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9. One Engine - CMx3 game performance improvments, graphics improvements, ray tracing, intermediate distance bitmaps additional editor features, dynamic operational campaigns additional gameplay features, coop, LoS tool, visible aircraft

This is something I threw together in my own time. Please remember that this is from a beta build of the game and is subject to change.

7. "Fulda Gap": 1970-90 Europe WWIII

3. Afrika Korps: 1940-43 WWII North Africa Operation Torch, American North Africa Invasion Libya, Egypt, and Tunis 1942-43

1. Blitzkrieg: 1939-40 WWII Early war Poland France (also Finland)

So welcome to our Beta AAR. Introductions, I am The_Capt...hello. Some old timers may remember me from back in the day but for the newbies (and hopefully there are a lot of you) I am the Simon to Bil's Garfunkel. While Bil is detailed, deliberate and cool all resting on a foundation of real talent; I am erratic, insecure and hot-headed resting on very occasional unpredictable sparks. Between the two of us we try to make wonderful music. So first the obvious, what is CM Cold War and where did it come from? Well the game is our brainchild, not that it took a serious leap of imagination

I don't seek out armor duels because they are a bit like tossing a coin, but they come up again and again. So I was interested to learn what I can do to maximize the chances for my tank in a duel if it gets into one. So I put two identical Pz IVH (late) tanks with regular crews, no modifiers, against each other at 600 m range. I called one "Attacker" and the other "Defender", although it does not mean anything. I put both on a mild slope (partial hull down) and varied different conditions. Crew hatches open/closed, vehicle movement, terrain type, crew experience. I ran each case at least

2. Barbarossa: 1941-43 WWII Eastern Front Can Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin data be used as sort of an upgrade? Invasion of Yugoslavia Operation Typhoon Case Blue Blau to Stalingrad Warsaw to Moscow (also Finland)

March to Glorious Victory Post Number One. So Bil and I have a loose-agreement (I would say gentlemen's but that is probably a stretch) to not peek at each others threads. The dirty truth here is that this isn't really an AAR per se, it is more of an IAR (In Action Report). Full disclosure, we are only about 6 mins into the thing, so I can't really put a spin on my plan or anything because I have no idea how this will end. So far so good but we are in early days. We should start posting turn summaries tomorrow but for now may I present an end-product of about roughly 32 years of mi

Glorious March to Victory, Final Post - "Like Tears in Rain" Well big thank you to all who watched. I figure I should stop leaving you all hanging, so we cease fired on the last turn (33 I believe). Now take the end-screen with a grain of salt: So first off there was a dumb double-accounting error for the Soviet side. Basically the parameters were: En Cas 50% = 50 VPs En Condition 50% = 50 VPs Dollbach Village = 100 VPs. The error was the Soviets had another 100 VPs for having fewer than/better than 50% cas/cond, so I subtracted that because if we had pai

Glorious March to Victory Post #12 - "We Try Harder" (25-31) So based on observation, I am seeing quite a few "likes" (thank you btw) but few comments, which tells me that I am probably telling you all something that Bil has already posted. So for fear of getting left behind in the narrative I am just going to pull you all the way to where we are as of today. I want to say up front that no matter how this ends, this is a really good game. This is one for the books. You can tell when everything feels so finely balanced and you and your opponent are fencing on a tightrope. every PB

Literally never heard of this game until i saw it on Steam last year and i scoffed at the price at first. 5 months later I have purchased every single game and module except for CMFI, im going to buy it but my wallet lol Massive respect to the developers for creating something amazing, that seems tailored for me personally. I've been trying to get my friends to play but they arent tactical Sorry if this is a boring post but I heard a podcast with a gentleman from BF and he mentioned they were testing Steam out and just wanted to provide this feedback Stoked for F&T an

CM Cold War takes place on the cusp of big changes happening to both the American and Soviet armies. The arrival of Abrams and Bradley changes the nature of the fight in Europe. Also in this time frame we get a fashion change! See attached, the Americans switching to battle dress uniform. This is new-new art that's still not in the current Beta so you won't see it in any of the posted screenshots. Please forgive my crappy graphics card.

“Here, across death’s other river, the Tartar horsemen shake their spears.” T.S. Eliot This BETA game is being played against Warren (The_Capt), and we are very familiar with each other’s style, strengths and weaknesses as we’ve been playing CM against each other for close to 20 years now. CM Cold War was our brainchild and has been on our wargame design table, off and on, for eight years now, but now it is a real thing. You’re welcome. With that said it is only fitting that Warren and I play in this BETA AAR. We haven’t played in public since our original CMBN BET

I know everybody is excited and would like to know what is next after the Base Game... believe me we are all excited too! As far as follow-on modules go.. yes several are planned, but what they are specifically we will keep to ourselves until after the game is released. For now the focus must stay on the base-game for us, but feel free to conjecture and dream, I enjoy those threads, but we won't be confirming or denying anything until after this one is on the street. Just so you guys know that we aren't ignoring you in those discussions, we are trying to stay focused and not get sid

Glorious March to Victory Post #13 - "The Song of Small German Town 1980" So on the very next turn Bil has offered ceasefire...we have playing together for a long time. We have decided to do the final debrief at the same time, so I will wait for Bil to catch up a bit. But I could not leave the second to last turn hanging because it represents this battle so well: You remember the stand off on the Red Knoll at the end of turn 31...well here is how it played out: My T62 got off the first shot and it was a killer (note the now-deaf-est Soviet Pl HQ in the ETO circled)

March to Glorious Victory - Post #6 "The Devil's Red Right Hand" (12-15) First off I apologize for the long return on this one, beyond Bil's glacial return pace, the main reason is that nothing really happened on the Soviet side of this thing. I am sure Bil is doing a frame-by-frame Warren Commission-esque analysis (because that is what int nerds do) but frankly he has already missed his early victory boat. When I left you we were discussing options and landed on the least suicidal of the bunch given the somewhat less-than-optimal starting position. The only question left is "

First Three Minutes! “Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.” A Book of Five Rings, Miyamoto Musashi The initial phase of this action will be me positioning my units to get eyes on the most likely enemy avenues of approach, especially EAA1 (NAI 1). After two minutes of action: M113A2s and Scouts: Reached their drop off points and the two Scout teams have dismounted and are continuing on foot in order to get into positions where they can look in

11. New Modules more battlepacks for existing titles New Countries for Barbarossa (Bulgaria Hungary Romania Yugoslavia Partisans). Additional modules for Red Thunder Additional modules for CMSF2: Modern Day Syria, Turkey, Iraq CMBS Marines (from both sides) Commonwealth forces and expansion into VE Day for Final Blitzkrieg

Glorious March to Victory Post # 10 - "The Nadir" (21-24) So in every engagement it is normal to have a low-point and for my troops this was right here. Everything that can go wrong, does, and nothing really goes right. Worse, it is the point that you can clearly see your mistakes...after you have already made them. I have found that in this position it is where the true mettle (and metal) is tested and one must 1) admit the errors and 2) come up with a way out, cause no one else is not going to do it for you. So the decent started pretty innocently enough in turn 21:

Glorious March to Victory Post # 9 - "7th Outing Stretching" (19-20) Ok, when I last left you, we had taken out one M60 and had a bead on the second...and of course it missed: Well it wouldn't be a CM game if the gods of war were not against me. Anyway Not much really happens more this turn as we continue to position: A shot on my left flank where I thought Bil was going to keep pushing (more on this later): My heavy mortars are finally landing along that ridge, just as my teeth are starting push up the ridge, I hope they are causing someone pain.

As a retired Light Infantry Platoon Sergeant and Sniper with 28 years of service to include several combat tours, this has got to be one of the more interesting threads I've read on a gaming site in eons. There have been some great points made by several people, and it has been very interesting to read all the differing views and opinions, as well as the shared ones. I also have enjoyed how it all relates to CM. Great stuff! Some general points of consideration regarding combat and firefights that I would like to make in relation to this topic: 1) Most times in a firefight, there is

The Twenty-Third & Twenty-Fourth Minutes – Saga of Tank Section 1 “If the tanks succeed, then victory follows.” Heinz Guderian Tank Section 1... quite an exciting turn to watch actually... well, it was for me. As tank 1/8 came around the corner it immediately spotted a T-62 presenting its flank. It appears that Warren did not see their approach!! Kill 1 - T-62 While the crew of 1/8 was exchanging high-fives a BMP-1 popped into shooting range and fired it's gun... which surprisingly hit 1/8 and penetrated! Though

The Nineteenth & Twentieth Minutes “The important thing in strategy is to suppress the enemy's useful actions but allow his useless actions” A Book of Five Rings - Miyomoto Musashi Starting to get HOT... this is a long one.. so buckle up!! These two minutes of action unfold a lot of important developments for this battle. On my right, 2nd Platoon/s tanks made it to the low ground that composes the Short Option... ...one of them gets a spot on Warren's star killer BMP-1P in the treeline across the map and after some back and forth missed shots it finally

(Budbaker has his comics… but I’m not an artist so expect memes) Welcome to the Fire and Rubble German DAR as I take on BFCElvis and his pesky Soviets in a very late war May 1945 urban engagement in Berlin… and it’s somehow snowing. The war has effectively ended but my guys didn’t get the memo, so our adhoc combined arms force is going to push forward into no man’s land one last time. The mission is a simple meeting engagement. Secure Objective Jägermeister and Objective Berliner Weisse, while holding our own starting Objective, codenamed Vodka. The Soviets deploy around Jägermeister

MOUT operations in CMx2 titles have always been pretty bloody if not executed without exceptional care. I can not make a statement regarding your specific situation, but what i ve observed in the couple of years playing CMx2 is that clearing a building occupied by hostile forces is Best avoided if possible If avoiding clearing the building is impossible, destroy the building or its occupants using heavy fire power (tanks, aircraft artillery, what ever you' ve got). If destroying the building or it's occupants using heavy fire power is not possible, prepare it for infantry cle

10. Enhanced Modding Support add units equipment functionality ingame OOB editor

Thank you all sincerely and you are very welcome. I am very glad people got enjoyment out of this. Once the game is released I will post the scenario so you guys can take a run at your own stories (someone remind me if I forget). We will do up a final post-game once Bil finishes up his final turns. I see many congrats at "my victory", I am kinda split here because 1) Of course the glorious forces of the Soviet Union were victorious in crushing the corrupt capitalists, but 2) in reality...when the commissar is not looking, this was pretty much a Draw in my books. You guys can be

@The_Capt.. Warren, this has been a brilliantly written and presented AAR. Bravo. I actually laughed out loud a couple times. Well played game as well... as always you have been a worthy opponent. Bil

Thirteenth Minute - The Board is Set “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.” Art of War, Sun Tsu Minute 13: 1st Platoon's Tank Section 2 continued to harass the two T-64As on the Soviet left (my right) flank. These are the two T-64s that took a beating in the 12th minute... and they each take several more rounds into their front hull and turret, both backing into the woods the whole time. T-64A (right side) manages to escape.. but it has to be damaged. I am considering it a mission kill until I know otherwise. If it pops back up later

See title. Anyone else got simple advice for new players? Here's a short list of mine: Do not get shot at. Shooting makes you easier to see. Cover arcs are not magic. Maybe allow your troops to wait a minute before flogging them onto their objectives. Don't call in that airstrike. No seriously, don't. It'll hit your own guys. It doesn't matter how thick your armor is. You don't assault a position by running straight into it. Use more ammo, you don't get bonus points for frugality. Limit your leaders exposure. Split your squa

I had to lobby hard to get Valentine into the game. Steve was originally not going to include it. He'd imagined Valentine numbers had petered out due to attrition by the title's timeframe. But I provided documents with Valentine numbers in specific Russian units in the closing months, plus photo proof of their use in battle. Steve said he was genuinely surprised how many Valentines were still active. One reason why the Russian loved their Valentines was the darned things just didn't break. As reliable as a hammer. It also had a tiny light tank silhouette while mounting a medium tank's cannon.

I get that some people, a small vocal group of people, are disappointed. I just wish they'd have the humility not to constantly flood the forum with petty bitching

Okay folks - it's the weekend (still) and now that all the drama is over we can get back to driving tanks through hedges ... and of course today remembering the guys that did it for real. Go here to get the read me pdf file (please) Then here and here for the two zip archives. (Hint - if you just want to get started without any faff then download the read me, grab the first zip file and you'll be playing in no time.) Once it's been out for a few days and nobody has complained that it's broken their rig I'll get in touch with @Bootie to upload it to the warehouse, 'cos he probab

The Twenty-Fifth - Thirtieth Minutes - The Wheels Come Off “Be the hunter not the hunted: never allow your unit to be caught with its guard down.” James Mattis My AH-1 has been flying overhead for several turns now, and as far as I know this BMP is its only kill. But in its defense it was being chased by AA missiles for most of the time it hung around and did lose it's mate so I'm lucky it made even this kill. After that the wheels started to come off.... ...one of my M-150s exchanged ATGMs with one of Warren's BMPs... ...both missil

March to Glorious Victory Post #8 - Riddles in the Dark (Turn 18) Well only a single turn to report, again apologies but we are kinda busy. I am new to the whole game development thing but I believe it is call "the crunch", so named I believe for the sound our bones make when Steve swings his bat if we fail to meet deadlines. Regardless, the war continues: So my push up the center continues, I am just getting my infantry forward to sweep those woods, particularly on the right because I am starting to see movement. I couple M113s and at least one M150 are shuffling around up

I know, I know, wrong Elvis. But still, it is my humble yet (I'm sure you'll agree) expert opinion that you are the perfect voice of, and face for, BFC. Seriously! You have great communication skills dealing this somewhat, at times, hinky crowd. Just a shout out appropo of nothing, except maybe this alcoholic beverage I'm holding.

Greetings I wanted to let everyone know that we at Developer Dialogue had the incredible opportunity to interview the founder & creator of Battlefront.com, Stephen Grammont. During the interview we dove into the history of the Combat Mission franchise, discuss the company’s latest partnership with Slitherine and uncover some bombshells. We also uncover why Battlefront never released on Steam, until now. Special thank you to Stephen for taking part in this interview, it was an amazing experience. If you guys are interested you can listen to it here:

Sure - but we could all take our tinfoil hats off about Steam, military contracts et al. The latter reminds me of those discussions when Shock Force came out ... remember those ... "It is a click fest", "Battlefront is chasing military contracts" Then remember that they all ended up in the Gamesquad Forum talking to each other and see how that went. Remember that the introduction of real time play was described as all sorts of doom and gloom while conveniently forgetting that WEGO was still an option and still is ... The brown smelly stuff bust bottom line is that this module is being

I've got permission from BFCElvis to post about something a little to the side of this content. Fixing the Hedgerow Bug It's perhaps most prevalent in CMBN given the abundance of hedgerow maps/scenarios but applies across all titles for infantry behind hard cover. You may have noticed my Green troops in this battle have not been running away or into the streets towards the enemy during these firefights with the Soviet infantry. This whole DAR has been using a version of the F&R beta that includes some tweaks to the TacAI to address infantry bolting from cover when coming und

As we eagerly await the coming of CMFR, here's a quick status update: I'm picking up the project again after a super-long break and am pecking away at what I can do without the new module materials. The later release date means that I may or may not make release of my project in 2020. My hobby time is much less than it used to be, but I'm still hopeful and dying to get this baby out. Currently, I'm focusing on updating all the building internals to what I have identified over time as the best design for tactical play and user-friendliness. I'm making good progress there. I had forgotten h

Heaven & Earth, the "Vietnam-esque" Super-mod, is proud to release the 'People's Beta'... Enjoy & don't hesitate to give the team some feedback. Download link (includes the manual)... https://www.mediafire.com/file/xal53h0dxyuznse/H%26E_0.97.7z/file The manual only (for those who just wish to peruse) link... https://www.mediafire.com/file/yq8h8zuswecmj3z/H%26E_0.97_Manual.pdf/file Content includes... Four "Bong-Hai Civil War" Era Campaigns- -The amazing 15 mission "Year of the Rat" by @puje, -A 15 mission Peopl

The Eighteenth Minute - Relearning Old Lessons “Lost in a blurred confusion of yells and groans... down, and down, and down, he sank and drowned, bleeding to death. The counter-attack had failed.” Siegfried Sassoon I seem to be relearning the same old lessons over and over again. I had my 2nd Platoon tanks driving through the open to get to the low ground for the Short Option… the lead M-60A1 was spotted by both the T-64B and the BMP-1P across the map, and after exchanging fire with them, the BMP (of course) hit… …at least the smoke from the burning tank should mask

March to Glorious Victory Post #7 - "Take Me Out to Decadent Capitalist Balls Game" (16-17) Short update/follow up: So at the end of turn 17, that is 10 T62s, 7 BMPs, 2 x dismounted inf pls, 1 x mounted inf pl and some scouts on the other side of the valley...I think we can call this a horde. Total casualties were 4 infantrymen. So plan now is pretty simple. I am going to shore up the town with the dismounted infantry and a tank platoon. A counter-attack for them is a certainty. I will also leave the covering force in place for now. The rest of the force, 7xT62s,

The Fourteenth Minute - Spoiling Attack Plan “Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.” Bruce Lee Bruce said it… “…adjust to the object…”, that is how I play… remaining flexible and adjusting my planning according to the enemy position and movements. For several turns now I have been building to something… and the moment is close to when I put it all into action. The 14th Minute This one cha

Not sure how much of an interest there will be, but I decided to share some faction mods I have made over the last month or so in case anyone wanted to use them. Not everything is completed in full, but are near a state of completion that I am happy with. I may make some tweaks/adjustments as time goes on, or if any major issues pop up. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hnuj6bmyst5n6kg/AABYp29_jC7l2uOSzuwRUuSea?dl=0 The above drop box link contains individual downloads for the following: Britain -British Woodland DPM Uniforms -British Mixed Uniforms (Several variants of mixe

March to Glorious Victory Post #2 - When Bourgeoisies Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (1-4 mins) So we are off. On map, I have a Recon Company of the finest young men that the Soviet Union has ever produced. Given my relatively crappy position the good news is that there are a lot of trails and cutline so I have room to spread this Coy out and take a wide - EYES (wink, wink) stance. This shot of initial setup turn one from Bil's (soon to be my) side: You will note that I am going to leave my tank platoon back, saving it for the big push. Then in the second minute I immediately

Fourth Minute - First Contact! Forgive me for a second AAR post today, but I will be traveling tomorrow and wanted to get this one published tonight. “One should not be diverted by geographical objectives, but should concentrate on the destruction of the enemy’s military forces.” Classic Russian Military Principles A little excitement during this turn, and first shot fired (all times are in Game Time, counting down from 40:00). Yellow text for contacts equals a tentative contact, red text is for solid identified contacts. @36:47: Early in this minute

--------------------------------------------------------- Sniper in the Corn ---------------------------------------------------------- Description : With the release of Shock Force 2 on Steam, I wanted to create an relatively simple introductory scenario with a low troop density thus easy to manage where new players can practice small units infantry tactics against an insurgent force. In the end the map size and the length of the battle are probably too large for a real basic scenario but that was my initial starting point. The scenario has you lead a s

Re-posting this as I know he was a well known figure among the early Combat Mission titles. I remember his scenarios well from those early days of CM. RIP "Wild" Bill Wilder. "It is with a sad heart that I need to report the passing of Bill Wilder. For those of you that know my history, Bill Wilder was one of the first gamers to join me when I founded Matrix Games. Our first project together was the Steel Panthers World At War game. I had just recently chatted with him and it was just like old times. I will greatly miss him. Bill's obituary can be found here and you may leave a mes