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Bud Backer

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Everything posted by Bud Backer

  1. Bud Backer
    Yeah, you hid that pretty well. Was that deliberate? If so you timed it perfectly to have the second one replace the damaged first just at the right moment to account for reloading. Related to that - why didn't you bring both up right away? When I saw you had two I wondered why both weren't just levelling the town. I think I killed off a squad or so just because they were exposed right along the fence line. I suspected they might be spotters, and when the mortar fire began I was convinced. I wasn't sure about this until you mentioned it but I did notice that catching a unit on the edge of elevated terrain is a pain! Ugh how many of my tank shells JUST missed and flew over into the trees beyond...
  2. Bud Backer
    Michael, your wit always makes me smile. Thanks, mate!
  3. Bud Backer
    That's very interesting for me because unless I moved a unit - as I did a lot late in the battle - you didn't fire on most of my force - really only two units in Liefrange received fire, Sgt. Lerner's MG team which you killed with the Sturmtiger, and a three man section in another building. Lerner's team killed quite a few of your men that were along the ridge as two- and three-man teams before your began your attack. Haha well I was on pins and needles until I saw that your Sturmtigers were not supporting the attack. The moment I saw that I was quite certain I was going to win. Mind you, that was at around 8 minutes before the end, so a lot could have gone wrong. I was literally watching the countdown timer constantly, urging it to go down another minute without you gaining any ground. *phew* At minute 6 you mentioned a ceasefire might be coming - and to be fair to you I want to tell the readers that we discussed continuing - not specially to make you attack, but to give you an opportunity to withdraw too, as it would seem odd to have a battle end with both sides clearly close contact and facing each other. When I saw how many halftracks were coming, especially the second group that the Chaffee liquidated, I figured you likely had a full PG Co. I didn't think of mortar halftracks, but with the cost of two sturmtigers, I was fairly sure with a dozen halftracks you were not floating and Panther or Tiger and that was a huge confidence boost. I could not handle a capable anti-armour tank with my Easy-8 toasted. How late in the game was the second Sturmtigers gun knocked out?
  4. Bud Backer
    I was speculating if you were sticking to the road with the tanks on purpose or just because it was a good firing location. Good decision on your part, as you will see later from what happens to me...
  5. Bud Backer
    Did the mortar barrage do what you expected it to? From my standpoint I think it may have killed 1-2 men, but was nothing more than a nuisance that I could do little to avoid. In other words, it didn't have any tactical impact for me.
  6. Bud Backer
    CMFI is indeed an acquired taste, but it's become my favourite.
  7. Bud Backer
    Intriguing idea, that's for sure! As we go forward, I'd love if you could tell me just how much you could see. You will see in upcoming panels a map of all my units - I wonder how much you could see of them - because you only shot at a very limited number of them and it made me think my hiding was effective.
  8. Bud Backer
    hahaha! Good one!
  9. Bud Backer
    I still am a bit in awe of how well the ridge battle went for you. I had ambushes prepared, studied the LOS and spent a lot of time positioning units and giving them careful orders. And it went totally wrong, all of it. Well done!
  10. Bud Backer
    I had dozens of contacts...I don't think there was anything you could do to prevent that. Besides, 650hp engines do make some noise! Absolutely awesome to see you on the thread, after almost two months of sequestration!
  11. Bud Backer
    I have Battle Academy and Battle Academy 2. Both are excellent turn based tactical games. I can't think of anything intermediate between those and CM that I would recommend. BA is, within its limited scope, fairly realistic with decent combined arms play. Too many other games really favour rushes, and massed unit fire to simulate WW2 tactics. I think if you, like me, are a WW2 nut, going from BA to CM is not a strange transition. Each does what they do well. I still play BA, though want of PBEM partners has made me slow down.
  12. Bud Backer
  13. Bud Backer
    They have over 100 vehicles that are not exhibited, so it's quite possible this is for cannibalization, yes.
  14. Bud Backer
    Wow, that's very generous praise! I'm not sure I deserve it but thank you!
  15. Bud Backer
    You know, people say I was leaving them with cliffhangers, (I was... ) but that's nothing compared to the agony of wondering if the next minute I was going to get blasted to bits by those SturmTigers, or have some Panthers show up and prevent me using my armour the way I did. Every turn until minute 24 (6 remaining) had me quaking in fear, especially after the intial encounter on the ridge. Some figures: On the ridge, I lost two squads of infantry, and an MMG team. The enemy lost 3 men. Granted none of my squads were at full complement; these are stragglers after all, but still, I lost about 20+ men to Ian's 3! I was blown away by the short and medium range firepower of the German infantry. This is not CMBN... So if you think I left you hanging...every turn I sent back had me hanging until I received Ian's reply. I spent 60% of the game thinking I'm doomed, and 20% hoping that my strategy for defence of Liefrange would be prickly enough to stop him. Only 20% of the game was I confident that barring a huge turnabout, I would win. Makes for a tense game, but that is the best kind - where it's not decided in the opening moves.
  16. Bud Backer
    Thank you. It was a lot of work but it was fun work to do! Thank you. Things are looking encouraging there too as her treatment continues.
  17. Bud Backer
    Very happy to hear that.
  18. Bud Backer
    Now that's a cool idea! I'd like that.
  19. Bud Backer
    Yay! Looking forward to reading what you think in those threads!
  20. Bud Backer
    Some more thoughts about this CAAR and CAARs in general: Rundstedt really is an AAR in comic format. La Ferme Dupont was as well. You've all enjoyed Classic AARs such as Bil and his opponents have posted, with detailed play-by-plays. I've done the same (perhaps in even greater detail because it is also meant to be an instructional opportunity) in my Red Lightning AAR. Rundstedt follows to a greater degree that style, more explanation of the whole battlefield, than a story. It took some effort to actually bring to life the story in my battle with IanL, to imbue it with characters that you might like, or dislike. But nonetheless, it is an AAR. You are getting descriptions of almost every shot fired, everywhere on the map. Every movement by a unit is covered. A true story would not bother with, say, the movement of the M16 crew from foxholes to a wall, because they are out of the action and theoretically no longer relevant. Somebody's Hero was a bit different, the most story like of the CAARs, because the entire focus was on Dmitry Ivanov. All other events in the entire battle were subordinated and in fact only shown because they impacted the main character. Apache takes a middle of the road approach between an AAR and a story, giving an overview of the whole battle, but presenting most things from the perspective of Apache's gunner and crew. I have some new ideas for what I'd like to do next, once Apache is completed, but I'm curious what you guys think about all this.
  21. Bud Backer
    I think - if you're comfortable with it - that it might be best to post them here - so that more than just one pair of eyes can look at them and see if they can reproduce them and think about them. It's just better for validation and testing. Beta testers and the developer themselves read the forums, so what you post will be examined, I'm sure. Sometimes - not saying that's the case here - it can happen that something perceived as a bug turns out to be intended to work that way, but is misinterpreted or insufficiently explained, and having it discussed here, where you can elaborate on your findings, is better than filing a Helpdesk ticket, which are more for computer/technical issues. Good of you to do this.
  22. Bud Backer
    Thank you, gnarly! I appreciate that very much. I very much had similar experiences, reading VERY eagerly other people's AARs, with my morning coffee at work! Well, if I may suggest.. a tale of steel and grit! Or try any of the others below! Yes, I requested that from him, I'm sure you all would like to see the mess I made of them Sadly, not enough of a mess. When I lamented some time ago that I could not touch the SturmTiger's frontally with a Sherman 105, Baneman advised me that he had success with HEAT - but I didn't. It's something I'd have known, I suppose, had I used them before but by then it didn't matter too much, I was low on HEAT and conserving it. Must be just at the cusp of scuff the paint/burn a hole through... Yes, it's been noted internally.
  23. Bud Backer
    Thank you very much!
  24. Bud Backer
    I would add to what Ian said that the key bindings are entirely customizable, so if a particular key is counter intuitive to you, that's not a problem, you can customize it. I will admit I found it confusing when I bought my first CM game dime years ago, but after a while I got used yo it and appreciated the design choices. Of course, everyone may have completely different opinions and experiences.
  25. Bud Backer
    Yeah. I wonder what it's doing there. They have several Sherman's inside...
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