WimO

Some advice to both players if playing my Panzer Lehr scenario. German player has the more difficult task by far. Special rules are in effect to limit the movement of the German player. Pitch dark, vehicles move at Slow speed except under scenario defined situations. The German player's biggest challenge is traffic management. Patience is required to feed the long columns of vehicles in slowly and well spaced or you will produce an unmanageable mess. The German player has TRF's and is encouraged to use these for a preliminary bombardment on the assumed American positions. The Germans had a well defined artillery plan and had a habit of constantly intermittently bombarding road junctions. If the bombardment is delayed the German won't see much because it is pitch dark and hazy. Expect ambushes and surprises constantly. American player: Is low on supply and recovering from the day's failed attack against Les Haut Vents. Supply trucks are on the way and these need to be 'managed' when they arrive or ammo might become a problem. Do not be quickly discouraged by adverse results. The German player's task is a difficult one and he is fairly easy to ambush. Scenario length is sufficient for a slow and steady pace. Three play tests by myself with others all resulted in different outcomes with the Germans either getting onto the crossroads or failing just short of the crossroads.

Posted under "CM2 Scenario and Mod Tips" Section.

Nice looking map. I use the same trick sometime for 2D views of the map. And I also have a problem with rendering distance. I don't know if this is a program limitation or my computer's limitation. The zoom out that I want is for the 3D view. When creating a mountain map with very tall mountains (i.e. Monte la Difensa), I cannot zoom out far enough to get the whole picture.

This thread started on the topic of climbable mountains. Anyone who wishes to learn more about "some of the actions" of the 82nd Airborne from D-Day through D+4 might have a peek at my new post.

Warning: This is a long piece. 82nd Airborne Objectives for D-Day 505th PIR: Secure St. Mére-Eglise and the eastern ends of the two crossings over the Merderet River at Chef-du-Pont and La Fière. 1st Bn tasked to capture the bridge at La Fière 507th PIR: Secure the western end of the La Fière crossing at Cauquigny. 508th PIR: Secure two crossings over the Douve River at the southwestern end of the drop zone in the area of Picauville. Scenarios WO 82NO1 – Boots on the Ground – SP U.S. Col. Millet and Lt. Col. Timmes converge on Amfreville. D-Day, 05:00, 6 June 1944. The American 82nd Airborne 505th has landed further inland with the objective of securing the western end of the La Fière causeway at the village of Cauquigny. FRIENDLY FORCES: You personally dropped into the water of the flooded Merderet River. Other chutes in the water reveal you were not the only unlucky trooper. You struggled for some time to get out of your gear and out of the water to the west side of the Merderet. A half hour later you have managed to assemble only two sticks, i.e. 20 men, of your battalion. Apparently, your battalion has had a bad drop and is widely scattered. You have sent scouts out to recon your position and have determined that you are north of Cauquigny and north-east of Hameau-aux-Brix. ENEMY FORCES: A battalion of the 1057th Grenadiers, 91st Luftlande Division is reported to be in your immediate area with armor support. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The 507th drop was horribly scattered, some as far away as 20 km. Timmes initially collected only two sticks of men and Millet a few dozen. Timmes left a handful at Cauquigny which he found undefended and moved west to the assembly point at Amfreville but was driven off by the German garrison and dug into an orchard north-east of Cauquigny. Millet approached Amfreville from the north-west but was driven back west to Les Landes. Some sources suggest he never made it past Les Landes in the first place. WO 82NO2 – The 505th Assault La Fière Manor – SP U.S. The 505th Approach their objective – the La Fière bridge. D-Day, 08:00, 6 June 1944. The 505th have assembled after a nearly perfect drop – on target and intact. You, as 1st Lt. Dolan, 'A' Company set off to secure the bridge at the eastern end of the La Fière Causeway. To secure the bridge you must occupy le Manoir Leroux. ENEMY FORCES: A battalion of the 1057th Grenadiers, 91st Luftlande Division is reported to be in your immediate area with armor support. The size of the force posted at the bridge is unknown. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The 505th was the only element of the 82nd Airborne that made a good drop. It’s companies split up and moved against their various objectives, La Fière, St. Mère Église and Chef du Pont. The assault against le Manoir Leroux was confused due to the fact that lost boys from the 507th, 508th, and even the 101st joined in the attack from different directions with initially none knowing of each other’s presence. The manor and bridge were secure by 10:00. WO 82NO3 – Levy at Cauquigny – SP U.S. Lt. Levy of the 507th defends Cauquigny against the Germans advancing to attack the La Fière causeway. D-Day, 12:00, 6 June 1944. INTRODUCTION: Captain Schwartzwalder ('G' Co. 3rd Bn. 507th PIR), Lt. Levy ('D' Co. 2nd Bn. 507th PIR), & Lt. Taylor ('B' Co. 1st Bn. 508th PIR) occupy the Cauquigny complex in an attempt to prevent III./1057 from using it as a base from which to attack across the la Fière causeway against the 505th PIR holding Le Manoir Leroux (a.k.a. La Fière Manor) on the other side. WHY THE SCENARIO IS NOT CALLED CAPTAIN SCHWARTZWALDER AT CAUQUIGNY: Because the real Schwartzwalder skedaddled during the German mortar barrage, taking with him his 80 troopers plus a few others and leaving Lt. Levy with only 10-17 men plus an unknown few more to 'hold the fort'. YOU ARE THE HEROIC LT. LEVY (Experience: Elite, Motivation: Extreme, Leadership: +2). HOW YOU GOT HERE: After the initial drop at 0300, you were able to assemble only a dozen men. En-route to your objective - Cauquigny, you encountered and joined Lt. Col. Timmes’ small group. Upon arriving at Cauquigny you found the German prepared positions unmanned. Lt. Col. Timmes ordered you to dig-in in at Cauquigny church with only your dozen while he took his element NW towards the designated battalion assembly point at Amfreville. From about 1000 to 1200 that morning you heard the noise of fighting around the eastern end of the causeway as the 505th assaulted the buildings le Manoir Leroux. After that settled down, Captain Schwartzwalder with his 80 paras crossed the causeway from La Fière to your position, significantly adding to your defences. ENEMY FORCES: One battalion of the 1057th Grenadiers, 91st Luftlande Division is reported to be in your immediate area with armor support. Enemy positions are reported to be in Amfreville to the west, the Grey Castle to the north-west, and Geuetteville to the south-west. Scouts report that two German companies are approaching accompanied by armour. WITHDRAWAL OPTION: If the player wishes to emulated Schwartzwalder's withdrawal (in the interest of avoiding unnecessary American casualties of course) an Allied EXIT objective is present at the western end of the north edge of the map under the name "Timmes Orchard". This will reduce German Victory Points for American casualties but risks giving up your terrain objectives. In any event, Schwartzwalder and his troopers might make that decision without your approval. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Lt. Col. Timmes, Captain Schwartzwalder and Lt. Levy were all part of the battalion that was tasked to secure Cauquigny and thus the western end of the la Fière causeway across the Merderet. Schwartzwalder had the misfortune of being dropped on the east, i.e. wrong side of the Merderet. He managed to assemble approximately 40 of his troopers and marched towards the La Fière bridge as the means to crossing to the other side. At the bridge his troopers got involved in the assault on le Manoir Leroux. At some point his force swelled to 80 troopers. Immediately after the 505th's securing the manor, Schwartzwalder took his men across to Cauquigny where he joined Lt. Levy of the 507th who was holding the church overlooking the causeway with 10-17 of his own troopers plus another 30 - 40 under Lt. Taylor of the 508th. About noon or before, a very heavy hour-long German mortar barrage covered the American positions at both ends of the causeway signalling a forthcoming German counter-attack. At this point Captain Schwartzwalder makes the critical decision to abandon the position in favour of joining Lt. Col. Timmes dug-into an orchard to the NW. When Schwartzwalder withdrew, he took with him not only his own 80 men but also some of the other troopers. The now severely outnumbered Lt. Levy aggressively took the fight to the Germans, ambushing and destroying two R35 tanks. In the end, Levy and his dirty dozen were driven out of Cauquigny and the position was held by the Germans until D+3. It was only retaken after a horrible bloody assault across the causeway by the 325th GIR and the remnants. WO 82NO4 – Timmes Digs In German resistance at Amfreville has caused Lt. Col. Timmes to fall-back and dig-into an orchard where he waits for events to unfold. D-Day, 12:00, 6 June 1944. This scenario has three separate variants, one SP US, H2H and H2H Swz. You found the German resistance at Amfreville too strong and fell back to a nearby orchard where you ordered your men to dig-in. From about 1000 to 1100 hours you heard the noise of fighting coming from the eastern end of the La Fière causeway. That was followed by the sound of artillery and mortar fire incoming at both the eastern and western ends of the causeway around noon presaging a German counter-attack. Shortly thereafter Captain Schwartzwalder arrived at the orchard with news that the Manoir and eastern end of the causeway are in American hands but that Cauquiny was under heavy attack and likely to fall. With Schwartzwalder and other stragglers incoming, your force now amounts to about 140 troopers. At this moment mortar fire is starting to fall on your position. A German assault appears imminent. ENEMY FORCES: At least two companies of the 1057th Grenadiers, 91st Luftlande Division are reported to be in your immediate area with armor support. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Lt. Col. Timmes’ group held the orchard until the 90th Infantry Division’s attack on Amfreville on D+4. The orchard was never an 82nd Airborne objective but as events unfolded it serendipitously eventually became the right flank anchor of the bridgehead across the Merderet. WO 82NO5 – Angriffe der Grenadiere Two companies of German grenadiers supported by captured French tanks assault the 505th PIR’s position at the La Fière bridge. D-Day, 16:00, 6 June 1944. This scenario has three variants, SP US, SP Ge and H2H. TACTICAL SITUATION: At present 'A' Co., 1st Bn., 505th is dug-in securely in and around the manor and bridge. At 1200 the Germans drove Lt. Levy's and Schwartzwalder's troopers out of the Cauquigny bridgehead at the western end of the causeway forcing the latter to fall back north-westwards on Lt.Col. Timmes' position in the orchard. Taylor's men can presently be seen fleeing back towards you at le Manoir while the Germans are digging in. The sound of artillery and small arms fire is coming from all around your position. Lt. Col. Timmes is under attack in the orchard less than 1 km to the north-west, Lt. Col. Shanley is under attack at Hill 30 a few km south-west, St. Mère Église is still being fought over to the WSW and fighting is on-going at Utah and Omaha to the east. German mortar fire has been harassing your position for four hours! FRIENDLY FORCES: You are Major Kellam, C.O. 1st Battalion 505 PIR. You presently command one company of PIR led by 1st Lt. John 'Red Dog' Dolan, one platoon of engineers from 307th Engineer Battalion, half of our battalion's support weapons and one 57mm A/Tk gun. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The Germans successfully assaulted and re-occupied Cauquigny at the western end of the causeway around noon, at the cost of two or three Beutepanzers. After digging in and setting up their HMG, MTR and off-map ART supports, they bombarded the American positions across the Merderet with harassing fire for the next four hours. This fire caused significant casualties. At 1600 the Germans moved off from Cauquigny and after an hour-long fight in which they lost three more Beutepanzers plus one PzKfw III and failed to cross the bridge, they requested a truce by 1700. It was granted and they withdrew. WO 82NO6 – No Better Place to Die The 1057th Grenadier make a second attempt to storm the la Fière causeway and capture the bridge and adjacent manor. D+1, 10:00, 7 June 1944. This scenario has two variants, two SP Ge and H2H. TACTICAL SITUATION: At present A' Co., 1st Bn., 505 PIR, 82nd Airborne plus one 57mm gun èare dug-in securely in and around le Manoir Leroux and the la Fière bridgehead. 'B' Co. 505 and 3rd Plt. 'B' Co. 307th Engineer Bn. are in reserve. Yesterday we defeated a German tank-supported assault on our position. It has reduced us to 70%-80% effectives. Ammunition is being resupplied by runners. Our lack of radio has severely hampered our communications with battalion and regimental HQ and unable to call for artillery support. We have nothing we can throw at the enemy positions across the Merderet except our light mortars. German mortar and artillery fire has been harassing us uninterrupted since the battle broke off yesterday afternoon resulting in 35 more friendly casualties. It appears to be increasing in intensity so another attack must be in the making. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: During this second German attack the American paras were down to a remnant of their original strength and down to their last rounds, were at the point of surrendering when Gavin famously asked them if they could think of a better place to die. They fought on and the German attack withdrew. Neither of the German attacks had penetrated to the manor. During the following night the Germans sent a third fighting patrol across but this fell back after finding the Americans still in position. WO 82N07 Millet Breaks Out – H2H Col. Millet attempts to bypass the Germans in Amfreville with the aim of linking up with Lt. Col. Timmes in the orchard. D+2, 23:00, 8 June 1944. A ‘cat and mouse’ scenario with special movement rules. Requires mutual trust to play. STRATEGIC SITUATION: It is almost midnight on D-Day +2. Friendly forces have successfully pushed inland from Utah beach to St. Mère Église and by tomorrow will be wanting to cross the La Fière causeway. TACTICAL SITUATION: You, as Col. Millet need to find your way in the dark through the German lines to Lt. Col. Timme's position in an orchard to the east of Amfreville (represented in this scenario by an EXIT terrain objective. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: By D+2 Col. Millet had accumulated approximately 400 stragglers. Having finally established radio contact with 82nd Abn. HQ he was ordered to attempt to link up with Lt. Col. Timmes. They set off in the dark of night, single file. During the night minor skirmished caused the group to split in half resulting in Millet and 200 being taken prisoner. The remainder did break through but instead of digging in with Timmes, apparently fled across the Merderet to the east side. WO 82N08 A Night Crossing – H2H The 325th Glider Infantry Regiment crosses the Merderet at the flooded road to try to establish a bridgehead west of the flood. D+2, 23:00, 8 June 1944. OPERATIONAL SITUATION: Since June 6th, we have dislodged the Germans from the manor at the eastern end of the La Fiere causeway and repulsed in two of their attempts to retake the position. However we have failed to hold Cauquigny and its church at the western end and are now in a stand-off position with the Germans dug-in there. TACTICAL SITUATION: Lt. Col. Timmes is dug-into an orchard between Cauquigny and the Grey Castle with about 140 men and Col. Millet is isolated west of Amfreville with about another 400. Millet has been ordered to break through the German lines and join Timmes in the orchard. The 505th is dug-in at the eastern end of the causeway with the remnants of two companies. Earlier today a trooper arrived from Lt. Col. Timmes with the report that there is a sunken road hidden by the flooded Merderet River by which we can cross over to the west side. We will use that road to move the newly arrived 1st Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry across at night in an attempt to take the Cauquigny position from the flank and finally establish a secure bridgehead at the western end of the causeway. YOUR ORDERS: 1. Cross the Merderet flood by way of the sunken road (DONE). 2. 'A' Company - occupy Le Motey. Timmes' position will secure your right flank. 3. 'B' Company - occupy the position between 'A' and 'C' company. 4. 'C' Company - occupy Hameau Flaux. You are the left flank anchor. 5. 'HQ' Company & Engineer Platoon - as local situation dictates FRIENDLY FORCES: 1./325 GIR and Lt. Col. Timmes' ad-hoc force. ENEMY FORCES: Elements of III./1057 Grenadiere Rgt., 91. Luftlande Division HISTORICAL SUMMARY: The 325th crossed the Merderet but for a variety of reasons failed to achieve any of their objectives, in fact, retreating back behind Timmes and some recrossing the Merderet to the east side. Although their left flank company penetrated the deepest, as far as Hameaux Flaux, they too were driven back by a German counter-attack. WO 82N09 A Night to Forget – H2H A huge scenario that combines ‘Millet Breaks Out’ with ‘A Night to Remember’ D+2, 23:00, 8 June 1944. WO 82N10 Shaul’s Run The 3/325th Glider Infantry supported by an ad-hoc ‘A’ Company 1/507th PIR attempt to dash across the La Fiere causeway and establish a bridgehead as far as Le Motey. D+3, 10:00, 9 June 1944. This scenario has two variants, SP US and H2H. YOUR ORDERS: 1. All batteries of the 345th Field Artillery Regiment will commence bombarding German positions west of the Merderet. At your option you may also add in any additional mortars and/or field pieces. 2. 'A' Company, 746th Tank Battalion will add their fire and shoot you in, as soon as they have reached firing positions. 3. At 10:45, 'G' Company, 3rd Bn., 325 Glider Infantry led by Captain Shaul, will lead the assault across the causeway and secure Cauquigny and its environs. 4. Companies E, F and HQ will follow in that order as soon as there is room on the Causeway. 5. If the battalion gets in trouble, Captain Rae will lead ad-hoc 'A' Company, 1st Bn., 507th PIR across. 6. As soon as Cauquigny is secured, 'A' Company, 746th Tank Bn., will move across and assist in the advance against Les Helpiquets. 7. 3rd Bn., 325 will consolidate and advance westward to secure the crossroads at Les Helpiquets. 8. After securing Les Helpiquets the battalion will dig-in along a line running north to south. TACTICAL SITUATION: The scenario covers only Phase One (see Operational Situation below). There is nothing for it but for 'G' company to dash straight across the causeway to secure Cauquigny. 'E' Company will move forward left of 'G' Coy., and 'F' will move up and to the right of 'G' Coy. Together they will move on Les Helpiquets. Lt. Col. Timmes and elements of 1/325 are already across to the north of Cauquigny and will anchor your right flank. OPERATIONAL SITUATION: The immediate plan will be executed in two phases, both on the same day. In Phase One the 3rd/325th will cross the La Fiere causeway and secure the hamlet of Cauquigny and after consolidating, push westward to secure the crossroads at Les Helpiquets. There it will dig-in and provide security for Phase Two. The latter involves the bloodied 1st/325th GIR pushing forward and inserting itself between your 3rd/325th and Lt. Col. Timmes. The 1st/508th PIR will cross on the causeway and insert itself between the 3rd/325th and Lt. Col. Shanley on Hill 30 to the south. The bridgehead will then be considered secured and 90th Infantry can begin to cross and prepare for its attack on Amfreville on the 10th. STRATEGIC SITUATION: It is D-Day + 3, June 9, 1944. American and British troops in the Normandy beach-head continue to build up, the advance inland has been slow with Montgomery and his British forces stuck in front of Caen and the Canadians, thrown back from Authie and Buron. American forces having made only modest headway. The 82nd Airborne has failed to secure any bridgeheads across the Merderet for the past three days and last night the 1st Bn., 325 GIR failed in its attempt to establish a bridgehead during the night. The 90th Infantry Division reached St. Mere Eglise yesterday and is now breathing down the neck of the 82nd, eager to cross the Merderet. Brig. Gen. 'Jumping Jim' Gavin believes that his last and only option is a suicidal dash across the causeway by the as yet unblooded 3rd Bn., 325th Glider Infantry Regiment. FRIENDLY FORCES: 1/325 GIR, elements of 1/505 PIR and 1/507 PIR, 'A' Coy., 746th Tank Battalion, A, B & C Batteries 345th Field Artillery Regiment. The troopers of 1/325 are grumbling and disaffected by the dismissal of Lt. Col. Carrell earlier this morning for his reluctance to make this attack and for the rebranding of their battalion from their former 2nd/401 GIR. REINFORCEMENTS: Elements of 1/325 GIR will continue to arrive on the main road at 20, 25, and 30 minutes - so keep the troops moving! ENEMY FORCES: Elements of II. & III./1057 Grenadiere Regiments are reported in our area of operations. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: In this scenario I name Les Helpiquets as an objective. This is correct. The historical records incorrectly combine Les Helpiquet and Le Motey into a single location under the name Le Motey. It took two separate attacks by the U.S. 90th Infantry Division supported by attached armor and with a little help from the paras, to secure Les Helpiquets as the Germans were well dug in. This opened up the road to Amfreville which was finally attacked and occupied on D+4, 10 June 1944. I aborted creating scenarios 12 through 15 (the German counter-attack, the two attacks against Les Helpiquets and Amfreville) due to creative burn-out. ... meanwhile …over at the 508th … WO 82N11a Shanley on Hill 30 – H2H An ad-hoc collection of 82nd Airborne under Lt. Col. Shanley holds Hill 30 against attacks by 91. Luftlande Division on June 7th D+1, 10:00 7 June 1944 SITUATION: Yesterday, 6 June 1944, we were unable to achieve our mission objectives of securing the bridges across the Douve at Pont l'Abbe west of Picauville. Severe scattering of our drop left us with insufficient manpower to break through the German blocking force in Picauville. Midmorning we fell back on Gueutteville and en-route encountered two French Renault tanks, one of which we succeeded in knocking out with gammon grenades. Late afternoon, early evening, we withdrew from Guetteville towards our present position on Hill 30 after coming under increasing pressure from III./1057 Grenadier Regiment of the 91. Luftlande Division supported by five Renault tanks from 100. Panzer Ersatz und Ausbildungs Abteilung. Apparently only one company of Grenadiers remained to occupy Gueutteville. The remainder, 15 truckloads of infantry and tanks, continued north-east towards Cauquigny and la Fiere. From our present position we can send combat patrols to control the few roads in the area as well as le Port Filiolet which controls access to the Chef-du-Pont causeway. MISSION OBJECTIVES: We have been ordered “at all costs” to maintain control of the roads that access the Chef-du-Pont causeway south-east of Hill 30 via le Port Filiolet. FRIENDLY FORCES: You command an ad-hoc assembly of roughly 400 men, mostly from your own 2nd Bn/508 All American PIR but also troopers from 1st and 3rd Bn/508, a full platoon from the 505 PIR and a few from the 101st Screaming Eagles. You lost your mortars and most of your MMG during the drop, but since linking up with Maj. Shields Warren of the 1/508, you now count 3 MMG, 1 BAR, 1 BAZ and 1 MTR. Thanks to Lt. Col. Shanley finding "many" supply containers, your ammunition is full at this time. You also have five captured German mines, three anti-personnel and two anti-tank. You have not yet managed to establish a radio link with any off-map artillery support. ENEMY FORCES: Yesterday Gueutteville was occupied by only one company of the II./1057 Grenadiere Rgt., 91. Luftlande Division. Today at least two, maybe three companies of the I./1057 appear to be assembling there for an attack on our positions. Similar reports are coming in from the south-west regarding a company of German engineers. WO 82N11b Shanley on Hill 30 – H2H Lt. Col. Shanley’s force holds Hill 30 against a second attack by 91. Luftlande on June 8th. D+2, 10:00, 8 June 1944 SITUATION: Two days ago, 6 June 1944, we were unable to achieve our mission objectives of securing the bridges across the Douve at Pont l'Abbe west of Picauville. Severe scattering of our drop left us with insufficient manpower to break through the German blocking force in Picauville. Midmorning we fell back on Gueutteville and en-route encountered two French Renault tanks, one of which we succeeded in knocking out with gammon grenades. Late afternoon, early evening, we withdrew from Guetteville towards our present position on Hill 30 after coming under increasing pressure from III./1057 Grenadier Regiment of the 91. Luftlande Division supported by five Renault tanks from 100. Panzer Ersatz und Ausbildungs Abteilung. Apparently only one company of Grenadiers remained to occupy Gueutteville. The remainder, 15 truckloads of infantry and tanks, continued north-east towards Cauquigny and la Fiere. From our present position we can send combat patrols to control the few roads in the area as well as le Port Filiolet which controls access to the Chef-du-Pont causeway. Yesterday we skirmished all day long with German grenadiers probing our positions from Gueutteville to our north-west and Pioniers probing towards le Port Filiolet to the south of our positions. The constant harassment by the German mortars and artillery was the worst of it. Today they appear to be regrouping for another attempt. As a result of yesterday's action, our forces are down to 90% strength and our ammunition is variable (mostly 'adequate', some 'limited'). REINFORCEMENTS: Late in the afternoon of the 8th Lt. Col. Shanley finally succeeded in making radio contact with 'A' battery of the 319th Glider Infantry Artillery Battalion which was equipped with 75 mm howitzers. It shot three brief barrages at 90 minute intervals which took out one Renault R35 and broke up Germans assembling to attack Hill 30. Two separate shoots become available at 50 and 60 minutes which will fire the same total number of rounds as were fired historically. WO 82N11c Lt. Millsaps on Hill 30 - H2H After losing Le Port Filiolet on the afternoon of June 8th, a combat patrol under Lt. Millsaps attempts to retake it. D+3, 02:00, 9 June 1944 SITUATION & MISSION OBJECTIVES: Late on June 8, at the end of two days of fighting, the Germans, supported by two Renault R35 tanks and a heavy mortar barrage, finally succeeded in occupying le Port Filiolet and controlling access to the Chef-du-Pont causeway. Our own three short barrages drove the German's attack from the north-west back from Hill 30 but could not prevent the southern thrust from retaking le Port Filiolet. Col. Lindquist has offered to resupply Lt. Col. Shanley's postion via the Chef-du-Pont causeway, but to do so the Germans must be dislodged from le Port Filiolet. Lt. Col. Shanley has asked for volunteers to make a combat patrol to the hamlet and drive out the occupiers. Twenty-three volunteers plus two officers have come forward from various companies. The officers are Lt. Millsaps and 2nd Lt. Polette. FRIENDLY FORCES: You command an ad-hoc patrol of 23 troopers and two officers. ENEMY FORCES: Before withdrawing for the night, the Germans left approximately one platoon to establish a roadblock and occupy le Port Filiolet. HISTORICAL SUMMARY: Shanley’s ad-hoc force successfully held Hill 30 and recaptured Le Port Filiolet, thus re-opening the causeway to Chef-du-Pont which village was secured on the 8th. WO 82N16 507 Makes a Good Drop – H2H A hypothetical scenario where the 1st Bn. 507th has a good drop instead of being horribly scattered on D-Day. D-Day, 05:00, 6 June 1944 INTRODUCTION: What if the 2nd Battalion of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne had dropped 80% of its troopers on target during the early morning hours of D-Day? This scenario is designed for balanced H2H play and recreates the 'hoped for' situation on D-Day. As American Lt. Col. Timmes C.O. 2nd Battalion 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division you must attempt to locate and secure your objectives with 80% of your battalion. YOUR OBJECTIVES: Primary - Cauquiny farm & church. This will secure the western end of the la Fiere causeway. Secondary - Amfreville church. The village of Amfreville is to be used as the assembly point for the whole of the 507th regiment. FRIENDLY FORCES: 80% of your battalion has been assembled successfully and are marching towards Amfreville. ENEMY FORCES: A battalion of the 1057th Grenadiers, 91st Luftlande Division is reported to be in your immediate area with armor support.

In Boots on the Ground the Allied player receives 300 pts for occupying Cauquigny church, and 100 pts each if he can touch two locations in Amfreville. In addition he receives 100 pts if he can inflict 10% casualties on the German player. The German A.I. receives no victory points. It can only deprive the Allied player of theirs. In addition the SP scenario is set up in such a way that there are 9 triggers and one exit area for the Germans, all of which are secret. Playing the sceanario H2H will break it. A number of my scenarios are H2H capable. I have personally played all three versions of Timmes' Orchard with a local gamer. Balance varies, so I found it good to play all three as an historical study. I am going to post a summary of my scenarios in a few minutes.

Yes, I assigned a slope to every tile. However this is not necessary. There are two other ways to do it. If the slope is constant you can either (i) assign the same elevation value to the two end points of a straight row or file, or (ii) assign the same elevation value to every tile in every second row or every second file.

I'm good this evening.

Dave: Quite correct. Besides the importance of Amfreville that I noted earlier, it was the road hub that would allow the follow-up U.S. 90th Inf. Div. to cut the Cotentin Peninsula and isolate Cherbourg. The 82nd was tasked with capturing a number of inland causeways and bridges 'on D-Day'. It failed in every case. It succeeded only in capturing and holding the eastern end of la Fiere causeway. Their failure was in no way due to incompetence on their part but rather because Col. Millet's 507th, Lt. Col. Timmes' and Lt. Col. Shanley's paras were all HORRIBLY scattered. All three fought predominantly defensive survival actions against unfavourable odds. Only the 505th had a near perfect drop which allowed them to secure the eastern end of the la Fiere causeway by 10 am D-Day. Timmes initially managed to assemble only two sticks with which he invested Cauquigny which he found unoccupied. He left a handful of men there and moved on toward Amfreville. Just before noon Cpt. Schwartzwalder's company (of the 507th) joined the Cauquiny garrison but promptly skedaddled when the Germans counter-attacked. He hared off to join Timmes who had bounced off Amferville and dug into an orchard. The Germans effectively walked back into Cauquigny.

RMM - I'm speaking 'historically', not scenario wise. To win the scenario, just play to the location victory points and be careful of casualties. What I meant to imply earlier, that, historically , regardless of casualties, if the Americans could hold Cauquigny they would be linked up with their brothers across the causeway (the 505th) and it would be a strategic victory. In the scenario it was necessary to also make Amfreville a victory location because that was the planned assembly area of the 507th PIR, and the intended location for battatlion HQ. If you play to the scenario's location VPs (Amfreville 100 and Cauquigny 500) then you will automatically be following the historical priorities for the U.S. player. This scenario's VPs are 'symmetrical', meaning that mine are the same as yours.

Hi Vacillator: In some of my scenarios the victory conditions are asymmetrical, that is to say, that the two sides have different conditions. This sometimes goes as deep as casualties. Boots on the Ground was designed as a single player U.S. vs A.I., not H2H scenario, so anyone playing it as Axis H2H will have no info and no sense of what to do. The A.I. programming will be more clever. Regarding 'Good Drop', since it is designed for H2H play, I believe that both side's instructions are clear. However, I would suggest that you ask the opinion of my oponent RMM (see above). He is the first and only person I know that has tried it. As I am the desinger, my views are biased but RMM can give you a player's impression.

Hello Dr.Fusselpulli: The screen grabs above are taken from the Editory. How did I make the slopes? For the non-cliff slope I increased 'every' square 3 metres vertical. For the cliff slope I increased every square 5 metres vertical. This is the point at which the game automatically creates non-scalable cliffs. For the steep cliff I increased every square 8 metres vertical and then added the linear features which transform cliff to non-cliff. The very flat sides to the cliffs were created by pressing the CONTROL key at the same time as entering the height number along the edge of the cliff. In the Editor 2D view these numbers are highlighted in a blue outline. I learned this from another modder's example of how to create steep river banks when placing bridges. Does that answer your question? As for playability: I have made some very large 4 km x 4 km maps in the past (Les Haut Vents et Pont Hebert as well as Amfreville to la Fiere) which are covered in bocage and many features. They have all proven to be playable on my desktop and laptop but my computers are medium to high end (at least they were 5 - 8 years ago).

I should ammend my movement suggestion. It would apply only to night time hours of total dark in bocage country. This rule's concept should really only be needed for H2H games when players have foreknowledge of opponent's strengths and deployment areas, i..e they've had a look at the game beforehand and have a divine view of the situation unlike real life when the guys walking down the narrow lanes are wondering "golly where are we?".

As a frequent maker of large to huge maps, I seriously need/want a feature or mod that will allow me to zoom further out from the map to see the whole thing. At present the camera cannot be moved outside of the perimeter of the map. When creating very large and mountainous maps (with tall mountains such as Monte la Difensa) this prevents me from zooming out far enough away to see the whole thing properly. Very very frustrating. I trust/hope that such a feature might not be too difficult to program?

I am in the end-game of "The 507th Has a Good Drop". While it is a long game, it has been a great deal of fun. A lot of cat and mouse action over a large map. My opponent playing as the 82nd has secured and held both objectives so far and we are in the last 15 minutes. It certainly has the 'feel' of the real situation with all the bocage and never knowing where your opponent is during the movement across the map. My opponent has been great at submitting multiple turns per week and sometimes per day. That really keeps a long game going smoothly. I am looking forward to see what the 'damage' is to both sides when the game wraps up. Regardless of casualties, if the 82nd holds on to Cauquigny by scenario end, it will be a strategic victory because it would mean that the Americans are holding both sides of the la Fiere causeway on D-Day, thus allowing the 505th to move across to join the 507th on D-day and not on D+4. We are planing to try my largest scenario "A Night to Forget" next. This will be huge, and in the dark with special movement rules for the 82nd. Another 'cat and mouse'.

A suggestion for playing Boots on the Ground - H2H. The American player must choose each turn to give new orders to either Lt. Col. Millet's force or Lt. Col. Timmes' force, but not both. Orders already given in a previous turn but not yet completed (ie, part of the blue movement line is still showing" may continue normally. Suggestion #2. Units of both sides must move by normal move or cautious. Sprint and fast moves are allowed only when crossing roads or within sight of a seen or heard enemy.

A few days ago I stumbled across Michael Dorosh's "TWC The Devil's Brigade at La Difensa". While it is an incredible work I did not like the map and decided to do another of my overhaul's. I am presently working on a replacement 4km x 4km map. Mr. Dorosh's scenario showed me how to make steep cliff's scalable - add a linear feature from top to bottom. Mr. Dorosh used only low walls. I experimented with tall and low walls as well as low bocage and hedge. I like the broken up appearance of the latter two and would have used the hedge feature in my map. The famous movie incorrectly shows the special forces scaling the cliffs with ropes whereas the reality was that they walked and climbed up the steep slope as is revealed in a YouTube interview of then surviving veterans. The humbug is that CM infantry climbing up a steep slope move just as far (measured in linear distance travelled) as those marching on similar terrain laid out flat (see enclosed screen shots) and that the climbers suffer NO increase in fatigue whatsoever. This absurdity is sufficiently disappointing for me to toss in the towel and give up on any further scenario and map development. For me it's kind of the 'last straw' of absurd humbugs (such as tanks hiding behind skinny trees from A/Tk fire and saw-tooth road). Think I'll spend more time tending to my flowers in future.

While trying to understand a scenario with Free French units I discovered that I could not make the French nation appear during the creation of a test map. That led to an exploration of the dates of availability of the various nations. I include the results here as an attached .pdf for those interested.CMFI Unit Avail.pdf

You are correct to assume that the 507th is an 'optimal drop' with about 80% landing in the zone; not all at the same time though. I am playing the Germans and am being trounced pretty good as should have happened historically but am none the less enjoying the cat and mouse play a lot. I am looking forward to discovering what the cost has been to my opponent at game end. This playthrough will also inform me if I need to adjust the victory points. The scenario you are playing also follows history pretty well. I purposely designed it that the US Airborne would have to march towards their objective. Another scenario that plays well as as a cat and mouse are the three Shanley on Hill 30 variants. These are updated versions based on my play with three other gamers playing 2 vs 2 on my older version.

Thanks Vacillaor for the kind words. I am currently playing 507th Makes a Good Drop. Playing as the Germans and getting trounced (I think). I'm really glad how that scenario is playing out as a cat and mouse situation over a large area. I consider it to be the more intriguing my H2H 82nd Airborne scenarios. I hope you will give some more feedback (good or bad, both okay) later.

Yes, I'm sometimes careless with my typing.

I forgot to mention the following: The wonderful old "Stalingrad Campaign Mod" and "Winter Mod" use different mod tags. They use the tag 'snow' for what is now labelled as 'whitewash'. If you want to continue to play those mods without retagging them then you need to use JSGME to load and unload them and ensure that they replace the current game files by prefixing their folders with a few 'zzz' to ensure that the program reads them last.

This is provided for scenario designers, vehicle re-skinners and gamers like myself who are struggling to make their existing collection of mods, scenarios and campaigns compatible in appearance withe the new vehicular mot-tagging system for snowy conditions. The following respresents my personal experience and may be in error at some points as I do not have any official information from the developers. What did I do? I unpacked and sorted all of the CMRT files from the first to most recent. Studying the vehicle files revealed the following mod-tags and .bmp associations: Default: all the .bmp's for that vehicle [muddy]: tracks, wheels, and often hull .bmp's [whitewash]: hull and wheel .bmp's only [snow]: track and wheel .bmp's only. Wheels only sometimes. [whitewash snow]: wheel .bmp's only. The foregoing might also be prefaced with [germany...] or [berlin ...] in which instance they refer to a later color scheme for that model of vehicle HOW TO USE THIS INFORMATION: All scenarios with any amount or type of snowy ground now call ONLY the [snow] mod-tag, i.e. wheel .bmp graphics resulting in a default summer skin with snow in the tracks or tires. If you want whitewashed vehicles to appear in your scenario then you must add the 'whitewash' mod-tag. The foregoing system also enables scenario creators to call whitewashed vehicles on a snowless winter day. That is to say, you could have set the scenario parameters to 'wet' but still set a 'whitewashed' mod-tag to call a white skin. I would like to see some [muddy snow] .bmp's. Please note that the combination of 'whitewash' and 'snow' is required if you want snow on the tracks and tires of a 'whitewash' vechicle. WHAT DID I TEST? Created a test scenario with the parameters Russia, December 15, 1944, cold, deep snow, snow, light snow, patchy snow, muddy with each of the above mod-tags applied to a unit of T34-85's If you are aware of any errors in the foregoing, please correct, comment, add, etc.

Today I installed Kohlenklau's Finn mod and after a bit of tweaking, redoing a few mod-tags and creating two new graphics of my own (the latter not necessary for play) I got it up and running and played the two scenarios. It's a nice bit of work and has potential for scenarios covering the Continuation War with Russia as this ended in September of 1944 which makes it compatible with the original date of CMRT. The latest game engine and patch as well as the Fire and Rubble update are required for play.

Thank you. Nice fix.