gunnergoz

Oh, I agree, they would only have historical and visual context, not tactical. I never intended otherwise. Unless you count the negative morale effect of constantly having to smell their bloated carcasses for days on end.

Lots of historical reasons for having cows and cow carcasses in Normandy, not just Hollywood. But we probably won't see them, or horses (even though the Germans had thousands of them) or sheep, or dogs (barking dogs alert the enemy), or whatever. Not alive anyway, though someone may some day mod a large carcass as a "flavor" object. The zoo, it ain't.

I play WEGO and looked pretty closely at the replays when I was attacking the trenches in the Delaying Action scenario and it was clear they were protecting anyone who lay down in them from direct fire but anyone kneeling or standing in the trench was exposed to direct fire. I suspect the same is true for foxholes - lie down in them and you are better protected than if you kneel. The question is, can two men both lie down in a game foxhole? I doubt that.

I agree that a stone or brick Norman house should offer a modicum of protection but perhaps not against sustained MG fire or heavy MG's like the .50. Churches are a different matter, as noted, since they were usually build heavier. Another thing: Troops in hide mode inside any building should be pretty much invisible until the enemy actually enters the building, one would think. However, that is not always the case in the scenarios I've played to date. Hiding troops sometimes get observed once the enemy approaches within a few meters of the building, which I find a bit odd. As for troops entering a building seeking cover, my experience is that they are very vulnerable to fire from outside the building even after they get inside. It is as if the game has them race to the windows to see who can get shot first. Granted, I've only played for about 16-20 hours to date so I'm still gathering impressions.

**********SCENARIO SPOILER FOLLOWS - DELAYING ACTION********* I noticed as American in the Delaying Action scenario that if I place mortars and FO on the map edge farthest from the enemy, they are elevated enough to target the German trenches and AT guns on the American left flank. Oddly, though, if I go to their ground level and look with trees visible, I cannot see the same targets for the tree foliage. Apparently, the game code permits a degree of visibility through tree foliage, perhaps varying depending upon height of the observer relative to the target and the tree tops.

Ditto. Maybe the solution is to go for solo snipers. Much of the time in WW2 they were lone wolves anyway AFAIK. I' don't think the 2 man sniper team came along until post war for the most part.

Sorry, I don't follow what you are saying. The panzerfaust warhead is a shaped charge that, upon contact with the tank's exterior armor, uses the Munroe effect to spew a jet of molten metal plasma into the tank, usually killing the crew close to the penetration and often igniting stowed ammo it comes into contact with. I don't see where having closed hatches will in any way mitigate or aggravate the jet's effect since there is no actual shockwave from the penetration, only from ammunition that the jet may ignite. And if your ammo goes up, having open or closed hatches doesn't matter, the vehicle and its crew are goners.

It is a tough one. I've tried taking out the guns on the flanks with artillery, moving the FO around in his jeep as required since he brings fire down the fastest. The trouble is, I end up using most of the 105 rounds for that and have almost nothing left to suppress the Germans in the warehouses/barracks or at the T intersection. The US tanks get picked off if they stay in one place very long too and if they move up too soon, they get plastered by the schrecks. As for the AT gun, it is basically useless AFAIC though the halftrack might be useful to ferry the 60mm teams around if you wished to try them on direct fire from the right flank. I'm still working on this one and have yet to see it out because I can see how its going to end...badly.

Eh? Say again?

With all respect to veterans' recollections, my sense is that 88's were only rarely pressed into action as indirect artillery. There may have been unusual circumstances that dictated such use but probably not as many as Allied soldiers thought. The guns were so much in demand for AA and AT work that I suspect they were mostly used in those roles. There is also the fact that indirect fire requires the crew to be specially trained for it, including learning coordination with an artillery fire control center. As to the photos of 88's elevated at a 45 degree angle, that would have been a normal ready position for an alert AA crew. On the other hand there is ample documented evidence of US tank destroyers being used in the indirect artillery role. They were trained in this technique as part of the army's overall TD utilization doctrine; here's a nice reference with a link to an actual WW2 TD indirect fire data card: http://www.tankdestroyer.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433:tank-destroyers-as-assult-guns-a-indirect-fire-pocket-reference-fa-journal-april-1945&catid=40:tdarticles&Itemid=86

Rune: I think the item in 4a in your post refers to AA indirect fire, under control of a centralized fire director, as opposed to AA direct fire using the gun's own telescopic sights. Indirect artillery fire is something else and though the 88 may well have been used this way now and again, it would not have been controlled by the kommandogerat, which was an AA battery control device, much like this one: http://www.ww2incolor.com/german-artillery/DO-46%23.html 88's firing in the indirect artillery role would have been plotted and directed through a conventional artillery fire control center IMHO. That probably would have required special training of the crews. Given the pressing need for 88's in the AA and AT role, I suspect the occasions when it was used in the indirect artillery fire role were relatively few.

I just move the mortars into the first big open field and the mortar HQ into the hedgerow nearby with a small fire arc so they don't give themselves away. There's good observation from the small hump in the middle of the hedgerow.

You're referring to Sgt. John Basilone I suspect, but I think he had M-1917's at Guadalcanal. It's been a while since I read his bio. In the episode of The Pacific serial where he is on Iwo Jima I seem to recall him manhandling an M-1919 off its tripod and firing it just before he is KIA. I doubt anyone ever trained for that but it may have happened in extremis. The bipod version of the M-1919 could be carried and fired by itself but I don't know how much of that was done outside Hollywood. I recall movie posters of Audie Murphy in To Hell and Back lugging one around and shooting Germans with it. He was actually a pretty small guy and he usually demanded accuracy for his own film scenes, so perhaps that was done now and then.

Ironwood? Seriously, you saw every round hit the bunker? That does sound a bit funky but that's what you get when you buy artillery fuzes from the lowest bidder. I'll have to try that myself and see what gives. As to the cover arc - the bunker is not allowing them to be set, or is it allowing them to be set and then ignoring them?

I think that could be mistakenly done in the selection process if you accidentally select Americans for both attacker and defender. You can play Patton against...everybody else.

Sorry, but the Worst War Movie Ever Made must go to Battle of the Bulge. I do like the idea of space lobsters crawling out of the haystacks, however...

The FO should get the credit IMHO.

I want my M-15 and M-16's. And an M-12 GMC would be nice too.

Ain't calvados wonderful?

1. Was there any calvados in the nearby farmhouse? It has a distracting effect. 2. The loader had probably just finished off a toot of the topic of #1 above 3. That was the squad member sent out to find the farmhouse.

I notified two sites and neither has responded, although one did mention the demo. It seems that the game and its makers are probably not "mainstream enough" (read greedy bribe-paying marketing weenies) for most game sites to want to review it. Screw 'em. We know what we got here.

An ex-Air Force Gunship 40mm Bofors was my parting gift to the Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola back in '82. As a soon-to-graduate officer candidate, my class Gunnery Sergeant, Gunny Goforth (no kidding) asked me to find something "neat" to "decorate the place a little bit." Being resourceful, I drew a vehicle from the motor pool and some surplus appropriation forms from the Admin office and went down the road to Eglin AFB to see their DRMO (Defense Reutilization something or another). I asked for some "neat stuff" and they showed me some slightly used dummy bombs. I said, OK, but how about something special for Gunny Goforth? They took me to a warehouse where sat this 40mm gun that had been taken off an AC-130 and converted into a training aid (welded breech, etc.) I said "SOLD" and phoned for a truck from AOCS. The Gunnys said on the phone, "Waddya need a truck for?" I said, "You wait and see." When we drove up with the Bofors on the bed, he practically hugged me. Immediately, details of junior officer candy-o's as we were called, were swarming over it. First to repaint it Navy Gray. Then, to clean every piece of brass on it until it shined. The Gunny enshrined the Bofors by the front entrance to my barracks, where to the best of my knowledge, it remains to this day. Doubtless a generation of candy-o's have cursed me not knowing my name, for having given them this blasted piece of sh!t gun to shine up every frick'in day. True story.

Well, if the looey is gone, who else is going to draw fire while inspiring the troops?

If he's not Goliath carrying the tripod and ammo with him, probably not. Wiki says the combo weighs in at 103 lbs, which sounds about right.

Maybe because there is an element of randomness; i.e. that German units were seldom fully up to TO&E and the units and TO&E's varied so much, that there was not always a guarantee of having enough spare men to man the vehicle MG's. US practice differed, attempting to bring units up to TO&E as soon as manpower and opportunity permitted, where the Germans seemed to go catch as catch can with so many varied elements all competing for the manpower pool. My best guess, anyway.