vandem

Yes, Beever's SCW book is very good, I read the original (pub. 1982) several years ago, nice balance between overview vs. detail, political vs. military. I haven't yet read the updated version (2006) yet, apparently has more detail from new sources. For Christmas this year I bought my brother-in-law (and fellow CMBBer) Beevor's "A Writer at War - Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945", he says is very good, I'm waiting for my turn to read it.

The "Wittman in the East" from the thread title. As for my question about "ratings" for original game CD scenarios, I'll do a forum search first, and then post a new thread if I still need to.

I tried this scenario last week as Axis, kept wondering when I would get surprised by something Russian and hidden. Didn't bother finishing. Disappointing... ... which leads to a follow up question ... ... is there a place on the web where the original game CD scenarios are rated ? (perhaps for difficulty vs historical accuracy vs recommended / avoid rating)

Mentoring / tutoring is a good idea. I've only been playing CMBB for the last two months, and for the first three games was guided by a friend who has played for a couple of years. Each turn I explained what I was trying to do, and he made a one or two comments - sometimes operational (e.g. reminding me to set cover armour arcs for A/T guns, not cover arcs), sometimes tactical (e.g. outlining common infantry / MG tactics in village defense). He didn't change my moves, and was prepared to let me make some newbie mistakes. I found it easier to absorb a couple of pieces of relavent information per turn, rather than trying to remember all the information from the manual and various FAQs.

Also in New Zealand for $10. I was only introduced to CMBB by a friend last month, he's spitting that I got hold of CMAK so quickly so cheap Also in the same $10 range is IL2, I have friends that play this + later mods, swear that it is the best historic air warfare game.