Dave H

Ditto to what they both said. The only time I've removed the CD since loading the game was to use TurboTax this spring. As soon as my taxes were finished, back into the drive with CM:BO. Every other game I'd played before seemed very shallow and immature compared with this one. When CM:BB comes out, this is going to pose a problem. Although it looks absolutely beautiful and I'm sure the mechanics will be much improved, I'll definitely miss playing the US, UK, Canadians, French, and Poles. Two CD's, one CD drive. I don't suppose there's any chance of BTS creating an expansion disk to CM:BB adding in the Western Front Allies, is there?

Shades, Good scenario design! </font>

No apology necessary. I should have known if you were involved that nobody gets to screw up your psycho maps and weather conditions with 20 flamethrowers and/or flak guns. But my other question remains, how new is a Newbie? If I consistently lose PBEMs, do I ever stop being a Newbie? For that matter, why would I ever want to stop being a Newbie? Obviously with a Member number over 5000 I'll never be an "Old One" (thank you, God!). [ May 20, 2002, 03:36 PM: Message edited by: Dave H ]

Can you clarify something for me? You mention the maps, but not the forces. Will this be a set of scenarios with forces determined by someone else, or a u-pick free for all? And if it's a pick your own situation, will any particular set of "Rules" be enforced? And most important, have six PBEM games cost me my cherished status of Newbie? :confused: If not, how many PBEM games does it take to become an Oldie? Enquiring minds (well, one mind anyway) want to know.

Count me as one of Ted's fans, too. I hadn't played PBEM until he started his Newbie Tournament. Since it started I haven't played against the AI again. Not only have I competed with some really good players, but I've made some new friends, too. And PBEM opponents can do something the AI will never do. In one game my German opponent remarked that I had a lot of Pershings. I replied and told him I didn't want him scratching the paint on all of my nice new Pershings. Here is his response (thanks, VJ): "I'm working on an anti-tank weapon for my men that works kind of like a TOW missile. It is mounted on a Kubel, fires, and then flies over the top of the tank and explodes downward with several gallons of raw egg. The egg dries to the paint and cooks into it in the hot sun. When the Allies wash it off, their paint job is ruined!! Muuwwwhhhaaaaaa, hhaaaaahhhh, hhhhaaaaaaaahhhhhhh, hhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" THAT'S what makes PBEM a winner!

Probably not. It's tough for them to knot a rope since they haven't evolved opposable thumbs yet.

Despite all the endless arguments about which nation had better tanks, I think you will find that tanks caused an infinitesimal fraction of these casualties. So I really don't think these figures have any bearing on relative equipment quality. Possibly these figures tell us more about the mindsets of the two governments (Germany and the Soviet Union) at the time.

It's always seemed more like the appendix or the tonsils to me. And thanks for the compliment.

Is it too late for the forum to get on the heart transplant list? [ April 22, 2002, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Dave H ]

I suspect we'll see a whole lot of the Ancient Ones resurfacing as CMBB hits the market. Is there a reason why you had to re-register, instead of using your original membership? Just curious.

Who would have guessed, based on your "name"? This forum is made up of a great bunch of people, who are disgustingly intelligent. I suspect MENSA would love to draft the entire membership. With the possible exception of the Neanderthals who post ad nauseam on the "Peng Challenge Thread". Welcome!

Just looked at the poll again. What surprised me is the lack of voter turnout. This board's newest memeber, wewe, is member #8244. The total votes on the poll is 718. Combat Mission has 469 votes. If you assume every single vote in the poll came from a registered member of this board (highly unlikely), and that every single vote came from a separate person (even more unlikely), then at best only 8.71% of the members of this board participated at all. The situation is even worse looking strictly at the votes for CMBO. Making the same unlikely assumptions as before (all voters are registered members of this board and nobody voted more than once) only 5.69% of the members of this board made the effort to vote for Combat Mission. Hardly an overwhelming show of support for BTS.

SuperTed, I see you're inundated with AARs from Round 2. I posted mine a week ago today and there hasn't been another post on the thread. On the bright side, the thread is only down about 5 or 6 spots from the top of the Scenario listing. It was a smart move to put the thread over there. Too bad nobody is using it. Dave

What are you doing, using M20s to defend Gestapo HQ in downtown Berlin from the Americans? Prepare to greet your M20's original owners , if you get me a turn today. Dave

Although I'm no longer in the tournament, I wanted to write AAR's for the scenarios I played. Here is mine for Nothing Fancy. My first impression of the map was that it looked more like a quilt than a map. The square hills and woods looked bizarre. It took me a few minutes to realize the German side, southwest of the diagonal ridge, was identical to my side on the northeast. Everything was duplicated: vegetation, walls, buildings, roads, even the topography. In my beginning setup, Ted had "generously" given me two 105 mm howitzers on the board. I could either set them up far to the rear either on an exposed ridge or in the woods, or what I thought was far too close to a defended ridge. I opted to set up on my extreme right, where I thought I could use them to cover the two nearest hills. And so they did, neither of them ever seeing a German or firing a shot. I split my infantry company, assigning each platoon HQ one of the VLs. C platoon went to the NW hill, B to the next, E "platoon" (HQ, 50 cal HMG, mortar, & bazooka) to the next, and D platoon to the SE hill. B & D platoons each included a MMG, mortar, and bazooka. Since C would be closest to my 105s, I figured (hoped) they needed less support attached. When turn 1 ended, I was reinforced with an M4 (105) and three M4s. I sent one M4 to support each flank, and kept two on my ridgeline in overwatch. After turn 5 I received four more M4s. I sent one more to each flank and kept two more for overwatch. My first sign of the enemy was on turn 9. My E "platoon", which had managed to misplace the 50 cal HMG in the bocage, had mortar fire drop nearby. No casualties, but it's hard to shoot back at an invisible enemy. At the end of that turn, four more M4s arrived. Two more went to each flank, and the overwatch tanks moved forward to support the center. On turn 11, my D platoon came under fire from an StuH42 parked on the road through the woods. Luckily, the first supporting M4 was on the job and got a first shot kill. Then on turn 13, an "Assault gun" on the southeasternmost hill fired at D platoon. Another supporting M4 knocked it out. A third "Assault gun" fired at that Sherman, and yet another of my tanks KO'd it. Meanwhile, one of my M4s moved to take up what I thought was a good hull-down position overlooking the road running through the center of the ridge. It survived just long enough to identify a PzIV in the distance up on the far ridge. As the turret began to rotate, 2 AP shells arrived. One missed, but the second didn't, so the Americans lost their first Sherman. In addition, I deduced that the central road was highly hazardous to any American's health. I found out later how true that was. By turn 17, C platoon had secured the VL on my far right, with one M4 in support. E platoon had spotted German infantry in the SE half of the central woods. E had already survived a substantial mortar barrage that left dozens of craters all around them. D platoon was in a firefight in the woods on my left, and B had contacted the infantry in the central woods, on the other side of the road. They got close to the road to be able to see the enemy through the woods. Then all of the Americans, especially me, received a nasty surprise. The Germans not only had tanks on their ridge looking down this road; they had a BIG gun pointed directly down that road, right at B platoon! As the firefight across the road escalated, someone set the woods on fire (thankfully, on the German side of the road). I haven't figured out how that happened. To add to the carnage, my 50 cal HMG began area firing down the road, and my 81 mm mortar spotter fired in as well. When turn 20 began, the Americans controlled all four VLs. Since there was no activity in the NW, I began moving C platoon southeast toward the next VL. Then smoke began falling on the NW hill, so to counter a last-minute attack I turned C platoon around. This took them out of the battle; they ended the scenario without firing a shot. Simultaneously, smoke began falling on the left (SE) VL, and my troops spotted a "Tiger?". I had five M4s close at hand, but I was not happy to see a Tiger. On turn 23, the single "Tiger?" morphed into TWO "Tiger?"s and a "Panther?"! Fortunately, one of the ersatz Tigers turned into a PzIV, which an M4 knocked out, but this still looked like far too much German armor bearing down on us. A very shot-up D platoon was still hanging on, keeping the German infantry away from my tanks in the southeast. A mauled B platoon had backed away from the central road deeper into the woods, trying to reorganize a bit. When turn 25 began, the Americans still controlled all four VLs. There were at least two M4s on the reverse slope of each of the four hills, and a sprinkling of infantry as well. When the turn ended, one of the central VLs had become uncontrolled, and the other central VL had become German-controlled. To my left I was still under fire by a "Tiger?" and a "Panther?" (both actually PzIVs). So the end result was an Allied minor victory, 52-34. The Americans took 82 casualties (20 KIA), while the Germans took 46 casualties (14 KIA). I also lost one mortar and one vehicle (M4), versus the German's four vehicles (PzIV, StuH42, and 2 Stug III). Kind of a weird result from a scenario on a really weird map. I feel like I should have supported my infantry better with my armor, but the Germans were always so deep in the woods that I could never get a shot at them. THREE 105 mm guns never found a target! Thanks SuperTed, and thanks to Splash.

I could not agree more. I played one of SuperTed's scenarios in the Newbie Tournament with a large force of conscript German infantry. I would not have cared to try mounting an attack with them, but on the defensive they made a formidable adversary. As I told SuperTed, I could very easily relate to the conscript troops. They reminded me of myself. They didn't particularly like following orders and they looked out for themselves. I prefer that kind of realism much more than platoons of Rambos performing heroic deeds until they are eliminated to the last man.

So your teams average 11 goals per game? This sounds more like lacrosse or water polo than soccer. You sure you know which sport you're playing? :confused: Dave

Somehow Splash makes this battle seem a lot easier than I recalled. I remember asking him when I sent him a turn if his men ever got upset about getting shot at. It seemed like I had a dozen squads shooting at one of his platoons and it was my guys turning and running! Dave And Splash, welcome back from vacation. [ March 12, 2002, 08:58 PM: Message edited by: Dave H ]

Congratulations SuperTed! I too have been down the knee surgery and PT road, and I appreciate what you've accomplished. I actually did the surgery part myself, slicing my knee open on an old piece of sheet metal. I thought it was a bad cut, but when the X-ray tech lifted the sheet to look and turned his face away I knew I was in trouble. He told me there had been a guy in earlier who slashed his leg with a chain saw, but my knee was worse, immediately raising my morale level hugely. One question. When you're back full-time into this "sokker" cult, will that be the end of the Newbie Tournament? Seems like your time has to be limited.

Ted, I'll be more than happy to take the pressure off you and voluntarily grade all the AARs for the Newbie Tournament. I read them all anyway! I'll start with mine and Splash's. Dave

Just a quick reminder to players to please not mention specific information :eek: about scenarios in this thread until the round is over. I can avoid the AAR thread, or at least AARs about particular scenarios, but this thread is kind of important to keep up with. Splash is away for a week and we won't finish Nothing Fancy for a while yet. THANKS! Dave

Ted, Don't some tournaments award points to players who take the time to write AARs? Or penalize players who don't? Have you considered doing something like adding a few points to the score of players who contribute AARs in the later rounds of the tournament? I suspect an incentive would increase the input from the players, and I know you are looking for comments from both sides on your scenarios. All of us players, no matter how newbie we were when this tournament started, are beginning at least our fifth PBEM scenario. We are all capable of briefly reporting what happened from our point of view. And selfishly, I really enjoy reading how differently other players have managed with the same units and terrain that I had, and also how others have handled the forces my opponent had. I suspect I may have even accidently learned a few things from the others who have written AARs.

And also the most modest.

Ted, Just wanted to mention something to you. When Splash started torching everything in Give and Take with his Badger, I was totally shocked. I had no idea the Canadian troops had an AFV with this capability. Especially with the range it had. I couldn't remember ever seeing it mentioned anywhere on this board before. Anyway, this morning I thought to do a search on the Badger. I found only one single reference to it outside the Newbie Tournament AARs. And that reference was on the "Worst Looking AFV" thread. So why doesn't the Badger get any love, or even respect, from CM:BO players? I can guarantee my conscript German squads who just missed being hosed in the scenario had faces looking like this :eek: after their encounter! Congratulations on dredging up a really obscure unit which obviously nobody ever uses or sees in their battles. So what else do you have up your sleeve for the not-quite-so-Newbies? :eek:

Ted, I saw the girl who won the gold medal in figure skating on ESPN this morning. She has become the second woman figure skater to have her picture on the Wheaties box. Can you say "Time to cash in?" So can she (and her parents). And I don't blame them a bit. Don't look for her to come back in four years to defend her title. To put her age in perspective, she said her next goal is to get a 1600 on her SAT scores. I wouldn't bet against her. She seems very determined.