Erwin

I love playing huge CM1 scenarios vs a human.  But, haven't played a CM1 scenario or campaign vs the AI in a decade or more.  You could ask on WeBob site or other sites where CM1 players are still active.  

Realized that there is actually a mix of Pz III's and early Pz IV's.  Anyway, thought the movie might be inspiring re camo and uniform mods.  
The strange thing about the movie is that altho it's relatively new (first released in 2016) the dialogue and events seem right out of a communist era propaganda movie. 

Pavilov's 28 men:
Not a great drama and dumb dialogue with highly dubious German tactics allowing them to be mowed down like we used to see the Russians get mowed down.  But, great for winter scenery, Russian uniforms and some very real looking PzIV's.
https://youtu.be/8suNNyaZqMU

Unless it's been changed in a recent patch it's noticeable that a buttoned up tank will spot close-up inf very quickly even if in smoke and mow em down if they try to assault it.  

Impressive effort.  We were told years ago that it would be impossible to do the stuff you have been doing.

Hi Doug:  Any film scored by the highly talented Hans Zimmer can raise the hairs on the back of your neck.  In addition, if you are troubled by loud sudden sounds films like Dunkirk may be troubling.  
Do you have the same aversion to horror films btw?  Most of their effect is through sudden, unexpected loud sounds.
A suggestion is to wait to get the DVD and watch with the volume turned down.
Speaking of war films I just saw "Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan".  Not nearly as good as Apocalypse Now or Platoon etc. but good enuff and interesting as it deals with an ANZAC action similar to "We were soldiers once, and young..."

My condolences...  I also enjoy the larger scenarios and have felt the same way for years now - it leads to burn-out.  Have repeatedly mentioned on these forums the hope that BF focus in future more on overhauling the UI and streamlining the way that things get done so that more of the tedious "make work" aspects of the game is automated.  
eg:  Convoy command for multiple units; ammo/weapon sharing between adjacent units (with time penalties and quantity limits); single-click 180 degree covered arcs (like we had in CM1); "Wait in ambush, shoot, and scoot to secondary location"...  Am sure other layers can come up with many more game items that could do with streamlining and simplification/automation in order to cut down the clickfest that CM2 has become (at least for the large scenario enthusiasts).

Hi Doug:  Any film scored by the highly talented Hans Zimmer can raise the hairs on the back of your neck.  In addition, if you are troubled by loud sudden sounds films like Dunkirk may be troubling.  
Do you have the same aversion to horror films btw?  Most of their effect is through sudden, unexpected loud sounds.
A suggestion is to wait to get the DVD and watch with the volume turned down.
Speaking of war films I just saw "Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan".  Not nearly as good as Apocalypse Now or Platoon etc. but good enuff and interesting as it deals with an ANZAC action similar to "We were soldiers once, and young..."

Thanks...  Those are the basic ones.  My mods have a few more variations, add-ons etc.   Anyway am happy that Megalon has em now if anyone else wants em.  

Glad you got em.  Happy to help. 

I think it's something else.  In my old wargaming days we never thought about those items.  None of my old wargaming pals were reading or discussing anyone's memoirs or the other items you mentioned.  In those schooldays (60's) we were brought up on a diet of pro Allied propaganda and maybe we thought of the Germans as the underdogs - maybe it was a revolt vs the post war incessant pro western ally "Ra Ra" propaganda.  Also, post WW2 many of the superior German weapons were either classified or info was suppressed for PR purposes presumably.  During the 60's is when we started to learn about King Tigers and Me 262's and other advanced German weapons.  So, those were the sexy weapons we wanted to play with.  (Another example is that these days most players seem to want to play the Confederates rather than Union in ACW games.  Or even Napoleon rather than Wellington.)
But, players didn't want to play the Italians or Japs (until very recently (eg: War in The Pacific AE).  The Germans had more varied interesting equipment, cooler uniforms, and the cardboard counters used to represent the Germans were more unique (and few) and seemed more versatile and mobile.  The black and white counters used for the SS were just plain sexier and yes, the Soviet counters were like masses of expendable cookie counter copies and looked boring.  The GB units were simply "blah".  Except in the NA desert of course.  That is where the Brit vs German games flourished - although again, everyone wanted to play Rommel and DAK.  That's one major reason there is probably still a market for a DAK NA game - perhaps a CMFI module.  (BF said that CMAK was the poorest selling of the CM1 games.  Maybe the CM1 game system was already old and faltering when CMAK was released.  But, many of us over at WeBoB loved playing huge CMAK scenarios on the 8Km x 4Km maps.)
Something changed in the late 90's.  Perhaps younger players simply wanted to be on the winning side and play the US.  (?)

Very good looking marsh!  Well done.

I think it's something else.  In my old wargaming days we never thought about those items.  None of my old wargaming pals were reading or discussing anyone's memoirs or the other items you mentioned.  In those schooldays (60's) we were brought up on a diet of pro Allied propaganda and maybe we thought of the Germans as the underdogs - maybe it was a revolt vs the post war incessant pro western ally "Ra Ra" propaganda.  Also, post WW2 many of the superior German weapons were either classified or info was suppressed for PR purposes presumably.  During the 60's is when we started to learn about King Tigers and Me 262's and other advanced German weapons.  So, those were the sexy weapons we wanted to play with.  (Another example is that these days most players seem to want to play the Confederates rather than Union in ACW games.  Or even Napoleon rather than Wellington.)
But, players didn't want to play the Italians or Japs (until very recently (eg: War in The Pacific AE).  The Germans had more varied interesting equipment, cooler uniforms, and the cardboard counters used to represent the Germans were more unique (and few) and seemed more versatile and mobile.  The black and white counters used for the SS were just plain sexier and yes, the Soviet counters were like masses of expendable cookie counter copies and looked boring.  The GB units were simply "blah".  Except in the NA desert of course.  That is where the Brit vs German games flourished - although again, everyone wanted to play Rommel and DAK.  That's one major reason there is probably still a market for a DAK NA game - perhaps a CMFI module.  (BF said that CMAK was the poorest selling of the CM1 games.  Maybe the CM1 game system was already old and faltering when CMAK was released.  But, many of us over at WeBoB loved playing huge CMAK scenarios on the 8Km x 4Km maps.)
Something changed in the late 90's.  Perhaps younger players simply wanted to be on the winning side and play the US.  (?)

MOS had had some very innovative ideas for simulating this and maybe some of the other features you mentioned. I highly recommend that you play his brilliant TOC scenario for CMBS and his equally amazing COUP scenario for CMSF2.

Obviously it's a matter of personal taste but having multiple engagements all over the map is exactly what I enjoy in huge scenarios. 
In CM1 it was not uncommon to have maps up to 8Km x 4Km and what was enjoyable was having to think operationally:  "Where do I recon, where to probe, where to defend, where to strip forces from to create reserves and where to place them, and eventually... where will my main assault be?"   One could end up having many engagements of differing types and sizes all over the map.  I admit that handling a reinforced regimental TF is mentally arduous, but it's more fun than just having one huge battle with everything all in.
I agree the issue of bringing up large numbers of reinforcements along a road however, is a bit of a "make work" timewaster and not fun.  Can only hope that CM3 will feature some sort of road march feature that will allow all units to follow a leader in a sensible way.  
The CM2 game system is very good as is.  But, getting units to do things can often be arduous.  Streamlining the UI and reducing the number of clicks and commands needed to get things done hopefully will be more of a BF priority in future.  
eg:
A convoy command per above.
A new ACQUIRE system in which units can swap/acquire from adjacent units (with time penalties and quantity limitations).   
A "Wait in Ambush, Shoot, then Immediately Displace" (to safe secondary position) command for snipers and AT teams etc.
Bring back the "one click 180 degree covered arc" that we had in CM1.
Am sure players can think of many more that would reduce the irritating "make work" aspects of the game, enabling more player time to be spent on the fun tactical decisions.

As mentioned in another thread you should take into account the potential range of the enemy as well as weather and visibility.  In darkness and poor visibility it may be worth the risk of unbuttoning as otherwise a tank is virtually blind.  Also, if you are on a large enuff map that the enemy is further than (say) 500m, then an unbuttoned crewman is fairly safe.
Also, if you have many tanks it may be worth risking one or two unbuttoned as scouts.
I generally try to lead a column with less valuable vehicles unbuttoned like halftracks as they can spot better.

Obviously it's a matter of personal taste but having multiple engagements all over the map is exactly what I enjoy in huge scenarios. 
In CM1 it was not uncommon to have maps up to 8Km x 4Km and what was enjoyable was having to think operationally:  "Where do I recon, where to probe, where to defend, where to strip forces from to create reserves and where to place them, and eventually... where will my main assault be?"   One could end up having many engagements of differing types and sizes all over the map.  I admit that handling a reinforced regimental TF is mentally arduous, but it's more fun than just having one huge battle with everything all in.
I agree the issue of bringing up large numbers of reinforcements along a road however, is a bit of a "make work" timewaster and not fun.  Can only hope that CM3 will feature some sort of road march feature that will allow all units to follow a leader in a sensible way.  
The CM2 game system is very good as is.  But, getting units to do things can often be arduous.  Streamlining the UI and reducing the number of clicks and commands needed to get things done hopefully will be more of a BF priority in future.  
eg:
A convoy command per above.
A new ACQUIRE system in which units can swap/acquire from adjacent units (with time penalties and quantity limitations).   
A "Wait in Ambush, Shoot, then Immediately Displace" (to safe secondary position) command for snipers and AT teams etc.
Bring back the "one click 180 degree covered arc" that we had in CM1.
Am sure players can think of many more that would reduce the irritating "make work" aspects of the game, enabling more player time to be spent on the fun tactical decisions.

During night and poor LOS conditions it can be useful to have at least one or a few vehicles be unbuttoned as spotting an enemy (esp tank) first is critical.
I like to have a column led by a halftrack or two unbuttoned even if not a tank - it depends on how many tanks one has and how many tank crewmen one can afford to lose.  (Usually one can afford to lose halftrack crew.)

+1  It's a shame that feature was eliminated from CM2.  I keep hoping for something similar in CM3.

+1  It's a shame that feature was eliminated from CM2.  I keep hoping for something similar in CM3.

Should be on CMMODS.  I sent him all of them.

Maybe send a message to Bootie.  

Related info - vehicular movement:
 
 

Thank you, Olek!

He was clearly inspired by the movie "T-34" in which a Russian AT gunner waited for the exact same opportunity.   The fidelity of this game is always astonishing.