Major B

My tactics are so bad, I'm suprised I haven't had a mutiny yet. My tanks die fast. My soldiers die fast. For god's sake, I've peppered my own troops with artillery on more than one occasion. I'm what you would call an enthusiastic newbie at this.

Hey, I've noticed that whenever somebody complains about this game, somebody else always calls them a Quakehead, or a Quake 3 Lover, or a shooter fan, etc. It's like you can only play one type of game, or if you happen to like certain types of games, you can't possibly like others. I love Mario Party. I didn't like Quake 3, but I love Unreal Tournament. I think Diablo 2 is great, Icewind Dale is great, and Deus Ex is one of my favorite games of all time. So is Combat Mission. I even have some sports games for my Dreamcast. I just wanted to point out that there is at least one person who likes a whole bunch of types of games, and believes pigeonholes are best left in discreet math problems.

Well, this game came to me in the middle of one of the largest game released in history. Every five days or so, another game comes out that I want. In the past 3 weeks I have gotten Vampire, Shogun, Combat mission, Klingon Academy, and Deus Ex. Some I like, some I love, but no matter which game I am playing, my mind keeps drifting back to Combat Mission. While playing shogun: My poor Airborne troops are pinned down in the ditch next to the second bridge. While playing Klingon Academy: Those tanks are getting awfully close to town. Combat Mission is even distracting me from Deus Ex (although It is a fantastic game itself). Combat Mission will not be leaving my hardrive. It truly is a revolutionary game. I am by no means a Grognard. I haven't played too many wargames (on the computer) that I have enjoyed. This game is just fantastic. I believe it is the turn system, and the interface, combined with the 3D representation that make it so good. It probably appeals to the minature gamer in me. On a slightly different note, I'd like to share a story that comes close to being on topic. I had a history/political science teacher, Dr. Borkman, who told a story about a trip to Germany he took once. He was saying with relatives, and one night they had a party. One of the guests was a rather elderly gentlemen who lived in town. Dr. Borkman was telling his aunt about his trip to London, and how nice it had been. She agreed it was a wonderful town, and asked the elderly gentleman if he had ever been in London before. He smiled, and replied "I was over it a few times." [This message has been edited by Major B (edited 06-26-2000).]

Hmmm, when it comes to games, the only prejudice I have ever noticed in myself involved Tie-Fighter. I just couldn't enjoy flying for the Empire. Not to make light of anybody elses feelings, as being in America, and having been born in 1974, I haven't really had the chance to develop a hatred towards any other nation. Granted, I still haven't met a nice French person, but I am sure they are out there.

I've been playing Shogun:Total War, the Deus Ex demo, and Combat Mission. Since getting CM, I've been playing less and less of Shogun(Only multi-player battles with my friends), and haven't touched Vampire...and Deus Ex and Diablo II are right around the corner, not to mention Klingon Academy having just been released. Arrgh, too many games. CM is fantastic, it's going to stay on my hard drive a long time. I'm not a big wargamer at all. Really, the only other Wargame I enjoyed was Steel Panthers (the first one). I was going to check out SPWAW, but don't feel the need now that CM is here.

Ok, This is going to be brief, as I want to get back to the game, but already the game is proving to be fantastic. It's late in the war. My poor Germans are defending some little town. We have a couple of SPA's, a smattering of MG42's, some AT guns and some infantry. One group of infantry, 2 squads and a panzershreck team, are hidden in a bunch of trees a few hundred yards outside of town, all alone. Well, here come the Americans. Tanks everywhere, pouring over the landscape. We do some damage, taking out a couple of half-tracks, a and a sherman before we lose the AT guns and the Self propelled artillery. Having cleared us of our big guns, the Americans start advancing ahead quickly, to clean up. Our guys in the wood huddle down, and pick a spot near the edge for an ambush, hoping some cocky American tank will ride on by. Sure enough, here comes an M8 greyhound, zooming right into our ambush spot. The two squads rise up at the same time, and blow the Greyhound straight to hades. That sure gets the Americans' attention, and the poor guys go down in a flurry of gunfire from all sides. Mr. Panzershreck gets off a couple of shots before he too, is blown up. Sure, we lost our backsides in that fight. Call it a learning experience. That ambush was a sight to see, tho. Wonderful game. I am already happy I ordered it.

Got mine today, sent to Wimberly, Texas. Ordered it the day the game went gold. Congrats BTS! [This message has been edited by Major B (edited 06-20-2000).]