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Cessna

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Posts posted by Cessna

    Bidermann's Gun?

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    There is a scenario in the game (on the bonus CD and in Scenario Depot) that depicts a small action that is described in Gottlob Bidermann's book, "In Deadly Combat."

    Two 37mm Paks and a platoon of infantry defend a villiage against several T-34s.

    I've played the scenario a few times - always as the Germans - and I can NOT seem to win.

    What's the secret? I've tried all sorts of defenses, and always seem to stop a few T-34s - only to get slaughtered in response...

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    Protection for PaK Gunners - the Truth...

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by Probert:

    Picking them off at 500 meters? Have you ever tried to hit anything with a rifle at 500m?

    You would have to be an Olympic level shot to pick the crew off one at a time. In addition to disregarding the chaos going on all around you.

    Hardly.

    When I was in the Marines we trained to hit torso-sized targets at 500 yards with open-sight M-16A2s. If you couldn't hit the target as a matter of routine, you would be in BIG trouble.

    A WWII bolt-action has comparable - maybe even slightly better - accuracy.

    With that said, the gun cres with the gun shield - well, they had more protection than the average rifleman...?

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    Immobilizations In CM And Why I Want Them Reduced

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Tanks are actually relatively fragile - I don't have a problem with them getting stuck as often as they do in the game. Especially if you're dealing with relatively inexperienced drivers.

    Drive on gravel, take a tight turn, and you might throw track.

    I can't see railroad tracks breaking a drift pin or otherwise damaging a suspension, but I would certainly slow down before crossing them if I could.

    I've seen tanks immobilized by comm wire - a thin communications wire. It can get wrapped around a drive sprocket, shred the seal, and cause the final drive to sieze up. NOT fun.

    BUT - while I think the frequency that tanks get immobilized in the game isn't extraordinarily unrealistic, I DO think it makes the game - which is a game, first and foremost - a bit too reliant on luck...

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    My disappointment with CMBB

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    I can certainly believe that a KV tank blocked a road intersection for several hours. Hell, Audie Murphy, a single infantryman, blocked "6 tanks and waves of infantry" for a while.

    It's the "days" angle that I don't believe. The report above doesn't say "days," but several versions of it do - I can't help but believe that's the "urban legend" factor creeping in...

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    My disappointment with CMBB

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    I must admit, I'm sceptical.

    1. For one thing, I've seen this story tell of a KV-1 and of a KV-2. Which one was it?

    2. How much ammunition does a KV hold? I've got a couple different numbers from different sources, but most say around 110 rounds for a KV-1, and the KV-2 carried far less ammo. That's more than enough to put up a good fight, but to hold out for days?

    3. This took place at the beginning of the war, when the Germans had air superiority. If it was blocking such a critical road intersection, why didn't the Germans have it bombed? They had days to do so. I could believe that they tried to bomb it and failed, but the fact that bombing isn't even mentioned strikes me as strange.

    4. The same goes for heavy caliber indirect fire artillery. Hit it with 150mm+ for a while, and you'll certainly at least give the crew concussions...?

    5. Tanks are relatively blind, especially at night. Why didn't the Germans try sending in engineers with demolition charges at night?

    I'm not going to say it is a fairy tale, but there are a number of reasons why I am suspicious...

    [ May 01, 2004, 12:45 PM: Message edited by: Cessna ]

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    Why not.... be happy with what we've got????

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    Originally posted by MikeyD:

    I occassionally recall life pre-CM where I could scarcely imagine ever seeing a historically accurate 3-D WWII armor game. ...I didn't DREAM there could be a series stretching from 1940 thru 1945 ...stretching from Morocco to the Urals ...with accessable art that would totally replace plastic kit building for me!

    Absolutely.

    When I look back at all of the cardboard-and-hex wargames I played for decades, I appreciate the CM series even more.

    I'm in the middle of two games of CMBB. I'm playing one game against a guy from Finland who I will probably never meet in real life, and another against a friend from my USMC days as an excuse to keep in touch.

    I can send a turn any time I have a spare ten minutes. My cat can't knock over the board between games. I don't have to wait for the post office to return their moves.

    There are no rules disputes - either the game will let me do something or it won't. There's no arguing over line-of-sight. I can't mis-interpret a rule by mistake. I will never forget to apply a die-roll modifier.

    All of the "bugs" of old wargaming have been solved. There's limited "S-2," intelligence. I don't have total control over my units - sometimes they panic and shoot too soon, revealing their positions. They retreat when they get shot up, as real troops do.

    My units are 3D models, with lovingly rendered paint jobs, who "move" when I click them. I can pick which camo scheme I want them to have before each battle. I'll never lose a single counter or spill coffee on a map. The little infantry "run" into position, and my opponent's troops yell in real Finnish or German when I shoot them.

    Yes, the social interaction of old wargames is missing, even though we send friendly e-mails. But I'm playing a game against an opponent I never would have met otherwise, and keeping in touch with a fellow USMC vet.

    I'm wearing out my CMBB CD, as Panzerblitz gathers dust in my basement.

    We've got it good, people. But can you blame us for wanting even more?

    [ April 28, 2004, 11:17 AM: Message edited by: Cessna ]

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    Why not modern?

    in Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

    Posted

    I'd love to see a hypothetical WW3 game, set in Western Europe during the Cold War.

    At the beginning of the scenario, you pick the year. Was the war started in 1945, immediately after WW2? Or did it start over the Berlin Wall Crisis in 1961 or the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962? Or is it the mid-80's? Setup and equipment are obviously different in each...

    I realize this will never happen, but I'd like to see it...

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    Minefield clearing, the Russian WWII way...

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by jthomas:

    While using minefields to cover lightly defended approaches may have been used, it has always been my understanding that minefields are most effectively used in conjunction with covering fire- an unattended minefield is "inconvenient" to the attacker, but there are work-arounds. Place a few MGs to cover the mine field, and you have a serious obstacle. In essence, the minefield IS the trap.

    Oh, absolutely - but the mind-set is that the minefield is protecting a weakness that can be attacked. Better to attack through the minefield that is lightly defended than into a more heavily defended area...
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    What games are you playing beside CM?

    in Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

    Posted

    Originally posted by Prinz Eugen:

    I'm all for Cessna's idea of a match online ! So far I've only been humiliated by AI's I-16s and crappy Soviet bombers, and am looking forward to be shot down by a human opponent. :D

    Don't mock the I-16 - it's surprisingly scrappy. The thing can turn on a dime and has good machineguns. It can hold its own - I've shot down a few planes with one.

    I think I'd be available in Saturday/Sunday, how about you guys ?

    I think that could be good!

    I'd prefer to do a mission, if we could, rather than a free-for-all. I've found that random shoot-'em-ups get old pretty fast...

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