herr_oberst

The mind boggles at the thought of playing a 20k point game, but it sure is entertaining to read -- thank you greatly. I just imagine that I'd have to keep a long laundry list of groups and objectives just to remember what to attempt each turn, and to make sure I visited each group on a turn. You two are amazing.

Quick, can someone please mod the pilots into Uma-clones? Yellow jumpsuits and katanas IIRC. THAT should be distraction enough (for us, of course, Bil won't see them though).

I think the Wirbelwind was one of my favorite Tamiya models ever way, way back in the day when I built those things. Gonna be a lot of fun to get it in MG, even if just to grab some screenies as a desktop wallpaper.

52 for a little while longer. Like many others, started with Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, France 1940 (cripes, I think I owned about 15 of those Bookshelf games as a teen). Then found Squad Leader in college; Cross of Iron, Crescendo, then Anvil (those I still have). Big multi-national 'capture the flag' battles on 15 or 20 boards, town in the middle, random boards to fill it out, and 2500 points to buy units. Yes, good times. Early PC games, then heard about a "Squad Leader on the PC game"... and the famous Alpha AAR. Since then, CM series have been my only purchases (other than a spell where I ran a home Everquest server for the kids to play on). Now they've moved on, and I've moved to a Mac, and rebought the CMBN, CW, FI, and GL games. Rock on Battlefront, we're here for the long haul. On my second incarnation of the Herr Oberst login (with much better backup procedures in place nowadays).

I too an curious about the IV/70... will it be as notoriously difficult to position given that you don't want to poke that long snout into the ground trying to maneuver over some rough ground/embankments?

Can't you just lock a tile to an elevation to create all the flat space you desire? And just because someone has to do it: All your base are belong to us!!!

Bumping this so that: John, check for a PM with the II SS Pz Corps info.

Sooo, don't do that. The only person you would be cheating is yourself. First time through a Campaign, I play with no reloads. What happens, happens, so deal with it. Mind you, this was very painful first go through the CMBN Courage and Fortitude Campaign (definitely traits you needed in order to finish that campaign).

Let me see what I can assemble this weekend. I have Nipe's "Decision in the Ukraine", and can try cross-referencing my Das Reich IV and Leibstandarte III volumes for that time period. Have no specific volumes on Totenkopf or the 167th ID. It's late, so you'll have to help me with the meaning of "the DAG for the RD".

No interest in the modern stuff, but I've bought (and will continue to buy) any/every thing WWII-related since the Alpha AAR with IIRC Fionn and someone. Gaming time is at a premium,, but that Alpha AAR was the hook. Essentially Squad Leader on the PC, which was akin to my Holy Grail (barring Vorpal Bunnies) for gaming. CMBO, CMAK, CMBB, CMBN, CMCW, CMFI, CMGL, etc. Heck, I evan have dual copies of CMBN and CMCW 'cause I switched from PC to Mac during that period, and couldn't be without. Really looking forward to revisiting the Eastern Front in CMx2.

If you're going hunting Stugs, you'll want more spread between vehicles. As it is, at a decent range you look like you're all lined up within gun traverse. Force the Stug to do at least some hull traverse to engage more than one of your tanks or it could get ugly real fast..

Not solely a graphics bug, but an artifact of missing main gun "elevation/depression" limits for AFVs. Long a sore spot for those fighting armor in towns, with armor able to pick off infantry where the AFV shouldn't be able to get elevation to hit, or depressing a gun below the "hard deck" of the AFV itself. Something we live with, and there are many historical threads discussing the issue.

Reverse slopes seem to work just fine. I had a scout platoon pretty well minced by a platoon in foxholes on the reverse slope in a campaign scenario. But that was a well designed scenario -- reverse slope defense, foxholes spread amid some trees -- a real bugger to clear until I could get around behind them and setup a crossfire.

If it really is over (I would tend to agree), then next turn declare so. Immediately after that, "Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war". Rush the town with everything you have, straightest line possible. None of this fancy maneuver and covering fire, or bounding overwatch. A zerg rush of gigantic proportions. Now that's entertainment. But don't tell GaJ first.

Kinda reminds me of the "School of Hard Knocks". A real PITA. Got massacred the first try, and a couple more after that. And no, haven't beaten this one either (yet).

Pity you didn't get the commander with that volley. Now a really, really good MG team would be trying to aim straight down the barrel of that JgPz.

All the better to CRUSH his morale with your coming turns. I'd be tempted to be content with denying movement to the degree that you can while you wait for reinforcements to arrive. My only advice, having just finished reading "The Day of Battle" by Rick Atkinson (a good read of the Sicily, Italy campaign, which sometimes leaves you wondering how the Allies actually won, but execution of actual warfare is filled with difficult choices (thank goodness it's only pixeltruppen that I lead to their massacre)), is not to commit those reinforcements piecemeal. If terrain denial is working, accumulate what you can so it hits hard, rather than in drips and drabs.

Ruddy teasing bastidge!!! Pics or it didn't happen...

A merry start to GL I thought. Play around with some new big clankety things, and chew up some Amis. And after hearing various debates about the effectiveness of Allied CAS in CM, I figured I just needed to keep my Brummbars moving to be relatively safe. Ahem... "CAS TOO POWERFUL!!! BFC: please fix or do sumfink!" The short of it, CAS plastered the command tank on turn 2 (is that a 500 lb'er it is carrying?), then proceeded to spread the guts of most of one platoon across the dusty ground over the next two or three turns. Gods, what a great game. To paraphrase an old BFC forums quote (was it from 1993 or somewhere's 'round then?): "I love CMxx games, all the frustration of golf without the exercise."

For Pete's sake, give yourself some credit, man! I'm not sure I'd have opted for the "shoot and scoot" (or "shoot and push/pull/curse") as a way to salvage that gun. He who fights and runs away and all that. If Bill had that spot targeted because he thought he saw or saw a gun there, but then there isn't one, he's gotta start wondering. And that has some value. Not saying I'd plan a defense with that mode of repositioning in mind, but as an adhoc action, well played.

With regards to Mr Emrys' sig line, I do believe... What do I believe you might ask? Well, I do believe I'll have another Guiness... Right now. And you can believe that!

I would vote for "equal representation"... list all those comments where it was stated that "Emrys, you are a complete dolt, and couldn't be more wrong" then we'll see how long your sig is... In the interests of full disclosure, yes, I used to wade in the Cesspool, until I decided that it wasn't worth the dirty cuffs on my trousers.

I would think that a version of the "Find 'em, fix 'en, fry 'em" scheme is the only way to approach such an opposing element. Of course, Bill has done a wonderful job of making that difficult. When an asset is protected as it is, it simply compounds the problem for the Allied player. But you certainly cannot afford to let the Axis player have his way with that unit; the costs are too dear. An Elephant is not a "fast" unit, and the lack of a turret is an attribute that has to be pressed in order to exploit that vulnerability -- first by stripping its supporting cover. From the Allied point of view, how much can you afford to concentrate on that one unit in an attempt to kill, versus making sure that you don't show a weakness elsewhere, or provide a "target of opportunity" to that unit. The idea of a "pawn sacrifice" comes to mind, but that is relying more on the limitations of the game engine, and the one minute window for orders rather than beating your opponent's tactical skills. If you have a notion of where that unit is, I would think that you would maneuver to minimize its usefulness; while keeping an eye on the chance to attack. If the Elephant never gets another kill, then the cost-benefit ratio *might* work in GaJ's favor, provided he counters Bill's maneuvers, but he'll have to be awfully judicious in exposing other any units to its firepower. Playing against such a unit when you don't have something that can stand toe-to-toe is akin to playing a game of chess -- how do you minimize the force exerted by a piece -- denial of terrain. Essentially a game of "cat and mouse", but keeping eyes on that unit allows you the chance to minimize its potential usefulness. But even that comes at some cost, and Bill seems determined to make the opponent pay that cost through careful planning. A testament to both players. That being said, thank you both for giving us all such a wonderful set of DAR's to slobber over while we wait for BFC to actually release the GL module to us "commoners".

Nice shooting, but where's the gaping hole on the back side of the turret?

Indeed. I have a 16 gig SanDisk USB drive that's barely bigger than the USB port it sticks in. I've seen a 32 gig (same form factor) as well.