landser

Hopefully few agree. One aspect should not be given a pass based on the quality of other aspects, nor should it be elevated for the same reason.
Each should be judged on its own merits. I can believe that spotting and ballistics are top-notch while thinking graphics are underwhelming. And I would say so, and hope others do too when offering their assessment. Any notion of not being critical of graphics because of the overall package is misleading and not what I want from honest reviews and opinions.
The reaction on these boards to Combat Mission hitting the mainstream last year was something to see. Like the neighbor's fence came down and now everyone can see the wash hanging out to dry.

Hopefully few agree. One aspect should not be given a pass based on the quality of other aspects, nor should it be elevated for the same reason.
Each should be judged on its own merits. I can believe that spotting and ballistics are top-notch while thinking graphics are underwhelming. And I would say so, and hope others do too when offering their assessment. Any notion of not being critical of graphics because of the overall package is misleading and not what I want from honest reviews and opinions.
The reaction on these boards to Combat Mission hitting the mainstream last year was something to see. Like the neighbor's fence came down and now everyone can see the wash hanging out to dry.

Hopefully few agree. One aspect should not be given a pass based on the quality of other aspects, nor should it be elevated for the same reason.
Each should be judged on its own merits. I can believe that spotting and ballistics are top-notch while thinking graphics are underwhelming. And I would say so, and hope others do too when offering their assessment. Any notion of not being critical of graphics because of the overall package is misleading and not what I want from honest reviews and opinions.
The reaction on these boards to Combat Mission hitting the mainstream last year was something to see. Like the neighbor's fence came down and now everyone can see the wash hanging out to dry.

I'll go against the grain and say I'm not looking forward to this module, but whichever one follows with 1941 and 1942.
Late war hardware doesn't light my fire. There will be a lot of very cool vehicles and formations in the module I'm sure. But as lethality goes up, compelling gameplay goes down, at least for me. And I am not a fan of urban fighting in Combat Mission, and I guess that will be a focus of the new module and associated campaigns? And rightly so if it is. All of which means this really isn't the one for me, and I am a big fan of Red Thunder.  Maybe I'll pick it up down the road, I'll wait and see it through the posts folks here make after release and make the call then.
We've waited seven years for this expansion, and if I recall correctly, Battlefront once said that the plan would be to do 1945, then 1943, 1942 and 1941, working in reverse. If each of those was a separate module with similar development time, 1941 would arrive 21 years from now and the chances of me still being around and able to conduct a proper battle will have gone way down.
So maybe I buy this one as my last shot

Just thought it might be useful to have a thread where folk can talk about the AAR but without Bil or The Capt peeking?
I enjoyed the discussion in Bil's thread about the tactics and other items that were perhaps better suited to it's own discussion. I have some questions which I will post later as off to enjoy the sun and get my daily walk in Lockdown....
Just Pre-Ordered the game so really looking forward to this title...

I read (and write) a lot of AARs, but Bil's are probably my favorites. The presentation (screens, maps, etc) and analysis is top-notch, The commentary of your reasoning, analysis and actions is always entertaining and enlightening.  Add to it the ability read the AAR of the opponent, while it is all going down, and it all adds up to the best AARs on the 'net. Turn-based WEGO Combat Mission is especially well suited to this. I know these AARs are a lot of work, and I would believe it if you told us you spend more time on these than the battle itself.  Just a post to say how much it is appreciated, and for those of us excited about Cold War, a must-read. Good luck, commander!

I made a course:

I read (and write) a lot of AARs, but Bil's are probably my favorites. The presentation (screens, maps, etc) and analysis is top-notch, The commentary of your reasoning, analysis and actions is always entertaining and enlightening.  Add to it the ability read the AAR of the opponent, while it is all going down, and it all adds up to the best AARs on the 'net. Turn-based WEGO Combat Mission is especially well suited to this. I know these AARs are a lot of work, and I would believe it if you told us you spend more time on these than the battle itself.  Just a post to say how much it is appreciated, and for those of us excited about Cold War, a must-read. Good luck, commander!

Good work mate, glad to know it may have been helpful, but I am not keen to sort it out, was just trying to help my brothers-in-arms

I read (and write) a lot of AARs, but Bil's are probably my favorites. The presentation (screens, maps, etc) and analysis is top-notch, The commentary of your reasoning, analysis and actions is always entertaining and enlightening.  Add to it the ability read the AAR of the opponent, while it is all going down, and it all adds up to the best AARs on the 'net. Turn-based WEGO Combat Mission is especially well suited to this. I know these AARs are a lot of work, and I would believe it if you told us you spend more time on these than the battle itself.  Just a post to say how much it is appreciated, and for those of us excited about Cold War, a must-read. Good luck, commander!

I have to agree, partly because of the Bil thing of course
This is the first Combat Mission title I have been excited about since Red Thunder, and no need to say how long ago that was.
It appeals to me because it features such well-matched adversaries in a conflict that never flared up. And it focuses on forces that are asymmetric in a number of ways. Nothing like Shock Force of course, but asymmetrical combat is highly appealing for me. Different doctrines clashing.
And because the cold war did not go hot, this game will be free of the constraints of history. It's not tethered to historical battles and outcomes, and instead is all what-if. I've often said that as a student of this history I prefer what-if generators. I know what happened in real life, I'd prefer in some ways to war-game out other situations and scenarios. The historical Combat Mission titles have avoided this to a large degree, and understandably so. But Cold War has such massive latitude for campaign and scenario design as a result. This is exciting and I cannot wait to see how it shakes out.

I have to agree, partly because of the Bil thing of course
This is the first Combat Mission title I have been excited about since Red Thunder, and no need to say how long ago that was.
It appeals to me because it features such well-matched adversaries in a conflict that never flared up. And it focuses on forces that are asymmetric in a number of ways. Nothing like Shock Force of course, but asymmetrical combat is highly appealing for me. Different doctrines clashing.
And because the cold war did not go hot, this game will be free of the constraints of history. It's not tethered to historical battles and outcomes, and instead is all what-if. I've often said that as a student of this history I prefer what-if generators. I know what happened in real life, I'd prefer in some ways to war-game out other situations and scenarios. The historical Combat Mission titles have avoided this to a large degree, and understandably so. But Cold War has such massive latitude for campaign and scenario design as a result. This is exciting and I cannot wait to see how it shakes out.

I have to agree, partly because of the Bil thing of course
This is the first Combat Mission title I have been excited about since Red Thunder, and no need to say how long ago that was.
It appeals to me because it features such well-matched adversaries in a conflict that never flared up. And it focuses on forces that are asymmetric in a number of ways. Nothing like Shock Force of course, but asymmetrical combat is highly appealing for me. Different doctrines clashing.
And because the cold war did not go hot, this game will be free of the constraints of history. It's not tethered to historical battles and outcomes, and instead is all what-if. I've often said that as a student of this history I prefer what-if generators. I know what happened in real life, I'd prefer in some ways to war-game out other situations and scenarios. The historical Combat Mission titles have avoided this to a large degree, and understandably so. But Cold War has such massive latitude for campaign and scenario design as a result. This is exciting and I cannot wait to see how it shakes out.

I never get tired of war, but I do occasionally get tired of Combat Mission.
Got a campaign going in Hearts of Iron 4, playing a co-op with a buddy in Total War: Atilla, have another campaign with a buddy and my younger brother in Stellaris, I got sucked into the rather fantastical time sink of Conqueror's Blade, I play Airport Madness 3D when I need to kill fifteen minutes, I'm still in the middle of single-player games in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, Darkest Dungeon, DiRT Rally 2.0, Kerbal Space Program, Motorsport Manager, Prison Architect, Silent Hunter: Wolves of the Pacific, Star Wars Empire at War, Take Command - 2nd Manassas, Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail, Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon, and Xenonauts.
Needless to say, I start a lot of games I don't finish, then a year later I remember I have a save game waiting and I'll fire it back up again.

Wow!
This is fantastic.
Congrats to Battlefront and Slitherine for getting this off the ground. Can't wait.

Just in the past few months
Elite Dangerous, Cyberpunk, Falcon 4 BMS, Europa Universalis 4, Divinity Original Sin 1 & 2,  Outer Wilds, Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, Super Mega Baseball 3, Football Manager, F1 2020, Warhammer 2, Frost Punk, Black Mesa, GTA 5,  Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts, Prey, Hitman 2 and probably several more that escape me at the mo.
So yeah, I don't do much gaming these days

Wow!
This is fantastic.
Congrats to Battlefront and Slitherine for getting this off the ground. Can't wait.

Hopefully noddy suits are included and all that entails with wearing them. Grew up in a Garrison town watching infantry regiments running around in squads all year round / hot or cold getting use to them


 

Well that sort of advice is like your internet provider saying 'unplug the router, wait 20 seconds, then plug it in again'. It often works and is not bad advice. But it's more like something to get out of the way and if it doesn't solve the issue then we will dive deeper.
Updating drivers isn't necessarily good nor bad. But sometimes you can create a new issue attempting to fix another. My advice was if ain't broke don't fix it. If you actually have it broke, then it is solid advice most of the time and well, you need to fix it. I wouldn't worry.

Good advice. Most driver updates these days are basically optimisations for the newest mainstream games. Old games like CM rarely benefit from driver updates, and new drivers might even break some old functionality. There's no reason to update as long as things run decently.

I agree with the others, avoid those sorts of apps. That said, if ain't broke, don't fix it. I don't update drivers because there is a new one. Only when some sort of issue crops up that is driver related. But the only real reason I will do it is if I get a new game that doesn't run well on the old ones.
This is becoming ever more rare. Back in the day it was common. A new WHQL came out for the video card? Get it. But back then we also managed swap files, ran defrag before we installed everything, and did annual reformats of the hard drives just to keep it all ticking along and playing nicely.
Now? Hardly ever needed unless there's an issue with how a program is running. If it runs fine, no need to risk it
 
I see now the necro, but the advice still stands...

I would too, if you need any help (and if it does not require F&R in the end).
Looking at the screenshots of the maps. This is exactly the sort of map/terrrain that I find most enjoyable. The rural/farmland sort of stuff. I'm no fan of urban combat in Combat mission, and other maps can be congested or close with thick forests or other map elements.
The sorts of maps shown here though are right up my alley. Open ground with broken sightlines due to tree lines, small copses, villages, undulations. Looking forward to this campaign release.

You were right all along, landser. The song is indeed called 'Soviet Empire'. My apologies and thanks again! After your tip I did search for that title, but found nothing by Sergei Stern. Apart from that Finnish and Russian military choirs sound alike in a lot of respects and the text in the song is difficult to analyse. The languages in itself are very different of course (Finno Ugrian and Slavic). My wife speaks Russian and even she didn't recognize it, although she thought she heard the Russian word for 'war'.
Anyway, I found the song in the directory of the game and again, you were right, landser, well done!
Apart from finding the song (after buying the game which looks interesting) the good thing is that I found scores of great Finnish and Soviet military songs. Especially a Finnish album called 'Suomelle-Isänmaallisia lauluja' contains great martial songs.
If BF ever decides to crowd fund for a Finnish CM, I would gladly pay several hundred Euros to get that materialized. But I'm a dreamer, I know.
 

OK well I cheated a bit. I downloaded the manual for Winter War, and that's the only song listed in the credits...
Good luck mate

Shot in the dark....
“Soviet Empire” by Serguei Stern?