Kevin Kinscherf

Hey Guys ... I will post "Designer Notes" for Frontier Firefight '40 above over the weekend. Thanks for playing and then analyzing the scenarios. - Kevin

Thanks for posting the details. This is not just a gift to CM but to many other gaming competitions that will benefit. Kevin

I would like to see France 1940 in the current system. We are really missing this this era. Kevin

That's a real screen shot from the software that they use to plot the rover's movements. After hearing the term shoot and scoot I had to post this. Kevin

Looks like an early beta version ... looks to be heading hull down ... can not tell Kevin http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-images/mar-11-2004/captions/image-6.html

My reading indicates that WW2 armored infantry fought mostly dismounted - by design and doctrine. I would say mostly is better than 95% of the time. Dare I quantify? But with that information, how does that affect the way we design and play CM? Given the potential map sizes, APCs are appropriate to carry infantry TO the firefight. However, motorized transport was always in short supply. The USA had the most in proportion to the overall force. Should the loss value of trucks and APCs be increased to limit their tactical use? Kevin

Good find ... thank you Sir.

Hey Michael - Your post beat mine to the board. We agree on what it means. How about a small victory ... nay ... its all semantics anyway.

That's one way to look at it but cost may not always count. For example, toward the end of WW2 Germany had many "tactical victories" using economy of force. Commanders were able to complete their missions but in the strategic sense they did not matter. Successful delaying actions come to mind. Perhaps a tactical victory is accomplishing the mission in a manner that does not immediately and drastically improve the conflict at higher command levels - a company's victory does not affect the battalion's over all status; a battalion victory does not affect the Division’s status etc. I never understood why the second level of victory was called tactical and the others did not have military descriptions. Kevin

Just when you thought my questions were over ... Recon had 75mm half tracks to support the infantry. Would they be ever posted to cover open ground ahead of a screening position? Or would they be held away from the "point" and brought up once the enemy attack was identified? Would they ever be posted in woods away from a road? - Kevin

Armor Magazine also has some scenarios. However, the site is not updated a lot. http://www.knox.army.mil/center/ocoa/ArmorMag/vignettes.htm

"In coming sols, Opportunity will "shoot and scoot," meaning the rover will shoot pictures of the terrain and acquire new scientific measurements of the rocks, then scoot up, down, and across the inside of the crater." - JPL web site

Jason - This is clearing the picture for me and helping me on a scenario for CMBB I am scripting. The main thing for folks to know is that the infantry component was never split up and went into battle together. The infantry component is the key component in the infantry heavy combined arms battalion. It is also important to know that panzer units were trained to provide local recon so they would not be completely blind if the recon battalion was on a non-screening mission. - Kevin

Jason - Looks like 4 main deployment modes: 1. The entire Pz recon battalion works together as a whole fanning out to front, flank or rear of the Pz Divsion - "screening mode" 2. Held in reserve as a whole - "reserve mode" 3. Concentated en mass - "mop-up/exploitation mode" 4. Armor Car and engineers held by division command and the rest as a whole working as regular armored infantry in a specific tactical assignment after which the battalion is reestablished. (I wonder where the battalion commander is when his unit is used this way?) - "task organised mode" - Kevin

"The attachment case is just the armored group use I mentioned, meaning paired with the single armored panzergrenadier battalion, working with the tank regiment or its best battalion. They didn't send the single armored car company with that group - that is the only variation from that common scheme." In this case were they performing a recon role for the battle group or just filling in as regular line armored infantry?