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Was there ever any doubt over which course of action I would choose? The phonecall with the wife was tough. There was yelling, long angry silences, some sobbing and one particularly painful crying jag. But enough about my behavior. The woman did a great job. I told her to describe what she saw. This is what I got: "I see a lot of little green circles. They're moving, but really slowly. Oh! I hear shooting. Hmm. I think you're going to be disappointed. " She could not get more specific. In the Command Phase, she adamantly refused to issue any orders. I feel I shouldn't sully her reputation by repeating what she said. Overall, an excellent outcome. I will beat Bil blindfolded or my men will die trying! I love this kind of chaos. My men's orders are sufficient for several minutes. Bil's feeble responses to my attack are of no matter.

My BACKUP PLAN: Top Secret, NoForn, Wintel, etc. I'm going to CALL THE WIFE and ASK her to DO the next turn! She has never played. She doesn't even know the differences between a PzIV ausf G and ausf J!!! What a newb. Anyway, if I can get her to do this, I will have gained TOTAL MORAL SUPREMECY over Bil. That will be priceless. How? If my WIFE can beat him, he will never regain his mojo. Admittedly, my plan is of such effervescent beauty, that all she needs to do is press the red button, but still... it'll be sweet. It'll be fun having her run through the replay and try to describe what's happening. If many men must die, so be it: the game must go on!!! Or, should I wait until I resolve this minor technical issue? I need to know the mind of the masses. The choice is easy: induce marital disharmony for the sake of the game, or await a technical resolution? Vote here. Vote now. Vote often. Ken

Funny, I'm seeing the backs of a lot of running men.

Now for a mea culpa. I shall prostrate myself before the altar of public obliquy. You have noticed a little delay in the turns and reporting: This is totally my fault. I have a day job. Something about keeping the lights on and food in the fridge. In order to prove my worth to society, I travel. I use a laptop on my travels. My Market Garden build is not working on my laptop...at the moment. Do not despair! It will be working, anon... I have a work-around in the, uh, works. I should have turn up later this evening... Now, this sucks. I know. My men know. You know. The auguries are inconclusive. I have emailed Bil and told him that I am willing to sacrifice a team in order to appease the god of turns. I await... The good news? This delay will not benefit Bil. His fates are already written.

My plan is to use the windmill as an observation post. I want to tie a volunteer to a vane, then spin it on up to the top. From there, he can see it all. I'm working on it...

The post count is too low. I feel pressured to do something rash in order to take the lead from Bil. Victory in all things at all times!

This map is tough. I have, however, come up with a PLAN. Keep in mind that perfection is the enemy of good enough. I just hope my plan meets that level. Here it is: My right is horrible. The bocage is linear with few gaps. Yeah, I may end up blowing some if needed, but each field can easily absorb a platoon if there's a defender on the far side. I only have 6 manuever platoons. That's not a lot of fields. Plus, plowed fields are HARD to move through. So, my right is good defensive terrain. Not much good could come from attacking there. I like the mini-Ardennes on my left. So, like the Germans, I will attack out of there. (Don't remind me about all their outcomes.) I have 2 jeeps and one Bedford lorry. The Battalion Commander (me) will ride into battle as befits his status. That leaves 2 transport vehicles. I'll use them to rush down a road. They may survive. I gave 'em a decent amount of long range firepower. I want them to seal off the top end of the woods and keep that side of the dunes secure until the rest of the platoon can slog up there. The tanks move up on each side. My goal is to hold on my right, using the pilots as a distraction. Hey, they may get lucky. (I told them their mission was vital, absolutely vital, to the outcome of the war. Silly sods.) A few snipers and some men from C Coy and that's my orange line. My green circle is the platoon in the forward zone. They'll grab the farmstead and play it by ear after that. I don't have a clue where Bil's objectives are. I think these guys will be the first to grapple with him. I've split them into teams and staggered their movement times. Good luck, chaps. The flankers in the jeep (battalion 2nd in command: he has a wireless set) and truck will go to the yellow circle. Everyone else, blue circle, moves about that way. It ain't much, but it's better than nothing... Ken

I have a secondary setup zone up near map central. It looks like a death trap. Therefore, I put a platoon (+) in there. They get a sniper team and an extra Piat team. They'll rush a small farm and maybe get there. That places them in a position in the center of the map which provides some interdiction (with Stens???) or at least some observation. But even better, they'll be close to this: I will capture it, or my men will die trying.

Measured in multiples of Sten range? I just measured it: 1600m x 1600m. (Bil cut it down from Jaws' original big map.)

Okay, I'm sure those of you looking at both threads are comparing the different styles. Just remember, wars have never been won by powerpoint skills! I was thinking that Bil will expect me to come at him aggressively. Well, using his own jiujitsu, in a wax-off manuever, I thought I careful move to contact would catch him off guard. But then, I thought he may expect that I would try that. So, in a double-bluff move of great guile, I am attacking. Note: do NOT purchase a lot of submachineguns for open warfare. Here's how my forces break out: A Company is the support company. They've got 4 mortars and some brens and snipers. B Company has 3 platoons, some piat teams and not much else. C Company only has 2 platoons. (I sold one off for the pilots. More on them in a bit.) I bought 4 Vickers attached to the Battalion HQ. So, this Battalion is a BIPOD. Kind of tough to use the classic 2 up and 1 back when you only have 2. So, 2 up it is. Then I've got my attached tanks. Yeah, Bil being Bil, I am trying one little twist. I purchased a Troop (4) Cromwells. I subbed one Challenger in. C'mon, that's okay. PLUS, I kept the Squadron HQ tank, a Cromwell VIII with a 95mm stubby gun. That may catch him by surprise. (Cromwell was possibly the fastest tank the Brits had. They used them in recce, hence the cavalry terminology.) Okay, Glider pilots. Here they are: The US doctrine orphaned their glider pilots. "Hey, Joe, just get in the fight after you land. Do something useful." The Brits expected, and organized, their pilots to fight as a unit after landing. We'll see how these guys do. I expect to find them in a bar, whiskey in hand, cigars burning, with women on their laps by the end of the battle. We'll see...

Yeah, that's right children. I'm going into a slugfest with Bil. He asked me to fight him, quite timorously I might add, in a public AAR. I asked GaJ what his thoughts were on the matter. He almost seemed eager to let me do it in his stead. He mentioned something about "a friggin' borg-like woodchipper". Shrug. I have never battled Bil. I have read his AAR's. His approach is best characterized as one filled with beautiful pictures, trenchant observations, swanky acronyms and and inhuman amount of intel work. My approach will be the opposite. In fact, rather than counting bullets and examining shoulder patches to gather intelligence, I will fight with no intelligence at all! We have agreed upon a Meeting Engagement on a subpart of an outstanding map called "The Eerde Dunes". I believe Jaws created this masterpiece. If you're not familiar with the battle which occurred there, well, frankly, that means you need to go hit the books. Really. I'll wait. The terrain is pretty complex. I'll post a screenie, below, but there are a lot of elevation variation. That'll work in my favor. Why? Because I want it to. My forces: - I've got the majority of a British Parachute Battalion. Yeah. These guys are great. They've got Stens, Brens, and more Stens. Their morale is awesome. They'll need it. - Their drawback is their long-range firepower. They're like a stiletto, great for up-close, deadly, ambush and killing work. Yeah, I'm bringing a knife to a gunfight. To assist, I've purchased some machineguns. I'll pass 'em out as needed. Also, there are a few mortars, on map. I don't have time to wait for the FDC to figure things out. - Attached is a tank platoon. It's a Cromwell troop. Fast tanks. They won't do well against German ubercats, but who does? I have one which is a CS (Close Support) variant. 95mm of HE goodness. I also have a little sweet thang... Okay, that's about all...except for a brace of these: A few more notes. A "balanced" force rests upon the three legs of infantry, armor, and artillery. Well, I will paint a different picture. I've got great infantry and decent armor, but a total paucity of artillery. My easel rests upon two legs. (I'll explain why my nickname is "Tripod" another time. After the kids are in bed.) My plan is based an ATTACK. My para's, my poor, soon to be bloody, para's, will have to CLOSE with and ENGAGE Bil's forces. Artillery delays won't help. I've got some tubes of 3" mortars, but, c'mon, I've got STENS! So, fast footwork, the ability to absorb punishment, and the weapons to dish it out in buckets. Nice. Oh, what's that in back? Tripod? Sheesh. If I have to explain it... Anyone else? Yes? Oh, objectives. That's a laugh! I DON'T CARE about them. My objective is to KILL BIL. When all his forces are dead, and he is crushed, then the map will belong to me. (I hope Bil never reads this bit...) More, anon. Ken out.

Summer? Which hemisphere?

Well, my idea for "Ammo Packs" keeps getting dismissed. I mean, how cool would it be to saunter into the BFC online store and drop $1 or $5 in order to get ammo? Your pixeltruppen would start, at initial game purchase with your new CMBN or CMFI disk, with a SET amount of ammo. As you use your troops in various battles, they'd run their ammo stock lower and lower. You could only restock their supplies by using Ammo Packs! Cool ammo, like 7.92k, would cost more, obviously. I thought this could move BFC's finances into a wholly new direction. I have thus far been ignored. Ken

Aircraft mounted weapons usually have a much higher ROF than ground based weapons (if possible) due to the nature of aerial combat. This has culminated in the 20mm Vulcan guns on various US aircraft. (Soviets believed in fewer, harder hitting, cannon shells fwiw.) Compute the distance between projectiles given a muzzle velocity and ROF. Next, compute the WEIGHT of ammo needed. Aircraft (modern) guns can only sustain fire for less than a minute of trigger time. That would SUCK for ground combat. Look at how the US copied the MG42 and then lowered the ROF to 600 rpm. (Now look at how other countries didn't lower the MG42 ROF.) Some coax guns are different: Challenger (?) (modern) has a chain gun, 7.62mm. Very reliable feed. Most ground vehicles adopt the ground unit weapons. Think of interoperability and spares, etc. Rambling... sorry. Ken

Let's not forget the paucity of early war radio equipment and the almost total inability to change frequencies. Crystal tuning "drift", receivers rather than transmitters, and incompatible nets all precluded formations from calling directly for fires. Just because a '42 company had a radio (for example), did not mean it could contact anyone other than its battalion HQ. And then, only if all the technical issues were working in its favor.

Jon, This thread is THE single best designer resource I've ever seen. Thank you for taking the time to craft this to such a highly polished level and sharing it with us. Ken

Kettler, based on how he thinks it's terrifying.

CMBN has a more advanced engine than CMSF (tweaked, improved, etc.) but still the same basic engine. CMFI brought even more advanced features. CMBN then caught up to CMFI with CMBN v2.00. The two of them (CMBN v2 and CMFI) are very similar to CMSF. If you can play, and enjoy, CMSF, then either of the WWII titles will make you feel right at home. Check their forums out. Ken

As long as the horses don't move until AFTER the rifle is fired, then the first ritter (?) to shoot should be accurate. Should we model a ritter who's also a sitter, or just if they're afraid the horse may jitter? Standing athwart saddle and stirrup, make sure no one says "giddup". Ken

Rokko, Good work. I don't think others, myself included, want to add chaff to this thread. Unless we have something to add or say about the TOE issues, we'll be silent...but watching. Ken out.

Dammit, man, did he get sucked back in, or not!?!?

Many examples of men running back to the ammo supply point IRL. In-game, an ammo point, loaded on a truck, in a trench, or in a bunker, would make that spot have a much higher tactical significance. I don't know about being able to carry ammo boxes around. If it's in a truck/jeep/trailer, okay, then it's mobile. But, seriously, have you ever tried to carry around a tactically significant amount of ammo? Not for your individual use, but enough to resupply several squads? Grenades, 7.92k, .45, what else is short-changed?

Of the original points... I'd agree that same AS as a vehicle should allow acquiring, rather than needing to load into the vehicle. If a vehicle is destroyed, then no ammo, IMO. If the ammo isn't "packaged", it'd be too hard to carry. That, and the odds of the ammo not being destroyed, bent, damaged, etc., plus the gameplay aspects of zooming a vehicle up into your trenches for resupply all game long, just cries out against implementing this. Ammo dumps: I wouldn't make separate echelon types, rather, I'd like to see generic ammo "buckets" which the designer could place about as he'd like. Small arms (all calibers for that nationality plus grenades), LATW (disposable and multi-use), ordnance (all calibers for that nationality); with those three available in the editor, the designer could mix and match as needed to create whatever he'd like. However, even creating this number of variations may be too much. Even a single, all inclusive, ammo dump would be nice to be able to place on-map. Acquire in +100 steps would be far better than the big-grab we have to do now. Even more so, an UN-acquire command would be very useful. Only used as part of the acquire command, and only for the ammunition just acquired. This way you can undo mistakes, but not create gamey bastidges by unloading ammo below what the men started with. Allowing players to move weapons around within the squad would also be a mistake, IMO. How many PIAT gunners does your squad have? Sure, once the "good" gunner gets gunned down, the next guy would grab it. However, you'd never give the PIAT to the eager newb just 'cause he wants it for the bling factor: you'd keep it in the hands of the guy trained, and expected, to use it. Similarly with the other weapons in a squad. Ken

togi, It is obvious that English is not your native language. I do not know how you are translating your posts from your native language into English. However, using translation software can result in the wrong tone being translated. An extra dose of civil language and polite phrasing can overcome translation errors. ===== Nvidia vs. ATI, Like Sgt. Joch stated above, I've found the best approach is to compare the two when I'm in the market. What's my budget, which gives better tech for the $$, which is more future proof? After I answer those questions, I make my purchase. They both have had driver issues and they both resolve them eventually. ====== Market Garden, Hey, _I_ am looking forward to it! Ken out.

One word: "Rules of Engagement".