comic Rundstedt Sends His Best - a CMFB Comic AAR

[Bud Backer]

Wait ... he had friends ?

No problem with not changing the look, the lines are not a serious gripe. 

 

*sniff* Friends? Somewhere? Please?

I appreciate the understanding, Baneman. To be fair, there are many elements I'd like to improve on, but it's not easy to find (create) great alternatives. However, I constantly am trying to find new ways to present things and give you guys a fresh experience. The movement lines is one of those things that was on my list to enhance.

 

Edited December 18, 2015 by Bud_B

[Bud Backer]

Edited December 18, 2015 by Bud_B

[General Jack Ripper]

May I request the [BRAKKA-BRAKKA-BRAKKA] sound for the M16 MGMC?

Well, if it manages to get some rounds off without vanishing into a giant explosion anyway.

[Heinrich505]

Bud,

  Enjoying the action.  The lines for movement seemed okay to me.

  I used a SturmTiger in CMBB for an AAR I did on a different forum.  I was trying to target a wall of T-34/85s that were attacking a village in Germany on the eastern front.  Even with the misses, that baby was knocking out T-34s left and right.  It actually hit one T-34 which was obliterated in a giant wall of flame.  I had to keep moving it into cover to reload, and the reload time was about 2 minutes.  The T-34s flanked it and knocked it out but not before it created some serious havoc.

  That is one wild beast you are up against.  You better find something to feed it because it is about to ease it's hungry self into firing position in another 2 minutes.

Heinrich505

[Bud Backer]

May I request the [BRAKKA-BRAKKA-BRAKKA] sound for the M16 MGMC?

Well, if it manages to get some rounds off without vanishing into a giant explosion anyway.

I was going to use something else, but for you I will.

 

[Bud Backer]

Bud,

  Enjoying the action.  The lines for movement seemed okay to me.

  I used a SturmTiger in CMBB for an AAR I did on a different forum.  I was trying to target a wall of T-34/85s that were attacking a village in Germany on the eastern front.  Even with the misses, that baby was knocking out T-34s left and right.  It actually hit one T-34 which was obliterated in a giant wall of flame.  I had to keep moving it into cover to reload, and the reload time was about 2 minutes.  The T-34s flanked it and knocked it out but not before it created some serious havoc.

  That is one wild beast you are up against.  You better find something to feed it because it is about to ease it's hungry self into firing position in another 2 minutes.

Heinrich505

After he destroyed my M4A3E8, IanL emailed me to tell me he watched the SturmTiger fire and miss the tank. He said he was very disappointed, until he saw that the tank was knocked out. The blast is considerable, it seems. I can imagine those T34s getting messed up even if you didn't hit them. 

 

[user1000]

Now, about that SturmTiger: 

-Moblity should be comparable to the King Tiger, which weighs slightly more but has more track to distribute the weight. The Tiger has remarkable floatation and is far more mobile and less likely to bog than say, a Sherman. Weight is not the full story. 

 

I couldn't disagree more, The heavy Axis armor was stranded all the time in  soft ground - mud and snow and simply fell through the roads in Italy. They later fell victim to US air power stranded in the open due to the weight of the vehicle or simply ran out of fuel because of the fact they were all horrid on fuel consumption

Edited December 19, 2015 by user1000

[Bud Backer]

I couldn't disagree more, The heavy Axis armor was stranded all the time in  soft ground - mud and snow and simply fell through the roads in Italy. They later fell victim to US air power stranded in the open due to the weight of the vehicle or simply ran out of fuel because of the fact they were all horrid on fuel consumption

You are mixing things in that statement that have no relation to what I said. You are observing how many German heavy tanks were stranded to air power, which has no relation to movement on soft ground, to fuel issues which have no relation to movement over soft ground, etc. The causes for this are well-known and understood and have very little to do with bogging, which is what I was remarking on. In relation to the part of the argument that related to my remark, there are many who would disagree with you.

Some convenient reference I had to hand:

Capt. Henry Johnson, 2nd AD, "The wider tracks of the Mark V and Mark VI enables it to move much better cross-country and in muddy or snow-covered terrain, than the narrow tracks of the Sherman tank. The field expedient of duck bills added to widen the Sherman treat aids, but does not effect the advantage the German Mark V and Mark VI tanks have. It is my opinion that the Mark V and Mark VI enemy tanks are far superior in maneuverability to our Sherman tanks." {Emphasis mine}

SSGT Alvin Olson, "...I saw a Mark V and Mark VI tank scarcely dig into the plowed field while the tracks of our M4 tanks were often deep enough in the same field to show the marks of the tank's belly dragging." {emphasis mine}

There are many sources of reasonable repute (Jentz, Doyle, Zaloga, and others) that suggest this is not anecdotal. There is abundant information discussing cross-country mobility alone.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Bud_B
Spelling !

[Cobetco]

Shermans had issues in the snow for sure (best clip i saw this week was one skidding sideways down a road that had iced over), but your insight from the British perspective has posed a further question in my mind about the snow worthiness of the Cromwell. not that they'll show up in the opening module.

[Bud Backer]

Shermans had issues in the snow for sure (best clip i saw this week was one skidding sideways down a road that had iced over), but your insight from the British perspective has posed a further question in my mind about the snow worthiness of the Cromwell. not that they'll show up in the opening module.

If we're talking in game capabilities then one can look at the manual in CMBN for Commonwealth forces. (Well worth getting I might add! {See, Chris, I got a plug in for yet ANOTHER BFC product!}) In CMBN, the 0-5 little bars rating different aspects of the vehicle give a rating of III for the Cromwell, which is the same as the standard Sherman. Bear in mind that scale offers limited differentiation, so they may not be identical, just somewhat comparable. The Tiger I has IIII so it's considered better. 

Edited December 19, 2015 by Bud_B

[c3k]

Ground contact area of the track as the divisor of the weight being supported is only part of the issue. The other is something called Maximum Mean Pressure. Basically, the more, and closer, the roadwheels are, the better the flotation. Suspension matters. The German interleaved system was very good for this.

 

See what this thread devolves into when your production pauses??? Now start posting more, or we'll start debating rifling twist rates!

(And, yes, a charge at the Sturmtiger between shots is just what the doctor ordered. That Chaffee is just the ticket...   )

[Bud Backer]

For Ken

[c3k]

I hear a "VROOOMM" and I see some odd black lines ( ) behind that Chaffee. What could it mean?

[Heinrich505]

c3k,

  Clearly the black lines are a snow rake he is dragging to conceal his tracks...see how well it is working?  No tread marks. 

  If Telly Savalas is not commanding that Chaffee then all is lost.  Sturmtigers eat Chaffees for between meal snacks.

  Now, about that rifling...2 inch twist every foot???

Heinrich505

[Bud Backer]

Sorry guys, I've not had internet now for 5 days and it's made turn exchanges and everything else quite a problem. 

[MikeyD]

Wow, doing what you've done over the last 5 days without internet sounds downright HEROIC!

[Bud Backer]

For SLIM

[Bud Backer]

Wow, doing what you've done over the last 5 days without internet sounds downright HEROIC!

Thanks, Mikey, but what is really heroic is not going crazy wondering if Lt. Blanchard's plan will get everyone killed while I waited to be able to download IanL's turn! 

 

[General Jack Ripper]

WOOHOO!! GET SOME!!

It feels like Christmas!!

[amidali]

No news from Lt. Blanchard?

Should we start to worry?

[Bud Backer]

Sorry guys, the Internet woes I had meant that I had no new material to take screen captures of. That's sorted, but it takes a bit of time to put together the comic panels. Usually I have plenty of lead time as I am typically working on what is posted today, several days before. But I ran out of stuff. 

More to come shortly. Here is a preview... Let's see who can guess what's happening here.

 

Edited December 21, 2015 by Bud_B

[RockinHarry]

Hm....a 380mm dud? A gun tube hit with the 380mm thingy beeing still in the tube? An internal fuel leak and the loader is a smoker? 

[Baneman]

Chaffee takes the shot ! It's a hit !

[nik mond]

Lt Blanchard with his 45 makes a stand, runs up and pops a round into the spout. On no wait, but that was a coincidence as we hear the drone of a P51 tank buster zoom through the fireball... Sorry for the spoiler guys I couldn't help myself.

Edited December 21, 2015 by nik mond

[General Jack Ripper]

I don't know. All I can see is a blank space with a little black and white X in the upper left corner.

Never mind, that was totally my fault.

Let me guess, someone fired directly down the gun tube and set the round off while it was in the barrel?

Edited December 21, 2015 by SLIM