LukeFF

I gave this scenario a run-through twice tonight. The first time I didn't play it so well (losing 3 StuGs in the process), so I loaded it up a second time. This time I sent the StuGs over more to the left into better firing positions, where they managed to survive, but man, their shooting was downright awful at times. The IS-2s came over the hill on my right, so I had to use my reserve force to attack them. I don't know what/why it was, but my Tigers had the absolute worst marksmanship over and over again against these tanks. They constantly overshot their targets, and as a result I lost 2 Tigers to these IS-2s (figures as much ). I really wasn't expecting that from Veteran and Regular-rated crews. Anyways, Carius & his accompanying tank were doing very well, until an IS-2 got the drop on the latter and destroyed him. It was at that point I decided to ceasefire, for which I was given a Draw, which I think was fair, given there were still 3 T-34s and a couple of IS-2s still on the map. Total Russian tank losses were 10 or 11. Overall, it's a very good challenge, soured only in part by the AI's abysmal gunnery at times, which is no fault of yours, George. I'll probably run it again another time sometime in the future, as it's no doubt an excellent and challenging mission (that, and I want to see if I can keep both guys alive the whole time without using my reserve).

Is there an echo in here? http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119872-seasonal-sale/

Glad you took the time to create this scenario, George, and I'm definitely going to play it soon. I've been interested in this battle ever since I read about it a few years back in a WWII history magazine. In addition, I once wrote to Carius's address in Germany, as I had heard he was very accommodating of autograph requests. I wanted to get a friend of mine a unique gift for his birthday, and sure enough Carius sent back an autographed photo and a copy of his Knights' Cross citation, which of course detailed his actions at Malinova. So yeah, I'm highly curious to see how this one plays out.

Old story / file, was posted months ago here.

The rarely seen tree armor:

That's pretty much the conclusion of Christopher Wilbeck (also a US Army armor officer) in his book Sledgehammers, which not only looks at the highs & lows of the Tiger program but also how the German armored warfare philosophy compared and contrasted with the nations it fought.

CMH has been working great for me, GaJ. It's made playing H2H games so much easier.

On another gaming forum I read, someone posted something very simple but very wise: enjoy the game for what it is, not what you want it to be.

Go troll somewhere else.

I sometimes wonder if the Tiger and/or Panther would have generated this much talk had the internet existed in the early 1940s.

What is there to update?

http://www.janes.com/article/51988/us-army-once-again-seeks-new-ifv-designs

I have seen a reference that says a T26E3 was knocked out by a Nashorn near Cologne on 6 March 1945.

Once again, the thrower of sauerkraut has it right. I remember during my time in Iraq that the call centers and internet cafes would be temporarily shut down whenever a soldier was killed. This was so the family of the deceased could be notified through proper channels and not by stumbling across someone's Facebook post or some such about someone being killed. Otherwise, yes, daily casualty reports in the media were very much the norm during the Iraq conflict. I certainly didn't see any attempt to hide what was happening to our troops.

Yep, just as I thought, a dubious source: http://asia.rbth.com/about_us/company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rossiyskaya_Gazeta

Well, it is a Kettler thread, after all.

Because not enough people care about such a thing?

Ah OK, now that's a good link and makes more sense. I was thinking it had something to do with JFO, but I wasn't sure.

What's the U.S. Army's MOS for calling in helicopter support? I know the Marines have their Forward Air Controllers, and the Air Force is the one calling in the jets, but beyond that I am not sure.

He's just speculating, that's all.

Nope, the helos in Black Sea are there to shoot at targets.

Indeed. For proof of this, one just needs to see all the discussion around the CMFI scenario Kiwi Soldiers. Postage stamp-sized map with about 2 platoons squaring off, but the gameplay in that scenario is great.

There's also the very real issue that many of those auto-generated maps frankly sucked and looked downright awful.

They are for people that have computers capable of showing high-detail graphics and are used to playing games that do have nice graphics details. On the flip side, it seems they are far less important for the older generation that didn't grow up with high-end computers and are more used to cardboard cutout games. All that said, I'd certainly not say CMx2's graphics are bad. They are a bit behind the times in some areas (like tracers, explosions, and muzzle flashes) but in other areas they are quite good, IMO.

Drop them in and see for yourself?