Broadsword56

Let's talk about how we actually might simulate a rolling barrage -- as best we can, given the way the game works now. This will be very important for the Commonwealth tactics, but can be useful right now too. My books say the standard British rolling barrage lifted and moved forward 100 yards every 3 minutes. So in CMBN terms lets say you'd want to: 1. Have a full battalion of 105mm offmap guns (3 batteries of 4 guns each), representing the standard brigade/regimental support element. As each battery takes its firing turn, the other two are cooling down. 2. Have lots of TRPs in opposite pairs, each pair stepped back 8 action spots at either side of the barrage box. 3. Have your FOs call in a new TRP target line every 3 turns. The big question is, what type of mission do you call and what duration do you set to get 3 minutes of FFE on the designated line? I've tried to estimate this from the chart that's been posted on this forum and on the wiki site, but I don't think I see a clear answer. Does anyone know? If not, I may have to conduct some experiments...

I've been trying to decipher the US Artillery Characteristics chart, for 105mm guns. I'm trying to determine what mission and duration would put FFE on a target for 3 minutes. The "duration" on the chart is in most cases expressed in rounds. But then would I multiply that by the rate of fire (x rounds every 10 seconds) to get the length of the FFE? So, for example, would a 105mm "heavy" mission (1 round every 12 seconds) and a "Medium" duration of 12 rounds (is that what the M stands for?) give me 12 x 12 = 144 seconds or a barrage of 2.4 minutes? What about longer durations, like maximum?

The first sgt's (i.e. support HQ) team I find very handy for leading patrols. He's got enough rank to make a good patrol leader, a jeep available, and has a radio so the patrol can even call in artillery if they spot anything shootable. Pair his team up with an infantry team from one of the platoons, and they can provide overwatch for each other.

Here are a few examples of what I'm talking about -- granted, these are modern-day videos of the area, but interesting to look at anyway... A 29th ID veteran returns to Hill 108 where he fought in 1944: A Google map -- click on the pushpin and select the street view, then "drive" north along the D-91 and look along the roadsides: http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Le+Mesnil-Rouxelin,+Manche,+Lower+Normandy,+France&aq=&vps=2&g=14+Moulin+a+La+Fi%C3%A8re,+50480+Sainte-M%C3%A8re-%C3%89glise,+France&ie=UTF8&geocode=FY3s7QId1G7v_w&split=0&sll=-41.244772,172.617188&sspn=17.430211,24.345703&mpnum=1001&hq=&hnear=Le+Mesnil-Rouxelin,+Manche,+Lower+Normandy,+France

This all looks fantastic -- and I'd like to use them, only I have two things holding me back: 1. Do HD mods slow down the game and increase the chances of OOM errors, etc.? 2. I'm very happy with the zz_Aristoteles Terrain that I've had since August, which slightly desaturated things and reduced the shimmer. I'd like to try some of these new texture packs, but don't know how to integrate them with my existing one, or whether I should just make a clean switch (parking the old terrain somewhere safe in case I want to go back to it). The whole business of keeping mod files straight has me increasingly confused.

Here's some fodder for a mapping geekfest: wire fences. I agree that wooden fences would have been rare in Normandy except ornamentally or right around houses and farms and towns. Rural stone walls and bocage would be the most prevalent perimeters to fields. But how about the wire fences? LongLeftFlank says wire fences would have been extremely rare, except perhaps along the departmental routes where bocage would have been removed during road building, widening, etc. I largely agree. But in all the modern virtual "driving" I've done around my battle areas using Google Street View, I see wire fences very often along the sides of fields that border roads. I realize that Basse Normandie has lost a lot of bocage since WWII and the landscape has been changed due to mechanization and modernization of agriculture. But wire fencing has been in use since the 1870s, even in remote places like the American Great Plains. And I suspect that while animals were still heavily used as draft animals for Norman farms in the 1940s, the larger fields of cereal crops and wheat may have been worked with at least some machinery even then. The larger sizes on these wheat fields on wartime photos suggest to me that some bocage was removed to create these larger fields, and probably to make it easier for the machinery to move about and work efficiently. So wire would have been a handy way to fence these larger areas, wherever the farmer couldn't just rely on the existing stone walls or bocage lines. So on my maps, I do probably use a bit more wire fence than some other mappers might. I use it on fields that tend to be larger pastures or wheat fields along the edge that borders a road, particularly if it's a departmental route or highway.

Another mapping star is born!

Great tips, Georgie! I also recommend this: Place your historical photo as a jpeg overlay on the same area in Google Earth. Pick a farm you want to examine more closely, then zoom way, way in. Switch the transparency on and off a few times (using the "properties" dialog) to see how the photo location compares with modern satellite view -- in GE you can get close enough to see individual sheep grazing, so details should appear pretty clearly. Another thing to do is search for your location in Google Maps and then click on the pushpin to see if a street view is available. You'd be amazed at how many tiny hamlets and back roads in Normandy have street views now. Take a virtual drive along a route and just look at the characteristics of the fields, boundaries, the way buildings are situated, etc.

Wall posters are the worst PITA. I can never seem to fix them to a wall and nudge them into position without either leaving them suspended in air, or pushing them inside the wall. BTW, now that I've dissed this flavor object, I should confess it's also my favorite -- wish we had more of these, or larger ones -- like those wall-sized ads for Dubonnet that one often sees in the war photos.

My vote for a first mod is getting some netting and foliage on those British helmets. Too clean-looking the way they are now.

For me, it would just be swell if CMBN could consistently handle PBEM games with large forces on detailed maps of 2km or so, without crashing or getting an OOM error at some point. These limitations were acceptable in the US bocage sector, but it's really going to hurt if we can't play with Tiger tanks other armor in the more open country of Calvados at realistic ranges.

I use hedges very sparingly -- mostly in the immediate vicinity of settled areas and farmhouses. I also use them occasionally in scattered, scrubby field boundaries as an alternative to solid bocage.

Yes, Geoportail is amazing and it's what I use most. But those are from 1947, so if you want something from during the war, even if just for comparison, the Scottish images are valuable. For example, seeing the D-Day beaches a few days before the landings is good because all the German emplacements and positions were still there. After D-Day and by 1947, a lot of that had been obliterated by all the Naval shelling, postwar rebuilding, and passage of time. And IMHO the fact that the Scottish images are linked to their areas on Google Earth makes them especially helpful, since you can see them matched to the present-day features as well.

And some of these aerial photos in the Scottish archive are particularly remarkable because they were taken within days of -- or even during -- battles. This page on their "features" section about Operation Goodwood actually has some images showing Tiger tanks as they're crossing a wheatfield during the battle, etc.: http://aerial.rcahms.gov.uk/database/record.php?usi=006-000-001-172-C&scache=22e2o1b95d&searchdb=tara_scran Pretty amazing stuff, even if you just want to look at it and not map it.

Maybe someone has posted about this before, but it's a new discovery for me... Last night the American PBS network aired "3D Spies of World War II," a fascinating documentary about photo recon over Europe. They showed images from what they said was the world's largest archive of wartime aerial photos, many only recently declassified. It's in Edinburgh, Scotlland, at the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments. I looked it up online, and was amazed not only to find an easily searchable database of images, but also that they've already been hyperlinked to map pushpins and on Google Earth, with the boundaries marked out! Here's the URL for the photo archive -- lots on Omaha Beach area, Cherbourg, and Caen (although not much for the areas just W of Caen): http://aerial.rcahms.gov.uk/

Some wish-list ideas: 1. Some historical and accurately scaled battle maps of the Omaha Beach "draws" and Utah beach exits would be cool, since those would be the critical objectives for troops to fight on D-Day once they had landed. Players could make scenarios assuming that the forces on map had landed already, and were trying to fight their way off the beaches. 2. Also, thinking ahead to the Commonwealth module -- any accurate maps of the areas NW, W, and SW of Caen from the Epsom, Bluecoat, and other British operations would be great. The module looks like it's going to ship with a few maps from this area, but it's not yet clear exactly what terrain will be covered. 3. Longer-term, it would be great to have a "master map" of the 29th ID and 2nd ID areas from the St Lo-Isigny Highway east to Hill 197, and south from those points to Saint-Lo. Once we have German FJ units in the game, this one of the major places where they fought. I've already master-mapped the XIX Corps sector west of that, and LongLeftFlank has master-mapped it further west to Le Carillon. La Meauffe, and the Vire River.

The fake surrender ruse was not unknown in WWII, especially among the more fanatical SS (like the 12th SS Pz Hitler Jugend). I kind of like that one never really knows in CMBN how a "surrender" will play out, so that makes these situations realistically tense.

Thanks LLF -- I'll gladly PBEM this battle with you. Since you asked... Here's an overview Google Earth shot showing the areas of the battles sburke and I have played out so far in CMBN from the operational-tactical campaign: (For the folks at home: The maps in the white (La Nicollerie) and dark blue (Choisy) areas have already been posted to the repository, and are availabe for HTH play) The campaign highlights so far: July 11 -- The US XIX Corps blows open a 1km+ wide hole in the German right flank, and captures Hill 197 on the first day of the offensive. Lots of maneuvering over in that sector as the Americans are unable to exploit the open German flank. Couldn't play any of these battles out in CMBN due to the lack of German FJ units in the game yet. July 12 -- The US 35th ID adds pressure to the center near Villiers-Fossard. A full-strength (but regular experience) company of the 2/320th Infantry probes with armored support towards German positions on Hill 108 near La Nicollerie (blue box). The German defenders -- a lone veteran company with only 10% strength -- is reinforced at the last minute by 75mm and 88mm AT guns, so the attack hits a wall and stalls. July 13 -- Having repulsed the US probe at La Nicollerie, the German 352nd ID sees an opportunity: a counterattack against the flank of the 320th Infantry's advance. The Germans sneak a large armor reserve (Stugs) up to the Choisy area (white box) overnight to reinforce a fresh infantry battalion, and the combined force explodes into F Company 2/320th at dawn. The company is dug into a tight night perimeter around the crossroads town, and fight valiantly until the last of their 4 M-10 tank destroyers is destroyed. The German artillery pounds the defenders relentlessly while the perimeter is cut off and surrounded -- "Bastogne in the Bocage," we called this battle -- so eventually I surrendered the US company rather than see them slaughtered. As the dazed American POWs shuffled toward Saint-Lo, a debate raged at the highest levels of the German command: Press forward from Choisy crossroads and cut off the 320th Infantry's supply line, or withdraw back to the safety of the main German line. The voices of caution prevailed -- it was daylight now and the Germans had to consider a renewed threat of American air strikes. Also, this was the division's only armored reserve, and too valuable to risk at this time and place. The German spearhead withdrew safely, but the attack stunned the Americans and threw them back on the defensive in the center for another day or two while they consolidated and rested/resupplied. July 15 -- A mopup action by B/115/29th ID against a holdout German company that was surrounded in a farm complex near the Saint Lo-Isigny highway, the D95 (light blue box, lower right). This was a small but intense battle, but we had to abandon it when CMBN crashed the scenario beyond repair. The Germans looked pretty much like a beaten force by then, so we called it a US win. July 16 -- Major US offensives resume all along the corps front. The fresh, full-strength US 3/320th Infantry has moved SW of La Nicollerie and is about to launch an intensive setpiece attack against the German 516/G.R. 943 (orange box; I'm making the map for this one now). The op layer set the stage for the attack with a massive artillery bombardment by the 35th divarty and some corps arty. It left the German battalion disordered, so it enters the CMBN battle with Unfit status and -2 leadership. In addition to a 3:1 superiority in infantry, the US has attached Sherman and Stuart companies and an engineer platoon. The Germans, though undermanned as usual, have 81mm mortars, 75mm AT guns, and two 88s. They also have a Stug company. The Germans will stand and make an all-out fight here, because a US breakthrough opens the door to Hill 122. Both sides have foxholes and TRPs, having been opposite each other now for over 24 hours. But the Germans won't have barbed wire and mines to help them this time. The size of this new map is 1120m x 1120m, and with all the forces involved we're praying that we can get through it HTH without another scenario-wrecking game crash. Definitely pushing CMBN to its limits here.

Did you use an object or a shelter to make a covered archway gate to the farm compound? If so, let's see a view of that, please. I never thought of that but always disliked the way the entrances to walled farmyards looked so naked.

It would be cool if the zombie crew slithered out of the hatches, thinking the war is still on...

How do you find the op board game affects the battles you play out in CMBN? I've found they tend to make the battles more exciting because there's always something larger at stake. Players take better care of their forces to preserve capabilities (for example, German division won't release an armor reserve because of a threatened breakthrough somewhere else), and more uneven/lopsided battle setups -- this happens because the whole point of operational warfare is to get the terrain, odds, and timing of the battle in your favor before the first shot is fired. Supply gets to play a role when you have an op layer, too.

From what you've seen of the SS in the preview screenshots of the C-module, do you uniform gurus think BFC has changed that 3D model enough that SS cammo smocks will look convincing?

To turn this thread to a more positive tone... Wilhelm, what specific settings on Gapa-gamma are you using to get these amazing looking visuals ingame? I actually have that utility on my PC but never considered applying it to CMBN, and wasn't sure how/whether it might make a difference.

I've started my Operation Epsom-Day One boardgame scenario -- only 15 minutes in so far, but the Scots are following the preplanned barrage, nearing the 12th SS Pz main lines, and will soon be in MG range. Just waiting to see what's going to happen, and when a situation looks good for a future CMBN scenario setup...

Thank you for the clarifications, japanzer. So I now understand that I was looking at your sample bitmap. I suppose I need to delete your sample, so that I have only one overlayer.bmp (my own).