afreu

@Erwin: my point is not about the killing of civilians per se. It's mainly about the recency of the events. I'm not someone who takes a dump on other people's work. I appreciate all the other campaigns and scenarios you have designed for CMSF so far (as I've mentioned on various occasions before). My post was merely a comment on your current project. It's an opinion. Take it or leave it.

With games like CM:SF that simulate modern armed conflict there is always a fine line between the legitimate interest in military tactics and the respect for the victims of war. As civilians are still being massacred in the same places that this campaign wants to rebuild for gamers' pleasures, this line has been crossed, in my opinion. I don't want to imply that the author of the campaign had sinister intentions. However, doing such a campaign demonstrates a severe lack of awareness and sensibility!

Awesome images. Reminds me of the Operation Flashpoint/Armed Assault engine. Good times! When will your maps be available?

I played the mission yesterday evening. Actually I only wanted to browse through the scenarios to see what is there after finishing the Road to Montebourg campaign. But I was fascinated by the size of the Huzzar map and got drawn into the scenario. SPOILERS (played in real-time) I don't remember the geographic directions of the map exactly. So for orientation purposes I assume that the US setup position was in the south of the map and the Germans attacked from the North. I chose to play the US side because I was eager to face the challenge of fighting against some serious German armour (there is little armour in the Montebourg campaign). During the setup phase I ordered the scout units to cover each of the fords and bridges on the map. The idea was not to stop any German advance across those points with the scouts alone but to get sufficient warning of any German movement to allow the according deployment of US armour and infantry. All scout units were positioned on the south side of the river behind hedgerows or other cover. The only exception was two M3 Stuarts that I sent into the small village on the north side of the river. After the game began the scouts moved to their designated observation points. One M8 Greyhound, that was observing the train tracks from the south side of the river, spotted the first enemy units advancing towards the village. He quickly retreated behind cover (I feared that there might have been heavy armour in that initial wave) and I prepared the two M3s in the village to confront the Germans heading towards them. My intention was to destroy two or three of the advancing enemy units and then to move the M3s to the south side of the river and wait for reinforcements. However, as German and US units came face to face one of the M3s got hit immediately and blew up. The other M3 hid behind some buildings and managed to kill the AFV that had shot at the other M3. The crew of the disabled M3 managed to bail out and moved into some buildings, providing a view on the train tracks. It became clear that the German force advancing towards the village was made up of scouts mounted on halftracks and some Pumas. At this point I only waited for the right moment to retreat with the remaining M3 towards the south side of the river. However, it turned out that the M3 was in a rather lucky position, hid behind some buildings, looking down the main street towards the tracks. Vehicle after vehicle appeared in the M3's sights and got taken out. That little tank must have killed 5-6 AFVs, most of the German recon force. With the M3 holding the enemy in check, I changed my plan and decided to move the first reinforcements into the small village as fast as possible. Hence, when the company of Shermans arrived, I immediately ordered the biggest platoon of five Shermans to the village on the north side of the river. I moved the other platoons to cover the eastern and western crossings respectively. But for now, it seemed that the German advance towards the village was stalled. At that point, I had each of the three major crossing points covered by a platoon of Shermans and a couple of Scouts. In the following minutes little happened and I waited for further reinforcements to arrive and for more signs on where the German main thrust was going to happen. Somehow, my instincts told me that the western crossing would be relatively save, so I moved the arriving AT guns to the eastern side to cover the approaches from behind some hedgerows. One of the armoured infantry platoons was sent to the west as well, while the other infantry platoon was ordered to the village in the centre. Soon, the first German units appeared on the hill north of the eastern crossing. An unlucky Sherman was hit immediately by the advancing German armour. The other tanks (3 Shermans) were safely behind cover, while the arriving AT guns and armoured infantry hid as well. The halftracks accompanying the German advance were quite easily destroyed by the Shermans. However, it soon became clear, that there were at least two heavy Panthers as well. After one of those beasts advanced across the river, the infantry and a Sherman attacked it from the side, while the AT guns and another two Shermans engaged from the front. This combined effort brought the tank down. The second Panther was not such an "easy" kill. It stopped on an open field north of the western crossing. I assume it was immobilized since it did not move for the rest of the game. The tanks and AT guns were facing the front and a little of the right side of the Panther tank. Two AT guns and three Shermans fired continually on the Panther and only after ca. 20 minutes did the German crew finally abandon their tank. After the heavy German armour was gone the MG and mortar from the infantry platoon dealt with the remaining German force in the east. Meanwhile, in the village at the centre of the map my forces clashed with another German advance. Note that this clash took place at the same time as the encounter in the east. So I was constantly switching between the two battles. Since I was initially occupied with the battle in the east I did not move the Shermans and armoured infantry platoon in the village into defensive positions. All of the sudden I noticed a German group consisting of armoured infantry and Stugs! advancing from the north-west. I hurried to move my troops into the centre of the village in order to hide them from the German armour. From this position the US forces managed to hold the German attack at the outskirt of the village. Some of the German infantry tried to infiltrate the village from the north, but I manoeuvred my own infantry to prevent their advance. The Stugs were covering the village from an open field to the north-west of the village. Some of the half-tracks and one Stug tried to advance along the main street into the village but were quickly killed by the Shermans and AT teams, which were hiding inside it. In order to eliminate the remaining Stugs, I decided to commit the third Sherman platoon, which was covering the western crossing. They moved to the north side of the river and came out behind the German advance from the west. Quickly, they killed the two remaining Stugs. With them gone the US force in the village mopped up the remaining German attackers. Major victory. All in all, this is a truly great scenario. These kinds of scenario bring out the best in CM gameplay. It was already quite a tough fight, but I expected a heavier attack by the Germans. I think 1-3 additional heavy tanks and more infantry would create a more challenging but still winnable scenario.

I'm now in the campaign finale "Eroudeville". It seems that I have none of my troops carry charges and there are no engineer troops available. Is that by design? Especially when it comes to occupying the little town in the north having no charges severly restricts the avenues of approach.

Seems like that could help. During further playing I payed attention to the line of sight between the spotter and the spotting rounds. Now I abort mortar/artillery missions if the three spotting rounds land outside of the spotter's view and to try out a slightly different target point. It's just one of those things, which frustrate me initially. But as long as there is a workaround, it's possible to adapt my way of playing the game and to overcome these little nuisances.

I've been playing CM:SF for over four years now and have been designing a few scenarios myself. So I would say that I know how to play the game. And although I like the CM series for its historical accuracy, it is still supposed to be a game and make fun.

Hi, I bought the game this week and started playing the "Road to Montebourg" campaign. It's a great game and I enjoy playing it immensly. BUT I now have repeatedly experienced a tiny little nuisance, that threatens to suck all the fun out of this game. During campaign play I noticed that off-map mortars are incredibly inaccurate. In the current mission, I've a platoon HQ targeting a hedge 180m to the front. I designated line targets for two sections of 81mm mortars. The HQ team sits safely behind a hedge, it is not under fire and not hiding and the team is Rested. However, all of the spotting spots for the two mortar sections land in the same positions, ca. 70-100m away from the target. The full barrages land in the same positions, widely off target. I've seen similiar things in prior missions. While in this case no friendly troops were harmed, there were other cases, in which a "lucky" spotting round landed 200m off target and took down half a squad. QUESTION: Is this by design or a bug? If the inaccuracy is intentional, mortars and other artillery do not seem to have any use, besides pre-planned barrages.

I agree, that triggers would push CMSF/BN gameplay to the next level.

I fell for it :|

Downloading now.

Aren't there already some kind of trigger involved with the Ambush 75m, 100m, ... option in the AI plans? Seems like that could be a starting point to develop extended trigger functionality.

On top of my wishlist as well, but I think it's not going to happen in any of the future releases (normandy, cmsfII). Though it's possible I missed some hint somewhere.

I played it this afternoon and suffered 48 killed and 49 wounded. SPOILER During setup phase I tried to put all infantry in positions which where covered from the open ground across which the enemy forces were advancing. The grenadiers were equipped with all the available Panzerfausts (such a great armor killer). Expecting the enemy air assets to target my vehicles first, I ordered them away from infantry postions to hide behind the lines. Except for the Wiesels, which took position in the small forests. As the enemy advanced the only units engaging them, were the Milan crews and the Wiesels. Enemy mechanized infantry stopping and disembarking from their vehicles were targeted by the 120mm mortars (quite effectively). With the Hochgebirgsjäger platoon I tried to reinforce my positions on the right-hand side of the map. In order to not expose them to enemy tank fire I disembarked them and let them continue on food. Unfortuantely while crossing open ground they got ripped apart by enemy helicopter gunships. As soon as the enemy mechanized infantry closed in on the buildings the Panzergrenadiers exposed themselves and defended their positions. The two platoons which took the brunt of the enemy attack suffered quite a few casualties. The deadliest enemy weapons were the supporting fire from the BMP-2s and the effective artillery fire. Nevertheless the Panzergrenadiers managed to hold their positions and with one hour left the enemy surrendered. Reviewing the map I was surprised to see so few enemy vehicles and troops involved in the attack. It seemed like a company of mechanized infantry and another comany of tanks. I guess the enemy artillery and aircraft bombardments created the impression of a much larger force.

I second that!