nachinus

I'm quite dissapointed with CMFI tin thingie. I took for granted that the format would be the same as the gorgeous CMBN one (my fault). It seemed logical to me that all the collection would keep similar format so it looked nice on the shelves. I would've loved to proudly display it in mine.

I'm going on holidays tomorrow, I hope I'll find the box nicely waiting in my mailbox when I come back in 10 days.

Great post. I'm really impressed by the crazy reloading system of the Breda 30. I knew it was an odd weapon with the unique cartridge oiling feature, and although I had read about its built in magazine fed by clips, I assumed it was a more agile system closer to the Breda 37 or the japanese MMGs. I'm amazed by the awkwardness of it. Surely it's faster with a reloader assistant, but still...

I do like small scenarios and campaigns. It's much easier to be in the small details and follow the action in a closer fashion. Company level is my favourite level.

Lots of infantry in AP:K as well. They have 'realistic' OOBs, so the infantry/panzergrenadier platoon is the most common unit. Not sure about the matrixgames one, I never played it.

Regarding the knife in the neck: there IS competition, actually. Matrixgames published Panzer Command: Ostfront by blackhand studios. Very comprehesive and ambitious in its focus, quite lacking in the visuals, but still a valid game apparently (I haven't played it). It is currently on sale in matrixgames website for 18 bucks. I may give it a try. Graviteam, developer of a damn fine ww2 tank simulator, made a jump into the tactical simulation genre with the Achtung Panzer series, which is currently in its second iteration. I have the first one (Khrakov) and I'll eventualy buy the second (Operation Star plus DLC campaings) when it gets a discount. I really liked the first one, and I'd recomend it to any Combat Mission player used to real time. I didn't like the interface, and the way commands work is not very intuitive, so it's not easy to get into. But its a fine game specially if you're into the Eastern Front. Still, I find Combat Mission x2 series much more rewarding. I found the command system easy to understand (although I miss the simplicity and usefulness of Close Combat's Hide command for ambushes), the infantry side is important and works well (which is usually a problem in this genre), and the campaigns created for the release plus those made aferwards by the community are compelling, immersive and grant plenty of hours of gameplay. Sure, it may look dated compared with the modern engine of Achtung Panzer, with physics, post processing effects, non-squared tiled map with curves which continues to the horizon, hit decals in vehicles, whith tracks and other damage visual effects. This is evident. But the gameplay is unmatched, period.

The case with ATG is serious indeed. I experienced it in a couple of occasions in ATG positions critical to my defensive tactic. I hope it doesn't happen in the italian iteration, but I haven't seen any reference to it in the changelog. I haven't played it enough yet so I'm not sure.

I guess someone should make the sounds for the new Italian weapons. ...Please?

I found a great improvement in the terrain looks (for my taste, ofc) with Aris Terrain mods. They are all in the repository. I also use a crafted to my taste version of the SFX mod. It has plenty of new sounds for explosions, ambient, hits, etc, but mainly it makes many small weapons have their own unique sound. I find that very immersive.

Brilliant! So we're going to play backwards in time, interesting...

You made me curious about this mod... Going to check it out.

Regarding Eastern Front: In the interview you say that the first title will be Bagration to End of War, future titles '43-'44. Does that mean no Barbarossa nor Stalingrado? Did I miss something?

Blimey!, you did release it in August dead-on!

Thanks. Things like this help getting 'in the mood' for a new theatre.

Thank you, mate!

How does one create a 360º cover arc? I can only get 180º semicircles with that command...

It's scheduled in August, isn't it? I'm flying to Scotland on vacations 10-20 Aug. The 25th is my birthday, which happens to be Saturday this year. Any day between the 21st and the 25th would be a good release date, Battlefront.

As Steve posted in the announcement, there's going to be a bundle with the upgrade + Market Garden some months after Fortress Italy. It may be a good moment to get it. I've already preordered FI and will be squeezing every bit of fun out of it for the months after its release. Market Garden will be a good reason to return to BN, and having tasted the upgrades in the engine in FI, we'll be able to decide if they are really worth the upgrade bucks. (All my bets are they do, ofc).

Thank you both. I believe I'll have some good stuff with these two.

Good idea! And a pretty realistic touch for creating fortified positions.

In that event, are the pixeltroopen smart enough to run away from it? It may be dangerous to simulate accidents if the reaction to that accident isn't simulated too.

Thank you both. I'm interested in the early war, when they acted as real paratroopers. I have Beevor's Crete, which I loved, but I'd love to learn more about their other major operations during Case Yellow, or in Norway, for example. M1A1TC, it's 'Jump into Hell' any good?

I wish that ammo on the back of knocked out lorries or transports would still be accesible for 'acquiring'. Unless they are really damaged or destroyed, of course. I've read many reports -and I've experienced it too- of a single burst that cripples a vehicles engine and disables it -which is all very fine-, rendering the vehicle to its 'knocked out' status, where you can't access its inventory again. If it was made 'immovilized' -or 'disabled' or something like that- things would be better, and the ammo should still be accesible.

Mi piece of feedback: I'd like something that would tell me at a glance which units on the map are out or almost out of ammo for their main weapon(s). In long battles, having to cicle through all units constantly monitoring their ammo status is a real micromanaging pain.

I thought I'd ask here, being forumites here so knowledgeable about all things ww2. Which book(s) would you reccomend about German airborne operations in ww2? Thanks in advance.