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Tripp

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  1. True! The 76mm gun on the Sherman was not out (as far as I know) until well (months) after D-Day! -Just a quick note to say I have posted the scenarios for the "main" sequence now. I still do not have the "Night Drop With Navy" one up, though. http://sun.menloschool.org/~trobbins/KnightSchool
  2. Thanks for the kind words. Sly, which scenario are you refering to (that you played)? I didn't upload the game scenarios on my site, just the "extra" ones. Was that the "Bridge Quiz"? I'll put the game ones up soon, for posterity. I may consider doing a similar class in the summer, and I will likely do something similar next year. But I'm going to look at other games (like Theater of War and CM:SF) as options too. One issue for us is that we have Mac computers available at our school, running OS X, so it was challenging to get OS9 to run ("Classic", actually) and play CM:BO. The school isn't going to change to PCs, and we don't want to require students to use their own computers. I'll try to get those "primary" scenarios from our week uploaded later today, although they really need the accompanying briefings, which are not completely written up (just outlines for oral presentations). So I will have to see if that makes sense or not. And keep in mind that for CM veterans, they will be largely unchallenging!
  3. As some of you may recall from my post last fall, I was running a week-long (all day) class for high school students on the Normandy Invasion, using CM:BO as a centerpiece. I just thought I'd send y'all the results in case anyone is interested. I want to thank those who commented in this forum for their input. The class had 18 students (all guys, from grades 9-12) who knew almost nothing about CM:BO or strategy wargames. I co-taught the class with a colleague. Our goal was to use the game to draw kids into the history and get them to think analytically. We mostly looked at the experiences of the men from Easy Company, the ones featured in Ambrose's book BAND OF BROTHERS (and the HBO series of the same name). We did this because we knew that using some scenes and episodes from the HBO series would be engaging to the students. I don't want to bore anyone with too many details, so I'll be brief. We basically had a scenario (which I created) for each day. They were plausible (if not totally historical) battles with roughly a platoon or so of units in smaller battles and up to a company and attached tanks in the larger ones. Students played the US forces vs. the AI each morning, then debriefed, did some research and attempted the same scenario again in the afternoon. Scores were recorded. Before each scenario, we'd give an historical intro to put it in context. Then we'd give a SitRep briefing and an Intel briefing, and they could ask questions. On the fourth day, we paired them up by the scores they'd earned all week, and we had all-day, 60-turn one-on-one battles. The scenarios were set up like this: -two quick intro scenarios to teach the game and some basic tactics. -Sunday Night: a "night drop into Normandy" scenerio to get them more familiar with the game and history -Monday: small attack of a German-held crossroads position outside Vierville -Tuesday: assaulting Vierville -Wednesday: assualting St.Come-du-Mont -Thursday: (head-to-head) German counter-attack outside Carentan. All in all, we were surprised at how much of the history they learned and how seriously they took the game (and enjoyed it). I think that they really would not have enjoyed CMBO much without the history lessons, and I don't think they'd have enjoyed/absorbed as much of the history without the game. It was a Total Victory! If you want to see more of what we did, you can see the website I had for the week here: http://sun.menloschool.org/~trobbins/KnightSchool/index.htm Special thanks to Madd Matt for helping us get copies of the game on time!
  4. In reading around a bit, I get the sense that there are websites that host scenarios; are there any that you would recommend? Thanks.
  5. Kingfish: I'm happy to send anyone this scenario; I sent you the scenario and accompanying files (intel briefing, images, etc.) so you can get the big picture. As for engagement type (meeting, Allied Attack, Axis Attack), I've tried both meeting and Allied attack...neither seems to make much difference. And Sergei is correct, I am using "Stick to Scenario Default" for enemy set up. But as I wrote above, I've tried using no flags, some flags and lots of flags (ie, one for each 'station'), but nothing seems to help. When I turn off Fog of War, I can watch the Germans wander. They seem to move more or less toward the center of the map, leaving foxholes, buildings, etc. I've tried messing with unit experience levels, leadership, etc. This wandering happens to both infantry (quickly) and armor (later in game, for some reason), but it didn't seem to be true for trucks and kubelwagons. The scenario is the first part of my series of 101st Airborne landing in Normandy for the week-long class I described in another post. This one simulates the night drop into the fields and the attempt to link up with "the stick" and move to an objective. (It's really a training too, made to be easy.) So I think the wandering toward the center of the board is meaningful...anyone else? [ February 26, 2007, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: Tripp ]
  6. That makes sense, Walker, but it's too limiting: I don't want a single player to have to play in hotseat mode and see some of the board from the other side's perspective. Thanks for the thought, though. Anyone else have a clue about why the Germans wander from their foxholes, etc.?
  7. Anyone have ideas on this? I'm still stumped as to why the Germans are wandering around mostly.
  8. I have tried Padlocking them, and tried hiding them. (And I am not using any Victory Flags at this point.) Only hiding seems to help, and even that doesn't keep them all in place. Is there no other way to get them to stay in place, other than hiding? [ February 24, 2007, 03:47 AM: Message edited by: Tripp ]
  9. So I'm making this mission that sort of simulates the night drop of 101st Airborne troopers into Normandy in advance of the beach landings. I have a nice set up of area around Ste. Marie-du-Mont, and the idea is to simulate for the player the experience of the troopers dropping in the dark, trying to get oriented and link up with comrades. Fine. But then there are the Germans: I put them in logical (it not yet historical) places, but they won't stay still! They keep wandering around the map doing god knows what. I've tried having no Victory Flags; I've tried having flags at each post. I've tried making map edges friendly to given sides; I've tried making map edges all nuetral. What the heck? I feel like I am forgetting something. Can anyone clue me in? Thanks!
  10. Of course we want to get our hands on what could be our new favorite game, but faster is not REALLY as important as better. Working well, bug-free in a great balance between realism and playability would be my first choice... Then again, if it takes TOO long, what was a cool game will be dated!
  11. BTW, I now have a former student who's a bit of a grognard who IS going to be an aide for this week!
  12. Yeah, I planned to do something like this so we can share it with others later (and next year?). Good call though The old Sid Meier's Gettysburg was one game that had that swell "replay" function...at the end of a good battle in CMBO, I sometimes wish I could hit that "replay" button! Oh well, I'll have to fake it up with FRAPS or some such.
  13. Interesting. The Panther's 75mm did better than I thought. I wonder what would happen at 500m.
  14. Thanks for the input so far. We're still tweeking the plans for the week. The latest thought is whether we can make the scenarios more historical and whether the pros of that outweigh the cons. Since we're trying to keep the number of units minimal, I am leaning against much effort to be historically accurate in scenarios. The current plan has small, "could maybe have happened in Normandy" kind of scenarios in a small sequence. More to follow; further thoughts welcome.
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