PanzerMike

Yeah, this is how it works. For me it has not been a great issue to be honest.

Good stuff, James! Hope low bocage will make it in.

Thanks for the offer daft! If I need more testers I will send you a PM.

I think you are right . Thanks for pointing this out to me. Should have paid better attention during German class in school, he he he. New title: CMRT Vorposten!

Thomm, why? I am not a native German speaker obviously. But Vorpost (short for Gefechtsvorpost) simply means: Outpost. Multiple Outposts would make Vorposten. If I were a Russian scout and I would detect a German Outpost, I would say: Look, a German Vorpost! (Provided the Russian scout speaks German...). Correct me if I am wrong.

Actually I am almost finished with a scenario that sort of resembles this. About 1 km of front line, held by German platoon sized force. This is not the Haupktkampflinie (MLR), but rather the Gefechtsvorposten (outposts) some distance in front of the MLR. Soviets attack with a Cavalry company, so they outnumber the Germans something like 3 to 1. But the outposts are protected by some mines and barbed wire at certain points and a few TRP's. Mission time 1h30m. It is not raining however and it is a daytime attack. Also the map is quite rural and not much marshes and forest (only quite a lot of tree lines). Working title: CMRT Vorpost! It will be ready for playtesting this week. I have asked the Beta testers up on the beta forum if they are willing to playtest it (they kindly did so for CMRT Trainspotting and CMRT Firebrigade von Saucken). This scenario will hopefully appeal to the players that favor smaller battles.

Yeah, them Luftwaffe flyboys sometimes forget to put on their glasses, sorry about that. Still, a big boom by a Stuka bomb is always exciting, no matter where it falls, he he he.

Ah, you took the left flank approach. And it worked out I hear with the road open and a few big cats to spare. Excellent! Most have gone for the right flank so far I guess. It was tricky to set up the Russian AI to be able to cope with all possible approaches. The scenario does not force you in particular in one particular direction. More difficult to design, but more fun for the player. Did the srukas do any good for you? And thanks for the feedback!

Drat. Your CPR seems to have worked. Peng may not be dead after all . A foul smell once again pervades the air. Residents in large parts of Akron in particular have been complaining about a distinct sulphur or rotten-egg smell in the air...

@ ridethe414: Good job :cool:. So far most players seem to able to open the road. But they find the mission tough nonetheless. This is what I intended. The mission should be winnable without it being a cakewalk. The German force is really strong but if squandered by bad tactics could still be sent home packing. @Felix_45: Looking forward to your report! @all: Thanks for providing me with some much needed feedback. It really helps you know, for future scenarios. I try to make scenarios that appeal to (hopefully) most players, by putting a max on map size and forces involved. Even players that favor small battles may be tempted to play a scenario of this somewhat larger size I hope. Players that really like large battles should find this scenario no problem.

What was the end result, ridethe415? Is the road open? Losses?

Ow God, and here I was thinking Peng is dead... What a drag.

You know, it's okay to let go. Peng is in a better place now. We still have all the great memories. Snif. Aww to hell with, Peng is dead. Goodbye and good riddens I say. Bye bye, zwaai zwaai.

Alas, I fear Peng is dead. Finally. When is the funeral?

Like, he you know, totally dig it dude. Totally solid. Just, outta sight. Now I hope the Queen bees at BFC shake their groove thing. Peace out man.

@Daft: do not rush, you have 1h40m +/- 10m. You should be able to pull this of within this timeframe. Do your recon, depending on what you encounter, choose a Schwerpunkt and press home the attack relentlessly. @GraemeA: not all scenarios are that big as far as I know (I have not played all of them, been busy designing)? Which ones have you played thus far?

This weapon2010 guy is a real contributor to the CM community . Good suggestion. No really. Keep em coming weapon2010!

Good. The size of the German force is company(+), somewhat larger than your preference if I read your first post in this thread. But by introducing the German forces piecemeal, this should not be too big a deal I hope. I too am sometimes overwhelmed by the really big battles, brilliant though they may be. This scenario is just about the upper limit I prefer. But that is just me.

Great! Hope you manage to open the road. Let me know how it ends. And the size of the map and the forces? Not too big?

Great. Let me know if you think it is any good. And if the size of that battle hits the sweet spot for you (and others that do not favor mega battles).

For those looking for a somewhat smaller sized scenario, but still a sizable battle by any standard, have you tried CMRT Firebrigade von Saucken yet by any chance? Perhaps the size of that scenario fits the bill. It is up in the repository. Give it a shot. *shameless promotion end here*

Thanks a lot RepsolCBR for this elaborate report on your play of this battle! Great reading material :cool:! And thanks for the 5 star rating of course! The scenario was designed to present a real challenge to the Germans, but should be winnable if proper tactics are applied. Also I have tried to give multiple avenues of approach (roughly 3) to choose from. This gives the feeling to the player he has freedom of movement without being constricted to one obvious way to go. This is however a lot trickier for the designer to get it just right you can imagine. The time allotted should give a sense of urgency without forcing the player to rush things too much, resulting in unrealistic tactics. A good attack takes some time. Good recon for instance is essential. You do not want to blunder into the teeth of the enemy defenses with your main force just like that. Tigers are strong, but by no means invincible. Even a 57mm AT gun can do real damage to it given the chance. I therefore choose to enter the German forces bit by bit, so players would be encouraged to do recon first and clean out some of the forward positions first. After that the battle gradually heats up when the Soviets get stronger. Also, by introducing forces gradually, players are not overwhelmed by the sheer size of a scenario. Big battles can be fun, but should be 'manageable'. And too big is not to my liking in any case, it reduces the forces to 'anonimity', for lack of a better word. By that I mean that individual units simply drown in the numbers and you don't care much for your pixeltruppen anymore. Bad for immersion IMHO. This was my most ambitious scenario yet, and I was really anxious to know how it would play out. For you apparently very well. That's great! I hope other players have similar experiences. The battle was playtested by some of the beta testers and I made some changes according to their experiences (mostly to give the Germans some extra forces). I think this turned out well. Getting this kind of feedback is very encouraging! Thanks a lot! It is an incentive to do some more designing. I am making a new scenario as we speak . Making a scenario like Firebrigade von Saucken takes me just over a month or something, but if players enjoy it, it is worth all the effort. Your suggestions make sense, thanks for those. Cheers!

What do you mean GeorgeMC by lots of stuff outside the setup zones? Only a small portion of the Russian forces are outside the setup zones and I did that on purpose (good idea or not...). Vanir gives good advice, the better player should play the Germans. They have strong forces at their disposal (5th Pz Division was a good outfit!) but face a real challenge nonetheless. I really hope it plays out well H2H. It was not tested that way as I mentioned in the battle. It will probably be a little slow for the Soviets at start, but it will heat up later, that is for sure. Looking forward to your updates!

This battle is not for the faint of heart. Applying good tactics will help though. Do not commit your forces piecemeal. Do the recon and choose an avenue of approach and push on. Don't waver out all over the map, this will most likely result in failure. If you feel you do not have enough time, you can always enter the editor and up the time limit, although 1h40m should be just about enough. Good luck everyone! And do come back to share your results. Feedback and ratings are rather scarce unfortunately, as you may well know. Be it praise or constructive criticism, it does not matter. All feedback is appreciated.

And please do realise this was not tested H2H. It might work out, but not entirely sure.