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Welcome, Greggbert, Also, the "area attack" targeting line to the enemy's location is what you want to use; it's the only option when the mortar itself can't see the target. But don't worry, it will still kill the enemy real dead.

Willkommen, Fussball, Pardon my spelling. Jason C., I am glad to see you mention the US bipod-mounted LMG. I was wondering why it doesn't appear in the game. Even if it weren't included in the paratrooper squads, it seems it would have been a more important team to represent than, say, the 2-man BAR team. But at this point it's all water under the bridge.

War Without Garlands by Robert Kershaw- densely packed with first-person accounts. Probably the most appropriately horrifying book I've read about Operation Barbarossa. In Mortal Combat, mentioned earlier, is indeed good. It's by a German PAK crewman and, later, infantry officer, and, later, POW. Letzte Briefe aus Stalingrad (Last Letters from Stalingrad) The title tells you exactly what you're getting. I doubt there could be a more intimate insight into the German states of mind in the Eastern front.

Folbec, I think modern shells are indeed more deadly than those of sixty years ago. There may be something in the Tacops forum to explain what they're like.

To add to the earlier descriptions of various armies' SOPs under arty fire- 20 yrs ago the US Army's SOP if shelled while moving was for the leader to simply call out a direction and a distance, and everyone would immediately run like hell that way. Why? I'll take a few guesses- A.- Being hit by artillery is the equivalent of being in the kill zone of an ambush. If you're there, you're going to die. In this case there's no ambusher to assault, so getting out of the kill zone is the least bad option. (This may be influenced by the expectations about late 20th century Soviet-style artillery.) B.- If you're facing irregular or light opponents, they may have only a few mortars with limited ability to communicate and adjust fire, so you might just be able to escape by moving quickly. (Perhaps the influence of patrolling experience in Vietnam?) It's also the SOP, as I recall, to have predesignated Rally Points where men would assemble if the unit gets disrupted by this kind of action. The leader designates the rally point with a simple hand signal while on the move. If you get separated later, you return to that spot. This kind of thing is abstracted in CM and the player never has to think about it. Of course, if your mission is defense, dug in, especially with overhead cover, running away is NOT the least bad option, and this SOP does not apply.

Has anyone ever found that radio FO's are less accurate that wire ones? I recently had a US radio 81mm spotter, late '44 scenario, regular, who couldn't hit the enemy no matter how many times I adjusted. Like, 4, 5 times. Maybe it was just a run of random bad luck? Emrys is right about radios often being a pain in the ass. A friend once asked me what the range of the PRC77 I used to carry was, and thinking of its foibles, I said, "Do you mean just thrown by hand?" I heard the Swiss army, even up to a few years ago, depended on wire rather than radio commo because of security reasons.

Destroying a building with a bunker in it does NOT destroy the bunker. Unless there is a fire, of course. If a bunker is in burnable terrain you could try to area fire until a fire starts, but don't bet on it.

Interesting. I never noticed that before. Basically it's just one of the quirks of the game that we have no choice but to accept. I wouldn't call it cheating because (now that it's been pointed out) the opponent probably will note this effect wether he's looking for it or not. By the way, in that screenshot, nice place for a TRP! Ha ha!

Interesting. I never noticed that before. Basically it's just one of the quirks of the game that we have no choice but to accept. I wouldn't call it cheating because (now that it's been pointed out) the opponent probably will note this effect wether he's looking for it or not. By the way, in that screenshot, nice place for a TRP! Ha ha!

If I have to cross an open area I will sometimes do the first part on sneak and the last 40 meters or so on advance. The idea is to get within reach of cover without drawing fire, if the enemy is not too close and is busy with other contacts. I don't know objectively if it is a great method. If any serious volume of fire seems likely, though, you do not want to be crawling around in the open like that.

Howdy Dogface When were you there? I was at Ft Campbell from April '85 to Feb '88. We never traveled further than the California desert during that time, pretty quiet. Seems like ancient history now...

Thanks for asking. It means 'Let valor not fail'. In other words, let our courage not desert us. It's Latin, and it's the motto of the US Army's 187th Infantry Regiment, known as the Rakkasans. Rakkasan is a Japanese word for parachute. About the IS-2, yup, there are one or two interesting threads in the CMBB forum about the IS-2's weird behavior in the game, what it was really designed for (not fighting tanks, apparently), etc. I agree with the above comment about rocket spotters. I just dumped a German 158(?)mm rocket barrage on the center of a Soviet defense and scored exactly one casualty from, what, 108 rockets. Fun to watch, but that's about all.

That little Russian tank with the 37mm gun- the BT-2? It's so obsolete it cracks me up, so I guess I kind of like it. Of the Renault and all these obsolete tanks, at least you can say they are a problem for enemy infantry. I like the ampulomet because anything that makes fire is fun. My real least favorite is the IS-2. It retreats from enemy tanks, reloads slowly, and seems to shoot rather inaccurately.

I just did a test with a full regular platoon hiding in the top floor of a heavy building (I forgot you wrote it was a church) and attacked the building with area fire from a flamethrower. The squads in the back corners of the building were totally unaffected by the attack, didn't even get alerted. (The squads in the front of the building and the platoon CP in the middle unhid themselves and displayed all sorts of anxiety and agression.) So this admittedly casual experiment suggests that a platoon could be hidden in the back corners of a church and not even break a sweat, as far as a flamethrower attack from the front side goes. Didn't test for the Puma but unless it was getting a targeting line real far into the building, the 50mm shells probably wouldn't disturb units in the far side of it. You might have succeeded in getting a foothold on the building if you'd sent only one or two squads just a couple meters into the side of the building you were no doubt sucessfully supressing.

Nice work, Uncle Tgt! I'm downloading tons of your Finnish mods now.

Anyone want to recommend a good book on the Polish campaign? I've seen one, part of a series, (Osprey?) full of maps & illustrations, but I'd like to know of one with more extensive text.

Looking good!

Posted by Jason C.- Part of the confusion may be the original poster thinking the A2 designation has something to do with the gun - it does not. It means "GM". A1 means "Continental" (and a grab bag of train car companies it is true), A3 means "Ford", A4 (and the plain M4 with nothing added) means "Chrysler" - to a first approximation anyway. They are more like auto company brands specifying the producer and "make". -------------- This is interesting to learn. I recently ran into an elderly gentleman wearing an 8th Armored Division cap. I talked to him a while and asked him what kind of tanks he served in. Were they Shermans? He said he didn't know what they were called but they were made by Chrysler. "Chryslers!" he said. This seems to imply that names like Sherman were not so widely used by the tank crews, which was a little surprising to me. "Ah, those were sharp times," he said.

I used to like the grass myself, but lately it only makes me paranoid... But seriously, could this be a sign that there'll be horses and transport wagons in CMX2?

There was a thread a long time ago about Cemetery Hill. People were complaining about how hard it is. It's a very good defensive position as I remember, so don't feel too bad. You may have to play it a few times, trying to put more weight against a different sector each time. I lost the first time I played it, can't remember if I ever won it.

Dey, Sorry to hear about all that's happened. Don't use that 30.06 you mentioned. Stay patient, even when they're trying to break your patience. Keep your eyes open, better luck may come along yet. Hope to see you again here.

Might have something to do with the building collapsing. You didn't say wether it caught fire- perhaps an immobile (1 man) HMG would be allowed to leave his weapon without surrendering, to escape a burning building, or to escape a heavily damaged building under heavy shelling. I'm just speculating, of course. I've never seen such an event either.

Thanks Michael Dorosh and Jon S, It must have been the Max Hastings book. I have Steel Inferno, which impressed me a lot.

Here's a general question- once the Allies were on the ground in Normandy, was there any conceivable strategy by which the Germans could have succeeded? What do you all think would have been the best response? (Go ahead and use the benefit of hindsight in your answers.) Of course the issue is speculative but I sometimes get the impression that the Germans were doomed no matter how they reacted. A separate question- I once saw an interesting history book of the 2nd SS Panzer division in France. Is anyone familiar with such a book, as I can't remember the title?

One man's obsessive micromanagement is probably just another man's due diligence. For my part (playing against the AI) I'm usually not using more than two or three waypoints, and most units don't have covered arcs. I will definitely micromanage and obsess in critical tight situations, which is one of the funnest things about the game, trying to use your head to beat the odds. But in many cases I am, to some extent, preserving my limited mental energy and time. There are instances when I say, OK, I'm getting tired, I'll just try simple solutions... Perhaps the guiding question in how you play should be, 'Are you enjoying the game?'