kipanderson

Steve, “Currently we're thinking 1944 because that has the most "interesting" stuff for most people.” Now we are talking… by far my favorite period… both sides still very different in style but both knew what they were about. BTW… the June’44 army the Germans fielded was their best ever. Superbly equipped and trained. In most units full order of battle. It is just that everyone else had improved even more . Korsun Pocket Jan/Feb ‘44… is winter which people expect from the Eastern Front. Operational stunningly interesting.. a pocket formed, the Soviets won but not the total massacre of some other pockets. Environmentally/climatically, tactically and operationally it just begs to be the subject of CM. All the best, Kip.

Hi, The fun is back… With 1.05 CMSF is unrecognisably better… the old fun is back again at full power . I always knew it was just the bugs… released too early for whatever reason, who cares now, but with 1.05 I found that I was never thinking “how to” while playing.. it was all about the tactics just as with CMX1. The game flowed as did CMBB. With no bugs and pathfinding and such fully up to standard all is now well with the world again. CM is back… . Now where is that Eastern Front version All very good fun once again, All the best, Kip.

Hi, The wars of the Middle East over the last decade or more are no representation of “the Soviet way of war”. No more than a match up between a crack Soviet Guards Corps of ’89 against a late ‘60s National Guard unit would have been a representation of the American way of war. To give an example. The T72s used by the Iraqis were “monkey models” as the Soviets called them. Their armour, fire control, night vision, ammunition and so on are decades behind the ‘90s and contemporary Russian equivalents of current and late ‘90s NATO kit. This matters… a lot. See what has happened when the latest NATO/M1A2 tanks and Bradleys come up against mid and late ‘90s Russian anti-tank weapons. If you select in the editor best equipment for the Iraqis you get late ‘90s Russian anti-tank weapons and you can see how easily the hold their own against current, very latest model M1s. The Iraqis where also completely untrained. Totally useless. The wars against the Iraqis have been, in military terms, the equivalent of the Zulu wars the British fought in the 1800s. The insurgency wars that followed the invasion have been real enough, exact parallels to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the invasion wars themselves were not really wars at all. Just semi-hostile occupations. In a sense this makes it even sadder for the relatives of those few NATO soldiers who lost their lives during the occupation. From the post invasion phase lots of lessons “re-learnt” but from the invasion wars themselves there was just confirmation that very poor third world countries are not good at high-intensity warfare. As they were not in the 1800s. All interesting stuff, All the best, Kip.

Hi, “The tactical combined arms problem of WW II is simply superior to the periods before and after, in tactical interest.” Exactly so… I do not always agree with JasonC but certainly agree with the above statement. Says it all. The only other period that even comes close, but is not quite equal in my view, is Napoleonic warfare. In both WWII and Napoleonic warfare the “offense and the defense” were in balance in a way they are not in, to give an example…. WWI or the American Civil War. In both WWII and Napoleonic warfare there was also extreme tactical complexity which adds the fun from a gamers point of view. I still enjoy modern warfare though… nothing like a bit Cold War when in the mood. Fulda Gap here I come . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Steve, Congratulations on the patch… I also know you will be busy with other things for the next week.. But just quickly.. what is the possible, best guess timetable for the Normandy game and you did post that you had decided there would one day be an Eastern Front version, is this still the case… long in the future no doubt. Thanks… Have good Christmas… you are lucky, I am jealous of the snow you get in New England… never recovered from watching Dreaming of the White Christmas as a child All the best, Kip.

Hi, yup...Steve did post that there is to be an Eastern Front version of CMX2... sometime after his posts along the lines that the market for Eastern Front games is a niche market and not what we may think. I too responded by posting that it was the best news I had heard about CMX2. All the best, Kip.

Hi, Yup…CMBB by a huge margin… Happily there is to be an Eastern Front CMX2 so lets hope the engine has matured enough by then to more than equal CMBB . All the best, Kip.

Hi, Let’s hope all is well. All the best, Kip.

Hi, I agree with flamingknives… they are on holiday. Lets hope so anyway… they deserve it.. All the best, Kip.

Hi, CMBB is the classic wargame of all time, in my view . But I no longer play it, Absolute Spotting killed it for me after three years of solid play. CMX2 is the future for me. All the best, kip.

Hi, thanks to all for doing the work for us... All the best, Kip.

Hi, Tactical precision… that is what made CMX1 so great and will CMX2 when fully de-bugged. Units need to do as they would if order so to do by a squad leader… maybe a bit better than that . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Someone else may have mentioned this… Do remember that “the” feature that was originally scheduled for the first WWII outing/second CMX2 was Co-Op play…I think of it as live team play. Schedules change… who knows It would be fun. All the best, Kip.

Hi, US infantry are also too lethal. In fact in the tests I did way too Uber in every way . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Steve, I am a big fan of CMX2 but in time it does need a bit of tweaking to give back some of the tactical precision that was possible with CMX1… and currently, is not possible with CMX2. With CMX1 it was possible to set up ambushes at corners such that one knew exactly at which point an enemy would come into site as it approached the corner. Using the LOS tool. This was a very good presentation of a unit very carefully sneaking a look around the corner without exposing itself too much. Something along the same lines needs to… in time… become possible again with CMX2. More tactical precision, one way or another, is needed. When developed nearer its full potential CMX2 will far outshine CMX1… but it is not there yet due in part to the lack of tactical precision. Nearer that a squad leader may expect from his unit when issuing orders to them. This was possible with CMX1 and was part of the magic. It will come with CMX2… . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Pause-able RT is fine… I am pulsed how anyone could have any objections to it. However… RT without the ability to pause is a real problem. All the best, Kip.

Hi, I think it has always been the case… since BFC first started to allow CM to be sold other than by themselves…. that CM could be found for less than the BFC price. This is also true of many other games sold by developers on their own sites and in shops. All the best, Kip.

Hi, I agree absolutely with the sentiments of Ali-Baba and think the CMX2 engine is potentially all anyone could have hoped for… fully debugged a WWII version will replace CMBB as the number one wargame of all time . BTW… I saw somewhere in the mass of threads and posts that Steve has confirmed there will be an Eastern Front title for CMX2… wargame wise things do not get better . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Well I am happy to join in here as I also like the engine. The setting is not my favourite… apart from with the guys at BFC I do not think it is anyone’s favourite … but fully debugged will be a great advance eon CMX1. When the WWII version is released I am sure BFC will re-established their reputation, CMX2 fully de-bugged with the odd new feature will blow away all the critics . All the best, Kip.

Hi, BTW I am not one of those who think CMX2 will have limited shelf life just because the settings are more focussed. The coming Normandy game… and hopefully later a mainstream Eastern Front setting such as Kursk… will have very long legs and last years. With the odd module added, even without, they will hold my interest for as long as CMBB… in fact longer as they will not have problems such as Borg Spotting. All the best, Kip.

Hi, I am a fan of CMSF and even more of a fan of CMX2 engine….. but I have never denied that the setting of CMSF has limited shelf live. When it comes to scenarios it does not have as long legs a mainstream WWII setting would have. Unless you wish to see a one sided massacre scenarios seems to take the form of Syrian infantry of some type, supported by modern Russian AT weapons, defending against mechanise US forces. Each to their own but there is a limit to how often I can play such scenarios and enjoy them. If in the next module BFC add OPFORs/NTC type Red forces weapons, late module T90s and such…. this will help a lot. But the setting will never have the replay value a mainstream WWII setting would have…. in my view . Still…it makes a change… . All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Thanks for the link…. there have been so many threads kicking about that I must have missed it… Also in the thread you linked too… even better news… Steve posted “I'm an East Front grog, hence CMBB being such a monster. Expect something East Front from CMx2, I just can't say when.” Now that really is news… last I had heard Steve was a little in doubtful it would happen as surprisingly the Eastern Front is no that big a seller. Steve described it as “niche” in another thread. Great stuff, All the best, Kip.

Hi, Just curious what the time scale may be for the Normandy game? I must quickly add that I am a fan of CMSF but I do remember that one of the design objectives of CMX2 was a far quicker turn round in new games… plus all those modules as a bonus to keep us going.. . So this is friendly request for information… no more. Looking forward to many more CMX2 games and modules… All good fun, All the best, Kip.

Michael, “Any game where you order squads around, on the other hand, is not "operational". That's as goofy as the suggestions being bandied about on the Matrix forum.” I never thought such games/scales were operational … I think you sometimes read posts too fast and then jump to the wrong conclusion. I could give you both the western and the Russian/Soviet definitions of operational… I know what it means . The two scales for wargames that always interested me most were Squad Leader… the lowest realistic scale for any wargame … in my view… and the operational in the western definition of “having the right battalion, in the right place at the right time.” i.e. moving battalions about on maps that if hexed would be 1 mile, maybe 1 km to the hex. Thanks for the Airborne Assault heads up but I have it.. in my view it does not quite come off… they use what I would call a “micro-combat” model and are pause-able RT… neither perfect for operational games in my view. But I will probably get their forthcoming Bulge game. WEGO would be ideal for operational games. All the best, Kip.

Steve, Yes…if you could come up with some way to make life easier, make spotting doors less time consuming and like hard work then that would be the problem solved. . To me CMX2 is very much “son of CMX1”… ultra Squad Leader . There is something magical about this scale. The scale of Squad Leader and the CM games is in my view… the smallest/lowest you can go and still create realistic wargames. If you manage to make CMX2 just a touch less hard work we will have perfection. CM games are still the only PC games I play. Although I take quite lot of wargames for a test drive… they never quite make the grade. If you ever feel like trying an operational game…. do not hold back. There is a niche waiting for a quality WEGO operational game. All good fun, All the best, Kip.