Quick CEF Update

[Sgt_Rock]

Another update on CEF - almost all of the 3D images are done. Just need to do the 3D Artillery and there are not many images in that set.

There are about 5 images for the Units.bmp that need to be done (they were accidentally skipped) and then some corrections by Mark Adams and that will finish up the unit artwork.

I am done with my part of the leader images hunt. One of our playtesters is from Russia and he is helping to find the remaining Russians that I could not locate. And still another member is helping with the French. We should be done with the "hunt" by the end of this month.

Screen images need to be done. Once the artwork is done then I can do the tutorial PDF and product page for the website.

A group of us are looking at the artillery values for ALL of the guns in the series games I helped produce. We are almost finished with the new fire values. They are by nation and groups of years. For instance: the Russian canister for the period 1808-1815 corrected problems with the earlier period. Thus the canister values for that period will be greater than for the earlier periods. We also improved the mid ranges so that artillery is more effective at say 6-8 hexes than it has been. Players will think twice before advancing in the face of a group of artillery batteries.

Playtesting for the Battle of Eylau is now well into the Phase 2 testing. Since this battle will be one of the favorites to play I am making sure that the victory levels are correct. In my game with one of the guys I lost too many guns so my opponent has a Major Victory going so far. However, L'Estocq is marching up to make his attack so we will have to wait on the outcome to see how it goes. We are at turn 30.

Ney really does arrive too late to make an impact but the Russians or Prussians have to put some troops in the northwest to try and stop them from taking key villages. It was Ney's occupation of those villages which cause Bennigsen to pull back as the VI Corps was poised to attack his right wing had there been a battle on the 9th. (I also plan on putting together a Bonus scenario that has more Russians present for the next day - rest of the 6th Division and which allows the players to try out a second day action)

The Battle of Friedland will begin Phase 2 testing very soon. Once the new weapons values have been tested I will update the PDT file and we will have two games of the full battle start up. The first game went well except that I did not allocate enough ammunition for the Russians and they ran out. Note: records seem to indicate that at the Battle of Eylau the Russians ran low on ammo .... I may check out the ammo we have left in our game and see about deducting some ammo points to recreate the historical situation. Am not sure if this also applies for Friedland. I will have to see if James Arnold's book says anything about it.

Game is still on a pace to finish by February 8th but we are not rushing this game. Just letting you know how its going. I am confident that we will put out another fine product. :)