Peter Cairns

Well I am for accurate maps so what I look forward to is making maps of real terrain. Living in the Highlands I have a lot of farmland woods and country roads so odd as it may seem I like to model places I can actually visit. In part I am just a big kid playing soldiers in the woods beside my house..... Peter.

looking at the flavour objects in the manual I had expected to see some trees. There are logs and stumps but it would be nice to have some burnt out trees or dead ones with ivy etc as these can give that extra bit of detail to a hedge line and also can act as useful points of reference. Hopefully some of these will make it into a later module particularly so we can do shelled forest terrain for the Bulge module, The other thing that can really add to a maps feel is a broken bit of fence or old stone dyke. given that everything was done by hand it wasn't uncommon in the 40's to see fences walls and even farm buildings that were in dis repair even before the War. After four years of German occupation I bet there was a lot of repair work in rural france that had gone undone. Peter.

I've never used the CMSF map editor before so I am hoping someone can tell me what the best way to do it is. Which should you do first; Roads and details then the lie of the land or get the ground right first and add the details. I have a road running by my house with open field s on one side and a wood on the other. The rough profile of the road would be; Field at 0 the a +1 bank with a fence on it 1m wide followed by a 1m ditch at -1. It the rises to 0 for 1m of grass before a 3m 0 road and then 2m of grass at 0. Finally it rises to +1/+2 for 2m before dropping back to 0/+1 in the wood. However neither the field. road or wood are level they all go up and down by -2/-3 to +2/+3 along their length. So should you build the road and then raise and lower sections of it or get the levels right and then build the road. If it helps I've added a picture of the road although it's in winter and a shot I took from a plane when I was taking off as I only live a few miles from Inverness airport. Advice would be great. Peter.

I'd go for the CW module and the MG module being the same thing. For me after D-day MG is one of the biggest British actions of the war. Call the commonwealth Module MG and then you can use the US forces from BN in MG and the British forces in MG in BN. The same with the SS. I think in terms of terrain and forces we are only talking about a few monthes and a few hundred miles. When it comes to things like 1940 to 41 "Spring time for Hitler" or Africa then you need to do something really substantial and that creates an issue. Interesting as these areas are anything that comes before Pearl Harbour and doesn't have US forces won't make the money that Bn will, with the possible exception of the Russian front. For me I like British paras so a MG module that lets you also do Pegasus Bridge would be ideal, although the other biggy for me , and I think with the new smaller scale it can work and work well is The Pacific. Whether there would be a market for a pacific module covering the Brits and indians in Burma or even the Chinese would be open to doubt. Peter.

Steve, Don't start going all Rumsfeld on us.... Peter.

If you are interested although I was much higher up than road level this is the Google street view of "That hill"... a lot of open ground. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=56.38229,-3.939843&spn=0.006059,0.01929&t=h&z=16&lci=com.panoramio.all&layer=c&cbll=56.382287,-3.939576&panoid=y5NgmVfMcCGCLAHLXwYIsA&cbp=12,157.23,,0,0 This is partly why I am so keen to start modelling the area around my own house.

And some sunflowers...... It really is a beautiful country to have a war in..... Peter.

Now this is a field of Lavender..... http://www.battlefront.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=780&d=1304193472

Denis Moore didn't ride through the moor, he rode through the glen with his merry men. "Stole from the poor gave to the rich... silly bitch silly bitch silly bitch....." As to lavender it mainly grows to the south but it is also grown as a crop. Google; Lavender, France and look at images. Or better still post some here it looks awesome. I can image the odd prospect of an infantry fire fight in a bright purple field. Oh and then of course there may well be the mod of field the six foot high Sunflowers which again tend to be further south but it would be crazy terrain for a battle. Peter.

"You know, this hill would be the ideal position for an artillery battery." Maybe a spotter in cover but not the battery... to obvious a target. Artillery should be hidden. Peter.

Given how many oldie like me there are here got me thinking ( I still have just enough remaining brain cells). My wife is a psychologist and in recent years research using fMRI scanners shows that in early adolescence the brain like the rest of the body goes through a rapid transition. It first produces large numbers of new neurons and then they die back. Thus like toodlers in the terrible twos teenagers seem to go through a hormone induced return to childhood before becoming adults. But the effect is that what influences them during that period and they latch onto stays with them for most of their adult lives. Now given the number of us who are 45 to 65 it seems to me that we might love CM because we were all influenced by wargames around the same time in what can be looked at as teh gold age of tabletop gaming. In the 60's to 80's wargames came of age and became more formalised and affordable they became less on a niche product and were dominated by WW2. So most of us were influenced by that be it SPI, 1:35 scale Tamiya models or watching combat. Like the people who made CMBO, like Steve or Moon, we are all sort of hard wired to like it because of the things that influenced us in our teens. We went from Toy Soldiers to Solider war games and it stuck, so that when BF produced a computer game that fitted the bill it was all our Christmases. For thirty years or more we have all been programmed to like this game it's why we love it and why BF loves to make it. The problem is that so many young people now are being brought up on youtube and Portal, iPods and halo so will they in future get it when we show them CNBN or will it be the game of our generation with no one to follow in years to come. I've tried to get my 14 year old nephew interested in the game and my ten year old sone but when we met up to go camping they talked about portal. Yeasterday at dusk we were all camping in Perthshire having a BBQ looking out across fields and hedges to a wooded hill beyond. My brother handed me binoculars while I looked at the lengthening shadow and said "Do you want these to look at the Osprey nest" to which I replied.... " No I am trying to work out how to take that hill". He was enjoying the evening and the kids were talking about FPs's and the next transformers movie, but me well like you since I was the same age and my nephew and son have been programmed to try to take that hill....... Peter.

50 at the start of July... exactly the same age to the day as the late Princess Diana. Started playing games at about 13 and my first was Oil War that came with SPI's Strategy & Tactics. Oddly enough I bought a DVD of PDf's of 100 copies of S&T's a week or too ago and to be honest reading back they seem to have stood the test of time. One of my all time favourite paper and card games was RAID and to be honest if it hand't been for that along with Patrol and Sniper I would probably never have been into CMBO. I never got into Squad leader because although it looked and felt a better game it never flowed as well for me. Where as raid and things like fire fight had Move/Counter Move, and alternating fire between sides, Squad leader stuck with one side did everything with everyone and then the other player had their turn. Maybe its being Scots.... I like football where the ball is always in play everyone in both sides is always involved and the play switches from end to end as opposed to NFL where one side attacks and the other defends and half the time half the team stands on the touchline watching. Not a great theory just a thought. Peter.

Hi Steve..... I've been away. Peter.

In some ways the lack of detail might work as it wouldn't be designed to be historically accurate so much as battles between the right units in the right places at the right time. I'd like to use the game to create the feel and look of the battle rather than an exact copy. Still it depends what people come up with. Peter.

Given that we are looking at CMBN going live in early to mid May then its on time for the 67th anniversary of D-day. I was thinking about it and depending on what scenarios are in teh game and what people produce themselves it might be possible to make a sort of Longest Day video by compiling parts of Video AAR's into a film. Some things like beach landings are probably be to difficult but perhaps something based on the day of the landings around us Airborne units might work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_airborne_landings_in_Normandy If people incorporated the location and time starting from before dawn till after dusk then the final thing could be really good especially if people tried to recreate actual historic engagements. The Video AAR's have been really good so far so depending on how hard they are to do a longer "movie" should be possible. Peter.

I had always thought that the biggest issue with Flamethrowers was that people thought they were bullet magnets and that nobody wanted to be in a battle with a gas station strapped to their backs, or to be standing beside someone wearing one. Still I think flame tanks were used by both sides in Normandy, but I could be wrong. Peter.

Having looked at the Video AAR's I have noticed that most of the buildings have a single ridge and two gable ends (It looks like a square with a triangle on top). A long time ago I suggested that if another gable was put at right angles on the side then buildings could be joined together to make T shapes or L shapes and the roof lines would look natural. Now I may be wrong and that is included in larger buildings or ones I haven't seen yet, but linked buildings and T and L shapes are very common even in small french villages so if it isn't in it's a pty. Still their are more modules to come so maybe later. If they are in and I just haven't seen them yet then I take full credit for such a brillant idea..... Peter.

Bugger...... Peter.

One of the effects I am keen to see is the flame thrower. In CMBO it was nice for it's time but a bit weak. Part of the problem was the abstracted scale where it appeared to have a range of 20ft instead of 20yards. I am hoping it wwill be a lot better in CMBN when we get it although, black smoke and dripping oil would be to much to ask for. Peter.

TheGreatRadish... The same one although as with this i've dropped right off posting recently. Two elections and being a Councillor has cut into that too. Still their is a new poll out this morning which has the SNP well ahead so although their are two weeks to go and a lot of work to do we have to be odds on favourite to be returned as the Government. I'll now wait for all the posts about the Megrahi decision..... Peter.

Well after I don't know how many years here I am. Some of you that have been here for ages might remember my posts from scotland from long ago. Well in the intervening years battlefront stopped supporting Macs and I could afford a Mac and a PC so I sort of had to watch Shockforce from the side lines. Also I got elected as a local Councillor and regardless of what you think of politicians (which is probably accurate even if it is unprintable) it is pretty hard work. I also lost my son to a genetic condition four years back and to be honest for a long time gaming was the last thing on my mind. Well tonight I pre ordered Normandy for the Mac and although it is close to the limit for my MacBook I am so looking forward to both playing the game and especially modelling the area around my house on the Black Isle. That will bring back some odd memories because i last modelled it on CMBO and played head to head with thomas the year before he died... I am also off on Holiday to France just south of Orleans in july for three weeks so I'll be able to practice virtual driving on the right hand side. Peter.

Hi folks been away since the migration mostly due to pressure of work, but I thought this might interest a lot of you. From the people who brought you Chobham.... http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7811567.stm ( sorry I haven't figured out how you add a link now. Peter.

Saw this on the BBC web site. Worlds largest restaurnt I've heard about having to fight to get a table by this would be ridiculous. Peter.

John, Just because they watched Mayday doesn't mean that there is anything new in the pipes. Given that almost all the Syrian stuff in CM:SF is from Russian it was probably a good way to look a year or two ahead to see what they might be getting, sort of window shopping for Christmas. From what I saw Santa isn't about to deliver anything new this years. Peter.

Most of these could be covered by a generic circular building of sorts. I think the modular approach would be better than a list of different types. A one story high one with no roof could be a sewage farm or irrigation pond. Make it three or four stories high with roof but no entry and you get a fuel storage tank. Have the ability to take out wall sections and remove them from the lower levels along with floors and you get a water tower. It would be possible to give them either concrete or metal skins in with heavy or light cover properties. Peter.