Fizou

Its usually 4-6 weeks after the announcement of the preorder opening. BFC dont give a exact date as they just dont know when it will be done (potential bugs can apear in the end process). Its released when its done, that if anything is excellent customer service. In addition to that, if you have a problem with not knowing, dont pre order. Put in your order when its released instead.

Im sure you BETA testers report bogus bugs that Charles has to investigate to keep it from us longer!

You bastidje, you made me look at the announcement section! But talking about the release of the real deal.. six weeks have gone since the first pre order announcement on thursday next week (the 13:th). Will it be ready by then or will it drag on further into March? IIRC late March was mentioned.. Time to let the monkeys loose next week or not?

The people and party want you to avenge the Rodina comrade c3k! Let Bil take command of the huns!

Yes.. Ken commanding a hord of the Red army against a determined defence headed by Bil. Attack attack attack vs getting the most out of every unit.

Nice show case! Now with the panther taken out I believe ist game, set and match for KomKor Bil. So can we have another? I want another QB, Bil defending as Germans (showing how to put up a propper defence - no disrespect to Elvis - Im reffering to the thread Bil started in the BN forum), and c3k as the Soviet attacker. It will be awesome.

Well fought Elvis. Ken, Gear up.. its time for you (or rather your pixel comrades) to face the meatgrinder that is Bil once more!

Thats odd.. Im not doing anything different (using Flickr for all pics). Still no luck Frankster? Anyone else having the same issues? ----------------- Below, my initial plan. I use Mord & DC beautiful unit portraits mod. http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=113824 A must have for me that brings more personality to the battles (especially when playing campaigns). Units from 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Div and 3rd Rangers Bn set out to surround and destroy the Italian enemy. The Rangers have seen a lot of action during the campaign so far, my initial plan is to move them up, acting as the anvil together with 2nd Platoon A Coy of the Airborne. The reminder of the Airborne will drive the enemy into these two formations, taking the brunt of the action. As I start to move units from A and C Coy of the 504th PIR over the south western bridge under a smoke screen I get spots on several Italian units scattered around the main hill, dominating the terrain. Several 65 mm guns have a good view of the crossing point and I'm forced to be cautious, using MG and mortar fire to silence or suppress the Italian assets. I'm chocked as something much larger than 65 mm start to fall around the bridge. Id forgotten about the German SPA (150 mm Grille) available to the Italians as off map support. Surprisingly Id forgotten about them again when I started to write up this part of the AAR. Their presences was felt. Inflicting some 6-7 casualties and effectively cutting of the bridge for the reminder of the 504th. The barrage continued for a long time resulting in the total destruction of the bridge. Parts of 2nd platoon C Coy finish up buddy aid next to the destroyed bridge. With this bridge destroyed, only one remains across the river. The Germans are sure to counter attack this VPL hex and I think the most effective route is the one over these bridges. My units will now only have to cover one bridge if the Germans elect to do this. Below: The Black route is the most obvious and faster one, but now with only one bridge to cross to the VPL. The red route will take longer and is also blocked by a small unit of Rangers. Before this comes into reality the 504th PIR and 3rd Ranger Bn must clear the VPL hex from the Italian defenders. The advance is slow and methodical. Any sign of defenders are swiftly met by MG and mortar fire. A common sight during this battle. The destroyed bridge leaves most of the 504th PIR on the wrong side of the river. Only one platoon made it across and will make for a much weak hammer than intended. The roles of the Rangers and 2nd Platoon A Coy that are moving in from the other directions will need to be more active. The Rangers are closing in on the enemy held hill. The advance is slow and big parts of the force are moving at a walking pace until they reach their assault positions. Scouts are ahead to avoid any major ambushes.

I was under the impression that you get the initial campaign briefing when you load a save game.. at least between battles?

Agreed, but as part of the TOE. Not scavenged on the field of battle. The PPsh isn't listed in the German small arms section, and no word from BFC yet, so I dont think we will see it. At least not in the start of CMRT. Maybe later on..

Elvis is all but spent.. The tanks will make a nice final stand. So for round two I want Bil defending as Germans (he has a thread in the BN forum about how to form a propper defence but had to give priority to other things - would be nice to see it continued here. Both with his tactical genious and nice aar presentation) Attacking as the Soviets.. well c3k of course! We all want to see the human wave command. Might not be appropriate for 44 but Ken will give us a show for sure

Unless its a early version of K.I.T.T. it might be a bug.

Oh but they do listen and know what we want. The majority of us want a realistic simulation of ww2 and modern combat. Not a fantasy game. A SMG wont be retrieved, thats what superwuss is so upset about. Soldiers will stick with their standard weapon and only pick up an aditional on if its "special" mg, bazooka etc. ---- Your rifle/smg is not yours, it belongs to the army (anyone who has served knows this). You will get in trouble if you drop your weapon. And its not ideal to run around with two weapons. Unless the other has significant differances from the first. Picking up other weapons would only happen in extreme circumstances. When units start to run out of ammo. This happens more often in game than in real life because players tend to press their units harder and in a more stupid fashion

Thanks Erwin! The BAR hadn't made its way into the squad ToE of the Airborne in 43 (any grog feel free to correct me). So the BAR will show up in a LMG team instead of the M1919 where the latter must be seen as the superior weapon. You had one BAR team in this battle, I don't think more would have changed the outcome ;-) . --------------------- Also occurring in the 10AM to 12AM time frame, we have another battle, this one is for a 300 VPL. We ca be sure this hex will be fought over more than once in this operation... The orange box is where Kohlenklaus battle is taking place. The black box is where the Airborne attack on the Italian battery is taking place. The yellow box is where a combined force of Rangers and Airborne attack the VPL, held by another Italian battery. The force attacking from the south west have to cross a river. Two bridges being the only points across. More details. Italian force: consist of 1-9 guns from XII Corps (therefore 10-90 men). They are isolated (so they have reduced ammo) and are disrupted (giving them -1 leadership modifier). US force: consists of Rangers from the 3rd Bn. They have taken part in a lot of action during the operation so far.. this is their 4th CM battle. The Rangers are supported by A and C coy, 1st Bn, 504th PIR, 82nd Airborne Div. These Airborne units have not taken part in any CM battles yet. The Airborne units are all low on ammo, parts of A coy are isolated and have even less ammo. The isolated A coy is on the other side of the river already, coming in from another direction. The force is supported by off map battery from 367th fld art Bn (4 75 mm pack howitzers ). View from the south west. The direction from which the Rangers and most of the paratroopers are attacking from. The south western bridge. View from the South east. From which a part of A coy is moving up.

Its on the web. See relevant CMBN thread: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=113813

Squatdog, Haha thats just beautiful!

Sucks to lose the OT that way but I think you will manage anyways Bil (the hit decal looks really good though). Love the AAR and look forward to the coming action.

Man this will get really interesting once those T-34's are let loose!

Well said Glenn. And I guess it is:

When captured vehicles is implemented that will be true. But the quick fix we have now that can put a T-34, or any other vehicle in the opposite side will still have their "old" uniforms. edit: Ninja'd by akd.

From my positions in the villge Im able to take out gun 5 with rifle fire (distance around 200 meters). Its a cat and mouse game as my units try to take up positions and deploy their M1919's but just when they are about to be ready to fire the 65's spot them and start to pour HE their way. I need the machineguns to touch gun 3. My last precious mortar rounds was fired at 3 and 6 but to no/little effect. I send assault teams around the flanks to close assault the guns. Blue arrows indicating the routs. The assault teams are around a squad in size each. On my right I am able to sneak right up from behind (but have obviously been spotted as the Italians have swung round and are waiting for me). With more luck, a slow move and quick trigger fingers my airborne are able to get the upper hand. Most men take care of the gun crew and ammo bearers but the BAR is tasked with suppressing a Italian MMG some 300 meters out. The BAR steadied against the shoulder of a fellow soldier. The little patch of trees is soon quiet again. The precise marksmanship of the 82nd on display. Finally gun 6 is taken out. It has caused 6 US casualties.. the enemy guns have caused 20 casualties between them. Some Italians decide to break and run. Soon after the remaining Italians surrender. This battery wont cause any more US casualties, but the airborne has payed the price. End screen: The US unit has taken 39% casualties and is just shy of dropping to levels of morale (just one now as the breaking points is every 20%). From D down to E. They wont do any more fighting this day. From the 12 wounded I get 25% back, which equals 3 men. ---------------- Having a look at the axis force. We are experimenting with some new rules to stop all battles from being last stands. In some instances that will be desirable but in most it wont. So we are trying the following: After 30 minutes of combat a unit is allowed to surrender. When it does, it is destroyed but 25% of its strength (men only) is allowed to escape and join the closest applicable unit. This offers some incentive to surrender instead of fighting to the death. Having to balance the gain of some men escaping to fight another day with being able to inflict more casualties to the enemy. Another interesting decision. We are also trying a "must surrender" rule. If a unit of morale A-D drops below 20% of its initial strength (in that battle) it must surrender. A unit with morale below D must surrender when it drops below 30%. In some cases last stands will be allowed but we are still experimenting so we will see where it goes. I think it feels pretty good so far. ------------ It was a hard fought victory. The low ammo in combination with excellent deployment on my opponents part made this a much tougher battle than I first anticipated.

Glad you enjoyed it, we have a tone more coming! Gun number 2 was the only one I spotted fast, the others where quite elusive (especially nr 6). ------ Below, the light blue arrows indicates my initial advance. From here I was able to put mortar fire on guns 3/4 and 2. 2 and 4 was taken by the mortars (on 2 I was able to go direct). The purple line indicates my second stage of advance. To the far right, at the orange circle, a squad from my first platoon run into a group of Italians. I advance under cover fire from a section o rifle men (ammunition is fast running low on my BAR so I use rifles when ever possible). Once in the woods I start to slowly advance forward, bounding over watch with the hunt command. I know the Italians are lying in wait. We soon make contact and a brief but intense fire fight breaks out (one of those little moments that just shows how special CM is). The Garand and Carbine really shine in close quarters. Both sides open up and soon grenades are passing each other in mid flight! An intense moment as both sides exchange HE A portion of good luck, experience and excellent training have the airborne come out on top. The carnage unfolds and the Italian unit is put out off action.

F*** YEAH! Awesome work team Mord & DC. I will download and check em out right away!! Thanks!!

They'd be Soviet. Im sure they will.. only a question of when.

Correct again mr E. Nothing bigger than 40 then?