IronCat60

Wow! Thanks for posting this! My play by e-mail friend is in the Canadian Navy. He always plays the Canadians and I play the Germans. We are planning to start playing historical scenarios and this will help immensely. BTW the Canadians were the only ones to reach their Day One objective. But their tanks had to pull back as they had no infantry support and the rest of their unit needed to consolidate as they were really strung out. I have trained with the Canadian forces and they are just as professional and competent as any other armed force. I know I am going to catch hell by saying this but, damn the rebuttals, full steam ahead. It seems the way the Canadians were used in the Normandy Campaign reminds me of a quote from Braveheart. "Edward Longshanks: Send in the Irish, the dead cost nothing."

" What's with the serious obsession with fire on these forums?" It is in our cultural makeup to be fascinated with fire: "I only have one burning desire, let me stand next to your fire" Jimmy Hendrix "Come on baby light my fire..." Jim Morrison "Adolf builds a bonfire, Enrico plays with it..." Peter Gabriel "I fell into a burning ring of fire..." Johnny Cash "Oh-oh-oh, I'm on fire..." Bruce Springsteen " Great Balls of Fire..." Jerry Lee Lewis "I set Fire to the Rain..." Adele "We didn't Start the Fire..." Billy Joel "Burning down the House..." Talking Heads "Disco Inferno..." The Trammps "The Flame..." Cheap Trick "Eternal Flame" The Bangles "Fire Lake" Bob Seager "Burning for You..." Blue Oyster Cult "Girl On Fire..." Alicia Keys "Burning Love" Elvis Presely >Has Left the Building<

The Brits may have had Hobart's Funnies but it looks like we had Rube Goldberg's Design Bureau. To quote Ghostbusters "He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?".

Well it turns out the thing is a "up armored" and "up gunned" Pershing in WW2 combat. Only one was shipped over to the 3rd Armored Division in April of 1945. They welded on additional plates of armor and put a "external wrap-around armor mantlet" on the turret front. The T15E1 cannon was of a higher velocity than the usual 90mm gun. Their is two cylinders on top of the turret that are "recuperators in order to help manage the stronger recoil of the gun." It only saw combat in a couple of engagements.

"If you're really a German infantry squad then where are your sunglasses?" "Sunglasses? Sunglasses! We, don't need no stinking sunglasses!" Panzer Grenadiers of the Sierra Madre (great Humphrey Bogart flick)

When you are at the snack counter at the movie theater and your trying to decide on the popcorn or the Milk Duds. Sure the Milk Duds are bigger but can only be used in the direct mode into your mouth because they are hard to see in a dark room. But the popcorn, ah the popcorn! That can be used in the direct or indirect role as the object is easier to see where it strikes so you can adjust it's trajectory. Plus it comes with a whole lot more rounds thus making it more applicable to hunger suppression until the main effort is conducted at a restaurant after the movie. Or you thought you heard something so you look around for the sound contact icon so can get a idea as to what it was. Oh it's just the kid getting fussy again.

Speak of the devil! Here is a actual picture of the Volkssturm Rollstuhl Truppen in action! Plus a museum picture that shows the only surviving model of a early American attempt at a cost effective scout car.

But if we add fire to the game it will open a whole new can of worms no one wants! For instance, The Fortress Italy series of games will have to add a Italian Command Unit to play the violin while Italian structures are burning! If there is forest fires then the American forces will have to include a bear with a shovel as a engineer unit to control the situation! And the list just keeps on going!

Oh don't get me wrong, I am all for a EU army. It's time for someone else to step up and let their sons and daughters play fireman to the worlds hot spots. After all, all it takes for evil to succeed is for good men to stand by and do nothing. And as far as it being a "soft army" all I can say is Rugby is like American Football. Only they don't wear all the fancy protective gear for a similar contact sport.

The Germans were all into hiring the handicapped and the first to experiment with the Rollstuhl Truppen. Check out the small wheels on the device this guy is packing. Either it's a wheelchair or the grim look on his face is because he is pissed he still has to use training wheels on his bicycle. And look at the face of his comraden to the left. That guy is like "Was ist das? Trainingsrad?" "Hans could never figure out why the others were mad at him and picking themselves up off the ground when he rode up on his bicycle with the playing card placed on his frame so that it made a cheerful "rat-tat-tat" noise when it struck the spokes of his rear wheel".

If you enjoy what a business is putting out then the best way is to support them is by buying their product. Thank you for all the effort and "daring mighty deeds", as T. Roosevelt said, to produce a series of games that are a answer to anyone who has played Squad Leader. Plus thanks for never rushing something into production. "The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient" (from High Road to China). I will always vote for your games with my wallet. And to PIATpunk. Thanks for using that line. They are after all "The Producers" of these line of games. I also sing "1,2,3,4, I'm losing the war..." when I am getting my ass handed to me.

"The European Commission has said it is “delighted” that the leaders of France and Germany have backed the creation of a “real” EU army." https://www.independent.co.uk It's about time. That should put one more "Sheriff" in town so the U.S. doesn't have to ride the range and be the only one keeping the lids on a whole bunch of pots that could boil over. I know the old saying about "great power and responsibility" but the world is like a cheap lunch counter. There is plenty of bologna to go around and it's time for Europe to move up from the kids table.

First off just think of the enormous amount of diversity in terrain, equipment and operations that relates to this subject. Even when covering just this one geographical area. Then develop a game that covers the endless variety of situations and possibilities that occur in combat (Well S.L.A. Marshall and a huge staff took a huge amount of time to write a huge book covering this subject). Develop a A.I. that is smart enough to handle this environment and make good decisions. Not just for the enemy force. Lets make it control all the individual units so they react in a realistic manner. Make a game control that covers the vast majority of actions a unit would use. And make it easy enough and intuitive so the user doesn't get frustrated. Oh yes, also you have to find a balance in all this so it appeals to the casual and hardcore wargamer. The absolute in depth beauty of the graphics and textures for the equipment and and uniforms that came with the game. I still stick with the original uniforms that come with the game. Sure I do use a couple of mods like one that allows variations of the German Smocks and camouflage on the U.K. helmets. For the enormity of the subject they did a great job on covering it. The vehicles are a pure delight. Watching them roll across the terrain is like getting a glimpse into history. Excellent work on getting the basic color schemes for each nation. I did have one vehicle, a SPW250-3 that had no camo on it whatsoever. Just used Gimp. Cut and past the corresponding hull parts from another SPW250 and done. The variety of terrain types and buildings must have been a huge list they had to narrow down to a general set that related to most situations. And they did a wonderful job on choosing the major types. I did go full on mod to change the landscape terrain to something that looks good to my bi-focal, color blind eyesight. I put together a mix of mods from several different creators. The pavement textures are standard except for the one with the "big rectangular blocks". To me the scale of the blocks was so big that a crane would be needed to place each one. So I scaled them down from 1024 to 256. Put together a 1024 tile with the 256 tiles and there ya go. Man manageable size stones. The editor is one of the highlights of this game. It is easy to use, does what you want it to do within certain limits and possibilities. The fact you can build a simple map to designing a full blown battle with directions for the A.I. is a testament to its flexibility and solid design. And let's not forget the audio. Realistic voices in the language of the nation it covers. Sounds of weapons and vehicles. The whole spectrum of special effects. Plus a great musical score. A fantastic job on getting the realism right and a important part of the immersion into the environment.

Yep, a un-acquire command would be nice. In CMBN when a AT gun is knocked out and the ammo-bearers survive the ammo-bearers can only "waddle around" at a move pace. It's because they are packing around the now useless ammo. So much for using them as add-hoc infantry. Might as well just send them on a leisurely stroll to another AT gun from their unit and hope they can ammo share their way to weight loss. And as far as I know it has to be a gun from the same unit or it will not share the ammo. I will have test that theory some time.

Holy Smokes, Star Wars subtitled for the Millennials. "Hey dad that Darth Vader was sick" "No son he was horribly burned on Mustafar" "Yo dad, you're saying he was burned by hot mustard?"

Good Question! As far as I know 2LT's have always been the standard rank for rifle platoon leaders. If the rank was wrong I believed it was due to combat losses. However most 1LT's are XO's or in a staff position. If anything due to combat losses I could see a 1LT as Company Commander and a 2LT as the XO. Or the Company Commander is a Captain with a XO who is a 2LT due to replacement shortages. Now as far as Battlefront making a mistake I am clueless on that subject. And it seems there is no way possible that the game would randomly selects between 1LT and 2LT for the platoon leader. So I hope that someone with more insight into the game mechanics can solve the wrong rank question.

We could turn this into a comedy sketch that would make Monty Python proud. Or in memory of Abbot and Costello, a "Eula comes First, You come Second" kinda of routine. "This parrot is dead." "No it's not. It's sleeping!"

Well let's see, >Resupply: *Why can't the amount be broken down into basic loads for a platoon, squad, fire team? Why does it have to be like 5000 rounds? *Hand Grenades, Smoke Grenades and Rifle Grenades why are they not carried in the ammo count? *Being able to have the option to load out vehicles with more ammo. Would help with some units like a recon jeep or a halftrack with a squad screening a far flank or approach. This would also help with AT Gun units. >M2 Heavy Machine Gun: *The tanks and the jeep mounted configurations do not carry enough spare ammo for that weapon. And for that matter neither does the MMG configuration. >Tank Destroyer: *The American TD's used a lot of HE when supporting infantry. It would be great to assign certain vehicles with HE support and some with a mix to handle enemy armor. >Formations: *It would be great if the same TO&E procedure was used in Quick Battle. Why should I have to spend points on outfitting a British Carrier Platoon with vehicles they should already have. And the same for AT Gun units. They are useless without a prime mover. * How about having the ability to detach support units units and have them fall under the command of the unit they are assigned to. That way I can just move a HMG Team with its carrier and ammo bearers from Weapons to a unit of my choosing without having to delete and then rebuy the HMG Team which will now not have the advantage of any spare ammo that might have come with the original vehicle. This is especially true for AT-Guns. *Being able to separate a unit from a chain of command and have it rely on it's own NCO for command. This would have to be done before the game begins and that way you could place a isolated heavy weapon to cover certain areas where line of sight may be hampered or too far. This would be especially handy when assigning engineer support. >Being able to cross load certain items. For example a AT Gun team has its HQ get hit while in transit. A near by infantry unit sends a scout team to apply aid and recover the radio. If you did this with a AT Gun team then the gun would be abandoned. So now these scouts have the AT radio. Would be great if they could go up to the AT unit and give the next person in charge the radio. >Machine Gun plunging fire: *I know there is a sort of a work around because small arms fire will not hurt a team from the same side. But to have a machine gun in defilade, directed by their HQ would be really handy. > Icons: *Different Colors identify different platoons. It would make finding out who belongs to which squad when the troops are divided up into smaller units.

Oh yes almost forgot, how about increasing the amount of Smoke Grenades the unit carries. The Ammunition Carry Bag was a common issue item to units. They were issued to submachine gunners, rifle grenadiers, BAR Ammo Bearers (x2 bags), LMG sections and HMG sections. And selected individuals in a squad. The bag could carry 4x 48 round bandoliers of rifle ammo, 14x 30 round SMG magazines, 10x 20 round BAR magazines, 1x 250 round belt of MG ammo with or without the container, 5x rifle grenades, 18x hand grenades or smoke grenades. We didn't have the luxury of such a item during my service time. We would just give one smoke grenade to selected individuals to carry. The platoon leader could then request smoke grenades from the squads as needed. Also one of the Platoon HQ personnel would carry a "Butt Pack" that held 8 to 10 smoke grenades.

The show all movements paths command continues to show all paths but when a movement order is being plotted to lets say, a squad, then the end of all the movement paths of that platoon are capped on the end by a circle, triangle, line or something to show where the related units finish their movement. That way when there is a whole mess of lines across the terrain you can more easily figure where to place that units last waypoint. This would make it easier to place units so they can maintain their position and spacing in the line of march. I would love to see a "Turret Defilade" command. That's where the weapons are masked by cover or concealment and only the vehicle commander can see the engagement area. Having the vehicle move up to a Turret Defilade would use a different Line of Sight than the one that is currently centered on the approximate axis the main weapon elevates and depresses on. Then you could have your tanks move up from Turret Defilade to Hull Defilade, conduct fire on the target and reverse back to Turret Defilade. It would be close to real life berm drills. And if possible reduces the amount of fatal pause time between when the command to reverse and actual movement occurs. This would simulate that when the Fire Command is being issued to the Gunner the driver uses this as his cue to put her into reverse and is just waiting for the Driver Reverse command so he can quickly get the vehicle back under cover or concealment.

I would love to see a "Turret Defilade" command. That's where the weapons are masked by cover or concealment and only the vehicle commander can see the engagement area. Having the vehicle move up to a Turret Defilade would use a different Line of Sight than the one that is currently centered on the approximate axis the main weapon elevates and depresses on. Yep a "Shoot and Scoot" combined with a Turret Defilade command that transitions into a Hull Down would be very helpful. Then you could have your tanks move up from Turret Defilade to Hull Defilade, take a shot and reverse back to Turret Defilade. Exposure times during engagements would be a lot less. The initial Fire Command is conducted while in Turret Defilade. ammunition selection and a rough orientation of the gun is completed.Then the driver moves the vehicle up on command, the gunner identifies the target, and the fire command is given. It would be close to real life berm drills. And if I remember correctly Shoot and Scoot reduces the amount of fatal pause time between forward and reverse movement. I kinda can do this using multiple movement commands but there is that line of sight issue and the pause time I just mentioned. But I would settle for just the "Shoot and Scoot". The engagements would at least resemble real life conduct of fire from the Hull Defilade. Engage one or two targets then quickly scoot back and shift to a alternate position to continue the engagement with the enemy. I also use the Forward and Reverse command for Rhino tanks putting openings into boucage. If there is no way to move the scouts through the obstacle and you have to breach then I ensure that I have enough firepower to quickly supress any AT weapons. Plot a movment so the vehicle just clears the boucage and then it reverses back through the boucage and stops about half a vehicle length or more from the edge of the opening so it's exposure to AT weapons is reduced and the infantry can get around the tank and through the opening.

I'll volunteer to give it a try. I am getting ready to start another round of PBEM with a guy in Canada. So I can test that aspect out. Load time, how long it takes to save, does the usual capping uploads limit for attached files on e-mails make a large map with lots of units feasible, etc. etc. Plus I have made most of the maps we use from actual maps of the area. The only question I have is the terrain hedgerow central or is it the more open terrain found in the British sector. I am asking because my opponent plays the Canadians and I am Herman the German. So we usually try to square off on ground similar to the real thing.

OH MY GOD! WHERE DO I BEGIN TO PUT OUT THIS FIRE! To everyone on this forum I can only hope you will accept my apologies for this absolutely insane series of posts shown above. I also commend you all for the grace with which you have handled such insulting and outrageous comments. We are all victims of one of my roommates friends. They were sitting around the dinning room playing games and getting drunk. I was sitting in the living room working on the PC getting the formalities of re-establishing myself on this forum taken care of. I took a break, did some chores then went upstairs to read so as to distance myself from their annoyance and to remain respectful of my roommates rights to have friends over. So skip ahead to today. I pick up my laptop and notice I left it on. No problem, I was downloading something for Rail Simulator at that time. So I log into this forum to finish reading some posts. I notice the notifications at the top of the page referring to this post. That's when I discovered this disaster. I take some blame for this happening. As I was having difficulty in remembering my username I used Help Desk to get that straightened out. They issued me a temporary password. I wrote all of the information on a post-it-note. I did not get the chance to change that password yet I did log off. Well my roommate gets involved with showing someone his latest car project. The old saying about "Idle hands make tools for the Devil" appears to be true. The instigator thought it would be funny if he downloaded a whole bunch of porn onto the laptop. Well it seems he was curious about what sites I frequent. So a quick check of history, the information on a note siting on a end table and there we have a match and gasoline. Oh he thought this was so much more fun than the porn idea. Use the last post I was reading and make some rude comments and get out. But no like a pyromaniac he had to return and watch the excitement he had created. Hence the second post. And it appears he is more familiar with my life than I give him credit for. However he totally got my old friends saying of "bend my dog tags and send me to Korea" as to the Antarctica. Hell, I would love to go check out that place! Yes I have a 100% rated disability for PTSD. No, I do not flaunt it as a excuse for my actions. Though it did end my marriage I hold no ill feelings towards the ex-wife as I was still learning to deal with it and believe me. I was no picnic to live with. In fact the ex-wife and I are still friends with a better relationship than when we married. And that includes her new male friend. While it has caused difficulty with my parents and siblings it has in no way alienated them. My mom still thinks its like a cold and it will go away. My sister and brother know better. Yes, I do spend most of my time in my house but I have friends. One of which is my weekly caretaker. She's a veteran also so we are close friends both on and off the clock. Yes, there will be those who will certainly miss me when I am gone. My nephews on the ex-wife's side think of me as a father figure. Their dad committed suicide when they were very young. That incident caused me to really notice the pain and suffering it causes your loved ones. Stopped me from ever considering that course of action again. Because of their dad's passing I was like a father to them and had a hand in shaping two boys in to men who are responsible adults, with good civilian careers, and are starting families of their own. So once again I cannot apologize enough for the mess this created. Second please forgive my rambling post but I thought it was best to explain the true nature of some the statements he made. Yes, I am handling this situation with him in a adult and even tempered manner. Shouting matches accomplish nothing. And finally I am going to contact the moderators to see what they want to do with this whole mess.