JaegerMeister

Hmmm, okay, maybe 'heroic' was the wrong choice of words, how about 'beyond the reasonable call of duty'? What i'm really trying to get at, is emulating the feats of the men whose accounts you read constantly, who through shear will and/or fighting for their lives, overcame superior numbers or a seemingly impossible mission. Perhaps it is beyond the scope of any simulated battle, merely because they are human endeavours. 'Thin red', you seem very fatalist, have you real (and bad) experiences?..'scuse me asking. edit: Also your statement above about 2-3 casualties in a squad hardly reflects the situation in the East during WW2, maybe a modern environment, but not then. [ November 29, 2002, 10:47 AM: Message edited by: JaegerMeister ]

Scooby and others...would it possible to flag up on your sites with a 'new' flash next to the articles that 'have' been updated so we know which ones to re-download? Not moaning, just asking!..thanks once again for your efforts.

So, sorry if i'm misinterpreting 'Thin red..' but if thats the case, why do the whole squad run out from cover to get slaughtered in the open, when they have no chance of reaching 'safe' terrain. Maybe a modifier to say 'if no good cover available within 10?m' then stay put ??..might help. This may all be wasted breath/typing but if BFC can logically throw in these modifiers, it cant but help ? We're not asking for Uber-soldiers but realism/logic, and if modifiers/code can sort that, then why not try?

thanks for pointing that thread out Laxx, very interesting and informative. Just last night i successfully pitted some little Pz38T's against T34/76s...i drew their attention by firing frontally at them from behind buildings in a village with a couple of panzers (dangerous but essential) then fast moved 3 38Ts from cover into the flank of the four T34s and let them have it at about 60-100m. The result was 2 of the 4 had multiple side turret, track and gun hits making them combat inneffective for no losses of my own!...to be continued.

i think we'll find our tactics & patience has improved dramatically since the early battles of version 1.0. I know mine have after a few short sharp painful lessons! I'm now so overly-cautious that the time/turn factor in most scenarios is more of a problem than ever. Moving infantry forward is now more laborious as i do not move anyone without numerous cover-arcs supporting and covering squads ready in overwatch. Patience is definitely the key factor, i find the one turn i try to hussle up, is the one turn i get creamed from all the hidden units! One question regarding the title of this thread..is it possible to get heroes/heroics using infantry?..has anyone experienced a very heroic infantry action where the squads performed gallantly?..ie a squad taking on mg nests/bunkers/positions. After all, thats what we wish our bitmap troops emulate...'heroes under fire'. I haven't yet in my early 41 battles, perhaps you need the later years crack troops?

yeah, yeah its been talked about plenty, but i dont see why BFC cant apply a modifier to the panic routine that says 'if in terrain of excellent defensive nature' then only rout if 'x' is rolled/level of panic reached'. In much the same way as there are in built modifiers for the terrain features with respect to casualties being more likely in say 'scattered trees' as opposed to a factory building. I dont know, but i'm presuming there are 'modifiers' in the code for 'panic' affected by volume of fire receiving/terrain location etc? This is not a rant, just an enquiry born out of frustration, where men leave potentially important strongpoints (deployment-wise)to be gunned down in the open!

I think there is still a problem with the infantry 'panic' behaviour. I've just played 'DirectiveNo3' scenario and i had German infantry in a factory/rubble complex. They came under fire from 2+ squads of russian infantry who were out in the open at 30-40m. Now i can understand them getting pinned and maybe also panicking (despite other friendly units in there alongside them), but this squad of 9 men (1 kia) decided to leave the protection of the factory/rubble and run out into the open ground to get to some other cover about 100m back. They got shot to pieces and wiped out! I think a tweak needs doing to make units more inclined to stay in very good defensive terrain even if pinned/panicked. Who would run out in the open knowing its certain death, rather than keeping your head down in good cover, hoping your adjacent buddies would come to your rescue?! I keep seeing this behaviour in CMBB and it doesn't seem logical.

Excellent read, thanks, and yes it would make a great scenario/operation ! We should have more articles like this on the forum to stir everyones juices, shame i'm stuck at work cos i now want to play CMBB after reading that !

Much obliged Rapier..thankyou. Other guys may also be interested in checking this site out. http://www.feldgrau.com/

Anybody got OOBs for AG South's forces? I'd like to pick out a formation from it and assign that to my Billtong force for historical accuracy/interest. Perhaps a global factor could be incorporated somewhere in the rules to increase the status of a unit? ie I'm reading the book by Leon Degrelle about the Belgian Walloon volunteers, who started off as a normal infantry unit, then raised in status to an assault Regiment, then finally in 1943 became a full SS Assault brigade with its own support armour etc. All this through its battle performance ! Someone on this thread mentioned adding auto-medals to the rules for performance, this is an excellent idea and why not add promotions for certain kill ratios/experience or number of succesful missions ? Could the rules not expand the core force slightly, so that we could have an infantry company and a platoon of tanks/stugs/IG's with them?...that way both armour and infantry fans can be catered for. These rules have definitely opened up the single player world against AI...well done Billtong and support team!

I like the sound of that 'spearhead/assault support that Apache suggests, by throwing a 10 or at a certain point, ie every 5 battles or something. I mean this campaign is starting in 1941, Barbarossa Offensive, yet i do feel a little like i'm fighting just small unit actions, which are great, but would be good to feel part of a bigger picture in some battles, ie your company is assigned to capture the high ground/village on the left flank, whilst the main force assaults 'x' objective centre and right, or your infantry company is to support an armour attack on .... I think this would be a great addition to the rules. edit to add:- RE Artillery support, i think i may be doing something wrong, as in my first two battles (1 attack,1 M.E.) i seem to have a real lack of arty, yet i think in the rules it mentions that a modifier had been added to get extra smoke/arty availability to help the conscript/green troops in open terrain? Anyone else struggled to get decent arty support? In the attack battle, my points added up to give air support, could i have used some of those to get arty instead of all air? [ November 25, 2002, 05:10 AM: Message edited by: JaegerMeister ]

Many thanks supersulo, much obliged !

Hello anybody?...can anyone please answer the above queries? (even an educated guess), i'd like to get on to the next battle...its got me hooked !!

Got my ass handed to me big time !...has anyone beaten it, would be a better thread. I would be interested to know their tactics.

Hi, this is great, but i have a couple of queries: . 1) parameter 50: CO dies...am i reading this right? Does only 1 casualty to CO HQ mean the CO is dead? I dont quite get this one cos it lists 1 to 6 casualties. Do you not have to roll a certain number for him to be killed out of those casualties? 2) Starting experience for units:- where do i find this?..i thought in first battle they start on 0 and work upwards, but i think somewhere in the rules it mentions a value of 5 for infantry and 10 for armour..is this what i should use? Also, where do i enter this figure?..in the QB generator?...or do i use Appendix A&B for experience? 3) If i select the infantry company for core force in next battle, how do i assign different experience to each squad?...doesn't it assign 'green' to all units? or can i edit them individually? 4) oh, and when filling out the 'favor' sheet, do i list all losses including any auxillaries that were kia, k.o. etc or just my core & scrounged? Thanks in advance. [ November 22, 2002, 11:14 AM: Message edited by: JaegerMeister ]

yeah they look great, very atmospheric, thanks Mike !

Mindfighter mentioned the isbas are more southern russia, then how about making a ruleset to use the mods with CMMOS, that way we can have either the log cabin types of Northern Russia, euro style of central russia and the isbas for southern russia/ukraine steppe villages. I'd really like to see these in CMBB as they reflect my minds view of typical russian peasant villages. As a footnote, the typical huts in the Caucasus forests were raised up on stilts/legs to protect the villagers/livestock from wild beasts !..another mod??

Hi, KKing..i hear what your saying, the squad that broke was just outside the command range of its HQ (because of terrain), the other 2 nearby squads were in CC. But bearing in mind the 2x armour sitting just outside the building and other squads in firing range, surely that unit should have stayed put, head down/pinned, not ran out into the open street to get 8 men killed (it had suffered no casualties upto this point remember), and why were the other squads not giving the cover fire (yet again!). And as someone else said, yes i'm a klutz, i forgot to save the file...you get carried away in these battles..me bad!!

Interesting debate this. I still have a problem with some of this infantry behaviour, particulary the 'panic and get shot to pieces/wiped out' mode. Last night in a QB 1941, green troop, light tree cover. I had worked some German infantry using good cover up to a position where they could support an immoblised AC. I had also moved up a Pz3 to also give support. However one of the infantry squads in a light building with scattered trees around it, started taking fire from a few soviet infantry units that were a minimum 150m away. They had no chance of closing on my men, cos they were receiving fire from the AC & tank. Yet after only 1 turn, the squad decided it had to panic (with no casualties) and rather than stay in the light building or nearby trees or lay down etc, it would be best to run out the back door and attempt to run down a gentle slope to some ruins about 100m away!..the result - it got cut to pieces and i was left with 2 men out of 10!....how is that for 'fuzzy' logic? Considering i'm playing Billtongs rules, that unit is screwed for a while....very frustrating. The other annoying fact is that 2 of the other 3 nearby squads, some with cover-arcs, some not, didn't bother to help their hapless buddies with some cover fire (i checked their ammo, watched them closely, as this behaviour quirk has bothered me for a while now). None of the other units was surpressed/taking cover.

Still no answer on this obvious bug from BFC?..guys? Seems like a CDV version problem so far, any US people having problem with email on operations, can a couple of you try it for us lowly Europeans/Britons ?? Being as 'Blitzkreig' is the definite opening campaign of Barbarossa,i'd kinda like to be able to play it ! (My pbem opponent and i like to fight the war in chronological order!)

Sorry Micheal, no i didn't save the turn, but thanks for your time in answering anyway. Maybe next occurrence i get, i will email you with it.

Spot on Pvt Ryan !....thats just the look i was referring to. I'm reading the book 'Campaign in Russia' about the Belgian Walloon Assault brigade that fought there, by the CO and he describes these isbas in every village from North Russia down to the Caucasus. They always crop up in the photos from the eastern front too. So modders...can you make them? it would really give the villages a Russian/Ukrainian feel as opposed to the West european buidlings we have at present.

err, how do you post piccys in here?

Can any of you modding talents out there do a light building mod that reflects the typical russian peasant shack?..ie white plaster, mud walls with straw thatched roofs. These were the most common russian housing in thousands of villages in Russia/Ukraine at the time. The light shacks in CMBB just dont look right IMHO. I will try and find a photo to show what i mean.

Micheal...no they were not 'hiding' as in CMBB terms, i meant deployed under cover in trees etc but with clear LOS. No the AC was only shocked on turn it took mortar damage, but next 5 turns i had to manually tell it to fire on threats, otherwise it just sat there ignoring them!..and why didn't the nearby platoon open up? TSword...yeah this is in AI battles, i'm referring to, but i have noticed the same complete lack of spotting any human positions too (of course he could have used 'hide' for them), when my forces are watching/waiting. And trust me, i'm very experienced/adept at playing human opponents too. ps these are 1941 battles i'm talking here, predominantly regular with some green & vet troops thrown in, not sure whether thats relevant, maybe spotting improves in later years troops/afvs? [ November 20, 2002, 10:41 AM: Message edited by: JaegerMeister ]