BRO, JD

So... Not knowing the personalities, I have no idea if this is serious or not.

I'm deployed but am on my way home. Most gaming websites are blocked and I haven't been able to access battlefront.com for nine months. One site I just read hinted at a new SC in the works. Any truth to that?

Looking for just about anything. I'm fairly new to CMBN so I'm easy pickings. Just send me a PM -- hopefully I'll check every couple of days.

I'm still fairly new at the game and am having the biggest problem attacking with my infantry. The squads don't have the firepower to fight defending forces, especially MGs. So of course I need to use my own .30 cal MGs and 60mm mortars. But with the short sighting distances on the most of the battlefields, I have a hard time keeping the MGs and mortars close enough to use, but far enough back to stay safe. And I'm also struggling figuring out how to keep the mortars under command and control with the radios -- where should my PL be?

A bit better tonight -- after daydreaming about this scenario through training today. Went very slow and deliberate. A lot of massed firepower; not much fire and maneuver. I basically lined my two platoons up on the first bocage line, poured some fire on the Ostrfronttruppen, and then moved one platoon up through the farm. My Shermans sat in the back and took potshots when they could see, but they didn't provide much. I did take a lot of casualties -- most to artillery. And even though I killed all of the baddies in the farm and occupied it at the end (or at least had a unit inside the hedges there -- maybe that was the problem), the scenario didn't give me credit at the end for holding it.

Any suggestions? Or am I just in over my head? I think I'm using most of my capabilities (even popped some smoke). The AT guns keep knocking out my Shermans and I can't maneuver my infantry close enough to support without them getting pinned down and wiped out. And I did play the old CM games (BO, BB, and AK), so I've got some feel of the usual tactics.

Any chance of a demo being released soon?

Any possible release dates? I need to know when to let my World of Warcraft subscription lapse so I can concentrate on a real game!

It's early 2009. Any dates for a demo or release for those of us dying to try this one out?

What difficulty levels would you recommend to make things even in a PBEM game against a novice (about a half-dozen SC games) and a complete beginner?

Zukkov and Scarhead--Thanks, I think I'm tracking now. I'll give it a try when I get some free time, but since my wife is home from work now...

Do I also use BiltAid to create the first battle? Then just add those forces at the bottom to my Battle Group?

The BCR looks great--a great way to get a better feel for the whole campaign and to give you more of an incentive to preserve your forces instead of making last-ditch suicide attacks as the time runs out on a normal scenario. But I haven't gotten started yet. I keep thinking that I have a grasp of the paper rules, even though I'm using BiltAid. Still, every time I try to start a battle, I hit another stumbling block that gives me a headache and tells me it's time to go to bed instead. A few questions: 1) BiltAid rolled up an INFANTRY force mix battle for me. But if I enter that into the QB, I won't be allowed to purchase my organic 3 tanks, right? How do I handle that? 2) Latest battle was a 700-point Axis Assault. However, there weren't enough points included for me to buy my 3 organic tanks. Do I fight sans my Panzer II? 3) One time I rolled up a SECURITY division. No Aussklarung infantry company (isn't that the one I'm supposed to use?). What to do? 4) Hungarian, Romanian, Italian forces? Will I be able to keep my regular inf. company, three tanks, etc., if play a battle as those forces? How does that work? Thanks for any help. I've read the rules and these posts, but am probably overlooking a lot of this.

"Forgotten Soldier" is an unforgettable book, but many scholars out there don't believe that "Guy Sajer" was actually an Eastern Front veteran. This book is probably, at best, quasi-autobiographical. "When Titans Clashed" is by David Glantz, the current preeminent western historian of the Eastern Front.

Where is this FAQ? I can't seem to find it. Thanks!

First off, SC is a great game, but it can really drag on in the late stages once the game is already decided. This is especially true if you're playing as the Axis. What is the point of having to attack the USA? First off, it's very unrealistic and ahistorical. Had the USSR and UK fallen, the US and Germany would not have been able to continue an all-out war between the two. Neither would have had the abilities to project any sizable force across the Atlantic without some friendly nation as a base. Germany especially would not have been able to mass any type of force for many years to invade the USA across the Atlantic--even if she had all of the production of Europe behind her. Secondly, it's just plain dull and uninteresting in the game. The game is over once it's the Axis v. the USA. But still you have to spend quite a while building up a force, some CVs, and getting them across the Atlantic. Has this ever been addressed?

Thanks, folks--I'm sold. And my member # is in the 9000s because I've purchased both TacOps 3 and Strategic Command from BFC. I did download the CMBO demo and played it a few times, but never got around to purchasing it (for reasons that have nothing to do with the gameplay). Anyway, the bundle is now on my Christmas list.

Amen. Today is Veteran's Day in the United States--the day we commemorate all veterans. My grandfather, a WWII (76th ID) vet died this past year. But the church I attended yesterday has a large group of British and Australians as well, so Remembrance Sunday was celebrated there.

I've played the demo and really enjoy it. The graphics and gameplay are great--this is quite a merger of the tactical wargame (my preference) with a first-person view of the battlefield. But do I want to buy this game? What does the full $$ version of the game have that the demo doesn't? The reason I ask--I was a bit disappointed in the two scenarios, and I'm not sure if this game is worth my scarce dollars and even scarcer free time. The crossroads scenario--not much too it, imho. Bound your tanks forward, trying to find hull-down positions and knock out the field guns. The infantry weren't a real threat to. The battalion attack--heavy and cumbersome. I lost most of one company on the very first turn when some arty shells fell on it. The remainder of the company never moved farther than about 100 meters. My other two companies were able to move forward, take one objective, and dispute the second. Still, this scenario didn't feel that much different than many other wargames when you've got to just keep pushing, pushing, pushing your infantry--regroup--push--until finally one or two shot-up and demoralized squads are fighting it out with the same from the enemy on the objective. So--should I buy CMBB?

The USS Reuben James, a DD, was sunk in October 1941. As others have stated in this thread, war between Germany and the US was inevitable by late 1941. However, war in December 1941 was not destined by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Hitler was not bound by treaty to join Japan in the war against the US, but he--without consulting his ministers or military--declared war on the US just a couple of days after Pearl Harbor. Had Hitler not done this, it could have been months--or longer--before war between the US and Germany erupted. Imagine Hitler not declaring war--the US's military might would have been focused on Japan for a while. No Torch, no Sicily--WWII could have been considerably different. Had he consulted the military or considered it more fully, Hitler's first strike against the US (Operation Pakenschlag--the U-Boat offensive against the East Coast) could have been much costlier. Imagine if the U-Boats had been pre-positioned off of the US coast before Hitler declared war.... [ August 05, 2002, 03:46 AM: Message edited by: BRO, JD ]

Beginner and +0

I just gave the demo a whirl (basic settings, Fog of War) as the Allies. I just wanted to get a feel for the gameplay, so I didn't do anything special except defend and reinforce my units. I pumped all of my British MPPs into research and all of my French MPPs into reinforcing my infantry units. It took the Germans two weeks to capture the Low Countries, but they did not capture Paris until October. The AI was not aggressive at all. Has anyone else had a German AI dawdle like this, or has it been a formidable opponent in France?

What a great thread! Oh, the memories. I know that some folks have complained about the air war in Strategic Command. I'm working on a mod to try to fix it. You start out with groups of three biplanes attacking single bombers...