Palantir
23 Aug 03, 14:52
It’s time for another amazing monthly (sort of) WHQ CM player interview!
(Please hold your cheers & applause until the end, thank you.) :hush:
The other WHQ staffers were not amused to get my last player “interview” expense account and firmly told me “no more jetting off to do interviews!” So in keeping with their request I didn’t take jet anywhere this time, I took a cruise-ship to do the interview! :D
Ah, the weather across the Atlantic to and from NY / London was lovely & beautiful; and of course so were the girls lounging around the pools! ;)
(Was it my fault I just happened to pick the same cruise that had the Annual Playboy Centerfold Party going on? Well was it?) :coolban:
The only alarming thing to happen was when a big wave hit the ship and I accidentally slipped and ripped off Miss April’s swimsuit… :love:
It was the waves fault I tell you, the waves fault! :whist:
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it: well, because it’s the same one I officially told the ships security guards. And could I help it if as they were leading me away the next big wave caused me to slip again and Miss December was the closest thing to steady myself on and…! They were going to take me to the brig until I explained I was from Kansas & a landlubber; and then they let me go.
Hey, how much more of an alibi did I need, I don’t see any large bodies of water out here! :(
Ahhhh, mmmm… Oh sorry, just thinking about the timing of those “waves!”
Now where was I? Oh, yes that interview thingy.
So here it is, my from the hip, nothing held back, interview with Waleed Khalid, current CM Top Gun in victory %, and his tell-it-like-it-is in his own words reply. :thumup:
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Waleed.
What do you enjoy most about playing CM?
The realism of the we-go resolution. I have played wargames since 1980 and the I-go-u-go system is okay, but once I had played my first game of CMBO I have not gone back to any other pc wargames...:)
Also, it lets me put in place the British Army Battle Drills I learnt as a teenager in the Combined Cadet Force at Bradford Grammar School from 1985-1988. (There were only 8 of us, six with Lee Enfield .303" Rifles, and 2 in the Bren Gun team, who practiced the drills.)
Finally I learnt, in the British Territorial Army 1991-3, the importance of reconnaissance, LOS, enfilade and defilade, ammo conservation and so on - and CMBO lets me put this into practice as well.
To me CMBO is "Real" and I play imagining being one of the officers and the digital soldiers my real men. CMBO keeps my mind sharp and the world-wide camaraderie of honourable players is amazing.
Can you explain a little about why you chose the Avatar you have?
Ever since I was a child I have liked good action films. Kelly's Heroes is one of my all time favorites - so Kelly it had to be. I especially like the character's strength and flaws - you know, staying within the US Army after being framed for a friendly fire incident and court-marshaled...a main flaw, deciding to desert, appropriating 16 million dollars of Nazi gold on the way.
Kurt Steiner from The Eagle has Landed would have been my first choice, but I was unable to find a good picture.
Is there a special "winning" strategy you employ that you can share
with us?
Try and use RL World War II successful tactics. Read up on specific battles if you want and learn form what went wrong. Also, learn from game to game by limiting yourself to a few units you like the look of - learn them inside out and then expand your unit picks.
In my case I played for an entire year with the lightest FO arty and no Panzerschrecks or Bazookas and only using M4A1s, M4A3s, Sherman IIs, Fireflys, Stuarts, Pumas, Mark IVs, StuGs and StuHs.
Also I have not "chess-booked" CMBO. Some players know the pattern of arty, ranges for C&C, LOS ranges for effective spotting etc etc - I do not. At times I have to order units to move back to get in range of C&C or avoid friendly arty: and I play without a map grid - it looks so beautiful like that. You do find out major effects the hard way though - it was a big surprise to me to find out how good sharpshooters are at spotting you while remaining unseen themselves - I only discovered this in July 2003...lol.
I used to play League Chess in 1993/4 and realised it was all rote-learning knowledge and memory re-call. To me, by not knowing all the game engine facts and figures in a "chess-book" manner I find CMBO very stimulating, both in the great ups and the great downs... big grin
What is your favorite vehicle to select in CM?
Very difficult to answer as I always vary my force selection - probably:
M4A3s for the the US/French.
Challenger for the Brits.
Stuarts for the Canadians.
Cromwell VI for the Poles.
Axis: StuGs, Mark IVs and PSW Armoured Cars.
Are you interested in the new CM-AK game? What do you expect to be the most enjoyable aspect of it?
Definitely. The Afrika Korps was my favourite Airfix Army (I actually designed my own miniature tabletop wargaming system as a 10-year old...grin); 8th Army was my first real wargame (by Attactix c1988) and I read up a great deal about this Theatre of Operations as a hobby.
The most enjoyable aspect will be actually playing in the desert environment and getting to use tactics for desert warfare.
What is the one improvement you'd like to see in CM?
MGs to be more effective than CMBO and less effective than CMBB.
What are the most games you've had going at one time?
19 when I started getting into it December 2001...now 5.
Do you play on more than one ladder?
Three - the Blitz, Warfare HQ and Band of Brothers. Currently I only have 1 game on Warfare HQ and 4 on BoB, with none on The Blitz.
Is there a particular side or types of units to play? What about a
particular game setting?
I like to have 2 battles against an opponent, one as each "side" with the same parameters.
Used to like human picks, but am getting into Computer picks in a big way...grin.
Not a fan of scenarios, except ones made brand new for Tourneys - other than that anything goes, in any weather, and date et al.
Does your wife/girlfriend play CM? How does she "tolerate" your desire to rule the tactical battlefield?
My wife, Norma, played from June 2001 to May 2002 but grew tired of the unreal weakness of armour. I actually fell into CMBO by accident...
I won all wargames of all eras that I played at Leeds Wargames Club in December 1999 to February 2001 and had a win rate of 98% for Warhammer 40k, only losing to Games Workshop cronies at Grand Tourneys. The only real Tourneys were GW ones, and I tired of the corruption on 4th February 2001 and never played in their Tourneys again. I took to PC games to fill the void and dallied with one new game a month. Eastern Front II in February 2001, Microsoft Air Combat Simulator in March 2001 and then hit upon Steel Panthers in April 2001, joined the Grognards Ladder (which later became part of The Blitz) and PBEM it was...grin. I liked the Grognards as you had to be vetted and introduced by two members who could vouch for you, and you had to "pass" a probationary period - it was great club.
Norma and I were amazed at the adrenalin rush of PBEM and she wanted to be part of it, but she did not like Steel Panthers. So I rooted around the internet in April 2001, downloaded the CMBO DEMO and left it at that. The next day she played it and ordered it from the US. I did not play until the start of June and was hooked - she had kept telling me that it was superb, but I was way out of order, even arrogant with a "Steel Panthers is better" attitude. I owe Norma a great deal.
I am very lucky - my wife and children love watching CMBO Movies, and the children like playing simple scenarios. CMBO has actually brought all four of us much closer together as we ALL like it...big grin. Actually it is very relaxed in the house, even on "bad" days as we have Broadband and 4 PC's, so there is always a PC for one of us to use and the telephone line is always free. (Lucky b*****d, I know.)
Since it is so unusual to find a woman playing any type PC war-games does your wife have any "special" background that gives her that unique quality?
Norma grew up with relatives and friends in the British Army, Royal Navy and RAF. She was born in 1956 and is half English, quarter Scottish, quarter Irish. She spent some years of her childhood in Belfast (in the mid-60's) and when she was in her 20's and 30's was one of the most experienced cavers in Great Britain. She knows many cavers, climbers and cave divers and has been all around the world. She grew up accustomed to hard physical work and a physical hobby in which friends die. I reckon her life was very similar to a military one and the camaraderie her and her caving buddies built up was similar to the one I built up with fellow soldiers. (Except I have not seen death first hand among friends.) Even now, some of her friends have contacts with foreign military - recently the Mexican Army and Vietnamese Army (they explore caves in those countries) - it is amazing speaking to her friends: the knowledge they have...wow.
I reckon Norma is a natural - she always wanted to play wargames but her friends were never into it. So she was into PC games...she had her first top of the range PC in 1992, but began programming in 1978. She also has a very sharp mind, used to play chess and is a highly experienced Tax Consultant here in the UK. I think it was bound to happen sooner or later, and once we were married we found we had loads more in common - I mean, she likes Angel, Dirty Harry, Doctor Who, military history, chess, Bond, war movies, Die Hard, tanks, English literature, MiG-29s and Sujhoi-27's...the list goes on and on - she even likes Becker, my favourite TV show at the moment (she says Becker reminds her of me before the children were born...lol).
As we do everything together she is picking up more and more military knowledge, but is less into wargames now that we have the games consoles.
You mentioned her dislike for the "unreal armor weaknesses" does she have a military background?
No military background as such - apart from two close friends (friends no longer), one in the Royal Navy who fought in the Falklands, and one in the SAS. She picked up loads - in fact she is hard, can do basic plumbing and electrical work, is a good first aider, can do basic carpentry and landscaping and even car maintenance...lol. Once we were married I showed her the Military History side and how battles were fought from Roman Empire days to the present. (We used to play The History of the World and Civilization board games before we had a PC.)
She knows a good deal about WWII armour, and in CMBO she dislikes the one shot penetration kill, and the way AFVs can fire on the move super accurately. Oh, and how a hull-down waiting AFV can be killed by a fast moving one in full view without the waiting one even spotting it as it moves into LOS. (When we first experienced this we both thought our opponents must be cheating :eek: ...we soon realized it was the CMBO engine and NOT our opponents.)
Has she played CMBB and if so what does she think about that?
No, never. Norma stopped CM in June 2002 and has not gone back to it...and probably never will: since 7th and 9th August 2003 she has been playing Nightfire on PS2 and HALO on the X-box in the little spare time she has.
And is there a particular reason if not that you do not play CMBB?
I have not tired of CMBO....grin. There are a great deal of CMBO weapons systems I have not tried. It has taken me 2-plus years to start tiring of human-picks. With computer picks I reckon I have months and months of CMBO gaming ahead of me. Also I have little interest in the Eastern Front - the African and Mediterranean fronts are another matter, so I may go straight for CMAK. I have played the CMBB Demo and think the armour clock and random game length are both superb improvements: these will be in CMAK along with other improvements, so I will probably not play CMBB at all.
How old are your children?
Tara is 6, and Karam is 4. She likes scenarios on flat featureless terrain - so she can see all units and give them a good pasting. She likes to use a mix of units. Karam just likes flat plain maps, King Tigers and enemy units packed on the map to be slaughtered: he likes explosions...lol.
>From 1988 to 1997 I played "board" wargames (I was unbeaten at Arnhem Bridge and 8th Army, both by Attactix, and at Tac Air, by Avalon Hill) and PC games like Panzer General, Master of Orion, The Settlers and Space Hulk.
Norma and I married in January 1996 and Tara was born February 1997, Karam in February 2000. I stopped gaming in January 1997, and fell into Warhammer 40k by chance - I was buying a present for a nephew and became hooked myself. This has meant that Tara and Karam have grown up their entire lives in a "wargaming" home and they feel totally at ease and comfortable with all types of wargames, war movies, military history and so on....well, apart from some of the "smell" of 40k and Warhammer players which used to make my daughter and wife feel sick...lol. (My family accompanied me to all the GW Grand Tourneys 1998, 1999 and 2000.)
However, on 7th August we got a PS2 and on 9th August an X-Box: both of them have not played CMBO since...grin.
You have an interesting name from whence do you hail?
My parents are from Pakistan and became British Citizens in 1967. I was born in England in 1969 and they gave me an Arabic rather than Asian name. They are both well-educated and know a great deal of literature and history - I found out that Khalid bin Al-Waleed is an important historical figure in Islamic and Military History, and is massive in Arabic History.
What "special" unit is on you must have list when purchasing units?
I always buy a company commander and an arty FO - other than that I chop and change. I do like to have at a balanced force of infantry with MGs, mortars, AT-weapons, and just buy Armour on a whim, but usually units I know inside out.
Do you prefer randomly selected units or purchasing your own?
From June 2001 to June 2003 human purchase. From July 2003 I am a BIG fan of computer picks as I am beginning to notice buying patterns amongst opposing players....lol. (I currently only manage to complete a game every six weeks on average, and have played about 40 in over 2 years.)
If I asked your opponents about you what is the one thing they'd
say?
Always polite, but "unlively" in E-mails. I simply state the turn and plot - for "talking" I spend my time posting on the Band of Brothers Message Board...big grin.
Do you have a favorite military/historical book? What about movie?
Book - Bounce the Rhine by Charles Whiting, as it was the first "serious" military book I ever read (in 1987). There are better books, but that has a place in my heart.
Movie - Kelly's Heroes. I have seen this film many, many times over the last 27 years and at different times in my life, different characters have appealed to me. The last 3 years it has been Kelly. I could watch this Movie again and again and again...and have...grin.
Do you have a favorite Military Leader?
Scipio - ever since studying this guy as an 11 year-old in 1980, he has been my favourite by a long shot. He was amazing and the only Military Leader fully competent in Everything: from Diplomacy to Tactics, Strategies to Politics et al. Especially important to me as a lesson in life is that he was a survivor of Cannae (he was a Junior Roman Officer), never gave up, worked his way up and even offered equitable terms to Carthage after he conquered her Empire...what a guy.(Mmmm - I sound like a fan of Ace Rimmer...lol)
If any what other computer games do you play?
None! If you count consoles, Goldeneye on the N64 June 2001 to August 2003, and HALO on the X-Box from August 2003.
Do you currently use any "Mods" and if so which ones?
This is where many of your readers will say "He is WEIRD"....lol. I would be happy playing with symbols on counters on a basic map...as long as it is a We-Go system. From June 2001 to February 2003 I played unmodded. Then my wife installed MDMP-1 and MDMP-2 (Mad Dog Packs from Combat Mission HQ) as a surprise and I was amazed. The sound helped me immensely as I could recognize the weapons being fired, and my gaming improved. To me, eye-candy does not do much - but ear-candy is superb...grin.
Since you are "overseas" what is the one place in America you'd like to see if you only had one day here & why?
It would be the site of the World Trade Center. It affected me as much as my two children being born. Back in September 2001 I was a house-husband during the day and worked at Natwest Bank in the evenings as a Customer Service Officer. Every week day I would take my 4 year-old daughter to school, do the shopping, the chores and then turn the televison on to in time to watch Diagnosis Murder (with Dick van Dyke). My son loves that programme and I grew to like it...lol. There was a sudden newsflash. It was 11th September 2001. The entire atrocity unfolded right in front of my eyes, live on TV (we missed the first attack, but the others were fed in "live").
The world stopped, I just held my son and watched in detached shock - all the sights and smells and sounds around the house are still burned in my memory: especially my baby son who could not understand my behaviour, but held on tight anyway. I rang my wife and she was one of the first to know - most people did not believe her at work or me at school.
Even now the entire day, from 1355 hours (British Time) to the next morning is there in my mind. Norma and I will go there one day.
Is there anything else you think the WHQ members would like to know
about you that I haven't asked?
What do I drink (alcohol): answer - I have never had any alcohol...(members pick themselves off the floor in horror - well, the ones who drink do... grin).
Thank you very much for that great in-depth interview Waleed, it was quite insightful, see you on the battlefields.
NOW you may clap!
Palantir
Up next month, my 3-Alarm interview with Robert “Gonzo” Wakie, WHQ’s new CM Tournament Coordinator.
(Please hold your cheers & applause until the end, thank you.) :hush:
The other WHQ staffers were not amused to get my last player “interview” expense account and firmly told me “no more jetting off to do interviews!” So in keeping with their request I didn’t take jet anywhere this time, I took a cruise-ship to do the interview! :D
Ah, the weather across the Atlantic to and from NY / London was lovely & beautiful; and of course so were the girls lounging around the pools! ;)
(Was it my fault I just happened to pick the same cruise that had the Annual Playboy Centerfold Party going on? Well was it?) :coolban:
The only alarming thing to happen was when a big wave hit the ship and I accidentally slipped and ripped off Miss April’s swimsuit… :love:
It was the waves fault I tell you, the waves fault! :whist:
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it: well, because it’s the same one I officially told the ships security guards. And could I help it if as they were leading me away the next big wave caused me to slip again and Miss December was the closest thing to steady myself on and…! They were going to take me to the brig until I explained I was from Kansas & a landlubber; and then they let me go.
Hey, how much more of an alibi did I need, I don’t see any large bodies of water out here! :(
Ahhhh, mmmm… Oh sorry, just thinking about the timing of those “waves!”
Now where was I? Oh, yes that interview thingy.
So here it is, my from the hip, nothing held back, interview with Waleed Khalid, current CM Top Gun in victory %, and his tell-it-like-it-is in his own words reply. :thumup:
Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Waleed.
What do you enjoy most about playing CM?
The realism of the we-go resolution. I have played wargames since 1980 and the I-go-u-go system is okay, but once I had played my first game of CMBO I have not gone back to any other pc wargames...:)
Also, it lets me put in place the British Army Battle Drills I learnt as a teenager in the Combined Cadet Force at Bradford Grammar School from 1985-1988. (There were only 8 of us, six with Lee Enfield .303" Rifles, and 2 in the Bren Gun team, who practiced the drills.)
Finally I learnt, in the British Territorial Army 1991-3, the importance of reconnaissance, LOS, enfilade and defilade, ammo conservation and so on - and CMBO lets me put this into practice as well.
To me CMBO is "Real" and I play imagining being one of the officers and the digital soldiers my real men. CMBO keeps my mind sharp and the world-wide camaraderie of honourable players is amazing.
Can you explain a little about why you chose the Avatar you have?
Ever since I was a child I have liked good action films. Kelly's Heroes is one of my all time favorites - so Kelly it had to be. I especially like the character's strength and flaws - you know, staying within the US Army after being framed for a friendly fire incident and court-marshaled...a main flaw, deciding to desert, appropriating 16 million dollars of Nazi gold on the way.
Kurt Steiner from The Eagle has Landed would have been my first choice, but I was unable to find a good picture.
Is there a special "winning" strategy you employ that you can share
with us?
Try and use RL World War II successful tactics. Read up on specific battles if you want and learn form what went wrong. Also, learn from game to game by limiting yourself to a few units you like the look of - learn them inside out and then expand your unit picks.
In my case I played for an entire year with the lightest FO arty and no Panzerschrecks or Bazookas and only using M4A1s, M4A3s, Sherman IIs, Fireflys, Stuarts, Pumas, Mark IVs, StuGs and StuHs.
Also I have not "chess-booked" CMBO. Some players know the pattern of arty, ranges for C&C, LOS ranges for effective spotting etc etc - I do not. At times I have to order units to move back to get in range of C&C or avoid friendly arty: and I play without a map grid - it looks so beautiful like that. You do find out major effects the hard way though - it was a big surprise to me to find out how good sharpshooters are at spotting you while remaining unseen themselves - I only discovered this in July 2003...lol.
I used to play League Chess in 1993/4 and realised it was all rote-learning knowledge and memory re-call. To me, by not knowing all the game engine facts and figures in a "chess-book" manner I find CMBO very stimulating, both in the great ups and the great downs... big grin
What is your favorite vehicle to select in CM?
Very difficult to answer as I always vary my force selection - probably:
M4A3s for the the US/French.
Challenger for the Brits.
Stuarts for the Canadians.
Cromwell VI for the Poles.
Axis: StuGs, Mark IVs and PSW Armoured Cars.
Are you interested in the new CM-AK game? What do you expect to be the most enjoyable aspect of it?
Definitely. The Afrika Korps was my favourite Airfix Army (I actually designed my own miniature tabletop wargaming system as a 10-year old...grin); 8th Army was my first real wargame (by Attactix c1988) and I read up a great deal about this Theatre of Operations as a hobby.
The most enjoyable aspect will be actually playing in the desert environment and getting to use tactics for desert warfare.
What is the one improvement you'd like to see in CM?
MGs to be more effective than CMBO and less effective than CMBB.
What are the most games you've had going at one time?
19 when I started getting into it December 2001...now 5.
Do you play on more than one ladder?
Three - the Blitz, Warfare HQ and Band of Brothers. Currently I only have 1 game on Warfare HQ and 4 on BoB, with none on The Blitz.
Is there a particular side or types of units to play? What about a
particular game setting?
I like to have 2 battles against an opponent, one as each "side" with the same parameters.
Used to like human picks, but am getting into Computer picks in a big way...grin.
Not a fan of scenarios, except ones made brand new for Tourneys - other than that anything goes, in any weather, and date et al.
Does your wife/girlfriend play CM? How does she "tolerate" your desire to rule the tactical battlefield?
My wife, Norma, played from June 2001 to May 2002 but grew tired of the unreal weakness of armour. I actually fell into CMBO by accident...
I won all wargames of all eras that I played at Leeds Wargames Club in December 1999 to February 2001 and had a win rate of 98% for Warhammer 40k, only losing to Games Workshop cronies at Grand Tourneys. The only real Tourneys were GW ones, and I tired of the corruption on 4th February 2001 and never played in their Tourneys again. I took to PC games to fill the void and dallied with one new game a month. Eastern Front II in February 2001, Microsoft Air Combat Simulator in March 2001 and then hit upon Steel Panthers in April 2001, joined the Grognards Ladder (which later became part of The Blitz) and PBEM it was...grin. I liked the Grognards as you had to be vetted and introduced by two members who could vouch for you, and you had to "pass" a probationary period - it was great club.
Norma and I were amazed at the adrenalin rush of PBEM and she wanted to be part of it, but she did not like Steel Panthers. So I rooted around the internet in April 2001, downloaded the CMBO DEMO and left it at that. The next day she played it and ordered it from the US. I did not play until the start of June and was hooked - she had kept telling me that it was superb, but I was way out of order, even arrogant with a "Steel Panthers is better" attitude. I owe Norma a great deal.
I am very lucky - my wife and children love watching CMBO Movies, and the children like playing simple scenarios. CMBO has actually brought all four of us much closer together as we ALL like it...big grin. Actually it is very relaxed in the house, even on "bad" days as we have Broadband and 4 PC's, so there is always a PC for one of us to use and the telephone line is always free. (Lucky b*****d, I know.)
Since it is so unusual to find a woman playing any type PC war-games does your wife have any "special" background that gives her that unique quality?
Norma grew up with relatives and friends in the British Army, Royal Navy and RAF. She was born in 1956 and is half English, quarter Scottish, quarter Irish. She spent some years of her childhood in Belfast (in the mid-60's) and when she was in her 20's and 30's was one of the most experienced cavers in Great Britain. She knows many cavers, climbers and cave divers and has been all around the world. She grew up accustomed to hard physical work and a physical hobby in which friends die. I reckon her life was very similar to a military one and the camaraderie her and her caving buddies built up was similar to the one I built up with fellow soldiers. (Except I have not seen death first hand among friends.) Even now, some of her friends have contacts with foreign military - recently the Mexican Army and Vietnamese Army (they explore caves in those countries) - it is amazing speaking to her friends: the knowledge they have...wow.
I reckon Norma is a natural - she always wanted to play wargames but her friends were never into it. So she was into PC games...she had her first top of the range PC in 1992, but began programming in 1978. She also has a very sharp mind, used to play chess and is a highly experienced Tax Consultant here in the UK. I think it was bound to happen sooner or later, and once we were married we found we had loads more in common - I mean, she likes Angel, Dirty Harry, Doctor Who, military history, chess, Bond, war movies, Die Hard, tanks, English literature, MiG-29s and Sujhoi-27's...the list goes on and on - she even likes Becker, my favourite TV show at the moment (she says Becker reminds her of me before the children were born...lol).
As we do everything together she is picking up more and more military knowledge, but is less into wargames now that we have the games consoles.
You mentioned her dislike for the "unreal armor weaknesses" does she have a military background?
No military background as such - apart from two close friends (friends no longer), one in the Royal Navy who fought in the Falklands, and one in the SAS. She picked up loads - in fact she is hard, can do basic plumbing and electrical work, is a good first aider, can do basic carpentry and landscaping and even car maintenance...lol. Once we were married I showed her the Military History side and how battles were fought from Roman Empire days to the present. (We used to play The History of the World and Civilization board games before we had a PC.)
She knows a good deal about WWII armour, and in CMBO she dislikes the one shot penetration kill, and the way AFVs can fire on the move super accurately. Oh, and how a hull-down waiting AFV can be killed by a fast moving one in full view without the waiting one even spotting it as it moves into LOS. (When we first experienced this we both thought our opponents must be cheating :eek: ...we soon realized it was the CMBO engine and NOT our opponents.)
Has she played CMBB and if so what does she think about that?
No, never. Norma stopped CM in June 2002 and has not gone back to it...and probably never will: since 7th and 9th August 2003 she has been playing Nightfire on PS2 and HALO on the X-box in the little spare time she has.
And is there a particular reason if not that you do not play CMBB?
I have not tired of CMBO....grin. There are a great deal of CMBO weapons systems I have not tried. It has taken me 2-plus years to start tiring of human-picks. With computer picks I reckon I have months and months of CMBO gaming ahead of me. Also I have little interest in the Eastern Front - the African and Mediterranean fronts are another matter, so I may go straight for CMAK. I have played the CMBB Demo and think the armour clock and random game length are both superb improvements: these will be in CMAK along with other improvements, so I will probably not play CMBB at all.
How old are your children?
Tara is 6, and Karam is 4. She likes scenarios on flat featureless terrain - so she can see all units and give them a good pasting. She likes to use a mix of units. Karam just likes flat plain maps, King Tigers and enemy units packed on the map to be slaughtered: he likes explosions...lol.
>From 1988 to 1997 I played "board" wargames (I was unbeaten at Arnhem Bridge and 8th Army, both by Attactix, and at Tac Air, by Avalon Hill) and PC games like Panzer General, Master of Orion, The Settlers and Space Hulk.
Norma and I married in January 1996 and Tara was born February 1997, Karam in February 2000. I stopped gaming in January 1997, and fell into Warhammer 40k by chance - I was buying a present for a nephew and became hooked myself. This has meant that Tara and Karam have grown up their entire lives in a "wargaming" home and they feel totally at ease and comfortable with all types of wargames, war movies, military history and so on....well, apart from some of the "smell" of 40k and Warhammer players which used to make my daughter and wife feel sick...lol. (My family accompanied me to all the GW Grand Tourneys 1998, 1999 and 2000.)
However, on 7th August we got a PS2 and on 9th August an X-Box: both of them have not played CMBO since...grin.
You have an interesting name from whence do you hail?
My parents are from Pakistan and became British Citizens in 1967. I was born in England in 1969 and they gave me an Arabic rather than Asian name. They are both well-educated and know a great deal of literature and history - I found out that Khalid bin Al-Waleed is an important historical figure in Islamic and Military History, and is massive in Arabic History.
What "special" unit is on you must have list when purchasing units?
I always buy a company commander and an arty FO - other than that I chop and change. I do like to have at a balanced force of infantry with MGs, mortars, AT-weapons, and just buy Armour on a whim, but usually units I know inside out.
Do you prefer randomly selected units or purchasing your own?
From June 2001 to June 2003 human purchase. From July 2003 I am a BIG fan of computer picks as I am beginning to notice buying patterns amongst opposing players....lol. (I currently only manage to complete a game every six weeks on average, and have played about 40 in over 2 years.)
If I asked your opponents about you what is the one thing they'd
say?
Always polite, but "unlively" in E-mails. I simply state the turn and plot - for "talking" I spend my time posting on the Band of Brothers Message Board...big grin.
Do you have a favorite military/historical book? What about movie?
Book - Bounce the Rhine by Charles Whiting, as it was the first "serious" military book I ever read (in 1987). There are better books, but that has a place in my heart.
Movie - Kelly's Heroes. I have seen this film many, many times over the last 27 years and at different times in my life, different characters have appealed to me. The last 3 years it has been Kelly. I could watch this Movie again and again and again...and have...grin.
Do you have a favorite Military Leader?
Scipio - ever since studying this guy as an 11 year-old in 1980, he has been my favourite by a long shot. He was amazing and the only Military Leader fully competent in Everything: from Diplomacy to Tactics, Strategies to Politics et al. Especially important to me as a lesson in life is that he was a survivor of Cannae (he was a Junior Roman Officer), never gave up, worked his way up and even offered equitable terms to Carthage after he conquered her Empire...what a guy.(Mmmm - I sound like a fan of Ace Rimmer...lol)
If any what other computer games do you play?
None! If you count consoles, Goldeneye on the N64 June 2001 to August 2003, and HALO on the X-Box from August 2003.
Do you currently use any "Mods" and if so which ones?
This is where many of your readers will say "He is WEIRD"....lol. I would be happy playing with symbols on counters on a basic map...as long as it is a We-Go system. From June 2001 to February 2003 I played unmodded. Then my wife installed MDMP-1 and MDMP-2 (Mad Dog Packs from Combat Mission HQ) as a surprise and I was amazed. The sound helped me immensely as I could recognize the weapons being fired, and my gaming improved. To me, eye-candy does not do much - but ear-candy is superb...grin.
Since you are "overseas" what is the one place in America you'd like to see if you only had one day here & why?
It would be the site of the World Trade Center. It affected me as much as my two children being born. Back in September 2001 I was a house-husband during the day and worked at Natwest Bank in the evenings as a Customer Service Officer. Every week day I would take my 4 year-old daughter to school, do the shopping, the chores and then turn the televison on to in time to watch Diagnosis Murder (with Dick van Dyke). My son loves that programme and I grew to like it...lol. There was a sudden newsflash. It was 11th September 2001. The entire atrocity unfolded right in front of my eyes, live on TV (we missed the first attack, but the others were fed in "live").
The world stopped, I just held my son and watched in detached shock - all the sights and smells and sounds around the house are still burned in my memory: especially my baby son who could not understand my behaviour, but held on tight anyway. I rang my wife and she was one of the first to know - most people did not believe her at work or me at school.
Even now the entire day, from 1355 hours (British Time) to the next morning is there in my mind. Norma and I will go there one day.
Is there anything else you think the WHQ members would like to know
about you that I haven't asked?
What do I drink (alcohol): answer - I have never had any alcohol...(members pick themselves off the floor in horror - well, the ones who drink do... grin).
Thank you very much for that great in-depth interview Waleed, it was quite insightful, see you on the battlefields.
NOW you may clap!
Palantir
Up next month, my 3-Alarm interview with Robert “Gonzo” Wakie, WHQ’s new CM Tournament Coordinator.