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sburke has listed out the differences between patches and upgrades quite nicely. You are not paying for bug fixes.

CMx2 gives kill stats at the end of the game. Each selected unit shows its kills. (Exited units and arty cannot be selected so you cannot see their kills.)

The 251/17 bog (and subsequent regaining of mobility): what was the underlying terrain? Was that accounted for in any of the pre-mission planning? Ken

Bil is a strong adherent of the "recon pull" school of thought. Meaning, don't have a plan. Scope out the enemy, THEN figure out what to do. (C'mon, it's close enough: go with it.) Others believe in "command push". This means the commander's intent is signaled, and then all ops are meant to conform to it. There are pros and cons to each and neither is exclusive to the other. Obviously, there is a third school of thought. It involves the commissar, a nagant, and the need to prove one's loyalty to the cause. I know which school of thought applies to this battle. Bud, we've all been there. Kudos for doing this in public. Your losses, thus far, could have been avoided, but are certainly not outrageous nor unheard of. All of the comments are for instructional purposes for others following this AAR. Seriously, you're doing a great job explaining what you're doing and showing it to us. For grins and giggles, I've got a pbem going where my oppo put his infantry into a chokepoint...which I'd placed a TRP on. Your losses are NOTHING compared to his. We all learn from our mistakes. Some of us are learning from yours. :)

Of course, I do applaud your use of the tank riders as mobile mini-dumps. Follow up forces can get ammo from the trail of casualties.

Oh, God, the tank riders... Really? You've made me weep for their losses. ME. The previous post covers it pretty well. Do NOT use tank riders to assault defended positions unless you just don't like desantniki and want to see them dead. Trucks drop troops off in cover. Halftracks can get closer. Tank riders should be dropped off somewhere before you'd disembark halftrack riders. But, their blood is your gain: now you know. HQ's and FO's should be protected as if they were more important than mere squads. Because, you know, they are. One other point: if the muzzle of the tank can hit the house it's area firing at, you may be a bit too close. Use that "Y" button instead of "T" or "J". Just sayin'... Y (target light) with a 30 second pause, a move and a FACE gives 30 seconds of mg fire. Pause an infantry unit for 30 and then rush the pinned building defenders. Now, enough of that: keep the attack momentum! Ken

Iron and spots... If you play iron, you know what your troops know. If you've ever wondered what they can see, iron will sort you right out. It shows YOU, the player, what the troops see. That is such a boon, it is hard to describe its benefits. I cannot recommend it enough. Crews: Obviously, if they are mine, they want to sacrifice themselves to prove their worth to me. Frequently, I will ignore their sacrifice because they are insignificant and puny. Other times I will deign to recognize what they do; that only makes the rest more eager to die for me. Tank crews are especially prone to this. When I don't command a MOVE to the rear, they will run at the enemy, firing their puny handguns, until they all die. Sigh. What do I care? Their tanks are already gone... I've noticed the port being served in HQ has been lacking a bit, lately. What were we discussing? Ken

Interesting: they share one ammo load of Garand ammo. (8 round clips: one per weapon.) Isn't that cool?

Thanks for doing this! It'll be cool to see more. FWIW, this can be very hard on the Germans, and you seemed to get the bad coin flip at a couple critical moments.

Thanks for doing this! I agree that this one is hard on the Germans...especially when a demo opens up the vehicle obstacle and the ATG never gets a shot.

That's a gameplay/reality issue. The game WILL penalize you if your crew dies. They are worth more points than average pixeltruppen. They do have a morale hit after forced bail out; as you state, after that, they can be used as scouts. However... They are not linked into a command and control network. YOU will know what they see, but none of your troops will gain the spot intel. (I only play on Iron. It is NOT more difficult, but it does allow better player knowledge of what your troops can see.) A scout team split off from an in-command platoon will be far more beneficial to the rest of your troops...and is cheaper to replace. But, if you want to picket an open flank for your own purposes (so you, the player, know what's out there), then an unhorsed crew works fine. Ken

Zemke, Both games (RT and BS) have pros and cons. The biggest issue is whether you want to play with modern weapons or WWII. WWII is more "honest". Modern is brutally lethal. If your fundamentals aren't there, CMBS will expose them via KIA/WIA and pyres. CMRT allows a bit more forgiveness. As mentioned, that "laser warning" tells your tankers that they're about to die. There are tactics that can ameliorate the disruption that a laser warning causes: FAST move, higher motivation crews, overwatch units, etc. (As for John Kettler's cathartic prose, I think he'd be the first to admit (in fact, he has, and on multiple occasions) that he has some coping issues with complex situations such as those presented by these games. Take the good from his posts, but filter them based on his own admissions of how easily he can become overwhelmed.) Regards, Ken

Yep. That's the one. FWIW, I'm really, really, really enjoying this. The forces, the scale, the map, are all "just right". You've created a masterpiece.

Outstanding. Marvelous. A work of art. Now, when are you going to volunteer to do this for the rest of us? Stick it on a powerpoint, with in-game screenshots, and show it at your next briefing.

Great pix! I'm liking the action.

What Bil said. Family comes waaaay before this.

As mentioned...Fusiliers were the recon troops. When the Germans were attacking, that skill was useful. When the Germans were retreating, they were the most mobile unit in the division (usually on bikes, late war), and with their elan and status, were used as the "fire brigade" troops. Kept in reserve, they were used to counterattack breakthroughs and otherwise plug critical gaps. No troop lasts long with that type of continued use. Nor did the Fusiliers. Ken

George, One very minor map niggle: From the German perspective, after crossing the stone bridge, the road ends in a "T". If you try to take a right hand turn at the "T", there is a hedge/bocage which intrudes. If you ever release an updated version of this (incredibly fun, detailed, great, etc.) battle, shifting that one piece of foliage would be something to consider. Did I mention I really like this? Ken

Great shots! Love the explosion mod...

You said "backdoor" and "keyhole" in one post: score! Great pix.

Beautiful examples! Such a great feeling when it all goes just right, and an equally horrible one when you see the grenades flying before your men even enter... Obviously, using my speech helped.

(OT: Gnarly, if you have a "bub" on the way, this is the PERFECT time to buy all the CM games! Think of all the late night bonding that can occur. Do it. If your wife gets angry, just tell her you forgive her because you know it's only the hormones talking. ) Obviously, we need more screenshots!

Looked at and here's the explanation... EVERY time you start a battle, the exact weapon loadout can change. Look in the manual for information about weapon choices in the editor. A lot of times the weapon choices are not fixed, but have a chance of showing up. Meaning, the first time I play a battle, my squad may have one M320. The next time it may have 2 of them. There is some randomization of the squad structure, head count, and load out. The designer can restrict it (to the degree allowed), or allow the options to "float" a bit. I started "Cry Havoc" four times. I took screenshots of my starting force the last 3 times. The first time I had a very different first squad than the next three. Sorry for the lack of screenie on that one. Click the Spoiler, below, to see my results. This is normal for all CM games. It is very subtle and is frequently not noticed. However, the ammo loadout starts with a fixed, basic, amount. It seems like the 40mm is part of that, rather than being a supplemental ammo. (Note how the 40mm is increased when needed, however?) I'll see if we can get the 40mm to be removed from the basic loadout and only added if needed. Nice catch. Ken

Jotte, If no one in the squad has a 40mm grenade launcher, and you have not manually ACQUIRED that ammo, then, yeah, that seems like it may be a bug. Cry Havoc? I'll go look... Thanks, Ken

Agree w/VaB: there is scant "proof" one way or the other. But there is a repeated anecdotal evidence, from surviving crewmembers and enemy, that the later Panther glacis were prone to cracking. There is other secondary evidence, as well. (Factory damage, foundry shortage, quenching vs. production demands, lack of raw materials, etc.)