RommelDAK

Did you download the map first, or just try to print when it was on the screen? I would suggest the former, THEN print it.

I'm sure there must be an easier way, but I opened it in MS Paint (I have a bitmap version of the map) and printed there. It will do section by section until the whole thing is done (I have mounted the dang thing--I'm insane! ). If someone else doesn't give you an easier method of doing this, I'd be glad to send you the .bmp version--if you have DSL or cable modem! It's huge! Or you can take the .jpg map I had uploaded and convert it to .bmp.

I'm an economist by trade and some of the discussion of resources above reminded me of a book I reviewed for a journal some years back. It was entitled, The Economics of World War Two, edited by Mark Harrison (Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 1998), with a chapter on Germany by Werner Abelhauser. I don't know how directly relevant to the discussion this quote (from Abelhauser) is, but I'll toss it out there! I didn't have time to reread the whole chapter, but as I recall it argued that Germany gained much more from France and the Low Countries than they ever did from Russia. The low level of economic development and transportation problems with the latter meant that the bounty the Germans expected (even of what they DID capture) simply was not there. Interesting stuff! The Germans also did silly things like running only a single shift at factories--the Allies were shocked and delighted to discover this as they overran them. BTW, I'm not sure that SC doesn't already capture what Abelhausen argues (I'd have to sit and count up the MMP points in France vs. western Russia and I don't have time right now). But in some ways you have to make Russia a potential MPP mother load or you won't recreate what happened (given that the Germans *expected* it to be). The Germans need the incentive to do what they did.

I'd add one more thing to your plusses of board wargames, john_j: ease of rules tinkering. If you decided that almost ANY aspect of the game wasn't to your liking, it was much easier to tweak it. Some computer games offer some ability to do that, but others (most? ) are just plain tinker unfriendly!

Amen, Hank.

Out of respect for my university's server, I've decided to pull of three of the four maps (no one complained, but they are pretty darn big! ). I'll leave the big one with the minors' troop strengths on it. If anyone wants the others then please e-mail me (address available in my profile). Here's the one I left on: Map Thanks!

Done! I couldn't take it--I had to fix the maps! The links above now take you to SC maps including resource levels. What the heck, here they are again: Smaller version MAP DELETED--see my note below Larger version MAP DELETED--see my note below Again, "larger" and "smaller" refer to file size and hence quality rather than physical size. The red lines are the Vichy border and the Russo-German partition of Poland. I went crazy and did another map, this one giving a summary of each minor's troop strength: Smaller version including troop strength MAP DELETED--see my note below Larger version including troop stength These are troop strengths given activation on Sept. 1, 1939. Dunno if any of these would change over the course of the game. Also bear in mind that a couple of the minors' units are at strength 8 rather than 10. Hope this is helpful to someone! EDIT: Oh, if you catch an error, please let me know! [ February 19, 2003, 05:51 PM: Message edited by: RommelDAK ]

Lord have mercy! I'm sure I would have jumped all over this in high school, but no time any more. Still, it's fun to own games like this just to pull them out of the closet and stare sometimes! I do that with SPI's War in Europe. It's fun just to move the furniture and lay out all the maps!

Many thanks to both of you--this is very helpful!

DOH! I'm an idiot! I should have declared war on everyone before I did the screen pics so I'd have all the resource values on the map, too! I also need to add the Vichy and Russo-German partition borders. Busy week, but maybe I can give you better versions by Thursday or Friday.

Though I spent a chunk of yesterday catching up and reading all 23 pages of this forum, I never got a clear sense of folks' views on where the Axis should head after the fall of France. I have played it several ways, but can't make up my mind which is best. Perhaps it comes down to three choices: 1) Sealion, then face the Russians and US; 2) Grab minors close to Germany to raise MPP base, then head to Russia; 3) Try to knock the Brits out of the Mediterranean, then head to Russia (with a drive into Iraq to threaten the Soviets from both directions). Opinions? I'm new here and I know you fellows have been spending many hours posting on this sort of thing for many months now, so I don't expect anything exhaustive. Just a "1,", "2," or "3" (or "other") would be fine! I also realize a) that there is not necessarily one best option (it depends on how you play it) and that it also depends on how your opponent reacts. Still, what is your preference? Thanks very much! Oh, I lean towards #3!

Had you just arrived? They need to be there a turn, first. Then unload next turn. Also, was there room? No, don't need HQ.

I say that the only real way to tell is to download the demo. It's fully playable, so that will give you an excellent sense of the way it works: Strat Comm Look on menu to left (or blurb to right) to download demo. For the record, I LOVE Strategic Command, but cannot stand Combat Mission (I guess I'm one of the three or four people on the planet who think the latter! ). Dunno if that means you won't like SC or not. Anyway, no better way to know than to check it out!

Well, I'm glad it helped someone--especially a fan of Buckaroo Banzai and a person who quoted from the same speech as me for his sig! The nut that I am, I've printed the map, too, and plan to mount it this afternoon. Sometimes I frighten myself with the sort of things I decide to do for fun.

I'm sure someone else has already done this, but I couldn't find it anywhere. So this is how I spent an exciting Friday night--doing screen caps and pasting! It's not perfect. I think Turkey took the worst of it, as it's the last place I worked on (it reminded me of the time I wallpapered our kitchen--it just wouldn't line up! ). Here's a big map: Large SC Map MAP DELETED--see my note below and here's a smaller one: Small SC Map MAP DELETED--see my note below Oh, by "smaller" I mean in terms of file size (the detail is not as good)--it's physically the same size. Of course, you can download it and fix that yourself. I also have the original bitmap version I made, but it's massive (12,000KB). If someone wants it I'd be glad to e-mail (go to my profile to get my address). Again, apologies if this was posted somewhere else and I just couldn't find it. MODERATOR: If it turns out that there is some legal or moral reason that I should not have posted Hubert's map without permission, then by all means delete this post! [ February 19, 2003, 05:52 PM: Message edited by: RommelDAK ]