jmbunnelle

It's going to take some adjusting, as Strat Comm is quite unlike Combat Mission and pretty far from TOAW as well. The difference, of course, is the scale. Just keep tinkering with it and remember that you can't attack with a unit and then move, as with a lot of other turn-based wargames. Pull your weak units back and push your stronger ones forward. Otherwise you'll have a huge bottleneck and waste crucial time constantly reinforcing the damaged frontline units. Always keep HQ units nearby, especially when reinforcing at high tech levels.

Thanks, I missed that thread.

I'm going to start doing the art for the Minors tonight and I want to get everyone's input. Obviously, everyone can't be represented thoroughly. So far, I've done several Polish and Spanish aircraft (Bf109D and SM81) but still haven't decided on anything. I wanted to ask this now because the second I finish it, I will here cries of "Where are the Canadians?" and "Why the *%&*@! weren't the Finnish included?" So chime in now. Give me specific vehicles and aircraft if you know 'em. Also, does anyone know why there are two seperate rows of Allied Minors on the bitmap? Is it simply because of the larger number of participants shown on the board at once? [ August 13, 2002, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: jmbunnelle ]

Holzem, my mouth hit the floor when I saw your blended Axis and Allied flags! Great job!

I agree on the research-upgrade issue. Following an advancement in research, I think the player should have to upgrade each unit individually at an industrial center.

Well, I think the guy is just used to playing different wargames. If you're used to being able to attack, then move, then move a second unit in to attack the same spot, you're going to bottleneck hopelessly in Strat Comm. Big sweeping moves and breakthroughs like those in TOAW will get you nowhere here, and almost all of the wargames in recent memory (all 3-4 of them!) have been on this tactical scale. I've got a feeling that's what happened in his Belgium scenario. Afterall, the Ardennes is only one hex. I just think he hadn't yet adjusted to the new scale and different game mechanics and should have played more before writing the review.

You're correct, definitely more like "Hitler's War", a game I always loved due to its compact size, i.e. not millions of SPI counters and such. The Paradox game that's in the works, "Hearts of Iron" I think it's called, will probably work on a global, political level like "Third Reich" and "Empire of the Rising Sun".

Aku, The Elite Edition has its own counter set so if you install it over this mod, it will be erased. So if you want to use my set, you'll have to install Elite Edition, then my icons. I opened the Elite Edition and picked only the files I wanted, such as the excellent interface. However I don't care for the Elite Edition's terrain, as it makes the board look too busy and high contrast for me. Just my preference. His Axis and Allied blended flags are worth the download alone! PZB, Yeah, I know the Jagdpanther is anti-tank, an 88mm basically welded on top of a Panther chassis. But like I said, each upgrade adds the new icon to the old so it doesn't mean you have tank fleets composed of just Jagdpanthers. That's just my take on how the research should be arranged. I think you should just get to dump research points into broad categories like "Aviation" instead of "Jet Fighters" specifically. The whole preoccupation with jet research seems to be a left-over from "Axis & Allies" and implies that it had more of a role in the shaping of the Luftwaffe than it did, from what I've read anyway. I don't think it was Milch's ultimate goal. Someone correct me if I'm mistaken. Thanks for the nice comments!

FANTASTIC!!! Downloading now.

(NOTE: Several people have emailed me asking why these icons don't show up after unzipping into Strat Comm's "Bitmaps" folder. If you install the Elite Edition pack over this one, it will be erased since the Elite has its own counter set. If you want mine in the game, install it AFTER the Elite Editon. All of the Elite Edition will remain except for the counters.) The wait is over! For those who've seen my earlier post, this mod replaces all of the counters in the game (except for the minor powers, which will follow shortly; it took all I had to finish the majors) with realistic, force-specific icons. Sorry this is a little late but I learned a couple of PaintShop tricks to increase clarity while reducing pixelation. And since I'm picky, I had to go back and redo the Germans and Italians using this method. Obviously some reduce better than others. I decided to keep the strength numbers and confine the art to the upper half of the counter. Like I said earlier, look on each upgrade as an addition to the force and not a replacement. Anyway, that's the only rationalization I could think of for using my favorites, the Stuka and Jagdpanther For those having problems with immersion, try this. Note: I turned the Soviet counters to face left (the West). I think it looks better. If it bugs you, let me know. The number of requests I receieved for this mod was WAY more than I had anticipated, which says a lot for the increasing popularity of Hubert's great game. So I cleared off some web space on my EAW site for it. The link is: jbunnelle's force-specific icons I hope everyone who has expressed interest sees this post. I'll try to respond to the individual emails as time allows. This mod is by no means set in stone so please email me with suggestions or vehicles you would like to see included. Enjoy! jbunnelle [ August 13, 2002, 10:57 AM: Message edited by: jmbunnelle ]

Wonderful use of the posters.

Excellent, I love it! Please post here when it's done. I was thinking of doing something with it but now I don't have to. jbunnelle

Thanks, everyone! Worked all night last night and finished Italy and half of USSR. If it's a slow day at work, I'll try to sneak in some PaintShop time and get these things done. Steven, The minors won't be done by the first release but it will get done. Clinton, Sorry, but this is the best I could get them without them turning into a pixelated mass. I tried several methods of highlighting them and they all detracted from the look, in my opinion. However the screenshot I posted does not reflect some contrast adjustments I made the other night. I want to get this done by tomorrow afternoon so we junkies can have a fruitful weekend! Thanks for the interest!

Praetorian, Okay, I confess, that's the real reason I didn't put in the Maus! Had to make room for the Jagdpanther. Ah...I still see its silhouette on the PanzerBlitz box..... Wow, the response is more than I expected. I gotta get to work! Unless I can find some very generic images, I'm probably not going to do the minor powers, since they are not nation specific. I'm saving everyone's emails and will ship the file out a.s.a.p., hopefully on Friday afternoon. I'll also send it to Otto for possible posting on his site. If you have size restrictions on incoming attachments, let me know. To get the colors right, I had to abandon the bitmap's palette and bump it up to 24-bit color. Not sure how big it will be when all is said and done. jbunnelle

Thanks for the advice and comments! I should have the entire set done by this weekend, assuming I keep up my current speed. I'll email Otto and ask if he'll host them. Does the side view of the plane work okay? And does it bother anyone to have different colors for the tanks or should I make them all "feld grau"? I'll add in the dots to represent tech levels.

Hi everyone, I'm using a set of Axis replacement icons and I thought someone here might be interested in trying them out. Germany's done and I'm finishing up Italy now. Then I'm going to do the Allies. Let me know if you want them and I will email you a copy. I'm probably going to include dots to indicate what level the icon represents. Basically, I look on each icon/tech upgrade as the newest addition to that icon type. Therefore, Air 1 is shown by the Bf-109E while Air 2 adds on the Stuka. So the Air 2 icon , showing the Stuka, represents both 109E's and Ju87's instead of an air group composed entirely of the latter. I've taken several liberties, such as using the Tiger (a heavy tank) for tank level 3 and the Panther (a medium tank) for tank level 4, my logic being that the Panther was a better vehicle for a myriad of reasons and warranted being placed higher up on the scale. It was also introduced after the Tiger. The Tiger II is the max level, tank 5. I started to use the Maus but I couldn't fit the damn thing on the icon, not that it functioned well anyway. The Jagdpanther is used for level 4 because, like I said earlier, it simply represents an addition to the existing line of armor and not a replacement for all which came before. Please give me feedback. jbunnelle

Thanks again, Tom, I really appreciate it.

Thanks for the positive comments, everyone. Right now I'm working on a Panther G (late) and a Pz IV. Also, Tom has three other mods I sent him that he might post at his site, if he has the space. They're new black-and-white unit pics and two operational-map mainscreens (one for D-Day, one for Wacht Am Rhein). I think the unit pics turned out best.

The Red Army was definitely not a juggernaught at the end of the war. The creation of this myth in the late 1940's is a fascinating topic and one that has been covered very well in two studies, both dealing with Operation Paperclip, which was America's codename for its policy of hiring high-level SS and Nazis for intelligence purposes. Gehlen (former SS head of German intelligence on the eastern front) and his men were very smart. When they saw that the Allies were closing in and the war was lost, they rounded up all of the covert information they had gathered on the Red Army during Barbarossa and buried it in an undisclosed location. This included, among other things, an enormous amount of documentation on Soviet battle tactics and troop deployments, complete statistics on tanks, artillery, etc., and their effectiveness in combat. They then surrendered to the Americans and used this hidden cache of information as bargaining leverage for themselves. Needless to say, the US momentarily suspended their tough, anti-Nazi stance. So they not only escaped prosecution, but Gehlen and all of his SS croonies were put on the CIC's (Counter-Intelligence Corps, forerunner of the CIA) payroll. Immediately after the war, the CIC assigned Gehlen's organization the task of monitoring Soviet troop movements and military strength in the Eastern Bloc. Internal documents released through the Freedom of Information Act show that, in order to gain increases in their funding from the US State Department, the Gehlen organization drastically falsified the information they sent back to the US concerning Soviet military capabilities (stuff about how the "Red Menace" was poised to take over Western Europe, etc.). The State Department then used this misinformation as a justification for increasing the defense budget. In addition, it is also believed that they were, in the words of one former CIC officer, "sucking off both tits", or passing similar misinformation along to the Russians. Obviously, this fed straight into the Cold War paranoia and had serious repercussions for decades to come.