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The single most helpful book I found is "Armor Attacks" by John F. Antal. (Avoid the infantry book in the series, though).</font>

It is, but I let the computer pick for me and I just couldn't think of anything else to use them for. I'd killed two pumas already (with the Sherm) and wasn't expecting any more. Still, no excuses. I murdered them. Thanks for the numbers Gustav. I saw your post and only then do I see the relevant bit of manual. Oh well.

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated. Those links are great Silvio, they're just what I'm after. When I bought the game (through Amazon in the UK) I got an extra CD that's nearly full with mods. They're a real maze though, those sites are helping to work through to see what I have. Thanks very much.

...and after losing three by turn 7 with a fourth bogged in the mud I'm now going to go do something else.

In the games I'm playing right now as a full-game newbie (had the demo for a month or so before), if I need to remind myself about securing a good base of fire I always chant 'Chance Encounter' to myself. I read about the hunt forward and reverse straight away trick on this board and do that with my Vet Sherman on that hill with some infantry, usually the .50 cal, .30 cal, mortars and Company HQ there for good sighting. The Stugs don't get much of a chance to get too many shots away and with the infantry on the hill I can see enough of them to target them when the Sherm is out of sight. I think it only worked out the one time that I didn't lose any armour but it's usually the lone survivor that gets me when I do lose a tank. I should try alternating the hunt and reverse with two of the regulars and have them pop up in slightly different locations. I can keep the higher rate of fire of the Vet for using against the infantry when they run for the woods then. Hmm, gonna do that this afternoon. I've playe Chance Encounter thousands of times and I never get tired of it.

Hi guys and gals, I'm a newbie who's about four weeks of age and this game is already consuming my life. I love Operation Flashpoint but no one will do what *I* say. In CM they have no choice in it. That appeals to me. I've just finished playing a QB of about 1000pts combined assault with moderate hills and trees. The computer chose my equipment for me and actually got me some pretty useful things. Is there a database of what the capabilities of the various pieces of equipment are useful for? HE is obviously good against soft targets, etc but it would be handy to have something browseable that I could plan a force at leisure with. I'm a WWII geek only in terms of political personalities and broad history. I never really took much notice of the fighting or gear before. It was my first use of a Sherman 105 tonight. Man those things rule against infantry at range. The AI sent a platoon in a counter attack against the guys I had just used to assault a VL. The regular squads must have been close to panic from the assault itself, they'd been taking cover for a whole turn at least, and that one tank plus a MMG kept them safe and gave them time to recover. It also left a nice platoon shaped hole in the defensive line to exploit. I possibly did a gamey thing by treating a bazooka team as a penal battallion when I made them march in front of where I thought the enemy would be. This made the enemy sit up and reveal their locations which was my original intent. They got creamed of course. I made 'em act casual as though they weren't under orders; they just looked lost and were far from any other troops so I think I got away with it and won't be reported. I'm sure their massacre in front of my entire force made the others fight harder anyway. Anyhoo, my question is about these VLs. I'm a little unsure about them in relation to the scoring system. I understand that to dominate these locations I don't need to sit on top of them, I can do something similar to what I did tonight and use accurate long range weapons like the Sherman 105 to 'own' it without actually being there. The point about using the 'zooks this way was so I could be certain of doing just this. I wanted to get them involved for once and it was the only way I could think of in a purely offensive role. Having taken this VL and secured it though, the terrain dictated I needed to be close by but away from it slightly to do the same thing to the next one. I started to bring up the reserves and heavy weapons ready to push on to the next one. Now that I had this VL I had better terrain to put my tank in a good position for the next attack. When I eventually pushed on for the next objective after exchanging fire for a while the flag changed from the US flag to the question mark again. How, if at all, does this affect the scoring system? I gave up the ground, but it was pretty secure behind my lines. The enemy didn't take it from me, and couldn't without getting seriously hurt at little cost to me, but it wasn't registering as mine anymore. Does this have an effect or does the enemy have to seize it from me? Do you even get points at all for seizing VLs or is it a case of pure body count? Thanks for your answers. This is a great board BTW. In QBs I'm working on trying to create some situations you guys have described in previous posts so I can try all the great advice posted here. Evrything I'm trying to do at the moment is about isolating small parts of the enemy and being able to use massive firepower on them from the safest locations possible for my guys. I'm making mistakes and not always scouting ahead inw ays I think I should for the best security for my guys but hey, it's all part of the learning curve. I've got a feeling this game is going to be the best few quid I ever spent.

I'm both English and a newbie so know only a little about both these things, but isn't this like Antietam but with direct fire HE and 105mm arty?