Mark Gallear

I got some crappy message about there been no band width available so you must have done something good!!!!

I can have both and replace the CDV Splash screen with one (11007.BMP) one of the many advatages of owning the European version.

It seems that Gary could not keep up the Proving Grounds - which is a crying shame. I have been emailing the mod out to anybody who could be bothered to look up my email address! There have been a few. (This is not a challenge!!!) Von Lucke has sent me a very interesting Icon bar with some original Axis Icons. Although I have not had chance to even put it in the game let alone email him my thoughts yet - hopefully I will be collaborating with him to bring a new version - as soon as it is done and as soon as I found somebody who will host it – and complete with all my political crap trap in the readme! Hopefully it will not be necessary by then – and the patch will have sorted me!!!!

The T-34 does appear to be overly dreadful and I don't just mean at point blank range - I mean right over the other side of a large map! Two fell to first time hits at this range. I noticed that the Sherman's ability were exaggereated a bit in CMBO but this anti- Russian armour reaction is just silly. I just don't believe you can get a first time hit in WW2 at that range no matter how good your optics are supposed to be! :confused:

That was probably because I didn't do them!!! I did confess to using somebody else’s mod as a starting point. (This seemed to be based on somebody else’s CMBO mod.) I also confessed too not been an artist as well! Having said that I surprised myself with the Russian icons and am pleased with them - unless you are a modding artist and can do better! I will go back to designing Scenarios and operations - now that lots off my chest!!!!!

Had a request from my pal Russian player Ivan to put the hammer and sickle in the red army cap badges. (He is annoyed that the tank turret graphic has only one side graphic and he cannot put his favourite slogans on his favourite tanks without it looking silly!) This is V2 and you can download it from Gary’s site as per usual - http://www.garykrockover.com/cmbb/ . Sorry if you got the 1st version or were very lucky and got the pre-version 1 and now have to download it again! It is the very final version honest. (Although somebody had the idea of using the Panzer Troop badge for German Mechanised troops.) (PC meant Politically Correct – you cannot be sexist or racist in the UK. I have no idea if it works on a Mac or not?) The original scenario icons even on the US version were very politically correct with not a Swastika or Hammer and Sickle in sight. For some reason symbols of Italian Fascism do not seem to bother anybody! (They were very nicely done.) As you might know by now, I am mad as hell about this WG political correctness thing that has been inflicted on European players and have big hopes that the English patch (at the very least) will end the WG insult thing. I have high hopes that my American cousins who are big on the virtue of free speech will do the morally right thing in the patch. … and yes I know this would never have happened if I had bought a Mac and not a Dell PC! Talking about been sexist when are we going to get female Russian soldier mods – I want to do political incorrect female Russian tank driver jokes! On the subject of been a good European, I hope the Finns got all of their small needs and wants fully taken care of in the patch. The readme: I got so mad at seeing WG in the scenario screen that I have had ago at creating my own scenario icons - it is partly based on Vapaudenristi's mod and the more subdued and sharper SS Runes on the US version - which a friend sent me. I do not pretend to be an artist but have made some advancements on the historical accuracy of the Red Army Icons. New Badges: Infantry - Red Army Cap Badge on red background. Mechanised - Tank Officers Collar Badge on black collar background. Mountain - Red Army Cap Badge on brown background. Ski - Red Army Cap Badge on white background. Paratrooper - Parachutist Badge 1936. Partizan - Replaced fictious badge with Partizan Pin Badge issued after War Cavalry - Shoulder Collar Badge (Collars are blue and look darker than this CMBB hue.) Navy - Naval Officers Anchor collar Badge on black collar background. (You know that you are in the Navy now!) Guards - Guards Personnel Badge 1942 on red background. Mechanised Guards - Guards Badge on black background. The Russian 12th Army, 13th Rifle Corps apparently had two Mountain Divisions, 44th and 58th. However I think this is a very Western view of the Red Army who had no special Mountain badge for these troops. My guess is they got this "status" by been stationed in mountainous country. They are not German style Elite Mountain troops. I think this slot could have been better used portraying NKVD soldiers. Guards was an "elite" status given to Divisions from 1942 that had fought heroically. These units benefited from better equipment such as lend-lease Shermans and this year’s version of the T34. In CMBB terms view them as better trained and equipped troops than the soviet norm rather than as ELITE. I feel that I have to defend the use of Nazi (and Communist) icons in my mod as CDV and the German government has censored the game throughout Europe on the grounds that it could corrupt the young. My feeling is that computer games do not have any great political influence. However, I hope that the game could inspire people to read some books about WWII and realise that dictators of any shade are evil and that we should not be hypnotised into killing each other by some political ideology. Such dictators have been keen in the past to rewrite history in similar way to CDV have done. I hope that like me, playing CM2 brings you a host of new friends across Europe and the rest of the World. Sources: Anton Shalito, Ilya Savchenkov & Andrew Mollo Red Army Uniforms of World War II. David Webster & Chris Nelson Uniforms of the Soviet Union 1918-1945. Mark Gallear (Dirty Mark) British and proud to be European! Apologies for any and all typos and liberties with the Queen’s English. CDV did do something for me - I can spell Swas'tika now! Dirty Mark

Guard’s Badge for Russian Elite troops. This status and better equipment was given to units that had "acted heroically". Red background Infantry - black background Armour. Actually almost all Guard units were either Tank Divisions or Motorised Rifle Divisions. (Ok there were some Infantry Divisions intially but they were rapidly motorised.) CMBB unlike CMBO does not seem to differentiate between tank and infantry units anymore! I suppose I should put the Hammer & Sickle in the cap badges.

Just posted a small mod that controls the icons on your scenario choice screen. Now got actual Red Army badges. You can get it thanks to Gary on his CMBB site at http://www.garykrockover.com/cmbb/ This is the readme: I got so mad at seeing WG in the scenario screen that I have had ago at creating my own scenario icons - it is partly based on Vapaudenristi's mod and the more subdued and sharper SS Runes on the US version - which a friend sent me. I do not pretend to be an artist and consider it work in progress but have made some advancements on the historical accuracy of the Red Army Icons. New Badges: Mechanised - Tank Officers Collar Badge on black collar. Paratrooper - Parachutist Badge 1936. Cavalry - Shoulder Collar Badge (Collars are blue and look darker than this CMBB hue.) Navy - Red Star on black background - (Original tanker badge but how star would appear on Navy Uniform!) Guards - Guards Personnel Badge 1942 on red background. Mechanised Guards - Guards Badge on black background. I feel that I have to defend the use of Nazi (and Communist) icons in my mod as CDV and the German government have censored the game throughout Europe on the grounds that it could corrupt the young. My feeling is that computer games do not have any great political influence. However, I hope that the game could inspire people to read some books about WWII and realise that dictators of any shade are evil and that we should not be hypnotised into killing each other by some political ideology. Such dictators have been keen in the past to rewrite history in similar way to CDV have done. I hope that like me, playing CM2 brings you a host of new friends across Europe and the rest of the World. Sources: Anton Shalito, Ilya Savchenkov & Andrew Mollo Red Army Uniforms of World War II. David Webster & Chris Nelson Uniforms of the Soviet Union 1918-1945. Mark Gallear (Dirty Mark) British and proud to be European!

The spotty little kid will not even have played his review copy - all wargames are dull and hard to get into by the trendy teen-somethings that come out of Uni want to do the pose and join the staff of a Computer game Mag of all things! I know I use to be a freelance reviewer myself - confessions, confessions! Forget about it!

Well done MadMatt! :cool:

Probably should put this in a new post. I have found and scanned the pics of Guard Badges etc, but they look dreadful when I reduce them down and try putting them in the 11240.bmp. Am I barking up the wrong tree - the originals are very simple and colourful but some of the modded versions for CMBO had fairly complicated badges. Can anybody with experience of doing such mods point me in the right direction?

I am sure all of these things have already been said but I want WOMEN - Female Russian soldiers with female faces and pair shaped bodies. I want my Russian MGs to be dragged behind on wheels not carried on a tripod. Where are the NKVD? When a round goes through a small turret such as on an AC, I want the commander to hurt a bit. I want it to be as historical as possible. But most of all I want my crappy Euro version to have the same files and graphics as everbody else!

I was so annoyed by having WG icons on my Scenario Choice screen, I decided to have ago at making my own icon mod - despite having low graphically ability. Then I looked at the Russian Icons the Red Star on light blue background for airborne etc, and thought how original - we can do better than this! So far found actual badges for most of these unit types - some are specific units rather than for a type of unit - but for the life of me I can find no trace of red army mountain troops or Ski troops. Any body got any ideas - are they real troop types or were they just alternative infantrymen with a different load out of small arms be impressed if you know of badges for them. Sorry I have started to ramble a bit. It’s the Euro version it’s getting to me! I will get my books out and check again. :confused:

A number of the differences between the US and Euro version can be resolved. You can get mods from sites such as http://www.garykrockover.com/cmbb/ that will put the SS rune icon in the Scenario choice screen, correct national markings on the Finnish tanks and solve some of the differences between the graphics such as the sand coloured German 37mm gun in the early period. You can even change the WG label to the historically correct SS label if you use the excellent “Schoerner's COMBAT MISSION 2 AntiCensorshipLoader V2”. It works very well if you are a patient European. I have even changed my CDV splash screen (11007.BMP) to the dead Russian tank in sunflower bed. :cool: Strangely for the English language version despite all these censorship restrictions so as not to break German laws – we still get American English – z in Mechanised and a missing u from Armour! I have tried emailing BTS to enquire if they will sell me the full manual as per the rumour on the forum but so far they have failed to reply. I have been forced to try and read the adobe version to find out what a partial- penetration is. The big-sticking point it appears to me is that the copy protection on the Euro and US CD-ROMs are different and this of course this means that any future US patch will not work on the Euro version. Will we get these problems resolved and move forward with any changes made to the US version? I hope so - but only time will tell if this will really happen. :eek:

A number of the differences between the US and Euro version can be resolved. You can get mods from sites such as http://www.garykrockover.com/cmbb/ that will put the SS rune icon in the Scenario choice screen, correct national markings on the Finnish tanks and solve some of the differences between the graphics such as the sand coloured German 37mm gun in the early period. You can even change the WG label to the historically correct SS label if you use the excellent “Schoerner's COMBAT MISSION 2 AntiCensorshipLoader V2”. It works very well if you are a patient European. Strangely for the English language version despite all these censorship restrictions so as not to break German laws – we still get American English – z in Mechanised and a missing u from Armour! I have tried emailing BTS to enquire if they will sell me the full manual as per the rumour on this forum but so far they have failed to reply! I have been forced to try and read the adobe version to find out what a partial-penetration is! The big-sticking point it appears to me is that the copy protection on the Euro and US CD-ROMs are different this means that any US patch will not work on the Euro version. Will we get these “problems resolved” and move forward with any changes made to the US version. I hope so - but only time will tell if this will happen. :eek:

You wanted to take in game pics. This works for CMBO not sure about CMBB but do not see why it should not. Get your camera position and freeze the action. Press the Print Screen button - top right of keyboard. Minimise or close game. Open Paint in the windows accessories folder or a better program if you have one. Then edit copy/paste - you pic should appear and you should be able to save it as a .bmp or .jpeg.

Found the replies very helpful. Ok I am a European (British) and don't count - but it could screw up email games for Americans with European friends! My advise is do not buy the game in Europe. Email Battlefront if they refuse do not bother! If you loved the orginal like I did at least wait until you know it can be fixed! :mad: As for the manual - I paid for the game - probably just as much as people did the states - so why do I have to pay again for the manual at cost - what ever that is! And why do I have to spend time and money dowloading patches - at 1.1 gb it is going to be a big one and unofficial if it ever arrives! as for the copy protection crap - they will be lucky! :eek:

Just got the European version of Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin – aka Combat Mission 2 and I am feeling a bit cheated. We do get it in a crappy plastic sleeve but get a slim line and cutdown manual only 88 pages plus another 155 pages to print out in PDF against the full 280 page US manual. (So I am told) Also gather we get the wrong German flags to comply with German law. I am hoping somebody will put them on a mod site soon! I do not now if the install method is different but I had a hell of a job and it took three tries and I am not sure if I did it properly in the end. You seem to need at least another 500mb spare to install on top of the 1.1 GB and 200mb spare you need to run all windows programs. I gave up and went back to bed – when I came down it seemed to have installed ok. Other tries it failed in the middle of the wav files. :confused: The Euro version comes with a picture of a Russian (looks much more like an American) soldier dragging a wounded comrade from a Panther which is about to run them over! To add insult to injury I have to sit through the flash screen advertising CDV before I get to the Battleground screen every time I load the game! :mad:

OK its ready for download on Scenario Depot. Thanks Mark. Heres the Brief. Title: Polar Bears Type: Assault Operation: British must cross 80% of map (Historical) Date: June/July 1944 Location: Area around Fontenay Le Pesnel, Normandy, France Weather: Good Length: 10 battles of 20 turns each The 49th Infantry Division, the Polar Bears in June 1944 was tasked with crossing a short stretch of Normandy Bocage countryside and it would take them almost two months to do it. The Division was formed from such diverse regiments as the Lincolns, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Tyneside Scottish, the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, 6th Duke of Wellingtons Regiment and the Kent Yeomanry to name but a few. They would face the fanatical 12 SS (Hitler Jugend) Panzer Division and the well equipped Panzer Lehr Division. The village of Audrieu was captured without a shot on June 14th and Cristot after a heavy artillery bocage on June 16. These two villages would be the stepping stones for a campaign that would take them through a number of fortified villages and farmhouses. On June 17th the 7th Duke of Wellingtons attacked Le Parc de Boislande, a thick wood surrounding a chateaux overlooking the Fontenay. This was taken but Hitler Jugend launched a counterattack the next day causing heavy casualties and forcing them back to their start lines. A supporting gunner regiment with 25pdrs, helped stop the German advance when it fired over open sights at 800 yards. During the 19-22 of June heavy storms destroyed a Mulberry harbour and prevented plans for a major offensive to break out of Normandy. Fighting in this period was light but for Operation Martlet, the rest of the 8th Armoured Division was added to the attack in support of the 24th Lancers, which had supported the original attack. The attack began on June 25 with the objective of taking Fontenay and the higher ground to the south. After bitter hand-to hand fighting the town was taken and the reserve battalion took Tessel Wood On June 26, the second stage of Martlet began with a triple pronged attack towards the village of Rauray and the storming of three fortified farmsteads. The tanks of 4/7th Dragoon Guards were forced to withdraw with heavy casualties, when they encountered Tiger and Panther tanks. However, a second attempt to take Rauray was launched the next day. Despite a heavy artillery barrage the supporting tanks met 88mm AT gunfire and suffered heavy casualties. B Company of the 11th Durham Light Infantry finally reached their objective with only 50 men left. The Hallams were now launched into the attack to take Juvingy, which was fanatically defended by the SS Panzer Grenadiers. However a German counter attack took back most of the area between Rauray and Brettevillete on June 30. The heavy causalities from fighting the fanatical Hitler Jugend took its toll on the British. The new Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion Duke of Wales reported to high command that although he knew that his report would end his military career. He had to report that discipline and moral was now so bad that he had to recommend the unit be withdrawn for retraining or broken up and placed with other units. He said that if this was not done the lives of his officers would continue to be needlessly lost trying to stop men running away during artillery attacks. (I found his full report to be very moving - Monty was apparently less than pleased with him). The Germans were also feeling the strain after the battle for Rauray on July 1 in which the Division made a massed attack. German armoured reinforcements from the 2nd SS and 9th SS Divisions ran into the tanks of 70 brigade in camouflaged positions and using new tungsten rounds, who destroyed 31 of 34 Panthers. In the three days of fighting the Hohen Staufen Division lost 1145 men, battle group Weider 636 and Hitler Jugend 1240. None of which could easily be replaced. The Polar Bears were amused to later here the German Forces radio broadcaster called "Lord Haw Haw" say that any troops caught with the Polar Bear flash would be shot without trial for massacring SS tank crews who had tried to surrender. A special "Butcher" Polar Bears Christmas Card was later produced During, the next few weeks only minor skirmishes were fought. On July 14 an attack was launched to take the Vendes and Barbee farms. The Division was withdrawn on July 21 to new positions South-East of Caen to join a new operation to breakout from the Caen sector. Design Notes * The whole action has been greatly scaled down. * I have including night attacks because replacements only happen after this event, even though each game represents a day of combat spread over 1 and a half months and few attacks were made at night. * I have included the Achilles and Archer in the game. Both were used in the later part of the Normandy campaign, although Battlefront's timeline has both vehicles appearing many months later. At the time they were both referred to as SP 17pdrs and not these names. Author: Mark Gallear mgallear@hotmail.com Based on the accounts, sketch map and photographs in: The Polar Bears, Monty's Left Flank. Patrick Delaforce (1995)

Just submitted a revised version of my Polars Bears operation to the Scenario Depot and Der Kessel. (No guarantee they will have it yet or ever). I have strengthened the Germans after I was told it was to easy for British. Many thanks to everybody who showed interest to my original posts on this site.

Eagle Eyed Kingfish spotted a typo it is 31 out of 34 Panthers knocked out!

I have done an operation that’s needs testing. Title: Polar Bears Type: Assault Operation: British must cross 80% of map (Historical) Date: June/July 1944 Location: Area around Fontenay Le Pesnel, Normandy, France Weather: Good Length: 10 battles of 20 turns each The operation will be much harder to play as the allies – you probably will not find the game much of challenge as the Germans against the AI. The 49th Infantry division, the Polar Bears in June 1944 was tasked with crossing a short stretch of Normandy Bocage countryside and it would take them two months to do it. The Division was formed from such diverse regiments as Lincolns, Royal Scots Fusiliers, Tyneside Scottish, the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and the Kent Yeomanry to name but a few. They would face the fanatical 12 SS (Hitler Jugend) Panzer Division and the well equipped Panzer Lehr Division. The village of Audrieu was captured without a shot on June 14th and Cristot after a heavy artillery bocage on June 16. These two villages would be the stepping stones for a campaign that would take them through a number of fortified villages and farmhouses. On June 17th the 7th Duke of Wellingtons attacked Le Parc de Boislande, a thick wood surrounding a chateaux overlooking the Fontenay. This was taken but Hitler Jugend launched a counterattack the next day causing heavy casualties and forcing them back to their start lines. From 19-22 June storms destroyed a Mulberry harbour and prevented plans for a major offensive to break out of Normandy. Fighting in this period was light but for Operation Martlet, the rest of the 8th Armoured Division was added to the attack in support of the 24th Lancers which had supported the original attack. The attack began on June 25 with the objective of taking Fontenay and the higher ground to the south. After bitter hand-to hand fighting the town was taken and the reserve battalion took Tessel Wood On June 26, the second stage of Martlet began with a triple pronged attack towards the village of Rauray and the storming of three fortified farmsteads. The tanks of 4/7th Dragoon Guards were forced to withdraw with heavy casualties, when they encountered Tiger and Panther tanks. With the failure of this attack, a second attempt to take Rauray was launched the next day. Despite a heavy artillery barrage the supporting tanks met 88mm AT gunfire and suffered heavy casualties. B Company of the 11th Durham Light Infantry finally reached their objective with only 50 men left. The Hallams were now launched into the attack to take Juvingy, which was fanatically defended by the SS Panzer Grenadiers. However a German contour attack back most of the area between Rauray and Brettevillete on June 30. The heavy causalities from fighting the fanatical Hitler Jugend took its toll and the new Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion Duke of Wales reported to the high command that although he knew that this report would end his military career, that discipline and moral was so bad that he had to recommend the unit be withdrawn or broken up. He said that if this was not done the lives of his officers would continue be needlessly lost trying to stop men running away during artillery fire. The Germans were also feeling the strain after the battle for Rauray on July 1 in which the Division made a massed attack. German armoured reinforcements from the 2nd SS and 9th SS Divisions ran into the tanks of 70 brigade in camouflaged positions who destroyed 31 of 24 Panthers. In the three days of fighting the Hohen Staufen Division lost 1145 men, battle group Weider 636 and Hitler Jugend 1240. None of which could easily be replaced. The Polar Bears were amused to later here the German Forces broadcaster called “Lord Haw Haw” broadcast the warning that any troops caught with the Polar Bear flash would be shot without trial for massacring SS tank crews who had tried to surrender. A special “Butcher” Polar Bears Christmas card was later produced During, the next few weeks only minor skirmishes were fought. On July 14 an attack was launched to take Vendes and Barbee farm and the Division was withdrawn on July 21 to new positions South-East of Caen to join a new operation to break-out from the Caen sector. Author: Mark Gallear mgallear@hotmail.com Based on the accounts, sketch map and photographs in: The Polar Bears, Monty's Left Flank. Patrick Delaforce (1995) Design Notes * The whole action has been greatly scaled down. * I have including night attacks because replacements only happen after this event, even though each game represents a day of combat spread over 1 and a half months and few attacks were made at night. * I have included the Achilles and Archer in the game. Both were used in the later part of the Normandy campaign, although Battlefront’s timeline has both vehicles appearing many months later. At the time they were both referred to as SP 17pdrs and not these names. This is not an easy operation - probably one of the hardest the British Army fought in WW2. (Ok, Market Garden was harder!) If you are interested in having a go at testing it, please contact me at: mark.gallear@ntlworld.com and I will email you the file. Many thanks. Mark Gallear I was not sure how to add snaps of the game - do they have to be on a website to insert them? :confused:

I am trying to create an operation and would like to know how Vehicle Recovery works exactly. It says chance of getting KO vehicles back after a few battles. Is it a % chance after 3 or 4 battles or does it occur in the morning after night has fallen? I want to do a long operation without any night battles as it is historical and night battles did not occur - So I need to know this! Has anybody this information. Also am I right in thinking that you mix reserves with reinfocements and do not have to set all three levels ie miss out battalion and go straight to regimental? Many thanks