Monty's Double

Doesn't "Aufklarer" mean scout? Could this refer to recce vehicles, or might it mean BTS considered infantry scout squads? Maybe they decided against it cos it would mean more bl**dy Germans with SMG's.

Sorry, I've only just stopped laughing. You got THREE in a QB? Man, I hope you kept your receipt. PS Good job by the grogs.

How come all the Brit voices are either cockneys or plummy public school nobs? What about some more representative regional accents? How about "By 'eck lad, tha's 'it t'bugger wi' tharrun", which is Yorkshire for "Excellent shot gunner". Throw in some Geordie and Scots dialects and we can make them completely incomprehensible to our American friends.

Ah, misguided youth...they certainly are in the force lists, but I guarantee you won't use them for long. Hideously slow, poor ROF and a gun which is frankly overkill on any Allied AFV. Oh yes, and the ability to get bogged on a dry road. There's nothing sadder than a bogged uberkitty. Still, it's your war, have fun.

I think Fighter Bombers are only really worth considering in scenarios. For QBs they tend to do nothing, or turn the game completely, neither result making for an interesting or challenging game.

Sorry Tanaka, but he is an ex-grandfather so he can't enlighten us further. I've read plenty of books on the PIAT though, and the "jam" problem of failing to recock the firing pin was definitely real. Whether CMBO models it or whether that's just a glitch I dunno. I'm just waiting for CM3 so I can recreate Grandpa Butler's exploits in the Western desert, and his crowning glory at Salerno, where he got a bit overexcited with a Bangalore Torpedo and it took them 2 years to stick him back together. Still, it didn't seem to do him any harm: he died last year aged about a zillion. I wish there were more stories to tell, but he was one of those guys who didn't talk about the war much. It was only in his last couple of years when he owned up to some of his exploits and selling his medals when he was skint in the fifties. Families eh?

Sorry to bring my grandad into this again, but he used to tell a story about trying to take out an enemy bunker with a PIAT which misfired. Although the propellant charge didn't ignite, the force of the firing pin was enough to propel the bomb twenty or thirty feet, where it lay on the ground in full view. Since it was their last round, my grandad and his friends drew straws to see who would have to run out and grab it for another try. This story may be apocryphal, but I'm sure I've read that PIATs were used as bunker busters and general support weapons, and could even be used as mortars at a push. I don't know whether there was a different HE round but I'd guess the shaped charge warhead would give out a fairly useful bang.

I opened a bean can with a rock once.

It's true you know, war really is hell. When I play a defence I usually buy one or two TRPs just in case there's a blind approach like this. Even light screening forces light the ones you employed are usually enough to slow an assualt up enough to bunch nicely for an artillery stonk. A sharpshooter placed further back but with LOS to the offending valley works even better. In a QB, 10-20 points for speculative TRPs are rarely wasted.

Anybody up for designing the "Battle of the Mace" scenario? That had to be one of their finest hours.

While comrade Organ's reply has a certain minimalist charm, I think he's being a little harsh. To me, the problem isn't one about micromanagement, which isn't part of CMBO's scope as far as I'm concerned, even if you can do it at a push. The real problem is with infantry tac AI, which is frankly moronic sometimes. Shell some infantry in a building and watch them run out because the building's damage level has gone up, then watch them run back into THE SAME BUILDING at the first sniff of MG fire. Fun to watch, irritating as hell if they're your guys. In general, infantry should be more cautious unless ordered to be otherwise. IIRC CM2 will include "Assault" and/or "Move to Contact" orders. Maybe this will mean that infantry on other move orders will act a little smarter.

Couldn't you represent the confusion of fighting under the jungle canopy by playing all games at night or in fog? That always seems to increase the mathem in the games I play. Now, where did I put that tin of Agent Orange?

I'll get back to you guys in a few days on this one. I'm currently playing a night QB over e-mail (Hi Ned). I'm defending a town with Green/Conscript Volksgrenadiers against a high quality mechanised US force. We deliberately wanted to see how attacking with (I'd guess, I haven't seen his force) a numerically smaller force would work. Oh yeah, and Ned wants to see what flamethrowers look like at night. Ooh, watch the pretty lights....

If you check out Mr Cooper's book (thanks Scooter) you'll see that at least one did make it into combat, and fired a total of one shot in anger. The crew never found out what they hit, but what ever it was never troubled them again. Personally, I would never pick this super-beastie in a QB, but it's kinda fun for "What if?" scenarios.

Remember, there were only a couple of Super Pershings in the European Theatre. In order to protect them they had lots of extra armour welded onto the front. This made the turret front heavy, so big, wing-like counter-weights were added. I'd guess that when the turret traversed, anybody sat on the back of the hull would get clouted by these honking great weights, so that's why CMBO doesn't allow them to load up infantry. Also, because they were so rare, you'd bet the guy charged with looking after one wouldn't be too happy about a load of sweaty GI's crawling all over his pride and joy. There's a book called "Deathtraps" or something like that with all this in, but I can't remember who it's by.

"Ach Hans, what I wouldn't give to be back in Hamburg with my little ones right now" "Shut it Klaus, you know every time a German sentry starts reminiscing about home that's when he gets his throat cut by some Tommy paratrooper. Klaus? Klaus?" 114th Volksgrenadier Mobile Panto Battalion is ready and waiting Ned. Bring it on...

Er guys, he says it's working now. My guess is he isn't listening any more. Let's give him a couple of months for his CMBO Honeymoon. Some time around August he's going to want to know about mods. Hehehehehehe.......

Thanks for the compliment Stuka, actually it's a reference to the 1958 film "I was Monty's Double", starring the real life double ME Clifton-James. Frankly, one of the funniest films ever made, though whether it's meant to be a comedy gawd only knows. Still, if you're going to cast Sid James and Leslie Philips, you're unlikely to be thinking hard-hiiting drama are you?

I might have this wrong, but wasn't the PIAT a spigot mortar? The propellant was triggered by a firing pin, which was indeed fired by a "bloody great spring". My grandfather (who blew himself up at Salerno) used to tell stories about them misfiring, and the spring alone propelling the projectile 20 or 30 feet, so maybe that's where the confusion comes in. Go and find a copy of "There's is the Glory", a recreation of Arnhem by the blokes who were actually there. There's plenty of hot PIAT action, as well as some hardcore 6-pounder stuff, and the best collection of plummy Brit accents you'll hear this side of Brideshead Revisited.

Remember, they are still filming Lord of the Rings down there, so right now there's about 10,000 Uruk Hai just waiting to kick some foreign ass. Be afraid.

Wasn't the 77mm the designation given to the cut down version of the 17 pounder used on the Comet (reduced propellant charge and shorter breech I think)? Does anyone still care?