Vacillator

Quoting myself, oh dear I'm on a slippery slope. Looking back it seems my attempt to introduce John's wisdom came up with perhaps an old link. So here I go again @John1966. Oddly I had to type that in, didn't come up on the usual list .

Zero vehicles lost, wow! In my current playthrough as the US, I have already lost a couple of vehicles so that's impressive. Any hints on how?

Indeed, tell me about it. There is of course an answer, watch the same programme on TV every day (or don't watch TV) and have the same breakfast every day. Could get boring but at least you will know what you did yesterday .

Well that's better than I've managed in two attempts as the Germans. I'm half way through playing it as the Americans, think I'm doing better but that might change in an instant...

I admire your replication of 'let's get a brew on'. Tea of course, not a tank. I wonder though whether the poor British were really having a jolly cup of tea, or whether they were perhaps totally exhausted and getting a few minutes of sleep? We know that Wittmann didn't have much sleep before the later battles and that didn't end well...

@semmes I'm probably a bit behind you on this, but I'm liking CM a lot (or if I'm honest, loving it ), coming from a long history of things which weren't as good. So while I get longer term players' frustrations, for me as a new-ish one it's not a problem and I am indeed quite happy.

I agree, that's what we read in the history books. Not sure how true it is, but I quite like a cuppa (of tea) in the morning, coffee in the afternoon and something stronger later on .

Just noticed (must read more carefully) 'first run through'. Does that mean you tried again? I'm about to have a look as the Americans.

Bien joué mon ami @Falaise, perhaps my thinking was correct then but my luck was not as good as yours. For the rest of us, alcohol is required to ease the pain . @mjkerner I was thinking to play as Allies and see how the Pumas do against me. Not totally fair as I have previous knowledge, but might be interesting. A tough scenario but it's giving us some fun, so I thought I'd look up the designer - Jari Mikkonen. Not sure Jari is on the forum?

Thanks George, appreciate it and your efforts in making the scenario. It has joined my favourites list (not all are yours but you are well represented ). Yes, the twist stopped me in my tracks, or is that on my tracks? You may recall me earlier mentioning a sound contact in that area. Well, of course that developed into something I could not ignore, so I had to commit quite a force to stop it. Meanwhile I was wary of infantry, not to mention the AT guns and tanks in the direction I was trying to go. I used every available unit I could (even remnants of crews) for spotting and recon, doing whatever I could to gets eyes on, plus of course I had good old Rolf to help. How on earth Wittmann managed it on his own I don't know. Surprise and luck in no small measure I suppose.

If we want a victory in this one, perhaps we need to play as the dogs?

Perhaps mine in equal measure as well . Good luck in your new attempt, let us know how it goes. I couldn't possibly comment I've since watched a Youtube playthrough where the player positioned them behind woods on the right flank. He couldn't fire them from there, either direct or indirect - perhaps both because they were obstructed by the trees. He then got his burly chaps to push them into LOS of the enemy and they did manage some direct fire (and luckily avoided any 37mm canister in return). I didn't see any indirect at any point but wasn't watching that closely, but if so it could have been due to lack of comms, position of spotters, obstruction, etc.. I noticed a comment from our friend @Warts 'n' all under the video related to the guns and their lack of elevation / obstruction.

Like flak towers? Nice maps though .

Okay, so after a brief interlude, I finally finished Villers Bocage. Probably should be posted somewhere else but anyway... A fine game @George MC with some unexpected twists and nasty surprises. Or perhaps not so unexpected after playing a few of your scenarios . Not played historically of course, and Swoboda and Hantusch were top scorers, not Wittmann, but here's my result:

Things have probably moved on some but there were some nice pics at the start of the thread. Far better though is to get the mod (there's a link earlier) and have a good look at it in-game. It's on all the time in my Normandy . Rob, I now see that you were in the thread earlier so you may be all over it anyway . I'm guessing v2 is just around the corner @Lucky_Strike, including lovely new variable bocage?

Can I pre-order now then? If it's a pre-order it's a pre-order right? I'm only joking, it makes no difference either way.

I haven't tried it, but as long as they are defensive as you say and therefore stationary I can see that it might work. Is it gamey or a way to simulate memory in your troops? Not sure, but if you can't remember where the contact was, why should they ? Admittedly there's only one of you and possibly lots of contacts... Also if the enemy are attacking I seem to end up with 'old' spots all over the place (playing on Elite) and shelling most of them would not be a worthwhile exercise.

I'm fairly new to CM (and only RT followed by BN so far) so I haven't had time or inclination to repeat many scenarios while there are still so many I've not tried. There are some which I will return to at some point I'm sure, but as you say, playing first time without any 'ill-gotten' intel from a previous try is far more challenging. I do remember re-playing Gog and Magog which was about my third battle in RT, so I didn't have much of a clue what I was doing the first time. My pre-conceived notions of what medium and heavy panzers could do to the Soviets got the better of me the first time, with unhappy consequences. I thought I must be able to do better, and second time around I did a lot better, but admittedly it was partly because I knew where some of the surprises would come from.

Great bit of work so far. I'm guessing the problem is not easy to fix... But (with hindsight) I should add that it has not been a big issue for me. Oh well

Possible spoilers here, look away now if you care . I've always liked the look of the Puma, so playing as Axis of course. Against AI. First attempt some time ago on Warrior, when I didn't know what I was doing, I used the starting positions as set in the scenario. A quick and sad failure, brought about by fast firing 37mm guns. This time on Elite, I realised I could set up at the end of the transverse road. Thought I'd cracked it, with a bit longer range my 50mm guns would surely give me the advantage right? For a short while it seemed to work, got reinforcements and was feeling okay, took out some approaching threats. Then the 37mm guns started to knock out one, then another Puma and so on. My better optics didn't seem to help spotting, range probably wasn't an issue and my weapons control systems seemed to be destroyed in very short order. Got some artillery which I tried to set up but never got to fire them, perhaps in the wrong place or HQ etc. too far way. They seemed to want direct LOS? Anyway, end result (at least I got there this time) was better than the first time, but still a defeat. Searching the forum I got @John 1966 from 2011 saying he had won easily without any Axis losses. Wow! And also @altipueri recently saying he still can't win the battle. As I'm in the latter camp, John can you offer a few words on your approach to this one? Or of course anyone else please.

Thanks for the kind offer, if I'm in that area any time I'll do my best to take you up on it . I do have extended family over there but they're in Colorado so not exactly next door.

You would of course be welcome any time, circumstances allowing. We could meet up for a Lynton and Lynmouth walk, and include the Valley of Rocks, followed by cider or beer. Oh happy times hopefully to return soon...

Well said, agreed.

At the grave risk of going off-topic, is that a sunflower mod in your profile picture or is it a 'real' photo? It has bearing on some recent discussions, plus I have oddly experienced the joys of growing sunflowers this summer. Yes, in Somerset, in the UK - odd, at least for me. As for the delay, my response as usual is 'I'm playing the wonderful CMBN in the meantime anyway'. I am fairly new to the game so it has much more to offer than I have time for, and it's a great experience nearly every time I play it. Except for those times I make bad decisions .

Thanks George, that's pretty much what I thought. I am sadly an editor virgin but I'm tempted. Also, sat there (or rather stood after I'd opened up ) once more as Wittmann I felt like doing it all again, but of course it would be different knowing what to expect. Plus I still have to finish Villers Bocage, which is where I'm going now .