John1966

As soon as I manage it I'll let you know.

I was playing a scenario in a notoriously difficult campaign recently and going left got cover, going right meant moving a great distance in the open. So obviously I went left. But me being me, I scouted the right despite there not being enough time for that kind of recon (it was a short scenario). Turned out going left was bloody murder. But all that was covering the right was a single MG42. So I worked out that if I supressed it with the MMG and mortar, I could get everyone up to the railway embankment, cross it, then hack left and take the Germans from behind for a very easy victory. OK. Cool trick. All it took was going the completely unintuitive way or guessing that the Germans had left a flank barely defended. Needless to say, I had to play it twice.

People say that a British squad's firepower isn't that dissimilar to a German one. All I'll say is that in one of my early experiences playing the Brits, a full 10-man squad found themselves in a building opposite three Germans across the road. With excess of a 3:1 advantage I thought they've got superior firepower and left them to it. Two minutes later the Brit squad had been wiped out and the Germans had taken a single casualty. So I removed the Germans with a tank. That's sort of how I find Brit scenarios go.

And there's the rub. I absolutely fail to understand the enjoyment to be had from playing the same scenario repeatedly. I'll never grasp why some of us equate that with "fun". The second I play a scenario a second time, I already think I'm cheating. I know stuff I shouldn't know. If it can't be won on the first attempt; if that's not a realistic possibility; I wish it said so right at the start so we could make our mind up whether to bother. Harsh and apologies to those who put the work in on these things. Just explaining what I like.

That's kind of how it should be. My favourite Squad Leader scenario was always The Hedgehog of Piepsk. Think it was 48 Russian squads against 7 German and the Germans always won.

Surely a wargamer only notices that in an operational level game? I always find the Germans tend to turn up with the right tools to do the job. Felt that way since my Squad Leader days. Always remember it said in the notes that they included all those American vehicles as to turn up without a load of trucks and jeeps would be, frankly, "unamerican". I just wondered where I was supposed to park them all.

Well there was one in CMx1. Never quite sure why they got rid of it. I was never quite sure why they got rid of all those funky move orders either. Bring back Move to Contact!

Is there a way of turning a mod off if you don't want it for a particular game?

Just played a game where I had to exit my guys. They were all off with 10 minutes to spare. But instead of hitting ceasefire, I let the clock run. Obviously there were Germans all over the map but with no-one to spot them, I couldn't see what they were up to. So I was a bit surprised to hear grenades going off. Is that what they get up to if no-one's looking? Slightly disappointing end to the story is that when I reviewed the map at game end, turns out one of the vehicles had wandered into a minefield along with supporting infantry. I was probably hearing that. Mind you, I did get victory points for it. Which isn't bad after you've actually left the field.

I'm going in. Again.

OK, I'm being thick. Can't find any instructions. I'm looking for a Z folder. Can't find one.

The British scouts with their Bren carriers are their most useful infantry unit.

Most mortars are quite accurate after a few shots. But not that British platoon thing with 12 rounds (none of which will land anywhere near the target).

I'm very biased to British stuff being a Brit. But most of it sucks, he says with a shocking lack of patriotism. OK, it doesn't. The Really Big Guns are nice but a Brit squad is terrible. A Bren and a Sten and everyone else with a polite .303. You have to buddy aid the guys with the automatic weapons otherwise it's like ordering a firing squad about. Of course, the Paras have a bit more firepower but it's short range and they run out of ammo in a couple of minutes. This I will concede. There's little excuse for not using smoke when you're the Brits. In fact it seems to be my main use for those little platoon mortars. They could be a useful suppression weapon if they were accurate but they're not. I assume it's because they were handheld (hence the lack of set up time).

It's why god gave them rifles. One usually has an SMG too so rude not to send them in.

I don't usually use mods but that looks great.

On the subject of Market Garden, the allies seemed to be oblivious to the fact that the road was surrounded by polder that was completely unsuitable for XXX Corps' tanks. Which is why they had to stick to the road and present easy targets for the German gunners. The Nijmegen-Arnhem stretch was a particular non-starter. The Dutch underground pointed it out but were largely ignored.

Hasn't Anthony Beevor argued that most of the armour that was spotted in advance really was (sort of) inoperable (it was old tanks used for training) but the Germans just reacted quickly to get armour in once they were aware of the drops?

Depends on the distance and what weapons your opposition has. Mortars are effective at ranges small arms usually aren't (MG42s aside).

But they do supress the occupants of a building. Those little ones the Brits used don't though. In fact they usually land miles off.

I'm playing a meeting engagement scenario with green troops and the call times are 13 minutes in a 45 minute game. So they're really only of use for direct fire.

This is nearly as exciting as partisans.

I'm going to call it Olga.

As I say...

How do you know when it's being used (other than watching the loadout numbers)? And how does the AI decide what to use (as we can't order it to use one or the other)?