Jack Trap

sad sad sad My old machine simply can not handle the processing in a timely manor, and my new machine that runs like a CHAMP will never be compatible. I trust that the good people of Battlefront are doing the best thing for their business, so I will not gripe here. Bye bye Battlefront, perhaps we'll dance again someday. For me, I'm off to find a second class replacement.

my video card is a GeForce FX 5200 if thats any help.....

So, I finally got my new machine: a 20" Imac- it is a beautiful thing. I loaded CMAK and started the game with no difficulty. I can open to all the selection screens without difficulty, but when i try to play a game- that's when trouble begins. To start with the "loading 3d graphics" page does not look correct. The text does not appear and the simple loading graphic does not operate correctly. When the screen finally displays the battle, the cursor does not move, not the keyboard AND there is no text or graphics on the HUD along the bottom. This sucks. I've loaded the new patch for CMAK with no apparent improvements. Any help out there?

CM and the Marriage, well you can probably count on a home front war for about the same number of years. but never, never give an inch!

I've got a real soft spot for All or Nothing.

I bump this only because my DSL is down and dial up makes me see red.

Please send a copy along to me as well. jmwdesign@hotmail.com I have recently been sifting through my old favorite CMBO scenario sites looking for interesting operations that I have not played yet. It's great to know that someone is still writing for the BO platform.

I think there is one other factor that has yet to be discussed, and that, my friends, is digital-shell-shock, or DSS. In these last two years of consistent play, with 30 plus "opponent finder" games and two full Treeburst tournaments, I am needing a little R&R from all this fighting. .... that is, until the next generation of CM comes out! In a recent game I watched over twenty men in five different units get dropped in their footsteps while panicking in wire. All on the same wire!! Mind you, they were the enemy. But itt was a truly brutal sight.

Be an active member of our Democracy this Tuesday!

Be an active member of our Democracy this Tuesday!

Well, that's it for me. I have completed the three final battles for ROW2. Good fun, being German for all three final games! Thanks Treeburst and all those contributing to these unbalanced tournaments. In lieu of coming home with a case of fine South African wine, I just bought myself a beer for my own completion celebration and just-a-hair-above-average award. -Jack Trap

I would like to play another CMBO tournament. I won't be making the switch to CMBB for the time being.

I too am sticking with CMBO for the mean time. The BB demo runs slowly on my G3 and I apparently do not have the enthusiasm for BB to buy a new computer. I DO hold out great hope for the next generation of BF games. These guys are making the best strategy games on the market. I expect them to continue to raise the bar for years to come!

OK so this is the one game in all ten "unbalanced" tournament games in which I felt like I knew what I was doing. Moral of the story?...... Nine out of ten times I don't know what I'm doing. AAR for Scenario: St. Mere-Englise Jack Trap reporting as Axis commander. Outcome: Jack Trap major victory 80-20 Right off, I noticed that this battle was directly inspired by the historic one fought during Operation Overlord. I am by no means a history buff, but since there was more than just honor at stake (namely a case of fine wine) I did a little research in the US Army archives. I gleaned from these archives that the smaller un-armored American force prevailed, in part, due to a surprise flank attack on an Axis convoy. It seemed that there were lessons here for me: one, to extensively recon my eastern and western flanks before proceeding into the town and two, to provide an infantry escort for my non-turreted armor consisting of five StuG’s and two Stu’s. My plan boiled down to three basic moves. First to comprehensively sweep the entire northern side of the map up to the edge of the town of St. Mere-Englise . Second, to seize the central entry point- the first northern intersection of two dirt roads and roll my armor in to join the infantry during the assault of the city. Finally, to move a superior combined fighting force along the eastern side of the town to the southern-central victory flag and if time and forces remained to continue to push both southward and westward against the remaining defending forces. This plan would, if successful, keep much of my armor on the roads. Due to the wet conditions combined with the poor psi rating of most of my armor, it was clear that the roads must be controlled early and used extensively. I had to assume that this was an issue my Allied counterpart was aware of; therefore I positioned one 1/2 track and a Stug off to the western side away from the dirt road to drive around and make lots of noise. These units were not going to make contact at first, but simply to make their presence known- I wanted my enemies AT attention split and not solely focused on the all-important town entry point. I advanced my forces according to plan. Around turn #4, using the TRP’s, I targeting the 81 mm mortars spotter on the town entry point. At the same time I targeted an obvious overlook position of the entry point with the 150 mm spotter. Soon after I rushed in infantry and found both positions unoccupied. As I progressed my forces to the northern edge of town, several Allied mg’s made their presence known. Theses positions were quickly turned to rubble with the Stu’s and StuG’s providing support. By the end of turn #8, my infantry controlled the northern edge of St. Mere-Englise as well as the town entry point- a 1/2 track had successfully skirted the road block and was at the intersection unscathed. During this part of the assault, small enemy positions were identified, isolated and dispatched quickly. It was now time to move my armored units into the town via the route made clear by the 1/2 track. My infantry continued it’s wide-net southern push, but now at a leisurely pace, allowing the armor to catch up. With a combination of armor, infantry and artillery, I was successful in pushing the defending forces southward through the middle part of the game. The Sturmgruppe platoons were particularly effective in the building to building guns fights. My infantry forces that had spread a wide net in approaching the town now came together to concentrate on Allied strong holds within the buildings designated with a victory flag. By turn #12, my infantry was joined by six AFV’s now in the city: two 1/2 tracks, three Stugs and a Stu. By turn #14, the eastern VL has taken along with some prisoners. During the city fighting, I discovered that my opponent did not withdraw his infantry when that numbers began to stack heavily against him. These veteran and crack Allied infantry stuck in the fight longer than I expected. For this I suffered many casualties but was able to overwhelm and capture many of his units. Right before the end of the game I had captured four units with a total of twelve men. By turn #18, all the AFV’s of the main battle group had passed into the town via the path first used by the 1/2 track. At this time two vehicles were immobile in the wet ground; a 1/2 track and a Stu. Other than the western flank diversionary Stug, all of my other AFV’s were engaging the enemy in the town. All three allied AT guns had been positioned in the western-central region of the map. Unfortunately for them, this was the target of a prolonged 150 mm artillery bombardment. This combined with the honorable work of my infantry, all three 57 mm AT guns were knocked out before they could cause any harm to my armor. The final phase of the battle went well. By turn #23, I had secured the southern-central victory flag. I deemed my forces adequate to continue to advance on enemy positions. I now had effectively closed off much of the enemies corridor of retreat (not that he was using it). I still had 60 or so of the 150 mm spotter rounds and they were targeted on the area still under Allied control. Thus having the enemy pretty well pinned, I finally advanced my western diversionary forces southward with an additional rifle platoon joining them from my central battle group. On turn #26, the remaining Allied units auto surrendered increasing my captured tally to 60 men. My casualties: 167 to the Allied: 273. I did not lose a single vehicle during the battle- a feat I have never before achieved. Having suffer two auto-surrenders in the previous “unbalanced” NW tournament, it was nice to be on the other side of that experience for a change. Thank you Bimmer, for a good fight. Thanks to Treeburst for all his effort in making this tournament possible. I found this battle to be very enjoyable and well designed.

Hey TB, How about an update on the completion list.