Sandokan

And the first Cold War Scenario from the community is now on the Scenario Depot from @Hunter2

The Colonel was about to leave when the earsplitting screech of two fast moving jets flying at treetop level cut him off. Both Bannon and Reynolds turned in the direction of the noise just in time to see two more jets come screaming into the valley from the east, drop lower, and fly up the small valley on the right of the Team’s positions. Bannon couldn’t identify just what type of aircraft they were, but a glimpse of the red star on the fuselage told him everything that he needed to know about the two jets. The waiting was over. The balloon had gone up. Team Yankee was at war.
Captain Sean Bannon’s tank heavy company “Team Yankee” defends a small valley and fights its first battle in the opening hours of World War 3.
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-cold-war/cm-cold-war-scenarios/cmcw-team-yankees-first-battle/

My suggestion if you never played before. 
Get the free base. Understand the counter and F keys. 
 
Turn off order delays. Don’t worry winning. Just issues command to forces and watch the AI giving realistic orders on your behalf.
Turn on realistic order delays and see orders propagate thru the chain of command. 
 
Why do this?  1/3 what you are buying is the experience of real operational command. If it doesn’t feel totally new and refreshing to you, then it may not be worth investing. 
if on the other hand if you like to be a general without micro-management, then it will suit you fine. 

As ASK Vet said, you can only place the unit with charges near the bunker and it will throw it when the unit "bloody well feels like it, so get off my back".  Ditto for attacking armor with charges.
Breach/Blast command is only useful for walls/hedges and IIRC barbed wire.

The engine upgrade stumbled across several dev obstacles, both programming and IRL-related ones. There are two new modules that will be released in connection with the new engine and I think (but not sure) that old modules will be upgraded to the new engine for free or at a very low cost. The engine will have several improvements.

Thanks for the tips guys!
@Monty's Mighty Moustache Cool video!
 

I use it for opportunity targets most of the time mortars. HMG HQ is an example. Call a linear target he engages with HMG fire and get fired upon on he will now target his threat with an adjustment and seek cover. He gets out of cover when the shells start dropping on his threat. HMG HQ don't need a radio for calling in support. This tactic could have been preplanned. Have some house rules for this. An FO is in visual contact and would hypothetically relay his support request. The FO is still available to call in heavy artillery.

Yes, it is usually much quicker to retarget arty rather than start a new call.  Of course you have to be able to move your spotter/FO so you can retarget where is needed.
However, one tactic I have found that works well is while the FO is moving and (before any shells are used) one can retarget numerous times on any visible location so that means that when the FO gets to the desired location, he can do a final retarget to FFE.

All Scenario Depot files Post November 2016 updated.

Current status is everything on The Scenario Depot published post February 2017 has been cleaned up and refreshed with new links and titles.  
Massive job but getting there... all files should be back in the next couple of days.   
 

Here you go sir.... the site has had a bit of a spring clean and there are now instructions for uploading from the top menu.  Cheers.
 
Shane
 

My tip Artillery on Light and Long. That way you can isolate targets of opportunity as they appear. With bridges isolate the bridge with smoke. Not only this game but in general. Remember some HQ units eg MG's can call in at least mortars. The Mortar Team comes with a radio one echelon up that HQ doesn't have a radio but can still call-in strikes, this is the guy you send up to the KT for observation. The no radio issue has been raised it is just the generic nature of the game. 

I got the AI to surrender on my first playthrough. The key is to be patient, scout with a platoon or two (and accept that they are going to get torn to pieces) and uncover and destroy as many AT positions as possible before committing your tanks, and mortar any position that looks like it would be ideal for gun positions. I knocked one out that way with a preplanned strike (guessed correctly). I lost a few tanks, one to mines IIRC and another bogged.
I also put a harass/max barrage on the objective to suppress any FOs or MGs. This video basically sums up how to approach this mission (and I didn't find it until after I had played it, he was a bit more aggressive than I was) 
MMM

Long time player of CO2 (and 1, which was just CO). Better than OK, it's an outstanding game. I suppose you could use it for scenario creation, keeping in mind that in pretty much any CO2 scenario, you'd have to play to some point and then pick an interesting section of the overall battlefield and slice it to be a CM scenario, due to the map and unit sizes of CO2. There is plenty of detail under the hood listing all the equipment and personnel of every unit  and their casualty state, which you could take and apply to force selection in CM.
What you'd be doing is taking an existing historical battle/mini-campaign, playing it out partway using your own methods, and then at some point stopping to select part for a semi-historical/what-if scenario for CM. Getting all that info from CO2 to CM would be kind of tedious, but you could do it. Plus you'd have to create your own map based on what you sliced from CO2. The fidelity of the maps in CO2 is nice, but not the level of granularity of CM.
Anyway, CO2 is a lot of fun. Different level, but a pretty capable AI, and there are many scenario sets available. Also if you check the LnL forums there are some user made battles that are excellent. There's a 3 or 4 scenario Caen campaign that's really great (and huge!).
 
Dave

@Vergeltungswaffe:
Due to real life, I was forced to make a CM - Break for almost seven years 😪     
But meanwhile creating CM-stuff is my way to relaxe after a hard working day with more real life problems than is dear to one...
So, despite the fact, this project is very ambitious, I am confident to release the pack not later than October 2022...

Just finished this yesterday if you are looking for a small infantry action with a novel scenario Objective this one is for you.
I really enjoyed the narrative and it was a tense game where I managed to win a minor victory. 
I won't spoil the events but something turning up at X when I had X on wrong side of the road really messed up my plan...
I will also say that I hate RPGs (unless I have them)!!! The Americans really do not have the same firepower when it comes to these annoying weapons... 
The sense of running away was perfectly conveyed...
The minor niggle was trying to learn how to use the camera in amongst the buildings to see the action, I have yet to perfect the view and getting good camera angles...
Thank you to the designer for some fun moments....
Also I would think this might be tough vs a Human Russian Oppo, but it still might be good fun....

Lol. Just finished the first scenario - and I am HAPPY with this result

Very glad to see this module released. Sadly, next week is finals week for me, so the temptation to buy the module and play instead of studying is gonna eat me up all week😂.

Stumbled onto this extremely well made series of docs starting with Barbarossa.- free on Amazon Prime  Soviet Storm is big-budget Russian production made about 10 years ago and redone for western audiences.  
Great digital effects combined with realistic live action - features a large cast of troops and realistic looking armor.  Good writing and performances from actors.  The first 3 or 4 episodes focus on Barbarossa in great detail.  While mainly explaining the operational-strategic situations, there are many tactical-level explanations of German small-unit tactics eg: use of flame-throwers etc.  
The episodes also detail the times when the Soviets made successful counterattacks.  So, it's not all about the Germans steamrolling over the Russians.  A good source of inspiration for early war designers (for CM1 anyhow).   Highly recommended for anyone interested in this phase of the Eastern Front.
It's also free to watch on u-Tube.
https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tZP1zc0MrQwyk1PM2D04inOL8tMLVEoLskvygUAakoIiQ&q=soviet+storm&oq=soviet+storm&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j46j0l8.7531j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
 

5 – Campaign Briefing and Narrative (Making Me Care)

“Words are how we think; stories are how we link.”

Christina Baldwin


Campaign briefings are a unique part of a designer’s arsenal to provide additional information and narrative to the player. Campaigns are fundamentally larger affairs either in units, terrain and/or time. There should as a result be more information to impart to the player to provide them with context, purpose and information.

The only physical difference between a campaign briefing and regular scenario briefings is that a campaign briefing will always be viewed first and can be accessed throughout a campaign by a player to go back and reference information.

I’m structuring this part of the series similar to a normal briefing itself to explain what I feel needs to go into each section. Of all the sections of this write up, this is certainly the most subjective. A briefing’s design and content can be as simple or as detailed as you want, and as we’ve seen from the community over the years, they can range from official military writeups through to personal first-person accounts. It’s a narrative. What I’m trying to say here is it is largely up to you.

For Tukums, I was in a little bit of a bind because the overall commander of the forces involved is actually on the field for most of the campaign. Therefore, writing a briefing that was very formal, like it was a well thought out and planned operation seemed to be a bit off. For a little while I was actually considering a first person briefing for this campaign from the perspective of Strachwitz, however opted against this eventually given it would be part of a stock release.

Situation

I believe this part of the briefing is the most important, particularly for a campaign where the broader state of affairs around the battle is likely going to play an influence on the player’s experience.



The first thing I do is provide the narrative for how we got the starting point of this campaign. Why is the player and his forces being asked to undertake this mission? For historical scenarios like the Tukums work it’s pretty easy since history is your guide. For Tukums, it’s to break through the Soviet lines and reconnect a land bridge with the cut off Army Group North. For a fictional scenario, in particular the modern era titles, it’s a touch more difficult but imagination is a great tool. Don’t be scared to create a little but plausible story to get the player invested.
Given the slightly larger scale of most campaigns and the type of content that needs to be conveyed I’ve always tended towards writing campaign briefings from the one command level higher than the units going into battle. So, for example if the focus of the campaign is the operations of a battalion, then write the campaign briefing from the perspective of the regiment/brigade level headquarters providing a briefing to the battalion commander (ie. the player). If the focus of the campaign is at the company level, the battalion headquarters is giving the orders. This does mean reducing the scope of the situation to suit the audience. A company commander is only going to need to know what the rest of his battalion is doing and where his force fits into their goals. A company commander doesn’t need to know every detail of Ike’s plan for crossing the Rhine. A battalion commander likely knows what his regiment/brigade is tasked with undertaking and perhaps a dabble in the Division’s overall plans if it’s a prepared operation.

The graphics should help visualise the overall objectives of the Campaign. Help position where the player’s force fits into the wider picture. Some general level intelligence on the enemy and high-level formations the player has at their command.


All stock scenarios and campaigns follow the same graphical design with the Operational graphic (the middle sized one) outlining broad unit movements and support elements available. This also makes it clear to the player which units are perhaps more important to keep alive given they carry across to more scenarios.



A campaign briefing doesn’t have access to a Tactical Map.

Mission

With the narrative set up in the Situation part of the briefing, the Mission part can then be used to provide overall goals of the campaign. Outline the end goal of the campaign, what will be different after all battles are completed successfully. It’s very easy to slip into the trap of expanding more details that should be outlined in the Situation part of the briefing.

Campaign end points may not always be designed to end in a state as intended at the start of the campaign. The multiple path dilemma. The “ideal outcome” or the “planned” outcome is usually what needs to be presented at this early point in the campaign. If a planned out campaign has multiple phases, or a briefing via a “step by step” approach may be warranted. This will give the player an idea about how much of the heavy lifting specific forces of the player is expected to carry out.

As an example, the Tukums campaign briefing Mission part is provided below and in full. Keep it short, keep it sweet, keep it clear.

It has just gone 08:30 hours. Your mission is to occur in two phases over the course of the morning:

Phase one - move your panzer and panzergrenadier force north to capture and occupy the town of Tukums, including the rail station to the west of the town.

Phase two - pivot part of your force back to the east and progress towards Riga to affect a linkup with Army Group North. The remainder of your force is to remain behind and hold Tukums.

Soviet opposition should be dealt with quickly and efficiently when encountered. You are operating largely on your own with little in the way of other friendly forces close by in most directions. Most importantly is to deal with any armour that is encountered. The 52nd Security Division is following in trail to hold the ground taken; however, it lacks any significant heavy weapons of its own to fend off any Soviet armour that may move into the area.

This coupled with the strategic map (as above) demonstrates to the player what his forces are intended to do across the whole campaign.

Friendly Units

A campaign briefing will be available to players throughout the campaign (via the menu) so it’s good to take this opportunity to provide them with a detailed run down of all forces, especially Core Units, in a tidy format that can be used as a ready reference. Also take some time to present some recent unit history to help explain why the force is the way it is. Has it just come out of another battle and 70% strength? Are the leaders particularly good/bad? Provide some context to the player so they are not surprised when they enter the first battle and are still missing half the story about what they are commanding.

For Tukums, my research had provided a pretty good understanding where most of the force had come from before forming only the day before the start of the operation around the area of Saldus in Latvia. The briefing will provide some of this information and some of the relative strengths and weaknesses to look out for as a player.

For displaying the Order of Battle itself, you are limited by the game only allowing raw text files to be imported so will need to be a little creative with keystrokes to make it easy organise. I’ve used different asterisk symbols to help distinguish the levels of the player’s order of battle.

This is how it will appear in the briefing for Tukums (excluding the surrounding briefing text):

Legend

**** Parent Unit (Higher headquarters not present on map)

** Battalion / formation level command (or equivalent)

- Element under the command of higher battalion/formation


 
East Bank Force

As is his style, Generalmajor Graf von Strachwitz has decided to lead the assault on the east bank personally.

** Heer Panzerverbande Headquarters Company

- Adhoc Panzer Company – 10 x Pz IV

- Armoured recon elements (attached from Waffen SS Brigade Gross)

**** Heer Panzer Brigade 101

** 2101st Panzer Battalion

- Headquarter element, including mobile flak (4 x Möbelwagons)

- 3 x Panzer Companies (11 x Panther Ausf G each)

Note: The planned delivery of a fourth company consisting of JzPzIV(V) as initially promised has not arrived from Germany.

** 2101st Panzergrenadier Battalion (armoured)

- 2 x Panzergrenadier Companies (armoured)

- 1 x Heavy Company (armoured)

- 1 x Pioneer Company (armoured)

** Waffen SS Ersatz Battalion [-] [dismounted] (detached from Panzer Brigade Gross)

- 1 x Rifle Company (dismounted)

- 1 x Heavy Company (dismounted)


 
West Bank Force

SS-Sturmbannführer der Waffen-SS Martin Gross commands this adhoc force from the mixed Panzer Company.

****Waffen SS Panzer Brigade Gross

** SS-Panzer-Abteilung "Gross"

- Adhoc mix of outdated Panzer III and Panzer IV variants and a single Panther Ausf D

- 1 x Tiger I. A detached company from Schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 103 was scheduled to join the Brigade with its seven Tiger I’s, however as of this morning they only have one running vehicle, which has been delayed. The Tiger will also join SS-Panzer-Abteilung “Gross” once it arrives in the area of operations.

** SS Ersatz Infantry Battalion [-] [dismounted] (elements detached to east bank force)

- 2 x Rifle Companies (dismounted)

** SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung "Gross"

- Equivalent of two platoons of armoured cars. (Some elements detached to Panzer Brigade 101).

** SS-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung

- 1 x StuG Company (12 x StuG III)


 
Though not an issue for Tukums, keep in mind other Core Units that may show up half way through the campaign. Depending on the overall narrative, as a designer you will need to determine if it’s best to inform the player in the Campaign Briefing about these units or not. Core units that arrive later or unplanned is something a commander isn’t necessarily going to know about before they set off on their planned operation. Again, this is why I personally like to imagine campaign briefings are the equivalent of a pre-planned meeting taking place with the player’s higher command.

The campaign briefing…


Enemy Units

Narrative will heavily drive this part of the briefing. What works in one campaign will be different for every other campaign. Below is only some broad level advice given the sheer range of possibilities.

For historical campaigns your research should outline what one side knows about the other’s dispositions prior to launching an assault. Campaign focused research should help you considerably here as many historians will outline what one side knows about the other at key points in a campaign. Though it maybe tempting to mention things like King Tigers being a part of the enemy force, dig deeper early in your research to find out if the forces your player commands actually knew about their presence at the time the operation kicks off. Knowing who knew what when is a great way of determining what should go into a campaign briefing.

If you need to fill in the gaps, a formation that has manned the line for weeks will know at the least what enemy division(s) is in front of them from general patrolling and intelligence gathering. This may provide a general sense of factors such as armour being in the area but won’t include a lot of specifics. General high-level statements like that. A more rushed campaign without planning would be another matter.

A fictional campaign will allow a lot of freedom with how much information you give the player but all I can provide in advice is to keep it realistic. A modern military launching an operation against a non-conventional force, (such as what is possible in CMSF2) isn’t going to go in completely blind not know estimates of numbers and equipment of the enemy.

Plans

How the player should ideally go about hitting all objectives. Not going to try and touch this one at all. Will vary across every campaign. The historical direction/outcomes of the campaign you’re a designing or the intended direction of the same historical campaign are likely the best places to get an idea about where to start. Just don’t get carried away and provide all the answers to the player.

Notes and Final Tips (Make Me Care)

A Campaign Briefing doesn’t negate the need for individual scenario briefings. Keep in mind the first thing the player is going to see once they hit continue (besides a loading screen) is another whole briefing detailing the first mission. This second briefing is the last chance you as a designer will have to know exactly where and in what situation the player will be in. Once they hit the big red button the range of possibilities starts growing. What units the player of your campaign will use, lose and what branching pathways they go down will be up to them (and the game) and outside of your hands.

As a result, with every individual briefing you will have to provide some information but be a touch more general than if creating a single self-contained scenario. For example, under the Friendly Forces section you can’t outline ever unit that the player will command in that battle since you as a designer will not know what has survived and what hasn’t when the player reaches each point. Focus on more general statements for scenario briefings such as names of high-level formations that are taking part rather than details. Remember the campaign briefing is always available for the player throughout the campaign via the menu screen so the detailed information is best included in that briefing to provide ongoing information throughout the play through.

If you’ve read this far then as a wargamer you’ll probably read a longer briefing. So as a final piece of advice: Make me care! As a designer you’ve likely poured many hours, days and weeks into this piece of work and you are asking your players to do the same. Having them open up a campaign ten scenarios in length and the campaign briefing is all on one page, there’s no briefing graphics and a lack of content about why the operation is taking place they are likely not going to commit. (I haven’t in the past). The Campaign Briefing is your main narrative tool to set the scene and tell the player why the battles they are about to play are important. Telling a player to go take that hill, then move to the village and then win is not inspiring for what could be weeks of commitment on a player’s part to play through your work. If you’ve done your research and planning (especially for historical battles) then writing up the briefings should be straight forward.

Next up… campaign scripting.

Hello, I am Rice and I am about to start my first trial run of my Combat Mission Afghanistan dynamic campaign; Afghan Dust.
This dynamic campaign will feature 6 total players and me, as the Game Master. I will post screenshots and updates about the ongoing game here. As for introduction to how the game is intended to work I will provide a brief description. Currently the trial run is meant to serve as a Beta Test to make sure it holds up as an actually playable game.
- - - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - - - - -
What units do the players command?
Each team has a battalion starting out. The Soviets in this trial run will be starting with an Motorized Rifle Battalion using BTR-60PBs. Each player gets one of the three companies. They must then decide as a team where to deploy the remaining assets (for this game, they will have an Anti-Tank platoon to allocate where they all agree it would be best). The Mujahideen has an Islamic Battalion backing them as well. (Same player to player distribution as soviets in terms of command)
Each team will get addition assets such as artillery, aircraft, and more units as per GM allocation.
What is the map like?
The map is a patch torn out of Afghanistan's mountain highways. The game centers around the town of Anjoman and the surrounding terrain.
(Game Map on Google Earth)
How long is the campaign?
This depends on the objectives but games objective but I am not sure how long it will take in real time to play out. I expect 3 weeks to 1 month.
How can I join?
The game will open up to the public once the Trial Game has concluded and I have had made time to review and alter the games rules and structure for a more fun experience. I will post on this thread when that happens.
- - - - - - - - - - -
More posts to come explaining more details. Please reply with any questions.
 

When you buy it on Steam, both Steam and Slitherine take a cut before it gets to BFC. When you buy direct from BFC there is no cut taken. It's pretty simple.

You can order a patch too:
https://www.popularpatch.com/navy-patches/squadron-patches/vf-41-patch-fighting-41

"Under White Cupolas" shows how the Soviet Desantniki trained and fought, together with some good material on the air landing troops, who came in by plane once an aerodrome was secured. The paratroopers fought in their jump coveralls and paratrooper helmets, were very lightly equipped relative to US and British airborne troops. This made them speedy by comparison. The pragmatic Russian approach to doing things simply is clearly on display (check out the supply bundles). Found it odd the Desantniki would destroy fuel and munition stocks on an airfield they planned to capture, but maybe that was in case they couldn't actually seize the objective, thus turning that mission into a raid instead to inflict crippling damage on that airfield.
 
Regards,

John Kettler

As some of you know, I took a long break from CM. 5 years? Now as of a month or so ago, I am happily back and have a lot on my CM modding to do list. I don't recall that I had ever heard of Blender before a month or so ago. So, back when I returned to the forums I set it on my list to learn Blender but starting 1 April. For some folks who years ago had been in fear of learning ANYTHING about Photoshop, this thread will serve to try and answer their "new frontier" question "Can any random idiot on the forum learn Blender and use it for their own CM modding purposes?" I have volunteered to be the test idiot!

For those of you unaware, you can get Black sea and/or Shock Force 2 and their DLCs for a 30% discount in the Matrix store: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4993266