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John1966

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Posts posted by John1966

    The moment I realized...

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Prepare to be mightily impressed with the realism of this game (which can be rather unforgiving at times...).

    Oh, I have been. I played so many games of CMx1 I was just sick of the sight of the cartoony little men. Still loved the game in principal. I was bitterly disappointed that the first CMx2 was modern. Sorry, that's just the way it is. My primary thing is historical interest. But now I'm back and gloriously wasting my time playing a computer game again. It even looks nicer. And that's important as it makes it more immersive.

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    Steelbox/Customs charges in the UK

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Apparently:

    "Commercial consignments of £18 or less are free from customs duty and import VAT (please note: With effect from 1 November 2011 the £18 threshold will be reduced to £15 - see 2.4 below). For example, goods purchased over the internet with an intrinsic value not exceeding £18, will not be charged any duty or VAT but this does not include alcohol, tobacco products, perfume or toilet waters. See paragraph 2.6, 2.7 and section 3."

    All those DVDs cost less than £18. Still a bloody outrage. There's also a bit later on that says: "Customs duty becomes payable if the value of the goods is over £135" which seems to contradict the above but if this stuff wasn't confusing it just wouldn't be Britain.

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    No Retreating, no sense.

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    A few of the scenarios I have played have featured soft-skinned vehicles being left about to be shot up by my chaps. I agree that they would most likely have left area once they had fulfilled their use and the lead started flying.

    Unless this is an elaborate ruse to get my lot to waste ammo and give their positions away...

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    A Delaying Action - SPOILERS-

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    No fair! No fair!

    I was about halfway through this scenario when I spotted this thread so I chose not to read it until now.

    SPOILERS

    I was pretty chuffed at the halfway stage as I'd got an HQ unseen onto that railway line (having taken casualties earlier having forgotten about covered arcs) and taken out the two visible 88s with arty. I'd got two platoons up to the MLR and occupied the trenches the 88s had occupied. Just a matter of supporting with the Shermans and rolling up the flank.

    Except it wasn't.

    It was carnage.

    Three Shermans were lost in a turn to the 88s I never even found until after the game was over. Another two of them! I lost about 2/3 of the infantry killed or wounded by the end (probably the worst casualties I have ever suffered).

    So there were more AT guns than anticipated (4 x 88s, 2 x 50mm and assorted infantry AT stuff)?

    So the defense was a little deeper than expected?

    Just a bit!

    The number of troops defending are roughly the same as those attacking so they can afford to defend pretty deeply. And the the AT guns outnumber the tanks! And four of them are 88s! All this in a scenario that involves crossing an open field of fire that you can't even cover with base of fire easily as that railway line blocks LOS from the nearest cover.

    To add insult to injury, I was also mocked by being given an AT gun and a DVD of the Sound of Music.

    OK, I made up the bit about the DVD but it might as well have been true as I'm sure it would have been as much use as the AT gun.

    Just to add to the mockery, the scenario was called "A Delaying Action". It made "Cemetrey Ridge" (was that its name?) look like a difficult old lady. If it had been for real I would have pulled out and called in the air force.

    Tactical defeat. Oh well, I suppose it was quite fun in a masochistic sort of way...

    ; )

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    Movement orders ignored repeatedly

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Apologies if this out there already but I can't find it if it is.

    I've just been playing "Buying the Farm" and I worked two Engineer squads into a good position to assault the hedgerow in front of them. Lots of surpressive fire, two mortar barrages just been delivered, no fire coming from the hedgerow (or anywhere that they would have been aware of) and the squads were rested and in good order "OK". Not pinned in any way.

    So I issue assault commands and they just sit there. They're not cowering, they have no casualties. They just sit there.

    After the turn is over, I check the squads. One still has the assault command in place and the other has just discarded theirs. So I issue the orders again. Nothing.

    So I move their HQ unit right next to them. Nothing. Orders discarded.

    So I issue "quick" move orders. Nothing.

    I issue a variety of movement orders. Nothing!

    They just sit there soaking up the sun. After 7 or 8 minutes I have given up as they squads had now started to take fire due to the effects of the barrage wearing off and the Germans having had time to send for reinforcements from the Eastern Front.

    Just to check the game isn't broken, I start issuing random movement orders to other squads including some suicidal ones. No problem. Eveyone tries to do as they're told.

    So what was I doing wrong with these two? Ruined the scenario...

    Any words of wisdom appreciated.

    (My first post in years! WWII is wear its at)

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    Light/partial armour

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Just curious...

    I've just had a US platoon HQ "knock out" (important distinction here: "Knocked out" not "abondoned") a German SD KFZ 7/1 flak vehicle from about 200m armed with nothing but a carbine and three M1 rifles.

    How'd they do that then?

    I realise they could cause crew casualties but surely the best that gets you is "abandoned".

    I realise that the vehicle in question is only "light/partially armoured", but surely that's enough to stop you being KO'd by (light) small arms fire from that range...

    There was some other stuff firing on the vehicle (other small arms and an 81mm morter area firing at a point about 15-20m away due to no LOS) but it was the platoon HQ who took the credit in the "KILLS/INFO" window.

    As grateful as I am to the HQ in question I would love to hear your grognard explantions (or bizarre magic bullet theories).

    Or just explain that I'm stupid and don't understand this game (after about 2 years of playing).

    Cheers

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    Say It Aint So. . .

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Could have swore one of my tank crews yelled, 'Boo Yah!" upon hitting a target.

    Is it true, or are my ears playing tricks on me?

    OK, I'm gonna admit my ignorance on this one,

    The first time I ever heard 'Boo Yah!" said by anyone was when Smithers was trying to convince Mr Burns that people weren't booing him in an episode of The Simpsons (the title/plot of which escapes my memory - and the wifes in bed).

    He claimed they were saying 'Boo Yah!"

    And then, like some sinister B-movie plot I hear my American tank crews saying it whenever they scratch German paintwork.

    Is this some US thing?

    What does it mean?

    How come I never heard it in coversation despite my English public school education?

    Or am I just completely uncool when it comes to 1940's US slang?

    Don't tell me that it's used in the UK (please) otherwise I'll feel stupid (again)...

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    Has CM killed ASL and other board games?

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    One thing I liked about the ASL and SL series are the national characteristics. For whatever reason in CM a squad is pretty much a squad. Give me a squad of free french with rifles and an LMG or a squad of russian infantry that are all regular and they all act the same (excepting the human wave, of course). I really liked the way they attempted to "build in" the national characteristics that REALLY DID matter, such as the British refusal to cower, the Russian occasion of going berserk, and the plethora of German leaders, and the Americans having plentiful ammo.

    Do you know I've never really thought about that...

    Bearing in mind CM's ASL roots, I have always assumed that national characteristics were actually built in.

    Is that right? Are they not? - It's difficult to tell when you're just playing the game.

    If they're not, I'd like to have that on the CMx2 wish list. It can't be hard to include.

    Or is this something that people actually don't want?

    (Or is there a thread about this that I haven't bothered to look up? That'll teach me to post on the spur of the moment...)

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    Has CM killed ASL and other board games?

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    SL/ASL was definitely killed off for me by CM.

    It's not just that CM is better; it's the practicality of playing the games.

    I discovered CM about 18 months to 2 years ago and I have played (and finished) more games in that time than SL/ASL games played over about 15 years!

    I was actually looking for a computer version of ASL but I assumed one didn't exist.

    CM actually has its roots in ASL but for some reason it passed me by - It's not something it says on the CM box...If it did I would have probably discovered it a lot earlier.

    Still, the SL/ASL boxes look nice on the shelf...

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    Highway to the Reich

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    HTTR is great. Its like sitting at HQ with a map in front of you with only a vague idea of what is going on and not quite the control of the situation that you would like. In many ways it's actually more "real" than CM.

    Although I find CM more fun.

    Assumimg that "fun" is allowed among CM players...

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    How's your languages?

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Love the voices in CMAK (especially the British NCOs).

    However, it suddenly struck me that you can be a bit "gamey" with this (whether you want to or not).

    I only speak English (and was notoriously bad at languages at school).

    If I'm playing CM (any version) and I see enemy troops running about (or taking cover), I don't normally have any concrete info on their actual morale state. For all I know they could be in good order.

    Of course, when I'm playing the axis nations, I can usually understand what the enemy is saying even though I haven't got a clue what my own men are on about. When you hear Brits shouting "run away, run away" or "we're surrounded" then it's obvious that their panicing. This seems to give me an unfair advantage that I don't get when I'm playing a side that actually speak english themselves (because I'd know their morale state anyway and I don't know what the enemy are talking about).

    I wouldn't like to turn the voices off but I'd greatly apperciate it if anyone knows what some of the non-english (Russian included) CM phrases that we hear so often actually mean...

    Any cunning linguists out there? (Sorry, James Bond joke) ;)

    Fenetic spellings would be helpful (especially for Russian!)

    Oh, and has anyone else noticed that the South Africans sound suspicously Australian? (And shouldn't they speak Afrikaans anyway?) :confused:

    Cheers smile.gif

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