Col Deadmarsh

Sounds good. However...after loading up the game, I'm now having graphic issues with images that blink on and off. Is this that Vista issue I keep hearing about? Do I need to buy the patch? Also, where the hell is everybody? Every forum seems to be empty these days, including TOW. I remember when there were 30+ posts a day in these forums just a couple of years ago.

I'm interested in a game. I haven't played in years though so I will be super rusty.

Hello all, I lost my CMBB disk years ago and because of it, I stopped playing this fine game. Recently, I found it again stashed away in some CD case and I'm itching to get back into playing some email games again. Looking around the website, I see that they never made another WWII Western or Eastern Front module. Looks like they left it up to the Theater of War people to take over. So anyways, I was wondering how CMBB stacks up against TOW which looks pretty slick on the surface. Is there anything about CMBB that the newer TOW doesn't have in terms of gameplay? How do the two stack up against each other?

Any chance that smoke will be added in a future update?

I agree. Smoke should be in the next patch/upgrade/whatever.

Just one more reason why I won't buy this game...

youre right, there not competing on the same level. CC is a tactical real time strategy battle simulation! TOW is a real time strategy game the only improvement of TOW VS CC is 3D. thats about it. close combat is really well made, it is a beauty to watch, you cant do better than that in 2d. -you can only win in CC with intelligence and tactics -you can best win in TOW by finding the best glitches and exploiting faults in the AI -CC is a complete game: you have all the tools to use proper tactics like ambushes, smoke screens, buildings... -TOW is not a complete game, you have to forget that ambush was a tactic and that smokes and buildings etc...were used back then -CC has all kinds of environments from villages to cities -TOW has open fields -more realistic feel to CC, no icons on the field -etc etc... Close Combat was even used and promoted by many military officer schools to practice tactics in realistic situations without having real soldiers killed! TOW is a nice game, but in no way it deserves the "tactical, simulation or realistic" mention next to its name. its an RTS nothing more </font>

Why is it that CMBB was able to handle men entering buildings and yet years later, with more processing power to use, this TOW engine can't handle this aspect of the game? Or smoke either?????

In almost every screenie I've seen, there is hardly any C & C at all. Maybe a wall here or a building there but nothing like CM. Not even any dense forests. In addition to this, every map looks like gentle, rolling hills with no defilade positions to take hold of.

No smoke. No entering buildings. No woods. What's next? No songbirds?

I love the tank exhaust...

Awesome news! I'm sure many people don't think a mission editor will make things that much more interesting but coming from the Close Combat series, this just isn't true. Using just a few maps, the players on that board were able to create entirely different games every time by simply adjusting the setup zones. I'm completely okay with what's being put into this game. In fact, I'm hoping "smoke" will be the next element added into any future modules. The full map editor can wait as far as I'm concerned.

Well, that's better news than I expected. Now if they can just add smoke...

Mine fields, barbed wire, etc. Does any of this stuff exist or are trenches the only form of fortification in the game?

CC2 was an addiction for me back in the late 90's. It had a unique feel and look that its successors in the series didn't have. That maps were prettier, the infantry played a huge part in the battle's outcome, and who didn't love taking control of that Flammenhetzer, driving it down your city street and charring anything Allied in its path? I doubt that when they rebuild CC2, it will have the same feel as the old one did. Still, I anxiously wait for it's release as I miss the top down view aspect and real-time play. Some of those games were so frenetic, playing online against another great players would just fray your nerves. What I hope they fix is the terrible pathing that CC2 suffered from. That was hands-down the biggest negative of the game. Tanks getting stuck on buildings, etc was really frustrating. BTW, there is still a loyal CC2 community at www.tournamenthouse.com which has issued updates that have corrected errors and made it a better game.

At least they put the mortars in there before the release. Now just add smoke please.

My theory is that TOW and CMSF are actually the same game.

I could understand if they wanted to take a year off from WWII after doing CMAK but it's been YEARS since that was put out. This wait for another WWII game has been way too long and now it will go on for another year or so. I will probably end up getting TOW instead but I doubt it will quench my thirst for a realistic, tactical WWII game.

Yes, they could make it as an option..something Combat Mission did with every release.

Nothing's worse than the omission of smoke. Nothing.

I recently talked to a vet who was at Normandy and he confirmed that his squad was never issued smoke grenades. So I can accept this in CM. But to eliminate smoke altogether...how does one rush over barren terrain or retreat from an overwhelming situation with no concealment from arty or mortar smoke? How does a smaller tank retreat from something it can't kill if it doesn't possess smoke grenade launchers to conceal itself? It just seems to me that this "no smoke" thing would affect game play to the point where it would seem entirely unrealistic. Frankly, the more I hear about what was left out of this game, the more I just wanna wait till CM hits the shelves.

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There's no smoke or mortars in the game and you guys are talking about gliders...

Why in the name of all that is holy was this left out? How can so much attention to detail be put into each unit and yet something like smoke which adds a whole new dimension to the game be left out? How???

I can just see the hardcore grognards now... "After testing the beta, I noticed there's a rivet missing on the StuG III tank. Does somebody plan to address this issue?"