Spearhead Division

[patman]

I think the game took a pretty dim view of the Sherman from the get-go (which may reflect Mike B.'s co-authorial experience). That "3" armor rating makes it pretty damn useless against mid- to late-model PzIV or better.

Agree and it is unfortunate. But at the time the game was designed nobody had really taken a good analytic look at the Sherman in WWII, most people just took the anecdotal history at face value; lots of Shermans were lost, therefore it was crappy. But it has been in the recent years with works like Steve Zaloga has done that took a critical look and the Sherman comes out pretty good. The Sherman should have a 4 armor rating.

I just might play my next U.S. scenario with 4-armor Shermans!

I've seen Cooper's book on the shelves but I'm not familiar with the work of Zaloga. Is that in the specialist literature, or available as a mass-market book like Cooper's?