themaltese

Yeah, GEEZ LOL I came in here for a fight as well! I'm totally floored by the demo, and I realize that the full version is probably incredible! These guys did an AWESOME job, and can count my money in towards a purchase. Cheers,

I've been MIA for a little while, and have apparently missed a great deal of crap that was slung at you just because of a select group of ignorant and arrogant individuals. I'll understand if you immediately lock this thread, but I just wanted to say something to all those individuals that have questioned your integrity over handling the matter of selling a "censored" CMBO in Europe. First, let me qualify myself by stating that I travel a lot for work reasons between the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Italy. I am the son of an Italian mother and a German father who were little kids during the war, and still talk about both the hardships they endured and some positive little things (like when my mother tasted chocolate for the first time compliments of a friendly American soldier). I like WWII history as a hobby, and take every opportunity to visit the battlefields and memorials in Europe, with Normandy being my favorite. With that said, I believe that CMBO is an AWESOME game, and play it whenever I get a chance (like on the long flights). I have had some people look at me kind of funny when they observe what's on my laptop display, but I could care less. If someone says anything negative, I usually respond, "I'm American. It's a game. It's on my computer. It's none of your business." Yet, I understand where some people may have a problem with seeing a Tiger take-out a couple of Shermans and then proceeding to gun-down the crews. I understand that that's the way it was in war, but in the context of a game (albeit a game that is VERY realistic), I understand that it's a gross simplification of the true horror of war. People that cannot understand why Germany strictly avoids anything promoting Nazism, lack perspective. What Germany implements in its laws is akin to a strict form of U.S. political correctness. In other words, what some people may argue is political correctness in the U.S. (and not a legal issue), is viewed as a legal issue in Germany. Imagine the uproar here in the U.S. if CMBO incorporated infantry units of black soldiers with a label such as "U.S. Nigger team" attached? Could it be done? Yes, legally, but would it be politically correct? Would it be historically correct? How about placing some concentration camps in the game with incinerators and the whole works, and then having the ability to incinerate prisoners in the command phase of the game? Would this be politically correct? Would it be historically correct? Germany has a small problem with neo-nazism, similar to how the U.S. has a small problem with racism. Add to this that Nazism (which incorporates racism) was the foundation upon which a terrible war erupted in Europe, and that racism was the foundation upon which a civil war was fought here in the U.S., and I hope it becomes clear the parallel that can be drawn. Germany learned its lesson in WWII, and is striving not to repeat a terrible mistake. The power of words, symbols, and icons has long been known both in inspirational/instigational and associative terms. Here in the U.S., a major fuss erupted over flying a confederate flag because the flag is associated to slavery. Some people argue that that's ridiculous, and some people argue that that's fact. The result, of course, no more confederate flag flying over a certain government building. Now, multiply the "effect" of a confederate flag by about 100 or so, and you have the effect of a Swastika embedded in a flying flag. The Swastika is associated to Nazism, which in turn is associated to the immense number of Jews that were killed in the most terrible manner imaginable. So, where is the lack of business sense in adapting to a foreign market? I see no lack of business sense in Battlefront.com's actions. Those that are screaming "sell-out" or "a name change takes away from the realism of the game" are lost between what is in a game and what was/is real life. Those of you that really feel that it is mandatory to use a Swastika or SS to exude realism, will more than likely also be the ones that would incorporate "U.S. Nigger team". If you want to use such names and symbols, fine; but do not tell Battlefront.com that they are doing wrong by adapting to a foreign market. In conclusion, I personally draw a clear-cut distinction between what was German army and what were Nazis. Most German soldiers and generals fought a clean war (as evidenced by Rommel and Guderian). They fought out of being soldiers for their country, and not out of the hatred-fueled fires of Nazism. In the September 2002 issue of WWII Magazine, there is the last interview conducted with the ace-of-aces, the German pilot Erich Hartmann. In the interview, he was asked why it was that he did not hate the Russians for what he had endured at their hands while imprisoned. His response, One thing I learned is this: Never allow yourself to hate a people because of the actions of a few. Hatred and bigoty destroyed my nation, and millions died. I would hope that most people did not hate Germans because of the Nazis, or Americans because of slaves. Never hate, it only eats you alive. Keep an open mind and always look for the good in people. You may be surprised at what you find. That, ladies and gentlemen, directly from the mouth a German that learned the lesson that Germany now struggles to abide by in its "ridiculous" laws. Keep up the good work guys, and I look forward to ordering and playing CMBB.

Awesome! Incredible! Fantastic! Magnificent! etc... etc... I can barely wait for the game! You're teasing us along like dangl'en a Sherman on a stick in front of a Tiger

If you get a chance, guys, try going to the scenario talk section of this forum, and download my new experimental scenario "Ghost". Once you play this (and it's designed to be played PBEM), you'll understand how this scenario relates to this post. cheers,

Thanks for the emails guys. I've changed and added a couple of things (as recommended). The link on my first post goes to the new version. See what you think now. By the way... The reason why I made it a no flag game is mainly out of the information that the flag would give away (i.e. If the German guy is in one of the buildings, the flag would show German, and therefore indicate to the Americans that he's in the town somewhere. Several of you have understood this already, but have recommended that I place a flag in a middle position like the crossroads or the bridge. Again, I didn't put any flags in this scenario because I designed it to be played human vs. human. Any flags would just serve the purpose of giving the AI an objective, and not another human. The human objective is already embedded in the game, and you don't need a flag. If you feel that at least one flag is needed, please give me an explanation as to why you feel that such is needed. Cheers [ May 18, 2002, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: themaltese ]

Hi guys. 'Just got through putting together a little something. Note that this is a PBEM scenario, and I don't recommend playing it against the AI (no flags). This is a seek and destroy game, PERIOD. You can get it by clicking on the following link. Please give me feedback before I post this to the scenario zone. Ghost Cheers, The Maltese

Geez!!!! 'Looks absolutely AWESOME! Time to coordinate purchasing a new computer with the impending CMBB release... which is when?

....need....uniforms. Must..........have.....uniforms......

....need....uniforms. Must..........have.....uniforms......

How about a Paris-Dakkar type, PBEM game pitting a team of Kubelwagon, truck, and Sdk against a Jeep, truck, and half-track, with each side getting to place one anti-tank mine somewhere on the track during the setup phase?

ROFL How about trying Kubelwagon vs. Jeep? The spectators will have to be moved back a little. Of course, you can't use the MG Jeep, or it'll pull a Ben-Hur on the Kubelwagon!

Wow, Kip! So I guess it will be up to scenario authors to include a shortage of weapons in the ammo count (just like in CMBO) only during the particular period you cite -- the beginning. Thanks for the info! I can't wait until CMBB comes out. Cheers

Warmaker and Gyrene. Check out this link on the USMC website. It shows the new uniform camo pattern! USMC new camo

I just happened to catch a glance of them on a T.V. news segment. They look really nice, and as mentioned above, a lot of input from the troops is being utilized. One feature that I find kind of "funny" is the slanted front pocket -- perhaps making it easier to pull stuff out, but defeating the law of gravity as to where the bottom of the pocket is LOL. As for their being issued to U.S. Army, I could have sworn that that was mentioned in the segment, but I could be wrong... I've got an amphib. base just down the street from me. I'll go talk to some of the marines and get the inside scoop on what's going on.

Gyrene, have you seen the new U.S. Army uniforms with the digital camo that should become standard issue within the next couple of years?

Thanks, Kip. I'm not too informed about the Russian Front from the Russian perspective. Hence, I've been going by the generalizations assumed from German perspectives (e.g. German accounts of massive waves of half armed Russian soldiers charging German positions in the hopes of overwhelming them by sheer manpower.) As I mentioned in another thread (Michael D's "When Titans Clashed"), since Russia has "opened up", I'm hoping to read more accounts of the Russian Front from the Russian perspective as more and more writing trickles its way over here. However, from the infantry perspective, would you state that it would be correct to assume a one-to-one relationship between quantity of soldiers and the rifles and other firearms they had among themselves? Are the German accounts of massive human waves only half armed that inaccurate? I would really like to know the answers to these questions from Russian veterans, but still, what do you think? Cheers

Hey Madmatt. Speaking of formations and BMPs in CMBB, will the Russian troops be represented with the fact in mind that, a lot times, these guys went into combat with one rifle between two of them? Hence, will the Russian formations display this in their BMPs,and will their firepower be reduced accordingly within the "combat engine"?

...back to tanks and uniforms. As for tanks, the Germans clearly understood the benefits of camoing their armor. They even embedded such in the design of their tanks. For example, Tiger crews could get innovative with their designs by simply hooking up an issued airbrush to their tank's compressor. Sherman crews, on the other hand, relied on mops or just splashing buckets of paint. As for uniforms, the German infantry camo designs were very advanced for their day. I think it is more than coincidental that the new U.S. Army digital pattern uniforms very closely resemble the "pea" SS German uniforms that made their appearance towards the end of WWII.

Hi guys. I never stated that any author is beyond critique. Nor did I state that authors that were actually present during a particular conflict are better in any way. I did state that, in my opinion, it is more difficult to put forth an argument against those that "were there". Their writings may or may not contain bias, and may or may not disguise self-interest in their books' folds. However, name any book on military history that is 100% accurate. Those historians that labor so hard to accurately portray an event, usually get rewarded by having the ability to write a book from a multitude of perspectives, and then present such to us the reader. There is nothing wrong with that if the author presents us with an untainted view, but it is physically impossible for anyone to get everything that happened exactly right. Some authors actually do a good job by presenting as many facts and vantage points in their writing as possible to deliver as close to the truth as possible (Toliver, Constable, Fraser, to name a few). But I'm one to put together my own assessment of an event by reading as many books by authors who were actually there on both sides of this great conflict. There is an adage that states, "The truth is like a triple edged sword. There's our side, there's their side, and then there's what really happened." Going with this adage, I will not argue against historical authors who go through the trouble of doing this for us, but I hope that you agree that, putting together what really happened from the perspectives of both sides, is a lot more interesting. But getting back to the point of your thread, Michael, I agree that the Russian Front has been quite the problem for getting a true perspective from the Russian side. There are a multitude from the German perspective (Carius' Tigers in the Mud definitely made me feel like I was there. Hopefully, as more information becomes available to us from the Russians, more writings from the Russian perspective will come forth. Hence, once we are able to compare notes from authors on both sides, it will be very interesting to put together how certain events actually transpired. Cheers

Hi Michael. I haven't had a chance to read the Titans... book, but I'll probably get to it some time soon. Judging by some of the discussion above, there is a lot of opinion being put forward on the opinions of authors as portrayed in their texts. I feel that it is easy to argue with authors that write on a subject, but "weren't there." It is far more difficult to argue with authors that "were there" for the simple fact that, although their point of view may or may not be biased, we (the reader) cannot argue with them because we "weren't there." Hence, on that note, here are some good readings that you may or may not enjoy, that I feel are really good: From Normandy to the Ruhr With the 116th Panzer Division in WWII by Heinz Gunther Guderian (General Heinz Guderian's son Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius Panzer Leader by General Heinz Guderian All three of these books offer perspectives that are hard to argue with. Cheers

Nuts!

Hey guys! 'Back from vacation. I've received a lot of good info about these scenarios -- thank you all. I'll be submitting 3 Stugs to scenario depot soon, so look for it there. Cheers!

Hi everyone. First of all, thank you all for your recommendations. I have changed some things around in The Three Stugs (mostly the briefings and some unit modifications). I left Alpine Venture alone since it seems people were satisfied with it. ...and speaking of Alpine Venture... I noticed that someone was nice enough to submit that scenario for me to the Scenario Depot with all due credit to me. Thank you (whoever you are). If the Three Stugs meets your satisfaction, I can only ask that you do the same for this scenario. I'm taking off for a well-deserved Christmas vacation for the next 3 weeks, and will not be even close to a computer after Dec. 17. Hence, a VERY MERRY SEASON's GREETINGS AND CHEER to all of you! BTW: The 2 links at the start of my post have been updated to include the new Three Stugs, and work fine (I tested them). Cheers! [ 12-16-2001: Message edited by: themaltese ]</p>

The thing is, guns are mostly abandoned because of some non-recoverable damage. In the scope of a scenario, it wouldn't be correct to re-man the gun. In the scope of an operation, on the other hand, repairs can be made. What gets me is not having the ability of switching crews for both vehicles and guns when they are NOT damaged. I mentioned this in a post before... For example, the Villers-Bocage scenario could be more realistic if you can station the Allied tank crews outside of their vehicles at the beginning of the scenario, and then have them man the vehicles as an order (during the real battle, Wittmann literally caught the Allies with their pants down). Also, again using Villers-Bocage, Wittmann tore into the town on one tank, ran out of ammo and fuel, left his Tiger there, and then ran back to get another Tiger. With this, it would be reasonable to expect to switch crews in operational vehicles. Fellow members on here have argued against being able to do this for reasons that individualized the crew members. I don't think that's an argument since CM represents an entire crew with one figure. Hence, if you have an elite crew with one dead, and a fully staffed green crew, I'd rather have the elite crew man a vehicle.

Thank you! THANK YOU! Oh, and THANK YOU! Awesome job you guys! By the way... What does it mean when you see smoke coming from your modem? Also, is there a mod for this smoke?