hollister21

On my Mac I find if I accidentally hold "shift" while using the WASD navigation keys that the game will "lock" onto whatever direction. For example, if I were to hit "shift-A" the game would scroll left until it hit the border. The only way I've found to fix this is the open the menu and access the briefing - after returning to the game screen the problem is remedied.

Success! Ultimately took a combination of almost all your suggestions. Thanks for the help!

Ok thanks, that seems to have sort of worked ... Now the editor appears to recognize that there is an overlay image somewhere - a message says something about using the "o" key to toggle the supplied overlay. However, there is still no overlay image. Using the "o" key will change the entire map from its normal color to grey shade to darker grey shade to black. I'm running this on a mac btw, don't know if that matters or if there are any extra steps I'm missing.

I see. Well I'll be more careful in my fire mission selection in the future - especially when I may use up one or the other (HE or smoke).

Hope this is the correct place for this ... I have not been able to get the map overlays to work for the scenario editor for CMBN or CMFI. BN is v2.01, FI is v.1.1 I have taken a screenshot of a map from google earth - using a photo editor I cropped the area of interest and saved it as "special_editor_overlay.bmp" (without the quotation marks) and saved it into the "Z" folder in the data folder. After restarting CMBN and opening the scenario editor, the overlay is not visible. The "O" toggle appears to have no function. Any ideas? Thanks for any help with this.

Playing through the Troina campaign (which has been fantastic so far) and I've had some issues calling in artillery, which don't seem to make any sense. After a lengthy shelling to start the 3rd mission, my 155mm howitzer had 24 HE shells remaining and 24 smoke shells remaining. I issued a follow up fire mission several turns later for a heavy smoke screen on the ridge of the mountain. After several turns the fire mission is complete and I have a nice smoke screen to advance behind. My issue is that when I then go to order another shelling of the mountain fort, I am told that there are now 0 HE shells as well as 0 smoke shells. Where did the HE go? I've had this occur a few times in the past. I don't recall having this issue with CMBN, but maybe it is there as well. Is this a known bug? Intentional simulation of poor battlefield comms?

Just finished the first mission of Road to Montebourg (the beach). Total allied victory with 6 KIA, 6 WIA. Certainly much trickier getting off the beach, but I moved slowly using heavy suppression fire with my MGs and bounding teams up to covered areas.

Triggers are absolutely a good idea - you can take the guesswork out of where and when the human player will be at any given time. I stuck it out for another 20 or so turns, until another entire "large combatant" group (like 6 squads) spawned in another group of buildings I was occupying. Lost almost an entire platoon. So that was the third time in the mission. I ended up semi rage-quitting this mission and took a Minor Defeat. I feel like I deserved better since I felt like I was finally starting to "sweep the streets" up and looked to be close to victory.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the U.S. Army campaign throughout, and I am now working on fighting through Street Sweepers. I have had now had 2 occasions when enemy forces were "spawned" or reinforced right on top of my forces, resulting in heavy casualties. The first were 4 technicals - luckily I had 4 Abrams to quickly dispatch them but still they were able to smoke a Stryker full of infantry. Then, several turns later, 4 or 5 squads of combatants appear literally in the same 5 rooms occupied by one of my platoons. I took 15 or 16 casualties within seconds of the turn starting. Was this seriously designed into the map? I'm taking enough casualties as it is in this MOUT environment, it is very frustrating to have to deal with this as well.

Well, this is starting to get a little ugly. As my panzerschrek team races into the open to try and get a jump on the approaching armor, it’s suddenly clear that they will be too late. A Sherman rolls through the previously blown breach in the bocage and begins directing machine gun fire at my men at the farmhouse complex. I pray that the Sherman does not somehow spot my men running in the open, but as the turn ends, I can see the turret slowly traverse in their direction. Turn 14 will reveal their fate. The lone survivor of the tank hunter team is finally incapacitated after 2 + minutes of sustained HE and machine gun fire. I’ve got to be more patient and dictate the flow of battle, as I’ve found myself reacting to Yormsha in the last few turns and making some poor decisions. We’ll see....

Haha, well done ... I'm just making sure if anyone is still reading this But seriously, I think I must have posted that after a long day of school and work and maybe one too many Heinekens. I've got the next turn sitting around here somewhere, I'll post it up as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!

By the end of the turn, two of my rifle squads are pinned, and my tank hunter team is down to 1 injured man who is pinned behind the bocage. Yormsha has moved another Sherman in the field across from me, and I’ve spotted at least 2 sections of Polish infantry heading south. I’m evacuating my forces that are under fire, and I have now split off three separate panzershrek teams to head towards the crossroads and try to deal with those tanks.

My tank hunter team apparently was spotted, as the Sherman opens up on them with HE and machine gun fire immediately as the turn begins. My first casualty of the game comes as a piece of shrapnel appears to incapacitate one of them. The Sherman draws the attention of one of my rifle platoons currently near the farmhouse. They decide to try their luck with a panzershrek, which unfortunately sails high and out of danger. This does, however, bring the powerful Sherman’s attention to my inaccurate infantry. Several HE rounds pound into the bocage around them, injuring several soldiers. No casualties are taken there, at least yet.

Now that my MG team is deployed covering the road, I’m going to move them off the road right back to cover. This is because Yormsha has rolled a Sherman onto the main road, facing east. It rolls to a stop about 90 meters west of the crossroad. My tank hunter team arrives at the other side of the bocage, facing the crossroad. Hopefully they haven’t been spotted yet. I just need that Sherman to creep a little bit closer for my Panzerfausts. I’m calling in some more artillery on the road where the Sherman now sits.

My artillery continues to pound the field northwest of the crossroads. Hopefully I’m inflicting some casualties ... One of my reserve rifle platoons spots two Shermans racing east through that field, heading towards the road and the wheat field. I’m going to sprint my tank hunter team up to the crossroad and try to make my enemy worry about sending armor that way. I’ve spotted the first confirmed casualty of my bombardment, crumpled onto the road near the intersection. Another soldier is pinned across the street, with rounds falling nearby and small arms fire from the west. So, plan for this turn: not many changes. Tank hunter team is still on the move toward the intersection. I’m going to mobilize one of my MG teams to cover the road.

Another fairly quiet turn for me. I see the first evidence of enemy infantry in the “South Sector” as a sniper team peaks their head through a gap in the bocage. My cover arcs apparently were just a little too long, as two platoons open up immediately. The sniper goes into hiding, so I’m unsure of his fate. This is enough evidence for me to call in a fire mission for my 75mm infantry gun on the TRP on that bocage line.

Turn 6 and 7 are fairly quiet, for me at least. The tank destroyer backs down the hill out of sight, and I spot at least one infantry section moving toward the crossroads from the North. Fortunately for me, my 81 mm mortars begin to rain down very accurately right where they were moving to. I’m hoping there is some more unseen infantry in that area. I am sending some scouts on the (so far) quiet south/western front out for a look. Yormsha is doing a good job so far of concealing his main force.

It appears my opponent wisely sent a 3 man scout element through the gap, which are now all casualties, as no other infantry appear behind them. As my repositioning rifle squad moves across the road, they spot yet another demo charge blasting north of the intersection. Shortly after, they spot more infantry sprinting across the intersection from north to south. This intersection is conveniently located in a deep depression the road, so my visibility is limited. I don’t think they spotted my men, but I’m going to retreat back across the road to cover. This is because my HQ team at the far east side of the map has now spotted a Wolverine tank destroyer accompanying the Sherman. My infantry is exposed all the way down the road, so I will sacrifice the possible enfilade position. I think I’ve also already demonstrated to my enemy that the wheat field is well covered from the east. I am preparing for a possible enemy probe into what I am calling the “south sector.” I am setting covered arcs for my infantry watching over this area to fall a few meters short of the far bocage. I’m hoping to lure a larger infantry element into my interlocking fire zones. I am also preparing to possibly see some spotting rounds on my previous successful ambush point. I’m going to leave the 2 rifle platoons there for now.

No contact yet south of the “main road.” My men will stay put there for this turn. I am moving my tank hunter team towards the farmhouse down “main road.” I want them in a more centrally located position, and since I haven’t seen any activity on the road I want to be able to catch any armor thats getting ready to roll through the gap in the bocage. I am moving one of my MG42 squads and one of my rifle squads from the farmhouse area across the road to the south bocage of the wheat field. I’m hoping to gain an enfilade position on the gap and inflict some more casualties.

10 seconds into the fourth turn, another demo charge goes off. I also get my first confirmed infantry sighting of the morning, a Commonwealth motorized infantryman. Because of the “random” set up I did know until now what allied army I would be facing. And I’m still not 100% sure, but I believe they are Polish. A second demo charge goes off seconds later, providing the enemy access into the large northern wheat field. 2nd Platoon arrives at their position just in time to catch several Allied infantrymen spilling over the berm into the wheat field. Seconds later, four MG42s open up on the exposed men, who are quickly pinned. I count at least 2 casualties by the end of the turn. I also spot infantry moving further north up the road - I’m not too worried about them yet as I have significant fire superiority, as well as 81mm mortars falling on the road in about 2 minutes.

My 2-man tank hunter does have 2 demo charges, one of which I've used already to move 1 company, 2nd Platoon north of the "main road." It would be nice to have a few more, but I think there should be enough gaps on my side of the line to move around OK. When placing TRPs, I usually flip the map perspective and imagine myself attacking into my positions. I saw that flank and stretch of bocage as a place where I would probably set a base of fire and try to move from - so as a defender, I wanted to be able to pin my opponent with small arms from across the field and then drop 81mm on top of them relatively quickly. I wish I could say there was more thought than that, but I've so far found TRP location to be rather challenging. Sometimes I'm right, and sometimes they do not good at all. My entire division has a total of 21 panzerfausts, most of which are of the 30 variety, with a few being the 30K (what is the difference between the two?) I also have 9 panzershreks, each with 6 rounds (total of 54 rounds) spread between my 6 rifle platoons. Thanks for the comments so far, I'll post the next turn as soon as it's in my inbox!

Much of the same this turn, as I move my men into final positions. My tank-hunter team blows through some bocage to allow 2nd Platoon through the an overwatch position over a field north of the main road. I do have the first confirmed enemy contact of the game, when my HQ team spots a Sherman peeking sort-of hull-down from the farm house. I’m starting to get an uneasy feeling after spotting Yormsha’s armor. I will need to keep my men in hidden ambush positions to effectively take out armor, as I don’t have anything that can trade rounds with a tank. With that in mind, I’m going to re position my tank-hunter team into a more flexible position. Again, if my opponent is able to drive his armor into a field and spot my infantry, he can probably blow them to bits before I’ll be able to do a thing about it. I’m calling my first artillery strike of the game on this turn into the field where the Sherman currently sits. I don’t expect to nail the Sherman, but I’m guessing there will be some infantry moving through there shortly, and I’ve learned to call arty where I expect infantry to be, not where they currently are. Because of a nearby TRP I’ll have one 81 mm mortar with rounds falling in about 3 turns, and another to catch retreating infantry in about 6 turns. At the end of turn 3: Dang Sherman:

Another demo charge goes off soon into this turn north of the “main road.” I quickly see a sound contact in that area, which seems to be moving east. No definite contacts yet. My plan begins to work out a little more clearly - I hope to lay ambush / kill zones and play a defensive battle, as most of the victory location lays within my LOS. I’m going to try to leave my AFV in place until I know where the primary threat is coming from. As soon as my tank hunter team is finished blasting through bocage, I’ll move 2nd Platoon north to face the large wheat field that I suspect my opponent will try to cross. I’m also going to move one of my HQ teams slowly up to the main road and try to get eyes down the road. While I don’t expect my opponent to send any significant force up this road, I’ve realized that it is one vulnerable spot where I won’t have any strong group. Moving to occupy the farmhouse Moving out the get eyes down the main road

No contact made on the first turn, although I do hear the sound of a demo charge going off, presumably through some bocage, about 10 seconds in. Not sure where my opponent may be heading with that ... My forces on the move...

So this will be my first DAR, and I'm really hoping to get some feedback on my strategy / tactics. I'm still learning a lot about CM, especially german doctrine, so I hope I can continue to learn from this. I also really enjoy reading all these DAR/AAR threads, so I figured why not write one up? Anyway, my opponent and I landed on a random medium quick battle map (coincidentally the same map as the "Hedgerow Hell" scenario). My selected force is as follows: 1 Battalion Waffen SS Panzergrenadiers - 1 Company - 3 Rifle Platoons - 1 Attached Tank hunter team - 1 Support (Machinegun) Platoon - 2 Company - 3 Rifle Platoons - 1 Attached SPW250/10 (support halftrack) - 1 Support (Machinegun) Platoon - 2 81mm Mortar Batteries (off map) - 1 75mm Infantry Gun (off map) - 2 TRPs Because of the bocage - heavy layout of this map, I’ve decided to put essentially all of my points into infantry, rather than armor. I do have the single support halftrack with a 37mm cannon, and some armor piercing rounds. If my opponent has chosen to attack with armor, I’m hoping that my panzerfaust - armed infantry will be able to cause enough problems while hiding in the bocage. My initial plan is to send 1 company north / north west to secure that flank and occupy structures within that part of the victory location. 2 company with the support halftrack will primarily provide flank security and ultimately make a final push to take the victory location once contact is made. My basic plan: