Operation Bone Throw- Flank Attack!!!!!!!

[Madmatt]

As part of Operation Bone Throw, here is the second of three goodies. A story type After Action Report from Beta Tester and forum regular Pillar.

Intro:

This is the first of (hopefully) a series of "letters" written from personal experiences with CMBB. I hope to give the reader a "look" into the world of CMBB and what is to come in an entertaining manner. I'm no writer, but I've tried to make the 'preview' interesting with some drama. This first letter details a combat experience I had with another fellow during the pre-beta (internal team) testing. The opponent is a good player and we've played many games of CMBO together to practice tactics and discuss techniques. For this reason, I think this account is a fairly balanced portrayal of two relatively equally skilled players. The decisions taken during the game were rational on the part of both sides, so what we really get from this is an illustration of the new game engine characteristics. In particular, we see the strength of machine guns (when used properly with artillery and wire.) Since this has been a point of issue with CMBO, I thought it would be a good place to start showing off CMBB.I realize that the scenario is not purely historical, but these settings were chosen for the purpose of demonstrating some game changes.

Since this is from an internal testing build, further changes will take place between the time of this AAR and the final release. I specifically picked a scenario that was rather general, so as to minimize any chance of significant changes. Most of the terrain and unit-types (not specific though) were in CMBO. (I.E. Artillery spotters, machine guns, infantry, mortars…)

Any comments should be posted on the forum.

CMBB Letter #1

Just to outline the present scenario, these are the equipment tables for each side:

Soviet (Friendly) OOB: 1 Company Soviet SMG Infantry, 8 Maxim Machine Guns, 3 50mm Mortars, 76mm Artillery in Support.

German (Enemy) OOB: 2 Rifle Companies, 2 Engineer Platoons, 1 Fusilier Company, 4 MG42HMG, 4 MG42LMG, 4 81mm Mortars, 105mm Artillery in Support.

Situation: German Battalion attacks a dug in (with obstacles) Soviet defender. Soviet is behind a ridgeline. October 1943, Dawn, Dry, Slight Breeze.

The following narrative is written from the perspective of a platoon commander on the Soviet side. It is a memoir, not a play-by-play, so it is assumed he has access to details he would not have known at the time during battle.

The Story:

The lookout’s screaming whistles wrenched us from our sleep on that drowsy autumn morning. Instantly, officers began barking orders, getting the men out of their holes and ready to fight. Minutes ago, a large force of German infantry had been spotted moving towards our positions from the West. Our patrols conduct security and reconnaissance along the ridgeline all day and all night. Their job is to spot the enemy main effort and deny him the ability to sneak FO's or reconnaissance teams over the ridge. It was these teams returning to our camp early this morning that brought word of the German force approaching, and because we had so little manpower they immediately rejoined their platoons inside the defensive network. From what was gathered, it appeared the enemy was about a Battalion in size, perhaps more. Being the forward-most company in a series of defensive works, we had plenty of support. Our company had been attached 8 Maxim Machine guns to make up for our poor numbers, as well as a token force of 3 50mm mortars. We also were being supported by artillery from our rear, and had arranged targeting prior to engagement.

The hillside we defended was laced with wire entanglements, virtually sealing in our position and giving the enemy but two choices: attack into the teeth of our positions or risk annihilation in open ground trying to bypass. The company to our northeast rear (Note: Off-map) covered a small bowl that we couldn't observe very well, and a company (Note: Also Off-map) to our adjacent south secured our flank.

The position was laid out as follows: the wire was laid out in open ground around and in front of the company’s forward entrenched positions creating an obstacle between us and the nearest enemy jump-off points. These forward positions were manned mostly with Maxim guns but had positions for infantry to occupy should the enemy breach the wire. There was only one gap left in the wire, which was surrounded by a large area of open ground. The Maxim guns were sighted primarily on the wire and the open ground around it. Each gun had been given a specific area of interest -- a covered arc of fire, which it focused on denying to the enemy. Working with our artillery, we had also designated a number of Target Reference Points near the wire and covering the openings. This would allow our 76mm to respond quickly and accurately to enemy assaults or breaching efforts. For the 76mm guns, we had in the area of 400 shells to support our defense. If limited to firing on concentrations of enemy infantry, each burst could kill two or more enemy infantrymen. This enormous fire capacity gave us confidence, despite our small numbers.

There was only one route directly to the wire that did not involve standing in open ground, and this was a line of scattered trees running west to east. We had, fortunately, anticipated this route being used for breaching efforts and had three of our Maxims sighted on it, as well as artillery reference points. A second possible approach was a hook to the north, running through some forest and scattered trees. This route does not run directly through the wire, and open ground must be crossed here. Again, Maxim fire covered this approach and so did reference points. There was also a slight ridgeline running west east to the north, behind the position just described, which lead directly to our rear. In front of it was a large bowl, covered by B Company (off map.) If the enemy approached along this ridgeline, out of LOS from Company B, he could make an infiltration to our rear. This was heavily guarded at night, but during the day two Maxims (also covering the second approach) served to deny its use.

The plan was to allow the enemy to get himself into trouble breaching the wire and to inflict as many casualties as possible on him while he did so. Machine guns were to deny movement over open ground to prevent significant maneuver. Our big killer was going to be our artillery, which would work best whenever the enemy concentrated forces in an assault attempt. Our company consisted of three close range assault sub-machine gun platoons, packed with automatics and close range weapons. We intended to stay away from the forward positions, where enemy artillery and rifle fire would be at its worst, and wait until, and if, the enemy breached the wire. If there was a breach, it was our duty to attack swiftly against any intruders and oust them from our position. This small defensive system of ours was setup well behind a steep ridgeline (but not on the reverse slope), denying the enemy direct artillery spotting.

We had been bombarded here and there during the past days, but nothing of any consequence came of it. Some shell holes large enough for a small group of men to take shelter in have been created in the process that may afford some cover to the attacking Germans. Until now, we had seen little in the way of our adversaries.

So that was the situation we found ourselves in the other day. Dawn was sunny and the ground was warm and dry. A soft breeze provided a false sense of security; the soft hushing of trees swaying back and forth amidst our defensive works had an eerie serenity. After the whistles had been blown and the defense had been assembled, all we heard was the wind and the trees. It was a calm before a coming storm, and some of us sooner would have had it over with. But we all knew our jobs, and we had drilled their execution over and over until reaction would come automatically in combat. The greater tactical situation was unclear to us at the time; nobody knew much of anything about what was going on. Nonetheless, we sure knew how to defend in sector, which was our business. We waited for something to happen for what seemed like eternity.

Each platoon was distributed slightly away from potential breach sectors, ready to react to such an event but safely away from the machine guns, which would likely come under fire. We also had the three 50mm mortars, which were designated to deal with annoying point targets, such as enemy 81mm mortars that could fire on our Maxims. We waited for the Germans to put our machinery into action.

The action began when a platoon sized German infantry element, very well spread out, probed our defenses. Each possible approach seemed to be navigated by a small team of German infantry, obviously looking for the weakest link in our defensive network. We dealt with each team the same way -- we waited for them to get close to the wire, some when they crossed open ground, some when they stopped at the closest jump off positions -- and then we fired on them with our Maxim guns.

Now, you have to understand that with our guns sighted the way they were, it was very difficult for any overwatching enemy infantry to spot their position when they fired. We fired in well-aimed bursts directly at the German security parties, so that they could barely lift their heads safely. Foliage, tree trunks and so forth prevented one from seeing muzzle flash or smoke puffs very clearly. Each and every one of the German infantry teams, we counted four separate groups, was turned back. Some were forced to ground and crawled back into cover, often dragging a man back with them screaming in agony. Two of the teams were caught in open ground and lost their nerve, getting chewed at by Maxim guns and utterly unable to advance. Nobody laughed when they ran for their lives back towards their lines, leaving a man here or there. We all knew it could be us next. In denser terrain this phase may have been between our assault troops and theirs, in close quarters fighting. But with the defense setup the way it was and with the terrain being open ground between patches of forest, the machine guns alone were amply able to repel any light German probes.

Shortly after these teams withdrew, (some still visible taking cover in woods and receiving the odd fire from our machine guns) the German commander must have decided that further progress could only be made if our machine guns could be suppressed. Yet any supportive fire the enemy could offer would easily be met by our own mortar and artillery, which would leave favorable attrition rates to us and make the enemy breaching effort difficult. The only solution for the German was to initiate the breaching effort and bring online the supportive elements simultaneously, so that our fire would be split or so that one element could go unscathed. That's exactly what he did. Clearly an under strength company came over the ridge, running into cover, with the obvious objective of making at the covered breaching route. Our machine-guns quickly swiveled and open fire on this element, forcing many of them to crawl forward on their bellies. It was difficult to tell if we were killing the enemy at this point, but it was obvious he was having a hard time of it.

Meanwhile, the ridgeline that was described earlier became laced with German infantry. It offered a splendid overwatch firing position for them, right into our forward lines. We had no choice but to allow them to take it, because the ridge itself was difficult to defend with our numbers given the terrain. Many parts of the ridge had heavily covered approaches, and thus we needed to defend father back from it, leaving open ground between the enemy and us. Thus a steady volume of fire began to come from the ridge, most of it area fire at this point. It seemed the enemy still had not located our machine guns precisely.

The German infantry company that had charged forward into the breach was now in the scattered trees only a dozen meters or so away from that section of the wire. One platoon’s worth was in the breaching effort while two others were supporting it. German mortars were dropping smoke all over the breaching area, but it wasn't heavy. Our machine guns were pouring a steady pounding of lead on them, firing on whatever could be seen through the smoke and forcing them down low. The job of breaching in this sector would not be easy for them as long as our machine guns stayed online.

Unfortunately for us, the machine guns themselves were being fired upon from hundreds of riflemen on the ridgeline. It seemed the entire enemy Battalion was supporting this tiny breaching effort; we hear the popping of rifles and other sounds, including the recognizable ripping of multiple MG42s. Our boys manning the forward machine guns truly were doing a swell job keeping up the fire under such harsh conditions. Every now and then, our machine guns would fall silent as our men sought cover, but not for long. This kept up for a minute or so and then we heard the whining of our 76mm shells overhead.

The effect was chaotic. The fire had been called upon the scattered trees where it appeared the Germans were making a breaching effort. The shells themselves throw up only modest amounts of dirt, but the effect on the soldiers was horrific. Clearly all the Germans were pinned and men were dying. In any case, breaching here would be impossible under such a barrage. We remained comfortable about this sector, and our Machine Guns turned their attention to the infantry along the ridgeline.

For the next few minutes, a duel of fire took place between our Maxims and the enemy rifles and machine guns along the ridge. Our artillery continued to pound the area where the enemy had tried hastily to breach through. The firefight was really something else. I've never seen so many tracers lace the sky. They ripped across violently, most of them coming from the enemy. Our own Maxims gradually became silent. There was certain uneasiness about the whole situation. We had hoped to dominate the long-range fight with artillery and machine guns, but had not counted on the enemy mustering his entire fighting strength to engage us from rifle range. Though the range was great enough that his fire was not killing our Maxim crews, they were certainly having a difficult time firing their weapons. The firing pits had been located after a few minutes of our firing on the breaching party and now were being hit by aimed rifle fire. Not only that, but the Germans were employing 81mm mortars in a precise manner, dropping accurately placed shells on our Maxim emplacements. Our own 50mm responded, but we had very little idea where the enemy mortars were, so it was a very hopeless crapshoot. One of our crews abandoned his post and made for the rear for cover, but not far from his original position. If we could not dominate the enemy at long range, he would have no trouble with a breaching effort.

But while our machine guns were being suppressed, some only for moments and others for up to a minute at a time, our artillery could not be suppressed. We continued to fire on anything the enemy pushed towards a breach, and whatever Maxim crews were able continued to fire on him mercilessly. After what was probably five minutes, the enemy breaching operation was in shambles, but the majority of his rifles on the ridge remained in sound shape. For another five minutes or so, we simply exchanged fire at range. For the enemy to advance without suppressing our machine guns would be suicide, and besides, his rifles were doing a fine job from the ridge. We had, it turns out, requested artillery along the ridgeline but it was some time before it arrived because we had not anticipated using it there. In that time, the enemy had setup a small concentration of machineguns and was effectively pinning our rearmost Maxims, while his rifles were pinning our forward ones.

At this time, with most of our long range direct-firepower suppressed, a platoon of enemy infantry was spotted running the vulnerable west-east ridgeline towards our rear. This was a dire situation indeed. There was no wire to our North, since it was mostly open ground covered by Company B (Off map). But by staying just below the ridgeline and running forward, the enemy avoided Company B and with our own Maxims suppressed we could not prevent the enemy from moving. The Company Commander noticed this and assigned my platoon to get ready to move out. If the enemy penetrated into our rear, he may just gut out our HMGs through our own interior lines! The potential for a large German force to make it through was slim, because the ground was open and subject to artillery fire. But this lone German platoon spread out slightly and moving quickly had real potential to cause trouble.

At this point in the battle, my very own platoon went active. We ran swiftly to rear jump off points and waited eagerly to see if our Maxim crews would defend themselves at close range. We could see the enemy making his way forward, and one of our Maxims began to fire on them. German HMG’s firing from the ridge pinned the Maxim, interrupting the fire and only a portion of the enemy platoon was pinned. 76mm artillery also began to fall on the enemy – thankfully we had a reference point setup along the infiltration route and now it seemed it was being used to good effect. But the shells fell all around the enemy, and as bad luck would have it, none landed near him enough to make a significant difference.

Some of the enemy platoon was pinned and the artillery had driven them to seek cover, but clearly a squad-sized element was making an assault on our rear emplacement without too much trouble. They got very close to our HMG and we saw them stop briefly, hurling grenades and firing their weapons wildly. They moved into the forest and disappeared from our view. It was obvious the position had been taken, and we immediately set off to oust the enemy from his victory. At the same time, our own artillery stopped firing there -- since it had already failed to prevent the assault it was better saved for lucrative targets. The previously pinned elements of the enemy platoon ran towards the forest where the HMG had been assaulted. It was clear and personal -- this was a race, my platoon versus his. Our race was to a blocking position, and his was to seize the terrain before we did. But we were confident, we knew what was ahead, we had drilled the routine before, and we were equipped for the task. The enemy faced unknown territory and was disorganized from the assault.

This was the most worrisome and difficult part of the battle for our Commander. Our front line machine guns were being suppressed, one of two rear positions had been assaulted (the second was threatened), the enemy had clearly established fire superiority and we were being forced to react to his attack. Our artillery on the ridge had still not arrived, even though a few minutes had elapsed since we direly requested it. We did not consider the need to reference the ridge for firing; we had assumed it would be needed around the wire more. But clearly the enemy was content not to assault the wire at this time. We had reached a sort of stalemate in the battle. We could not kill the enemy until our artillery shifted, and that was taking time. But nor could the enemy kill us. Certainly they could suppress us, but to take our positions or achieve close enough range to kill us would require a breach. In the long run our artillery would drive him off that ridge, but for now we were both staying put.

The German platoon-sized assault into our rear was threatening, but could only bring a limited degree of exploitation. The reason being that in practicality not more than a platoon could get in, and we had a company of infantry in reserve to deal with it. My platoon was only the first to react to the situation. If the enemy tried to shift more than a platoon through this route, he would suffer unduly from artillery. In other words, the "rate of return" per soldier sent this route would diminish into the negatives very quickly. It was an ugly situation for both German and Soviet alike. But that was going to change.

Although the fighting hovered in a fine balance for the moment, as a ball does as gravity overcomes its ascent, it was soon to move the other way. Almost in unison (although certainly not planned that way), our own assault on the intruding enemy platoon began as our 76mm responded to the enemy on the ridge, particularly his HMGs which were unloading into our rear. The effect of both was devastating. First, we beat the enemy to the jump off positions in our rear and with shouts of "Hurrah!" we surged forward and made contact with the Germans. It was lucky for us that we moved out when we did, because very shortly afterward a German heavy barrage of artillery fell near our previous jump-off points. The ground shook and our ears rang with each pounding blow. Moving forward, our first squad ran into an under strength German squad and engaged them in bloody close combat. Our automatics and the fighting tenacity of our men overcame the enemy with only a couple of losses to the squad. The enemy had been unprepared for such a violent counterattack so quickly after his assault. More of the German Platoon was caught moving through the open, towards our jump off positions. They were exhausted and slow, and the vigor of our own men quickly gained us the upper hand. Two enemy squads, about twenty men, were cut to pieces before our eyes by a heavy volume of automatic fire. Another group of Germans, in panic, ran for cover but were quickly found and shot. We had sealed the rear and taken an entire enemy platoon, at a loss of roughly four men and of course the Maxim position. Cheers of "Hurrah!" were genuine that moment, we felt like we could take on the world.

We didn't have to. As I mentioned, our artillery was now pounding the enemy on the north-south ridge. He was being forced to find cover or keep his head down. The rifle fire from the ridge slackened and our Maxim machine guns, the ones up front, began pouring out a vengeful hail of lead. It wasn't a perfect situation of course -- our own artillery was firing somewhat sporadically after the initial pounding on the enemy heavies because we needed to conserve ammunition, in case of a massive enemy assault. But overall, things had stabilized greatly. The rear was free of pests (thanks to my platoon!), and with our men in control of the rear ground we knew the Germans wouldn't try to assault it again. The front was back to its game of long-range firefighting, but we were dominating the fire now and the enemy was taking his licks, without the benefit of covered foxholes. Some of us got impatient, taunting the Germans for not assaulting like brave Soviets would. Of course, they couldn't hear us, but it felt good to yell at them. Only the machine gunners had the pleasure of firing on them at this range.

At this point I’d like to explain what our situation was at that moment in the battle. First the Maxims: Most of our teams had suffered a casualty here or there, due to rifle fire. Two had abandoned their holes in the frontlines due to 81mm fire, but were now returning to their positions -- even if a little paranoid of further 81mm. The northeast (rearmost) Maxim was assaulted and killed by the enemy. Another Maxim in our rear was fine, but only began to join the fight again after the enemy machine guns stopped firing on it. One of our Maxims covering the North flank was attacked so vigorously by the enemy (at range) that the team lost its nerve and made for the rear. Doing this, they were caught in open ground by enemy fire and reduced to a single man, who could not transport the Maxim by himself. He elected to hide behind it, in the open ground, and was quickly forgotten by the enemy. All in all then, we had lost two Maxims effectively. We still had four up front and two in the rear. Our artillery was down to about 150 rounds of ammunition at this time, but that is plenty for killing assaulting infantry. Only one platoon of the infantry company, ours, had seen any action and our losses were minimal. Two of the three of our 50mm mortars had been abandoned; enemy shells knocked them out. It turned out that these mortars did a relatively poor job for themselves. We expected them to respond to enemy mortars and other such point targets, but had neglected to understand the difficulty in locating these targets under fire. As a result, our 50mm's had not yet found any targets juicier than the odd enemy HMG or Rifle Squad.

It was at this point obvious to both sides that the current fighting would yield nothing decisive. The enemy wasn't killing us from range, and we weren't going to leave our positions because we had so few in men. The Germans organized and launched their main assault on the only route that had not been tried: the north hook against our flank. Again, the enemy laid volley after volley against us from the ridgeline to try and suppress our machine guns. They were obviously low on ammo however; the volume of fire wasn't as large as it had been at the beginning of the battle. The result was that our Maxims returned fire on them, but at least for the Germans this meant their assault element was not receiving all the fire.

This large German assault element was seen moving around the "north hook route" and we shifted a machine gun from the front to our flank and moved the two as yet unused platoons into position for counter-assault. The remaining 50mm was also moved to the flank, from the frontal area, and artillery was prepared to fire on a concentrated area where the breach might take place. There were two possibilities for assault from this route: he could breach the wire in open ground, but have close jump-off positions to the wire, or he could go around it through a slightly larger expanse of open ground through the gap we had left. Either way was fine by us. The wire would stop him if he tried to assault it, and the open ground would give him little cover if he went around it.

As it turned out, the Germans tried to go around it, with the previous wire breaching failure fresh in their minds. With only two Maxims providing reliable cover on this flank approach, one platoon of infantry was put into action to repulse the enemy. The scene was frightful. As roughly a company of enemy infantry maneuvered for assault, entire platoons moving over open ground were coming under a hail of fire from our automatics under one hundred meters in range. Many fell. The supporting platoon of the German assault company was firing back on us. It was obvious he had fire superiority at that range, but we also had prepared fighting positions and a surprise. Our 76mm shells came crashing down on his infantry -- many of them were caught in the open. The sight of the enemy being chewed up by the shells silenced our fire, many of us just watched with open mouths. Every shell that struck took the lives of our enemy. The assault was broken up as quickly as it started, the last ditch effort of the commander to rush assault troops through the opening in our wire proving hopeless.

<At this point the opponent surrendered>

Our casualties in the battle numbered forty-five men injured, thirteen men killed in action. We earned our glory that autumn morning.

Pillar’s Assessment:

The enemy breaching effort failed, and further efforts to keep up the fight would have resulted in an attrition of his force. He could safely withdraw the men on the ridge. The men who were chewed up by the artillery towards the end would have had a tough time leaving, but a good number eventually would likely have gotten away after taking significant casualties. The reason for this being, that our infantry force was too small to risk sending in a counter attack at that time.

End Game Result:

Soviet Casualties:

45 casualties, of which 13 men died in action. 2 Mortars lost.

German Casualties:

125 casualties, of which 29 men died in action. 3 Mortars lost.

Thanks to Wyatt Barnett for editing.

April 2002.

[Bruno Weiss]

I gotta read all that and only one pitchure...

[aka_tom_w]

wow that map was cool

can you make those "notes" on it right in the game???

-tom w

[ParaBellum]

Ah, memories of the alpha battle between Moon and Fionn...

Great read, thx for posting, Madmatt.

BTW, when are you flying again on HL?

You know, there's noone in the cess-patrol who would laugh about your landing-attempts.

Besides Harv, of course...and Rune.. and Bastables...and Speedy...and Mace...

[M. Bates]

Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

wow that map was cool

can you make those "notes" on it right in the game???

-tom w

Yes you can. The retail version will include a big magic pen to directly draw onto the Combat Mission screen.

The pen will work with Photoshop 6 but not with Photoshop 7, or so I am told.

[Mattias]

Thanks for the AAR Pillar, interesting stuff

Now, am I just seeing things or is the camera position on this picture higher than the CM:BO level "4" position? Are the camera positions the same in CM:BB?

M.

[Juju]

Very nice AAR. So far, that is, since I'm only halfway. I'm saving some for tomorrow.

[Madmatt]

Camera views have been tweaked with better (more) panning, an additional zoom mode (x16), a new level and different heights than before.

Madmatt

[ April 26, 2002, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Madmatt ]

[Bruno Weiss]

Now that, is way cool.

[The Commissar]

Excellent stuff! A great read, Pillar.

Might I ask who your opponent was?

[Panzer Leader]

Can we ask technical questions? It looks like that was an Assault/Defend quick battle. I am wondering though, why there's only one flag, and it looks like its in the farthest back, center of the map. Is that a fluke or something new?

Also, looking at the force, it almost seems like the Germans have close to a 3:1 ratio. Can this be possible??

Soviet (Friendly) OOB: 1 Company Soviet SMG Infantry, 8 Maxim Machine Guns, 3 50mm Mortars, 76mm Artillery in Support.

German (Enemy) OOB: 2 Rifle Companies, 2 Engineer Platoons, 1 Fusilier Company, 4 MG42HMG, 4 MG42LMG, 4 81mm Mortars, 105mm Artillery in Support.

The germans seem to have a 3:1 ratio in infantry, though the Russian SMG might be a little more expensive (who knows!) and they have maybe (calculation furiously) 2:1 ratio in artillery. The Russians do seem to have superiority in the MG range, though.

Actually, now that I think about it, some of those those German MGs and mortars were probably integral to the company, i.e. a HVY weap. platoon. Are Maxims integral to the Soviet OOB?

The Russians have a BUTT-LOAD of wire. Maybe that is the great equalizer here. I'm guessing they had at least 14 strands (if it is done the same way as CMBO) which might be equivalent to a company of INF, so maybe the total ratio is somewhere closer to 2:1 or 1.75:1 after all.

Whichever way you look at it, the MGs seem to have really made the difference in this battle. I can only imagine the carnage they wreaked on that German flanking force. Wow, that was truly a great defensive battle...

Is anything I wrote making sense? And would you answer me anyway?

[Doug Beman]

Well written, very similar to authentic accounts.

Thanks for this

DjB

[Wolfe]

Excellent AAR. Thanks much!

Ahhh. The planets have aligned. The moon is full. And we get lots of boneage on CMBB. All is nearly right with the world. Now if we could only play the game ourselves ...

- Chris

[Michael Dorosh]

Would have been more interesting from the German point of view - does this mean the engineering battle has still not been addressed in CMBB, or has it? I couldn't tell my my quick readthrough of this. Is it possible to create gaps in wire - by cutters, explosives, AFV overrun, or what have you? Or is this still unaddressed?

[Bergerbitz]

Anh? More bones? Egads...for months there was virtually nothing, just scraps of this and that...

...now...

....

I'm feelin -ah say- feelin a bit tingly all over, son.

...burning with anticipation, that is.

[Captain Wacky]

You want a bone?!

YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE BONE!!!

[aka_tom_w]

Originally posted by M. Bates:

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

wow that map was cool

can you make those "notes" on it right in the game???

-tom w

Yes you can. The retail version will include a big magic pen to directly draw onto the Combat Mission screen.

The pen will work with Photoshop 6 but not with Photoshop 7, or so I am told.</font>

[M. Bates]

Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by M. Bates:

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

wow that map was cool

can you make those "notes" on it right in the game???

-tom w

Yes you can. The retail version will include a big magic pen to directly draw onto the Combat Mission screen.

The pen will work with Photoshop 6 but not with Photoshop 7, or so I am told.</font>

[aka_tom_w]

ok

thanks for the prompt reply

-tom w

[kipanderson]

Pillar,

Congratulations, very fine AAR. It gave a good picture of the battle. As is the case with everyone else, the waiting is the hardest part!

All the best,

Kip.

[edgars]

Guys!

Did you missed this part???

Two had abandoned their holes in the frontlines due to 81mm fire, but were now returning to their positions

Does this mean that crews can abandon their weapons and later rejoin? Well, it certainly looks so...

And... Bump.

And... Thanks for great AAR, Pillar.

[Mattias]

Originally posted by ciks:

Does this mean that crews can abandon their weapons and later rejoin? Well, it certainly looks so..

It seems to me that the MG units left their hole and then returned, just as they do in CM:BO, it doesn't say they abandoned their weapon after all

M.

[edgars]

Mmm, i see your point...

To abandon the foxhole in the storm of enemy fire, when everyone and his mother is shooting at you... That means machinguns can run in the CMBB!

As i side note, Maxims has those little wheels under them, do they get some kind of movement bonus because of that?

[Little_Black_Devil]

Did I read correctly - that some crews were able to abandon their weapons and then return to them?

[Mattias]

Hey, lets confuse the matter some more!!

This AAR clearly shows that Maxim MG's can run because of the little wheels. And not only that, they get a special movement bonus when under mortar fire!

And all crews that abandon weapons can re-crew them again! Hey, logically that means that squads that get casualties and drop an important weapon can go back and pick them up again! Now, that's a real neat feature, great job, thank's BTS!

etc etc etc..

--

Sometimes it seems at least 50% of the posts on this forum are made solely to correct erroneous assumptions

M.