Agentorange

Thanks for all your responses chaps ( especially Harry and Dandelions fulsome comments )from what folks are saying it would seem that the pictures I've seen were almost certainly SS or some kind of security troops. Another thing to ask the guys at Battlefront to include in the next edition of CM..... I've always been kind of interested in the use of captured weapons etc. It's only when you start delving into it that you realise just how much stuff was actually used - like I said it'd be nice to see that reflected in future editions of the game somehow. Couple of interesting looking books there, alas I got rather carried away on the book front at the War and Peace show this year ( including a fine new book about operation Dragoon from Histoire et Collections )so may have to wait a couple of months.. EDIT Given that most coastal artillery was captured barrels etc, would the same hold true for bunker mg's etc. That is would you see Schwarzlose, MG 08's and similiar weapons deployed as part of defensive complexes, either in their own right or as part of the garrisons for the coastal artillery. Also were all coastal artillery pieces manned by the army ( I know the Kriegsmarine were responsible for some anti ship batteries, but what about beach defense batteries etc ) Would naval and luftwaffe units ( local defence for flak sites ? ) have been issued standard army small arms or their own equipment ? [ July 27, 2005, 04:06 PM: Message edited by: Agentorange ]

Had a great time as usual, but due to a logistical cockup ( left camera on table at home - doh ! )took no piccies. In addition spent far to much money on books ( also as usual ) mostly in the Barbarossa books tent but in a variety of other places as well. Managed to cater to my nerdish tendencies by finding a back issue of Tankograd gazette with an article about armoured trains in it

Admiral, Sorry to hear about the site ( though no need for you to apologise ) I've had many hours fine gaming courtesy of the SD, and your hard work is much appreciated. Lets hope you rise phoenix like from the ashes. ps Best of luck with the new job !

Not sure if this should be on the CMBO forum ( mods feel free to move )I was reading a couple of accounts of the Dragoon landings and the general impression I got was that German troops in that theatre were second line troops ie: lots of foreign troops ( Ukrainians etc ) with in some cases a rather ragbag assortment of equipment. For example the Czech ZB lmg's seem to have been fairly common, I've seen pictures of what appear to be old Austrian Schwarlose mmg's and even what looks like a Madsen lmg. Artillery also seems to have been hodge podge. Basically can someone point me in the direction of a good book/site that goes into the whole equipment issue in some depth, or perhaps offer some thoughts on the subject themselves ?

Thankyou ! What does that translate to Scheer ?

I appreciate this really belongs on the CMBO forum but things are very slooooooow over there. I have run a search with nada results. So..can anybody recommend any decent books or sources about the use of captured weapons by the German forces in France and the low countries. I've got the 3 or 4 little volumes by Schiffer about captured equipment but they tend to speak in the most general of terms, and I was wondering if people had any more suggestions either online or book form. I mention this mostly out of curiousity....the Germans had a lot of improvised SPG's in Normandy that never got into the game, and I've seen a lot of pictures of German troops in Dragoon using that Czech ZB lmg, old Schwarlose hmg's etc etc

Stop being lazy or cheap Ian Hogg's German artillery of world war two has several pictures

Ah, right, thanks guys !

I see references to it everywhere. Can someone tell me what it actually is ?

As someone else observed the black population of Great Britain was much lower then than now, but I'm not sure how many folks from the West Indies volunteered for service and what capacities they served in. EDIT: stopped being a lazy bugger and did a bit of searching and found this.... http://www.mgtrust.org/index.htm Which is all about the contribution made by the West Indies,Africa and India to Britains war effort in WWII. Suffice it to say they made a major contribution ranging from combat roles through to logistics.

Also useful against bunkers if you can get close enough.

...during the battle of Normandy and beyond ? Any suggestions folks ? [ October 06, 2004, 09:24 AM: Message edited by: Agentorange ]

Two things really: 1] Each vehicle or artillery piece actually has it's own model. That is no more sharing of models by vehicles that actually looked radically different to each other. British armoured cars in CMAK being my personal hate here. 2] a wider variety of building models ie terraces for towns, variety of farmhouses in different shapes, barns etc, wider variety of bridges etc, greater variety of bunkers with different weapons etc. Oh yes and tall walls and fences ( perhaps with some way to add a 'loopholes' function ? )

Cheers guys, I did choose clear as my weather option ( should have mentioned that ) I think as Kingfish said nipping over to the tech forum is going to be my best bet, so I shall do so forthwith.

can't seem to find what I'm after. Here's the thing, after playing for ages I've decided to have a go at some scenarios. Got my map underway: July 1944, daytime but..... all I get for the sky is a rather gloomy green colour, is this right ? I'm after blazing sunshine ! Is it meant to do this ( ie default ) or have I made a cods up somewhere ? Any suggestions gratefully received.

A fair comment, I think on it's own it probably wouldn't have stopped me buying....but combined with the other things that have irritated me then sadly the answer is yes it would have stopped me buying

I wasn't really aiming this at you - but the OTT response from the other chap aroused my ire, no need for SHOUTING, swearing or snidy comments as far as I could see, ok Tigers etc are icons of the war, no way could you leave them out. But most of these armoured cars were produced in much greater numbers than say: the PSW 233 heavy A/C and that seems to be in the game. Like I said it's not about eye candy or anything of that sort, but about being able to immerse myself in the game......and sadly at the moment things like this are irritating me sufficiently that it's actually spoiling the game. At the least there should have been some disclaimer on the box or the site setting out the situation. I know it sounds petty but on some level I do kind of feel I've been led to expect one thing and actually got another. Hardly compares to famine in Ethiopia or war in Iraq in the vast scheme of things to get worried about. But it was my money that I forked out to pay for the game.......

So why not include them in the patch ?, I appreciate things have to move on for the next game - indeed the next engine, but if the models were made would it really cut into the production time that much to include them in the game ?

I care, and it's not about eye candy it's about things looking like what they're actually meant to be. No I don't zoom around the battlefield looking at explosions - but I do zoom around thinking " ok infantry moving up on the flank, humbers scouting the shallow ford, AEC in the woods as back up " Why not just use Tigers for all German tanks if thats how you see it ? Answer: because a Pz III, PzIV, Panther and Tiger are all different beasts, and so are these armoured cars.....

mmmm...shame, to be honest I'd rather they'd excluded some and provided proper models for the others. For the record what other units have suffered this way ? I know about the 20mm oerlikon/20mm flak and the staghound AA/ morris c9 What is the maximum megs a CD can hold then ? Very , very disappointed to be honest - at the least the game should have been sold with the warning that all that spiel about huge numbers of different vehicles wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Whats the word from the management on this ?

I could go with that, it's just very frustrating !

Was playing around with the unit editor and noticed that HumberIV, StaghoundI and AEC marks I and II all appear to be exactly the same model, even down to the serial number ! Since this is a pretty major bug I've got to ask why wasn't it picked up in the playtest stage ?

Not so much a CMAK question as a more general one. In the CM series you get 3 or 4 basic bunker types: wooden with MG, concrete with MG etc etc. In real life how widespread was the use of other weapons in bunkers ? That is, did wooden bunkers have heavy weapons such as AT guns, 75mm infantry guns etc, likewise was there a wider variety of other heavy weapons in the concrete bunkers eg 50mm AT, captured weapons such as Czech or Italien 47mm AT. Finally are MG's in bunkers all of one type eg MG34,MG42 or do other types such as schwarlose ( sorry about spelling ) get a look in?

Tpatch, is there a US army historical centre or regimental history association. Possibly even some sort of veterans association that may be able to help you. Here in the UK regimental associations are quite common and often have a regimental history published. Maybe the same is true of the states ? Just a couple of ideas.