Commonwealth module?

[Michael Emrys]

40 minutes ago, Jumpete said:

For me, the only disappoint is that probably we'll need  wait long time for it. CMFB was released in 2016, I don't believe that we are going to see the first module in one year and half ot two at least, because RT was released in 2014 ant it hasn't yet a single module.

I think that might depend on a number of factors including anticipated demand. Demand has usually been high for West Front products, less so for East Front. I know that there are fans of the East Front who are quite passionate about it, but apparently their numbers are not great these days, in contrast with 35-45 years ago when you couldn't stir them with a stick.

Michael

Edited April 19, 2017 by Michael Emrys

[Erwin]

Isn't that strange how the demographics have changed.  Back ion the day when cardboard wargames were the only ones available, 90% were East Front topics.  In addition, you had to practically pay opponents to play the Allies.  Everyone wanted to play Axis, well Germans specifically.  And the sexiest pieces were the black and while SS units.  At the time, the SS shoulda received an award for their contributions to the hobby of wargaming. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

My WWII tastes still lie predominantly to the East, there's nothing I like better than stamping out fascist vermin with the Red Horde. 

Give me Partisans and I'll be able to cut their throats while they sleep too.....Bliss! 

[Michael Emrys]

1 hour ago, Erwin said:

Isn't that strange how the demographics have changed.

That may be the influence of the movies like Saving Private and Band of Brothers. Lots of young guys saw those flicks and wanted to game in that theater of operations. At least to start off with, that was about all they knew about the war. As time goes on, they may or may not become more sophisticated in their tastes and broaden their interests.

Michael

[Erwin]

"As time goes on, they may or may not become more sophisticated in their tastes and broaden their interests." 

And hopefully decide that the Germans and SS in particular are waaaay more fun than those boring Allies...  

After all wasn't it Hugo Boss who designed those cool-looking sexy Nazi uniforms?   

Edited April 20, 2017 by Erwin

[Andrew H.]

3 hours ago, Erwin said:

Isn't that strange how the demographics have changed.  Back ion the day when cardboard wargames were the only ones available, 90% were East Front topics.  In addition, you had to practically pay opponents to play the Allies.  Everyone wanted to play Axis, well Germans specifically.  And the sexiest pieces were the black and while SS units.  At the time, the SS shoulda received an award for their contributions to the hobby of wargaming. 

I'm a big East Front fan...but I do think that some of the appeal of that front had to do with the fact that the cold war was going on at that time.

[Warts 'n' all]

And nowadays we have idiots wearing the words "Hugo Boss" on their underpants.Where's a partisan with a sharp knife when you need one?

[Ales Dvorak]

1 hour ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Where's a partisan with a sharp knife when you need one?

They are too old now... 

[MOS:96B2P]

12 hours ago, Andrew H. said:

<Snip>  I do think that some of the appeal of that front had to do with the fact that the cold war was going on at that time.

Yes, this.  Communism was the "big" threat then and east front games allowed you to fight against it.  I think it is also one of the reasons that some user made scenarios in CMSF, set against ISIS etc, are so enjoyable.  CMSF and even some CMA scenarios allow you to fight against one of the current "big" threats.  After CMSF is upgraded I suspect it has the potential to become a favorite among players.  After watching the evening news it is satisfying to load up a scenario by @Combatintman and other scenario designers and find yourself transported to a target rich environment like Helmand Province Afghanistan...... .         

Edited April 20, 2017 by MOS:96B2P

[Erwin]

12 hours ago, Andrew H. said:

I'm a big East Front fan...but I do think that some of the appeal of that front had to do with the fact that the cold war was going on at that time.

Not sure I agree with that.  I recall simply having a fascination with WW2.  Perhaps it was cos my parents were refugees from the "East Front".  (But, they never talked about their experiences, so I still know nothing about that.)  I recall there were a lot of WW2 movies out when I was a kid: 633 Squadron, Where Eagles Dare and Brit TV was saturated with old B/W war movies.  So, not certain where my interest in WW2, and East Front in particular came from.  But it had nothing to do with the Cold War. I never had any antipathy vs the Soviets.  I think the East Front wargames themselves were more interesting.

[Michael Emrys]

13 hours ago, Andrew H. said:

I'm a big East Front fan...but I do think that some of the appeal of that front had to do with the fact that the cold war was going on at that time.

That, and the fact that game companies always seemed to portray the Germans as more interesting. That in turn was, I think, a product of Soviet secretiveness. We never learned how good they were until with the end of the cold war they opened their archives to Western researchers.

Michael

[Erwin]

I recall how the Soviet units were always portrayed as identical characterless units all with exactly the same abilities.  The Germans had all sorts of fun counters with different capabilities.

So, perhaps it was a bias of the designers to make the Germans "sexy".

[Combatintman]

On ‎17‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 3:59 AM, RepsolCBR said:

I wounder if there were major changes made to the commonwealth forces TOEs/OOBs between the end of the CMBN timeframe (including modeles) and the end of the CMFB timeframe ?

If not perhaps a quick update to CMFB could be to simply copy the additional countries and formations/vehicles from the complete CMBN bundle into CMFB and sell this as a simple formation/vehicle add-on without any accompanying scenarios/campaigns.

A campaign/scenario-pack will follow later and will be sold seperatelly or as a bundle with the first pack.

 

Post #12 of the soft launch thread for CMBS here ...

Shows that separating TO&Es and campaign/scenario packs would not be a popular idea.  I appreciate I am biased but I am not a paid up member of the 'I want new toys to play with club'.  For me it is all about the thing as a whole (scenarios + campaigns + QBs + maps with associated terrain types).  The other danger of just releasing TO&Es would be that people will start doing scenarios campaigns of famous actions that I would prefer to be done by the more experienced guys on the Beta team such as @JonS, @Pete Wenmanand @George MCbecause they would make a better job of it than a less experienced keen enthusiast.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Combatintman

[Glubokii Boy]

2 hours ago, Combatintman said:

 

There will always be a few people who complain about the pricing of things no matter what. The by far dominant wiew amongst the forum members around here though is imo that the products released by BFC are the best spent money they ever do. 

- the products are well worth it ! -

The majority of the comments in the CMBS thread are possitive. 

This post by Erwine are chaired by many i´m sure.

" all very welcome as good quality content is vital, and its clearly very hard for users to create these kinds of labor intensive materials. Looking forward to these proffesionally produced offerings".

2 hours ago, Combatintman said:

 

The other danger of just releasing TO&Es would be that people will start doing scenarios campaigns of famous actions that I would prefer to be done by the more experienced guys on the Beta team such as @JonS, @Pete Wenmanand @George MCbecause they would make a better job of it than a less experienced keen enthusiast.

I'm sure that everyone want that but there is only so much these guys can do - at ones -  maybe they are currently working on things for CMFB right now. I don´t know but it has been my understanding that a new module for both CMFI and CMRT are scheduled to be released prior to CMFB.

Meaning that the next module for CMFB is probably not going to be released for quite some time. A vehicle/formation- pack could be a nice first step to shorten the wait. 

I don't think that the fact that some forummember will upload scenarios covering some of the more famous battle in the timeframe of an upcomming scenariopack by BFC will be a problem. Every one here knows of the quality of the scenarios being produced by the guys you mentioned and will most certanly by a pack from BFC even if they have already played a community- made scenario covering the battle of Antwerp for example. 

 

[Erwin]

The increasing problem with user-made scenarios and especially campaigns is that they take so long for dedicated hobbyists to produce that BF will probably release another new CM2 product before they finish... and suddenly all attention shifts to the new "toy" - leaving the hobbyist designers in the dust so to speak.

So, am delighted at the trend towards professionally produced product that is designed by a BF-led team and made available in a timely manner.

 

[Jumpete]

On 19/4/2017 at 10:27 PM, Michael Emrys said:

I think that might depend on a number of factors including anticipated demand. Demand has usually been high for West Front products, less so for East Front. I know that there are fans of the East Front who are quite passionate about it, but apparently their numbers are not great these days, in contrast with 35-45 years ago when you couldn't stir them with a stick.

Michael

Maybe you're right and FB will have its first module soon because is a very popular tittle. But Steve answered in other post that next  module will be for FI, and then, for RT ending this year or starting 2018. It is for this that I don't believe that BF be launching the Commowealth module before at least Spring'18 or Summer'18.

P.D. I'd like to play with the next module as soon as tomorrow .

[Michael Emrys]

5 hours ago, Jumpete said:

It is for this that I don't believe that BF be launching the Commowealth module before at least Spring'18 or Summer'18.

That sounds like a reasonable expectation to me. But it might easily take even longer.

Michael

[Sgt.Squarehead]

One word.....Comet:

It took almost the entire war, but we did finally get one right! 

[Michael Emrys]

17 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

It took almost the entire war, but we did finally get one right!

Except that you still put the driver on the wrong side.

More seriously, I always found it cruelly ironic that the UK, which was a world leader in tank design in the '20s and early '30s and again after the war with the Centurion, couldn't quite seem to get it together when there was a war to fight.

Michael

[JSj]

34 minutes ago, Michael Emrys said:

Except that you still put the driver on the wrong side.

About that, I used to think that the right side of the road is, well... the RIGHT side to drive on, too, as I'm not a Brit. Until I watched this video from Lindybeige. Very annoying video, as it is too logical, and makes too much sense. I want to come up with a counter argument, but I can't.

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by JSj

[JSj]

And, maybe going a slight bit off topic (sorry about that!), I would really recommend that those of you that don't know about Lindybeige check out his videos. He is mostly focused on older historical topics, but he has put up several really, really good WWII videos. For instance this one, comparing the Bren Gun and the German Mg34/42:

 

Edited April 24, 2017 by JSj

[Erwin]

Fascinating.  Thanks...

However, I thought his proposal that the Bren was as good and better than the MG34 and 42 cos the Allies kept winning.  But, wasn't a large part of that the quantity of the Allied arty and sheer volume of stuff we had?

Edited April 24, 2017 by Erwin

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Total air superiority probably played a part too.....But his summary was right, they're apples & oranges.

The MG-42 was best used from a tripod on fixed fields of fire and in that respect had more in common with the Vickers Gun (not the Vickers K), but of course in that sort of sustained-fire role you have to change out their poxy-cheapo barrels, whereas a Vickers will chug along until the water runs out:

Quote

One account states a Vickers fired just under 5 million rounds in a week as a test in 1963 at Stensall Barracks and was still operable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_machine_gun

Edited April 24, 2017 by Sgt.Squarehead

[Michael Emrys]

As long as we are opining...for my money the BREN was probably the best squad LMG of the war, at least to be made in such numbers. The MG42 was indeed a ferocious and intimidating weapon, but its ROF was too high for a squad LMG as it tended to burn through ammo far too quickly, with most of the squad being reduced to carrying belts for it.

Michael

[J Bennett]

On 4/20/2017 at 10:41 AM, MOS:96B2P said:

Yes, this.  Communism was the "big" threat then and east front games allowed you to fight against it.  I think it is also one of the reasons that some user made scenarios in CMSF, set against ISIS etc, are so enjoyable.  CMSF and even some CMA scenarios allow you to fight against one of the current "big" threats.  After CMSF is upgraded I suspect it has the potential to become a favorite among players.  After watching the evening news it is satisfying to load up a scenario by @Combatintman and other scenario designers and find yourself transported to a target rich environment like Helmand Province Afghanistan...... .         

Even though I have all the CM  World War 2 titles and modules, I have to say CMBS looks kind of interesting. I got soured on modern combat way back when Steel Panthers 2 was the best tactical war game. I played in a tournament and got embarrassed. My WW2 tactics just didnt seem to work on the modern battlefield. My curiosity is getting to me though, maybe its time to get into 21st century warfare.