meldorian

Hi! I have played CMBB several times in quickbattles against a friend. We both enjoyed CMBO very much, partly because that game was so well balanced. You could buy King Tigers, but for the same ammount of points, the allied player could get something equivalent, like two Challengers for example. But in CMBB, I have found that this no longer seems to be true. During certain periods, either the Russians or the Germans can buy tanks which are completly invulnerable to almost everything that the other side can field. In 1941, the KV tanks can only be destroyed by 88 mm Flak and infantery tank hunter teams with LOTS of luck (like in really, really, really, lucky). This lasts until the long 75 mm guns appear. Then, the game is playable for a short while, until the invulnerable German tanks appear. Against the StuGs and Pz IVs with 80 mm front armor it can be argued that the Russian player can get himself those long 57 mm guns or try to go for a flank shot. But there is absolutely nothing that will stop a Tiger. At least, I could not find it. Than comes the 85 mm gun in August '43 and everything is fine again. Until the Kingtiger is introduced in summer '44. How do you stop this freaking monster? Even the ISU-122 and IS-2 cannot kill it from the front, and those stupid Russian tanks retread even if they approach the King Tiger from the sides. In CMBO, if you had your Hellcats or Challengers or Cromwells flank a KT, the KT was good as dead, but not so in CMBB. Or you could get a ship-load of bazooka teams or piats, but the Russians don't have any decent anti-tank weapon that is not mounted on a tank (Anti-tank rifles *grrr*). The only tanks I found to be capable of matching KTs are the SU-100 due to its low cost and powerful gun, which makes them very effective at flanking maneuvers, and the IS-3, which is even more resilient to the King Tiger's fire than the King Tiger is his. Maybe this is realistic, I don't know, nor do I care. The super-tanks should cost more, at least during the periods when they are super-tanks. Now my question is: Can competitive, i.e. fair, play be achieved by activating Rarity? On the one hand, I would clearly say yes, as the tanks which are almost invincible in certain periods weren't very far-spread during these periods and therefore are more expensive to buy, for example the Tiger would cost more than 600 points in 1942. On the other hand, I thought that the point values have been chosen by the game desingers in order to reflect each weapon systems realtive strength. This would mean that my friend and I are simply to stupid to deal with those German tanks. So how do you get a fair game, Rarity on or off?

Ok, that answeres it. Still, the penetration is far better than that of the 85mm gun and almost as good as that of the 122mm gun. Then again, the Panther also is more expensive than even the IS-2. Do you think it is worth the cost?

Hi! I have been looking long and hard for a Russian tank able to stand up against the German cats. And now, I have found it. It is the captured Panther A! This little treasure not only lacks the occassional armor weaknesses of the Panther A the Germans can buy, it also is cheaper, at only 207 points compared to the 230+ points the German player has to pay. Is this some error?

Oh, there are a lot of threads about this. Thanks

Hi! How do you kill pillboxes? The only reliable way I and my friends with whom I use to play CM:BO have found is to assault the thing with infantry. Which costs lots of time and turns the Allied infantry into targets for the German artillery and dug in infantry. Whenever we assault the pillboxes with tanks, the Allied losses are inacceptably high, often the pillbox destroys 6 or 8 attackers. Using artillery has proven to be futile, either these stupid bunkers are invulnerable or they are never hit. So what do you do if you cannot avoid a pillbox?

My one grandfather was a truck driver first on the western front, than on the eastern front. Later in the war (I guess when there were no more trucks and no more fuel to drive the trucks still there), he became a medic. Got captured at some point, but he never ever talked about the war in his late years. Died nearly a decade ago at the age of 93. My other grandfather served as a bomber pilot. He was shot down in 1940 or '41 over the UK. He is still alive, but only entered a plane again some years ago when he no longer wanted to go to Spain by car. Both would probably be able to live without their war experiences, and both haver never talked much about them.

Hey, that delayed rocket strike sounds great! What do you think about the German rockets? I mean, they can shoot at least twice, but there seems to be a pause of a few minutes in between because the launchers need to be reloaded. Doesn't that pause render the German rockets near useless for pre-planing? I mean, after the first strike, any clever USSR player will get the heck out of the target zone with everything that can move. And as an attacker, you cannot exploit the gap because otherwise, the second strike is going to wipe out your infantry. If you are a German defender, it is even worse, as your enemy will have moved his troops forward or at least to the left or right after the first strike, so the second salvo is essantially a big wast of precious points. But the Soviet rockets are still great. [ October 09, 2002, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: meldorian ]

Hi! I have noticed that the Soviet rocket artillery will fire only once, and that the rockets scatter over a huge area. Therefore I thought about buying tons of these rockets and bombard the German set-up area in turn 1. Some of my units will usually see at least some of the German units, and FOs do not really do much to increase the accuracy of the rockets due to the scattering. My questions are, is this a good? And, if yes, what rockets should I choose? With the 80something mm ones, you can easily get off more than a thousand missiles in less than half a minute even as a defender in a 2000 pt QB, but it seems like these cannot even do credible damage to infantry out in the open. The big, fat 300+ mm rockets one the other hand are quite expensive, but they can easily immobilize tanks and blow up anything else. The 132 mm rockets look like a good compromise to me, but what do you think?

Ok, thank you, guys. One more question, though: Are autocannons still as effective as in CM:BO? I mean, I don't think I have ever played as a German without some 20 mm or 37 mm guns to ward off those Hellcats. The 37 mm I think was pretty effective against almost anything cheaper than 100 points, too. If these guns have remained unchanged, wouldn't the Russian 37 mm AAG be the ultimate defensive weapon in the early war?

Are you sure? I mean, I got pretty good results against the KT with Challengers in CM:BO. They only cost have as much as the KT, so I could face each of them with two 17-pounder guns. This usually resulted in dead KTs. Dead Challengers, too, but who cares if they take out the KTs on that hill from where they can overlook half the map? I have hoped for a similar effect with the SU-100, which has a darn powerful-sounding gun, too. Edit: Oh dear, I have just realized that I have posted in the worng forum. Sorry for that, folks. [ September 30, 2002, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: meldorian ]

Hi! I will get the game tomorow, but I just can't wait! Please, someone tell me: How does the SU-100 fare against KTs? I mean, in CD:BO, the Uebercats were really, really, annoying (once, I pounded one from the flanks with 2 Hellcats for almost 60 sec at less than 100 m distance, and the KT killed both Hellcats!!!), and I would love to pay back a friend of mine who just loves to use them. So, can that 100 mm gun punch through the KTs frontal armor? Please, I just need to know. Oh, and how about the 122 mm gun from the IS-tanks?