Michael Ivan

If their exploitation was limited by lack of a full logistical tail then the Germans would have had time to shift forces and that would have saved many soldiers and equipment. Soviet follow up and subsequent assaults would have been delayed. All the while the meat grinder would be working and working in the Germans favor as it did during virtually all the war. The Soviet Union was almost bled white. How would they have continued with one hand tied behind their back for the two years and more when lend lease no longer supplied the trucks and train rolling stock and the food to help feed their troops and their factory workers? The factory workers as it was were slowly failing, literally starving and the Soviet production miracle had subsided for the last year of the war at least. It is hard to get Yosef Stalin tanks from dead men and women which is what was already on the horizon even with lend lease. Just a few percent might have made all the difference. Could Germany have won? No. The final location of the western allies could have moved many miles east by the end of the war though. What if the western allies and the Soviets met on the Vistula in the end?

I believe that lend lease was more important than the mere percentages indicate. The Soviets had the mst intense mobilization of any country and maintained that until 1944 when their production started to fall off. At that point the workers were worn out and starving to death beyond coercion. Food from the west was all that kept it going as much as it did since when one is as close to starvation then just 15% or 20% makes all the difference. Of course Dodge trucks and railroad trains and trucks allowed many of the brilliant Soviet strategic and operational maneuvers while also allowing the speedy follow ups to their victories. This was of immense importance in that the Soviet manpower reserves were beginning to fail. Only the reoccupation of lands allowed the Soviets to sift out recruits to fill out the skeletal formations. Any slower advances could have caused the Soviet advances to stall and allow more time for the Germans to react and shift formations from critical point to critical point. Stalemate might have occurred.

I saw a preview in PC Gamer or Computer Gaming Magazine and downloaded the demo scenario as soon as I could. I played a fair amount but didn't get hooked really until Barbarosa. I am one of the old farts. I started wargaming in 1977 and now have over 200 of the board games, then computer wargaming as soon as I could find any (which was on the Commodore 64). Combat Mission has been the culmination of my wargaming "career".

As a range master once told me, "A pistol is what you use until you can get a real weapon in your hands." By the way, he was an amazing shot with hand guns and long guns.

The problem is that a 73 is barely a "C", barely a passing grade no matter what the mag claims. I would expect a game with a score of 73 to be worth a single play if I could get the game for free. The real question should be how good is the gameplay. 73 says that the gameplay is barely adaquate. At least that is what 73 should mean, what I would expect. Reading the review it looks like flash and dazzle were worth at 15 to 20 points. He said he was on the edge of his seat playing the game. Edge of the seat games I would say would be 90 to 95. In the end the trouble was the rating number, I rarely even read a review below 80 unless it is a game I am really excited by.

Wow, I must be a freak. I play wargames stone cold sober and think I am having a great time!

Yes, JasonC! Now that would be entertaining!

As others have said already Hitler was Hitler and that sealed Germany's fate. Hitler was an amateur economist. (Although not a good one) He believed the only real long term threat to Germany would be America and that was because of America's vast economy. Hitler believed the key to that vast economic power was vast amounts of land and the only place to get those for Germany was the USSR. Hitler despised or hated pretty much every other country but he had no interest in conquering France, England, Norway etc, etc. He really only wanted Russia and the rest of the world could wait until Germany had digested Russia and built up an immense economy and then he would be able to swallow the rest of the world. This added to his xenophobia set the inevitable course for the war as long as Hitler lived. The conquest of Russia was always and completely Hitler's goal. The only "what if" that I see as allowing Germany to win would be some way to knock out Russia in the first couple years. Really the only way I can see that happening is if somehow Stalin was killed. With all the purges and paid trips to unpleasant places that Stalin arranged for so many of his subjects there would have been no one to keep the country from fragmenting and becoming so much fresh meat. So maybe Germany starts Barbarossa in Late April and takes Moscow. As Stalin flees at the last moment the Luftwaffe attacks his train and Stalin dies. The rump government is unable to hold the government together and Germany takes over up to the Urals. Massive slaughter ensues and entire regions are denuded of people in retaliation for resistance. England sees no chance of winning and gets the best terms for an armistice. Oh and read Tooze. His information is very persuasive. For a book on economics it is fascinating. (Wow, that is not a sentence I would have ever believed would leave my lips or tapped into my computer!)

I am missing Renaults since I was just reading an account of the 82nd Airborne facing 3 Renaults on D-Day. Maybe they were the only Renaults in Normandy? Also interesting was that the Renault tanks took 3 or 4 bazooka hits to knock out.

I received mine today in Phoenix. I ordered on March 10th. There is no activation code on the box or manual, you find it on the Battlefront site under Account and then your order information for the game. It really does look very nice! I do wish it came with a cheat sheet with all the keyboard shortcuts that I could mount next to my monitor.

Now that impresses me. I just get such a great visual that matches descriptions from more than a few books about how that worked in the real thing. This is in response to JSB's comment on other units spotting an enemy telling other units with no imediate visual about it.

Aye, Peter. Location, location, location. There are no "empty" spots in the human body where a bullet will do no damage. I still laugh at the movies and TV shows that show the hero shot but ok because he was only shot it the shoulder or the leg. However there are places there a bullet it lethal wether it is a 9mm, .45 or .22 for that matter.

The major contributor to incapacitation and or death is the size and exansion of the wound channel. With ball ammuntion the .45 has the edge out to at least 50 yards, after that the 9mm equals and then exceeds the .45. At most any range a head shot, heart or liver shot or major artery destruction was game over for pretty much any caliber. I also don't want to be standing down range at even several hundred yards of someone blazing away with any of the handguns used. Even so the ball ammuntion of the militaries had much less stopping power than hollow point bullets. Three cheers for humanitarin war?

Oh the pain! I have a free weekend now and those are as rare as hen's teeth. I still hold the vary tiny bit of hope for the demo today. Ok I am dreaming but don't pee on my tiny flame of hope, it's all I have. ...sigh...

Ah, to each their own. When I first saw SL I had never seen anything like it. As the designer designed for effect it did fudge but I never had another game that so captured my imagination. I can still remember 34 years later much of those first scenarios, Guards Counterattack, Battle for the Factory et al. After Cross of Iron the rules piled to the sky and became work and other games crossed my desk over the years. I hope and expect to have the same feeling I had for those amazing days as I explore CM:BN