wes hays

Just for your info.... I was in a mortar platoon from 1990 - 1994. I was stationed in Ft. Ord CA then. We had 4 81mm as the Battalion Mortars. Each line Co had 4 60mm mortars. Each squad in our platoon had 5 members. Squad leader, driver (Humvee), gunner, asst gunner and ammo bearer. The way to fire a mortar is drop a round down the tube. This is true about the 4.2, the 81 and the 60. Only the 60 can be LOS fired, because the round doesn't have the range that the bigger ones do. I have to admit that seeing this post was pretty funny, but then I read the post that said most people hadn't ever seen one, much less one fired. If anyone does have more questions, please e-mail me. See my profile for that.

Mensch - that has to be the closest that the game will come to "real" bocage. I tried it on a scenario, and it works quite well. Not a lot of fun to go through.

Okay people! This is enough. When they made this game, it wasn't for fighting in the buildings. Yes, it's an important part, but you can't sim everything. Too big. If you really want to play a game that deals with in-building fighting, play a 1st person shooter like Rainbow Six. I cleared buildings in Panama. Not fun. These designers came out with probably the best damn game out there, for WW II stategy, period. Are there things I'd like to fix about it? Sure. Are these guys standing by their game and updating it alot. Oh yeah. On the bocage. I've never been there, never seen pictures, never talked to anyone who has. Is there a way to sim bocage properly? Sort of. Nothing is exactly the way it is supposed to be in a computer SIMULATION. We are simming what happened there. Don't worry. Be happy. It's a great game, guys.

Dorosh - It was Light Infantry, and when we set up our firing positions, we had our rifles within reach. In the game, I would think that the 60mm would have about the same firepower as the company commanders, since they only carried sidearms, consisting of 9mm pistols. We were more heavily armed than that, each of us carrying an M16. If in the game, the mortar crew didn't panic, they would be able to return fire. Of course, only veteran or crack troops would probably be able to respond like this.

Hey - I know this sounds ridiculous, but what is the cut-off time? I am working (slowly) on a Winter Lend-lease Sherman. If the time is right around the corner, I'll just keep plugging along, and say "forget it".

Boo - I'm actually going through the scenarios in alphabetic order, but with a twist. I try both sides, and see if I can do better than the AI. I just started, because I played a lot of QB's so I'm on Paris, and as the Allies. I will agree that you are all over the map, but if you coordinate everything, you can kill the Panzers, and herd their infantry with the Shermans into a killing zone in the garden. It's great, watching them run around panicked. As the Germans, I guess its pretty much a hold on till the end. The TD's and Sherm's won't take the abuse that the Panthers will, so hide and pick them off. The AI sat right out in the open. I can't wait to see how it goes. I must say, this is probably the best game I have ever played. I must get the wife and kids out of the house more often, so I do nothing for an entire day but CMBB until my eyes are red and watering.

I was in a 81mm mortar platoon, and we were issued rifles. Our 60mm mortar squads in the line units were issued side arms. Of course, this is modern army, but it still might be useful (or useless).

I am trying to figure out if there is a way to make a scenario or operation that would have a beginning of destroying a bridge, and then trying to get back to your front lines. I'm thinking along the lines of a Ranger platoon, being dropped in, hitting the objective, and racing to get out, with the Germans crawling all over the place looking for you. The Rangers would try to avoid contact, but get back to their lines. They could have arty available and maybe Tac air, but thats it for support and resupply. What do you think?

Well I did have to wait 2 months for it to show up, and not get out bid on it, but it's out there. You just have to be patient. I happened to hit the Christmas rush, when people are dumping a lot of stuff. I won't even tell you what it cost me. I think the idea of watching the whole battle would be quite interesting.

I just got the game, (on Ebay for mmmuuuccchhh less than the website sells it for) and I know I should feel awful about it, but hey, a bargain is a bargain. Anyway, I have a question. Is there anything brewing about being able to view the entire battle after it's all done? Besides being an ex-Infantry soldier in the Army, I have a huge interest in car racing on-line. Most racing games you can watch the entire race after running it. Some of the races I've been involved in took up to 45 minutes to 1 hour to race, and that is constant work on the video card. Just thought I would throw that out there. t's been something I've been wondering since I downloaded the demo. Thanks for any feedback.