Sardaukar

Get one of the Icon Bar addons from same place: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/8461/mod.html They are first mods listed under CMBB section. I think even "Original US version BMPs work). Cheers, M.S. [ October 22, 2003, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

Hmm...I think patch itself changes only text, not symbols. To that you need SS runes add on, I think it's in some of different "swastika packs" if it didn't come with anti-censorship loader. If you open QB purchase screen and there are SS Infantry etc, categories, patch works. There can be a bit of delay, though. Cheers, M.S.

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arena/8461/mod.html seems to have Schoerner's Anti-Censorship patch for download. Cheers, M.S.

Some real military experiences with skis. If it's light snow, (ankle deep, for example) there shouldn't be much difference. Sometimes (thick bushes and forest etc.) it can be more beneficial to even remove skis and continue on foot. When snow becomes knee deep and more, skis get more and more beneficial, to point that there is no point to even try to move on foot. Andvantage of skis is mostly tactical, not related to single fire combat, where they give neither benefit nor disadvantage (IMHO). Skis give superior mobility when there are more than light snow. Foot soldiers tire fast slogging through snow, and are mainly incapable of conducting movements outside roads and tracks (unless equipped with snowshoes etc..which are slower and even more cumbersome). That was best demonstrated in Finno-Russian Winter War in battle of Raate road, where vastly outnumbered and outgunned Finnish forces were able to tactically and operationally run circles on 2 Soviet divisions with no "offroad" capability and destroy them by achieving "relative superiority" in each engagement and destroying enemy piecemeal. So, in game terms, if you have deeper than light snow, ski infantry should have more mobility and less exhaustion than foot troops. Waist deep soft snow should be almost impossible, or at least extremely slow and exhaustive for troops on foot. Ski troops shouldn't have any greater exposure to fire than others..after all, they don't make you a bigger target. Cross country skiing is quite difficult skill to learn. German troops in Lappland were never able to get even close to proficiency of Finns in that, despite continuous Finnish instruction, and they were there from 1941-44. It gets even more difficult when moving as unit and bringing crew-served weapons with you. Thus, IMHO, skiing is a force multiplier in tactical level, bringing your troops to favourable fighting position. In actial combat they have no effect. But troops should be able to recover their skis when disengaging. Close relation to modern terms is that ski troops in arctic conditions are like heliborne troops compared to normal infantry. Able to move swiftly and surprise less mobile infantry enemy, but not necessarily able to bring as heavy weaponry with them. Cheers, M.S.

One of the downsides of SMG squad is very limited amount of ammunition...and the rate they burn through their ammo. Range disadvantage can be adressed even with LMG team added, but HMG (as suggested) is better. IMHO, SMG squads are bit of "one-shot-wonders" who need to have fast and decisive engagements. Any drawn-out firefight will give them big trouble compared to slower-firing squads. Cheers, M.S.

You probably mean the AT-11, the ATGM fired from the T-90. SS missiles are the big operational ones :eek: An ATGM is actually pretty slow, I wonder whether they accidentially used a real warhead :cool: </font>

Flesh, Pravda may not be the best source, even though the name translates as truth German combat drugs were definitely used and widespreadingly. As far as use was so serious to render whole divisions combat incapable..I seriously doubt. Finnish experiences about pervitin was that while it was sometimes invaluable in desperate situations, it had severe downside, mainly to do with combat capability. Use of Pervitin/Pervitine rendered persons combat incapable at least to ratio 1:2, first being the days under influence, second being days needed to recover. While ratio was staying about same, benefits declined with each additional dose. Thus, while useful in desperate situations for troops with special missions, and designed rest periods, general use was deemed more harmful. Use of combat drugs, especially amphetamine based, has not gone away. For example, US pilots who did accidentally bomb Canadian troops in Afghanistan, were (according to newspapers) under influence of amphetamine based substances, used in regular bases. One of the side effects is paranoia, which actually can be a good thing for special forces troops behind enemy lines...but may lead to unpleasant consequences when used commonly. Anyhow, my military has them..most likely majority of armed forces have the "enhancers", but IMHO they should be used in emergencies only. Cheers, M.S. [ September 26, 2003, 05:47 PM: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

I don't think use of Pervitin etc. was widespread in Finnish Army during WW II, with main exception being LLRP and other patrol/"commando" units. In those units the pills were used during critical escape marches and keeping wounded able to keep up with rest. Those were not available for normal medic pack. One preventing widespread issue was that they were supplied by Germans, not locally produced and somewhat more rare. Pervitin was widely known as "German assault pill", but I don't think it was in general use within Finnish line units. People did get addicted, though..just like some got addicted to morphine used as painkiller for wounded. Cheers, M.S,

SuperSulo changed ISP, here is the new one for those interested in Biltong's Campaign Rules, BCRAV, and excellent BiltAid program to run BCR. http://home.swipnet.se/supersulo/biltong/ I myself play ROQC with my own twists, it's great too. If you want really detailed, try Biltong's Cheers, M.S. [ September 17, 2003, 08:06 AM: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

Some links: http://www.lysator.liu.se/nordic/mirror/sa-int/joukotjatkosota.html http://personal.inet.fi/private/hovi.pages/sa-int/joukotjatkosota.html http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/finob.htm http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/avenue/vy75/ob.htm Cheers, M.S.

No Panzer IV H models in Finland (at least not in Finnish service), those are Pz IV J models with skirts removed (skirts didn't stay attached in tests, so they were removed). BFC models them with Pz IV H as they model Finnish Stug IIIG (late mid) with skirts removed with Stug IIIG (early mid). I have had this discussion with BFC before . It's compromise, and I doubt Finnish models were important enough to deem new vehicles added to CM, since Stug was easily abstracted without any real difference and PZ IV never saw combat in Finnish service. Cheers, M.S.

You actually don't have to generate start zones. If map is used for QBs, leave all zones neutral and remove all flags. QB generator will automatically assign zones and flags to map that has none. It was surprise to me until I did read about that in ROQC (R. Olesen's Quick Campaign). Cheers, M.S.

Well, as JasonC said, it took (and still does) lot of firepower to kill and wound people in good cover. MG 42s are not going to do much from 250 m..nor is other rifle fire if you don't get lucky. Since those guys decided to fight fanatically to the death, there is not much you can do about it. They will be very hard to hit, even if above ground, more so in foxhole, and since they are fanatical, they'll return fire quite frequently. Actually, not very uncommon happening in history of WW II. If you absolutely have to kill them..since they won't rout or surrender..you have to assault their position. You need to blow them apart, burn them (even fanatical unit rout when exposed to flamethrower etc.) or just plain close in and kill them in close combat. That aspect of warfare hasn't changed much from ancient times. Also, what is bad for attacker, fanatical troops don't quit if they suffer a scratch from bullet or shrapnel. They only quit when dead or truly incapacitated. I think CMBB is quite right how it treats those units. While HMGs, LMGs and small arms are deadly for exposed infantry, they don't do much for troops who refuse to expose themselves to that firepower. One rarely kills dug-in infantry from distance with rifle caliber ammunition. It cannot shoot through the earth. You need lots of bullets and luck to achieve kills, even 10 MG-42 HMGs could shoot all their ammo from distance towards enemy foxholes, without single kill. Mostly, you kill them when they are pinned, so you can kill them by closing in to hand grenade range with other units, or when they break and expose themselves more. If that kind of behaviour was not modelled in CMBB, it could not model for example Stalingrad, or dozens of other engagements where opposition chose to fight to last bullet. Tough luck that it can happen in crucial place/moments, but that's war. When it happens, you need to remember it's similar effort in miniscule scale that US Marines etc. had to do in Iwo Jima and Okinawa, for example. If they don't retreat nor surrender, and you need the location, you just have to close in and wipe them out. Cheers, M.S. [ August 31, 2003, 05:34 PM: Message edited by: Sardaukar ]

How about "Kat Killer" Campaign Using only SU/ISU vehicles ? Playing as Tank Destroyer/SPG unit through war as Soviets ? Cheers, M.S.

Probably my worst mistake when playing QB against AI was to forgot setting to "Unrestricted" instead of "Pure Armor". Got 2 Ferdinands to try out and nothing else...found out I was against Soviet Pioneer Battaillon or something . Not pretty... Cheers, M.S.

I've played few battles now with bit modified ROQC rules (mainly to get more battles and starting with Pz platoon in June 41). Good stuff so far . Cheers, M.S.

Most Soviet officers were educated indeed..that's Platoon Leaders and Company Commanders. Count how many you have those in game compared to grunts. Not to mention individual thoughts and actions were definitely not encouraged in Soviet military, not even late in war. Cheers, M.S.

One of the overlooked facts is that Tiger is actually very lethal anti-infantry beast too. 88L56 has decent blast and it has *lots* of MG ammo. So, even infantry needs good terrain to close in. Even single Tiger can maul Soviet infantry by platoon after platoon in open. Cheers, M.S.

Well...it was very common for US troops to mis-ID Pz-IVs as Tigers, and they had lot better education than average Soviet grunt. Maybe Assault Gun ? or Tank Destroyer ? might have been more appropriate, but I have to agree with above posters too. Cheers, M.S.

After having pleasure to read "Tigers in Combat vol. I & II" (I recommend both volumes) http://www.angelraybooks.com/books/jjfpub/0010jj.htm I was surprised by following: Totenkopf division Tigers had extremely bad combat record compared to LAH and Das Reich ones. My opinion is that quality of manpower and training standard was lower in T. division (at least in armour) than in other comparable formations (LAH, Das Reich, Wiking). Cheers, M.S.

Most likely gun crew was hoping gun damage or immobilization inflicted on JS. I think both may be more probable with HE (IMHO). Cheers, M.S.

That was on of the instances when Finns didn't do well first, due to poor performance of new and raw 20th Brigade, also lacking ammunition and weapons, tasked to defend Viipuri. I'll try to dig something up... Cheers, M.S.

I'd not use HT for scouting if I buy one. I prefer using infantry for that. If I had bought HT for towing a gun, I don't see it very gamey to send it to give fire support for infantry attacks, though. After all, Soviet ATRs can rip through it quite nicely, but it's very handy to have "mobile semi-armoured MG pillbox" sometimes. Cheers, M.S.

I agree with flamingknives and Mattias. HE is used against vehicles regularly if AI "thinks" HE penetration is enough. I don't know if different experience levels affect on this, though ? Anyone tested that ? Cheers, M.S.

Using trucks when ground conditions are damp and such is not that good idea. Cross country mobility tends tu suck immensely if conditions are not ideal. Halftracks may be better bargains, since as been said already, they can be used as fire support after moving guns. Trucks do have their use, though...in my recent PBEM ME, truck was invaluable to get my AT gun into good position. Cheers, M.S.