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Here's my view: I find the scenario depot somewhat cumbersome to use. If the mood strikes me that I want to play a historical, axis vs. AI, late-war scenario, I'd almost rather play a QB or design my own scenario rather than spend the time bumbling through the scenario depot trying to find something close to what I want... So if your scenario is presently available only at the scenario depot, chances are I will never play it. If, on the other hand, there is a mechanism whereby I can download "packs" of scenarios organized in such a way that I can easily identify what I am interested in, then the chances of me playing your scenario are greatly increased.

I've seen you disparage Beevor a couple of times now, Berli. What are your problems with his book? I'm asking out of genuine interest as I've seen a lot of criticism of his Berlin, but very little of his previous work and Stalingrad received a lot of plaudits at the time of its publication.</font>

I agree. He also fought in the Red Army. But my point regarding Solzhenitsyn is that his writings are clearly influenced by his background (as a former prisoner under the Stalinist regime). Few would suggest that because Solzhenitsyn is not a "neutral observer", we should reject his works without even reading them. Yet that is precisely what several posters here claim regarding Carell -- that because of his background as a German officer, all of his writings about the war can only be "propaganda" in support of a "hidden agenda" and thus not worth reading.

If you are looking for a lengthy, hard-core STRATEGIC analysis of the eastern front from the Soviet perspective, Erickson's "Road to Stalingrad" (and the next volume, "Road to Berlin") are the books for you... If you want anything else (such as a readable narrative with graphic descriptions of small unit actions), Erickson's books are definitely NOT for you... In terms of wargames, Erickson's books strike me as being a lot more relevant to TOAW than to CMBB.

I hate to jump back into this fray, but...

I believe Plievier was in the USSR when he wrote "Stalingrad" -- thus you will find nothing negative in that book regarding the Red Army. Soon thereafter he became disillusioned with Comrade Stalin's "worker's paradise" and fled to the west where he wrote "Moscow" and "Berlin". "Moscow" is written mostly from the Russian viewpoint and the author enjoys more freedom to cast the Red Army and the USSR in a negative light. "Berlin" is my least favorite of the three. It focuses less on military aspects. I found the story line a bit hard to follow.

Very nice!

I hate to get into another drawn-out debate about books but allow me to say this: I have both Agte books (Wittmann and Peiper). They are superb works, packed with details about the men and their units and containing hundreds of great photographs. Neither are remotely "pro-Nazi" (nor are they "ALMOST pro-nazi", whatever that means)... I don't know what you mean by saying the publisher is "pro-German". The publisher certainly publishes a lot of very high quality books on the German military in World War II (most translated into English from original German works) with a focus on armor. (They also sell modeling kits and supplies, again with an emphasis on armor). If that's what you consider "pro-German", then so be it but that shouldn't in any way cause someone to take Agte's books "with a grain of salt." ... As for a "blurb" from the publisher's catalogue two years ago that, in describing a book by French McLean, went "something like ...", I cannot fathom how such a "blurb" should cause anyone to question the accuracy of a book written by Agte. (And, by the way, I don't dispute your recollection of that "blurb" from two years ago. McLean's book does indeed purport to show a relationship between the Waffen SS & the men who staffed the concentration camps. Whether he succeeds or not in showing that relationship is up to the reader. Obviously that supposedly "pro-German" publisher thought enough of McLean's work to list it in its catalogue and offer to sell it).

There is a far better book on Peiper: "Jochen Peiper" by Patrick Agte. It's very expensive but is much, much better than Reynolds' book. It covers Peiper's life in great detail and provides a very different picture of Peiper (in marked contrast to the standard "bloodthirsty nazi" view so prevelant in other books).

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Or how about the crew in "Das Boot" singing "It's a long way to Tipperary"?

Just downloaded the Badenweiler Marsch posted to the cm mod database by pakfan. Sounds great! No more "Night on Disco Mountain" or whatever that original opening music was called! Thanks!

Same here. I get nervous when I hear people say: "It's impossible to program a really good AI so let's just leave it out altogether." ... Even if the AI forever remains inferior to a human opponent, my hope is that Battlefront will continue to improve the AI. I think with improvement to the AI (scripting, waypoints, whatever), scenario designers will be able to design human vs. AI scenarios that are fun and challenging.

You are referring to the publisher of the English edition of Hoffmann's book in the U.S. His book was originally published in Germany by F.A. Herbig.