what's the point of it? I mean it is long range artillery.... yes it has range but what stops someone in a tiger for example to sit on a hill over looking the town and shooting 32+ out with HE and killing a town that way... the priest has a bigger round but an open top so knocking out the gun would be easy. The puma on the other hand would be a good idea imo, but it was more of a prototype then a full service vehical. I'm not an expert on that but If only a few hundred were made that's telling you something. And them M3/m16 variant is kinda pointless I feel we have the m16 and other AAA why waist time doing that when they could be making the panzer III or something.
*just my 2 cents*
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Vanscrew
Vanscrew, as for The Priest not being added I could understand Why, but given the limited presence of Shore Batteries and the capability of Cruisers to facilitate fire support it does seem reasonable to add that dimension to the Ground Vehicle list and enable that vehicle to be apart of the rolling G.V. battles and Base assaults. It also must be noted that the M18 Tank destroyer was mostly open topped, but it get almost wide use on AH ground battles. So, Its an Acceptable risk I'd assume. There's also the M3 Variant Tank Destroyer with its 75mm gun (which could double as Artillery support by limited indirect fire) Again open open topped and thin armor by comparison.
As for the Puma: It was Service operational as a Armored Recon platform withe Panzer Forces that's why it existed in such low numbers.
"According to Jentz, the 101 units of the 234/2 produced were distributed as follows:
-Panzer Lehr Div. (1 Kompanie/PzAufkAbt 130): 25 units. Painted in dark yellow and without numerals or crosses.
- 2 PzDiv (1.Kompanie/PzAufkAbt 2): 25 units. Some of its vehicles seem painted dark yellow without any marking (not even license plates) but a small trident and the Aufklärungs insignia, both on the front of the hull, at the left. Others, like the well knwon 111 carried 3 tone camo, crosses and numerals.
- 1 SSPzDiv (SSPzAufkAbt 1): 16 units. painted in dark yellow with camo, probably 3 tone. They also carried crosses and numerals (3 digits)
- 20 PzDiv ( PzAufkAbt 20): 16 units. There is a photo of a Puma white washed, in Silesia.
- 7 PzDiv (1Kompanie/ PzAufkAbt 7): 6 units"
(
http://www.panzernot.net/wp-content/uploads/Puma/234-PumaEng.htm,2012)
By comparison the allied M-8 "Grey Hound" existed in low numbers in the same capacity
"The M8 was used in the European theaters of operation primarily for escort and reconnaissance roles. It was not unusual to see M8's being used in infantry assaults on European cities but rarely in armored attacks since many tanks were available. The M8 armored car served in the Far East and was more useful in that most of the Japanese armor was vulnerable to the 37 mm cannon. After the war, M8 armored cars acted as patrol vehicles in the occupation forces of Japan. "(
http://www.robertsarmory.com/m8.htm,1995, accessed 2012)
In either Case I'd like to see the Puma as a choice to the Greyhound, and to add just little more depth the the wheeled vehicle list. As for the variant of the M3/M16 I'd like to see it added as a choice for the M16 GMMC not as a stand alone vehicle. Yeah it would be a slight remodel of the M-16, but honestly this one doesn't rate that high on my wishlist as the current one is good enough I think.
The ground battle shapes up roughly like this. Calvary/Recon units screen (mask) the larger units (brigade and higher) maneuver while performing "movement to contact". It essentially performs the Recon role and establishes contact with threat forces until other elements of the brigade or division can be brought to bear. It works much the same way as a Combat Air Patrol does, just from the ground instead of the Air. Actually the Operations are a little more involved than this, but this would be the basis for adding at least the Sd.Kfz 234 "Puma" both as a scout and even a Forward observer (which is what the "Storch" provides as well).
I could let go of the Priest if if more variants of the M3 are provided such as the following:
"T19 105 mm HMC - M3 based Howitzer Motor Carriage equipped with the M2A1 105 mm howitzer (8 rounds)." (article M3 Half Track, Wikipedia.org, 2011, accessed 15 June 2012.) I think that would be a fair trade....
