SpeakEasy

The 380 mm Sturmtiger.....where do I purchase it in the quickbattle menu? I don't see it as an option when I go to purchase individual vehicles. There's only the 150mm sturmpanthers.

This game looks so good. The Russians and the terrain as well as every other nuance are superbly done. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of CMRT. It's been my dream to get a next generation CMBB for years.

You gotta love the Soviets

Thank you all for the input. I was not looking to get into very many specifics with my inquiry. In hind site I could have worded my question differently. What I wanted to know was basically, what are the chances of the 76mm, 85mm, 122mm, and 152mm being able to penetrate the front armor of the common German AFVs such as PZIV, Panther, Tiger, or Stug at typical in-game distances (say between 500-1000m)? Perhaps what I am asking is impossible to answer without getting into a bunch of details. It seems thus far that the 76mm is roughly equivalent to the US 75mm of the Sherman, and that the 152mm can kill even the big cats if it can get a hit.

With Red Thunder close to making its way off the production lines, I was wondering how capable Russian AFVs are at dealing with German Armor. At first sight, many of the guns utilized on Russian AFVs have much larger calibers than the Allied guns commonly seen in CMBN. The typical Allied AFVs sport 75mm, 76mm, and 105mm calibers, whereas the stock Russian guns of T-34s, IS tanks, and ISUs are much larger at 76mm, 85mm, 122mm and even 152mm. At first glance, one would draw the conclusion that Russians tanks were much better equipped to reliably penetrate German armor compared their western counterparts. However, I don't believe that the caliber of the gun is the best indicator of armor piercing capability. For instance, I've read on Wikipedia or somewhere that the Russian 122mm gun could not reliably penetrate the frontal armor of a panther, but I've read posts in the forum that suggest otherwise. Does anyone know how effective Russian AFV guns were at penetrating frontal armor of German tanks?

Holein, which mission were you playing when this happened? I bet we were playing the same one. I don't remember the name, but you have a couple platoons of US paratroopers that are retreating from a German attack. You're tasked with taking up position in a small town/compound of buildings to hold back the Germans until a third platoon arrives off your right flank and you have to exit all of your units off the map before being enveloped. There are several German armored vehicles/halftracks that draw the fire of the paratrooper mortars regardless of their target orders.

I can actually confirm this because it just happened to me in the last Road to Njmegen campaign scenario I played. Of course, I do not have a save file to support this.

Bil is keenly aware of the status of his SMG troops' ammunition. As such he is taking precautions to avoid spending too much of it during these early phases of the battle. However, I am sure he wishes those trucks had SMG ammunition. Just like his AA halftracks in the market garden beta AAR, he is cripple by the BETA build.

Baneman, I don't believe that the SU's or ISU's used AP shells. IIRC they destroyed German armor using their massive HE shells. Given that, I presume that all the SU's and ISU's have AT capabilities.

That's quite alright, Bill. Regardless of the absence of a pre-planned rocket barrage I am VERY excited about this game as well as this AAR. Besides, I can always just get the game myself and play with the katyusha.

I am a huge fan of the katyusha, so I will be a very happy camper if some rocket artillery makes an appearance at any point in this battle.

I am interested to see what your additional defensive measure is that protects the covered avenue guarded by team Y. As always, great AAR Bill. I very much enjoy the breakdown in tactics. It is very helpful to the common CMBN player.

I do infantry only attacks in QBs as well, which has caused me great pain in H2H pbem battles. I just began playing human opponents recently and am finding that my infantry tactics are strong, but my armor tactics are an absolute joke. It'll take me a few more games before I learn how to use my AFVs. It seems the only place to learn effective combined arms tactics is in the H2H realm because of the ease with which AI AFVs are destroyed in QBs.

I agree that QBs have been improved since the initial release of CMBN, but the AI for tanks is still lacking, IMO. Regardless of this, I still have a very good time playing QBs.

Great AAR video, Odin. I really enjoyed watching it. It is edited very well. Keep putting up reminders for when you upload new ones.