GreenAsJade

Speak for yourself, buddy .... GaJ

Movie 43, 0:28-0:27 Pretty much nothing of note happened this turn. A bit of artillery fell on The Spur. Some forces moved up the right - clearly a large force will arrive in Tame soon. I have a HMG, AAHT, M10, mortar there to try to inflict some damage. I can't tell, still, what's happening on the left. Either Bil is waiting behind The Spur till after his barrage, or he is sneaking like a thief up the very far left map edge, where I can't get eyes. Let's see what happens next turn... GaJ

Isn't that what the state "planning" means GaJ

Excuuuuuse me... the times that my men die is when they hear your voice wafting across the battlefield and get all over excited and follow it's commands! There I was yelling "no, no, no, come back" as that M10 rushed forwards, goaded by your foghorn like voice, to try to ping those PzIVhs... to the inevitable outcome. As to creeping around like thieves: I haven't been doing any creeping at all... that's Bil's job. My guys sit still like snakes and get spotted, while his guys creep like thieves then call in cowardly HE to dispatch me... GaJ

2.4.5 is in the dropbox share for H2HH - send me an email address and I'll add you to the access. I have seen H2HH occasionally intermittently fail to save settings in the past, but only very intermittently, so I've never been able to nail it down. Maybe if the problem is repeatable for you, we can solve it! I've PMed you... GaJ

Movie 42, 0:29-0:28 The attack on my left seems slow coming. Spotting rounds fell again towards the centre of The Spur, but sound contacts remain out wide left, not progressing. I wish I could put more eyes out left and long, but I'm pretty much through scouting units now. The mortar bearers that were wide and long left are heading back towards Hill 153, to look from there. Elsewhere, I'm falling back, looking to make a position behind Tame, and in the centre left. GaJ

I take it back. It looks fine for me in the current AAR game, now! I wonder if I looked at an early version last time I checked, by mistake? I'll keep my eyes out for any situations where it doesn't seem good. GaJ

It'd be a shame to restrict the AAR to the combatants only, because it's fun to get responses here. I guess we just need to curtail wideranging discussions I did trigger this one off though, by bitching and moaning, so it's all my fault GaJ

Since this is my thread, I can define the terms of discussion :) The idea that every unit should have a covered arc is not one of them. The specific thing that I complain about often is that when you _do_ need a covered arc - to create an ambush for example - then often _I_ experience the problem I had in the last turn: that something happens just outside the arc that certainly the arc'ed troop should respond to after the trap is sprung. This one was a little unusual - the ambushee moved sideways out of the arc. More often, they move backwards out, then rally, or an overwatching unit outside the arc starts firing on the ambushers... which they fail to respond to. GaJ

I'm not sure if I understand the question. The new Ranger uniform, with patch, came with GL... GaJ

Just to be clear: DT's proposal is what I also said... GaJ

Yeah, I acknowledge it's hard I guess I better use wider arc, but IIRC the reason I started narrowing them down is unfortunate cases where some unexpected enemy appearance spoiled an ambush. GaJ

Yeah, I know, it's not an easy one... obviously, or they would have fixed it by now. However, I think that you're missing my point sburke: once the arc is triggered, _then_ it should not longer apply. This seems obvious to me: once the arc is triggered, the guys have given away their position by firing, so why would they then not fire back on enemy who have spotted them and are shooting at them? Sure, they should not return fire to area fire on their location ... until they give themselves away by carrying out the ambush they were asked to do... GaJ

Meanwhile, on the left, it's clear that Bil is winding up a punch, likely on the far left. Spotting rounds fell on The Spur, and noises continue on the left end of the Spur. (Incidentally, also, mortar rounds fell in the area my M10 just vacated, indicating that Bil has on-map arty that can see there, either from across the valley, or back at the Tits) I'm marshalling my forces a little further back from the reverse of The Spur, where hopefully a pre-planned barrage won't hit them, and the overwatching bunkers have more chance of helping.. GaJ

Movie 41, 0:30-0:29 Well, at least one thing worked to plan, though even while this happened things were not ideal Bil's "armour" continues to press fast up the centre right, running ahead of it's infantry screen... Bazinga, take that... But then, I ran into one of the real beefs that I have with CMx2 at the moment: covered arc mechanics: This guy lept out of the HT, escaped the first round of fire (unlike his buddy nearby) ... and run out of the covered arc. What do my guys do? Ignore him! It's nuts. Covered arcs are for setting ambushes, but once units come under fire, it's crazy that they continue to honour the arc. Anyhow... at least I scored a kill. Enough of that.... Further up the ridge, I popped a MMG over the road to try to keep tripping up the infantry screen and pull the tanks forwards ahead again. They opened fire on the approaching infantry screen, and were duly taken out by the accompanying tank. The tank is barely meters behind the inf. I'm hoping that the next contact will be with the remaining inf group, which will reveal the tank to the bazooka stationed nearby. Fingers crossed on that one. Meanwhile, the HMG bunker continues to be totally useless. An infantry unit followed the path of the KW last turn, heading up the guys of the valley to Tame. The bunker failed to spot them: WTF?

Thanks for laughing at my joke. It can be hard to see the humorous side at times like this, but having someone laugh at a joke is always nice... GaJ

War Movie Mode looks no good on my machine. GaJ

Hmm - I wonder if Bil sent you over here to say that, and lull me into a false sense of security? Movie 40, 0:31-0:30 Bil's PzIVh spotted and killed my M10 before my M10 could even get a round of area fire in the direction of the PzIVh - at that time, my M10 had still not spotted the PzIVHs - the dead M10 spotted the PzIVH after it fired the deadly shot... However, there was a worse insult this turn: Bil drove his KW right across the field of view of the HMG bunker and on into Tame with barely a scratch. As the KW drove across the exposed face of Hill 126, the HMG bunker fired a single burst, which was reported to have penetrated the KW - a vehicle that was chock full of meaty targets (4 guys). There was no visible result - it continued driving, and the HMG did not fire again. Well - that catches me completely flat-footed. I was not planning to have arrivals in Tame for at least another 3-4 minutes - I thought Bil would be forced to either deal with that bunker, or go around the back (where my defenders are). "Fall back!!" GaJ

The arc was 30m. I was thinking that the concealment would be excellent.... and I think it was: the tank didn't pick my guys up till they opened fire. If it had continued on it's previous path, it would have intersected the arc at an angle where its side was in full view...

So ... I'll area fire along that line and see if that gets me anything, before once again pulling back as presumably the mortars rain in again. Meanwhile, Bil is thumbing his nose at me up the right flank, by bringing forwards to Hill 126 a KW of some sort... He knows I can't do anything about this - I've had to pull back from the centre right ridge due to Elefants and Brumbars and PzIVhs, and I can't come forwards from behind Hill 126 either... Meh! GaJ

Movie 39, 0:32-0:31 I'm still struggling to get any little break... It was of course a long shot that my satchel guys might take down a PzIVh, but darn its a shame that this guy suddenly veered left to bear direct down on them instead of passing by with his side exposed! TC is killed ... but so is satchel guy! Similarly, while I'm delighted to have gone another turn without losing any more assets, I could have asked for just a bit of a break with my M10 rush... the M10 arrived hull down looking down on the right wing PzIVhs... but he hasn't spotted it yet...

The CW AFVs certainly bring a new and different feel: that's fun. But it's incremental, not must have (a personal choice, of course). The nature of the fights is still quite similar. CMFI is truly a different theatre, and the nature of the battles is palpably different. And ... I like GL better. It is incrementally different to Sicily, but a good increment. I can't put my finger on it, but I wasn't wild about Sicily. A bit monotonous vines and stones. But I really like CMFI with Sicily & Gustav... GaJ

The choice you presented is almost a no-brainer. If you can have _either_ - upgrade CMBN to CW, but no CMFI OR - Leave CMBN where it is, and acquire CMFI plus GL then you must go the second, unless there is some specific CW unit you can't live without. Upgrading CMBN to CW just gives you a few more units with which to bash around in the bocage. Acquiring CMFI brings a whole new theatre... GaJ

Movie 38, 0:33-0:32 Dang, Bil is pushing hard with his PzIVhs. How does he know I don't have bazookas galore in the grass there - he knows I do have forces there!? I _do_ have one unit with satchels that might get in range of these guys, if the grass treats them kindly, and one bazooka a little further back, also now hiding and waiting. Meanwhile, the rest of the guys have bailed out in the face of nasty big tanks, and are safely over the road into my left centre midfield. If you recall, about a turn ago I mentioned it would be safe for my centre M10 to keep watching the right flank for about a minute, before Bil would have a chance to get mortars lined up for there. Right on schedule: Thankfully, both centre M10s got back to the other side of the road before any harm was done. Now they have the opportunity to do the counter-attack that Ken has been hollering for. This is not without its risks, because a nasty tank-killer could materialize up the centre left (as shown above) ... but I have done the best I can to counter for this, with an ATG (back left) and bazookas in place to try to disuade such a thing. The only asset I'm aware of that might be placed for this is a Brummbar that I have lost track of. On the left flank, it does appear that Bil is winding up a punch: the JgPz is on it's way, and HTs appear to be as well. I'm a little surprised he's abandoned the Hill 130 overwatch ... that to me was one of the biggest dilemmas I was facing. Having it gone frees up movement some more - though of course I'm sure I'll hate it when the JgPz arrives up close. One other thing to report: WTF with mortar rounds landing in my reverse-slope location where the AAHT is!? I have no idea how he can see back here!? GaJ