GreenAsJade

For fun/variety choose "An Island to Close" (sic). Give the stronger player the attack.

WN - it was great!! Well done. It proves this game is not about what you've got, it's about how you use it... GaJ.

... but I hope that whatever it is you give us, you put it in a well thought out place

It's a strange thing to say, but I find CMBO too easy somehow. That's why I say "fairy floss". Nice to eat very occasionally, but insubstantial, and after you eat some, you remember why you stopped doing it. GaJ.

I imagine Walpurgis Night AAR will really open some eyes and cause some slapping of fros. "Why didn't I think of that?!". GaJ.

Commiserations jwx - how frustrating to have your great work derailed at the last moment! I said it before, but its still worth saying: it was fun to set up, and took many hours of thought. One sign of a good scenario IMHO. It's nice to know how it got where it did in the end! GaJ.

Let's be clear: no-one is looking for perfection. Neither is anyone looking for specific information about where and when reinforcements arrive. What we are expressing disappointment about is reinforcements appearing in _totally unrealistic_ positions. Neither tanks nor infantry beam down from the mothership into the middle of a field with LOS on a battle in full swing. There are always rationalisations ... "holy cow, batman, where did that tank come from", but it is a fact that from the player's point of view this is highly suboptimal. What's more, some scenarios deal with it better than others. This shows that it _can_ be done well. All that this thread is is guidance to scenario designers that this stuff matters to us, and we really appreciate it when you put the effort in to avoid those silly looking situations. GaJ.

My understanding is that a review team has selected 5 of the best, and we get to rate those. I share your frustration that the AARs are not yet posted. My offer of assistance with getting that problem fixed remains open. GaJ.

I really enjoyed setting up Honour as the Axis. I didn't totally enjoy getting whupped, but no-one said that the scenarios were going to be even (in fact the rules reserve the right for them not to be). Did anyone simply run away, and save the lives of the defending troops? For me I was already decimated before I realised I had set up a lost cause. Also, WN has shown that Honour can be won. It just took a rather unexpected (for dummies like me) approach. And isn't that how the great commanders always win: chosing the correct unexpected approach?

Is LOS in fog infinite at mid-day? Wierd!

It maybe true that the specific attraction of the original is not in the follow ons in many games, and it may be true in Combat Mission too. In the case of Combat Mission, the followons have much better attractions than the original. If you want to keep pushing supermen around the a fairy floss map, stick with what you know. That's an attraction for some. If you want the challenge of more realistic unit behaviour, CMBB and CMAK will attract you more. GaJ.

Thanks for all this discussion. It's fantastic. Tim described the idea that I thought "Layered defense" meant. Redwolf (and earlier others) described my problem with it - I had the vague idea, but couldn't get it to work in practice. I just had forward people being killed then rear people being killed. Walpurgis has described how & when it's supposed to work. Yay! That was exactly the kind of description I was looking for! I still have one definite problem after reading Walpurgis's explanation. How do you get it so that the retreat can be covered? One repeatable problem I have is LOS for covering fallback. It's almost a Catch 22. The guys are forward to be the first ones to see the oncoming enemy and trigger the ambush. So they see them, open fire, then want to run. But they were forward so they could *be* the ones to see the oncoming troops. Hence the people further back who are supposed to be covering still logically (and in practice) can't see the enemy units that the forward people have now engaged and want to retreat from! This was particularly bad in Proof of Honour. But maybe it's "Duh - you can't do this in a low LOS environment like that". Well - hopefully a better understanding of how it works will let me design it better & make it work! Certainly having experienced troops up front is something I haven't paid attention to. In fact, I think I've been thinking "well, these forward guys are going to get waxed, so lets put the green people up there". Duh! Self fullfilling prophecy! Walpurgis - if it's possible to describe some more around how you arrange the covering fire to be effective, that would be wonderful. Thanks all. GaJ.

The problem you described Redwolf is the problem I was having. Thanks HEAPS to Paco for that comprehensive answer! "layered defense" RIP GaJ.

Actually, both my opponent and I were equally disgruntled with the position of my reinforcements in V3. That being said, we both enjoyed the scenario, and I don't for a moment want to pick on it in particular. It was just the last one in a string of them that triggered my comments. I agree that forces may have to come into battle in a way that doesn't suit them ideally, but there are some cases where the commander who sent them there would have been court-martialled afterwards...

I thought Kingfish was going to run my Wolf battle to completion. Is there any reason not to? (I'm not incredibly fussed - but the opportunity is there) GaJ.

Just for the record: my comments only relate to scearios designed for head to head, not AI. GaJ.

Round wheels would be a leap forward...

Since each face represents a number of soldiers, maybe they should be striped? Oh silly me ... remembering that individual soldiers aren't modelled....

Wow - 4 posts and 4 different ideas of what "layered defense" would be! My (mal-formed?) conception was most like HarryInk's: anticipating the line of attack, and putting different obstacles in the way, intended to feel out the attacking force, and weaken it while withdrawing in front of it, but not to stop or kill it: that is the job of the last layer. This idea never works because "withdrawing in front of" an attacking force never works. The front layers are spotted then wiped out ... once they are engaged they are never able to move back.

Top site ... obviously loads of effort went into it!!

From time to time I've heard of this concept of a "layered defense", and thought I had an idea of what it involved. But any time I've tried my understanding of how to do it, I just end up with a series of wiped out forces! Can anyone describe how it works? Give examples of how you made it work? How you recognise when you should do one? Ta!

Why is it gamey?

I really only just learned about more creative uses of smoke a couple of scenarios ago, when TrailApe opened up his attack with a whole barrage of smoke before moving tanks forward. Since then, I try to use it whereever I can. It's just played a crucial part in helping me dominate my most recent match mwahahahah!

I have never experienced "going insane trying to move them up". I have often experience aggravation from lamentable placings. Behind tree screens, depressions, buttoned up, sensible formation - all these things are highly appreciated! Of course, if a defender is being overrun, then even the best placed reinforcements might end up appearing in line of fire. I don't think anyone could expect otherwise. However, in the cases that I am lamenting its almost impossible to conceive how the reinforcements would _not_ be in direct line of fire when they appeared! That kind of thing really should be avoided. GaJ.

I have no problem with random reinforcements. With respect to picking the right location I would beg this: no matter what other factors there are (within reason) please make sure that the reinforcements won't be fired upon at normal weapon effive ranges in the turn that they arrive! Ideally, they should not even be visible by the enemy in the turn they arrive, but if they are going to be visible, then they should be configured for battle, not standing around out in the open without a care in the world. If it means that they have to move a little further to get into the battle, then make them come slightly earlier!