A Canadian Cat

Given that how does a probe victory conditions differ from a meeting engagement or from an Assault? When you play an ME you both usually start in a small(ish) space at opposite ends with the objective(s) in the middle. With an Assault the defender gets to setup in a fairly large area to defend the objectives and the attacker has to start away from the objectives and try to reach them. I have played those kind of QBs many times. What does a Probe look like in terms of objectives? --- Of course I could just fire the game up I suppose:-)

Just curious guys why probe and not a meeting engagement?

Now that AFV was bogged - totally under the mud and upside down. That was the thing that amazed me to. That and the dog playing in the muddy water:)

Let me start by saying I applaud you basic idea. I would consider contributing. However 10 posts per week on other forums is too high a bar for me that's for sure. I think numbers like that might scare off some other people too. Just saying:-) Now my story is quite different. I am *not* a computer gamer the most I have done is play a bit of Spore because my son got it for Christmas a few years ago. Got bored fast. When I was a teenager I build scale models and tried my hand at miniature war gaming but never had a satisfying experience. All that die rolling and tables plus the fact that nothing could be truly hidden. Same with a few hex games I played. None of it felt right. I kept trying to come up with ways to fix is with umpires mirrored setups in separate rooms but no traction - not enough friends with similar interests. Before I was 20 I had given up:( I found out about CMBN because I overheard a conversation between two colleagues at work about a new version of a game they used to play had been announced. That's when I found out that I had missed 10 years of Combat Mission!!! The three of us immediately bought CMBB and AK and played PBEM games while we waited for CMBN to release. Now we have switched to CMBN. I really wish that I had learned about these games 10 years ago. I am not sure how a guerrilla marketing campaign would have reached me years ago but koodos to your for trying to figure out a away to reach more people. I am sure there are people like me out there who don't know they are missing out on this great game.

Wow amazing stories guys. My tank crews have *never* done that before. They come out broken and run away. After they are a long way away I can calm them down and perhaps use them for observing near the line. I rarely have crack and elite crews. Is that where you guys see this type of behavior?

The issue of pushing and pushing our men is one of the things that bug my sometimes when I play. There have been many instances where I have said to myself "ok at this point a real company co would pack up and withdraw to a safe position and try again with some more help. Don't get me wrong I am having lots of fun. I just wish I could play a campagin PBEM. It would add another dimension of immersion and realism to the current fun.

I personally would really like to spend more time playing campaigns. However I really only want to play human opponents. Sadly you cannot do that via PBEM right now. That enhancment would actualy be a contender for my number one wante feature.

Great story. I agree about how amazing this game can be. I too am playing Huzzar right now - for the first time. I am playing as the Americans head to head with a good friend of mine. It takes me about an hour to play each turn because there is so much good action to watch. Our first fire fight was amazing too. In that case it was an M8 backed by another M8 and an M5 who turned a corner and ran smack into a 20mm cannon equipped HT and were flanked by a MG carrying HT. I am not sure who won that first fight. Sure I KO'ed both HTs but he killed on M8 and immobilized the other and the M5. Those first few moments were amazing, and in the near darkness it was even better. The 20mm canons took out the lead M8 pretty fast (but the German HT was immobilized first) while the MG HT mowed down the crew. Then the other M8 took out the MG HT while the M5 went head to head with the 20mm cannons. The M5 put round after round into the engine block of the 20mm HT and received, in return, a hail of 20mm shells. The M5 gunner finally nudged the barrel up a bit and blew the HT up but not before the M5 lost its tracks to the 20mm shells. I actually recorded that first exchange - but I have not gotten around to editing a useful video. I should get on that:)

BTW while I would, of course, like to come out on top and continue on in the tournament I have had a blast so far. Win or loose I would do it again the day after it ends.

Mine is still going. I feel that fortunes have flip flopped a bit. I had an early disaster followed by a big success followed by some later problems. The great thing about this game, as you all know, is one side really does not know the state of the other. I have made some inferences about the state of the other side but I will leave those recorded in a file for sharing in the AAR.

I just fired up a game where I have JPzIVs running around and the decal version do show up when the files are in z\Aris_Jagdpanzer IV Mid Mod\Decals. So what I was doing seems to work. I also have a bunch of Early Shermans running around in another game and none of them are using the z\Aris_M4A3 Sherman Early\Variants\m4a3-early-hull_Tarentaise.bmp version. This will be because it is not named with the standard numbering system. I will try to rename it and see if that brings it into the game. But that will have to tomorrow.

Just to verify under you z folder you have on folder for each of Aris's mods and some of them also have a Decals or Variants folder under them. To use a decal or variant you copy the ones you want from the Decals or Variants sub folder up on level into the same folder as the mail files. Do I understand you correctly?

I was getting caught up on installing Aris's mods and as I installed the JPzIV mod I realized that I have been installing each of the vehicle modes in to a sub directory of my z folder named after the vehicle. This I think is good. In the past I have been creating a sub folder of that called Decals and putting the decals there but this time I see in Aris's instructions: That would mean that I would have a directory structure like this: <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Aris_Jagdpanzer IV Mid Mod <--- just the JPzIV files <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Aris_Panther VG Mod <--- just the Panther VG files <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Decals <--- all vehicle decal files What I have been doing is this: <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Aris_Jagdpanzer IV Mid Mod <--- just the JPzIV files <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Aris_Jagdpanzer IV Mid Mod\Decals <--- just the JPzIV decal files <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Aris_Panther VG Mod <--- just the Panther VG files <root_dir>\Combat Mission Battle for Normandy\Data\ z\Aris_Panther VG Mod\Decals <--- all vehicle decal files I am really enjoying Aris's vehicle mods but I have to admit I don't look at vehicle numbers very much so I am not 100% sure if what I have been doing is valid or not. Is putting each vehicle mod's decals in a sub directory under its main directory a valid choice? It sure will make managing the mods easier but I want to be sure it is a good choice for having the decals show up properly in the game. Any advice would be appreciated and as a new years resolution I promise to pay better attention to the vehicle numbers while continuing to enjoy the mud and dirt.

+1 Both examples would work. The first would require support in the scenario description to indicate if the scenario is designed for H2H or play against the AI for one or both sides. But even if we never get that examples two will would be a great way for scenario designers to embed the info in their description image. Nice proposal.

Yes, busy. Can't say much without comprising operational security:)

Sometimes Firing First is Not Enough In a recent game (that is still going as of this uploading) two of my Shermans were in a fire fight with a Panther and a PzIV. This is a small fire fight on one flank of a much larger battle. At the end of the turn I noticed that the PzIV was smoking too. Try as I might I could not figure out who took it out. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure it out - checking tanks that were on the other side of the map in case one of them had a line of sight I did not expect. It was easy to tell that the other Sherman was not responsible - it fired only one round and that round bounced off the front armor of the Panther. The KO'ed Sherman took two hits one from the PzIV and then another from the Panther. Then I looked at the AP amo counts and discovered that just as the KO'ed Sherman was hit it fired a round. Watching where the barrel was aimed and following the shell I discovered that it was responsible for taking out the PzIV. Judging by the timing, I think instead of passing each other in the air the rounds passed by each other one in the air and the other in the Sherman's gun barrel. The PzIV fires, destroys the Sherman, then gets destroyed itself. The video shows the same time slice 1:10:37 to 1:10:24 in the game twice once looking at the PzIV and one looking at the Sherman. Since you cannot see the Shermam's muzzle flash I also tacked on 6s showing the Sherman's AP amo count going down at the end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD1okO8Qn14#t=0m39s PS. The Panther and the other Sherman broke contact and are still hunting each other 10 minutes later.

This is from a PBEM game that is still going on. This screen shot was captured several "minutes" ago and should be old news for my opponent. I made contact along a pretty long bocage line (over 300m) my opponent and I had two platoons plus blasting away across a field for many long minutes. I am sure we both took casualties and my first attempt to rush his positions failed miserably but I managed to overwhelm his left flank with the help of two shermans. This is what things looked like after my broken platoon and the two shermans breached the bocage and were looking down his line from his left. His platoon at this end was pretty much destroyed but my platoon is all broken but they are following the XO team and mortar team that are still in good order as they try to mop up the rest of his guys. This battle is still far from over but this was my first success on this side of the map.

I am drawing a blank - what are MTRs?

Oh, I have been adding to my AAR each turn and am now up to 21 pictures and 1200 words (covering the first 5-6 minutes). Sounds like I might be heading towards a boring full length gown:)

A pbem file will *not* show up in the scenario list. You put it into your /game files/incoming email folder under your game install dir. Then the game will show up into your Saved Games list.

Excellent idea. Be sure to repost back. I have never seen such a breakdown. It might be useful too.

Let's face it any time you get a large number of games in the same "room" you will end up with an assortment of personalities. And it is inevitable that there will be a few unsportsman like players mixed in. It is sad but the rest of us need to find a way to keep going and have fun. My personal view is that if you cannot have fun loosing at a game then don't play, because even if you are good you will still be loosing some of the time. And lord knows I loose half the time- or more:)

Yes, please do not stop the whole thing. I get your frustration - and i feel it to. Glad i read this first - I am ignoring the other thread.

He he he at least you can see the "microscopic" sign. Your opponent cannot even see that - until they walk / drive into it. No the sign is all you get - be careful.

Once you get there you can tell the difference. I am playing Huzzar! with a friend. That scenario, at least for the Americans, has touch objectives and occupy objectives. Once you get to a touch objective you get a notice on screen (and a sound) that you have satisfied it and the green highlighting on the map goes away. So, even though Bimmer is not commenting, and given the fact that I have no clue either, you are now armed with the information to figure it out yourself once one of your teams arrives at an objective.