CMBB scenario: Storm 555

[British Tommy]

I have posted a converted Talonsoft EF scenario at the Proving grounds. It's a 2 player scenario and not suitable to be played against the AI.
Looking for feedback so if you just finished a battle and wondering what to try next with your opponent then please give this one a run through! :)
Here's the link to the scenario page:
storm 555 scenario (http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/scenario_details.html?command=search&db=scenarios.db&eqskudatarq=689)
Many thanks! :salute:

[British Tommy]

Was hoping someone would ask questions about the scenario!
Anyway, here's the main briefing:

This scenario is based on the Talonsoft's EF scenario,'Storm 555'
Original scenario and main briefing by Doug Bevard.
Converted into a CMBB scenario by Bob Millard ( British Tommy ).
Email : r.millard1@ntlworld.com

Date : June 1944
Time : dawn
Ground conditions : dry
Weather : rain and fog
Turns : 40 variable
Battle type : Allied attack
Best played as : 2 player ( not designed to play against the AI )

MAIN BRIEFING.
Slobodka, 25km S of Bobruisk: [Best played against Human opponent] In June 1944, three years after the German Army invaded the Soviet Union, the Red Army launched its own massive offensive in northern Russia, "Operation Bagration". Central to the German defence was the city of Minsk where two entire Russian Fronts were to converge in a gigantic pincer movement. While 3rd Byelorussian Front drove from the North, the 1st Byelorussian Front was to punch through the German lines South of Bobruisk. Leading the southern attack, T-34s from the 1st Guards Tank Corps crossed the Berezina River and worked through the thick swamp using wooden mats.
Guarding this "quiet" area near Slobodka was a thin screen from the German 36th Motorized Division. On the 25th, the attack order 'Storm 555'was given and Russian tanks burst from the surrounding woods.
Approaching from the North, Kampfgruppe Ulrich from the 20th Panzer Division arrived just in time to reinforce the defenders and try to prevent the Axis formations still East of the Berezina from being cut off and destroyed.

[British Tommy]

This scenario has now been posted at the scenario depot after been play tested at the Proving Grounds.
My thanks to the play testers there, a great bunch of lads :salute:

[British Tommy]

Just updated the scenario and posted it at the proving grounds for those who are interested ( and by the replies, not many! :whist: ]

[Boonierat]

Wow Bob, weren't you at the Frontline quite some time ago? your name rings a bell :) didn't know you were hanging around here now :smoke:

[Palantir]

Just updated the scenario and posted it at the proving grounds for those who are interested ( and by the replies, not many! :whist: ] :hmmm:
Let me reply since you keep bringing it up & I'll be blunt- :salute:

You "come to" SZO and talk about a CM game that you designed hoping players at SZO will check it out, so far so good. :D

But you post it somewhere else not feeling the need to post it here. :gas:

And you still haven't. :(

To me that means SZO is not worth the effort or good enough to "host" your game. Ya that makes me want to check out your scenario.

The SZO/CM Section does not solicit or go out and bring in outside scenarios, but we do encourage and gladly accept "in-house" scenarios. :thumup:

Based on the number of posts you've had you would be an "in-house" designer and not posting your design here is well, :argh:

As far as numbers of replies, I've found & noticed that very few players ever reply about any scenario. :(

[British Tommy]

Thanks Palantir for the reply. I will cover the points you mentioned below.
When I posted my first message about my scenario, it was at the Proving grounds to be playtested.This is where I and many other scenario designers post their beta scenario's ( by the way, anyone can post there scenario's there to be playtested ). I thought someone here might be interested in play testing it. But your right about me not posting it here.Why? quite simple, I forgot! (duh!)
In future after my scenario's have been play tested to iron out the faults, I will post the finished scenario at SZO. And if I may be allowed to do so, I will spread the word to other designers to post here also.
I like this site, honestly! I enjoy reading the CM message board and have posted some replies to messages.
'in house designer'????? your kidding me huh??
I found it a shame that people don't write messages in this section of the board but what the heck! :)

[Palantir]

'in house designer'????? your kidding me huh??
Umm no, but it is the only term I have for designers/players who only post where they hang out.
Since I have zero time to check out other sites and only post my scenarios here I consider myself an SZO "in house" designer.

I feel it would be disloyal to be a part of SZO (or anywhere) and post my designs elsewhere & not where I play them & hang out.

I found it a shame that people don't write messages in this section of the board but what the heck! :)
I can answer that one- just look at the number of reported scenario games played. Since few players are playing them you have even fewer players who take the time to design scenarios. Which means only a very small handful of guys are designing any. I believe most designers work alone and then don't post their work.

Which leads me to ask you this question since you have knowledge of other sites: is SZO typical of this or do you see other sites that have "a lot" of scenarios being played / reported?

My current problem is time- I'll soon have 3-5 CM tournaments running and there-in monitoring / working on scenarios for them, plus designing "my own" scenarios. To fit in testing other designs is tough, but I always find time to chat with other designers. :D

I did try and initiate something for designers to get some interest going, the BB Map Contest in which the best maps will be in a special tournament. To date I have received only a handful of maps. I had ideas for a Designers Scenario Tournament but... :rolleyes:

The obvious lack of any feedback / playing of scenarios is rather discouraging. :nervous:

And if I may be allowed to do so, I will spread the word to other designers to post here also.
That would be great!

Something here that was decided early on was that WHQ/SZO would not try and compete with other CM sites that already had huge scenario archives / articles. Why duplicate what was already being done successfully in other places. Thus the "in house" comment, designers here (anyone registered here) are encourgaged to post their works but "we" would not be going out and gathering in designs just for the heck of it.

[British Tommy]

Wow Bob, weren't you at the Frontline quite some time ago? your name rings a bell :) didn't know you were hanging around here now :smoke:

Well it is a small world! :) Yes, I was at the Frontline club for a long time but since Combat Mission came out I have looked at no other game ( well, besides Call of Duty ).
Nice to see your still around mate!
Cheers,
Bob

[British Tommy]

Umm no, but it is the only term I have for designers/players who only post where they hang out.

I hang out in lots of places ( but don't tell the wife! ) but up till now there were only two places I posted my scenario's.Proving Grounds for the play testing and the Scenario Depot for the finished product.

Since I have zero time to check out other sites and only post my scenarios here I consider myself an SZO "in house" designer.

I'm going to sound like a walking advert for the PG site but next time you have finished designing a scenario, place it there. I promise you that your scenario will get feedback.Not right away of course but over a few weeks.Then post it at SZO.

I feel it would be disloyal to be a part of SZO (or anywhere) and post my designs elsewhere & not where I play them & hang out.

RUBBISH! let the whole CM community enjoy your scenario's!


I can answer that one- just look at the number of reported scenario games played. Since few players are playing them you have even fewer players who take the time to design scenarios. Which means only a very small handful of guys are designing any. I believe most designers work alone and then don't post their work.

Which leads me to ask you this question since you have knowledge of other sites: is SZO typical of this or do you see other sites that have "a lot" of scenarios being played / reported?

One site which I visit often is the Blitzkrieg wargaming site.CM is played there ( along with many other games ) but they have an active CM membership who reports games and give a score for enjoyment and value for each scenario played.

My current problem is time- I'll soon have 3-5 CM tournaments running and there-in monitoring / working on scenarios for them, plus designing "my own" scenarios. To fit in testing other designs is tough, but I always find time to chat with other designers. :D

Sounds like you got your hands full!! I admire anyone who runs a tournament ( did it once, never again! ).Know what you mean about finding time to play test other designers scenario's but I like to squeeze in testing a small to medium one as a thank you to others who play tested mine in the past.

I did try and initiate something for designers to get some interest going, the BB Map Contest in which the best maps will be in a special tournament. To date I have received only a handful of maps. I had ideas for a Designers Scenario Tournament but... :rolleyes:

Well mate, you can only do so much but at least your trying ;)

The obvious lack of any feedback / playing of scenarios is rather discouraging. :nervous:


That would be great!
no problem!

Something here that was decided early on was that WHQ/SZO would not try and compete with other CM sites that already had huge scenario archives / articles. Why duplicate what was already being done successfully in other places. Thus the "in house" comment, designers here (anyone registered here) are encourgaged to post their works but "we" would not be going out and gathering in designs just for the heck of it.

One of these days I'm going to get the hang of posting messages correctly! :rolleyes:

[British Tommy]

Here's the link to the scenario's at the Blitzkrieg wargaming club so you can see how they report their games and also how they rate each scenario.

CM scenario's and others (http://www.theblitz.org/scenarios/index.php)

[Palantir]

RUBBISH! let the whole CM community enjoy your scenario's!
To be a bit clearer- I would post first at the site I hang out at before posting it somewhere else first. :D

Your note about where to post scenarios for play-testing BEFORE posting for playing is good to know! Thanks, :thumup:

[Mad Russian]

To be a bit clearer- I would post first at the site I hang out at before posting it somewhere else first. :D

Your note about where to post scenarios for play-testing BEFORE posting for playing is good to know! Thanks, :thumup:

Since you brought it up I'll be blunt too:

I was told that I would like this site because they were "gentlemanly here". Meaning that you don't use flame responses. Imagine to my surprise the very second thread I open up has you flaming BT. Whose scenario by the way I did playtest.

To his credit he has a much more civil tongue in his mouth than you do and you are one of the administrators. Didn't I read somewhere about being nice here on the site?

After only two threads I'm having to reconsider staying on this site.

Good Hunting.

[Palantir]

2,520 posts at this time- I would guess that what you call a "flame" reply represents less than .05% of my total posts. And I would not catagorize my reply as a "flame" I didn''t attack or disparage him I questioned the manner of his request for players of his scenario.
Bluntly yes, flaming no.

I just think it's polite to post a scenario at the place where you go to ask players to play it especially when they have a scenario archive. And after making 4 posts about his scenario I thought he might want to know my opinion on the matter.

(If you didn't notice both of us discussed this in a gentlemanly manner and I found BT's comments very useful and have a good deal of respect for him.)

And yes, the SZO / CM Fourm is a gentlemanly site and very civil, probably the best on the web.

I've seen your name around the web (if you're the only Mad Russian) so I can assume you've been to the BFC / CM forum, if so you should know what flamers really are.

Before I forget- Welcome to SZO, :toast:
I hope you stay and enjoy the community & the challenge of our members and become one of our gentleman-warriors. :thumup:

[Mad Russian]

Yes, I saw how quickly things became civil. What I found interesting is why it had to work it's way back to that point to begin with, from an administrator. :confused:

My point is, it wasn't so much what you said, as how you said it. Having been to the BFC boards you yourself should know that. It is because of the flamewars at BFC that I am extremely leery of "joining" another site. Imagine to my surprise the very second post I read here has one of your .05% posts in it. So far I will say that I like the other 99.95% of your posts I've seen. :)

AFAIK, I'm the only Mad Russian there is. At BFC I'm Panther Commander but that was taken on other sites and I should go change it at BFC too. I just don't want the confusion any worse than it already is.

I see that after your bout with BT you went and joined The Proving Grounds. You must not spend much time there if you think this site is the most gentlemanly on the web.

I also see that none of your scenarios has been playtested at TPG yet. If you'd like, send me a setup, on the one you most want to see a playtest done on. Give me the attacker. That way your knowledge of the scenario will be minimized.

I more than likely won't be spending much time here. I don't have much time and it takes time to become a part of the "locals" at a website. Especially one as big as this one. Time I more than likely don't have.

Good Hunting.

[ER_Chaser]

Mad Russian: welcome to our community and hope you will enjoy it :)

But as your ... err... discussion with Palantir.., I think he was just trying to be funny ... to me, there was no flame... it was not even "blunt" IMHO ... it was humor ... a bit black to some1 maybe.. but it was funny. The only thing might need to reminded is that British Tommy and Palantir had known each other and (probably flirted with each other :D ) for a while :D

[Palantir]

I see that after your bout with BT you went and joined The Proving Grounds. You must not spend much time there if you think this site is the most gentlemanly on the web.
I do believe that the SZO-CM Forum is. :)
I more than likely won't be spending much time here. I don't have much time and it takes time to become a part of the "locals" at a website. Especially one as big as this one. Time I more than likely don't have.
I agree with you here, once you find a site you are comfortable at it's hard to find the quality time to check out and hang out at another one. I know I don't have the time to do it. And like you if I hit a site and didn't like the first few posts I read I'd have the same reaction.

ER- what BT & I do off the Forum stays off the Forum! ;)

[GJK]

Back on topic a bit... :)

I found Storm 555 to be a very well done scenario - great job BT! It was one of our featured scenarios for a little tournament that we have going on at TPG and it was one of my scenarios that I was picked to play. Turned out to be a nail biter that I barely squeeked by in as I recall.

Now, back off topic.... :cheeky:

I find that for the most part, all of the CM community is a great group of people - no matter where you find them chatting about the game. Maybe it's the type of crowd that the game itself attracts, or maybe many of us all come from similar wargaming experiences in the past - not sure - but for the most part I think everyone gets along just fine. In fact, perhaps the most "flaming" that goes on is at the developer's own website, but no need to go down that path..... :laugh:

[Palantir]

In fact, perhaps the most "flaming" that goes on is at the developer's own website, but no need to go down that path..... :laugh:
I know and that just baffles me to no end. :crosseye: