l.cassidy
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Posts posted by l.cassidy
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Corvidae & Jason,
thanks for the instructive and entertaining thread.
Comrade Corvidaevich, well done!
The scenario was admittedly balanced in your favor, though it's always good to see the hitlerites down in the dust once in a while!
Cheers,
Cassidy
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I can report this episode that occourred to me some months ago with a Stug that went fanatic,Originally posted by Nemesis Lead:Cobalt,
I am not sure if vehicles can be fanatic. However, the way to tell might be to have numerous penetrations and crew casualties and the crew does not leave the tank or get shocked. It would reload and fire normally.
Of course, if the tank is "knocked out," there would be no reason for the crew to stay on board..... A fanatic crew would probably not "abandon" a still functioning tank (unless it lost so many crewmen that it could not operate the tank). In CM, I don't think I have seen a crew take MORE than 50% casualties and stay in the tank.
or berserk or whatever: it simply refused to give up and kept on returning fire no matter what.
* (note: it happened in CMAK, though) *
I was playing the U.S. attacking German A.I.
I usually give the AI some experience bonus so this Stug had a high-end crew, Vet or more.
It was holding a small rise of the ground and was standing behind a small patch of scattered trees. My attempts to take it out with a couple of Stuarts engaging it head-on lead to the loss of one the abovementioned Stuarts.
Time to switch to Plan B.
Being near the end of the game and with the enemy infantry mostly dispersed/suppressed, I rushed 2 flamethrowers and a engineer squad towards the tree patch and 2 bazookas and my remaining Stuart towards its right flank to engage it with flank shots.
The flame/engineer team was mostly intended as a diversion to keep the Stug busy while the
designated killer team (Stuart & zooks) was to whack it from the flank.
One of the flamers never made it to the trees while the other two did, although rattled to death.
In the meantime the Stuart and zooks team reached the designated flanking position (I don't remember the exact distance, but it was well within bazooka range, I'd say about 150m).
The flamethrower managed to hose the Stug twice before being routed by the Stug's return fire
while the engineers never managed to lob a satchel charge and never recovered from their "pinned" status.
And here comes the interesting part: the Stuart and bazookas began putting round after round
into the Stug's side. Not half-assed "partials", they were all "side upper/lower hull penetrations" of which 2 or 3 by bazooka hits.
Luckily, one of the first hits immobilized the Stug so it didn't pivot to face the Stuart &
zooks. Anyway, that monster threw in the towel only after having absorbed about a DOZEN
penetrations plus the 2 initial bursts by the brave flamethrower.
Never, ever saw a tank behave with such fanatical determination despite being in the worst possible situation. It continued to fire at the targets in front of it for a good half of the turn AFTER the immobilization, at least until there were enough crewmembers alive to operate the gun and MG.
Though, I can't recall how many crewmembers were left when they finally decided to call it a
day and bail the tank. Stupidly I haven't saved the turns, either.
I'll never know if it was a crew that went fanatic or a "Elite" TC with a +2 morale that wanted very badly to add the Oak Leaves to his Iron Cross...
Regards,
Cassidy
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Oh, you're still alive and well!!!
I thought I've lost you down there in the steppe fighting the hitlerites...
Well, let's celebrate Comrade!
* pops open his canteen filled with moonshine *
(yeah, I'm out of vodka at the moment...sigh!)
JasonC, thanks for the super AAR. I'm enjoying every bit of it.
No mortars in your toolbox?
I feel like..."naked" if I don't have at least a couple of them!
Cheers,
Cassidy
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Must be my booze buddy Cuirassierov, I haven't seen him since yesterday's vodka tasting session...
Helluva hangover, poor son!
Regards,
Comrade Cassidof
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Excellent reports guys, keep 'em coming!
Greets,
Cassidy
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* takes a swig of vodka *
With what, Comrade? Slingshots???
* takes another, longer, swig of vodka *
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Why waste 82mm (wimpy) arty over Panzers, Comrade Corvidaevich? I'm sure there must be more suitable weapons in your arsenal to avenge the tragic loss of Grandma Kasovich's chicken coop & resident rooster...Meanwhile about 100 82mm mortar rounds are landing around the Panzers, which are buttoned.
Nice thread, guys.
Keep us posted.
Cheers,
Cassidy
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Thank for posting.
I agree 100% that the soundrack is totally lame and disrespectful. Volume goes off for me, too.
BTW, this site is a real mine of videos: check out this journo scared sh*tless by a very low flying Spitfire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkmHcAnPDIA&search=WWII%20planes
Cheers,
Cassidy
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Make sure your spotter has a clear LOS over the target area (deep blue LOS line). The strike WILL be on target. It's written on the F.M. somewhere.
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Cuirassier,
if you want to play a good scenario that includes the Sturmtiger, try "HSG - A Tiger by the tail".
I had fun playing it as Axis vs. the AI (with some experience bonus to the AI).
You can find it at http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/ or http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/
Have fun!
Cassidy
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The insurgents' propaganda could exploit this Juba character like the soviets did with Vasily Zaitsev...
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John,
your reasoning holds the water well: if they already altered the barrel, nothing could stop them from adding other bells & whistles to the gun. However I have the "feeling" that it was a gun bulkier than a one-man portable AT rifle.
This thing is intriguing, and after some quick googling I came up with this link: http://www.mgm.com/title_title.do?title_star=THUNDERL
You can watch a trailer of the movie and there are a couple of short sequences in which the gun appears. After some still-frames, my "gut feeling" has increased by a notch...though I'd like to know your opinion about it.
Cheers,
Cassidy
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John,
I'm not sure if it was a Lahti AT rifle in that movie. IIRC Eastwood used to fire the gun from a seated position and the gun had a kind of...er..."shoulder harness", like the one you see in AA gun mounts like this one:
I always thought it was some kind of 20mm AA gun like a M2 Hispano or a Oerlikon (even though probably "Hollywood-ized" to some extent).
However, I'm relying on memory on this so I could stand corrected.
All the best,
Cassidy
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If memory doesn't fail me, I think it was a 20mm gun. Apart from the Italian title ("Una calibro 20 per lo specialista" -- "A 20mm caliber for the specialist"), I do remember that Eastwood & friends retrieve the weapon from a depot, disassembled and stored in wooden crates and they haul it and re-assemble it inside the bank to unhinge the safe's door. Not very likely that a 40mm Bofors could be handled that way...
Great movie, BTW! :cool:
Cheers,
Cassidy
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Erik,
you don't seem to be getting my point: I'm not talking about the 20mm AA gun in terms of absolute "stopping power", so to speak.
I'm perfectly aware that if I target a SU-76 1 km. away, the probability of a kill is zero.
What I'm stating is that this weapon has some features that can render the approach/recce phase with light armor slow, frustrating or even painful (or a mix of the three).
Take a look at it:
- high rate of fire (= more shots fired per turn = more chances to hit = more chances to inflict damage)
- high and flexible ammo loadout (HE+AP)
- very high accuracy (quality optics + flat trajectory)
- extremely stealthy (UNDETECTABLE if in good cover beyond the 500m range)
- versatile (it's a flak gun after all, born to shoot down planes...)
- last but not least, it's cheap.
IMHO, these qualities make of the german 20mm flak gun one of the most versatile and bang for the buck weapons of the entire CMBB/CMAK arsenal.
I'm not bragging about anything, just reporting facts.
I'm not going to advertise it anymore, since Krupp, Rheinmetall and Mauser aren't paying me enough for that...
However, I find that to dismiss a weapon with these features with a laugh is wrong and, with due respect, silly.
All the best,
Cassidy
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You're absolutely right.
The "wall of AA guns" is gamey allright!
Though in my quick test each gun was firing at his own target, not all massed firing at a single tank at a time. The scope was to demonstrate that a SINGLE 20mm AA gun can pose a serious threat to a vehicle like the SU-76 even when it's engaged from the front and at a range of almost 1 km. I could have ended the test at the end of turn 2, when 2 out of 5 vehicles had been severely damaged without revealing my positions, not even with a sound contact.
Ah, Kelly, your sig is one of the coolest ones on this forum! Good choice!
Cheers,
Cassidy
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Hey Erik!
I'm not qualified enough to argue about a definition given by a Princeton dictionary, since I'm not even an english native speaker!
I agree that the SU-76 fits the general idea of "tank".
If I asked my wife while indicating a SU-76 "Hey honey, what is this?" she would answer "Are you on crack? It's a TANK, you idiot!!! Don't you play enough of that stupid game to recognize one?"...or something along this line.
Though you and I and the other guys that read this forum should be able to tell a tank from a self propelled gun or from a tracked AAA vehicle. All of them are armored military vehicles, have cannons and move on caterpillar treads. But they are NOT the same thing.
Anyway, I won't insist any further. If your happy with your idea of tank, let's be it. Life is easy!
About the SU-76 vs. 20mm AA issue, I set up a little test which ended with a quite surprisingly outcome:
5 regular 20mm AA guns placed in a woodline facing 5 regular SU-76Ms on a flat 800x1020 meters map in July '44.
Each 20mm gun is lined up with a SU-76 on the opposed side of the map, so that each gun fires at the front of the SU-76.
I added too much woods tiles in the map, so in the end the distance AA guns / SUs is about 950 m. at the startline.
TURN 1: I don't give any cover arc nor fire order to the AA guns and I give the "move to contact" order to the SU-76s: the AA guns do not open up and the SU-76s advance about 100m.
TURN 2: I manually give the "target" order to the AA guns, each gun engages his own target at 850 m. (from now on I won't give any other "target" order to the AA guns): almost every burst is on target, all richochets. Lots of track hit, too. Turn ends with 1 crewmember hit and one SU-76 with a gun damaged. No sound contact icon appears.
TURN 3:Distance is now 750 m. I give the SU-76s the "hunt" command to make them advance. The AP load for the 20mm is now between 18 and 22. Turn ends with another crew "shocked" and a SU-76 abandoned due to immobilization (track hit).
No sound contact icon appears.
TURN 4: Distance is about 650m now. The 20mms fire HE now, sparing the few AP rounds left. The leftmost AA guns targets the rightmost SU-76, since his original target is now history. Turns ends with an immobilized SU-76 (track hit). Still no sound contact.
TURN 5: Ten seconds in the turn sound contact icons appear in the treeline. Some SU-76 suffers "side penetrations". The one immobilized in the previous turn is not targetted anymore and turns itself in a "red star" icon. In the last seconds of the turn a Su-76 panics.
TURN 6: Almost out of AP rounds. One or two 20mm stop firing. Turns ends with the panicked SU-76 killed with a side penetration and another one immobile. The AA guns are still "sound contacts".
TURN 7: The only moving SU-76 left is at 450m. and advancing. At 410m takes a track hit (immobile) and the crew bails.
The guns are still sound contacts.
TURN 8: I end the test since the guns don't fire anymore.
The outcome is: 2 SU-76 immobilized, 2 abandoned, 1 KOed. The AA guns never gave away their exact positions, only sound contacts. NO shots fired by the SU-76.
Now I recognize that this test was played on the 20mm AA team's turf (flat map, no LOS blocks, guns in cover, SU-76 always exposed) and that a human player would have "area fired" the sound contacts as soon as they appeared.
Though it must be noted that before ANY sound contact is established, I already have 1 abandoned SU-76, 1 immobilized, 1 with a damaged gun and 2 crew hits. Not bad, eh?
I'm sure that in a "real life" scenario the results wouldn't be so outstanding, though if I were you I would not underestimate the threat posed by a 20mm AA gun if you decided to "use this tank as scout" as you have stated in your first post.
All the best,
Cassidy
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Forgive me Erik, I don't mean to be pedantic, though the SU-76 is not a tank.
It's a self-propelled gun. Different kettle of fish.
So the question is a little "off-track" from the beginning.
And I don't agree with the role of "scout & irritator" you give to the SU-76: if you'd try to "irritate" me with a SU-76 scout, you'd be very likely going to lose it to a puny gun.
Against a 50mm AT, you'd be dead meat and if you are distant enough (and if I'm lucky enough) I'd give away only a sound contact. An AA gun (37mm or even a 20mm) would put it in serious danger, too, and these two guns are stealthier than the 50mm AT.
Using a SU-76 as a scout, the only one you're going to irritate is probably yourself...
We're still friends Erik, right?
Now to your question (with some comments regard your choice): T34/85, hands down.
The Goods:
- Not cheap as DIRTTT like the SU-76, just relatively cheap...
- High HE ammo load
- A frontal armor that, if Lady Luck is at your side, can glance off even a shot by an 88.
- TWO MGs.
- The thing has a turret, no need to pivot in place in order to fire at another target.
- The turret is top armored. Way better than the open topped SU-76 that can be disabled / KOed by anything that comes down from above.
- By '44 every T34 has a radio (if memory doesn't fail me), thus order delays are not ridiculously as long as before.
- Can penetrate Panthers and Tigers from the front (sometimes)...
- Good off-road capability, sometimes better than the enemy counterparts, e.g. Tigers.
The Bads:
- AP loadout is a relatively low, often you end up with HE only vs. Ubercats...big no-no.
Regards,
Cassidy
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Well, it depends: when I have the tanks, my crewmembers are ALWAYS victims of enemy snipers. When I buy snipers they usually cannot hit the broad side of a barn, let alone the exposed torso of a TC on a moving tank 300 meters away.
Is hitting a crewmember rare? I wouldn't say so. It happens. And skill DO counts.
In my experience, veterans and up usually guarantee at least 1 kill. Skilled snipers are damn hard to detect, too.
Low end snipers are useful in keeping tanks buttoned and guns/mortars/Mgs pinned, though I don't count them as real "killers". They are also good as L.P. / O.P.: fast, stealthy and with binoculars. If you have some points left, adding one or two snipers to your bag of tricks won't hurt you.
Cheers,
Cassidy
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WHOA!!!
I cannot but join the chorus of praise about this map! Awesome!!!
I'm going to d.load the scenario ASAP.
Thanks, Kingfish!
Regards,
Cassidy
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LOL!!!
Oh, and while you're at it, don't forget to tell her to change the barrel on that MG every 200 rounds or so...
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Really?
Then we have to blame it on the waytorussia.net guys: I've only copied/pasted the phrase from their site...
Cheers
Cassidy
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Looks like my wiki-fu is weak, all I got is all sorts of data about the "Ebay" on-line auctions site...
OTOH, my google-fu is in better shape and I came up with this:
f*ck off / f*ck you (rude!) = po'shyol 'na hui
link: http://www.waytorussia.net/WhatIsRussia/Russian/Part5.html
Thanks anyway, Michael.
Regards,
Cassidy
Grog goodness in model form
in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin
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Aw, sorry John!
I completely forgot you live in a different time zone and this post could have reached you while having b/fast. My bad.
Glad you didn't spurt your Cheerios all over the screen & keyboard, though.
Maybe there's some special section in model contests for this kind of...subjects, although in that picture the "model" is right between a F-15 and some other jet that might be a Su-27... :confused:
Cheers,
Cassidy