Mark Gallear

Yes, they are Churchills but if it is tank fear, I still think it is a bug. I think a light flak and larger gun of the type you describe were originally doing it, shifted a few things around and the light flak was doing it. Despite take a section of infantry out of the house, some infantry - rather than two lots are still running out. (It would be much more sensible for them to remain hidden, as for knowing how thick the Churchill armour is - they wouldn't as I strongly suspect this was there first action after El Alaimein in North Africa and it would be a totally unkown type to all but the most clued up intelligence officer. The Germans had examined the ones at Deippe and knew what could pentrate them and where!) I had one Flak gun around the back of the farm pointed backwards to the enemy, he AI does not seem to like this - although it is an historical location for this gun. When I first noticed it they had done this before the Churchills were in sight of them! Have a go yourself, if it will do it for you, it will happen before turn 3. My playtester is doing well against the Germans, after my first experience I toned the German defenders down, may put them back up a bit. He seems to be doing as well as the British did historically if not possibly better! (That is what I have gone for in this scenario rather than for an equal chance for both sides!) Like some feed back on what other people experience is with it !

I have put up "Steamroller Farm" as a test scenario at the bottom of Mod Corner. (I am not going to send it to the Scenario Depot until its fully tested.) I am selling it as test yourself (and the game) against history. As the briefs include an account of the battle from the British tankers point of view. I intend it to be played single-player as the British with the set-ups on Scenario default. The map is historical from a sketch map made by one of the combatants, the forces are historical, and in the positions the British encountered them. I have honestly done my best to fix it so the events unfold historically. Still got some silly things going on - just maybe I have found a few more bugs :eek: in CMAK. Sorry, for referring to he with the very low number as "just Michael."

No they are guaranted to have one AT weapon which could be just a single Molotov Cocktail in CMBB. Don't think Battlefront know about the British sticky bomb. So far they have all been seem to have SMG which for two men at close range is a lot of firepower but the British got the Sten late. Do the British have tank hunters in the game. I honestly have not looked or missed them?

My tester has emailed me and two guns are still moving (I removed the cover they were apparently moving towards). He has not mentioned the infantry. His experience with knocking the guns out compared to the tank casualties is very historical! (However I changed one gun to a "field gun" but then historical accounts of weapon types can be faulty.) For the record how much infantry are you allowed in two-storey light building - I would have thought I was within limits from previous experience with CMBO and CMBB. There are other flags but some distance away and also protected - the uns did not appear to be moving them in their direction. I don't understand the diffrent definitions of AI you have given. Got a human player for the British side, germans are on default setup - my historical setup and AI is contolling them! Should be releasing it soon so you can also see how well the game and yourselves do against "history". Has a full breifing of what happened in the real battle . [ January 15, 2004, 02:10 PM: Message edited by: Mark Gallear ]

Got to apologize about the account after writing it up and understanding it better - the 88mm guns were clearly knocked out by Besa fire (one at 30 yards, another at some considerable distance of hundreds of yards), although an 88mm was destroyed with AP rounds so it could not be used again, as the British tanks withdrew . Yes, there was a flag on the house but the guns and infantry were moving away from it! It is interesting that another player believes that AT-guns are too easy to knock out. Was that with tanks that fired HE? [ January 15, 2004, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: Mark Gallear ]

(Oh - what a big response - just Michael !) No the AT guns were moving in the open before been fired on - they had been given orders to hide whilst dug-in, indeed men given orders to hide in the house had run out into the open. It is Tunisia - so wide-open spaces - only rocks and scrub. (Tried removing some rocks near the house - to see if that will help. But annoying as I cannot put cover for the enemy to creep up on the house!) On the AP - as the large majority of British tanks fired only AP - firing AP at AT guns will now become a common event and is an important issue for CMAK to get right. Soon as I have designed it as well as I can within the historical framework, I will issue it with a piece at the end of the briefing - marked spolier as to what really happened in the real battle and everybody can play the scenario - then read the spoliler and then decide for themselves if the engine is working well.

It does look very nice :cool:

Just been designing a little scenario based on a real battle and have noticed some stark differences between CMAK and CMBB and what happened in real life. I have a fortified farmhouse with guns of various types placed round it and a squadron of Churchill’s mostly just firing AP but some with HE capability (Churchill 1s) coming into view. The first thing that struck me is that guns on turn 1 didn't like where I had placed them - in the open but dug in and decided to move. The result of this was the firefight started with half the guns moving in the open. Did the crew abandoned their guns and leg it. No, they calmly set them up and set about the Churchills. Unlike CMBB, most of the guns absorbed an awful lot of damage and did not break. I got the most powerful gun with the Churchill 1s but the others calmly fired back despite now been totally in the open my tank and infantry fire had little effect. My Churchill Is were targeted first and then I was left with just solid AP and the MGs. The firefight started much further away then historically happened. Historically a number of Churchills were immediately knocked out but the rest using solid AP had little trouble knocking these guns out according to eyewitness accounts - including 88mm guns, which I failed to encounter as I was stuck in place by these initial defenders! I don't mind AT gun survivability going up a notch but it now seems extremely difficult to knock them out. With infantry or solid shot fire almost impossible - something the commonwealth will be doing a lot of in this game! Also the AI pushing AT guns about in a defence game seems silly beyond belief. What gives with these new improvements :eek: !

Not so mad real tricks which could be included. The British employed a Magician to do camoflage for them - he did dummy tanks and guns which were put out in the desert and the Germans put real troops to oppose them! He also camoflaged tanks as trucks as the Germans were ambushing British supply columns - that one came as a nasty surprise. (This could be part of the engine - British tanks look like those grey trucks until they open fire! :cool: )

Look through my "suggestions" for corrections in that thread and then baring in mind that your favourite scenario should have been done with Churchill IIIs rather than Churchill IVs (which are very pretty) put your hand on your heart and tell me that it was not thrown together .

T-he-he I know just how you feel :eek: ! I think you better check out Mod Corner .

I have already expressed my disgust on a number of occasions and tried to point out where improvements could be made to the British and Commonwealth and the aircraft on the faults thread mainly on page 3 and 6. Don't know if anybody will take any notice. My opinion of the game is much the same as when I installed it has very nice 3d models but the rest of it appears thrown together. I'm not so certain the German oobs are that good -it just that nobody has gone through and checked. The German list starts long after Rommel started beating the British up. I noticed that 50mm AT guns appeared long before they became a sudden and nasty surprise for the British. I think its just that there are so many obvious howlers in the allied lists that they have not jumped out bitten me yet. Frankly it will take a lot of effort to get to the standard of CMBB - I hope Battlefront make that effort.

Thought I would give this thread a bump. I have gone as far as I can go with the British list on page 3 on correct introduction dates and organizations. Unless you know different? On page 6 I have gone as far as I can go with correct dates and planes types for Britain, allies, but also some USA and German corrections. I know the Italian airforce is wrong but don't have the info to correct it .

Oh dear you should have read the manual . If you preplot before turn 1 - it fires the guns full load out of ammo at that spot. You cannot adjust or stop the barrage. (You can also delay it to start on turn 1, 2, etc.)

Ok, got confussed over theatres. "Also in Sicily were the Churchills of the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade (the Ontario Regiment; Three Rivers Regiment; and Calgary Regiment)." Tank Battles in Miniature 4 A Wargamer's guide to the Mediterranean Campaign 1943-1945 Donald Featherstone 1977 (He was in 51st Royal Tank Regiment in Italy and seems to know what he is on about.)

My understanding is that all the Churchills at Dieppe were Churchill Is. On the Churchill II - they ran out of 3" Howitzer so some Churchill Is were made with Besa in the hull rather than the 3". These were termed Churchill II. Far as I am aware, none were ever used in combat. They were probably all later converted to Churchill III standard. The Churchill I was used as a CS tank of two per squadron to give HE support and termed Churchill I CS in this role in the late Desert war and Italy. Churchill II CS has the 2pdr in the hull and the 3" in the turret. This would make it more useful as a CS tank as the gun delivering the HE has got a wider arc and can fire it from hull down. I would prefer my CS tanks in this form but all the Italian CS Churchills are described as Churchill I CS. I have come across the description but no battle account so as far as I know none were actually used in this form. Unless of course somebody knows of an Italian Battle account with a description of the 3” in the turret? Almost definitive . [ January 12, 2004, 05:36 AM: Message edited by: Mark Gallear ]

No the 79th served in NW Europe, 2 RTR was in 1945 converted to this role and got the specialist Churchill Crocs, Wasps and Kangaroos. I still think there is a possibility that Churchills were used by Canadian troops on Sicily. I have a book that says they did. [ January 12, 2004, 05:34 AM: Message edited by: Mark Gallear ]

Yes, it does look like the helmet worn by Motorcycle troops in the Recce corps, although that has a large chin strap. One for Michael to complain about in his thread. Andrew seems to have made the standard tin-pot look a lot less pointy.

"Your papers are not in order" then!

There are a number of such sites where you can find opponents The Rugged Defence ladder may have a specific CMAK ladder it has them for CMBO and CMAK. (I have not looked myself yet! - http://www.rugged-defense.nl/cm/cm.htm You can also go to Mod Corner and from there go to a link for the CM Webring which will include all these sites.

Go for an Op - ends the ammo problem - ends people packing in half way through and being put off by 120 turns. Anyway you will only know how long it should last after you have playtested it. As an Op, 120 turns at 30 each is 4 games - a small to medium sized Op. (Although you may find 20 turns per game works fine!) Just have decided oif you are going to do it one one visible map with objective flags or a rolling map where the objective is to get to fight your way to the other side. Ops are harder to design than scenarios lots more variables but is got to be better than a 120 turn scenario. (If you do it as op you are going to have to redo the map you cannot convert it - scream no not again here :eek: !)

Very, very nice as usual. Forget the Mk of the helmet how did you get rid of the pointy heads or dont Canadians have them for some reason?

I would like to request that the British North African list should start in June not November. There was continous combat from this date. (I will add equipment introduction dates to the page 3 list.) (The only problem with this is that the silly Rolls Royce ACs last longer!) I would also request moving back the arrival of the Germans in July 1941 :eek: to maybe March 1941 (Rommels first operation?). (Luftwaffe arrives in January 1941.) I will go with what the German grogs think.

I would not have thought Wasps were part of the standard British Battalion and I suspect would have been lumped together in one specialist unit. Anyway as I have pointed out they appear in British Battalion long before the correct date for them appearing separately in he QB list. Fairly certain the limited numbers would have limited them to British list only? Edited in Answer to Michael Dorosh - do not want to appear arrogant but I found a date of February 1945 for the introduction of the Wasp to this theatre this matches the QB date. However, the Battalion formation has them before this date, which must be wrong. The British army was not that keen on flamethrowers anyway and the number delivered from memory seemed limited - I will check again I was looking only for the date not numbers or unit. There was more than one type of Wasp - the original British version had the tanks inside - a Canadian innovation was to have them outside and on the rear, so that the vehicle could be used as a normal Uni Carrier. The British Army later adopted this design. (To confuse the issue there was an earlier Uni Carrier flamethrower made in some numbers [ie thousands] but as far as I am aware never used in combat.) Not sure which type was delivered to the British Army in Italy - my guess as Italy was a backwater, the original version now obsolete in NW Europe. (The British Army does not bin anything if it can help it.) Could be wrong and will check but never ever seen Wasps represented in a standard British Army Battalion structure before I saw the CMAK version. As for what went on in the Canadian Army - no idea, it is possible. You tell me. Edited again with additional Information. In "Churchill's Desert Rats" Patrick Delaforce - in April 1945 2 RTR was equipped with Churchill AVRE and Wasps - to form an Italian unit with similiar capabilities to NW Europe's 79th Armoured Division Hobart’s Funnies. This does not fit in with the idea that they were farmed out to Infantry Battalions. They would have provided units to other formations as needed to deal with bunkers etc. Out of interest - 7th Armoured Brigade also a troop orgainization of a 17pdr and two 76mm Shermans to deal with the 40 Tigers and 35 Panthers that Kesselring had in the area. Not seen this structure before. 105mm Shermans were used only in Italy by the British and would have been orgaized as the CS section of 2 tanks per squadron. (Which is what you described at the Regimental level - the game is wrong on this issue.) I has not seen evidence that other Empire (Commonwealth) units had them as well - so that is new. [ January 10, 2004, 06:01 AM: Message edited by: Mark Gallear ]

I'm not sure if you are sking about US or British/Empire formations. For the latter Dorosh is partly right. In the Desert War it was normal for tanks and infantry to fight their own seprate engagementts from each other. In Italy where the terrain was close, just a few tanks would support a large infantry formation. British Squadrons had the number of troops, in them educed at the beggining of the war. The official 4 tank troop was unofficially cut to a three tank troop. From late 1944 the old system and larger size numbers was restored. The Squadron HQ would normaly be 1 or 2 tanks plus 2 CS tanks that fired Smoke/He as the 2pdr/6pdr was not supplied with HE rounds. As the Sherman was these are normally just normal Shermans although some units in Italy had the 105mm version. At second Alemain -the Shermans first use by the British a troop had just three Shermans. Late in 1944 one of them was replaced by a Firefly or 76mm Sherman. This would be about the time the troop was increased to 4. I suggest for these you buy a "Platoon" of 3 or 4 Shermans, delete one off and add a Firefly or 76mm Sherman. (In North western Europe some guards units fielded all Firefly Squadrons by 1945 but I don't think this happened in Italy, although Rune has indicated that the South African Army fielded all 76mm Sherman troops. This was not a popular tank with the British Army as its HE round was less efective than the 75, an important factor in Italy and its ability to deal with the odd German Panther was much less capable than the Firefly.) If you are doing an historical scenario doing an internet search, you may find some info about a battle with an unconventional formation or tactics.