76mm

Thanks for the tips, I already use the icons and all move lines but have a hard time keeping my units together without the command lines, so I'll be glad to have them back. But I still really miss the targeting lines. I agree with Lt Bull that a lot more could be done with the unit icons to help with situational awareness. For instance, someone said to just watch units to see what they're doing. That works OK for infantry, I guess, but even then it might not be clear what they're firing at. Moreover, in my recent scenario I had a tank up on a ridge overlooking a wide valley broken up by buildings and trees. In the valley were literally dozens of targets which would disappear and reappear behind a building, etc. Meanwhile my TC was looking around with his binos, and the only way I could tell if the tank was firing (as far as I can tell) is to watch the tank the whole turn, and even then I couldn't be sure what he was firing at. After a few minutes the valley was filled with flaming enemy tanks, but I had literally no idea of which of my units had killed them. Sure I could go back after the scenario to figure out who had killed what, but it is not as fun as watching the action during the game.

Thanks guys. It's not the mouse, it keeps scrolling even when I move the mouse around. I'm not sure what's causing it, but I think I figured out how to stop it: it seems to stop zooming off to the left if I tap on the hotkeys used to move around the map; I suspect it is a problem similar to Hollisters, but haven't been able to diagnose it so exactly yet. I'm on Windows 7.

I have to say that I've played very little CMx2 until now, as I've been waiting for the return to the East Front. In anticipation of Red Thunder, I fired up CMFI this weekend and played a scenario. It made me remember why I've not been a big fan of CMx2 thus far: it is just very difficult for me to figure out what is going on! In CMx1, with the command and targeting lines it was much easier to figure out where my units were and what they were doing. In CMx2, I can figure out with difficulty where my units are (waiting for the command lines in Red Thunder), but really can't tell what they are doing...are they targeting an enemy unit? Is an enemy unit targeting them? Is my unit firing? Is my AT gun in the processing of unlimbering? Other than the color-coded movement line, is there a way to tell if they are moving, hunting, moving fast (I haven't memorized all of the colors yet...)? Can anyone give me any tips on how to maintain better situational awareness in CMx2?

I haven't played much of the various CMx2 game, but with Red Thunder coming out soon, wanted to practice up with CMFI. So I've been trying to play a scenario but have been encountering a really annoying problem: whenever I try to play, the screen "runs off" quickly to the left, as if I was panning left, until it runs off the map, at which point it stops. This happens most times when I try to play, but sometimes it doesn't... I checked the obvious things--nothing is pressing my keyboard, etc., but can't find the problem, and it is starting to drive me a bit crazy. I doubt it is a bug, so I'm posting here rather than in the technical support section to see if anyone has had a similar problem, and how to fix it? In the 3 minutes I've been typing this post, the problem has gone away--for now--but I'd really like to be able to figure out how to prevent it. [EDIT] immediately after typing the line above I went back to play, and the problem is back...

His translations for photos 37-40 are pretty much word-for-word, then he: --skips 41-42 (41 is a "pre-test" picture of the elefant, 42 is after being hit by two 152mm rounds); --gives captions for "Shot 8", "Shot 10", and "Shot 11" which don't seem to be in the article; --give a caption for "Shot 9" which is longer than what is shown with the photo in the article; --Paraphrases the brief captions for photos 14-15.

He does provide translations for most of the pictures (the text in quotes).

Yikes, I haven't played Normandy or Italy very much at all and so hadn't really encountered these issues, but they sound very robot-like indeed, and I hope that the devs are taking a look...

Terkin, thanks, that's cool, I hadn't seen that before... The infanty "icon" is the top one in Section 3 on page 13, but note that it is not a symbol per se but rather a trace of the unit's position, with the unit designation inside. The one below that is for a cavalry position, third one for tanks. MGs are the top three entries in Section 4 on page 15. Arty pieces are the top several entries in Section 5 on page 15-16. Tanks are the top four entries in Section 6 on page 17 (respectively, light, medium, heavy, and amphib).

Thanks for the link John, but there is little threat of me running out of reading materials for the foreseeable future...in addition to my existing bookshelf and what's available on Kindle, I've recently learned that Amazon delivers hard copy books from the US to Moscow, at a price, of course.

IIRC the games will run mid-year to mid-year (ie, June 44-May 45), etc. This takes into account when new equipment was typically introduced and the beginning of the campaigning season.

I live overseas so also much prefer to buy on Kindle, but for some reason many books about the East Front are not available on Kindle, even if they don't have many maps, etc. Kind of a drag.

Unfortunately not. I only have one of his books--Island of Fire--and given that there are LOTS of pictures and maps I don't think it would be a great reading experience on the Kindle.

I guess it depends on how much they cram into each game and module? I think they could get in most of the content I'd want to see in the base game plus a module or two, then a pack for some random stuff. On the other hand, it seems to me like the West front is sliced too finely--as someone mentioned, I'm not sure why the Bulge should be a separate game rather than a module, other than the fact that they probably expect it to sell well, so would like to take advantage of it. But the way I look at it is that the west front games are subsidizing and speeding up the East Front games by creating most of the necessary German content, so I don't mind.

Haven't played any PBEM games since CMx1, and not many then. What is the etiquette of requesting a cease-fire if you're getting your ass-kicked and don't want to play to the bitter end?

Lots of opinions on Glantz here. I've found that his books differ rather dramatically in their readability. His books on Barbarossa and Stalingrad are a bit dense, but rather readable in my opinion. Other books, such as Smolensk, seem to cut-and-paste more from Sov orders and reports and are much more tedious. In my view Erickson's books take the prize for aggregate ease of reading and information conveyed--he is a very good writer.

By your definition, Lend Lease itself was a traitorous act...so Roosevelt, Congress, all of the factory workers who made stuff for the Sovs, the dockworkers who shipped it to them--they were all traitors too? Is that what you're saying?

I see...so even if he wasn't a "formally" a spy, as you charged, he is a de fact spy because he took strong positions to Russia's favor? Perhaps, or maybe he took his positions because he determined (rightly or wrongly) that to help the Sovs was in the US' best interests. For instance, maybe he realized that the Sovs were tying down most of the German army, and if the Sovs made a separate peace with Hitler, or rampaged into Denmark, or whatever, that might not be a good thing for the US. To brand a man a traitor because you don't agree with his policy decisions is a bit much in my book.

I think that one of the most practicable things that you can do is to simply make it easier to make scenarios, and to me, that mainly means making it easier to make/re-use maps. I realize that random maps aren't in the cards, better map functionality--from map re-use between games, to macro-tiles, to copy-paste from one map to another--would be a huge time-saver.

Well, since the thread is called East Front Literature, perhaps more novels are in order. Vasily Grossman's novel "Life and Fate" is also centered around Stalingrad: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Orange-Inheritance-Vasily-Grossman-ebook/dp/B007WL0LFY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391896084&sr=8-1&keywords=life+and+fate I haven't read it read, but I've heard it is very good. The author was a famous Sov war correspondent and was in Stalingrad for most of the battle.

Of course it is impossible to prove a negative, but the charge the Hopkins was a Sov spy does not seem to add up. Here is a link with a lengthy and what appears to be credible article on this topic: http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/john-earl-haynes-and-harvey-klehr/was-harry-hopkins-a-soviet-spy/

These are prices from resellers, not the publisher. And just because those prices are posted on Amazon doesn't mean that anyone is paying them. Several years ago I saw a book on Amazon selling for $300--schwing, I had a spare copy of the book and promptly put it on Amazon for $280. And guess what--no takers, ever.

John, thanks for the link, I will have to spend more time at that site when I get the time. Yes, as far as I know a vatnik and telegreika are the same thing. I read Zimakov's account and remain a bit dubious--its funny that the protective benefits of quilted cotton/wool has not been mentioned in any of the dozens of accounts I've read about the East Front. That said, he does say that they helped against "small shell fragments", so perhaps he was referring to very small fragments that would lose their lethal velocity quickly---dunno. And along the lines that Steve mentioned, I seem to recall reading that one of the Mongols' "secret weapons" was that they wore silk undershirts, which helped protect against arrows, or actually made them easier to remove if they penetrated their outerwear.

Am reading Jason Mark's Island of Fire now. It is really an incredible piece of work. So far he has given little bios and pictures of all of the *company commanders* in the attack on the barrikady factory, along with blow-by-blow tactical accounts of the action. I can't imagine where he got all of the material.

I don't get any thrill from it, but it was pretty common, so...

You think a cotton-padded jacket is like a flak jacket, and would offer significant protection from fragments? I don't see it...