Biltong

What great timing you have Super -I've been doing some research for Stalingrad - a ton of work and I've wondered if anyone will ever get there You're giving me the boost I needed! Send the feedback my way - Peter's been swallowed by RL Give as much criticism/ideas as you can. I've got high hopes for these Battle Packs - they must be the cherrie on the campaign cake Hmm - that's what I expected from the 'hot' players I think the average player is bound to lose a crew here and there and quite unlikely to get to crack. Also - 41 is obviously easier - things do get a bit stickier for the krauts as the East Front starts hotting up Thanx for the feedback

Hi Michael, I see your site does not feature SA forces, yet Here’s a comment you might find interesting. “On 1 Feb 43 the 6th South African Armoured Division was formed….On 24 May 44 the 24th Guards Brigade came under SA command. It was to fight with the South Africans until Feb 45 and as a result of this additional strength the 6th South African Armoured Division was probably the most powerful formation in Italy. The Division fought on in Italy until the German surrender in 1945, sustaining some 3,543 casualties. “The Armed Forces of WWII” Andrew Mollo, Orbis Publishing London, 1981 P 139.

Nope - Simply too easy - no reward for that - all in a day's work The premise I used, is what would you get a medal for (as an infantry man). [ April 26, 2003, 07:18 AM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

Thought of the same thing, but I want to hold on a bit longer. You might just be an exception or very good/carefull with your armor... Once I hear the same thing from a number of guys with 20+ battles behind them, I'll change the rules. More than likely just up the minimum kills needed to earn points.

Hi OBJ, Won't you mail me your sheets - It sounds like something I could use. biltong@betrim.co.za I'm also took note of your exp comments. But isn't it rather a question of the armor gaining exp too easily? The losses on the East Front was so horrendous that through the years the quality of the German troops (as well as the Soviets) declined. With exceptions of course. Thanx for the feed-back. Biltong [ April 24, 2003, 06:19 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

SeaHawk answered this already... Just to confirm: All Battle Group units, including armor are replaced during each normal replacement. As for your 2nd question re the 7 men marched off the map - correct: 7 + 3 replacements

Hi Joachim, Great AAR's As the rules stand - your sIG is OK (not abandoned or KO'd) and can join the battle. This is the 2nd time this question has come up and I've just scheduled the following change for 42 South v2.2: Immobilized vehicles – Normal battle die-roll: 1-8 to be able to be repaired in time; Immediate and Counter Attack 1-3 to be repaired in time. You can impliment it now, if you want Couple of questions from my side: You seem to be winning very easily - Have you upgraded yourself after winning 6 battles in a row (Note 8)? BTW - What player exp are you playing on? Do you find that your armor crews gain experience too fast in comparison with your Company. Someone else has remarked on this?

Ok guys - this thread's getting full - take it here - Biltong's Campaign Rules - New Thread - No 9

Had another look and you're right. I'm an old programmer - used to the If...not... type statements. Most people will find it a bit confusing. Problem is, the alternative is not much better and it's a lot longer: listing all the things that are ok and if they are all ok, then go ahead and buy air. I was just trying to be funny with the 'pissed' statement - no harm meant. For me? That's private between consenting adults SeaHawk - you want to tell him? Hmmm... Stabbing... I just tick the numbers as I go down the rows. Stabbing does sound a lot more exciting. I think I'll try that for a while.

Done

Ok guys - this thread's getting full - take it here - BCR - Thread No 9 [ April 23, 2003, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

Biltong’s Campaign Rules 41 South v2.2 and 42 South v1.1 Player Guide v2.2 A complete walk-through of the first battle, the more difficult rules explained in some detail and lots of lovely pictures BiltAid (41 South v2.2 compliant) For those of you who hate paperwork SeaHawk's Magic Java tool will have you dieing in no time BCR Map Packs with over 220 maps!! All of the above - Get it here: SuperSulo's Site or here Scooby's Site - including PDF versions for the non-MS compliant individuals If this is the first time you hear about BCR… :confused: BCR is a set of Campaign rules that enable you to play a series of battles from Barbarossa to Berlin. BCR 41 & 42 South is the set of Rules covering the months June 41 to December 42 in the Army Group “South” Theatre of Operations. Operation Barbarossa erupts on 22 June 1941 and you and your Battle Group storm through the Soviet ranks through the long months of summer in the steppe and the mud and rain of October. You take your men all the way to Rostov, Khar’kov and the Crimea before the incredible cold of November halt you in your tracks. Then the Soviet counter attacks start. You are the commanding officer of a company of German Mechanized Infantry and some armor that you take through the whole CMBB time frame. As you lead your company and armor into Russia most of the parameters of the battles are dictated by historically accurate data, e.g. on the 4th week of October 41 it suddenly turns bitterly cold and the German advance freezes to a halt. You, your men and armor gain or lose experience throughout the Campaign. You start off with Regular troops, but after a year it becomes obvious that the quality of your replacements are getting worse... How your men grow in experience will depend on how they fare in each battle… how many men did they lose; did they get rattled; did they take out a MG pillbox or maybe even a tank? You yourself, as the CO, learn and slowly gain or lose Favor with your own commanding officer. If you screw up, you lose favor... Favor that you could have used to avoid launching an Immediate Assault straight after your last battle without even getting reinforcements. You also get a Task Force to support your Battle Group: Infantry, Support, Vehicles, Armor, Arty or Air, depending on factors such as who assaults or attack who, weather etc. With designed scenarios you quite often have ‘balanced’ forces, but with BCR you’ll get the real thing: Sometimes you know who your opponent is; sometimes you are facing unknown odds. Sometimes you have an easy go of it - hammering low on ammo and decimated green Partisans, but later that night you might face a counter-attack from 3 companies of Guards Mech, before you had chance to get reinforcements... You have to think on your feet and learn to retreat when necessary... no more heroic defenses or assaults till the last man!! Your men's survival is of the utmost importance... even to the extent that you'll rather lose a battle than lose too many men! The objectives still matter – you still want to win, but not at the cost and risk of decimating your men. Here realism rules for the first time. As a learning tool this is unsurpassed.... You learn to think and act like a real commander... If you think you’ve got your tactics down pat, – Think again… You will get into situations that you’ve never encountered before… and never will with normal scenarios and QB’s. BCR is just for yourself… the battle is between yourself and an enemy who grows stronger every year… You will have to become a better commander for you and your men to survive till the end. If you have any questions - post in this thread and I or one of the old hands will answer you within a day or 2. Enjoy!! Biltong [ April 23, 2003, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

That's the problem with a ton of small print </font>

The casualties parameter has nothing to do with battle casualties. This parameter is mostly dictated by weather: Snowed in/vehicles stuck in mud/lost units/frostbite victims etc. And the time of the year: Which historical factors were at play, such as a Soviet couter offensive resulting in low supplies of petrol/disorganization etc. See the 1st line in 23 (Axis) Casualties: "These are mostly casualties of mud & cold." So don't try and negate them, unless you want an easy game You cannot 'cut out' the Casualties parameter using the SE... The only way is simply to not set it.

That's the problem with a ton of small print

I think you did not read the modifiers in Parameter 34 Air: If Time not Mid Day/Dawn or Weather not Clear ...go to Large Arty (33) and roll again.

Ahh - Some excellent ideas here - type of rules that I would like to play myself. Might be too detailed for most guys though. They all go on the list... Definitely a lot to chew on. Once you have them more refined and set, do me a favour and post here or mail me. Definitely something here. I esp like the Leadership & Experience Potential. Did you modify the Battle Group sheet to cater for this or are you using a seperate sheet?

Hi Snowbart, I suspect that one of the Time or Weather parameters were inadvertently set wrong or left at random. I just did a quick test and everything's fine on my side. Try generating another QB with the same parameters - you should be able to see what the previous settings were. Let me know what you find. Biltong [ April 22, 2003, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

I like this - more logic. Wish there was a way of rewarding specific leadership qualities proven in combat. But how do you prove that the HQ was good at hiding himself and his men for the last x battles?

Well – I for one hope BFC never provides a campaign. It gives me strange pleasant feeling in my nether regions knowing I’m burdening hundreds? of guys with hours of non-sensical paperwork. Just a pity Seahawk has brought out his Biltaid program and automated the whole bloody thing… Takes away half the tingling feeling [ April 22, 2003, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

Right - all the way to buying just the MG or mortar etc in that Battalion. So when I note down my Task Force Offerings I do it very fast and rough. If I see there's a lot of MG's or platoons of a certain type I don't bother counting them since I know I'll only be able to buy a couple. Yes again - An't I nice You'll notice from the rules that the modifiers make it unlikely that you will get armor points if the Force Mix is Infantry, but it can happen. So: You roll up an Infantry only battle to generate your task force - there are no tanks generated. But when rolling up the points for your Task Force you are very lucky and get some Armor points. Now, since you did not have any armor generated, you can choose your own armor from the normal Unit Purchase List when you buy your units for the final 'Generate Real Battle'.

No - The bulk of the changes are rule clarification. The only 'rule' change has to do with Favor gained re Prisoners. In 41 the two '**' are next to the HQ - with the note reading: '** These points are per HQ team'. In 42 this changes - the '**' are moved up to the heading Prioner(s) ** and the Note now reads: '** These points are for each individual member of a HQ, squad or team.' Subtle difference. I'm trying not too change any modifiers. Rest easy I also send the new version out to the team, some time before I update it on the boards and announce it, to give the auto-guys time to update their programs. Any new rules in 42 onwards will be implimented as an appendix that can be used or not (depending on the complexity/realism the player prefers). What can be a problem for Biltaid players, is that these appendixes can be retrofitted to 41, if they want to use them... I decided to bring out a couple of new rules for each 'new' year - to make the game more interesting as the years progress, but not to update the 'finished' years (so far 41) so as not to scare of new players with a whole host of rules the 1st time round. Hmm - something to think about. I'm still waiting for the final patch, before I tackle these. 1st I'll do the straight SE option forJune 42 (ammo/exp/names etc) and then later (Jan 43) bring out the HQ leadership calcs. I think. I've got a couple of pages of ideas that's been mentioned over the months... Good that you and Hobo are starting the discussion again... the time for coding these are getting closer. [ April 21, 2003, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

No - you can buy/upgrade as many as you want up to a maximum of 3. E.g.: a couple of tank hunters and a sniper. There's no restriction in the rules of only 1 per battle. The idea - once again - is to give you a chance to play with units of your own choice. To get to know them etc. But since the points are normally so low, you'll end up playing with cheapy units you won't normally bother with - that's the idea - BCR's hidden teaching objective As for the points you don't/can't use - they are lost for ever - alas! [ April 21, 2003, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: Biltong ]

Good ideas Hobo, There's been quite a bit of discussions on this subject some months ago and it's one of the modifications to implimented in 43. I'm bringing in a couple of changes each year, but in such a way that it can be retrofitted to previous years if the plyers want. The HQ gaining a leadership quality everytime his exp increases, might be a bit fast...Maybe after every 4 or 5 battles? Or a die-roll/number of battles combination - e.g: After 3 battles you need to roll a 1 to gain a quality; after 4 battles less than 3; after 5 battles less than 5 etc. The same gains could be implimented for all HQ's, not just the CO. I would also like to give the HQ's a deserved quality: Command, Hiding etc depending on what happened in previous battles, but I can't think of a simple way of determining this. Maybe some of the players can come up with some ideas? Obviously the easy way, would be to make it a simple random die-roll, but... Replacing the HQ with a platoon leader is also planned for, but I think the platoon leader will lose more exp than one. He would also, more than likely lose some of his leadership qualities, since he'll be a newbie at his more demanding job. I'll be curious to hear what else you come up with - You've got me thinking Biltong.

Just did a test download from SuprS's site - It's all there. Have a look at the bottom of the Excel sheet(BCR rules) - the different tabs open up the different sheets: Favor, Battlegroup etc