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Aco4bn187inf

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Everything posted by Aco4bn187inf

  1. I saw a French movie about a French platoon in Indochina (made by French vets as I recall), in which one soldier declares that one good BAR man is worth a squad. The Polish were using a licensed version of the BAR when they were invaded. About the M-60... US Army platoons, when the 60 was in use, had two 60's in the weapons squad and they could be attached to particular rifle squads if desired. Before the M249 SAW, one man per rifle team was designated in the AR (automatic rifle) role, but he had only a regular M16 so the desination was basically nominal (This is based on the 101st in the '80's which was pretty standard I think.)
  2. Both those vehicles look terriffic. Bravo!
  3. How about marlon Brando in The Young Lions? Not much of a movie for anyone interested in technical accuracy, but definitely worth it for Brando's hilarious fake German accent.
  4. Hi folks. I'm designing a static operation in CMBB and the editor doesn't seem to be giving me any "reenforcement flags" to control where the reserves would appear on the map. Will they automatically appear somewhere on the edge of the map, or am I overlooking something?
  5. Hi folks. I'm designing a static operation in CMBB and the editor doesn't seem to be giving me any "reenforcement flags" to control where the reserves would appear on the map. Will they automatically appear somewhere on the edge of the map, or am I overlooking something?
  6. Use of light vehicles at night- When visibility is limited it is actually safer to use light vehicles in support of infantry. When the inf. runs into enemy units, the light armor rushes from the edge of darkness and hoses down the opposition. In daytime the amount of unscouted woodlines in sight, lines of fire, etc, is much greater so your thinskinned vehicles are at a greater risk. As the third tier, I have the medium tanks just behind the light vehicles, in case enemy tanks show up. Also, it's better to lose a scout car to a hidden AT team than to lose a firefly- make sure your infantry is close enough to punish that panzerschreck. In this method, medium tanks get involved ONLY if enemy tanks show up- no need to risk them otherwise.
  7. Damage caused by exploding AFV's- Mortar carrying halftracks in particular are great for causing damage to nearby units, when they blow up. They are thinly armored and carry lots of HE. When you kill one you sometimes get a surprise bonus kill as well, as I once did when I killed a sdkfz 251/2 and found a KO'd AT gun behind it. This is much better that the way I usually find enemy AT guns. The lesson is, if you have such halftracks, keep other friendly units FAR AWAY!
  8. Another issue I would consider for placement of AA assets is range- units like the quad .50 halftrack will probably be much less effective if they are too far away from the units they are trying to protect. I havent tested this but I'm sure the designers have not overlooked it.
  9. Regarding the question about using a command unit with a stealth bonus to help snipers hide- it seems like a good idea to me. Snipers on skis, by the way, are a really good combination of firepower and mobility. The basis of the olympic biathalon, I guess.
  10. US Army infantry doctrine in the mid 1980's was to run away as fast as possible if you come under artillery fire. I always wondered about that one, but fortunately never had to find out if it was a good idea. In CMBB I like on map mortars as an anti AT gun weapon. Here's a trick also- you can knock out an AT gun without actually coming into its field of fire by firing HE shells right next to it. This is a good method for thin skinned SP guns or tanks to use. (You must locate the AT gun first of course, usually the hard way.) Also, an artillery trick- if you have artillery that takes a long time to plot a fire mission, call for the mission early where you expect enemy targets might appear. When your spotting round arrives, keep adjusting fire around the map until you have a target. The point is that the adjustment takes a lot less time than initiating a fire mission. The only drawback is that you expend some ammo as spotting rounds while you're doing this, but it can be worth it. It might also cramp your opponent's style if he is seeing spotting rounds coming down all the time.
  11. I've had an AA gun score a kill on aircraft while the gun was sandwiched between two buildings, hoping to ambush tanks. So it seems that buildings don't interfere with AA fire. (?) Also, the German 88 doesn't seem to act as an AA gun in CMBB, despite its famous effectiveness in that role historically. Does anyone know wether certain units used only AA ammo, and others not? I have read a story of a unit of 88's, dedicated to the AA role in Normandy, which was forced at pistol point by a German officer to shoot at British tanks, destroying a multitude of them. So it would seem that the same 88 units could act as AA or AT guns at will? I'd be curious to hear anything anyone knows about this.
  12. I played this one (I assume the one on the CMBB disc is the same as the one offered for download) as the Russians against the AI, and got a tie. Because of the surprising ineffectiveness of the IS2's, the Russian must really be extra crafty in making ambushes. I think it would be difficult for the Russian to win against a human opponent using those king tigers. The good thing about this battle is that you have a lot of tanks, time, and space to try out different tactics. I reccomend it, but be prepared for a major time commitment to this 60 turn battle.
  13. The interesting thing about Approach to Sevastopol is that it is such a long narrow map, kind of like an obstacle course. The issues it raises (for the attacker) are- How much ammo should I expend when resistance is tough but I'm not even halfway to the end of the map? How much should I sacrifice my units to try to gain speed when there's so far to go? The momentum of an attack through such a depth of territory is interesting to note -how my attack seems to get stalled at times, and then there are sudden breakthroughs just when I think I'm totally stuck. Seems pretty true to history there. I'm now halfway through playing it and am finding it very fun and challenging.
  14. Yes. I was an M-60 gunner, probably quite similar to an MG34 or MG42 in terms of movement, and I can tell you the riflemen do not envy the MG team for all the heavy crap we carried. When attached to a squad, I could get a buddy to carry my 60 if I started to become exhausted, as once happened in the Mojave. Without that squad, my AG (assistant gunner) would not have been able to help me, since he had the tripod, spare barrel, traverse and elevation mechanism, and ammo to deal with already. Good game!
  15. What's that scenario in which the Russians have to attack some German infantry dug in alongside a river? It's an all-infantry small scenario on the disk but I forget the name. Anyway, my friend, a complete novice, simply gave all the Russian infantry the human wave command, and he had a total success. The benefit was that the Russian infantry arrived on top of the germans all at the same time, perhaps the only possible way to deal with the HMGs. This was especially good since that scenario is only about 10 turns long, as I recall. There was no time to scout, fire and maneuver, formulate clever plans, or whatever.
  16. I often find the sdkfz 251 to be frustratingly vulnerable, and end up just having to let them sit in cover. One good use is in the defense against advancing or scouting infantry. Their machine guns can deny a lot of territory to enemy troops, and you could withdraw them before heavier forces come to chase them. The best use I've made of them was in the Iron Roadblock scenario of CMBB- I used them to deliver infantry right on top of the KV1 which was busy shooting up my swarming tanks. The infantry KO'd the KV1 with grenade bundles while my 38T's were shooting uselessly at point blank range. I admit this is a desperate tactic, but worth remembering.
  17. I recently finished reading War Without Garlands, by Rob't kershaw. It is a great book about the first year of the Eastern front. Every page has half a dozen quotes from soldier's diaries or interviews. It is especially good about the conditions of life in the field, the stress of conducting non stop motorized attacks- and the endless slogging on foot which was the lot of most German infantry. Good photo sequences too.
  18. A Deadly Affair is a good scenario in CMBB to test the ideas in this discussion. I played as the Germans and lost many vehicles trying to locate the ATRs- I basically had to flee toward the exit zone. If you are playing against a human player, beware of ambushes if you become totally oriented toward hunting ATRs.
  19. Good AAR, that last one.(After Action Review) I played the scenario a second time as the Russians vs. the AI and did quite a bit better. I learned to pay attention to which vehicles can fire smoke, and made sure to use it in a deliberate way. I got many vehicles into the ravine and mangled the panthers as the AI sent them forward slowly in small numbers at a time. It shows how much depends on the opponent making mistakes. (Which is a realistic lesson.) At one point my tanks hit a single panther with 16 shots within 30 seconds. If the game had lasted a few more minutes I would have destroyed all the German armor, but that's "the one that got away". A major factor of luck is the number of vehicles that bog down in the steppes. The first time I played, for example, 3 of my 6 shermans were immobilized before making contact. Pure bad luck. An interesting thing I noticed here, which is visible in the picture in the previous post, is that when an AT gun is nestled in a dip in the terrain it becomes almost impossible for the enemy tanks to hit it. Very nice.
  20. Howdy, Folks! (This is my first post) I just played Von Lauchert as the Soviets and lost forty-some vehicles without killing any German ones. My attempted tactic was to mass my tanks behind the hill, then race them en masse into the gulleys. I got a handful into the gulleys but they were all destroyed while trying to ambush the Germans at close range. I'd like to ask any of those players who's had success as the Russians in this battle to give me a few tips- Did you send your tank platoons forward as soon as you recieved them, or did you try to send many platoons at once? Were you able to find a covered route forward on the south side of the hill? (I couldn't) On the question of getting flank and rear shots against the Panthers and Tigers- the AI had them spread out and facing in several directions, so no place was safe for me to try to sneak up on them. I used to think of myself as an intelligent person until I played this scenario, so I am definitely going to play it again. What an ordeal! PS Has anyone here read War Without Garlands by Robert kershaw? A terrific book about the first year of Barbarossa with tons of first hand quotes, diary entries, and some cool rare photo sequences of combat.
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