The sight of Belin’s halftrack burning merrily in the road beside the cafe is the final straw for our restless air ace. Oberst Bernhard “Der Sperber” Brinkmann contemplates opening fire on the enemy mortar in the monastery courtyard, before deciding…
Over 7000 Knight’s Crosses were awarded during WW2. Major Belin’s, I’ve just discovered, was one of the 692 awarded posthumously. The three-man HQ team led by our gung-ho gong hunter is one of two German units completely wiped out this…
Standing between impetuous Major Belin and a shiny Ritterkreuz is petuous Sergeant Best and a shrapnel-scarred 6-pounder AT gun. The chance that both men will survive turn 18 is infinitesimally small.
It was naughty of me not to mention The Belin Rule back in turn 10 when the Major arrived. Because Battlefront doesn’t allow scenario designers to give units traits like “glory hunter” and “complete wazzock” I’ve had to invent my…
This turn is the costliest yet for the Britishers. A short time after I lose an irreplaceable sixty minutes to British Summer Time, the glider riders defending Brinkmann’s Bridge lose an irreplaceable half-dozen men to an assortment of kill kit…
During this minute of WeGo action a mortar team is decimated, two men fall foul of the same handgun, an anti-tankist uses the F word, and I marvel at CMx2’s glorious unpredictability.
Erich Woikin is eleven again, sprinting through an orchard with a satchel of scrumped cherries bumping against his sweat-soaked back and a baying hound snapping at his heels. He’s a few strides from the spot in the barbed wire fence…
Will the easterners manage to cross the canal before the Allied tanks show up in around seven turns’ time? Your guess is as good as mine, but if they don’t they will at least be able to console themselves with…
Tally-Ho Corner’s first play-by-comment Combat Mission game is approaching its halfway point, and no-one – not even the scenario designer – can tell you which side has the upper hand. East of the canal, the Comment Commanders have fought their…
Keen birdwatcher Bulau has a knack for spotting things that would rather remain unspotted. Five seconds before sprinting grenadiers stiffen into statues and flying lead pauses in mid-air, the sergeant by the railway bridge binoculars a British AT gun artfully…
I love Combat Mission, but that doesn’t mean I’m blind to its faults. Trying to turn the Comment Commanders’ intricate infantry instructions into in-game orders can sometimes feel like trying to paint miniatures with a tar brush. The game’s hidden…
That little green icon over the windmill is bad news for one of Bulau’s men. As the islanders dash across the railway bridge, a round from a scoped Lee-Enfield coaxes sparks from the damp ironwork before plopping, like an alarmed…