LUCASWILLEN05

There was also the issue of the Hungarian oilfields, the biggest remaining to Germany after the loss of the Romanian oilfields Without oil to top up Germany's dwindlig oil reserves it would run low sooner or laer. Ant then there would be no fuel o power German industry so war material would become sacarce. And there would be no fuel to run German panzers. So, despite the direct threat to Germany itself the threat to Hungary was equally fatal. There were sound strategic reasons for defending Hungary. By September 1944 however Germany had lost the war. A sane German Government would have sued for peace. Hitler could not, and would not do that

According to CNN ISIS captured some M1A2s at some point. Interesting that the US have admitted it. How many tanks we are actually talking about is another matter if this is true http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/09/world/meast/iraq-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Maybe scenarios could have a very simplified but scaled off map area on which off table assets such as artillery, headquarters and reserves relevant to the battle being fought can be positioned and moved.

There is indeed a lot of good source marterial out there but what usually happens after BF brings out a new title is that users develop new scenarios and campaigns. It takes time for obvious reasons and it is not an easy task as anyone who has even experimented with their own scebnario for their own amusement will quickly realise.

Consider the kind of force you have against what the enemy have. In your example you describe good tank country. However, it is also could anti tank country. So be wary of anti tank guns. Figure out where these might be. The patches of trees might well conceal AT Guns so treat these areas with caution. I would avoid the road since it is too obvious a line of advance and is very likely going to be covered by enemy positions. Send in dismounted infantry first while the tanks overwatch. Use bounding overwatches. For instance a platoon of three tanks might overwatch with one tank while two advance to the next position/ At the next level you use a tank platoon on overwartch to cover the platoon you are advancing.

Those crustacean jokes are pretty funny. I am sure that thereallobster did not inend to land himself in such hot water. Sorry, that was just too hard to resist! Seriously the guy does have a point though it might have been phrased better. When the game was first published a few more BF scenarios and campaigns would have been nice to have. Having said that they do take a lot of work to produce. If Lobbie would like to develop his own scenarios i am sure we would all enjoy playing them.

Chemical warfare or at least the threat of it would be an interesting factor to include. There would have to be a provision for wearing NBC suits and MOPP level with chances of casualties depending on this/

Chances are that this was a mistake, probably by the pro Russian rebels. It seems the Russians have been supplying them with advanced equipment and they have been shooting down Ukranian military aircraft. What may have happened is that inexperienced or ill trained crew made a misstake and misinterpreted the data. This is very reminiscent of the KAL007 and USS Vincennes incidents.

Thanks guys. For future reference could BF make this kind of option a little less opaque Crop circles. Yes please and could wee have a Black Hole as Ze Fuhrer's "Secret Weapon" - and regarding assorted occult symbols didn't Himmler have an interest in that kind of thing?

Ja! Sehr gut! :-) However i have no idea which of the farm selections to use. I have looked through the Flavour objects but there doesn't seem to be a way to change the option s available to get the required option. Confused :-(

I have noticed in one or two scenarios that dead livestock has been added to the scenary 9horses, cattle) but I cannort see how you can add this feature in the scenario editor. Could someone please explain?

Use Fire and Movement tacticas at all levees/ Remember to use combined arms. For instance you might be best off preparing an assault on an enemy strongpoint with artillery or mortar fire (smoke can be used to conceal movement. Tanks may start the assault on overwatch using their gun and machineguns to support the infantry. Don't forget anti tank guns are a real threat at his stage of the way. It is largely he job of your infantrry to close with and defeat enemy ant tank guns though tank fire and artillery are also useful for this task. Once the AT Gun threat hasbeen eliminated or a leas significantly reduced your tanks can lose in relative safety o give close support to your infantry. Regarding infanry orders, when attacking a house or a trench I prefer to give an Assault Order. This way a squad will employ Fire and Movement tacics against the position I wish them to secure. Amother squad or a machinegun might be positiomned to give the assault squad some additional close fire support. If you are able to suppress a defendig unit it is less likely o fire at you or at least do so effectively. This is actually quite a difficult game requiring you to implement real world tactics so doing some research and figring out how to implement these in game will help you a lot/

Put other tanks onto an overwatch position such that they can observe likely enemy positions whether this be enemy armour or (and this should be your reall concern a this stage of the war) anti tank guns. Consider sending your infantry inn ahead of your tanks which support them from overwatch. Use combined arms! Use bounding overwatch Are there ways you can outflank a position,perhaps employing covered approaches such as woods or gullies? Or, as has been suggested use smoke to make your own covered approach in the event one does not exist. No one approach is foolproof and you may well need to combine two or more of the above solutions to achieve your aim at the lowest possible price. Accept that you are going to take casualties. You can't make an omlette without breaking eggs

Pacific Theatre (including Burma) and Vietnam woud be nice. As would an Arab Isreali Wars game, 1980s Cold War Europe, 2nd Korean War etc. For WW2 I would like to see Early Blitzkrieg and Western Desert Battlefront could consider running a poll split into WW2 and Moderns as a means of market research.

While Stalingrad on its own does not appeal o me that much apart from the occasinal game there was a lot more going on over the winter of 1942 - 3 For example Operation Mars and indeed a whhole range of other Soviet offensive operations along the front Third Battle of Kharkov Another Red army operation to relieve Leningrad German attempt to relieve Stalingrad Operations in the Caucasus Earlier in 1942 there is 2nd Kharkov, Operatiobn Blau, the battles outside Stalingrad over the summer, Soviet offensives in Army Group North and Centre, the Crimea etc. Sure, extra urban combat features will be nice but they are only a smallish part of the whole Stalingrad can still be the working tite but the game itself needs to cover all the 1942 battles from May onwards and early 1943 fighting up to the end of March

However the Ukranians use the T80 even if they need to be pullled out of storage. So hopefully we will get them to counter balance the Russian T-90

No. You are both wrong. They are on Nibiru which is even now nearing Eath to begin the promised Apocalypse!

Question is to what extent ISIS would have the technical expertise. The Foreign Fighters of whom ISIS apparently has quite a few might well have some. Not anything like a Western army of course and spare parts will become a problem. They will not however have that much experience in armoured warfare. However, combine this with IEDs, suicide bombers and technicals and set this army to work unifyng Iraq and Syria into a real Caliphate and the surrounding staes such as Saudi Arabia could well have reason to worry. The IDF or a Western intervention army (even the Turks) could likely defeat them but it might not be an easy fight against a well motivated foe with combat experience/ Think Lebanon 2006 and Hezbollah dd not have modern MBTs (or for that matter tanks a all) They could however operate modern ATGMs.

Would be great to have those map making tools for SF! Regarding Iraq I can see a 2014 version of the collapse of South Vietnam happening if and when ISIS march on Baghdad, certainly in the near future. It might be messier around Baghdad if the Shi;a Militias fight. In the nothth the Kurds will lkely fight to defend their territory. However, the bad nes is the Iraqi Army itself culd very well collapse f given a real push in the very bear future. And, if this happens and they flee the field leaving their equipment behind to fall into the hands of ISISS that will be "Houston forget that other thing!"

We are talking insurgent types here albeit trained and experienced ones. And the Iraqi Army, a least the ones in Mosul seems to be a bit of a joke to put it mildly. Bad officers, poor morale and training maye leaving as lot to be desired. Plenty of supplies - it's just that they left a lot of it behind when they fled the battlefield.

And someone though it was a good idea to sell Iraq M1A2s. Assuming the sale went through and Iraq goes the way of South Vietnam that means extremist Islamists, quite possibly bent on regional domination could have one of the best MBTs in their arsenal. This could be a problem....

Except as the German player! :-) Historically the Canadians were hit hard in this action and, if you play Canadian you must expect this

I have nothing against having the Belorussian army included as a Russian ally and, in fact would like them to be included as such in a future expansion of the game along with some or all of the other nationalities, in particular the Polish, Baltic States, British, Germans, French and some of the smaller NATO states. This will increase the mix of equipment available, for example the French Leclerc. The Baltic States armies are there for scenarios where those states are invaded by Russia, the Poles and Romanians because they are major NATO nations likeley to bedrawn into this hypothetical conflict.

Without wanting to get overly poliical about this, if we had a situation where Putin attacked a NATO member state during the course of this hypothetical crisis (let'ts say Poland, the Baltic States or Romania who are all NATO members) Article 51 of the Atlantic Treaty would be invoked and NATO would go to war with Russia. As for world coverage I am afraid Russia Today is a least as biased as any Western media outlet is likely to be and does seem to give a very pro Kremlin slant on things. As they say, truth is often the first casualty in war and the likelihood is nobody is likely to be telling the full truth. However, this is a wargame not a political debate website and we would like to have as big a force mix as possible to make for interesting scenarios.

You might try this kind of thing and also some of the divisional histories. http://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Aces-Commanders-Stackpole-Military/dp/0811731731