Ogadai

When interpreting colours from photos one should be very careful. Remember, the filters, light and perhaps most importantly, the detoriation of the original negatives/photos as well as the type of film on which the photo was originally taken all influence the way the colour turns out in the photo. In addition, you should also remember that the actual colour of the paints in use were quite variable, depending upon the type of paint that was used, the way it was thinned and the method used to apply it. The official colour could well be quite different from the one which was eventually used in the field. Panzer Grey could vary from a light grey right through to a very dark, almost black colour. Same for Afrika Korps Yellow, which was the sand colour which Panzers were painted in, at the factory from 1943 to late 1944. It could be quite light yellow varying through to a very dark yellow. Panzer Grey by 1944 was quite rare as a colour BTW, having been largely replaced by, initially the Afrika Korps Yellow colour and then Dark Green, as the base colour for all vehicles.

Copyright is hideously complicated. You're right that basically, under the Berne Convention, anything we publish, be it electronic or otherwise is covered by copyright. These images though, might well be in the public domain as the copyright holder (the Third Reich) has disappeared and it'd be very complex trying to sort out who owned it. Interestingly, its always been explained to me that if you alter a work/image and then publish it, even if you don't own the copyright to the original image, you then own the copyright to the altered image. So, if someone then republishes your altered version of the image, you can then sue them for publishing the altered image without your permission, even if, at the same time you're being sued for having published the original image! Ah, isn't litigation a wonderful thing?

Most are standard propaganda shots taken from Signal Magazine. I've seen a lot of them published in various other publications, including the Purnell's History of the Second World War and Orbis's World War Two magazine sets which I collected as a kid (both excellent histories and I have all 28 volumes gracing my bookshelves still).

Move to linux. That way there are no worries about virii.

After reading this thread, it seems to come down to the idea that some people find the anti-Japanese more "boring" than the anti-Nazi war. I believe this view is mistaken and indicates ignorance on the part of the posters who have made that claim, rather than necessarily the reality of that war. I wonder if a poll was taken, whether or not that would in reality, as has been claimed, would be the majority viewpoint or merely the viewpoint of one group? Here's another question - as I understand it, CMBO and CMBB will be completely seperate games. Isn't that a little strange? Will there be an effort to integrate the two, so that perhaps Korea, as another poster has asked, could be modelled?

'tis said, amongst the more cynical, that Mr.Fawkes was the last honest man to enter the houses of Parliament. However, that is yesterday's date to some in the world and already forgotten.

I would suggest that the "average American wargamer" is not necessarily the market that BTS is trying to tap into. I think its rather misguided and arrogant, thats all to be so dismissive of both a potential market and a theatre of war where tens of millions lost their lives. If BTS won't do it, will they hand over or even perhaps sell their engine so that other could? I suspect not but its a thought. I just wonder if Gyrene isn't right, the lack of interest is perhaps because the Japanese didn't have all those cool tanks... BTW, there were other Canadian forces involved in the anti-Japanese war, other than just the garrison at Hong Kong (which did pretty well, if my memory serves me correctly).

Michael, I am going to admonish you. Your northern hemisphericity is showing, big time. There are other people, outside of the USA, UK, Canada and Holland and they did take part in the anti-Japanese war. I'm surprised that you discount for even those nationalities, their efforts against the Japanese so glibly and attempt to suggest that there is simply no interest in this theatre. I'm surprised that you've forgotten even the involvement of your own nation's forces in this theatre, at Hong Kong, the Aleutions and even in Northern Australia. I'm also surprised that BTS appears to be so glib and dismissive of the potential market that exists for such a theatre being addessed by their game. Afterall, it lasted longer and covered a huge geographic expanse from the steppes of Central Asia to the islands of the South Pacific. Indeed, the scope, tactically is pretty amazing, with jungles on one hand to the steppes of Mongolia to the freezing sub-artic of the Aleutions. The Japanese were a match for all of the nations that fought them, and like the Germans, it wasn't until either the application of tactical skill or overwhelming expenditure of material resources that they tended to be defeated.

After having been reading the BBS for a while I've seen references to the idea that BTS isn't going to be doing a Japanese war version of CM. Is this true? Why not? At the same time I've seen on a couple of CM dedicated websites, references to a modded version of CM for the Pacific. However despite an extensive bashing of the various search engines I've been unable to find it. Does one exist and where can I get it?

While I know this is most probably beyond the sophistication of the present game engine, several times I've want to be able to move my troops close to an objective thats being shelled, before my men move onto it. With the present system, I have to cease firing at the start of a turn, rather than as I'd prefer, in the middle. I can see two possible remedies - one an automatic cease fire when friendly troops get within a certain distance of a target, the other a specific order to cease firing by a certain 15 second segment of a turn (ie like the pause the command). I'd like the former perhaps for direct fire, artillery/mortars and the latter for indirect fire weapons.

Can I also most humbly request that I be sent this spreadsheet?

Errr, Jason, you cannot have a round from a gun with a velocity greater than muzzle-velocity unless its rocket boosted. What Scipio is quibbling about is basically semantics. In wartime, commanders don't care whether a tank has been "abandoned" or "knocked out" or "brewed up" until after the engagement is finished. In the midst of battle, a commander is concerned whether an AFV is a goer or not. If it isn't, its assumed its out of the running and will not be taking further part in events. How a tank is knocked out is immaterial to him, when he's considering his unit strength. As far as the crew is concerned, they're well aware of just how much of a deathtrap they inhabit. I was reading a post-strike analysis by Typhoon Fighter-Bombers in Normandy, yesterday and it was quite revealing. Despite many German tanks suffering only near misses or at worst minor damage, they were abandoned. Using your thinking, Scipio, they'd have been reoccupied and used, yet in real life they were abandoned and as far as the German commander was concerned, knocked out. Instead of thinking like a gamer, think like a real tank crewman. I know if my tank was penetrated, I'd either withdraw (if it was still running) or bail out (if it wasn't). In cas you haven't heard, heroes tend to be in rather short supply, despite what Hollywood might have fed you.

When a round penetrates, it tends to affect the morale of the crew of an AFV quite severely. If casualties eventuate, they tend to remove their vehicle from the battle. If its likely that the vehicle will brew up, they tend to remove themselves from the vehicle, very quickly. Only the Japanese and the Russians produced all their tanks powered by diesels, for the obvious power advantage and inflammability of the fuel. The US produced a few diesel powered vehicles but preferred petrol (usually AVGAS as well) powered vehicles. All AFV's in WWII were very prone to brewing up, some catastrophically, such as the "Ronson" or "Tommy-Cooker" did. Remember, the tank crews will aim to maximise their survival and so will more than likely abandon their vehicles no matter what the calibre of the round which penetrates, for those very reasons.

I agree that most of the vehicles are far too clean and spritely (pun intended). My other problem is the lack of extra stowage seen on most vehicles and camouflage on the Germans. All turret-heads in my experience tend to festoon their vehicles with extra bits and pieces, sometimes for more protection (sand bags, concrete, etc) and sometimes for comfort (bedding, etc). The Germans tended to hang branches and so on all over their vehicles as well. As an example, my first effort at modding was to try and make a very late model Panther G. I found that there was no way I could put the gun cleaning tube where it was meant to be, across the rear decking and that it was very difficult to place extra cables, equipment and so on, on the hull. So I gave up, mores the shame. It seems the models used in the game just don't quite allow really all that much in the addition of extra detail in some ways.

It would be nice to see CM running under Linux. I believe its possible with VM but haven't had a machine powerful enough to try it. Lindows looks like another possibility, as does Win4Lin 3.0. However, they are just emulators not native binaries. As to Linux's popularity, its got about 10-20% of the market (depending on whom you believe). Windows dominates but its a lie that there are no applications available for Linux. For virtually ever Windows application there is a comparable Linux one.

I think the first major point where the British made a bad decision was their failure to continue up O'Connor's "raid" into Libya and eject the Italians from North Africa completely. Instead of having their forces wasted in a political debacle like Greece and then Crete, the British and hence the Allies would have been about 12 months or more advanced through control of a large slice if not eventually the whole of the southern coast of the Mediterrean. While Rommel might have found himself in Tunis, a great deal earlier and assaulting into Libya, it would have ensured that the Egypt was a great deal more secure than it was. If the British could secure the Vichy portion of the coast through negotiation, then the Germans would have no ability to influence events there ( big maybe I agree). It definitly would have complicated matters for the Axis and made things easier for the Allies.

What you say has merit, Slapdragon although it strikes me as a bit strange that the builders of the vehicle were removing the MG's whilst the users were replacing them. I'd have thought the bow MG was a sensible thing to retain, providing the users with a weapon and some armour from which to fire it. By the way, does your keyboard have a sticky "e"?

Thanks, Michael, excellent post! That clears the matter up for the Ram very nicely. I had noticed the similarity between the subturret and the Lee's but I just assumed it was a case of parallel evolution, rather than they were the same piece of kit. Going that, it seems that the the game undermodels the potential firepower available on the Ram Kangaroo. A side question though, is if they were aware of the value of arming the Ram Kangaroo, why was the hull MG on the Stuart Kangaroo plated over? Why didn't the Stuart one also mount pintle MG's as well?

The myth that the Me-262's delay into service was caused by Hitler's demands about it being transformed into a fighter-bomber are just that myths, in my opinion. Willy Messerschmitt made the claim as a means of "buck passing". In reality the delay was caused by the poor serviceability of the Jumo-004 turbjet engines. With a service life of only 4 hours for most of late 1943-early 1944, its a bit hard to have a functioning, operational aircraft which needs to change its engines after every mission. Galland repeated the claim after the war, in his memoires and it seems to have been picked up and perpetuated ever since. This, plus the fact that the Me-262 was designed from the outset to actually be developed into a fighter-bomber were revealed in the excellent four volume set of books published over the last few years on the Me-262 (basically everything you ever wanted to know about the aircraft but didn't realise you didn't know ) Brian, wasn't it the Dauntless that the French used? Michael, Australia never used the A-24 (Army version of the Dauntless?). The RAAF were supplied with the Vultee Vengeance. However, the three squadrons which operationally flew it, only flew for a few months in New Guinea. General Kenney, Macarthur's airforce commander didn't like divebombers, so he forced the RAAF to withdraw them and the squadrons were disbanded and reformed on Liberators. The troops in the field appreciated the Vengeance's accuracy. The RAAF continued to use dive bombers though, the CAC Wirraway a trainer/liason aircraft was modified and used in the role as a light dive bomber (and again, the troops appreciated it, even if the heirachy didn't).

Thank you, Michael. It does appear I was mistaken. My question then, if the Ram Kangaroo was armed, were the Stewart Kangaroos as well? I seem to remember that in the game they aren't. Didn't the Stewart have a bow MG? Were they removed when the turret was?

Michael, I found your site on the Landser interesting and in particular the page on Guy Sojer. I think it all comes down to what you view history as. Kennedy and yourself, if I can be so body, tend to see history about facts, dates, figures, etc. Sojer admits he wasn't writing history but rather a personal narrative. I believe such narratives are useful for conveying the personal experiences of the individual but they shouldn't necessarily be considered as being not history. Rather they are an example of what I believe is called "history from below". Its a useful source for "flavour", I think. It tells, if excerts in Fritz's book are anything to go by, what it was like to be a Landser, rather than what the German soldiers did.

I was under the impression that all the Ram Kangaroos were disarmed. Either the MG or the whole subturret was removed, depending upon mark. Am I mistaken?

Thanks, Michael, I'll bear your comments in mind. Indeed, after reading them, I looked through the bibliography and couldn't even find Sojer's name mentioned. I do note he does use some novels that he acknowledges in his bibliography. The use of fictionalised accounts isn't, in itself, a bad thing, if they are acknowledged as being fictionalised. I must admit that when I continued my reading after reading your comment, I did notice that somehow, some of the things claimed sounded a bit hollow. His portrayal of battle as complete chaos makes me wonder who any objective was achieved. Even if it is flawed, its an interesting effort to tackle a much neglected subject. You're right Keegan does do a better job but he doesn't attempt to draw, as far as I can remember on anything other than English language accounts. I'm presently wading (the only word that really describes what I'm doing) through the section in Fritz's book on field discipline. Not nice. I wonder how well the Germans would have done if they'd been more lenient and instead of hanging everybody for minor offences, such as losing equipment during a retreat, they'd welcomed the soldiers back and simply provided them with new weapons and put them back into the frontline? I find some of the episodes about fears of having units broken up and the men used piecemeal in some ways similar to what I've read about the reaction of certain Australian units in the 1st AIF to being broken up, due to manpower shortages, late in WWI. It seems that comradeship is a universal constant.

Do you have a URL for the Tamiya story? I'd be interested to see what they are showing/saying.

I'm presently reading "Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II" by Stephen Fritz. It is an overview of the experience of the common German soldier on all fronts but most particularly the Eastern one, based on letters, diaries and interviews. I'm only a third of the way through but its quite a good read.