Simon Elwen

Evening all , I've just got in from having a top night out , a beeutiful sirloin washed down with a couple of bottles of Corbieres , is there anything to drink around here ? Hello Liege , what are you doing in the cellar with Nestor ? Hello Ladies

This morning I had Marmite and Vegemite on toast for Breakfast . It was yummy .

Its probably to fit in with their printing and selling the December issue in November .

From Nov issue , Page 45 Latest On written by Tim Stone . The Demo is in the CD with the Magazine too . "There are those within the games industry who will tell you that bedroom coding is dead, and that its impossible to creats a a successful game without a huge team and a vast budget, that the originality that you and I crave is not financially viable. Do not listen to these people . Their minds are closed . Theier souls are lost Introversion software , the 3 man outfit behind Uplink , are the ultimate walking talking proof that samll is both beautiful and bountiful, In 9 months they turned a £600 investment into over £100 000 worth of sales . The profits generated byanother small scale , self published marvel , Combat Mission : Beyond Overlord, have never been disclosed but must be proportionally similar . A core staff of 4 at Big Time Software, spent 2 1/2 years and $125 000 developing their breathtakingly ambitous 3D wargame . 2 Years on from that release , the same squad that was told bt several publishers that they would "never make it" are rightfully lauded as the masters of the genre and are poised to release a sequel. The sequel transports the hybrid turn -based and real-time stategy mechanics, the sophisticated but simple command and control system, the astute AI and the unrivalled realism east to the boggy birch forests of byelorussia , the rolling rys fields of the Ukraine , and the snow softened ruins of Stalingrad . On the unit side , there's over 300 diferent types of tanks and vehicles and more the 600 types of infantry. In addition to this extraordinary unit roster is a wealth of new features that are sure to delight CMBO veterans . The order menu has been expanded to include shoot and scoot , hull down and human wave . Armour is now organised into platoons and tank gunners won't automatically seek new targets after delivering a KO shot but will continue to fire until they get a visual confirmation of the kill in thshape of a brew up or the panicky crew bail out . Big Time Software make no secret of their functionality first approach to visuals but improvements in this area are not insubstantial, From details like the puffs of dirt kicked up by wayward small arms fire, and the showers of sparks from ricocheting AP rounds , to the uniersal hi res textures and polygon-rich vehicles , CMBO's distinctly mutton flavoured £D engine does a passable impersonisation of a spring lamb . The first Panzers should cross the border just before Christmas . When they do we wil be riding shotgun, guaranteeing you the most reliable and riveting reports of the fighting to be found anywhere." 3 screen shots as well as a short note on the cover arc command .The at a glance bit PUB: CDV Developer :BTS Release Date : December (thats gotta be wrong) All in all a positive review .

That only works if your name is Simon ......like me

Andreas usual 6.30 thing , I'll be there .

Can one of you get me the US version of CMBB and mail it over , its looking like the UK release date has slipped back to the 11th of Oct now . If someone can , email me .

Yes good idea , do us all a favour .

Evening all . After votes taken and a recount as well when Heather reminded me thet her vote counts double because she's a lady and partner to a squire of the pool , myself . The result now stands as follows . J Russell 0 Ridgeback 0 Retreiver 0 Poodle -2 Heather said "NO WAY" sorry A J Sheep 0 Donkey 1/2 A creditable 2nd place Wolf 0 Wee Spaniel 0 Heather was very taken with the photo , an honourable mention 1 Whippet 0 2 Whippets 3 The Winner Others 0 Its has also been decided that they will come from a rescue as well . The idea of having only 1 dog fell away when we realised that with us both being at work during the day it would be too cruel to leave the poor hound alone , so a pair its going to be . Now comes the really tough bit What shall they be named ? Any suggestions anyone .

This is the only scenario I've tried so far since i'm doing Citadel as a blind pbem . So here are my tactics and thoughts as playing the Germans . Given the strength of the T34's , I decided to concentrate on stripping the infantry support away before even attempting to take on the tanks . My method was as follows . The HMG's set on arcs with 2 overlapping to cover arcs out to 300-350m , as far as the small trees in the centre of the map . The LMG armed split squads again given arcs out to around 100-150m , I made these arcs fairly narrow and short ranged to conserve ammo . The other split squads were held about 20m back to give really short range fire if needed , and maybe assault a tank if one came near enough . A platoon was assigned to each flag basically , the spotters were placed in the thin trees on the right . The 50mm mortars with the PAKS in the central wood with the CO . Tank hunter teams were hidden in the brush about 50-60 m in front of the main positions , I gave them 25m Armour arcs over 180 degrees . The battle basically went as I expected , the russian infantry decided to concentrate on my centre and right flags . By about turn 8 the HMG's were hammering the infantry and the attack was getting quite disorganised . Quite a lot of troops were now in the central light trees so I unleashed the arty on them , the 75's in the middle and the mortars to the rear of the trees to hasten the rout . By turn 12 a lot of the russian infantry was running away , from then on the battle was fairly easy . With the infantry stripped away all I needed to do was wait for the the T34's to advance , which they duly did . They spotted one of the HMG's and slowly eliminated it . The problem was that the PAKs never really had a favourable target almost until the end of the game , when on Turn 24 they spotted the split squads covering the right hand flag and turned towards them to fire . One moved within range of one of the tank hunter squads too. The tank hunter squad threw their PWF's and the tank blew up (great graphics there) , they got gunned down quite quickly afterwards though . I decided to cocentrate the fire of the PAKs on one tank and it was junked in about 45 secs an the crew bailed , 1 PAK was killed then and the other fired at another T34 until it retreated away . That PAK was killed the next turn , but the damage was done and the other T34's kept out of the way . The end came on turn 29 by which the HMG's had run out of ammo and the LMG squads were seriously low , It was enough though to not let a single russian squad get anywhere nearer then 80m to any of the flags . I've played it again and didn't even fire at the T34's and actually got a better win points wise by not losing the PAK's to enemy fire and preserving them .

A Shepherd needs a sheepdog dosen't he As for battles , here's the list in full and in order too ! Noba QB ? score Lars Jabo 30-70 A J Rees am rheine 70-30 Boo QB 89-11 Lars QB 70-30 Kurt QB 70-30 Warren in progress Harv QB 48-42 Harv QB 71-29 A J Royals 70-30 HarvQB 18-72 Lars in progress Harv QB 84-16 Kurt in progress Noba Port Lagerlout in progress A J Chaos in progress Harv Citadel in progress Err so thats 11 completed and 6 in progress , Hmm why do you ask ?

Heather thinks a Jack Russell would be nice , I'm in favour of a Whippet .

Evening all , What a **** week I've just had dealing with the great unwashed denizens of saarf londaan and I now see about a million zillion posts I won't waste my time reading . To make it easy for all of you to understand I will put things in the form of an Oscar ceremony . Best Patient : The man who said Thank you Doctor Worst Patient : The one that said F*** O** after having his miserable life saved , the ungreatful git . I don't get how he managed both statments in one sentence though . Best Nurse : Maria for getting me a Bacon sandwich at 4 am Worst Nurse : Sally for making Maria get Bacon sandwiches at 4 am Most Fun : Having a massive water fight Most Boring : tidying up after a water fight Best Laugh : Seeing on the X Ray where the patient had 'hidden' their money Most Yukky Bit : Seeing the surgeon retrieve the cash , that could be a best laugh too ..... So that covers my week more or less , Thanks to those that waited for their turns for being so patient . Anyway there are far more important issues at stake today , should we get a dog ? The Lady of the house Heather tells me we need one , (with ears only) Yes or No , if Yes , what breed ? if you have a preference let me know . I think I'm up to date with turns now , if not , well.... let me know .

Evening Comrades , I see we have moved in alright into our new home . A note or too . The demo sits in the hard drive all smug , not knowing its to be played too death over the next 3 weeks hehe . Some Updates , The old game we used to play Lars is beating me and I don't know why , I do know how but not why . Everybody else , send a turn if you can be bothered . The new game we all play now Harv will attempt to break the defences around Kursk , the setup is winging its way too him right now . Its double blind , so should be intresting . Time for a Vodka methinks .

Oh dear a double post thing [ August 24, 2002, 08:29 PM: Message edited by: Simon Elwen ]

Dear YK2 and Persephone rest assured that Mace's sheep are colour fast and won't fade , I'm going to be too busy dipping the whole flock to deal with Hiram's manly needs , he'll have to see to those himself . Any wine or beer left ?

You rang , my Liege , anything to do with pink sheep by any chance ?

Good Evening to you all my friends , I do hope one and all are well and happy . Tonight I bring some updates Harv Its finished here , I meted out death and destruction on his men , 84-16 , a noble defeat to record on Lorak's scrolls . Harv is a worthy opponent who will not give in until the global morale says so I doff my cap to you . A J Its early chaos here , there are only a few turns left , but its an operation so we have yet to see what happens next . Noba Its still early days at the Port , he kills my guns , I kills his tanks , this going to run . Lars In contrast to the above we are both killing buildings as fast as possible , they are full of people though . Lurk Well nothing is actually happening here because I'm waitng for a turn . The Capt yep thats him , He has not gone away and neither will his troops , I continue to gently persuade them to leave the battlefield . Boo I see you are spending time posting so that means you should have time to send the setup you promised . If you still have too many games on the go I'll wait and bid my time . Some other news . On the arrival of the demo I will be playing against Harv in one of the scenarios , it will be a double blind thing . Who will be who is undecided , I challenge all to the same scenario with the same side , even beta testers (you know who you are) if you willing to give up on one of the demo games in a way , for a while , let me know .

Ok here's the answer , thanks to my "everything you wanted to know about german tanks" book Sd Kfz 222 , 989 produced . Armament 1 x 2cm KwK 30 or KwK 38 Ammo 180 , and 1 x 7.92 MG34 Ammo 1050 Armour 8mm @ 35degrees or so all round . In May 1942 front hull armour increased to 30mm Sd Kfz 221 , 339 produced . Armament 1 x 7.92 MG34 Ammo 1050 Armour 8mm @ 35 degrees or so all round . During 1942 the 2.8 sPzB41 was mounted into a modified turret . Ammo ? , How many modified ?

Double post , just because I can [ August 17, 2002, 05:19 AM: Message edited by: Simon Elwen ]

Hello Squire Simon. Sheep been giving you any trouble? Mace</font>

Hello my liege .

Hmm must be a quiz question , I give you the Montgolfier brothers , they're flying Frenchmen

Afternon Everybody , I do hope one and all are as happy as I am . Sorry to hear you didn't get either the job or the poolboy Roxy . I am amused to see that Buzzsaw got Terry though . I think they will make a lovely couple hehe . Some updatery today A J Hmm its chaos out there . Noba Its a bit foggy here . Everybody else please send me your turns thanks . Goodness me look at the time , its time to go to the pub byeee .

Evening all , missed a couple of days , working and stuff . Lars you were lucky out there . I once spent an hour floating in the Southern Ocean after my hobie cat sunk after hitting a submerged log . Boy was I glad too see the rescue boat arrive . Roxy I hope you get the job , will you get me a new power shower please .