Stormin Norman

I found this link interesting and educational. http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/WWII/20240/20-240c.htm a few selected quotes from above link "...a magnetic mine had been attached, presumably by a native railroad worker, to one of the tank cars of a gasoline train. When the mine went off it set the car on fire, and the spreading blaze soon enveloped the entire train. An ammunition train standing nearby was ignited and blent sky high, setting fire in turn to an adjacent forage train. Finally, a fourth train loaded with "Tiger" tanks suffered the same fate and also burned out completely." That's the sort of thing that can really put a damper on your next offensive. Hope the railroad worker got a medal. "Within two nights the six to seven thousand miles of track in the area were cut in 8,422 places ..." "During the night of 19-20 June 1944 ... the partisans attempted 15,000 demolitions on the railroad lines ... successful in 10,500 cases, all in the course of 1 night." "...more severe and resulted in larger numbers of casualties than actual combat at the front. Many a division brought to the rear for rehabilitation and there, as a sideline so to speak, employed in antipartisan operations, requested after a short time to be relieved of such duties and permitted to return to the front"

http://www.battlefield.ru/destroyed/ussr/lee_01.jpg picture of the tank living up to 'coffin' name. I think they are not in due to multiple gun/ turret limitation. [ August 01, 2002, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: Stormin Norman ]

Is that a human wave? looks cool if suicidal.

Goliaths! It'd be fun to drive it around the battlefield, I bet it causes mass exodious of where ever it's heading. But of course people would be gamey and buy 20 of them and some veteran sharpshooters as fwd observers/scouts I've seen a couple in museums and one in a movie. Were the beyond rare or just uncommon?

Great Googaly moogaly! So, when can we order it? 1 min after midnight Sept 19th, what time zone are you in? Eastern US, ya? [ July 12, 2002, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: Stormin Norman ]

Any reason an interested party could't just convert whatever movie s/he wanted to AVI format and replace that file? Does anyone know the particular avi format used?

sorry to butt in and answer MLR - main line of resistance FSE - forward scouting elements actually I'm guessing on the last one. but that is just the acronyms. *knowing* what they are entails a lot more.

yee haw! armored night scenario, big map. (current game, hope there's not much intel leaks) I sent my Coy cmdr with some 60mm up a hill to watch the road connecting the victory flags on the left and right. He sent some men fwd to establish a LP. A Light Panzer? opened up on them but in the dark did little other than reveal his location. The cmdr directs fire for a couple of his 60mm crews. Man, they hurl alot of shells. First few shots wide and long. Cmdr corrects fire and soon the TC buttons up, 20 seconds later 'Boom' weak point top penetration. The burning wrek makes a nice light in which to spot other krauts. lesson of the day: If you don't know were/what the OpFor is/has in LOS then *always* move your armor after the turn they open fire. btw nighttime armor battles with hills and cover are a hoot!

Das looken schweet!

That site is really good, I like the slide show (diashow). Contrasting the photos from Belgium and Holland to those in Russia. In one they almost look like they are on holiday. Having picnics, enjoying the beach challet (Sp?)view, etc. In the other they are mostly just in mud and snow. Still smiling though. It makes me understand (a little) how after the quick & relatively easy conquests of the low-countries and France, they got into their heads the same was gonna happen against USSR and how wrong that idea was. norm

FM = Field manuals (army instruction manuals on many topics) try this link One of the reasons CM is so freakin cool is that you can learn real-life tactics and many can be applied in game. Or even more fun, you can figure out what 'works' in CM and later find out that you've 'rediscovered' known tactics. Such as was done above. [ June 07, 2002, 10:04 PM: Message edited by: Stormin Norman ]

lots of little things people don't realize they don't know. For instance just read on another thread that some players didn't know you could change the speed run/sneak/ of waypoints after the turn they were put in. and I just learned what sneak and move really do from this which is great btw and other good articles there too how to indirect fire onboard mortars many other little things But of course you only stop learning if you stop playing.

I read a lot of the forum's, which pretty much pre-sold me on the game. I then downloaded the demo. Playing (forget name, one with German pill boxes and shermans, is that VoT?) I was blown away. I preordered. CMBO made me forever lose interest in almost all other wargames (computer or paper) e.g. I use to spend hours playing games like the V for Victory series. I try to play them now and just can't keep interested past a few turns. They just seem so arbitary and 'fake'. things like these -the vehicle gets KO'd and keeps rolling thing, that was the very first 'drop my jaw' thing that I remember. -tab/lock view at ground lvl to my tank rolling down the hill/road, rotating and shooting everywhich way (recoil & camera shake make me cry with joy), then 'plink, plink' (small arms / button up). For 10-15min I replayed that sequence from many angles. I still replay my tank/gun kills from my tank at TC view/max zoom and from the victims point of view. God, I love that. -(this might have been my second or third try, actually I think it was my first PBEM) Being able to smoke a pillbox and flank some infantry and a tank around the back to take it out. -Accidently having a platoon within 20m of were the German reinforcements show up (a panther and a platoon). Thinking my guys are toast. Then having one of my squads KO the tank with a rifle grenade during replay -the 'tac AI' concept is just freakin brilliant and revolutionary. -later on... I'm still just amazed at how many real world tactics are applicaple and 'work' in CM. come out with CMBB already! norm

I want to second Sleestac's gratitude. I know it's a huge amount of work the organizers are puttin into the tournament. I hope they are able to gleam some enjoyment out of watching us newbs shoot, stab, crush, poke, and verbaly insult one another

http://www.freakaccident.com/images/iotd/youmissed.jpg "The only firing of the 280mm Atomic Cannon. It occurred in 1953 and had a yield of 15kt" here are some comments, not mine, possibly untrue, I got off the msg board above the pic came from. "the big gun, I read an article about it a while back, it was carried by a truck on each end (think of a Push-me-pull-you tractor-trailer). For firing it sits on a big tuntable in the middle and is so perfectly balanced that it can be turned by one man pushing it! You can see it at the Aberdeen Proving Ground Armor Museum in Maryland (NE of Baltimore)." "For all that is crazy in Nuclear Science you have to visit the Museum in Albuquerque NM at the Kirkland Air Force Base. You can touch (by reaching over the velvet ropes) and see suit case bombs, nuclear artilery shells, air to air, you name it. Also has the great build board "Nuclear Engineering - A mind is a terrible thing to waste" - Off I-25 towards Santa Fe " lots of nuke pics http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Wallpaper.html original site, see bottom. (changes weekly) http://zzz.com.ru/ sorry for all the nuke stuff, but maybe someday there will be a Combat Mission: Korea and we can ask BTS to model Nuclear artilery