gredeker

Yes, SIR! Please check your mailbox, SIR!

Were these part of Assault Gun Battalion 200? I know that Becker arranged for the conversion of a number of French tank chassis to accept German 75s and 105s, but I was unaware of the conversion of any British tanks (presumably captured after the evacuation of the BEF in 1940). All these vehicles look like they would have terrible ground pressure, high centers of gravity, and be barely capable of absorbing the recoil of the main armament being fired.

Ditto, and I still play ASL. It took a few games to understand fully how the mechanics worked (especially spotting), then a week or two of studying everything useful I could find on the Internet that was CM-related. Played some more games vs. the AI, played a half-dozen games against another player here in town, played a half-dozen games with others found on the Opponents Wanted thread, then jumped into my first tourney. The tourney was an eye-opener - I felt I was playing a fair bit better at the end of the tourney than I was at the beginning. Every human player has something to teach, even if it's an example of what NOT to do.

Don't forget fire lanes, residual FP, being able to fire German HMGs as LMGs when off the tripod, and scrounging LMGs from non-flaming wrecks.

I still play ASL in addition to CM, although I'm not into it as much as some of my opponents. I recently finished up a Pegasus Bridge campaign game (won as the Brits, but it came down to the wire) and this is the kind of thing where ASL beats CM hands-down. Captured equipment, weird 21st Panzer AFVs, purchasing reinforcement groups, church steeples, entrenchment attempts, glider landings, occupying enemy bunkers, ZOC/frontline determination rules that make sense, etc. I also prefer the FTF camaraderie of ASL, and it gives me a reason to travel and see some old college friends. Doing all one's gaming from home isn't always the best thing in the world. One time, Howard almost melted the barrel of the HMG he was directing - got ROF 5 or 6 times in a row, wiping out a platoon attempting to advance along the trees between the two towns. One of my six-pounders also went into fully automatic mode, getting rate at least 6 times, while retaining HE (depletion number of 7) for the first four shots. Stopped a flanking force cold.

I played my second game as Allies tonight, was able to hold the line in France, and sent British forces north to liberate Denmark! I have no idea what value this would have as the game continued, but it sure felt good to launch a modestly successful invasion of the continent in 1941, and actually liberate a country. The cheer from the grateful Danes made my heart soar.

Inquiring minds want to know... who are you talking about? The only person I know of (in my limited CM experience) who has stomped everyone he met into the ground is Wreck -- he went 10-0 in Wild Bill's Rumblings of War Tourney. Someone on the board even changed their sig to state something like "ROW Section III veteran (aka Wreck's bitches". :eek:

"Volga Boat Song" chorus or "Meadowlands" chorus. If BTS wanted to throw in a more popular piece of classical music, I'd recommend "O Fortuna" from Orff's Carmina Burana.

My impression is that attacking and conquering Vichy significantly speeds up the entry of the US (and possibly also the USSR) into the war. This is obviously not as much of a concern in the demo, but I think it would be more of a factor in a full game.

Hubert, could you elaborate on how this has been adjusted? While I also have problems with disbanding in its current form, I think a simple percentage tweak (down to 40 or 50% point recovery when disbanding) will probably do it.

Don't forget the one- and two-man turrets of the French tanks, compared with the three-man turrets of the Pz III's and IV's.

I already posted this in the "Personal Best" thread, but here it is again... (note that I hadn't set Russia and U.S. to neutral in this game) 478 as Germany in the demo. If I hadn't let Italy (125) grab Bulgaria, it would have been higher. Took Low Countries, France, Sweden, Vichy, Yugoslavia, was given Hungary and Rumania, and was a turn away from conquering Spain. Both US and USSR were around 80% on the war-o-meter.

Redeker, Each occupied strategic resource is worth 80% of its value if a land-route can be traced to the occupiers' capital. If a land-rout cannot be traced, the value is 50%.</font>

Question - What is the value of each country in MPP? That is, how much does a conquering nation get added to its own MPP, apart from the one-time pillaging bonus? Is it simply the combined MPP value of all cities/ports/mines? Or is it calculated some other way? And does anyone have a quick crib list of the values for each country and/or region (e.g., Egypt)? I guess that was more than one question...

I'll second that. In two playings now, I've only bought one tank unit, as armies seem to offer far more bang for the buck. If the tank unit has additional movement ability (even if it's made 25 points more expensive or somefink) I'd probably buy more of them.

478 as Germany in the demo. If I hadn't let Italy grab Bulgaria, it would have been higher. Took Low Countries, France, Sweden, Vichy, Yugoslavia, was given Hungary and Rumania, and was a turn away from conquering Spain. Both US and USSR were arouind 80% on the war-o-meter.

I'm leaning that direction, but I'm wondering if someone has a plan for taking it on the cheap.

One of the things I would very much enjoy is more insight into how the leanings of minor countries are determined. I'd also be interested in knowing how MPP losses due to submarine interdiction are computed. This kind of information will help weigh the pros and cons of various strategic options.

OTOH, in my first game, two Italian armies reduced the French battleship in Toulon from 10 down to 1 in one turn, by attacking it while it was in port. And if you want to know what battleship fire can do to armored forces, read "Panzer Commander" by Hans von Luck. IIRC, while 21st Panzer was attacking Caen, battleship fire knocked out at least a company of Tigers, flipping some of the tanks upside down. While some were restored to working order within the next day or two, effective counterattack was deemed impossible while within range of the big naval guns.

Downloaded the demo yesterday, and played my first game last night. Lots of fun indulging one's imperial ambitions. I made the mistake of trying to take Malta solely with Italian units, to no avail and to the detriment of half of the Italian navy. I suspect that one needs to use at least two German air units attacking in addition to the naval forces. Those of you who have successfully taken out Malta - what did you use and how long did it take? Other parts went fairly well - Germany overran the low countries, France, Spain, Sweden, and Vichy France (but Vichy was actually credited to Italy, which took out the capital in Algiers). I was able to sneak out my submarine unit into the North Atlantic, which, in conjunction with another submarine built at Brest, was whittling away 10 or so British MPP per turn. The game ended with Gibraltar about to fall and a pro-Allied coup occuring in Yugoslavia. Lots of fun, can't wait for the full game. P.S. Some others have complained about strategic bombing, but what is occurring seems about right for 1940-41. If it's still at this level in 1944, that's a different story... [ May 23, 2002, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: redeker ]

"Squad leader is to Combat Mission, as Strategic Command is to...___________." I'm sorry to admit I do not know the answer to this question Can anyone give me a hint? Is it an SSI game? Avalon Hill Game? World in Flames? What else is there in board games of that scope? -tom w</font>

Just substitute your "roar in" with "move into LOS" and you've got it. Keep in mind that there's no need to close with the enemy when firing HE at enemy infantry. Keep your armor pounding away on enemy infantry from 500m out, and the infantry's only choice is die or run away. Whenever possible, keep your armor at least 150m away from infantry hiding places so you don't lose tanks to infantry AT weapons.

21st Panzer in France had a bunch of weird stuff, basically consisting of combinations of German artillery (75mm AT gun, 105mm howitzer, 150mm IG) on French tank and HT chassis. I think the Hotchkiss H39 tank and the Somua S-307(?) HT were the major chassis types. IIRC, most of these tanks were organized into Assault Gun Battalion 200 under Major Becker, the engineer who spearheaded the alteration/construction of these ad hoc AFVs.

The oldest we-go system I can think of is AH's Diplomacy, which IIRC, originally came out in the sixties.

I have the impression that another thing that changes when a unit is under the C&C of a +1 or +2 combat modifier HQ is that the frequency of firing increases. I haven't run any tests, but my impression is that they fire earlier and more often than squads without any leadership bonus. This is a double-edged sword, however, as I just had some squads in a small scenario run out of ammo on on turn 9 of a 15-turn scenario. The platoon HQ had +2 morale and +2 combat bonuses.