WimO

History could have been different. IF Capt. Schwartzwalder had remained at Cauquigny, and or IF B Coy 505 PIR had arrived and dug-in at Cauquigny before the German counter-attack arrived, then 1. Cauquigny would not have fallen into German hands 2. Two days of repulsing bloody German assaults at La Fiere would not have been necessary 3. 1/325 GIR's night crossing and attack would not have been necessary 4. 3/325 GIR's assault across the causeway would not have been necessary Decisions and timing - a roll of the dice

Comments on those sections of "Down to Earth ... etc" that cover my "Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere", CMBN campaign. To answer the question, "Does this book provide any new information that would cause me to alter any element of my campaign?". The answer is, "Yes, but only for the scenario, 'No Better Place to Die'". In that scenario I would remove the B Coy/505 PIR's reinforcements that arrive late in the scenario. Why? Because in "Down to Earth ..." it states that B Coy/505 PIR was sent in whole across the Merderet towards Cauquigny to reinforce Lt. Levy but got trapped and massacred while retreating from the German attack that was bearing down on Lt. Levy's group at Cauquigny just as B Coy was arriving and taking up positions. Bad timing and all that. In my original design this was not included in whole because I had relied on an earlier reference that reported that B Coy was assigned to maintain security on 505 PIR's DZ. The two sources do not conflict. They differ only in time of day. Until today I had no information that B Coy had been ordered away from the DZ to Cauquigny after the capture of the La Fiere manor. It would be a simple correction in my campaign and make that particular scenario even more gut wrenching for the player. I did learn a few other new bits of information, that while interesting, would not cause me to change the campaign scenarios. These mostly revolve around Col. Millet. He attacked Amfreville a bit more aggressively than is feasible in my scenario and Millet's force was apparently attacked three times during the next day in their fall-back positions. It is impossible to create a new scenario from the information because there are no details given regarding Millet's location and size of corresponding forces, etc. Also in respect of Col. Millet's group, if I was to accept this books account, I would have to reduce the size of his force by half for the scenario, "Breakout". I decided to stick with my earlier reads on the matter since the outcome has no effect on the progress of th campaign given how I have structured the 'flow'. A few other bits clarified the timelines of elements crossing over from La Fiere to Cauquigny and the weight of American artillery shooting during the storming of the causeway on the 9th of June. Although I was aware of this earlier, I chose to downsize the US arty somewhat in the interest of playability. Artistic license, or as inspector Clouseau would say, "lye sance". This source also states that after 1/325 GIR's failed overnight attack they were ordered to remain on the west side of the Merderet. This agrees with another online source (which might be quoting this book for all I know) and conflicts with others. But it creates an internal conflict when a few pages on it states that it was now impossible to reinforce Timmes' orchard. I say, "How so, if 1/325 PIR stayed on the west side? After all, they crossed the Merderet via the sunken road BEHIND TIMMES orchard." Lack of detail and maps is one of this book's features. While it is an interesting read, I would never have been able to create any scenarios with this book alone. Just the opposite of Nordyke. The most interesting part for me, was reading the small vignettes provided by individual soldier's brief accounts. I would classify this book as a great introductory book about the 507 PIR in Normandy. A very good starting point given all the photos and info about training and equipment. But for scenario designers' it is a minor supplement. This was my opinion, not a serious review, and should be taken as such, yours may well differ.

The book, "Down to Earth, The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy" just arrived. Had a very quick look. Large size, glossy pages, very heavily illustrated with photographs both black and white and coloured. 283 pages of which less than 50% appears to be text as a result of the heavy illustration. So initial impression is that as far as text goes, I do not expect it to be nearly as detailed as Nordyke's book. The portion of the book relevant to my 82nd Airborne Normandy campaign game consist of chapters 8 through 14, 83 pages, of which the text equivalent amounts to about 40 pages. Let's see if there's anything new here.

D'accord. Minor correction. I think you meant I/325 and not III/325? Some report that about half (200 or so?) of Millet's force were either captured or killed. They were the leading half. The tail end had gotten separated from the front, and reportedly all or some of these broke through to Neuville au Plain.

Yes, indeed. Millet had the equivalent of a battalion by the time he tried to break out. I wonder why he tried to 'sneak' through the German lines instead of launching an attack simultaneous with 1/325 GIR's attack from the east. He must have had reasons. There is much that we will never know.

"Down to Earth: The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy " I ordered the book today. Hope to have it inside a week. Looking forward to having a read.

Nope

Regarding destroying trees (and bocage) in CMBN. Both type of bocage and trees can be destroyed in CMBN. But it takes a LOT of firepower for a long time. What is even more surprising is that bocage can even be shot away with HMG fire. However, I am talking about six Shermans hosing down a single position for at least 15 minutes plus HE thrown into the mix. Trees will generally turn into leafless skeletons first and again it takes really long. It is not worth planning to do any of these things. Just accept them as incidental if they happen to occur.

Use Greenfish Icon Editor Pro - a free app. It saves bmps with transparent pixels

So you have downloaded my Holland reskins and only see two of each building's default skins ... or ...you have downloaded my Normady EXTRA skins but don't see any of them. What's up? My Holland skins include both Replacments and Extras. The (01) and (02) numbered skins replace the default skins. The higher numbered skins are extra and no not replace any other skins. All are mod-tagged [holland]. Just install them in your Data/z/wherever. I use Data/z/terrain/Independent Bldg/.... They will not overwrite anyone else's skins.. NOTE: If installed, then all the various skins will automatically appear in the scenarios that I (Kandu, or WimO) created. To see the skins numbered (02) and higher in scenarios not created by me, you must first load the scenario into the Scenario Editor and cycle to the skins that you want. If you don't do that, you will NOT see my extra skins. My Normandy skins are all EXTRAs. They do not replace the default (01) and (02) skin for each building. Nor do they replace Tanks a Lot's skins. Just install them in your Data/z/wherever. I use Data/z/terrain/Independent Bldg/.... They will not overwrite anyone else's skins.. NOTE: These skins will automatically appear in scenario that I (Kandu, or WimO) created. To see my Normandy skins in scenarios not created by me, you must first load the scenario into the Scenario Editor and cycle to the ones you want. If you don't do that, you will NOT see my skins.

Happy to announce that the long version of MISSION BOSTON - OBJECTIVE LA FIERE - EXPANDED has completed final play testing and has been posted to the Scenario Depot III. Final play test went smoothly including down the various branches of the campaign. The campaign is tough but is winnable. The campaign is extremely historical, meaning that two huge and long scenarios are about 'avoiding' action while the AI searches for you. In one or two other situations you are more likely to be defeated than win but do not be discouraged. Try to inflict as much damage on the German AI as possible as this will affect the core units file and German strength in following scenarios. Nearly all of the units involved in the campaign are part of the core units file. There is a lot of AI activity going on that you will not see. German units are on the move, frequently triggered by your actions. If you get booted from the campaign you might still earn a measure of victory. The later you get booted (if you do) the higher the victory level. What is implied is that the Americans are going to win this campaign regardless of your performance. Getting booted means that you failed to accomplish your tasks within the timetable Ike demanded of you.

CM Normandy 2023-05-13 20-21-28-60.bmp CM Normandy 2023-05-13 20-21-49-18.bmp CM Normandy 2023-05-13 20-22-07-09.bmp CM Normandy 2023-05-13 20-22-19-38.bmp

Unfortunately I did not. Perhaps I should - to show my compilation of Normandie building skins by TAL, Pat, Umlaut, Kieme, Falaise and Kandu (a.k.a. WimO).

Terrain tiles and vegetation are the same for France and Holland (the Netherlands). Building skins differ for France and Holland. The default, France, is not mod-tagged, Netherlands building skins are mod-tagged [holland] Falaise has made some Juin/Juillet/Auot, Normandie specific terrain doodads mods, as have others. As for catalogues, when I was map-making I made sample maps on which I placed all buidings with all skin options and took my own screen shots. The same for flavor objects, doodads and terrain tiles. I found this especially valuable to compare the various terrrain tile mods and foliage mods.

Update 11 May. I played through the expanded version of my 82nd Airborne campaign as far as completing Saul's run. At the end of that scenario I was kicked from the campaign in defeat despite having gained a very significant foothold west of the Merderet River. The problem was victory points set too low for the US player and/or victory conditions to progress set too high. Either one can be adjusted to fix this. Although the scenario result was historical, given the gains that I had made, having the campaign end in a loss seemed unhistorical. That's fixed now so back to the beginning for play test #3. Am going to have to take a break to edit my Stans Missus gladiator rules and print player cards for this month's wargame event. It's my turn to GM a game.

All of WimO's maps have been reuploaded as a single package. My scenarios likewise. Today, Kandu's Holland building reskins appeared on the CMMODS repository.

I seem to have created a misunderstanding. The problem of flavor objects moving that I was referring to is the result of creating a large master map, populating it with flavor objects and then cutting the master map to a smaller size to use for a scenario. Although the map size has been reduced, the smaller map still hold onto the complete flavor objects list in its code. As a result it does not know where to place the excess objects on the smaller map and the result it random replacement. For example, what was originally a row of telephone poles is now a row of poles, haystacks, chicken coops etc. It is poor coding and very frustrating. Various suggestions have been made as to how to clean it up but none are 100% effective. The only solution I have found is to load the map, delete the unwanted misplaced objects, save, reload, repeat, repeat, repeat until the problem stops. At this point the excess objects have been deleted from the list. I HATE this issue and it is the number one reason why I will never create another CM master map. For future map and scenario creators I suggest the following. Do not place flavor objects on a master map that you know you will reduce in size for scenario. Only place flavor objects on scenario maps.

@PEB14 Merci beaucoup. I have asked Vacillator to stop the playtest because I found a few more minor wrinkles and many more flavor objects randomly moving positions. Since then, I have spent many hours combing through each scenario to try to remove the jumping flavor objects. There is no easy solution. I think that work has now been completed. In the meantime I have been playtesting by myself and everything is going smoothly so far. I am presently working through "Breakout", a very long scenario. I have been tuning up the 4R's as I go and will have to do one more playtest after this one. They I think it will be done. Encore, merci.

@PEB14 Just in case you were thinking of recreating Monte La Difensa or Monte Camino, I have already created a 4000 m x 4000 m map with those two mountains. The topograpy and the roads have been completed but no vegetation or buildings. I will not be completing it and have not posted it. If you want to have it to finish it, I would be happy to share it with you.

@Vacillator Might as well stop the play-test. I have already found a few minor wrinkles plus a continuing graphics nuisance with flavor objects ramdomly changing positions. I need to comb through the maps again ... and again.

@Vacillator Hi Vacillator. If you pm your email to me I will add you to a Dropbox containing the campaign file. What I need to determine is if the 4R's (Refit, Repair, Resupply and Rest) seem reasonable.

Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere, five mission, non-branching, short campaign completed, tested and posted. Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere, eleven mission (or more, or less), branching, expanded campaign; construction completed, beginning testing. Any volunteers to assists with final play testing? Warning - some scenarios are huge and very long. Two scenarios are not winnable due to being historical recreations but this will not impede the campaign going forward and will not result in losing the campaign. June 6, 0500 - Boots on the Ground (small force, large map, low, easy) June 6, 0800 - Manoir Leroux (medium, low, easy) June 6, 1430 - Cauquigny (small, low, easy) June 6, 1400 - The Orchard (small, low, easy) June 6, 1600 - Angriff der Grenadier (medium, low, easy) June 7, 1000 - No Better Place to Die (medium, low, moderate) June 8, 2300 - Breakout (huge, high, medium) June 8, 2300 - Night Crossing (huge, high, difficult) June 9, 1030 - Saul's Run (huge, high, high) June 9, 1200 - Le Motey (large, medium, medium) June 10, 1130 - Amfreville - (large, medium, medium)

Very interesting. How do you import them into CMFB? I would like to learn to do that.

Or, if anyone wants to catch them sooner, send me an email so I can share a dropbox with you.

Hello PEB14. I was not aware of a change in size of my Amfreville MM. I'll have another look. In the 82N scenarios I edited most of the text files, altered some of the AI plans and fixed a few rooms that had no doors. In most of them I also added a new "early Cease Fire" penalty. As you know this also means that Total Victories are not possible. Oh well. The four ASL scenarios were produced years ago but never uploaded before. I made more but deleted them because they played so poorly. I no longer do ASL to CMBN conversions. I prefer to refer back to the historical event. So I just checked, and the Amfreville MM is 4832 m x 2640 m. I do not remember making it any smaller except for individual scenarios.