Bud Backer

To directly answer your question - no you cannot manually enter points. It's been brought up by members here before but at this time the games do not permit it. However, you do have a fair bit of flexibility - as Alexey K suggested, you can set battle size to Huge and it will give you a substantial amount of points.

Guys, Kohl and I had a quick chat this evening and we had an idea - best to strike while this thread is still alive! We've had a number of suggestions and request for more CAARs. We're interested in doing it. And we're interested in doing it on a custom map made by one of YOU. It should be a map from the smallest size allowed by the editor to 500x500m max. Suitable for a reinforced platoon on each side. We have CMBN, CMBT, CMFI. We have done CMBN, so we're looking at CMRT and CMFI for the next one. Anyone making a map (please let us know in advance of your intent) will have their handle (or name) on the cover of the next CAAR as the map-maker. Be aware we do need to take a look at the map to make sure it will work but generally any well made map should be fine. If in doubt, check with us. Anyone interested?

Thanks, Rinaldi! I'm very happy you find it interesting! It was my pleasure to do it. Analysis after a battle is important. Sometimes it's very hard to see what one could do different. I've experiences moments of sheer despair in playing CMBS as the Russians against a U.S. opponent in several battles, but even as I've been slaughtered I've found ideas do what I might do different even as I felt it was utterly hopeless. Live and learn. My own experience behind hedgerows surprised me in other battles - I felt safer than I was, taken out by direct MG and rifle fire, and expected the same here, yet it was not to be. Must be something I'm doing wrong, or Kohl was doing right. As for a German Rifle platoon having more casualties, I think I can blame Kohl. He put up a great fight, and any successes are entirely his.

I just got together with a friend who was a military attaché in a number of assignments. We share some hobbies but he really got excited when I showed him Combat Mission. Frankly, the two biggest endorsements this series of games had were: -that the primary age group is the same as mine. Nothing against younger folk, not at all, but interests and desires change as we go through life and I like the humour and knowledge that I see here. I speak in generalties here and there are always exceptions to every rule. No offence intended to anyone. -that so many people who enjoy this game come from a military background. It speaks volumes to how effective it is as providing a reasonable simulation of tactical combat in the eras represented in the game. Making contact with reasoned, seasoned, good natured people here has had a big influence on my enjoyment of the game. So thank you for your comments and support. Hopefully I'll have a new convert got the cult of CM and a new CAAR for you to enjoy.

Yeah, it does look odd. I don't think its quite suitable for slinging on one's back!

I am certainly open to the idea. I'm not sure what Steve would think of it - or even if he finds this remotely interesting, let alone a promotional tool. On the other hand, if Steve thought it would be fun and helpful, I'd be happy to do a CAAR of the Bulge game before it comes out, to stimulate interest.

Thanks, Aragorn. I can see why you might feel mortars are what makes a Pop! sound. I kept Blam! for some form of HE explosions, but I also know some comics use that for gunfire, so it's a good suggestion, and use Boom! instead. I may have to rethink all my effect representations at this rate!

Must be an HMG team?

I do have a question for readers: I used Pop! as the sound effect for rifles. Someone mentioned it early on as a peculiar choice. I always associated Bang! with pistols. And real rifle fire always sounded to me more like a popping noise. Any suggestions for what I should use? Do I keep Pop! as my own stylistic statement?

Thanks very much, Intelligence Analyst! Yeah, the story seemed incomplete without some denouement for the characters, something for the reader to feel that at least this part of their life is over, but there's another to come. I wanted to include something of an appraisal of what I gathered (and I'm happy to be corrected in my conclusions) as well as to give a feel for the little bits that don't quite fit in a narrative, but would possibly be Included in a conventional AAR. Hence the ops analysis and lessons learned. Glad you enjoyed it!!

Heinrich, I'm really pleased to hear from you again. I can't say enough how gratifying it is to hear others enjoyed my work, and that the storyline actually stood out from what is, at its heart, an AAR which technically has no plot, just events in a battle. Cool!

That's an idea I didn't think of. Since I'm calling my CAARs "A Micro-battle Story" I suppose I should. Good thinking! This is an illustration of why the narrative, derived-plot CAAR can be a lot of work for a dead end. "Somebody's Hero" was indeed intended to be a Soviet-perspective CAAR. But our battle was over in 5, maybe 6 minutes? There was not much story to tell, your slaughter of me was so fast! I took a lot of screenshots but there was no much plot, just carnage. Pity. I want to make a go of it but need the right map and I have to get used to Soviet (and Canadian) forces sufficiently to be at least a moderate challenge to you.

Nice, and unique.

Kohl, thank you for a great battle. If people read this CAAR and don't realize how near I was to losing, I didn't express it clearly enough..you gave me a heck of a fight right to the end. Frankly from minute 14 -> 30 I was constantly expecting I was done for.

Lessons learned: -IG was bad choice. Not mobile, long set up time, and unable to exit deploy area except where it was killed because woods impassable to anything on wheels. Better would have been 1 light mortar to lay down fire and smoke, which was badly needed for cover to get to farm, and another HMG. The combined cost would have been about the cost of the IG. -HMG was crucial in the battle. As long as it was working, it was almost impossible for the enemy to advance past the point where they were in heavy cover. Two would have been better. German doctrine centered around the MG and for good reason. They are devastatingly effective and ensuring they could work unmpeded would have made me take less losses and maintain better tactical control of the map. -Their LMG killed the second most people on the American side, despite being brought into play very late in the battle - the last 10 min or so. -We were unsuccessful in killing a single man behind the hedgerow. This was quite a surprise to me. I thought an HMG, LMG, and countless rifle rounds would eventually kill SOMEONE there! -I Mistook rifle grenades early on for light mortar fire. I was very concerned about a bombardment initially. That's a matter of inexperience, but it was in retrospect scary that rifle grenades could reach to the rear of my positions.

Operational Analysis: A number of interesting things came to light as the battle reached it's conclusion. 1st squad had the highest kills in the game, 9 to be exact. Bear in mind they stayed in cover until their advance on the farm, some turns into the game. Their entire repertoire of kills was incurred during the defence of the farm. Their position required an enemy to reach the farm, and to drive out Hirsch's men, and that was going to be difficult. The second highest kills (7) in the battle were by Kohl's 3rd squad, which is the one that was finally stopped rushing the farm. As I wasn't privy to their identity during the battle, I can't say exactly what they did, but I beleive they were aggressive in fighting from the fields and advancing over the battle to the farm. The third highest kills were from the HMG 42, which killed six. All of these were done by the time half its crew were killed and it panicked and abandoned its weapon. It is surprising to find that the rest of the units on both sides did at most two kills, and many had far less. Thirty minutes of battle and so much ammo expended and yet some units had little success. It's interesting to see, and I think rather realistic. By two thirds into the battle, the loss of Lt. Warner was keenly felt. The absence of a decent leader had a strong impact on the morale of units under heavy fire or taking casualties. This was more serious a problem than could be easily shown in the CAAR. Frequently half my force was hors-de-combat and out of my control. 2nd squad in particular lost its leader early on and thus affected its ability to fight until late in the battle, when the two sections were reunited. That leads the next observation: Kohl told me that by the end of the battle, all his units had but a few rounds left. On the other hand, 2nd squad had the bulk of its ammo, and an LMG, and was almost at full strength. This made it most welcome by the last quarter of the battle, and likely the most powerful unit in the field on either side. From mid-battle on - once Hirsch's 1st squad took possession of the farm - the situation became rather static. The charges and my occasional unit panics were really the only movement. My assessment of enemy casualties was too low; I must have been unable to see some of them. On the other hand, my appraisal of the enemy force size was too high; it turns out I had a slightly larger force than Kohl.

Thank you Ian. I appreciate the feedback, and the compliments. Bil Hardenberger mentioned the issue with the arrows a few days ago. All the while I thought it was obvious what I was doing, and it shows how assumptions are not a very good thing. He expressed the same thing as you. I shortly after that explored how I could present the same information differently and will use it in the future; I believe it will address both your concerns. Thank you for that!

Some further details: Unlike a conventional graphic novel, this was not a planned story; so I could not establish a story arc, as what happened in the battle was not something fully in my control, it depended also in enemy action. On the other hand, it was also unlike a conventional AAR in that I was able to pick and choose a few characters to follow. Willy's tale developed organically; I never expected him to stay as long as he did on the family plot, but it made (for me) a great story. Another difference between this and a regular AAR is that I would follow the action in one area for a number of turns, reducing the amount of hopping back and forth which I find in conventional AARs. I though this made it easier to follow the events, and hopefully more interesting as you don't see just one or two shots, move to another unit at that point in time, see one shot, and move again, etc. Here you saw, as much as possible, a full sequence of events before going back in time a little to see another full sequence of events.

There you are, it's done! This took: Over 500 screenshots... 118 illustrated pages Approx 1 hour per page I'd like to hear back from readers - for good or ill. What were the most exciting or interesting bits? What were the least? What should I keep doing, and what should I refrain or alter?