eltorrente

The 4th installment of the CMBN tactics series on Armchair General is up. This latest one is about setting up a layered defense. Here's the page that has all the vids: Armchair General Tutorial Videos

Yeah there is some wacky stuff that doesn't seem to make sense sometimes. In a current PBEM, I saw a really odd spotting incident happen, just a couple turns ago: My Stummel and an M10 fired at each other at the same time. Stummel dies, but explodes an HE shell against the M10's turret, causing the crew to duck down of course. Only a couple seconds later, the M10 crew says "enemy vehicle spotted" and starts rotating its turret and aims and fires at my Puma 1200 yards away. My Puma had been sitting still, pointed directly at the M10 and I was just waiting for him to see him. The Puma didn't see the M10 and Stummel exchange fire, or see the explosion against its turret, but somehow the M10 saw him first. The M10 had it's side to the Puma, and the Puma had a smaller frontal profile. The fact that it was 1200 yards away made it even more crazy. The thing is, I don't even get too upset when this stuff happens - though I think it certainly needs looking at. It goes both ways, and it works pretty well most of the time. They know the limitations of the spotting system better than we do, and I'm sure they'll make tweaks and fixes to it when they can. For the most part, I don't have a problem with it, but damn.. sometimes it can be pretty crazy.

I'm currently playing a pbem game as germans and have seen this go both ways. For the first several turns, I had a Panther getting rounds bounced off it's turret over and over and over, until it FINALLY saw the sherman firing at it from 1200-1300 yards. My Panther was pointed straight at it and it took minutes (luckily I was at such a long range). At the same time, I had another Panther that was pointed in that direction, and he didn't see him firing away for several minutes, also. In the same game, a Sherman came hunting for me at close range, coming up a hill. I knew he was coming and was backing up to reposition. My Panther was backing up and this time the Sherman simply didn't see him. My Panther saw him, rotated and blew him up and his turret never even moved, though I was basically right in front of him.

Yup, for armored grenadiers - but it should be noted that you also have the choice of having 11 men per squad, if you get the motorized grenadier battalion. Also, the motorized grenadiers are the only ones who you can split a squad into three sections - but ONLY IF you equip them with panzershreks.

I just looked in the editor to see what is up. I checked it with "infantry only" "mech infantry" and "mix", and used waffen SS. In every grenadier battalion I looked at, the 4th platoon of each company has 2 81mm mortors, plus MG's, stummels, or whatever. All battalions also include a heavy company that includes either 4 x 120mm heavy mortars or anti tank weapons. So, each battalion has AT LEAST 6 81mm mortars in addition to whatever is in the heavy company. Tell us which exact battalion you purchased - armored/motorized, and what setup - infantry, mech infantry, mixed, and maybe we can figure out what you are talking about.

Indeed.. I was in the Navy (submarines), and I went all over the Pacific. One thing that struck me was how much more.. liberal.. other countries were with their nightlife and various activities - as compared to the US. The US is so uptight and what people think is wild nightlife is absolutely tame by most other developed countries' standards.

Yeah, mjkerner, that would be great. I hope this operation produces tons of battles and we get a chance to go at it with at least a slightly even force. What I really liked was that we had the opportunity to have an effect on the larger battle. I really wanted to get at least a couple Stuarts off the map so they could fight another day.

He hits the PZIV with a solid shot in the turret. I think the turret had been turning toward the bailed crewman, causing them to surrender - but giving the Platoon Commander a better shot. The Platoon leader gets to the exit zone and fires another shot off, causing armor spalling on the hull. Once again, in the last second before exiting the battle, a Stuart dies, and the turn and battle is over.

The stricken crew bails out in the face of danger. The approaching PZIVs are moving toward the other Stuarts, so the Stuart's Commander does his best to help his comrades. Despite the other crewman surrendering, the Commander fights on, causing the PZIV to button up. The first tank to make it to the exit zone is hit and destroyed literally a half second before disappearing! So close.. The last tank alive is the Platoon Leader, and he valiantly tries to take out who he can. He lines up and fires on the front PZIV while speeding toward the exit zone.

Heh, yeah I only had basically 1 minute to work with, but there was plenty of action so I just went with it. I like Stuarts - they're good at what they're meant for. I was surprised to see one get a front turret penetration on a PZIV. I wasn't expecting them to do much unless it was from the side or rear.

It's cool to see this from the enemy commander's point of view. I'm glad to see the Stuart crew shooting it out to the last minute. The Stuart commander was brave - he didn't button up, even when they first entered the field and were getting all that MG fire and cannon rounds flying close by.

The Stuart recieves a killing blow in the last second. Now down 2 Stuarts, the remaining two speed toward the exit zone - though in LOS from several tanks bearing down on them.

The rear Stuart scores a solid hit on PZIV! Penetration, causing tank to button up, not sure if it caused much damage. The tank ended up moving to it's right, and aiming at another Stuart after this hit. The Stuart now takes aim at the group of 3 PZIV's posing the most danger. He aims, but is destroyed before getting a shot off. At this point the other Stuarts have made it into the next field amid a crossfire. The lead Stuart takes aim at the damaged PZIV and fires off a shot while speeding across the field. Another solid hit on the PZIV. After this hit, I think the crew freaked out or maybe I killed someone. It's turret stopped moving after this point, then I lost visual contact, because the remaining Stuarts all quit looking at him. The lead Stuart heads into the final field, while the second Stuart follows his original orders and heads into the dangerous field next to the 3 PZIV's. The Stuart and the Panzers all open up with MG's and cannon as soon as he enters this field.

I begin rolling the platoon out at full speed, and soon tank contacts are reported and rounds begin flying from all around. The bocage was mostly very low, so LOS was an issue from everywhere on the map. My Platoon Leader is narrowly missed, mere seconds after rolling out. A couple seconds later, the rear Stuart's commander suffers what must have been a gruesome death, painting the inside of the tank with blood and gore. Note his hat has been blown off: Showered with blood, the remaining crew decide to stop where they are and shoot it out. They lost sight of the PZIV that nailed them, so they take aim on another tank that has just narrowly missed them with a round. Meanwhile, the rest of the Stuarts stay on throttle and stick to the plan - under heavy fire the whole time. This pic shows the situation after 25 seconds. Three Stuart V's are speeding toward their escape, while the last one is making a last great act of defiance.

The Stuart V platoon under my command is surrounded, and reports are that enemy forces are closing in on all sides with lots of PZIV and Grenadiers. Trying to stand and fight would be suicidal, and I have no idea where and how the enemy will be coming at me. My best option is to try and escape to fight another day. My plan is to alternate going left and right into the field toward the exit zone. By going left and right, I hope to catch a PZIV that I think may be waiting for me in that last field. I figure the first Stuart may get hit, but the second thru fourth may get an angle and may do some damage.

johnnyscea@yahoo.com

Yeah, I'd love to play!

Maybe you shouldn't give his plans away to his opponent (?).

Yeah, I'd rather not visit a site that's flagged like that. Why not just post it here, or find a site that doesn't so blatantly scare away everyone who tries to enter it?

You said, "I'm playing as the Axis.." - Don't you mean Allies? Anyway, this looks really cool, and the types of battles that will result from this should be interesting and more meaningful than the regular PBEM scenarious and quick battles. If you guys need another commander to help resolve battles - if the workload gets too high - let me know! I'd love to help out. This looks like a lot of fun, and I'm curious how this will play out.

Do the stars above the victory locations = different amounts of points? I'm about to start a large PBEM battle, and it has two victory locations. One of them has 1 star, the other has 2 stars. My opponent and I both aren't sure if they are worth the same.

In a recent pbem, a Sherman bounced a shell off my Panther's turret, and it landed 30meters away on top of my Platoon leader and killed him. When this stuff happens, it drives me crazy, yet it's cool at the same time.

Hah - didn't even realize you posted in here. I got the setup and just finished selecting forces. This map is going to make for a different type of battle, that's for sure. Lot of lanes of approach and good LOS spots all over the place - I look forward to this one.

The reason I was doing it was because they were on his flank, oriented toward the main battle off in the distance, not iniitially looking my way. The tree line was an L shape, and I was coming from the side they weren't on originally. I was moving a Crack platoon with MGs, a mortar, a sniper, and two anti tank teams (one faust and one schrek). If I could have gotten up to the trees undetected, I would have had a great chance to wipe them out. His Sherman was just sitting there waiting for a faust up the butt. It wasn't a frontal assault or anything. I thought his FO was there, and at least a couple groups of infantry of one type or another. He had a jeep there, too.

Yeah I really enjoy trying to maximize my stealth, yet I'm wanting to push it by moving as fast as I can get away with. I was just in a pbem match and I was moving through a wheat field toward a line a trees that I knew had a tank and some infantry. I was going slow at first, then I started using hunt, as it was probably 100yards to the tree line, but I was imagining icons popping up and alerting my opponent. I think he did hear me, since I started seeing icons shifting around in the trees, seemingly to face me. All of a sudden I didn't know what to do, got scared, and just hid. I also like veteran or better troops, since I imagine they are a little better at being quiet and spotting. I guess even though I try to go slow, I could always go slower. Maybe start "hunting" a little sooner w/reduced arcs. Usually even though I typically go slow to the objective, the fighting still starts within 10 minutes, and taking even 5 more minutes to get there would probably be a good thing. Mechanized infantry is another story I think - in a meeting engagement with mechanized troops I just speed a platoon to the objective as quick as I can, but for the most part I like to go slow and steady with most of my infantry.