Freyberg

What about if you save it again (esp. during a command phase)...?

I'll be looking forward to an AI tutorial too.

I've been totally wigging out on the NZ Army in CMGL. As a New Zealander, it's an extraordinary thrill to be able to play my own nationality. For me, I think game is unique in all popular culture; and I appreciate it very deeply. Thank you Sorry I forget to mention it sooner. Here's some of NZ's finest going into close combat in the foothills of the Apennines.

+1 to that...

I would prefer one base game for each theatre and lots of modules and packs. I'm likely to buy them all, and it's great fun to have so much to play with all within one game. As for synching with opponents - the H2H crowd seem to be keen customers, I've only run across one two people who haven't had both CMBN plus CW or CMFI plus GL, and it's no big deal to keep track of what can be played by each module (although it might be useful to have an indication of what modules/packs are required to play a particular scenario in in the battle-picker).

Sometimes they just take their time...

I understand how you guys feel about H2H play. Personally I don't mind if an opponent takes a break from a game, although I do like to finish them eventually. It's not good form to expect anyone to impinge upon their Real Life to the point of losing enjoyment for a game, although I know most H2H players can be quite impatient. I have a life too, and I do get annoyed by sniffy messages if I don't return a move for 48 hours. But its worth it, and over at the Blitz I'm slowly building up a small set of really good gentlemanly opponents. One form of solitary play I enjoy is playing Hotseat against myself! It can be surprisingly engaging. I actually get quite aggressive and competitive towards the opponent, even though it's myself; and with the excellent spotting in the game, it's really not difficult to 'play it blind' so to speak. It's a very fun way to develop a scenario, too.

I think it's reasonable not to impose too much of a command delay on low-experience units, inasmuch as the skill of the player represents both training and doctrine, and all levels of unit command (down to the team), so it shouldn't be assumed that all command comes 'down the pipeline'. The lousy way low-quality armour acts and reacts in combat is ample representation of their greenness.

I'm not having a go, but I don't really understand people who don't play head-to-head. Playing humans can be frustrating: they are often gamey, won't play blind, drop out half way through - but for all that, a game against a good human player, combined with the realism of this amazing wargame, is incredibly exciting. Each to his own, obviously, but just in case there is someone reading that hasn't tried head-to-head play...

I hope animated gifs are not annoying for you guys. Let me know if they are and I can delete the dropbox files. Run Rabbit Run I really wanted the last guy in this sequence to escape. But the predator doesn't let the prey escape. Here is the predator. German 37mm flak. I've been playing with these in a scenario I'm trying to design. A horrible weapon against infantry. They can give a Sherman a nasty bloody nose - gun damage, immobilisation; they'll shred the optics and radio every time. This Stuart light tank thinks he can get an angle to apply some suppressing fire, but he gets to his smoke screen too late and is suddenly completely exposed. It might just be 37mm, but the rate of fire makes this a totally different weapon from an ordinary 37mm. The light tank doesn't stand a chance. multiple partial penetrations, stuff explodes and the crew is all killed.

Excellent I can just imagine them all hanging out the side of a White scout car firing like it's the fourth of July

All this time I've been thinking only the maps that had 'axis attack' in the info panel could be used for axis attacks

Less densely sown minefield, same bombardments but over a wider area. All the tanks were destroyed or immobilised. Most of the infantry were massacred, though a couple of men in the top box (the least heavily shelled) miraculously made it through.

The manual says 150mm guns and bigger can destroy minefields, however.... The above was a dense field of mixed mines shelled 'heavy': short, medium and long by British 183mm howitzers. All the tanks, even in the moonscape box on the left, were destroyed or immobilised (usually destroyed). The infantry in the left box got through with minimal casualties, in the middle box with moderate, and the ones in the right box (short heavy bombardment), were pretty much wiped out. The bombardment was linear, diagonal across the box. the movement paths tried to follow the shell craters.

Brilliant journalistic photography. Thanks

I've been assuming that: - when a team occupies a crewed vehicle, like a halftrack with a nice powerful .50cal, - and the icon of that vehicle's weapon shows up in the *team's* sillhouettes (equip panel), ...that if I set waypoints and targets for the *vehicle* (it isn't possible for the team, because they can't have movement waypoints) (i.e. target different points at different waypoints) with the vehicle's crewed weapon, that the weapon (in the control of the team, not vehicle) will be fired. I.e. - an order given to the vehicle, will be followed by vehicle as well as passengers manning the vehicle's weapon. Does that make sense? And if so, is that how the game works? (...those sort of light vehicle suppressive-fire weapons ought to work like that.)

I've sent squad members back for LMGs a few times. Sometimes I had to be a bit patient - the time it took has varied, and they had to calm down and be right on top of their buddy, but they usually seemed to pick them up. I've had much less luck with anti-tank weapons. It could be they're more easily damaged. But I haven't really noticed SMGs.

I second urban combat (having something like that house image would be amazing), and enhancements to fortifications and camouflage.

I never really tried Iron Mode before. I don't believe it's more difficult, but it looks really great in playback. In command phase and if nothing's selected, it's easy to see all the units as normal; but wego-playback mode with those ghostly icons showing the unit's situational awareness is really cool. I never realised til now. It's a great immersive effect. If only I knew how to hide the targeting lines.

Truthfully, if it were one or the other (and I have both), I'd go Gustav Line, with the proviso that CMGL has fewer scenarios than you might expect, which is unfortunate. The ones it has though are fantastic played head-to-head.

I'm loving Gustav Line. Too much bocage in CMBN. The maps and scenarios in CMFI are superb, but there are a lot fewer of them. CMBN has literally hundreds of maps.

Actually being to slow and cautious with scouting can be dangerous if your opponent is able to predict where your forces are approaching from and can catch you with artillery.

I've had a bug with the NZers, who use British equipment. I set up an MMG (Carrier with Vickers) in the scenario editor, when I went to play the game, the Vickers had turned into a rifle.

I think the TacAI does rather well. I wouldn't imagine soldiers in the heat of battle make perfect use of cover. I love it when teams start to crack, and one guy is still blazing away while another is halfway back down the road! The way the AI handles armour is an absolute pleasure to observe - so real and so unpredictable. Incidentally, a HUGE thank you to BFC for making these games available on the Mac. You have no idea how grateful I am for that.