Heinrich505

Thanks Phil @kohlenklau, for the really great work you did on this. The battle was not an easy one. You really slaughtered my left flank, killing off all the officers. I wan't sure how things were going to go, so I pulled one of the tanks over to assist. That was the right tactical move. This was great fun and a very nice-looking mod. It felt right for the area and the time frame. Gary

It was a great battle Phil. You really put together a challenging scenario. After losing two Easy-Eights, I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull this off against your force. It was cat and mouse with the Sherman stalking, and in turn, being stalked, by that T34. Once I blew extra holes in the walls at the police station, I was able to swarm the last few survivors there.

Ah, yes, a thing of beauty! You even have the large K for Gruppe Kleist. Nice touch. Guderian would have loved to slap a big G on them.

@George MC It seems I am a bit late to the party, having just now accidentally stumbled onto the new battle pack that you've created. It looks great and I'm very excited to be exploring more of your fantastic work. I was spending way too much time trying to keep up with the "Ukraine How Hot Will It Get thread," and missed this release. Thanks so much for putting this out. The correct use of halftracks is often more of an art form than anything else, and your directions and suggestions are most welcome. I think I loaded the mods right. Have the crusher officer caps all been replaced by the M43 cap? I left a number of mod folders under the main file Viking Mods GMc Mix folder. Was that okay or should I have moved them out from under that main folder? I'm never completely sure how to set up the mods in the Z folder. Again, many thanks for all these new scenarios and the additional campaigns. This is great! Gary

Phil, Another really cool battle. This one played out very nicely. Taking a look at the setup, my stomach was in my throat, seeing the terrain I would have to cross, and knowing the enemy was well placed. I was not expecting to get very far, but, HEY! Looka here, we got Ammo!!!! Sorry Phil, just couldn't resist. I decided to use the ammo carefully, and did a lot of dashing from shell-hole to shell-hole. I still took casualties though, but that bit about keeping your own casualties under 10% is pretty much like the Pirate's Code, right? Therrrrrrrr mohrrrr laiike Guidelines, Arrrrr. The scenario is wicked, but if you use the right infantry tactics, it is actually doable. I managed to get close, racking up the hidden objectives, and slowly reduced the enemy positions. I was equally stunned that I was able to get the flamethrower close enough to use it - that hardly ever happens in my game experience. Of course it was horrible using it, and I rather hated to even employ it, but the flame team was important in the victory. This was a very challenging battle, Phil, and I really didn't think I had done well right up to when the final minute ticked off. And then...I had a major victory. Crazy! My force was down to some rattled survivors, and I managed to take most of the objectives. Of course I didn't get points for keeping my casualties under 10%, because...bwahahaha, that was pretty much impossible. My game character, Tenente Fossatoro, actually ended up in the front lines with the rest of the troops and amazingly enough, he survived. Lucky? You bet! Thanks again, for yet another challenging gem of a battle. Gary

Wow, Phil, this looks very close. I like it. Mind you, I'm not quibbling, but you might need more rivets...haha...just kidding...

Wow...my guys will charge any Russian MG nests with sharpened rocks if she orders them to. I'll lead them...

Phil, It's all good, especially if you can mod Sophia Loren actually handing out the ammo at the crates. Can you mod a camoflage bikini? If anyone can, it would be you! We have faith. The lads would love that, and they'd gladly charge Russian MG positions with sharpened rocks if Sophia Loren orders them to. I had no idea that you were in a vicious struggle with the Panzerfaust script nemesis. I did not see any invisible panzerfausts being used by my troops, so I think you succeeded. I was very pleased to see them using grenades properly and when necessary. We all appreciate your efforts, despite the game code throwing monkey wrenches into your efforts. I had a feeling there was a reason that the ammo was so low for the squads. Now that makes sense. Thanks for the crazy battle. It really taxed my infantry tactics and assault skills. You are doing a great job with what you have to work with. Regards, Gary

Phil, Holy Mackeral! What the heck? Did Il Duce forget to pay for the ammo bill? Are the German's being stingy again? Was this a test of Italian manhood? What a crazy scenario! Okay, so I caught an MG round early on...but it was just a flesh wound...no, really...and my second bandaged me up and I was able to yell commands to the rest of the troops as they rushed past me, while I soothed my damaged pride by slurping on some Gelato that the cook had helpfully brought along. Yes, the boys were anxious to get into the fight, but there were a lot of questioning glances at me as they rushed past with little or no ammo. The first wave had cleaned out the ammo stock that the Company Sergente Maggiore had lugged forward, and there was nothing left for the reinforcements. Some of the men were seen stuffing rocks in their pockets - you know the flat ones with sharp edges that you can skim on water - and I'm pretty sure they did this for my benefit. I mean, come on! I'm not in charge of the ammo budget for this freaking ski trip to Russia. But apparently they thought it was me anyway. Sure, blame the guy with the braid on his sleeve, when all else fails. Anyway, there was a battle to fight, so the lads actually charged into the fray with a few bullets, some sharp rocks, and a lot of harsh language. I know that orders were to lay low on the mortar ammo, but when we started getting serious MG fire from the Orchard House, I said "Boys, let 'em have it!" But, in a small concession to HQ, I did give them strict orders to use only light fire. The mortar boys complied and I'm proud to say that we managed to keep mortar rounds in the air for the entire time of the battle. I gave the same orders to the MG boys too. They complied and I'm told there were a lot of bullet holes in that Orchard House by the time the 30 minutes were up. Without giving away too much of what to expect in the battle, it was a really vicious firefight. The battle is a test of one's infantry skills. There are bits of terrain that you really need to use to close with the enemy. There are also large open areas that will be hard to cross unless the enemy is suppressed, and that, of course, is difficult if you only have sharp rocks and two or three bullets. I used a lot of the assault command for movement, more than I recall having used in any one particular battle in the past. On top of all that, HQ was worried that morale would suffer a lot if my casualties were heavy. So, they put that one on me too - make sure you don't lose more than 10% of your guys and really give the Russians a serious drubbing for points. Seriously? You'd think I was in Nam and Walter Chronkite was dilligently reporting on the body count from their side and our side too. Anyway, suffice to say, it was a wicked battle, extremely challenging, it really looked good with your mods, I liked the snappy Italian marching song, and I would highly recommend it as quite the challenge to anyone's infantry assault skills. I really thought I was losing right up to the end, and then was pleasantly surprised to find that my lads had actually done extremely well. Still, there were a lot of dirty looks and some muttering by the troops about the ammo. I just ignored them and finished my Gelato. Thanks Phil. This was really a challenge, despite the score sheet. Regards, Gary

Aaaarrrggghhh...it's Columbo in uniform at 1:07:00. Same mannerisms as always.

NPye, That's a cool vid of the mod. I've played much of it on my other computer, but now I'll see about loading it into this one. It is amazing work. What is the music that you used for the video? It is a neat song. Heinrich505

The tracks look suspiciously like those of the T-70. Maybe they just mocked up the rest to get close to the L6/40. They would have needed to box the armor more and put lots more rivets...rivets everywhere. More rivets please.

Phil, Wot? No subtitles? Just kidding. Looks to be somewhat interesting. Have not seen Peter Falk yet, although having seen him for so many years as Columbo will probably ruin things for me. The train engine looks right (you knew I was checking that out...). I can't seem to find that fully tracked truck version shown at 11:22 in the film. I don't think it is an Opel Blitz, as they had the Maultier which was a half-track truck transport. I am pretty sure I have a Dragon 1/35th kit for that fully tracked truck somewhere. My searches online for that vehicle have failed though. Thanks for posting. Gary

This looks like it will be really cool.

Aftermath: The AT gun managed to fire 7 HE shells into the rear of the T-26. During this time, the turret was rotating and trying to get a bead on the snipers hiding in the crater. They were not pleased. I had the nearby scout team approach from the rear, as they had more grenades, but the 7th HE shell convinded the Soviet commander to bail out, and the scouts dealt with him summarily. The T-26 tanks do not go down easily to the 3,7 cm guns. It takes many hits, especially if the guns have run out of AT shells. Phil, I see that Münchbach, formerly the second to the breach team led by Kuntz, has now been promoted to having his own breach team. Nice. I take it this was a "reward" for his stellar performance in V2?

Just some "interesting" action from the attack on the AT position.

Why, of course I did. Didn't everyone?

Okay, I think I have them now.

Phil and Suchy, I didn't see anything in the goody box for the T-26 textures that Suchy mentioned. Did I miss seeing them? Also, Phil, is your BARB PANZER ANKLOPF a new version that requires the previous one to be deleted? Usually I see something like V.1 added to a new version. I didn't see that so I figured I should ask. You both are putting out some amazing things. Gary

Wow, that was a crazy scenario, Phil. Definitely had my heart racing. Those light Soviet tanks can fly!!! It was all I could do to keep track of them and try to get them in my sights. We got "door knockers" here, freaking door knockers! And where is the ammo replacement? Who sent Hans back for more ammo? He couldn't find his butt with both hands, and he's expected to bring up 3,7 cm ammo? Great call, Grossenkeister. Who the hell made him Obersturmführer? Oh, wait, it was his uncle that pulled strings. Wunderbar... And did anyone tell Hans to get more freaking grenades? Since we had to pool all our grenades so that the breach team that Kuntz got stuck leading would have grenade bundles, none of the rest of us have any chance of knocking out the flyers that crash through our line. Great planning by our "leaders." Sheesh, Day 2 on the Russian Front and we got this? Hoo Boy, so much to look forward to... Great job on this. A barn burner for sure. The ersatz T-26 tanks look very convincing. Kudos to the design team. I am not looking forward to KV-1s...unless you can mock up a prime mover to pull an 8,8 cm Flak gun into the fray. I think you are capturing the feel and uncertainty of the Barbarossa early days, which is exactly what you've set out to do. Very cool job. This battle had me on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Thanks for digging that old gem up, Phil. I remember discovering that one waaay back, never having figured that Al Stewart would have a song about the Eastern Front. I'd forgotten about it until you discovered it. Good find!

Falaise, I love the logo. Very Cool. Heinrich505

Oh My!!! I dare say Ursla would be completely at home with a Luger, field stripped or otherwise. Good choice, Commanderski.

Sounds great, Phil. Very excited!