Concord

How does air power work? Do we just specify their missions and away we go? Can air power be attacked by enemy air power (ala air superiority)? Here's what I'm thinking regarding our aerial assets: If our recon squadron doesn't need an escort, I'd say send 'em up the map and see what's beyond. Can we order this recon mission before specifying the moves for our ground forces? If yes for both above questions, then get them in the air! 189th Gds Assault Aviation can hit Migojo proper (using intel gathered by Snols night action to make it even more effective!). 136th and 569th hit the assault guns. 724th and 783rd hit the 2 enemy recon units we can see. I'd prefer to do the ground attacks as a separate, softening up exersize (air strike at dawn!) rather than have them in direct support of our ground forces - I've seen way too many mistaken ground attacks to trust the flyboys. I will start outlining plans for our ground forces shortly.

Good intel, thanks Snols.

Wow, much to consider here! Thanks for the screenshot. I wonder how the flat view compares? Entrenched infantry in Migojo, and assault guns in the woods behind the town. I WANT THAT TOWN! AND I WANT THOSE ASSAULT GUNS BURNING! This will be our first mission comrades. Hm, shame we don't have some recon units. Can we split off a platoon of T-70's or BA-64's to sniff about (that our HQ miraculously materialises out of thin air)? Wait a red second! Is that air power? Including a recon squadron??

Thanks kohlenklau for your excellent work constructing this campaign buddy. It adds a whole new dimension to the game, and insights into the operational level. Snols, this should be an interesting battle. A night raid by assault engineers! The only advice I have in the beginning is to get into the mind set of conserving troops as much as possible. Not a very Russian SOP I know, but since we are playing an operation, losses carry over in a unit's history. Also, the occasional action report posted in the allied thread would be greatly appreciated. Can be just text, but some images would be great too. Allows the rest of the team and forum lurkers to enjoy. Crack on!

Welcome Comrades, thanks for posting. Allied commanders - you may want to click on the 'follow' button at the top of the thread, so you get email notifications when posts are made in this thread. There is an initial warm up clash coming - contact! Looking for a volunteer to fight!

All Russian officers report for duty! P.S. We will likely have an initial skirmish scenario ready shortly...at night! We need a commander to fight the battle.

Comrades! To arms! This thread will be the allied clubhouse for Operation Nyakleves. Axis stay out! More to come...

Thanks snarre! Yeah, there's not a huge amount of maps around either - not like the days of the earlier Combat Missions. Especially big maps. I think it's a good idea to eventually upload the maps to GAJ and BF for general use.

Spasibo, Comrade. Yes, a new thread for the HQ.

Some more snapshots from our terrain factory:

Not too late...we're just getting started.

Some Hungarian farmland from the upcoming epic clash...

"Where are they Major Toion? We've been waiting for days." "Be patient Yefreytor. Smoke a Belomorkanal while you can, and hand out the spare grenades. Reinforcements will be here soon enough."

Put me on your list of possible CO's. Leaning toward the Ruskies I think. This campaign is gunna be kick-ass!

Hi! Just thought I'd duck into this thread and say hi to everyone. Tip of the hat to kohlenklau, who I have recently met - fantastic work on the campaigns! And a big hello to all former CMMC players and GMs! I played a few battles in Tunisia near the end of CMMC3, (commanding the British Commandos!) and participated in a huge 4-person battle at the start of CMMC4, set in Hungary as well. I took great pleasure in being responsible for planning and plotting the biggest opening artillery barrage I have ever conducted in a CM game! I don't think it hit anything of significance, but it certainly bolstered the Russian morale. It was all very enjoyable, and I am grateful to have taken part in those massively detailed campaigns, deftly crafted by the GM's. Good to see you're still playing games.

Thanks Vergeltungswaffe! Bobo, if you try to download anything, it will prompt you to login or register: http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/users/new?commit=Register

Hi Folks! I have been a player of Combat Mission games for far too long - many years. :-) I have been slowly developing a (large) quick battle map to fight an old games pal who also has CMFI. These days, is there anywhere I can upload the map for fellow players to enjoy? What's the best go-to places to do this? Man, it takes a while to develop these suckers! I'm hoping I can download some maps and scenarios developed by others, myself. Game on!!!

Hey noob, great idea using something like John Tillers series for the strategic layer. Has your 'campaign' started yet?

Ah ha! Campaigns are already being forged! The Carillon Nose looking great! Thanks for the heads up StoneAge.

The absolute cornerstones of the plan are fun, and easy management. Game Moderators and Contributors The operation could be run by one person, although more is better - for discussions between GM's and sharing the (very) light workload. Players would be required to do some basic counting of force casualties after their battle and possibly updating their OOB (online spreadsheet? Google docs?). Map makers would be needed to make the CMBN maps for the operation, which is the main work involved in this project. Maps The operation would take place on a grid-based map, with each grid square represented by a CMBN scenario map. The scenario maps I'm thinking should be no larger than say, 608m x 608m. The operational map could be 10 x 10 squares or bigger, depending on the number of forces involved in the campaign. Forces I've dabbled in huge battles with the CMx1 series, but CMBN seems ideally suited to about company level battles. Keeping the scale of the battles to a manageable size makes sense. Quicker turn-around of PBEM battles, and less campaign management work (ie. battle set-ups, casualty counting). I think the easiest way to avoid players concentrating their forces too much would be the small map sizes. Trying to pack in a battalion and 20 tanks into this space would be very dense and subject to high losses from artillery. Additionally, a force this size in one sector would leave lines thin in other areas along the front. Additional restrictions may be required to avoid players concentrating huge forces. However, it would be common to see 2 companies plus assets attacking from one or more directions. Scale If the goal is to encourage company level battles in each sector, and we assume a 2 companies up 1 back policy for a battalion, a battalion would cover an area 2 (operational) map squares wide. A regiment of 3 battalions could cover a line 6 squares wide. An operations map 20 x 20 squares would allow plenty of manouvering. Could be bigger. Of course, each square would require the skills of a map maker to create a 608m x 608m CMBN map that matches the main terrain features of the grid square (but only on an as needed basis...and most grid squares would never see a battle). Regimental size for each side seems about right (making each side's leader a Colonel in rank!). That's about 3 battalions with the potential for 9 company level battles per turn (probably more like 3-6 battles). In addition, there would be regimental assets, attached support units (including armour), and artillery (up to divisional level?). Would need grog advice regarding probable OOB of the regiments/task forces. Gameplay Each side's players would discuss the plans, with the side's leader moderating. Could be on a free forum, password protected. Companies are given movement/combat orders and orders are submitted to GM to resolve. This determines where battles occur, and the scenarios are set up by GM (on pre-prepared maps supplied by players or the community at large). Leaders decide which players play which battles - there may be campaign turns where some players don't get a battle...special 'bonus' mini battles could be created for situations like these, such as a jeep patrol, sniper hunting, and tank recovery missions. Games are played by email. In-action reports are posted by players on the forum (including screenshots) so team mates can see progress. Battles stop on a pre-determined turn, which is less than the actual turns available in the scenario. This is to preserve the fog of war. After Action After the battle is completed, players count how many casualties were inflicted on their forces. For each company, a percentage of losses is calculated (in relation to their original listed strength). The percentage of survivors is rounded up to the nearest CMBN 'headcount' level (in the scenario editor), which is 'full', 90, 80, 70, 60, and 50 percent. Any company reduced to 40% or less of their original strength is removed from the line, and takes no further part in the operation. Vehicles are tracked individually. Transport that's part of a parent company (eg. halftracks belonging to a mechanised infantry company) share the fate of their infantry (eg. if a mech company falls below 40% strength, the halftracks are removed from play along with the infantry). Percentages are cumulative - if a company takes casualties equal to 20% of their original listed strength for 3 battles, they are removed (only 40% left now). Additional rules Movement on the operational map would need to be considered - how far can groups move? A greyhound would be able to move across 10 squares of 608m in about 5 minutes, while it might take infantry about an hour. Might need some abstraction here. I suppose that moving a battalion around is more than just their foot speed - orders being formulated in HQ and passed down the line, getting organised, supplies moving up, scouts sent out, etc. Maybe something like infantry can move 2 squares, pure armour 4 and pure mech 6? Might need to look at supply (being cut off) and digging in (costs a movement point?). Could get players to declare a 'stance' for each unit - offensive or defensive. If a sector already contains units from both sides and both are defensive, no battle is created. Avoids situations where both sides spend the battle sitting in foxholes waiting for the other to make a move. Could have a small list of odd-ball free things that each side can use in any sector just once per campaign: an elite sniper joins the battle, a -2 Major arrives in jeep/kubel, recon/intel gives indication of enemy strength, a breach team arrives from division, a supply jeep/kubel pulls up to Company HQ, a crack medic reduces casualties by 10%. Just for flavour. Victory conditions: certain locations on operations map worth victory points? 60% damage to the regiment? Allies exit off the campaign map or capture one key location? Work required The tasks required to get something like this up and running would be: - Campaign mechanics and OOB finalised. - Operational map created (could be as simple as a gridded sketch showing road networks and villages). - Call for CMBN map makers, key maps created within set guidelines, using op map as reference. - Call for GM's (1-6?) and players (maybe 6-9 per side? plus observers?). Side's leader nominated. - Set up free hosted forum, including password protected sides (Axis, Allies, GM's). - Set up password protected Google docs area for each side. - OOB's for each side entered into spreadsheet and uploaded - to keep track of Company percentages and vehicles. Once the above is achieved, running the campaign is easy. Players issue orders, GM's work out which units bump into each other, enter the units into the scenario editor using supplied maps, and game away. It would be fairly easy to do subsequent campaigns based on the same system. Each time a campaign starts, the main work would be map creation - which is enjoyed by many, and the maps are fairly small. Might be a fun way to generate some battles as part of a larger story eh?

Hi folks. I've been playing the CMx1 series for many moons - good games. I've also been participating in online campaigns like Onion Wars and CMMC - basically operations on a big map that use CM to resolve the tactical battles. They're a lot of fun. It adds an extra level of tension when you know the outcome of your battle will affect a larger campaign. I've been thinking of how CMBN could be used in an operational setting. Below is an outline of how a small campaign for CMBN could be constructed. Game on! Sean "Concord"

Heh heh! Thanks JasonC!

OK, thanks! I see it now. More of a slope on the front upper hull armour (30 to 60 degrees), thicker lower hull armour (100mm to 120mm) and thicker on the side upper hull (90mm to 100mm). On the CMBB database website, it shows a lesser ROF. Is there less room for reloading because of the extra armour or something? [ March 05, 2007, 05:51 AM: Message edited by: Concord ]

Hi Folks, Anyone out there that can tell me what the difference is between the IS-2 1944 early model and the 'mid' model? All their specs appear the same, but the mid model's rate of fire drops from 3 (early model)down to 2.

Did a bit of research online, and it would seem that this kind of action could be suited to a group like 1st Armoured ("Old Ironsides") Division's Task Force Howze, in Italy. With somewhat limited time and limited reference material, I will probably list this as a fictional scenario. I may be able to provide enough of a frame of reference for it to be classified semi-historical though, especially given the authentic OOB and tactical layout. Having been provided with this authenticity, I could go on to produce more scenarios with a similar theme. For instance, Task Force Howze saw action in flat farmlands, twisting mountainous roads, and in cities. If I design these, I may need some advice regarding subjects such as standard tactics in cities or the MO of Gebirgsjager units. Although I am drawn to the concept of historical simulations, without a library of battle books to consult I would be leaning too heavily on other's research. It looks like you guys are busy designing plenty of historical scenarios yourselves! I think I will take a break from madly designing to go hunting scenarios from SD to try out! So, I am shifting my aim to the creation of common battle situations that would happen frequently ("a day in the life of"). Once again JasonC and Kingfish (and others), I appreciated your advice about scenario design. Cheers, Concord P.S. I saw some interesting stories about 1st Armoured Cavalry Reconnaissance Regiments that had some impressive victories, and also a story about a task force in the Po Valley that was spearheaded by a small recon group with just one Stuart, and probed 30 miles into enemy territory in just one day (and survived)! :eek: