The Great BJR mod is now updated to version 1.12!

[IainMcNeil]

Many thanks to Borger Borgensen, Jim Potts and Ronnie Runyan for the creation of this great new mod for CEAW & MH CEAW. The team have just updated the mod to v1.12 so now it will work with the latest versions of the game whether you are CEAW or MILITARY HISTORY CEAW!

Here is a brief overview of the mod by the team:
A few exciting tweaks are rail capability between Iraq and Egypt, a sea lane to Kuwait (which the Allies can use if the Axis capture Port Said and shut down the African transportation loop), German oil imports from Russia prior to Barbarossa, amphibious invasion limits, naval/sub rules that require more attention to the Battle of the Atlantic and to properly escorting convoys and transports and Allied Naval Med naval presence and Malta supply rules, and a few more. I'm really excited about these changes. I feel that our Mod plays very historically and immerses one in an extremely rich WW-II corps level gaming experience.

Full details of the changes, house rules and the mod itself can be downloaded from www.slitherine.com/files/ceaw/ceaw_mod_bjr_v1.12.zip

The mod is compatible with Slitherine CEAW v1.12 and MILITARY HISTORY CEAW 1.12. It's not been tested with other versions but it may work as it is or with only minor adjustments.

I'm sure you'll have many hours of gaming fun with this one!

[KingHunter]

Looking forward to playing once I get upgraded!

[Panzer]

Hi there,
i'm trying this mod and looking forward to see it work as i intend to.
Several questions though :

In order to avoid the house rules (aircraft limitations, sub evasions, etc.), can i only copy the files of the directory images, data/scenario/ww2.map, data/scenario/1939.scn and data/ww2_city_eng.txt ?
and not the others ?

Thx in advance for the reply

See U

[joerock22]

In order to avoid the house rules (aircraft limitations, sub evasions, etc.), can i only copy the files of the directory images, data/scenario/ww2.map, data/scenario/1939.scn and data/ww2_city_eng.txt ?
and not the others ?

The house rules aren't actually coded into the game; they must be observed by both human players on an honor system. If you play the mod against the AI, the AI will not follow any of the house rules.

[jjdenver]

Hi,

I posted a similar question in Matrix forums.

I own Matrix version of CEAW.

I've heard about v1.07b available for DL from Matrix
I've heard about v1.12(?) avail from Slitherine?
I've heard about Gold Version which I think is free if you bought Matrix version(?)
I've also heard about the cool mod discussed in this thread.

What is the correct patch sequence if I'd like to end up w/ latest version gold + playing the mod? It's confusing.

Thanks!

[Stauffenberg]

V1.12 is the Gold version. The mod works with all current versions, but I think both players need to have the same version for the PBEM save games to be exchanged without errors. It's exactly the same for the vanilla game.

[jjdenver]

V1.12 is the Gold version. The mod works with all current versions, but I think both players need to have the same version for the PBEM save games to be exchanged without errors. It's exactly the same for the vanilla game.

Thanks for the response! So if I apply v1.12 patch (gold version) will it include the v1.07b changes or only v1.06? Any idea if v1.12 can be applied to the Matrix version?

Would you say standard for email play w/ the RFS mod is v1.07b or v1.12?

Thanks again

[firepowerjohan]

It works updating from all previous versions, all should update to 1.12

[IainMcNeil]

The Gold version is only availble from Slitherine. Slitheirne & Firepower have created a free upgrade for the original CEAW which adds all the features of the gold version. This is the 1.12 version. It is free and can be applied to all versions of CEAW, no matter where you got it.

[KingHunter]

V1.12 is the Gold version. The mod works with all current versions, but I think both players need to have the same version for the PBEM save games to be exchanged without errors. It's exactly the same for the vanilla game.

Borger - Why are you guys so restrictive on the use of Normal Air attacks in the Home Rules? Without multiple Air attacks againt the fortresses, it is most difficult to take them.

Jay

[rkr1958]

V1.12 is the Gold version. The mod works with all current versions, but I think both players need to have the same version for the PBEM save games to be exchanged without errors. It's exactly the same for the vanilla game.

Borger - Why are you guys so restrictive on the use of Normal Air attacks in the Home Rules? Without multiple Air attacks againt the fortresses, it is most difficult to take them.

Jay

I'll take a shot from my perspective and involvement in the mod. Having a hard time against fortresses is historical. We found that without this restriction air alone could be used to destroy an armor corps without ever having to have ground units in contact. Thus, the Allies in the later stages of the war could kill the strongest German corps and then move their ground units in contact with to attack the weaker German corps.

Another reason, which Borger has pointed out before in another thread, is the case for defending Rome. Without this restriction the Allied player could send a dozen air units against Rome and kill the defender there. Then, he could have a transport parked next to Rome, unload it and Italy is out of the game. He could do this without every having to land in and fight their way through the Italian mainland.

In practice we've found that two air attacks per hex just "feels" right. Two air attacks can do serious damage to a corps but you still need ground units to follow up to destroy that unit. Also, against fortress the Allied player now has to spend several turns weakening the defenders before they can capture the hex. Again, this "feels" right and seems to mimic historical outcomes.

[KingHunter]

V1.12 is the Gold version. The mod works with all current versions, but I think both players need to have the same version for the PBEM save games to be exchanged without errors. It's exactly the same for the vanilla game.

Borger - Why are you guys so restrictive on the use of Normal Air attacks in the Home Rules? Without multiple Air attacks againt the fortresses, it is most difficult to take them.

Jay

I'll take a shot from my perspective and involvement in the mod. Having a hard time against fortresses is historical. We found that without this restriction air alone could be used to destroy an armor corps without ever having to have ground units in contact. Thus, the Allies in the later stages of the war could kill the strongest German corps and then move their ground units in contact with to attack the weaker German corps.

Another reason, which Borger has pointed out before in another thread, is the case for defending Rome. Without this restriction the Allied player could send a dozen air units against Rome and kill the defender there. Then, he could have a transport parked next to Rome, unload it and Italy is out of the game. He could do this without every having to land in and fight their way through the Italian mainland.

In practice we've found that two air attacks per hex just "feels" right. Two air attacks can do serious damage to a corps but you still need ground units to follow up to destroy that unit. Also, against fortress the Allied player now has to spend several turns weakening the defenders before they can capture the hex. Again, this "feels" right and seems to mimic historical outcomes.

Ok Ronnie - I'll take your word for it, but as an old Air Force Guy , you know I'm very keen on their use.

Jay

[rkr1958]

Ok Ronnie - I'll take your word for it, but as an old Air Force Guy , you know I'm very keen on their use.
Jay

Modern day air forces can accomplished today what they thought they'd be able to do in WW-II. Goering boasted that his Luftwaffe alone could destroy the forces evacuating from Dunkirk. No need to send the army in. Also, he boasted that his Luftwaffe could supply the German 6th army surrounded at Stalingrad.

On the US/UK side, they thought that they could carpet bomb an area and; afterward, just march the army in because the Germans would be disrupted / destroyed. What the found out was that the enemy just moved back and that the bomb craters they created slowed them down enough and allowed the Germans to reorganize and be well prepared for the Allies.

[KingHunter]

Ok Ronnie - I'll take your word for it, but as an old Air Force Guy , you know I'm very keen on their use.
Jay

Modern day air forces can accomplished today what they thought they'd be able to do in WW-II. Goering boasted that his Luftwaffe alone could destroy the forces evacuating from Dunkirk. No need to send the army in. Also, he boasted that his Luftwaffe could supply the German 6th army surrounded at Stalingrad.

On the US/UK side, they thought that they could carpet bomb an area and; afterward, just march the army in because the Germans would be disrupted / destroyed. What the found out was that the enemy just moved back and that the bomb craters they created slowed them down enough and allowed the Germans to reorganize and be well prepared for the Allies.

<sigh> I really do find my self slipping, in playing your mod and House rules, I did (by accident) strike a target more than twice. Oh well must be more careful next time - Otherwise I do like the House rules tho.

Jay

[Stauffenberg]

Another problem with unlimited air attacks on a hex is that even the best entrenched units would lose ALL their entrenchment level in one turn and then taking out the target was easy. E. g. we frequently saw fortresses like Leningrad and Sevastopol fall immediately after then enemy got adjacent to it. You just used enough air units to ensure you capture the hex. So the value of being entrenched, inside a city or fortress was much less.

With max 2 air attacks per hex you can only reduce entrenchment levels by 2 each turn and if the defender survives you regain one level. So it takes awhile to get a fortress or a capital down to entrenchment 0. Land attacks also reduce the entrenchment levels.

What we now see with the house rule is that you use the air attacks to soften up the defender and reduce the efficiency of the defender. In good defensive terrain you will still suffer a lot of losses if you attack (e. g. in mountains and fortresses). So you need to spend many turns to wear down the defender before you can finally capture the fortress. The enemy can withdraw the battered defender and send in a new one, but it will not be entrenched and easier to attack.

Remember that the Axis held the Allies in southern Italy for many months before the Gustav line collapsed and the Allies were able to march northwards and capture Rome. They had to make risky landings (Salerno and Anzio) to try to outflank the Axis line. With the air attack limitation you will notice that the Allies in the BJR-mod will indeed struggle with the same problems. You can't expect
to overwhelm the defenders in southern Italy and blitz the way northwards. If the Axis place good German corps units in the Gustav line and the adjacent mountain hexes you can expect the line to hold for 6+ months as it did historically. If the Axis only place Italian garrisons there you will notice that these are much easier to deplete and kill with land attacks.

I've tried to crack such a defense line with my Allied units and bombarded every hex along the Gustav line and the hexes behind for many turns before I got odds that was acceptable. But I sent transports along the coast line north of the Gustav Line both in the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Adriatic Sea to force the Axis player to send units to occupy the coastal hexes to prevent landings. This way I overwhelmed the Axis defense and could storm the Gustav Line. I think I landed at the tip of Italy in the Summer of 1943 and didn't take Rome until maybe August or so 1944. So southern Italy because a terrible bottleneck. I invaded in souhern France and threatened in invade in Albania to make sure I could get further.

I knew the war wouldn't be won here, but I caused so much mischief in the Med so the Axis had to tie down so many defenders there so I could land with success in western France and the Russians got the initiative.

The BJR-mod has fortress lines line the Siegfried line along part of the Rhine and the Ostwall along the Oder. With the air rule these lines really become obstacles that would force the Allies and Russians to either storm the line with heavy casualties or try to bypass the line. The western Allies often try to cross the Rhine north of the Siegfried line, but this area is narrow and the Germans can use armor to kill the bridgeheads. I don't think you see the Allies having to cross the Rhine here in the vanilla game. It's easier to just attack across the Rhine on a broad front. In the real war you didn't see a crossing of the Rhine until March 1945 even through Market Garden tried to get across already in September. The BJR-mod changes simulate the same problems being the Allied player.

In the vanilla game the Russians just grind the way to Berlin once they get the Germans on the run. They overwhelm the Germans with air and land units and there are no really good terrain the Germans can use that will hold them. The Germans just get squashed. The Ostwall is a major obstacle that will inflict A LOT of damage upon the Russians if they try to penetrate here. Now the Germans have a chance to actually delay the Russians as they did historically here.

Before we made the defense lines in the mod we saw that Berlin always fell late 1943 or early 1944 if the Germans failed to crush the Russians in 1942. You couldn't stop the steamroller. After adding the fortress lines we noticed that the lines held the Allies and Russians a LITTLE bit, but not for as long as intended. The main reason was that the Allied player designated 1-2 targets for the turn in the defense line and sent up to 10 air units to each hex to almost destroy it just by air. Even though only every other air unit inflicting a hit you would still inflict 5 steps and get the efficiency down to almost 0. Then you could storm the fortress with land units and take the hex for sure. Then you advanced into the hex destroying the fortress. Next turn you widened the gap in the line and could then ooze through with the bulk of your army.

So the numerous air strikes just destroyed the efficiency of the fortresses because you were allowed to concentrate all air attacks on the same fortress. That was not historical at all and made good defensive terrain less valuable. The Allies have a huge air superiority late in the game and can use airpower almost at will.

With the max 2 air strikes per hex rule we saw that the fortresses held the line very well and you had to pound the defender along the entire line for many turns until you could finally get through. So it was maybe faster to try to bypass the fortress line, just as they did in the real war in the west.

Playtesting has also shown that the air strike limitation doesn't disrupt the German advance in the east much. The Germans usually spread the air strikes to as many hexes as possible to improve the odds for all target hexes. It's only against Leningrad, Sevastopol and Moscow you feel the airstrike rule is making it a lot harder to capture these cities. But they were formidable obstacles in the real war so it feel right that the Germans must struggle a bit to succeed against these targets.

[julyderek]

I have MHCEaW Gold version 1.12. The data is in the My Documents folder. Is there of installing this MOD and playing both MOD & Vanilla side by side without having to copy paste folders everytime ? It seems I have to overwrite the Vanilla data with the MOD data.

Thanks in advance.

[rkr1958]

I have MHCEaW Gold version 1.12. The data is in the My Documents folder. Is there of installing this MOD and playing both MOD & Vanilla side by side without having to copy paste folders everytime ? It seems I have to overwrite the Vanilla data with the MOD data.

Thanks in advance.

Yes. Sent PM with details.

[Amicofritz]

Yes. Sent PM with details.

I'd be interested in these details too!

[Blathergut]

I have MHCEaW Gold version 1.12. The data is in the My Documents folder. Is there of installing this MOD and playing both MOD & Vanilla side by side without having to copy paste folders everytime ? It seems I have to overwrite the Vanilla data with the MOD data.

Thanks in advance.

Yes. Sent PM with details.

Same here! I'd like to try it but am also waiting for a buddy to buy the game so we can try the original.

Dan T.

[julyderek]

Why when you start the Mod, a DOS screen opens ? That doesn't happen with the Vanilla MHCEAW 1.12 version.

Will the Mod & Vanilla share the same Data folders in "My Documents" ? Meaning a autosave will overwrite each others files ?