Erwin

Condolences re your CM PC. I know how hard that can be. So you don't think the Syrian rebels can just wait in ambush? I assumed it would be a bit like JOKER 3 - an element of 4th Armored is cut off and surrounded and has to fight its way out while a rescue attempt from the main force attempts to reach em. But the streets are blocked with rubble or somesuch, so inf has to go in without armor.

I'll try it. Thanks.

The most important advice per the above is to move your firing units immediately afterwards to a 2nd safe defense position. The attacker will almost certainly obliterate their position if you let em stay in place (unless they are keyholed or can fire from a position that is impossible for the attacker to see until he is already in a kill zone).

Yes, thanks... Useful to know. So, the rule is that only mortars under the same immediate HQ can share ammo. Is that also true for on-map guns? What about HMG crews? (I can't recall... do they ever abandon their HMG's and walk away with lots of ammo or stick with their HMG's to the last man?)

Man... I didn't even realize the Autosahariana was in CMFI(!). In CM1, I loved those "recon-type" scenarios where one had "Auto's" and other Axis recon vehicles vs the large variety of Brit AC's seeking each other out in large swathes of NA desert along with those gun-mounted trucks, jeeps and kubelwagons. I take it that none of these CMFI mods will work in CMBN?

Does this work for certain dates only, or for all CMFI periods? Thanks...

Looking forward to it...

A lovely addition. Thanks.

To better understand Monty's famous "prickly" personality, it's useful to read up on some bio info. He rose through the Brit ranks at a time when aristocracy dominated the armed forces. Rather like women (understandably) complain today about "having to be twice as good as men to do the same jobs and get paid less" Monty had to withstand a lot of nasty hazing and be a very tough and resilient person to survive let alone flourish in the Army of that day. He had to not care that other jealous officers were trying to do him down. However, excellence/confidence in these situations often lead to appearing (or actually being) arrogant. That Patton was US "aristocracy" probably was part of the cause of friction.

You'd think that Syria could easily defuse the situation by quickly offering proof that the "terrorists" are the ones sending mortar shells to Turkey, or simply apologizing profusely. As it is the situation is allowing NATO to announce it will "defend a fellow NATO member" etc. Maybe it IS Syria's fault, but this sort of thing is how WW2 started (in Poland) with trumped up accusations of aggression vs the Germans etc. Have no idea what the truth is, but it's an odd situation... IIRC was it LLF who was thinking of adapting the amazing Ramadi map for a Syrian scenario? Someone else has already made a Muj mod that could be used for the rebels.

***SPOILERS*** Up to the 1hr 30mins point (2hr 30min to go). In the last 5 or so minutes the US arty has started to find my guys both in the central town and on the east edge town. CF'd to find that German casualties zoomed up from about 2% to close to 10% (about 50 WIA+KIA) even with troops "safe" in buildings. (Would have been a lot worse had they been caught outside.) US casualties are closer to 20%. Playing in RT one could get everyone to hide and move vehicles out of the way as soon as the first spotting rounds appear. But, in WEGO one is helpless for a minute, which is part of the reason for the higher casualties. Used German arty to kill two M10's on the ridge to the right (west), but it's been harder to kill the 2nd two in the same way. (And I think there is at least one ATG in a trench up there as well.) How does one kill TD's that are at long range? Without CM1-like penetration tables I have little idea if I can go hull-down with my Tigers and kill the TD's that way, or if that's a suicidal idea. Hence the heavy reliance on my 120mm mortars vs the TD's. (I found that 81mm just doesn't have the bang required.) Nonetheless, the central town is almost completely occupied by my two lead platoons from Co 2. I don't think there are any US troops left in it. And there is an entire fresh reserve platoon in Co 2. The Tigers have not been useful so far and can't move out much so long as the TD's overlook the area. The US arty is damaging some of the vehicles' tracks so need to pull em back to keep the delicate kitties safe. The left (east edge) town attack by 2 platoons of Co 1 is moving along, but a sudden arty barrage did do some damage and kept the troops hunkered down in the buildings. They're unable to move until it's absolutely certain that the barrage is over - which often takes at least one and maybe 2 entire WEGO turns. Also, the 3rd reserve platoon which is moving in the woods to flank the long skinny town has found an enemy ambush position astride the "trail thru the woods". I have to decide whether to commit the 3rd platoon to that, or use the fresh 3rd company that is sitting around in its halftracks to clear the woods and join up with Co 1. Am thinking to keep Co 1 attacking the east edge town, and use the fresh 3rd Co to clear the woods. (Or, should I bring the largely ok Co2 in from the central town? They can't go anywhere else until the west heights are cleared, and I don't want em sitting in town buildings under arty barrage for the next hour.) One unfortunate issue is that the offboard 81mm mortars that only have range about halfway thru the map are still full of ammo since I advanced too fast to use it while they were in range. I used the half the ammo of the rocket barrage on the central town, and most of the 170mm on the east edge town. There seemed no reason to use the 81mm, but now it's unusable. These sort of decisions all over the place makes this a really fun scenario. One essentially has 2 almost completely unrelated battles going on (on the east edge town, and the central town). And one has plenty of reserves to commit. If I am to join Co 1 with its vehicles, the trail through the woods has to be cleared which will make for a third simultaneous battle. Some really interesting decisions. Great stuff.

No need, I got it now, thanks. I had never realized there were two current missiles with the same name. That should make international force communications interesting lol.

It would be good if the "acquire" feature were improved for many reasons. But, IIRC currently for ammo acquiring/sharing to occur the units have to be from the same platoon. If the two mortars were from the same platoon then...(?) Let's hope future CM versions allow more flexibility with ammo acquiring and sharing.

Am not quite sure what it is, but I find it easier using the Repository using the Date selection. I generally d/l everything, so one can start with the most recent and work backwards until one gets to what one already has. Perhaps your site has been upgraded and I am thinking of an earlier version of CMMODS. But, I find that often newer uploads seem to appear earlier as if they were older uploads. So long as one visits regularly and downloads everything, no problem. But, after traveling for a few weeks, it can get confusing when one needs to d/l a whole bunch of stuff. But, I very much appreciate and check and use the CMMODS site almost daily, so plz don't take it as a criticism.

Hey, it's your own tag line, Mord: "Let's see, Mord. You rant, you scream as would a child, you throw little tantrums, you wantonly call others names . . . in brief, you generally conduct yourself in public like some unwashed and unread cretin..." I thought it was a joke, but apparently you enjoy it. Ok... ***SPOILERS*** This is really getting interesting now. About the 1 hour 25 minutes into the scenario, 2 platoons of 2nd company has just about taken the twin central towns for 250 points with minimal casualties. I got tired and carelessly let a Stug wander into the sights of an ATG that I knew was to the west. Despite a barrage, it survived and pranged the Stug. Other than that maybe another 5 or so inf casualties there. I am surprised that both engaged platoons are stilll in good shape and I have not yet had to commit the third platoon or 3rd Company. In the east edge, Co 1 has a strong foothold in the northern buildings and is progressing south. Haven't had to use any breach teams yet. Saving those for the final objective. Have ecountered some enemy unts, maybe a patrol in the woods, as Co 1's reserve platoon moves south. But, overall very happy with progress. It is very nice to have sufficient units and time to create reserves and focus on using the minimum amount of force to accomplish objectives. The next priorities wil be to kill the 3 ATG's that have been spotted, and the remaining 2 TD's on the hill to the west. (My arty killed 2 of the TD's, but the last two have been harder to destroy.) Both here and in the center of the map, the US arty has been largey inaccurate and ineffective, always arriving several minutes after German forces have already moved on. I really do recommend Pandur's scenario. It is very refreshing to play a big battalion-sized CMBN scenario. I hope others will try it as am curious as to whether you encounter different defenses.

mjkerner just did a super mod with very subdued hard to see patches which I think is terrific and I will enjoy using. Nobody, least of all me, is stopping you from using whatever mod your personal preference is. We all get what we want, right?

Thanks guys. Those are LOVELY bright, brand new and collectible museum quality. I am of course referring to the way the looked after a few days/weeks of being in rain, mud and excrement, blood etc. I wish I could recall where I read it. It's a very long time ago. But IIRC, as troops got experienced they would rub mud and dirt over anything bright and remove shiny things since these made wonderful aiming points for snipers. The uniform mod by mjkerner gets it about right. You can just about see the subdued insignia from a dozen or so feet away. But further away it all blends in. Great job. Of course if you dont like mjkerner's mod and want bright patches etc, nobody, least of all me, is telling you not to go that route.

For the record I admit I have absolutely no talent in graphics, and while I did enjoy making scenarios in CM1, the complexities of CM2 scenario design are beyond me. I have however in a prior life been a professional board and computer reviewer and editor of a wargame magazine. So, when someone asks for feedback, I am more than happy to help them out. Mord: If you had actually got off you high horse of indignation and bitterness and actually played at least some of Pandur's scenario you might have experienced what I was talking about. You may have even agreed with my comments. As it is, you reacted with your screaming infantile fit over my feedback comments based on utter and arrogant ignorance. You were not even involved in the conversation. And nobody cares what you think, because you haven’t helped anybody with the issue at hand. Every post you make that denigrates me and other people simply shows what kind of person you are. We're sorry for you, as trying to live a life, maintain a job, gf, wife etc. while spewing poison must be really hard. You pick arguments for the sake of picking arguments in the hope you can bully people into silence. And that's how you think you win. All you are doing is hurting yourself. Pandur: If you would prefer me to stop posting feedback re your scenario then plz say so. If you are scared of being dumped on by Venom Spewing Bullies then simply send me a Private Message. I am quite happy to play games and not provide feedback. I'll leave it to everyone to decide if what I thought was my generally positive feedback to Pandur earlier in this thread deserve this the following offering from Mord: "If you didn't bitch or have a passive aggressive comment for just about everything anybody here ever does, designers might be apt to consider your viewpoint more openly. You are one of the most demanding dudes on this board. Everything with you is "work"...CMX2 is work...the scenario is work...loading mods is work. Thing is, you aren't doing any work...you are benefiting from the WORK other people do...and apparently nobody can do any of it well enough to satisfy you. It gets f*****' old."

Hope these help: http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/databases/armies/default.asp http://www.fortliberty.org/armed-forces-of-the-world

Last week I had lunch with the US Ambassador to People's Republic of Korea (actually more of a special envoy as our relations are handled thru Sweden) and it sounds like a lovely place to vacation in (NOT). Monday a week ago, a N. Korean minister threatened (basically) that they are on the verge of war. A well known designer (Joseph Miranda) is currently developing a modern Korean War game (cardboard). So, the topic is definitely timely.

Yes, the grid is part of the terrain tile itself IIRC. So, you are replacing all existing tiles with gridded versions (be sure to save the originals in case you want to go back to default). (There are also many terrain version mods that can make elevation levels easier to see without grids.) You'll have to search the Repository (and possibly CMMODS) for these grid mods. They definitely exist.

Huh? I thought I was doing the scenario ok... One question is that I still have a problem with enemy mortars - esp since I play WEGO. Whenever I see a spotting round land, I try to get everyone within maybe 20 meters of the impact to run away from it. But, am STILL suffering more casualties from this sort of fire than any other. How far do you think one should FAST MOVE (or QUICK??) one's inf units away from a spotting round so they would be safe from FFE. You guys have any rule of thumb??

Installed and it is awesome. You have improved the look of CM singlehandedly as much as Aris. Brilliant!

Pandur: Past the 1 hour mark now and thing going well. (2.57 to go.) ***SPOILERS*** After the preset rocket barrage (HARASS level with 15 minutes delay), 2 platoons have almost worked their way thru the western part of the central town. Arty has been called for the eastern part. But, am suspecting that there are actually few defenders there. Have brought up two of the Stugs, plus 2 of Co 2's Stummels(?) plus a platoon of halftracks. So, every time a US unit fires, they get it back in spades, and that's the last one sees of them. I have a full mech platoon of Co 1 inf in reserve. Some enemy arty fire, but it's inaccurate and ineffective. I don't think the US FO can see my units here. After an hour of HARASS barrage (15 minute delay with the next heaviest arty) Co 1 has started to attack the eastern edge town. A team and two HMG's have entered the northenmost building. I intend to move through the town S to N with the rest of Co 1 moving parallel through the woods and supporting from there. US mortar fire has been more accurate on this east flank and I have suffered about 6 casualties from one of the other HMG's firing from the treeline, and an unlucky inf team plus a breach team that were also in the woods line. I ran em deep into the woods when I saw spotting rounds, but, somehow (bad luck?) some shells still landed on em. Co 3 is forming up in the center of the map several hundred meters north of the central town. But, am only using their Stummels and halftracks to support Co2's attack. The final reinforcement of 4 Tigers is racing FAST up to join the battle. But, at this rate I do not think they will be needed until the final town objective on the N edge. I won't say that it all seems too easy so far as I don't believe every scenario needs to be a desperate fight to the death. So, far, I feel I have more than enough forces, and I am enjoying using the minimum necessary while keeping a large reserve. There may well be ugly surprises later. The briefing mentions air. Have never played a CMBN scenario with aircraft before(!) And the German player has a LOT of vehicles and very little terrain to hide em in. We shall see... I do cease fire every hour or so to get a feel for the effectiveness of arty. So far the Germans have suffered about 6 KIA and maybe 12 WIA, with about 4X as many US. So, about 2% German casualties so far. Those are numbers I like. Of course I am only 1/4 of the way. PS: For scenarios like this that take a while to get units to where they have to fight I find it best to use HARASS with the max 15 minute delay. Harassing fire keeps the enemy's heads down and hinders movement. And it's economical with shells. If you don't really need it whe you get within small arms range of the objective you can cancel or adjust the arty and there is "if you done it right" still plenty of ammo left.

A favorite equal to the jeep.