chuckle

Hi Guys, my apologies for being awol... i am currently away from home with my laptop - you'll be glad to know i did have CM installed and all your email addys etc installed on "the little bastard" - which then duly died on my first day away. I am going to be away for another two weeks or so during which time it is unlikely i'll be online (but you never know, it's possible i'll be able to get "the little bastard" fixed). I'll be sure to send turns the moment im back online. -ben.

MrSpkr- I've double-checked, definitely the right address. I got this message: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> This message was created automatically by mail delivery software (Exim). A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed: mrspkr@bigfoot.com SMTP error from remote mailer after RCPT TO:<mrspkr@bigfoot.com>: host mail.bigfoot.com [208.156.39.203]: 554 Access denied from 194.73.73.81. See http://www.orbl.org for more information <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> that was last night, during the writing of this post i've just had another one bounced. I'm sending and recieving to/from others as well. If it helps you any there's a load of header stuff as well that i could post. TankBuster: Let's see... just one Panther and an armoured car left on one flank. You may have the points now but if i can get the majority of my high-cost units off the map in these last two turns... -ben.

MrSpkr - your mailbox is bouncing your turn back to me. Please fix or do somefink .

Okay, some quick updates: Tincan: After a drawn-out waiting game of 'no - you attack me first' we finally engaged. His Sherman's and Stuart's have gone the way of the burning ronson - but i am paying in blood for my advance into the town to finish off his grunts. We are well into the ber stage and it will end at any second, i've won it, but my men are cursing my flag fixation! MrSpkr: Out-manouvered me early, and hit me hard. My Paratrooper's have orders to regroup and counterattack, but just seem to be wandering about in the dark crying for mummy. Cowards. TankBuster: We are playing a scenario that requires me to exit my troops for points. I think i have just about smashed his force, but he has a couple of tanks left - one on each flank, and i have only a couple of turns left to exit... I'm not sure exactly how CM calculates victory points for exiting, but i've got bugger all points so far so i guess i had better get them exited pronto! Marcus: We are playing on a small valley map. He's got the high hill and one burning Panther on his side, i've got a horde of HMC's scurrying about on my side of the valley. Our infantry are still playing hide and seek in the middle. StugIII: Courtesy of his Afv's refusing to acknowledge the presence of my AT gun he has a toasted Priest and Sherman. I hold the VL's on the edge of town and still have my armour and a Flame HT - he has a Sherman and a shedload of grunts... there's a lot of fight left in this one i reckon. Sledge: We haven't started yet but are getting closer... waiting for a reply from my proposal a few days ago. If my turns are a little slow for the next few days it's because i'm watching Wimbledon... or the Ashes... and yes, watching England lose is more important than processing your turn! -ben.

Ack! What appears to be a genuine misunderstanding turns into my dis-honourable dealings. LOL. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Question: Would a reasonable man except a balanced side of American only against SS(mot) men in a tourney? I don't think so. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> In any game where i take US Army i am prepared to face anything. No, they are not an equal and opposite force to everything the axis has, they have different strengths and weaknesses - that is why this game is FUN. You didn't actually bring the most balanced force... no arty and weak AT assets... HMC's and Stuarts. Heer Motorised have pretty similar FP ratings to SS Motorised anyway, almost identical over the 40m range and SS are more pricey. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> This is a person who discussed setups before hand and actually had the longest conversation about how Heer outweighing Americans with SMG etc. only to be turned against SS without understanding why anyone would want to discuss in length about SMG and balance only to change to SS and expect it overlooked. BTW, The SS(mot) had a firepower of 264 if you are interested.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Umm, we discussed a point of rules - whether security squads were counted as smg squads... i pointed out that the relative costs/FP of these were very similar to rifle, and stated i didn't think they were 'restricted' by CAL rules, but that i wouldn't be buying them as i didn't rate them... nothing saying i would only take heer. I do not usually discuss the composition of my forces with an opponent. I just agree to buy only one force type, with whatever rulesets we want to use. I believe this is the way a lot of people play CM, in CAL and other matches too, could be i am wrong - but this is my experience. <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> For the record can all that are playing against me please state if I do not say one side American one side Heer. This is the format I used period in all games. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It is unfortunate that we misunderstood eachother, you didn't state one side this one side that though, you actually said : <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> Either Heer for me or American you may decide I am going to try and do 5 of each side and this is first response. One force of course. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I misunderstood this, i just thought you were sounding off how you would beat me with any force, i NEVER said i was Heer, ALWAYS Axis (many many times) and you had said "one force", i understood this to mean any single force. My bad for not being more explicit about my understanding of the Single-Force rules... I don't think my having SS affected the game a whole lot. We mainly engaged at longer ranges than 40m, my Heer Motorised would have had a very similar FP ratio to your men as my SS Mot did at this range. And for every other reason... i cannot be bothered to give the AAR in this context, but we both know you were beat. All this after you surrendered instead of processing a BER turn that might have given you a ceasefire !!! It really is a shame it has ended like this... I am an honourable person, and i am pretty annoyed at your suggestion. Lets see what Judge Treeburst has to say... i will abide by his ruling of course. -ben.

TeAch - Fantastic turnaround time on the new build! I am impressed. On my suggestion, i agree completely that the result should surprise the player as much as possible. My suggestion would have given the player 60s more warning than nessecary, bad idea. Hmmm, so... For me it would make more sense if the BER result was adjusted by +1. This would mean that in a 30 turn +/-5 QB the result would be in the range 26 - 36, meaning the last turn played would be in the range 25 - 35 (not 24 - 34 as it is now.) This way you could play the last turn in your battle (possibly!). I don't think this would give any more away than it does at present (ie. if you get to the last turn you know it is the last possibility). Anyhows, this is a very minor point, and my easy solution for myself is to add 1 to the no. of turns when creating the BER file . Keep up the good work! -ben.

Hi Brad, First off, Thank-you for providing this great programme! I am using BER with a bunch of games in Winecapes TourneyII. It really makes a difference to the endgame. Now, some thoughts... say you have a 5 turn game, +/-1, the BER will say 'Battle Over - Cease Fire' on any turn of 4, 5, or 6. I think it should say 'This is the last turn, ceasefire NEXT turn.' instead . As it is, the way it reads, you will never get to play the 6th turn, the last turn would be 3, 4, or 5. I also have a (possibly very important) bug report for you that i don't want to post here, i have mailed it to you and TeAch... if you haven't recieved it then post here and i'll get it to you. -ben.

I will vote for the three i have played: The Bridges of LeLuc Tin Tanks Snowmen All are excellent, the first two both have a lot of shiny tanks that go boom and the last is a nasty close quarter battle in the snow. ben.

Right you ugly lot, I have games started with: Fangorn Tincan StugIII TankBuster MrSpk MikeD - (just about started now, our mail dosen't seem to like eachother.) i am waiting for responses from: Gashford Sledge Marcus StevetheRat * i'll mail you slackers individually to try and kickstart a response from you... really, we should be dying-a-lot (or at least sneaking-waiting-for-contact-a-lot) by now. *StR - alright, i read your post above... but quit making excuses! you can try and blame outlook, (it is made by microsoft after all) but we know you are scared... now stop blubbing and GET TO IT! AAR's and updates will follow... I look forward to the inevitable demise of my opponents. ben.

here's a link to the website: BaDco's Endgame Randomizer very useful tool, i hope the concept is built in to CM2 as an option. ben.

well due to unforseen circumstances i'm going to be away from home and unable to complete the tiebreaker match with mlaPanzer. I am hereby withdrawing giving mlaPanzer the win. Good luck to all of you in the second round ben.

hmm, mlaPanzer i sent you the next turn about 40 minutes before i received your reminder yesterday. I shall now send it to you again, please let me know if you still haven't received it. My apologies for being rather busy on Tuesday - I will now, as i usually do, turn around any turns you send me very quickly. regards, ben.

bah! you don't go online for one measly day and look what happens... it looks like your full now, but i'll take reserve incase anyone drops out. have a good tourney! ben.

Mlapanzer vs Chuckle we fought to a bloody draw in the heavy fog at night, it was...evil. The end map shows our units standing in amongst eachother around a greyed out flag. Given more time i may have eeked out a tactical victory, but my churchills were having a hard time locating the enemy armour - and my Brit infantry's stiff upper lips were definitely quivering... one question - to do a 10 turn tiebreaker do we submit ceasefire requests at turn 10? 20 turns is the lowest you can go in a QB. we'll try and wrap this up ASAP. ben.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>originally posted by mlaPanzer: Now the gamey Bastage has brought in a wasp But no fear he is TOAST this turn. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> hehe, my gamey wasp just did one of the most incredible tac ai moves i have ever seen. ordered into a position to overlook the enemy advance the wasp had just finished its move when a shell lands a few feet behind him... the idiot driver promptly takes off at full speed directly towards the enemy... AARRGGHH! i watch as my carefully planned flaming ambush disappears into the darkness and fog. The now AWOL wasp drives forward about 60m (thats a long way in 28m visibility) until it is alongside an until recently contested - now german occupied house, acquires a target, turns under fire and flames the house! instantly torching it and sending the heer running just as the turn ends... LOL, tac ai, you gotta love it...even though the wasp is indeed likely to now be toast. otherwise the fighting is gritty hand to hand stuff with enemy sp guns in very close support throwing HE at horrifically short ranges. My determined brits (intelligence reports show the hun believe they are attacking french forces) are holding the heer/Fj/whatever-else-he's-got infantry off the VL for the moment, but are paying a high price. This is one tough fight, with everything left to play for.