laurent 22

Cold Bones?!

Sorry lads.  Sworn to secrecy and all that.  (Now that last statement does imply there are indeed secrets….sweet delicious secrets).

Hi Andrew,
I didn't pay attention, I was a bit in automatic mode when receiving and sending the turns. I don't read the emails from Matrix either, the title is enough for me to know that I have to play my turn. I didn't know that it was possible to send private messages displayed in the game. If I understood correctly: your message should be displayed in the turn window with the password left empty?
On this forum, I am notified by email as soon as I have a private message. From time to time I check my private messages on the Matrix forum, and my personal Matrix/Slitherine page. I also sent messages that remained unanswered to ghost players on these sites as well as to other players registered on the BF.c forum, where one of them replied to me, he didn't understand that it was necessary to send 2 turns/scenario (I post anything in the Matrix forums, BF.C, The few good men tournaments forum, and the old French forum Appui-Feu are enough for me).
It was indeed useful to be able to communicate in this kind of case. For the next tournaments I will authorize the display of my email address, so if necessary my opponent can contact me by email as a last resort. I believe your email was displayed in the game in the window turn passwords.
I usualy tell my opponents that they don't need to warn me in case of absence, only if they plan to give up or encounter a technical problem which will interrupt the game for an unknown period of time. I communicate by email regularly with my opponents to comment on the current game and make jokes.
I understand that it would be good to shake up the players who are a little slow, and the ghost players, without talking about sanctions. It was a good idea from Matrix to send an email shortly before the end to motivate the players. We don't know the reasons and constraints encountered by other players. I think that the majority of players are professionally active, on the move, have a family and the younger ones are busy with their studies. 
I wonder if most players are automatically entered into tournaments by Matrix ...
Some players are annoying by quitting the game midway because they're losing, but it's actually funny because it's regressive childish behavior. Seeing a serious, calm and responsible person in everyday life suddenly behave like a frustrated child is touching and funny. Sometimes I react like that, but i am not a serious person ...
Thanks for our pbem on CW. As I already said elsewhere, it was really a great game full of suspense, tension, heroic or disastrous attacks on both sides, under the care of the god of luck Fortuna who changed sides with the wind. Homer, if he had witnessed this battle, would have written a second volume of the Iliad.

CM is unique and awesome.
That said, I think we all want better performance, cleaner UI, more fronts, era's and more.
I am happy that Battlefront has managed to stay in business selling Combat Mission games, and I choose to see the glass half full and enjoy what we have.

It's because russia is losing and the war may not be over before the end of 2024. It won't look good to release a game about the war in Ukraine as the war will still be going on.... 
I  am pro-Ukrainian just calling it like I see it.
 
I hope I am wrong and this is all over soon and in a positive way for the Ukrainian people

SdKfz 251 'Drilling' is in FB base game.
As for CM1, if Battlefront ever release a CMAK 2 and early war east front game, then I'll retire the cm1 series finally, never to see Moe, Larry and Curley ever again.

I had fun.  Let’s do another one.

I also enjoyed all games save one (CMBN Round 3).  And played against great opponents.
Some suggestions going forward:
Make tournaments Invitational - too many drop-outs/no-shows.  I was lucky and got nine opponent who all played out to the end but I would be royally pissed getting stuck with a no-show or quitter. Make it a condition of joining a tournament that payers e-mails or BFC forum addresses be provided (something like in the tournament announcements that anyone signing into this tournament agrees that their contact information be provided to opponents).  It is frustrating not being able to contact your opponent to give heads up about being away for a period or to find out why they are not returning turns, etc.  I was able to find some opponents with BFC forum names, and one or tow through the Slitherine/Matrix forums (their forum mail system is kind of useless BTW) but in some cases I tried communicating absences and such by typing in messages on the save game file screen (laurent 22, who was named in tournament as lawren so I did not clue in to that, did you see those messages on your save turn screen?).  I think it is really important to be able to contact your opponent in these things. Have someone do QA/QC checks on each scenario before they are put live.  It was obvious that a number of the scenarios were modified for use in the tournaments to have total scores in the 2,000 point range.  Unfortunately there were a number of instances where points shown on the two briefing screens did not match up with the 2,000 points (or so) for the tournament and had what were the original scenario objective point totals which were usually lower (e.g., mission objective scores on top half of screens did not match up with briefing notes).  So a bit confusing.  This was also an issue with some of the objective.  Someone mentioned the 2nd CMRT scenario which must have originally had an EXIT condition for the German forces, yet the modified scenario briefings did not mention anything about getting points for exiting (as I recall as I can no longer open up the German side to see the briefing) but exit zones were still on the map.  So I interpreted scenario to ignore exiting as Germans but my opponent did exit some units but got no points for that. Iron out the bugs in PBEM+.  One that bit me hard was in second CMBN Scenario.  My opponent did not send me our final turn (Me Axis, He USA).  He somehow got totally confused about the turns and never sent me the final minute of play.  So that one side of the scenario did not finish (the other did - his German side auto-surrendered).  As things stood score would have been Axis 800 (I still held corner) to USA 400 (He got the farm/commune) had it been finished.  Because game never ended the final scores should have based on those 3-1 intermediate scores (so say 101 - 87 or such).  But game never ended, I was winning marginally, but final score ended up being 0 - 2000 (AXIS - USA).  How??? Just my two cents.
Looking forward to the next ones.

Sad, but I guess it's to be expected that some players without ethics will do that in a public tourney...
If atleast he had surrendered...

Thanks BFC for organizing these tournaments. I really enjoyed all the games save one. I hope you learned a lot of lessons you can roll into future tourneys. 
  Since no-shows are just a way of life with projects like this, may I suggest one thing?  Make the first scenario worth the fewest number of points and the last scenario the most. Kinda like some game shows. This way you cull out the no-shows with the fewest number of points at steak. Maybe use somethin’ like ~1000-2000-3000 points for the 1st-2nd-3rd games. 
 Looking forward to more tourneys!

I only entered the RT tournament and I had fun on all 3 scenarios. First one, a little less though.
Certainly did not expect to finish third
Good games to my opponents.

It's not just a game for Battlefront, it's their work, it's normal that they defend it vigorously because they love what they do and so do I.
I wish the Battlefront team a 🌲Happy New Year🌲 and lots of success for their future projects.

The tournaments, I did all 3, are over ⏰ 
Thanks to Slitherine/Matrix and BF.C for organizing these games.
I liked most of the scenarios, in particular those of the 2nd and 3rd round were all excellent, I will go faster by pointing out the only one which frustrated me a little: RT 2nd round, the one where we had Tigers there where we were waiting for KingTigers, and I didn't know that the German had an exit zone.
I had the chance to have opponents in all the scenarios, even if due to the slow rate of dispatch of some of them, we were not able to complete some battles (I play quickly because CM is the only game installed on my PC, the only one I bought, it's still a lot: 6 games).
All my opponents were very good players, only one who was a little dizzy had forgotten his reinforcements at the bottom of the map in the last RT scenario. The battles were particularly difficult, and fought like a game of chess in the last 3 scenarios of the 3 games.
I didn't have any unexpected behavior from the AI, except on BN where my last Panzer near the ruins of the bridge looked for its way in a disorderly and fatal movement. But what a battle my friends! Attacks and counter-attacks 💥 neither of us wanted to give up, it was epic💢
My opponent on the last CW scenario was also particularly tough👍, suspenseful at every turn 🥶nervously exhausting😬.
In RT I checked the rule: tanks attacking a fortified position must not be alone, infantry must precede them. My opponent lost all his T34s, thanks to the PanzerSchek/Faust (my Marder each took a T34 to their grave), while I only lost one T34 by a hit from the artillery. I was about to take all the objectives in both games but we exceeded the time limit while we had around ten turns left.
Will all of these scenarios be available to everyone after the tournament ends?
The excellent instructional videos from Usually Hapless, and the background articles from Mr. Mark Goddard published on the Matrix website, and relayed by Elvis, were very useful to me. I hope we get more.

The tournaments, I did all 3, are over ⏰ 
Thanks to Slitherine/Matrix and BF.C for organizing these games.
I liked most of the scenarios, in particular those of the 2nd and 3rd round were all excellent, I will go faster by pointing out the only one which frustrated me a little: RT 2nd round, the one where we had Tigers there where we were waiting for KingTigers, and I didn't know that the German had an exit zone.
I had the chance to have opponents in all the scenarios, even if due to the slow rate of dispatch of some of them, we were not able to complete some battles (I play quickly because CM is the only game installed on my PC, the only one I bought, it's still a lot: 6 games).
All my opponents were very good players, only one who was a little dizzy had forgotten his reinforcements at the bottom of the map in the last RT scenario. The battles were particularly difficult, and fought like a game of chess in the last 3 scenarios of the 3 games.
I didn't have any unexpected behavior from the AI, except on BN where my last Panzer near the ruins of the bridge looked for its way in a disorderly and fatal movement. But what a battle my friends! Attacks and counter-attacks 💥 neither of us wanted to give up, it was epic💢
My opponent on the last CW scenario was also particularly tough👍, suspenseful at every turn 🥶nervously exhausting😬.
In RT I checked the rule: tanks attacking a fortified position must not be alone, infantry must precede them. My opponent lost all his T34s, thanks to the PanzerSchek/Faust (my Marder each took a T34 to their grave), while I only lost one T34 by a hit from the artillery. I was about to take all the objectives in both games but we exceeded the time limit while we had around ten turns left.
Will all of these scenarios be available to everyone after the tournament ends?
The excellent instructional videos from Usually Hapless, and the background articles from Mr. Mark Goddard published on the Matrix website, and relayed by Elvis, were very useful to me. I hope we get more.

Sherman hybrid did make it into the game, but in the guise of a very late M4 Sherman 75 on the US side. Let me fire up a QB.

Hello, I have just noted the different scenarios where the orchards are not “Norman” if some are purely cosmetic, others actually risk modifying the gameplay orchard hill for example.
-Breaktrough
-Ecoqueneauville
-Le grand hameau
- Hell in hedgerows
-Labyrinth
-Licornet
-Neuville
-orchards hill
-stalemate
as I told you I can modify them, I'm waiting for your greenlight.
it might take a little time though !!
in relation to the problem raised by Kohlbie I made a post a while ago about an issue with an old scenario where units were placed in front of hedges at startup; this one didn't generate much interest I reinstalled the game, it stopped but randomly reappeared maybe something changed in the last update
 

I think the areas you're describing in some of the earlier missions are not orchards but woods. At least that's what they appear to be in Google Earth. You must surely have them in Normandy too
Neuville can definitely be changed though because that's a big orchard and not a wood but don't worry, I can do this myself.
Hell in the Hedgerows, Orchard Hill and Breakthrough - Stalemate can't be changed without doing the AI placement and plans all over again. I tried replacing the orchards and units that could see through the old, un-Norman orchards couldn't anymore. That's a LOT of work. It'll get done at some point though as now you've pointed it out to me, I want the maps to be as authentic as the editor will let me.
 
EDIT to add:
Neuville is done. it looks good too. It actually helps the defenders as well. Thanks for bringing that one to my attention.

Not only the Sherman, Cromwell and Staghounds too.

From today onwards the final phase of the WIP starts with the aim of release on February 1st 😎
The plan provides for the following:
= 3-4 single missions have to be reworked after they failed during the testing. That is a manageable number.
= It still takes some hard work to place flavor objects in a few missions and make minor adjustments.
= Finally, the 20 master maps have to be „cleaned up“  for the players who want to use them. 
 
= And at the very end - if I still have time 🙏🏻 -
I might add a little prologue mini action 😉
 
At this point, thanks again to everyone who helped and to those who are still working hard at the moment 👍🏻
 
Regards 
Mr.X

I was doing soo well until my tank got hosed down by a hidden flamethrower team just at the critical moment and exploded like an A bomb 😱
 
Now I'm just goofing around. Here's an Opel Kadet 'flavor object' stuck on flooded ground. The cream color is the original factory paint scheme. The assembly plant wound up on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain and Kadets continued to be produced well into the 1950s. Post-war Eastern Bloc Kadets were painted in blues and reds and greens.

The Sherman Tulip was two RP-3 rockets on a fixed rail on each side of the turret. They were set to a certain distance and there was no way to aim them apart from that, so its use as an off-map asset would be dubious. It was clearly designed to be used in direct fire.
As far as I know it was a modification unique to the Guards Armoured Division in Northwest Europe.
Here is an excerpt from a combat action in the Netherlands in April 1945:
"Tulip equipped Sherman tanks, belonging to the 1st Armoured Battalion, Coldstream Guards, 5th Guards Armoured Brigade, Guards Armoured Division, were involved in the action near the bridge over the Twente Canal between Enschede and Hengelo, in the Netherlands, on the 1st April 1945.
Lt Boscawen’s No.2 Troop of five tanks was leading the way at maximum speed down a concrete canal road to take the bridge by surprise. No.2 Squadron’s armored car had managed to rush over the bridge first. Sergeant Caulfield’s Sherman Firefly had turned right to cross the bridge and follow the scout car but spotted a German four gun 8.8 cm flak battery to his left. He opened fire as he crossed the bridge.
Lt Boscawen’s Sherman Mk.V tank was following. His tank fired its 75 mm (2.95 in) gun and machine guns at the German gun emplacement. It was protected by high earth mounds so he launched both his rockets. At the same time, the canal bridge was blown up by German engineers and his tank was hit in the petrol tank by a German shell that caused the tank to catch fire."
If that is the case then I think it's a bummer, but fair enough. It was a pretty rare and special vehicle though quite representative of its timeframe and theater.
The Ostwind definitely served on the Western Front though, there is no reason to omit it considering it is present in F&R.

Sherman Tulip

Here's screenshots #2 and 3. Maybe they'll eventually show up on an official screenshots site, maybe not. Late war M4A1 Sherman 76 and Pershing during some QB city fighting. Battling Jagdtigers
 

I had pulled a bunch of screenshots for the guys but I don't know which they're going to use. So I'll post a couple of my favorites here to whet your appetite.
First, a tank I lobbied hard to get into the game - uparmored Sherman! One of a number of late war M4A3E8s that went through a field modification program that literally doubled the bow armor (which is now thicker than the Jumbo's). They acted as substitute/additional Jumbos in field units.