Biltong's Campaign Rules

[88mm]

Originally posted by Greebo:

88mm dl and install BiltAid it removes alot of the book keeping (well it takes care of it for you).

You still need to input some parameters, like the AAR, and take notes on your Task Force offerings from the Pre-Battle QB

But mostly it is File>Advance to generate the battle, File>Advance to kick of the AAR wizard.

Only problem you might have is getting it installed.

Ow boy, i am a idiot

Biltaid is right here, under my nose. I even got it working, first time round. Didn't have a clue what to do with it, not read the doc...

The *.xls stuff was overruling my mind.

No more questions, yet

One thing do. Would it be nicer when the task-forces are pre-build from scratch ? It's a pain in the ass the start a dummy-QB each time, write down the types ...blablabla

Would be so much easier just to ;

Build roemenian comb-arms

1x platoon blabla

2x 37mm AT

2 x flak etc.etc.

option 2;

Build roemanian inf

(another package)

In real time the germans didn't ask that either, do they? They just send in a request i believe, we need support :cool:

[JeDi]

Guys,

Thanks to you all for your answers regarding my previous post. It clarified a lot.

It feels good not to be the only 'dummer' looking at the various threads. Thinking of my compatriots who may struggle a bit with the English, me think that BCR would gain from better rules write-up if someone is happy to volunteer. I see that some suggestions have been made.

I'm still at pen & paper which I believe gets me about there but it's still a bit time consuming and i'd like to 'upgrade' to the magic of computing. Question: running Win XP, have I got Java to run the Jar file?? I've typed the various DOS commands from release notes but without success. Thing is, I'd like to avoid the 8 or 14Mb download from Sun(city)..

My brave romanians and a couple of their tankettes are holding a mountain top against hordes of soviets. feels like Dien Ben Phu upside down: the more you kill the more they come, waves after waves!

[atiff]

Originally posted by 88mm:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by atiff:

Not necessarily. I don't have a printer either, so I do the "pencil and paper" approach on Excel. I just use the Excel file as is, keeping track of which parameters are in effect by making those cells bold (eg, if the weather is "heavy fog" I make that cell bold on the Parameters sheet).

I've also added a few calculation bits to work out my Squad XP when they get replacements for casualties; just have to enter a couple of numbers and then read the cell which calculates the result. And a cell to work out from the points I have and battle type what point size of battle it should be.

that's sounds great, i really dislike "paperwork"

Can you send me a copy of yours *.xls ?

With the calc. cell afcource

</font>

[atiff]

Originally posted by Guillem:

Fortifications points related post:

But my proposal has to do with the previous battle i fought. It took place after 19 days of the previous one, it was an allied assault, and here goes my little complain : i did got no fortification points at all, due to back luck with die.

Shouldn't fortification points be somehow affected by how long has it passed since your last battle?

After 3 weeks, those lazy men didn't did not even one trench!

Ah, that's the fickle nature of war for you. Chances are that your troops are not defending the location they have been sitting at recently. Imagine the following:

Major: "Colonel, there is a Soviet attack coming in through sector 6!"

(General looks at map)

Colonel: "Quick, send a message to Company 1, tell them to get their men to here <stabs map>. That point is vital!"

(Major rings your CO:)

Major: "Captain, get your men to ref A6B3 ASAP and defend against expected Soviet advance."

You: "But we have not chance to prepare fortifications! And we've got nice warm trenches here where we are!"

Major: "But where you are is not where the enemy are! Do your job Captain, that's an order!"

[Greebo]

Alternatively

You: "But we have not chance to prepare fortifications! And we've got nice warm trenches here where we are!"

Major:

Fine sit in your nice warm trenches, in an hour or so you'll be surrounded, then it's off to the Siberian Salt mines for you. I here it's real warm this time of year.

[Snowbart]

I believe Biltong would say those men were not idle in prepared positions. Maybe they were withdrawn, given some R&R, or refitted behind the lines somewhere.

[Joachim]

Originally posted by Biltong:

Originally posted by OBJ:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />

What would you say to a favor penalty if the TF casualties significantly exceed core force casualties?

I like the principle behind it, but can't see how it can be implimented in a simple way. I.e. without recording all the TF units and counting casualties (esp when their's a casualty % in action). Any suggestions? </font>

[Joachim]

Notice:

All men of the 1st and 2nd squad of 3rd plt to receive EK I. In a valiant action in a Kiev industrial area, they managed to kill 125 and 83 men resp in a single night battle. When a Soviet airborne battalion hit their positions in a factory from the flank, the 3rd plt raked up 250 causalties with no losses to the plt itself. None of the squads did falter despite several bursts from flamethrowers into their positions.

3rd plt was set up in an ambush position initially, and protected by mines and wire between to burning woods. A Pz IIIg was set up to provide covering fire, a PzIV rushed to help. When the plt run out of ammo after 5 minutes, Lt. Dahm disengaged and safely led his man and the tanks back to the company position (well, the way there was free of enemies, but battle ended, so I kept that one flag.

BTW - ammo level was 40%

Battle result:

Flags: 100 axis vs 900 allies

Losses 303 allies vs 0 axis (the tanks score less than 30, arty had a few, rest was mine fields)

Result: 800 something vs 900, draw.

It was hardly possible to read the "eliminated" labels where AIvan tried to move in between the burning woods and the wire. Despite clearing a minefield in the center of the (shifted) positions, he tried to advance in a dead corner, but was caught by grenades.

Had I knewn how deadly one ambush can be, wiping out one quarter of the Soviet force, I would have placed all three plts like that.

Gruß

Joachim

[Biltong]

Originally posted by Scarhead:

....

(Total casualty percentage after battle minus casualty percentage before battle) / (core force casualty percentage after battle minus casualty percentage before battle) is bigger than

2 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-7

3 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-6

4 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-5

5 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-4

6 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-3

7 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-2

8 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll-1

9 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll

10 Dice Roll, favor loss is Dice Roll+1

...

Hi Scarhead,

I like what you have done: logical and a clear explanation as well.

I'll add it to my list. It won't have a very high priority - maybe 44? Couple of things that need to be done before that.. e.g.:

1) Immobilized vehicles – returning to battle

2) Test & Include instructions re how to use the SE and pre-made maps in order to be able to edit and set exp/ammo for individual units in your company.

3) Some casualties (armor 1st, then inf.) to return faster after recovering from frostbite etc

and the highest priority at the moment is getting more City/Historical Battles made. These are a bastard and takes for ever.

But your idea won't be chucked away! Thanx

Biltong.

[Biltong]

Originally posted by Culex Pipiens:

i just read all the rules and tryed to play my first game, but i have two questions when generating the game:

1- why there is no ground condition choice?

2- the defender when has the option to dug in?

i did not find no answer in the rules on these points

thanx

Hi Culex,

1- Ground Condition cannot be set in the QB. It's controlled by the AI depending on weather etc.

2- Same for 'Dug In' - No QB parameters - I don't have my CMBB manual handy, but AFAICR it depends if you are defending against an assault/attack/probe? Check your CMBB manual. It's in there somewhere.

Both are out of BCR's control.

Go well

Biltong

[Biltong]

Originally posted by DBaron:

...For the pre QB, I don't even count the number of units or anything like that (too tedious). I don't have the patience to count them. I just go through, and see what types of units the game offers up. Then I buy those same units for the main battle.

Quite correct DB - Exactly what I do as well.

[Greebo]

I have another question,

Sometimes I get the Big Guns (Large Art) and for some reason the QB restricts my purchase to less than the pts I have rolled up.

For example the battle I am fighting right now, had something like 1000pts of Art, but the QB restricted me to 700pts. My solution was to spend the extra on some AFV.

All the other cats gave me upto the maximum pts, just the Art cat is restricted. Am I missing something, or is this something to do with CMBB?

Thanks

[Joachim]

Originally posted by Greebo:

I have another question,

Sometimes I get the Big Guns (Large Art) and for some reason the QB restricts my purchase to less than the pts I have rolled up.

For example the battle I am fighting right now, had something like 1000pts of Art, but the QB restricted me to 700pts. My solution was to spend the extra on some AFV.

All the other cats gave me upto the maximum pts, just the Art cat is restricted. Am I missing something, or is this something to do with CMBB?

Thanks

Arty in CMBB is always restricted - at least from my exp. Tough luck, you loose the points

Gruß

Joachim

[Biltong]

Originally posted by Greebo:

I have another question,

Sometimes I get the Big Guns (Large Art) and for some reason the QB restricts my purchase to less than the pts I have rolled up.

For example the battle I am fighting right now, had something like 1000pts of Art, but the QB restricted me to 700pts. My solution was to spend the extra on some AFV.

All the other cats gave me upto the maximum pts, just the Art cat is restricted. Am I missing something, or is this something to do with CMBB?

Thanks

If you had Axis Force Mix, Nationality and Quality set as 'Unrestricted' it's a CMBB restriction. As for spending it on AFV - that's a bit extreme I would say you just lose those points to keep things interesting, but I checked and there's no rules covering this eventuality. So you can do what you like

[Biltong]

88 Mailed me with this one:

One question; How do you set the experience for each unit "ingame" ?

I only can set the company exp. (green/regular/veteran etc) but no invidual sqauds...."

Hii 88.

1st off - post all questions on the board, then everyone can see the Q & A. There's a lot of guys lurking here, too embarrassed to ask questions in case they look :cool:

It also saves me copying and pasting to the board. And sometimes the other guys save me from answering in the 1st place

As for setting unit attributes:

This is not in BCR yet. Seahawk posted the following sometime back:

1) launch the Editor from main CMBB panel

2) select Load -- This allows you to select from the MapPack

3) select Unit Editor -- This allows to purchase your Battle Group and attached units. In this panel you may then select one purchased unit and click on 'Edit' to change parameters such as experience, ammo, name, ...

4) when done, remember to Save on main Editor panel the map with the purchased units

5) launch QB as per battle parameters and Load Map (the one saved in the Editor) instead of letting QB generate one

6) purchase the Task Force Units

7) fight battle

[88mm]

Cannot use your solution, the maps do not load.

However, can't i make the QB with random map and during the setup save it, load it into the editor and adjust the exp.

Save it and load the scen and begin battle ?

[Jeff Cronick]

Hi there. I've been reading these forums for a while now and trying to improve my knowledge of CM:BB. Boy do I have a ways to go. I feel like such a novice compared to those I read on these boards. Anyway, I've been trying to get up to speed on BCR to try my hand at that for a while now. I've decided to try the Biltaid program to aid in the bookeeping and have run into a problem. I can't print the sheets from Biltaid. I can run the program, advance the battle, just not print anything.

Now for some background on my computer. I have a Macintosh QS 933 running OS X 10.2.6 (just upgraded) with all the default Java (1.4.1) current. I can't seem to be able to run the Biltaid jar file from OS 9 so I use OS X. I'm connected via USB to a HP Deskjet 830 printer that works for everything else I want to print (all OS X app can print to the printer), so I don't think the drivers are messed up.

When I try to print out the Battle sheet from Biltaid, I get a print dialog box showing my printer by name (Deskjet 830c) so it knows the printer is there. However, when I hit the print button nothing happens. The print dialog box goes away, but the Print center app never appears and there is no print.

Does anyone have any idea as to what it might take to get Biltaid to work for me? I really want to use it in conjunction with BCR to give this campaign a try.

Oh, by the way, since this is my first post, I'd like to take a minute to say what a great game CMBB is. I've only been playing for a couple of months now and am having a blast. I still need to figure out how to use Infantry more effectively, but I figure that will come with time and practice. I currently play solo quite a bit and also play TCP/IP with a friend. So far we seem to split most of our battles so I think we are fairly evenly matched (you all would most assuredly categorize us a conscripts in CMBB) so it makes for some very fun battles. I keep seeing all the posts about how so many of you play PBEM but I haven't tried that yet. I don't think I'd be much of a challenge just yet. But just wait, once I get a bit more experience I'll offer myself up as cannon fodder to you to continue my CMBB education.

Anyway, this is a great community and I hope you don't mind another newbie in your midst.

[Lou2000]

I've been lurking in the BCR threads for a while, watching the rules develop and I've tried twice in the past to use them but my efforts didnt amount to much ....

NOW I'm ready and have all the sheets ready, I've read the rules and rolled up a couple of 'trial' battles, just to be sure I'm happy with things.

It's true there is some 'book keeping' involved in the rules and thats what put me off before but now I'm finding that it acutally helps me get a feel for the capabilities of my force and I actually 'enjoy' the paperwork involved !!

I've seen/got/printed all the rules and player guides but has anybody thought about putting a BCR FAQ together ... I'm sure most of the problems 'BCR newbies' run into have been seen and answered before.

I just wanted to say thanks to all those who put the hard work intogetting the rules to their current state.

Lou2000

[Joachim]

Originally posted by 88mm:

Cannot use your solution, the maps do not load.

However, can't i make the QB with random map and during the setup save it, load it into the editor and adjust the exp.

Save it and load the scen and begin battle ?

Remember that save games (and a qb is just that) do not load into the editor. You have to either load a map from a scenario (ie the scen itself) or from a map pack, or let the editor create a random map. (It may help to check the size of the map in the qb generated to decide your support units).

SOP:

1) Load map into editor

2) Buy units and modify them

3) save&exit

4) start qb

5) When asked for random map parameters, select load map.

6) select "import troops: Yes"

The bad thing is that you won't keep any custom ammo level until you have v1.03.

I usually set up only my core that way, TF in the standard qb buy screen.

gruß

Joachim

[History Buff]

Need some Mac help with Biltaid.

On my new iBook, (ah CM in 32mb vram, I've been missing out ), I'm in OZ X and I can't open it up, the doc says something like Java is already installed but I can't get it to work. Help please.

Thanx in advance.

[Snowbart]

Originally posted by 88mm:

Cannot use your solution, the maps do not load.

However, can't i make the QB with random map and during the setup save it, load it into the editor and adjust the exp.

Save it and load the scen and begin battle ?

I believe you could. What i do is use the BCR Maps they've made. Simply find the right map according to the parameters you rolled up(hilliness, tree coverage, rural/village/city, etc)and load that map in the editor, buy your units, and save that file in the QB Maps folder. Also, if special circumstances like you have "Infantry only" as your Force Mix, but you rolled points for armor, i buy these units in the editor too since the QB won't let you buy them. The same thing if say you have 800 points to spend on arty, but the QB generator will only let you buy 500. Go to the editor and get them!

[Biltong]

Originally posted by Lou2000:

I've been lurking .. NOW I'm eady ...putting a BCR FAQ together ..

So good of you to volunteer

[Biltong]

A Visual of one of the reasons for the Casualties parameter

[Lou2000]

Originally posted by Biltong:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Lou2000:

I've been lurking .. NOW I'm eady ...putting a BCR FAQ together ..

So good of you to volunteer </font>

[88mm]

Scarhead: Thks for the info. you're right, a saved game won't do.

Campaign Report:

Status:

After one fierce week of fighting the russian have a hard time to fill the gaps our forces make, mein fuhrer. At 4 of the 5 major conflicts we made heavy casualties on the foe, one fight however was a bitter disaster for our men where we only achieved a draw.

1) Using Biltaid to do the math

2) Player skill = regular

3) custom army group (forget that you can select mech and then the Inf. Co with the same troops)

consist of a Inf. Co 41' (structure with 4x squads + 50mm mortar (x3) and NO HMG's).

platoon of Pz IIIg's (4x tanks; like this better then the 3 tank/mix which are all singles)

However; despite my superior forces and 4 total victories my troops are not getting significantly better, in other words; they suck :mad:

Of the 23 units i posses 11 units are degraded to "green". The other 12 remain "regular" for the moment. WTF. is wrong. Am i that bad ? Are the rules too tight ? This isn't fun at all. After a week fierce fighting you should expect to see the first veteran's on the battlefield.

Oke, about 4 green units should be fine; i lost one squad (wiped out) and all my mortar units. But the rest of my forces never made heavy dammage, the Squads almost never below 7.

Only my Tanks-crews stay regular and i hope become better. for my infantry i fear the worst. By the time the winter sets in, they should be conscripts as this goes on

Another thing, according to the guide you cannot buy tanks for your Attached units. When Biltaid however offers you to buy/fill in the specs of a attached unit you can choose all types of tanks, only NOT the 37mm FLAK (support unit=allowed) to choose for (no gun-option box).