Brent Pollock
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Posts posted by Brent Pollock
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Last week I made a CMBB version of the ASL scenario T2 - The Puma Prowls. I just uploaded an updated version to the SD II. For any of you that have the Dec 17 version, the update dropped the contours to Gentle and boosted the ford/bridge height by one to iron out some slope/bridge deck issues.
It's size = Tiny (one AFV platoon each).
http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/sc...k.html?sku=974
Here's the Overall Briefing:
TITLE: ASL T2 - THE PUMA PROWLS
TYPE: Meeting Engagement, Recce Armour
DATE: June 28, 1944
LOCATION: Lepel, Russia
REGION: Central
TIME: Mid Day
WEATHER: Clear
GROUND: Damp
TEMP.: Warm
WIND: Still
TURNS: 20+
HISTORICAL: Yes
AUTHOR: Brent Pollock (e-mail: b3b@telusplanet.net)
MAP CREDIT: my interpretation of ASL boards 4 & 22
BEST PLAYED AS: Two Player only
BACKGROUND: During the destruction of Army Group Center the German front became pierced at many points. As the battlefield situation became more fluid, reliable information was of crucial importance to both sides. In the midst of the fighting an unusual clash occured on the outskirts of Lepel-unusual in that both the recon forces were commanded by seasoned, aggressive leaders.
[verbatim ASL scenario card introduction]
Playtesters:
None - I just hammered it out and posted it because there is little to playtest.
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Last week I made a CMBB version of the ASL scenario T2 - The Puma Prowls. I just uploaded an updated version to the SD II. For any of you that have the Dec 17 version, the update dropped the contours to Gentle and boosted the ford/bridge height by one to iron out some slope/bridge deck issues.
It's size = Tiny (one AFV platoon each).
http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/scenario_details_link.html?sku=974
Here's the Overall Briefing:
TITLE: ASL T2 - THE PUMA PROWLS
TYPE: Meeting Engagement, Recce Armour
DATE: June 28, 1944
LOCATION: Lepel, Russia
REGION: Central
TIME: Mid Day
WEATHER: Clear
GROUND: Damp
TEMP.: Warm
WIND: Still
TURNS: 20+
HISTORICAL: Yes
AUTHOR: Brent Pollock (e-mail: b3b@telusplanet.net)
MAP CREDIT: my interpretation of ASL boards 4 & 22
BEST PLAYED AS: Two Player only
BACKGROUND: During the destruction of Army Group Center the German front became pierced at many points. As the battlefield situation became more fluid, reliable information was of crucial importance to both sides. In the midst of the fighting an unusual clash occured on the outskirts of Lepel-unusual in that both the recon forces were commanded by seasoned, aggressive leaders.
[verbatim ASL scenario card introduction]
Playtesters:
None - I just hammered it out and posted it because there is little to playtest.
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All I can say for the moment is, 'Wow!'. Thanks - it'll take me a while to digest all of this.
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So far the only hard vehicle radio reference I've found has been Berndt's 1994 American Tanks of World War II (ISBN 0-87938-930-3).
This one does not list radios for the halftracks, but does have the following snippet suggesting that radios were not normal kit in the halftracks:
If radios were carried, seats were usually displaced, or if the vehicles were used as machine gun squad carriers, fewer crew were carried.
It does list the AA halftracks as being radio equipped, but doesn't mention the type.
For the other classes of vehicles, it is very specific:
M8 & M20 AC: SCR 506, 508, 510, 608 or 610
M3A1 Scout Car: SCR 506, 508, 510
M3/M5 Light Tanks: SCR 508
M24 Light Tank: SCR 508, 528, 538
M18/M39 TD: SCR610 or British #19 set
M4 Sherman: SCR 506, 508, 528, 538
From what I can see from sites like this:
http://hereford.ampr.org/millist/m23.html
...the four radios listed for the Sherman are all two-way sets, so the Tanks for the Memories comment is a tad odd? Granted, one book does not a solid case make, but still...
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Thanks to the both of you for the prompt replies.
I'd also seen that snippet in TANKS FOR THE MEMORIES a couple of days ago as part of the research.
The field manuals are something I've only been able to stumble across haphazardly at such sites as Lone Sentry...I just ran a quick Google search and it shows the 'Nafziger collection' being for sale on many sites, including BFC
) Time to add more stuff to my library, it seems... -
Okay, as part of the research I've been doing to generate my own set of Radio Vehicle Platoon rules for SASL, I've become more attuned to which vehicles in the ASL pantheon are listed as Radioless. Doyle, Chamberlain & Jentz list all SPW 250 & 251 vehicles as having a radio akin to the one used in the tanks, etc (groovy - matches ASL Chapter H). However, when I went looking for info supporting the presence of similar sets in the US M2/M3/M5/M7 series halftracks, it seems that they were not standard issue. My reading of a few mini-tomes (e. g. Zaloga & Sarson Osprey book) suggests the following:
- Company & Platoon HQ vehicles have radio
- subordinate vehicles within the platoon did not
- the AA versions did, but the AT GMCs did not (except perhaps for HQ vehicles)
Can anyone come up with something more specific one way or t'other?
P. S. all Commonwealth Carriers apparently had a radio set
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RPG team in a trench was getting stormed by a squad. Before actually making a visual contact, both team mates threw grenades at the sound contact that was just over the rise.
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Okay, testing has revealed a few things:
1. smoke landing just outside the building is enough to let a squad approach right to the door without being spotted by an alert squad staring out the windows;
2. a good tactic in concert with point 1 is for an Assault squad to then use BLAST. They can do it before being spotted. All occupants get whacked;
3. a bad tactic in concert with point 1 is to hunt/move/assault/etc. straight in. Bang - you're dead!
4. a bad tactic as a defense against point 1 is to Hide. The other guys come strolling unmolested through the door, scout about and Bang - you're dead!
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Searching for smoke grenade threads didn't turn up anything like this so I thought I'd post.
The Building Assault thread got me playing around with tossing smoke as part of the SOP. I noticed that squads could toss their smoke grenades smack on target the usual 20 m away even if the tiny building was in the way. The grenades looked like they went straight through it. Granted, it’s a smallish shack, so I thought this was meant to represent guys chucking the grenades over the roof. They were even able to do it if they were in a building, although how they would get that kind of an angle is beyond me.
At any rate, I decided to do so more testing, using the 8-storey building and throwing in some BMPs to boot, due to their long range smoke deployment. Wind was ‘None’.
Here are some results:
Before, showing the 20m smoke targetting line for the squad. The buildings are the ‘slim 8-storey’ type.
After, notice the one grenade that passed straight through the first building and even went through the second (according to the movie graphics), landing past its far corner (red oval). Quite the throw!
This was atypical of smoke grenades thrown by two other squads in the test, which were situated in similar proximity to the same building type. Most of their grenades ended up on the second level almost immediately in front of them. Few made it through or hit the first or third floor. Nothing hit higher than the third in this very limited test (maybe 12 to 15 throws total).
Now on to the BMPs. I snuggled three of them up right behind a building like this. The yellow oval shows the three grenades right after launch.
All three gave this result, smacking immediately into the second or third level, with nothing making it past the front of the building (unlike the squads’ grenades, which went to various levels and depths).
This is what happened when I gave more space between the BMP (left hand oval) and the building hurdle (middle oval). One of them cleared the building and landed on the other side (right oval), the other two either went off map (it was the smallest possible size) or smacked into the building (middle oval).
The pinkish smoke is from some Strykers. Note that even though the wind was set to 'None', there is still some drift evident (for instance, the black cloud on the left originally was just on the building).
I also did some testing with High Walls - squad smoke grenades went right over.
[ March 13, 2008, 07:52 PM: Message edited by: Brent Pollock ]
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I've only just thought of this and don't have time to test it out:
1. Quick or Fast move to the door
2. Pause 15" and Area Target into building
3. Hunt or Assault into building
This obviously has the same problem noted above - hanging around outside the building. I also don't know if it is even possible to give this order sequence, especially if the unit has no LOS to the room when the orders are given.
I've seen no mention of smoke greandes or splitting out teams.
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Makes me sad that I accidentally deleted the pic of a RPG round just passing aft of an M1 turret. Score one for moving as fast as possible in the hot zone!
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I am playing this as the German vs Steve Vance. Things I can throw in:
*possible spoilers**
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1. yes - no surprise the 105 mm HE OBA is not effective versus the concrete bunkers. One pillbox took two direct hits and the crew kept playing cards and telling jokes.
2. in lieu of smoke, for the ones near or in buildings, dropping the building does nothing to the bunker but the dust will blind it for a turn or few.
3. So far, this is the best battle/op I have played yet for allowing bunkered ATGs to dominate the battlefield, thanks to the large map and height advantage. They've racked up fourteen vehicles in two battles.
We are just about to start the third battle.
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I've searched this topic to no avail, so I'll add this in.
I have yet to see any of my units execute a "PAUSE" special order since version 1. I am referring to the order discussed on p.66 of the manual. I generally issue this order if I want a unit to wait for smoke to develop or blast a target for a bit before moving on. Without fail, the unit does not pause at all but simply executes the order.
Am I not issuing the pause order in the correct sequence? IIRC, I have tried setting the PAUSE time before issuing other orders, and also tried doing it after setting the other orders.
Nothing in the manual says this order should not work during turn-based play.
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I've searched this topic to no avail, so I'll add this in.
I have yet to see any of my units execute a "PAUSE" special order since version 1. I am referring to the order discussed on p.66 of the manual. I generally issue this order if I want a unit to wait for smoke to develop or blast a target for a bit before moving on. Without fail, the unit does not pause at all but simply executes the order.
Am I not issuing the pause order in the correct sequence? IIRC, I have tried setting the PAUSE time before issuing other orders, and also tried doing it after setting the other orders.
Nothing in the manual says this order should not work during turn-based play.
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How did you manage this? I ask because the defualt always seems to be to have them Dig In. To prevent that, you actually have to select them and turn it off. Did you undig all your forces and then decide which ones specifically to Dig In? I have done this before, mainly to have them remain hidden because foxholes always seem to get spotted before infantry do, spoiling the ambush.
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I'll have to do some follow up testing, but based on an experience with yesterday's playing of "Al Huqf Engagement" (which seems to take place at dusk), there may be a sighting adavantage for looking down through windows from a rooftop.
Tis is base on the observation that a Syrian infantry squad (11 guys) parked in a building with cover arc orders (but not "hiding") got bounced by US troops that had moved onto rooftops within the arc.
Could've just been a one off thing but...
[spoiler alert]
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considering that the Syrians are "Regular" and the US infantry are "Conscript" in that one, it seemed odd. Certainly when the US troops were moving at ground level on the street, they were easy enough to spot (no surprise there).
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[bottom buffer for spoiler]
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I have yet to notice anything along those lines but must say that I prefer the CMSF sound contact model, which seems to limit voice contacts to a much more reasonable range than in CMX1, wherein you could pick up conversations clear across the battlefield. It isn't perfectly what I have in mind, though, because you can still hear enemy sounds if you position the map reference near them. So, it seems that the sound is much shorter range, but still independent of where your friendly ears are.
How much of the deafness do you think is related to battle noise? Depending on recent conditions (e. g. ongoing or recent artillery or firefight), it might be quite appropriate for troops to be deaf to local sounds. But, I am guessing that the instances you are referring to are during "all quiet" moments and that you had the camera locked to the unit? Hmmm...I wonder if civilian density also reduces the noise contact range...hmmm...
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Maybe I just haven't noticed, by there doesn't seem to be any wav files associated with medic activity.
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I've seen plenty of that during playback in v1.03. Sometimes it goes away just by restarting the WEGO video. I have also seen soldiers moving/floating in other, slightly less ridiculous, fixed positions.
I've had a casualty do the "airplane" in v1.03 while lying on his side; made it look like he was holding his IV bag for the "Medic".
Sorry - no saved files, but I'll try to remember to grab one next time.
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I uninstalled CMBO after CMAK came out. I'm still playing the other two at the same rate and have started the grunt work on sussing out a CMBB system for the ASL RB HASL.
CMSF likely won't get serious play on my machine until:
1. v1.03 is out
2. I upgrade to a CPU that isn't below minimum recommended spec :-O
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Now we just have to convince Michael to edit the tread title to
Waiting for CM:Godot
ehehehehehhehehehhehe.....Originally posted by Berto:</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by easytarget:
This forum is the wargaming equivalent of Waiting For Godot.
</font>
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I can't find this easily in the manual. I've double checked the sections on The Environment
[Look People fans can add an "OOOOOOOOOOO AAAAHHHHHHHH"]
and The Editor, and I couldn't find it?
I ended up renumbering the Steppe BMPs to the Open Ground BMPs.
I find it a tad strange that steppe areas would have green grass in Oct/Nov, and even Sept. seems unlikely? Heck, I would've linked it to any Dry or Very Dry condition during the spring/summer months!
Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:[snipped by Brent]
I am aware that >50% of the map has to be Steppe before it is invoked (heh....I read the manual!)
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I am going to have a kick at coming up with paper rules for it too and was curious as to what state your experiment was left in seeing as your last post on this was almost three years ago.
[the link above gives a "file not found"]
) Time to add more stuff to my library, it seems...
</font>
Improving the look of CM Normandy
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
From what I've read, most of the Normandy fields went unharvested throughout 1944. What the engine should handle is destruction of the crops by vehicles, scything MGs, HE blast and fire.
And that cow isn't dead, it's just resting.