Bud Backer

Ugh, damned buttons... Sorry, Heinrich, I down voted you by accident on one. Great sequence, I really enjoyed that. You clearly enjoy telling stories, and that's a fine thing indeed.

Nothing like grain and contrast to give a screenshot "mood"

You've got your map locations correct. Yes, I'm heading gradually toward that HMG. But it's gone silent even though I must be in plain sight. Which leads me to believe that it firing was an accident and not by design. I could be wrong on this, but I can't see why he'd let it shoot, and only after exposing it give it a shorter ranged arc. Maybe he's nervous about the fact my force on AOA 2 is in that HMG's front yard, so to speak. My opponent is being cagey - he's good at that.

Thanks, Stagler, downloading them now.

I've never had it light up. That's not me doing something right, it means I never rally broken troops! Grrrrr Damned slackers. C3K would tell me they are only good for one thing now - sending them ahead as scouts...

From what Steve told me recently, Vanir Ausf B is correct.

Am I boring you guys?

LOL! Yes, you were right, he put stuff behind the farmhouses. We shall see if he is simply keeping stuff in the farmhouses at short range covered arcs though. Don't you shut up though!

Ah! Thank you for clarifying that! Makes more sense to me too.

I think that's the Brittle indicator you're referring to. P.32 of the 3.01 Engine manual: "A small dot to the right of the suppression indicator will light up if the unit is Brittle"

Minutes 43-41: As the turn starts, the HMG is raking 3/3 squad as it crosses the road. A bead along the tracer trail tells me this fire is not coming from the farmhouses as I originally thought, but behind them. RU045 All of the squad safely reach the woods the will lead them to Key Terrain 2. The machinegun fire ceases. The armoured car sees nothing. RU046 I order the armoured car to get to the road, and then back up toward 3/3 squad. Meanwhile, I split the squad into scout and cover element. The scout element has 3 men. I order the scout element to hunt no further ahead of the cover element than they can shoot, so that if the scouts run into anything the cover element will be able to pour lead on it. RU047 The armoured car is ordered to advance slowly down the road, abreast of the scouts, so that it can also provide fire on anything the scouts encounter. If it’s infantry that they find, there will be the cover element hitting them from the front, and the armoured car catching them in a crossfire. The picture below captures it all in one go - the reversal of the armoured car, the split squads, and the overwatch movement. RU048 To give the scouts rest time as Hunt is a tiring movement type, I will use bounding overwatch. Once the scouts reach the end point of their hunt, the cover element will hunt through them and advance beyond them to a point still covered by the scouts’ weapons. The armoured car now hunts alongside the former cover element. RU049 Here you can see the cover element moving past the scouts, flanked by the armoured car. I've also inserted a clip of the scout element so you see its composition, ammo, etc. RU050

Agreed, I love them too. I know there is always room for improvement, but I am amazed at just how good the game is already.

Ooooooo that's brilliant, the title and the photo really are evocative.

It's beyond "paralysis", more like "total brain lock"! You're right, I should have split the squad and sent scouts across first. Grrrrr. I have just the guys in mind - shifty eyed goldbrickers a bit too close with the commissar...

Yes, I suppose I could have rolled a tank up earlier, but the woods are really dense and it would have run the real risk that some German would put a 'faust through the the hull. No way could a tank (or anything) hit that contact without being well in the woods. However, now that they are clear, things will begin to unfold better, I think. Just pretend the past few minutes never happened! Morale was a peculiar thing. Just about all my squads have leadership -1 and morale +1. I didn't play with the settings when purchasing so maybe this is a way of giving Soviets a national "identity" distinct from say, Germans or Western Allies, who typically don't have the vast preponderance of units showing a leadership penalty with a morale bonus. To me the westerners seem more varied in their scores. In any event, to answer your question, 3/3 squad did not suffer any evident morale penalty. 2/3 did, even though it was considerably further back from the incident.

Minutes 45-43 The regimental CO looks at the commissar and says, “everything is proceeding according to plan, comrade. Right now, as we watch our men struggle for victory over AOA 2, to the West my plans are unfolding perfectly.” The commissar pretends to ignore the beads of sweat on the Colonel’s face and looks westward, where…all is surprisingly quiet… Let’s leave this…er…planning mishap…and go West to see what the Regimental CO was talking about. Last we looked at them, we had a squad all by its lonesome, overwatched by a BA-64B, that stalwart little vehicle so beloved by it’s crew…ok, maybe not. 3rd Squad of 3rd Platoon's orders are follow Avenue of Approach 1 and enter the woods, proceed to the road and observe Key Terrain 2. East is the surviving armoured car, which also is to proceed to the edge of the woods bordering the road. Provocative, risky, and foolish. But our men fear little, because this is not the Soviet Army of 1941! RU042 Unlike the costly skirmishes to the East, AOA 1 seems a tranquil, placid affair. Both units reach their first stop unmolested. Is it a trap? The men are still rested, eager to go forward and prove their worth. RU043 If there aren't bullets flying at them already, there is no reason to delay. 3/3 squad rises as one to run across the road. They are perpendicular to Key Terrain 2, thus out of LOS, and Key Terrain 1 has been silent so far. Perhaps they can make the crossing unscathed into the woods ahead. The armoured car sits by a shrub and overwatches Key Terrain 2, and to a lesser degree, Key Terrain 1 Almost there, when a HMG 42 opens up on them. It is not spotted by the men nor the armoured car. Will they make it, or is the regimental CO going to take a one way trip to a marsh? RU044

Damn commissar confiscated the vodka... *kicks dirt* But I have a tank now with my two squads. Overwhelming victory dead ahead! Mind the icebergs! FFS: I wanted to upvote your post, Ken, and I misclicked. Grrrr. Gave you two upvotes elsewhere... Sorry about that! My thanks to Baneman for fixing that horrible -1!

Ah, great, it's the first one I was looking for!

This sounds like something I will learn from. Thanks for doing it.

At FGM there are threads for CM games, and I think people post PBEM opponent wanted "ads" there. Right here: http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forums/combat-mission-x-2-cmbn-cmfi-cmrt-add-ons.160/ Also there is an opponent finder thread in these forums too. Right here: http://community.battlefront.com/forum/60-english/ I'd take you on in a game but I'm overloaded right now, but those links should help you.

I did that once in a 30 min battle and that took forever. Can't imagine doing it with 4x the length! That's why I stick to PBEM.

I see you have unravelled the genius of my plan!

Now in all this excitement, you have to ask yourself one question: "did I forget about something?" I'll give you a very vague hint (and I'm not talking about the T34 out of formation!):

Minute 42-41: With the Tankodesantnikii CO HQ gone, I have only 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon at the tip of my advance. They are down 3 men but in good spirits, and I have ordered it to carry out an assault to the edge of the woods. I want eyes on the far woods that cover the back side of Key Terrain 1 and the farmhouses. 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon is running to join them. It will leave the clearing in assault movement but going to a point a bit west of 3rd squad. RU035 These woods look like nothing when the foreground trees are switched off. Let me show you what this looks like when you’re in them. It’s hide and seek territory! RU036 I order one of my T34’s forward to support the two squads. Initial orders are to go up the clearing to where the BA-64B was destroyed. I’m now much more confident that the back portion of the woods are devoid of Germans. RU037 These SMG troopers are tough! They blaze away and kill one German soldier… RU038 …and the Germans break and run. The men of 3/1 squad show no mercy and avenge their fallen comrades. First one man falls, then two more. RU039 As 3/1 squad finishes their work, the T34 arrives at the end of the clearing, and 2/1 squad moves past the tank into the woods to join their sister squad. RU040 The butcher’s bill - 8 dead Fascists. Not won cheaply. The Commissar advises the regimental CO to smarten up, or else there is a nice marsh nearby that could be used to make him disappear! RU041

Minute 43-42: My squad is going to run for the end of the clearing, then hunt across to see if they can change those contacts to hard targets. The armoured car begins to frantically back upon its own orders. RU028 Ken will be pleased that I’m really cleaning out the infantry AT capability. A third panzerfaust is fired on my armoured car, landing amazingly right under the engine. What? You need to see what happens? I mean, the thing has 10mm armour - you don't really need to....oh fine ok, I'll show you. RU029 My CO HQ team loses a man to the panzerfaust team. They shoot back, killing one, then another, then a third man. I hand picked those men for this job because I knew they were just this good! RU030 But that’s not all the the Fascist invaders have here! A stielhandgrenate 42 (the '43 had a pineapple textured head) sails lazily in the air to land at the feet of the Tankodesantnikii Company HQ, removing the top level leadership for my infantrymen. Well, they did find the enemy for me… RU031 Another SMG squad dismounts the idling tanks and heads up the hill. I’m still keeping my tanks safely below the ridge. RU032 As the minute ends, the squad sent last minute arrives on the scene, to survey the carnage. This is one of my favourite screenshots - look at the cloud of dust and smoke the men disappear into. It's cinematographic! RU033 While half the first squad on the scene (3rd squad 1st platoon) covers, the other half rushes forward, and takes another casualty. The shot came from somewhere West. RU034