Michael Clarke

Falke88: Interesting. I've been working on my own op-layer for a few months myself, coding the tool with Flash AS3, using external, PBEM'able XML files to "save" and "load" counter/hex data. Many 10's of thousands of lines of code written, some significant progress made. It's awesome to see that several other members have answered the call as well to develop their own Op-layers for a game that is just crying out for one. One main sticky point I've been trying to solve is how best to reduce the bookkeeping for the players/umpire. I.E.: After a battle, I don't want to force the player/umpire to go through a gargantuan spreadsheet for every single unit to adjust ammo, casualties, morale, etc. I want that "Unit updating" process to be quick and painless. One solution is as follows: On the CM AAR screen, there are the following categories:"Men Ok","Men Killed","Men Wounded","Men Missing","Tanks Lost","Arm Vehicles Lost","Other Vehicles Lost". You could develop a tool that would let the player assign these casualties him/herself to the involved units of his force. For example: Axis Counters "Ax1,Ax2 & Ax3" attack into Hex 38, contained a stacked Soviet force of 2 units, "Sov1 and Sov2". The result is an Axis victory. The AAR screen for Axis casualties reads the following: "..., 45 men killed, 32 men wounded,...". This End Screen is sent to the umpire, who pre-loads a master "Unit Updater" tool with those totals, as well as pre-selecting those Axis units that were involved in the battle (Ax1,Ax2,Ax3). That XML is send to the Axis player. The Axis player opens the XML file with their "Unit Updater" tool. The player would then assign casualty points based on his best guess as to how the casualties were distributed amongst his committed units. For example: Let's say in the battle Axis 1 suffered most of the casualties, with Axis 2 & 3 suffering lighter. The player need only click the little black KIA buttons next to the affect units. That will decrease the "KIA remaining" number by 1, while decreasing the "Men Ok" of what ever unit, let's say Ax1,1stPlt. So, maybe the player assigns 10 KIA & 5 WIA to each of his platoons in Ax1; that would leave 15 KIA points remaining, and 17 WIA points remaining to be assigned to the other units. He then allocates 5 KIA & 5 WIA points to each of the Ax3 platoons. That reduces the counters down to 0 KIA and 2 WIA remaining. The last 2 WIA are assigned to Ax2,1stPlt. Final updated units strengths: Ax1.1 = "OK:15, KIA:10, WIA:5"........ etc for others. An unknown here: Does an umpire then have to manually open up a "Core Units" file, and adjust each and every individual unit to reflect the changes? I'm trying to design that laborious necessity out... I'm leaning more towards quick battles rather than umpire-built game files with updated core-units files.. The system Im working on relies on percentages of unit types within counters, along with force ratios between sides to calculate the amount of points each player will be allowed to allocate to certain types of units... Reliant on players to spend points honestly, but quick battles have SO much less bookkeeping... Can give more details if interested. More on the "Unit Updater Tool": The advantage of such a tool/interface is that all the player is doing is clicking buttons to assign casualties: much less painful that scrolling through spreadsheets. Of course, the disadvantage is that is relies on players to allocate casualties honestly, as near as possible to what he remembers from the battle. But it's a fair tradeoff in my mind. With this, you could also throw in a board wargame mechanic called "soak-off", where a player intentionally commits a unit of lower quality to an attack with the intention of allocating all endured casualties to that unit afterwards. That would be do-able here too, if desired by the players. In such a case, regardless of whatever casualties the elite PzGren Ax1 & Ax2 units ACTUALLY took on the CM battle, the Axis player could allocate ALL the "KIA & WIA remaining" points to his crummy Ax3 Green Garrison infantry. Would feel like assigning step-losses. Matter of preference for the players. Some questions: What coding environment are you using? How will you be modelling supply? Will there be FOW? Hex or "Area" game Map? PM me to continue conversation is desired. Mike.

I would highly recommend, to all whom are interested, the book: "Panzer Operations: The Eastern Front Memoir of General Raus, 1941-1945" Here is an author who skillfully interweaves tactical accounts within the broader operational narrative. I found the accounts more believable than "In Deadly Combat", and the operational descriptions much more readable than let's say, "Panzer Leader". Raus's mantra is what he calls "Zone Defense Tactics". Simply put, this is an evasive maneuver where a first main battle line is abandoned to a second main battle line, when the anticipated Soviet attack was imminent. The purpose of such a maneuver was to avoid destruction of the main force from Soviet artillery preparations. What follows is his account of the July 14/1944 attack by the Soviet First Ukrainian Front against his ArmeeGruppe Raus: I found the account interesting because it illustrates what was achieved when a defensive doctrine specifically designed to negate the Soviet artillery advantage was implemented. Some take-aways from the doctrine: A dummy main line is evacuated before the artillery starts to fall; extensive minefields between the dummy line and the main line; artillery pre-registered to fire in front of the main line + on the occupied dummy line; AT+Flak strongpoints at the main line to parry Soviet armor breakthrough. Vicious, destabilizing infantry counterattacks are launched wherever Soviet hesitance is identified. Armored counterattacks to regain the dummy line. Sounds sort of like the optimal CM:RT German defensive battle eh? :cool: As an aside, "In Deadly Combat" was one of the very first books on WW2 I ever bought. I remember it as being a vivid and entertaining read.

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." -Oscar Wilde

The guys over at Slitherine (Panzer Corps) put this post together to answer that very same question: http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=121&t=42269&hilit=steam It's a very interesting read, well thought-out decisions explaining why Steam would not be a good platform for the niche market of wargames. I imagine the same thought process influenced Battlefront's decision as well. Well worth the read.

Wow, that does look like a beast! Do you modify QB's for each battle by importing correct force; adding proper setup zones; changing ammo levels if out of supply, etc? Tourney master workload seems intense! Just from that shot I can see Disrupted, Replenishing, Dugin and out of supply conditions for several counters... Preplanned arty, naval bombardments... Very impressive. EDIT: Scenario Depot does not seem to have CMx2 scenarios.

Heh Aragorn, that speaks to the need for a library of SQB's, with logical force choice, etc... Hey Shane, awesome to see the FGM still running strong. I see Rico's got a new tourney in the pipeline, CM:Risk??? Sounds Intriguing!

OK! Failed to meet my 3 day deadline, playtesting took awhile longer than expected... But here it is: "GL The Loyalty of Garibaldi" "Italian partisans, under the veteran leadership of commander Victor Garibaldi, and with the support of several L3/35 tankettes, attack a German Flak position + town." "Tiny, Allied vs AI scenario, 30 turns. Modified from quick battle map 420 MEET TINY AGRI. All credit to original scenario designer" Download link: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9nefU0gCfvqVjdkeE9xNE5IWVU/edit?usp=sharing That is a "Google Drive" link, will add repository link when up. *** JonS is doing a DAR on scenario design at this link: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=110294 Check it out. One thing I remember him mentioning is that good scenarios need a "hook", some unique thing that makes it stands out about the rest, and makes the player want to play it. The Hook Im employing in my scenario is that it is an "Axis vs Axis" fight, which you dont seen much of. RepsolCBR: Yes, I found about the same. Maybe 3-5 hours modifying the map, changing terrain features, size+width etc. Another few hours tweaking the OOB's, experience, etc. Maybe 4-5 hours total playtesting. 12-13 hours total I would imagine. One-a-week scenario's are do-able with this method, although a definite focus and dedication would be required. I'll check out QBS One more roadblock when its up. gundolf: I've been playing CM off/on since the CMBO demo, played the heck out of CMBB, took a break for a couple years until getting back in with Fortress Italy. But I'm not yet a scenario designer, not by a long shot. This will only be my second released scenario... I've mucked about in the editor a wee bit, and I think it's time to get a little more serious about it. I've been enjoying the creations of other designers for years now, time to give back, in whatever capacity I am able. Oh, and the reason for only 12 posts is due to my creating a new account after getting back into CM when Fortress Italy came out. Went by the tag "Mikey" before. Long time lurker. There does indeed seem to be a lack of user made scenarios for Fortress Italy+Gustav Line... I have fond memories of those Quick, tough, vs AI CMBB scenarios made by "AL" for CMBB, so If I can emulate that style it would be time well invested. P.S. If there are any concerns regarding copyright/original owner issues due to the fact that I'm modifying a map not of my own, I am all ears. I'm only trying to cut down some of my workload by modifying pre-made maps, but if anyone knows the official stance regarding this, like I said, I'm all ears. Time to get started on the next one.

RepsolCBR, You're absolutely right. There was this scenario designer back in CMBB, AL was his name, who made maybe 20-30 tiny, enjoyable vs AI scenarios. Under-hour battles that were tough, VERY re-playable. I sometimes replayed one scenario 6-10 times. Well, you've recruited me. I'm going to do just as you suggested, find a cool QB map and tweak to give a neat little vs AI tactical challenge. What's more, It's going to be ready by Friday night. I made my first scenario a couple of weeks ago, and have been dragging my ass on the second. Three days is my deadline. Will post here again when it's up.

Battlefield series, "Battle for Italy". 2 hour program. Pretty good, some talk of what divisions where involved, strategic plan of combatants, weapons systems employed, etc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag8uSgZnIGM Battle of Salerno: Ignore the godawful intro: Another DOD b&w feature, propaghandish: **** There really isn't much good stuff on Italy out there an the inter-webs. That Battlefield program is really the best I've found, the rest is pretty meh. Might need to stick to printed material to get in debt battle descriptions. I'm sure there are at least half a dozen good books out there covering the Italian front.

Pevs86, At the risk of being branded a shameless self promoter, may I direct your mouse cursor to the following link: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=2720 Therein, you may be delighted to discover a spreadsheet detailing the unit availability of Gustav Line forces, broken down into month of first appearance. You are free to scorn the author of said document for the conniving and backhanded method of self-aggrandizing advertising he is employing here, of the most foppish fashion.

Awesome! This guy approves too ->

Glad to be of service. Link to repository upload: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=2720

Since there seemed to be some interest, I threw together a spreadsheet of unit availabilities for Gustav Line, as noted in the GL manual. Attached as zip file. From what I understand, these units are those specifically introduced with the module, so vanilla Fortress Italy units are not included in this list. Also to note is that the manual didn't specify any "End Dates" for formation availability, so as such, all formations are assumed to be available from the specified introduction month to the end of the "war", May 1944. American units: German units: Commonwealth units: Sequoia, if you're planning on tackling an availability spread for Fortress Italy proper, I could lend a hand. Will also post to repository, and update a link here when available. Mike. CMGL Unit Availabilities.zip

Owing to the fact that this scenario was just deleted in Favor of "GL - Bloody Beachtown", the first "More..." link above no longer works. Perhaps it would be best to delete this thread? Many thanks forum mod.

Hello all, I was unsure whether this had uploaded or not, so I double posted. Also, I had put it in the Fortress Italy section instead of the Gustav Line section. . Incidentally, this file (identical to GL - Bloody Beachtown), was deleted to keep things organized. You can download the scenario (GL - Bloody Beachtown) from here: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=110090 Thank you for your interest.