Russian Steel - Feel the thrill of being a Russian commander in 1941!

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Russian Steel - Feel the thrill of being a Russian comm... - 3/23/2002 11:20:24 PM

Fabio Prado

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Joined: 5/23/2000
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To all my fellow SPWAW fans:

I have the pleasure to announce a new SPWAW Campaign, and a very special one, as you will start in the role of a Russian commander in 1941, facing the dreaded Wehrmacht attacking Mother Russia with everything they've got!

This campaign is a work in progress (actually you can already download the first nine battles) by a selected group of designers, under the coordination of Brad Darroch. Russian Steel is planned to cover the entire length of the War in the East, and it will be released in installments, the first one is just waiting for you...;)

This is a massive, serious project, that will be an essential item to any SPWAW fan.

Enough talking. Go to the Russian Steel page and know all about this exciting campaign!

You can access the Russian Steel page and download the first nine battles from the
Armor Site's SPWAW Page , from the Armor Site's SPWAW Campaigns Page , or by going directly to the Russian Steel page.

A very special 'thank you' to Brad and to the brave group of designers and testers of Russian Steel.

Have fun, and thank you all for your support!:)

Fab

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Post #: 1

- 3/23/2002 11:38:18 PM

Taglia

Posts: 115
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From: Italy
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Just downloaded it ... I'll try it now ;)

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Post #: 2

- 3/23/2002 11:51:29 PM

parusski

Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
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This sounds great. I will download and try. Can't wait for the finished product.

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"I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast."- W.T. Sherman

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 3

- 3/24/2002 1:25:41 AM

Akmatov

Posts: 495
Joined: 7/26/2000
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
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Hmm, sounds like a very interesting idea. The Russian equipment and troops in 1941 were actually fairly good, it was the way they were misused that was such a disaster. Now with our inspired leadership might not the Red Army have prevailed sooner? Ha Berlin! Urah, Urah, Urah!

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 4

- 3/24/2002 2:33:40 AM

El_Peco

Posts: 89
Joined: 5/25/2001
From: Milan, Italy
Status: offline

To have the chance to fight with the Red Army from 1941 (ugly losses) to 1945 (great victories) is simply a dream!
I downloaded first part and I'm looking forward to see the project grow!:D

Regards.

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 5

- 3/24/2002 2:36:46 AM

Bing

Posts: 1366
Joined: 5/20/2000
From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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I got it ... I got it ... I got it!!!

Fabulous Fabio racks up another coup: Here I am waiting for a campaign that may never start - and he gives us a campaign I can play right now!!

My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, if I had a brother he too would thank you.

Besides that, grazie!

Der Bingle

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 6

- 3/24/2002 3:01:12 AM

Charlie

Posts: 21
Joined: 3/22/2002
From: Valencia, Spain
Status: offline

I�ve just downloaded it!! Tomorrow will try my first scenario but this campaign seems very interesting ;)

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" Es mejor morir de pie que vivir de rodillas"

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Post #: 7

- 3/24/2002 5:11:53 AM

Warrior2

Posts: 237
Joined: 6/25/2001
From: West Palm Beach, FL USA
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The fun just never ends. :D

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Post #: 8

- 3/24/2002 5:48:59 AM

Bing

Posts: 1366
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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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Fabio - Any idea which OOB's were used - dates would do.

Also: What is the date and number of the mech.exe under which the Russian Steel scenarios were tested?

I got RS in the WAW Campaign directory and it looks like it will be a real winner. Congratos to everyone involved with the creation of this campaign.

BTW, I did download and read the separate Russian Steel doc file, nothing in there about OOB and mech.exe dates.

Bing

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 9

- 3/24/2002 6:20:41 AM

Penetrator

Posts: 268
Joined: 3/11/2002
From: Iceland
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Not to toot my own horn, but Brad Darroch (don't know his identity here... hmmmm) and myself have been doing the most work on this campaign (see the thread "Campaign Collective").
We intend that 35 battles for the period 06/41-02/43 will be ready on 22. june. The original intent was for ca 100 battles to extend through berlin. This is still on the cards, but only if we get more dedicated designers/testers on board. I would only consider this if we get 5-10 people that stick through to the end.

The scenarios should be made according to v7.1 OOBs. Testing has been on various platforms, 6.1, 7.0, 7.1.

Hope you all enjoy to the fullest.

Will try to answer any questions, on this thread or via email.

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Post #: 10

- 3/24/2002 6:27:22 AM

Kaakao

Posts: 207
Joined: 3/14/2002
From: Finland
Status: offline

Played few turns and got to say, this thing kicks ***. Great job guys.

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Post #: 11

- 3/24/2002 6:59:21 AM

Bing

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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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"The scenarios should be made according to v7.1 OOBs. " - there's lotsa different 7.1 OOB's out there - the dates, please? Would the 2-27-02 OOB's work OK?

I wanna get started!!

Bing

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Post #: 12

It's nice... - 3/24/2002 7:05:32 AM

Rundstedt

Posts: 149
Joined: 7/23/2001
From: Sweden
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I think it's nice to see a campaign that fully simulates the Soviet side of the conflict. The emphasis has almost always been on producing scenarios and campaigns that is seen through the eyes of a German commander, but for once someone is constructing a campaign for a "non-German" player.

Although I enjoy playing as a Russian commander, it could also be something special if campaigns were designed for the other nationalities in the game, f ex France or Hungary or Rumania.

Excellent work, soldat! Keep it up and you'll earn yourself an Iron Cross.

Regards, von Rundstedt (OB WEST)

_____________________________

"We never underestimated the Red Army, contrary to the general conception. The last German military attach� in Moscow, General K�string - a very competent man - had kept us well-informed about the condition of the Red Army. But Hitler refused to believe h

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 13

- 3/24/2002 7:06:23 AM

AbsntMndedProf

Posts: 1780
Joined: 7/6/2001
From: Boston, Massachusetts
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What can I say? Spasiba! (One of the few words of Russian I know.) :D :D

Eric Maietta

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Post #: 14

- 3/24/2002 7:12:18 AM

Penetrator

Posts: 268
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From: Iceland
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bing
[B]"The scenarios should be made according to v7.1 OOBs. " - there's lotsa different 7.1 OOB's out there - the dates, please? Would the 2-27-02 OOB's work OK?

I wanna get started!!

Bing [/B][/QUOTE]

Awww... there is a wide range. The final version should conform to the final 7.1, but right now, use the most recent you've got and cross your fingers! No great problems of this kind are anticipated.

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Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!

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Post #: 15

It's nice... - 3/24/2002 7:14:16 AM

Rundstedt

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From: Sweden
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Post #: 16

- 3/24/2002 7:19:00 AM

Bing

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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Penetrator
[B]

Awww... there is a wide range. The final version should conform to the final 7.1, but right now, use the most recent you've got and cross your fingers! No great problems of this kind are anticipated. [/B][/QUOTE]

OK: the latest and greatest 7.1 mech.exe and 2-27-02 OOB's all the way.

Thanks for the quick reply. Be back after the foist battle.

Bing

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 17

- 3/24/2002 11:03:04 AM

Bing

Posts: 1366
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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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The Russian Steel doc asks for feedback but does not give an e-mail address. So, until further notice, I will post here and hope no one minds.

Am playing turn 3 of the first battle, thus far I like RS about as well as anything I have played recently. Fields of fire are well managed for the Soviet - a peet peeve of mine, some scens are so bad that in real life the commander would have been replaced on the spot - there are lots of interesting units, plenty of armor and I've added 120mm onboard mortars, plus motorcycles which are having a ball rooting out the Boche.

I have found a most curious Soviet unit: R7 - SO SMG Section.
This SMG unit has two 76.2mm 02/30 FH as part of the squad - one has no ammo, the other does and defintely fires when the rest of the unit does. The counterpart Y7 does not have the field howitzers, instead it has Molotov cocktails and a 7.62mm LMG, which may have been intended for the boys in R7.

Understand, they are not complaining about this, a squad with that kind of firepower is as nasty as one squad is going to get. But I kinda think they are not supposed to have those field howitzers and have told them they are going to have to give them back - which has not made me popular.

But as Oscar, my 1st Sgt used to say, "I ain't runnin' no ****** personality contest." Ah ... a commander's life is not a happy one.

Back to the front, I just came back here for a little pull on the potato vodka bottle.

Bing

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Post #: 18

- 3/24/2002 12:46:15 PM

chief

Posts: 1660
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From: Haines City FL, USA
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FEEDBACK on Battle 01...DUBNO....Unable to Human Deploy troops....They are all lined up on the East end ahead of blue flags.
If I auto deploy they start in the same location as above. Using Ver7.0 game.....That is the East end 2nd row.....Otherwise it seems to play very well, can't say as much for me though.:( :confused: :cool:

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"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief

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Post #: 19

- 3/24/2002 9:10:57 PM

Bing

Posts: 1366
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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by chief
[B]FEEDBACK on Battle 01...DUBNO....Unable to Human Deploy troops....They are all lined up on the East end ahead of blue flags.
If I auto deploy they start in the same location as above. Using Ver7.0 game.....That is the East end 2nd row.....Otherwise it seems to play very well, can't say as much for me though.:( :confused: :cool: [/B][/QUOTE]

Chief - On the deployment screen, go about half way down, just north of the Ammo Dump - Command Post area - you will find a row of flags. You can deploy behind that row of flags UP TO the northern extremity of the row, then you have to go back to the edge of the map.

BTW, leaving a few mobile units on the map edge, right by the road, to immedately go west, is not a bad idea at all. But you have to sort of voodoo the thing to get them in the right place: Once you move the units down to the deployment area, you cannot go back to the map edge.

Least ways I couldn't. When you are purchasing, if you can arrange the mobile units to be just right in the ladder of unit designation, they will be right by the road, otherwise several hexes away.

I didn't do the purchase over again, but if I ever restart RS I will try the above - I think maybe "G" or "H" would be about right.

Bing

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Post #: 20

- 3/24/2002 9:52:59 PM

Penetrator

Posts: 268
Joined: 3/11/2002
From: Iceland
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bing
[B]
This SMG unit has two 76.2mm 02/30 FH as part of the squad - one has no ammo, the other does and defintely fires when the rest of the unit does. The counterpart Y7 does not have the field howitzers, instead it has Molotov cocktails and a 7.62mm LMG, which may have been intended for the boys in R7.

[/B][/QUOTE]

Darn, that is one of my blunders. Will fix it.

UPDATE:

I cannot find this problem. I take it you are referring to slots 3 & 4 in unit R7? They are molotovs, (not how they are supposed to be though).
Has anyone else seen howitzers in unit R7 (or any other infantry unit in this battle)?

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Post #: 21

- 3/24/2002 11:23:32 PM

Bing

Posts: 1366
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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Penetrator
[B]

Darn, that is one of my blunders. Will fix it.

UPDATE:

I cannot find this problem. I take it you are referring to slots 3 & 4 in unit R7? They are molotovs, (not how they are supposed to be though).
Has anyone else seen howitzers in unit R7? [/B][/QUOTE]

Yes, slots 3 & 4 - which are done properly in the other unit.

Please note that it might not be R7 for others: Depends upon how many different units they purchased during Core and Support purchase phases. There are (going from memory) three other SMG units in the platoon plus some legitimate arty items.

I can send a turn file to whoever would like to look at this - cable here, no problem with zip and zap.

Bing

P.S. This is one heck of a battle, am enjoying it tremendously.

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Post #: 22

- 3/25/2002 2:57:27 AM

chief

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Bing: Thanks they were right where you said they'd be....I'm sure they weren't there before, if I can't see the deployment flags that would explain why I get my tail whomped by the AI all the time. Now to buy new core force and try again...at least I'll be two moves up from where I originally started.:o :) :cool:

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"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief

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Post #: 23

- 3/25/2002 5:08:40 AM

parusski

Posts: 4804
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From: Jackson Tn
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Despite all the posted problems I just downloaded and started playing the campaing. I love it so far. What a different perspective-an frightning to be the Russian.

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Post #: 24

- 3/25/2002 5:17:45 AM

Bing

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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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Chief - Part of the problem is old eyes - here it is anyway - the other is the color of the demarcation flags: A little too often they blend so well with the landscape they can't be seen.

I have a special color profile for WAW in the nVidia "Color Correction" tab of Properties/Advanced settings. I have to crank the gamma up to 1.30 or 1.40 - else during daylight hours I would NEVER see those flags.

Getting used to the way the demarcation flags work is something else. Was a time I actually believed the enemy had to observe THEIR flags in a canned scenario / battle - not so if the designer didn't want it that way.

Bing

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Post #: 25

- 3/25/2002 10:25:02 PM

Bing

Posts: 1366
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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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Bump this thread .........

Guys, you got a NASTY little first battle with this camp. It cannot be fought in the usual manner - active as opposed to passive defense. Chase those Jerries into the bushs and you will get creamed.

I understand how German air power can take out my onboard mortars - and especially since I got lazy and went with no ammo limitation, so a lot of it the blame belongs to me - but I don't understand how enemy CAS at the same time can take out offboard arty. I had 3 X 120mm + 1 x 107mm mortars onboard - the game added more 107's and a 76.2mm FH btry offboard. The offboard 107 mortars also got taken out - the bombardment screen said they were "routed or retreating" same as the onboard!! Never had that happen before. The FH btry continued to be available on again / off again per usual, but the 107 mortars never came back.

Far as I know it wasn't enemy counter-battery fire did it, I never saw that come up (wasn't using the combat.txt file either, unfortunately).

Aside from this, German CAS literally wiped out 2+ platoons in the open - no choice there, once they get hit they won't move for several turns and are a sitting duck for a return CAS visit.

I got my head handed to me on a platter because I followed my usual fire-and-pursuit defense, all of a sudden up north on the map it looked like the midgets coming out of the VW at the circus, I mean all the armor in the WORLD was in one hex and my green Soviet tankers couldn't "hit the broad side of a barn with a bass fiddle", per James Whitmore as Halsey.

Am going to start this little stinker over again, want to test a slightly different mech.exe anyway and will 1) Use limited ammo and 2) Log to combat.txt file for every turn and save them - that's a lot of files but am going to do it for research and reference. BTW, despite a rather low arty rating, the Soviet FO does very well with onboard arty. I also will have more AA units, you can bet on that!

Woof!! This one is an authentic challenge, it keeps my interest that's fir sure - I see excellent design work here.

will report back later,

Bing

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Post #: 26

- 3/25/2002 10:35:58 PM

Larry Holt

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From: Atlanta, GA 30068
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I remember when the first posts came up that "wouldn't it be a good idea to have a campaign where everyone contributes" I am glad to see that it has come to fruitation.

I tried to download the battle but I get a URL not found error. I can only get the text.zip file.

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Post #: 27

- 3/26/2002 12:32:43 AM

chief

Posts: 1660
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Bing: I concur with you said, but if I may add....russian squad in ambush position, unsupreessed, range set to 1, germs close, ruskis fire, no kills, return fire knocks down two reds, return fire, no kills, just how bad are the russians, I probably could have recieved more casualties if I'd a heaved a rock at them. That does not seem correct. I feel that even historically they weren't that bad.:mad: :( :cool:

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"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 28

- 3/26/2002 12:46:36 AM

Bing

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From: Gaylord, MI, USA
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by chief
[B]Bing: I concur with you said, but if I may add....russian squad in ambush position, unsupreessed, range set to 1, germs close, ruskis fire, no kills, return fire knocks down two reds, return fire, no kills, just how bad are the russians, I probably could have recieved more casualties if I'd a heaved a rock at them. That does not seem correct. I feel that even historically they weren't that bad.:mad: :( :cool: [/B][/QUOTE]

I have produced a minor level of digitalis: R key for Rally, F key for Fire. Rapid repeats on both. I think the Soviet Conscripts do a pretty good job - considering their low rally levels. I wanted to see how they do when they leave their prepared positions.

Answer: Not very well at all. I'll keep them where they are and let the Germans come to me. Notice the difference in how the first line Sovietski rifle squads rally and resume firing. I"ll use them for flanking.

My (minor) complaint it that once again I have invincible enemies - some of the German inf squads can take repeated 120mm rounds in their hex, hundreds of rounds of automatic weapons fire - and not even lose one man. In fact, a 120mm mortar round landing two hexes AWAY from the Ge squad is more likely to produce casualties (almost always one at a time).

German 81mm mortars take out T-34's - the Sov 120mm does no such thing - I have not yet looked at the game parameters and compared them, right now I want to stop the Boche n front of Dubno - and make them pay dearly for whatever they wind up with at game's end.

BTW, though the OT-130 Sov FT tanks are a lot of fun - and very effective at one hex range - there is no question the game is programmed to get them with enemy CAS - in preference to 20 other Soviet tanks. I mean there is so much smoke you couldn't see your hand in front of your face - the Grman Bf's get the OT-130's every time. Same thing happened with Jap CAS and the GMC SPA 75mm in Watchtower.

So for the rerun I have purchased a dozen AA units - Come on, big guy, make my day.

Bing

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 29

- 3/26/2002 12:58:24 AM

chief

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From: Haines City FL, USA
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Bing: My troops at Dubno did so bad I pulled them back to bolster the second defense line, heavy MG, 3 hexes, no hits on a moving squad, come on!!!!!they were even out in the open, somethings not correct in Denmark (no insults to the Danes on this forum intended).:mad: :( :cool:

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"God Bless America and All the Young men and women who give their all to protect Her"....chief

(in reply to Fabio Prado)

Post #: 30