't seen on the FAQ: 1) Breakdowns/ repair of vehicles. Will driving your company of T34s ykm result in x% of them breaking down? Will we learn to love the relative reliability of Valentines and Shermans? Will a Panther D be ever able to make it to the front line under own power? In an operational game like this - relative reliability & recovery rates could (should?) be a good deal 2) Infiltration attacks/ tactics. At night, will there be possibility of infiltrating? Or, if (say) Germans have but a single platoon in a square, and I try to move a company behind them, can (in the CMBB battle) I try and move the company thru the square? Or do you have to "capture" a square to be able to move thru it?

My home PC is DL challenged... (dial up, 40k if I am lucky) Is this enough for DIF? Seems that without online play, I would be a mite bored. Richard

Another recommendation for John D Salt's list - those are all top drawer. '18 Platoon' is still required reading for LI officers, apparantly. I would only add Spike Milligan's memoirs, and "By Tank to Normandy" by Stuart Hills for completion For fiction, as well as Catch 22 - "Sword of Honour" trilogy (Waugh) - "In the Valley of Bones" (Powell) - "Empire of the Sun" (Ballard) (though really a memoir) - "The Cruel Sea" (Monserrat) - "Slaughter House 5" (Vonnegut) As a kid - I loved "Silver Sword" (Serrailler)- a novel about a Polish family trying to find each other at the end of the war. Suitable for 10 year olds.

Great, but how about the Strykers? Infantry Stryker = Kangaroo, with maybe some Staghound AA thrown in to simulate the 0.50 cal? MGS = Priest with almost no ammo, or Staghound/AEC with 75mm gun... All "elite" to take account of the comms equipment. Yes, attacking a village with elite, but fragile, forces, would be a challenge in CMAK. Esp if the opfor has some PZIV's

The problem with that is that to say 'greatest God' implies that there is another god or gods besides Allah (swt) which is a big no-no to Muslims. Which I am sure you know, but I'm just trying to justify uping my post count. </font>

Wasn't there an interesting ans useful direct fire mash up in Vietnam? Something on the lines of 4x90mm recoilless on a M113? I see the MGS as the spiritual successor of that. Agree that to go for MBT gun is a bit odd - but presumably cheaper than trying to design a new low pressure/ recoilless 105mm gun with an autoloader.

Well, learning from CMAK/CMBB. Strykers are basically AC yes? Some 30/57mm AA guns should stop gamey flank rushers...

And remember, it is a Stryker brigade you are part of. So, sort of an improved armoured car. Yes, this might be the sort of operation they are designed for, but a lot of their advantages (wheels = more reliable, quieter, airmobile, reduced logistics) won't actually matter that much in a company level game... and what will matter is that you'll be somewhat aware of the relatively thin skin. And playing the plucky syrians defending their homeland against neo-colonialists, I look forward to some ambushes... hmm, might be able to simulate a bit in CMAK? Using CW forces, and their plethora of AC (75mm, Staghound AA etc) Red on Red - oooh, Allawites vs Muslim Brotherhood here we come!

I'll let that one stand, as a warning against spelling hubris!

Bah, it is an Armoued division. And those are battalions, not regiments. Bit of a tony division though eh? 17/21st, 16/5th, Rifle Brigade, Guards, Yeomanry, RHA... Very much looks a division for PLU!

Indo-Pakistan War, 1965. Expansion pack will add 1971 conflict (Eastern Front) and 1999 (Kargil) Well, why not? Must be plenty of geeks in Bangalore who have the money to buy it... GMV is out of consideration as a funny due to having Mr Robin Williams. The least funny comedian ever. And not even unfunny in a good way like Tommy Cooper.

The final British sweep through Burma was very much combined arms - check out the battle of Meitikla (sp?) Maybe that is the problem - dry season Burma fighting, island assaults, and NG jungle fighting are much more varied than ETO? And the Chinese. By far the bulk of the land combat was in China, and there is not exactly a huge amount of interest in that... Me, I want to see Indo-Pak wars. M48s and Shermans against AMX13's, Centurions & Shermans. My oh my.

The totality of it. Has there been another time in history when so much of the world's output was invested into killing other people? And the outcome of that singlemindedness - massive technological progress (from Swordfish to Meteors, atomic bombs, Operations Research, first computers, etc) The impact on societies for at least one, maybe two generations after (State planning/ logistics won WW2, a key, IMHO to the acceptance of the enlargement of the state after WW2 everywhere in the world) The collapse of the European colonial empires.

Will lobsters be able to over-run horses?

Thank you for that piece of unfathomable wisdom. Say, you are not in Bangkok in mid-September by any chance, so that you can buy me a drink? </font>

OT. My father was a gunner, well, for a very short time (basic training in RA for national service, but he was transferred to the Guards to try and teach them maths after that) He was Gunner Reed. In the bed next to him (alphabetical order) was Gunner Rhea...

Andreas. It is a dead one. D'oh

Note one area where TAS was effective was Burma. In shutting down & slowing up coastal shipping - the RAF multiplied the Japanese supply problems in SE Asia.

Linkies on Matador - most of the research was by Singaporean historian. http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/war/headline/church.html Info on Matador & fall of Singapore http://www.chs.edu.sg/~y02chs282/operation%20matador%20intro%20page.html Actually, Brooke-Popham was sacked in Nov 1941 I thought? So Perceval had very little time?

Re Singapore campaign. Actually, there was quite a well thought out plan "Matador" for the defense of Malaya. Unfortunately it relied on small things like there being 300 modern fighters available (the plan included pre-emptive strikes on the Japanese airfields in Thailand, followed up by invasion) What Perceval deserves contempt for was that when it was obvious "Matador" was phantasy, he didn't come up with anything to replace it.

Jary in his book "18 Platoon" talks of how he buys a Colt automatic in London to replace his Webley, then has to scrounge ammo from US soldiers he meets. But then again, he carries an umbrella as his main weapon - figuring that he is such a bad shot that he might as well have something useful (and not dangerous to his own troops) in battle.

Oranges. Pah. How many oranges made it to front line Germans (or even ones in the back...?)