tuhhodge

Although they were never used in anger because the Battle of Britain was won in 1940, we have loads of pill boxes around here in Suffolk. They're just part of the rural furniture. It seems unreal that people seriously considered the possibility of battles being fought around my home, but I guess the locals in Normandy thought the same thing in 1940.

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Point du Hoc is the little triangle jutting out to the right of Omaha, at the bottom right of the photo.

Yep, it's the white concave slither of beach in the middle of each pic! Carentan is the bottom left of the first pic, Isigny just above the line of clouds in the second pic.

In the course of the day job I flew over Normandy at lunchtime today and thought you guys might appreciate some shots from the cockpit. Sorry about the poor quality. I blame the iPhone and 38000 feet of atmosphere. Hope you like these photos of Carentan, Isigny and Omaha, with Sword, Juno and Gold off in the distance. I get a funny feeling flying over Normandy. To think all of those famous events actually happened just down there!

Only when the game has done something 'gamey' or I got distracted and forgot to do something before ending the turn. I try to be honest with myself. If I made a bad decision, I live with it.

In my opinion the time constraints on most battles generally force players to act too quickly, taking risks with units. But I do sympathise, Joe, because I have average casualty figures higher than in WWII despite trying to be careful.

Paper Tiger Those locations are a little north of me. We're in south Suffolk these days although we still have a house in Needham Market. I would hazard a guess that the area from Wickham Market north towards Halesworth and Beccles is a good Normandy substitute, but if you want bocage come down to Polstead. As for forgetting ALT-T....been there...

Whether made by a professional or amateur designer, some maps are awful and others are excellent. In my experience, a lot of the quick battle maps are awful and I rarely use them, choosing to download from the Repository instead. The QB maps are generally unrealistic and dull. I live in the UK in Suffolk which has similar countryside to that found in Normandy. We have true bocage and we also have wide open fields. People have be living around here and cultivating the landscape for thousands of years, so the lay of the land bears witness to years of human influence. It is the same in Normandy, even more so in the bocage countryside. It takes a lot of effort to replicate the true nature of the countryside around here on a game map. QB maps generally don't manage it. Wide open maps with patches of trees? Hmmm. This is not the Russian steppes or in any way similar to the prairie landscapes of North America! That said, parts of Normandy are wide open, with huge cultivated wheat fields and little cover. Think about the area around Carpiquet west of Caen and south east of the City towards Bourgebus. Allied tanks were decimated in these places and attackers paid the price for attacking across large fields in full view of the enemy. Many of the carefully crafted campaign maps reflect this terrain well. In summary, the original poster makes some good points, but perhaps people need to be realistic about the terrain in this part of the world. It is varied: both bocage and big fields. Each needs careful attention to reflect reality.

I found 'It never snows in September' hard work. Well written, but terribly depressing reading from the point of view of a Brit or American and makes the Germans look like heroes. I'm all for redressing the literary balance (victors write history and all that) but... 'A bridge too far' is excellent reading. Ambrose's book on Arnhem and his book on D-Day are both ok.

Omaha last week from the flightdeck.

And my tanks arrived to save the day! A 75mm armed Sherman took out a Tiger from the front. Good man. Planning on stalking the other and taking out its supporting infantry, using the enemy's tactics to extract revenge!

PS: one of my 6 pounders managed to scare off a Tiger with a few well-aimed shots, possibly damaging its main gun. Mind you, with machineguns that kill entire sections in one burst, it's still a lethal proposition.

Thanks for the sympathetic replies gentlemen! I replayed the scenario last night and made significant progress. First off, I concentrated my troops, kept them hidden. Second, I managed to lay down a thick barrage of mortars right on the attacking troops. Lucky, maybe. I was doing quite well until a Tiger's machinegun killed 5 and wounded 3 in one burst, causing another section and an HQ to run off. Another team was panicked and instead of running away from trouble, hid behind a building before running out across a field!? Overall, things were more realistic, so I clearly was a little unlucky before. I still think the machineguns are too effective against troops hidden in buildings or foxholes. Neither cover offers any protection.

I was playing the 3rd scenario yesterday. It's the one where you defend against an attack by infantry supported by Tiger tanks. Well, either I'm absolutely useless (quite possibly), incredibly unlucky, or the game is hopelessly unrealistic. As I've managed to win other scenarios without losing too many men I don't think I'm that poor a tactician. And I only play the game because it seems realistic (albeit hampered by the limits of the AI). So that leaves bad luck? Examples: Houses provide no cover whatsoever. Enemy stonks landing 50m away decimate sections of my hardy warriors. One presumes they were all standing at the windows watching. Almost all enemy barrages saturated my positions. On random barrage of three shells all landed on my carefully concealed AT gun! Conversely, all my mortars missed their target areas by up to 250m, one whole barrage landed off map. I even corrected my targeting and that simply moved the stonks into another vacant area of bocage! I seem to recall that Brit arty was the best of all the WWII participants, regularly saving the infantry by breaking up overwhelming German attacks, especially around Caen. LOS? I had a bunch of blind gunners. What's the chance of that hey!? Despite pre-checking positions, after carefully moving an AT gun and setting up, they couldn't see a road 50m away. Same road was clearly visible if you viewed it through the camera at ground level. On moving the AT gun, it got shot up by Germans whose eyesight must have been much better! LOL. Oh, I don't know guys, I'm just a bit dispirited. I love the game and have been playing since the Combat Mission series began. I hate playing in a gamey fashion, so my defensive positioning reflects that. Then, after giving my hidden troops orders to hold fire until the enemy is crossing an open field in front of them, I order them all to open fire. What happens? My guys are all routed within a minute, after panicking when the enemy dares to return fire. The buildings give no protection. The enemy in the open is almost unscathed. I'll try the scenario again. Maybe I'll try opening fire earlier? Problem I find with that tactic is that the enemy tanks simply drive up to the troops and murder them. The AT guns are next to useless against Tigers unless you catch them at close range from behind... Sorry for the rant.