LUCASWILLEN05

:eek: Obviously the modern version would have to be fought as a NATO defence of Poland versus a revamped Soviet Union (perhaps a confederation of Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine. For some reason they decide to invade the BNalic States and Poland. Or of course the war in Ukraine might expand pulling in the rest of NATO in defence of Poland, a NATO member/ We might have a situation earlier in te war in which Russian and /or Belorussian armies drive into a Poland which has been dragged into the Ukranian War. NATO commits to help defend Poland and later the counter offensive to liberate occupied parts of Poland and Ukraine. Then NATO can push through Belorussia and into Ruassia itself. This is only a wargame of course and such an operation may not be mounted in reality for obvious political reasons :eek: I think that for this game BF could allow for a number of different background campaign scenarios instead of just one as has been the case previously and we could have scope to game some interesting battles. For instance, this campaign could see a modern day version of Prokhrovka fought on the same ground but with 21st Century technology.

We could have a northern theatre covering fighing drawing in Poland and the Baltic States and a southern theatre of operations/ The Pripyat Marshes and the Carpathian mountains would be operationally significant in this war though niether prevented large scale military operations in WW2 though he geography would have an effect on planning and implementation. The geography would be no obstacle to airmobility and could be used to screen large scale ground movements by mechanized forces. For instance a NATO counter offensive might be based in Poland and sweep around the Eastern end of the Pripyat Marshes attacking the Russians in the rear having cut their supply lines. Obviously such a move would be opposed strongly by Belarus. And could lead to battles on some famous WW2 battlefields such as Kursk and Kharkov. There is also scope for a later NATO advance towards Moscow, which, despite the obvious real world nuclear risks could be worty of exploration in game terms. We could even end the war with a modern day Battle of Moscow. Just think of driving your M1A2s, Challengers and Leopards into the final battle for the Kremlin:eek:

Do we have to stick to the one campaign format though. We could for instance have a winter war and a summer war variant working on the same basic backgroud scenariio. Or we could have a longer conflict initiallly breaking out between Russia and Ukraine lastying for a few weeks or even a couple of months before NATO is drawn in (there are a number of ways this could happen) the latter would allow for a reinforcement of US forces n Europe and NATO mobilization as fears of a war in Europe grow. The actual war between Russia and NATO might only last, say three or four weeks though if NATO decided to push for Moscow it could last for longer (although the obvious risk in this case would be that the conflict ends in a nuclear exchange - very much beyond the scope of CM :eek:)

I think a conventional conflict would be relatively short but by short we are talking several weeks, maybe a couple of months. Possibly a war could go on for longer but that seems unlikely. I agree it would probably be hard fought and bloody. While Russian performance has not been great they did do well in Georgia although to be fair they were always going to win that one. Up against heavy NATO forces it might be a close run thng whn we take into account the impact of defence cuts and the mpaxct these have on Western mlitary capabilities. In a Ukraine war it is quite likely there woud be a pro Russian breakaway faction siding with Russia and Belorussia. NATO nations such as Poland might be drawn into the conflict pulling in the rest of NATO assuming for example that Russia/Belorusssia attacked Poland. A war need not draw in NATO immediately howerver. It may start with a war between Russia/Belorussia and Ukraine that later escalates into a wider European conflict involving NATO. The scenario I would like to see is an escalating conflict lasting several months and allowing for winter warfare as well as continuing over the spring (rasputitsa) mud seeason and into the summer months (say a period covering late September to July/August the following year) This way several assumptions about a regional conflictcould be allowed for and tested within he game. For instance how would each sid perform in winter conditionas as opposed to a spring or summer campaign?

Plenty of battles along the DMZ such as Con Thien and Dong Ha. And the Easter Offensive As others have said though there is plenty of more interesting WW2 and Modern subject matter that needs to be done.

Certainly won't stop me buying the game either. Hey, it's the Russian Front

Personally I would rather BF had started with Kursk or 3rd Kharkov rather than Bagration but I am still happy with the latter decision. The Russian Front has always been my favouite and I have missed it in Combat Mission having never been able to get CMBB to work with Vista.

Don't flog a dead horse! Joking aside real cavalry would be nice at some stage but not in a massive rush for them,

Any of David Glantz' books. Glantz has explored the Soviet archives covering many battles for example Red Storm over the Balkans. This book deals wityh the first Soviet invasion of Roumania in the spring of 1944 and was perhaps the key to the destruction of Army Group Centtre in June 1944. The German high command thought the Soviet summer offensive in 1944 would be in the south against the Roumanian oilfields and concentrated the Panzer Divisions there instead of in Army Group Centre. The fact that the Soviets had attacked into Roumania was likely seen as evidence of Sovet plans for the summer campaign. And so, with the bulk of the Panzer Divisions in the wrong place the scene was set for the disaster we know as the Destruction of Army Group Centre. Which ripped a gap hundreds of miles wide requiring the commitment of those Panzer Divisions to attempt to close the gap in turn setting the scene for the Lvov-Sandomierz operation, the defection of Roumania and the permanent destabilization of the entire Russian Front,

Days of Battle:Armoured Operations North of the River Danube Norbert Szamveber Zhitomir-Berdichev German oprations west of Kiev 24 December - 31 January 1944. Only Volume 1 has been published to datew but still worth getting Blood Steel and Myth George Nipe Last Victory George Nipe

That kind of thing must have happened quite frequently to German soldiers in the final two years of the war including those who initially survived Bagration. Very few would have survived to reach German lines again. Certainly a Steiner scenario based against the background of the summer 1944 campaign would be representitive of the struggles that these forgotten groups of survivors would have faced

I would certainly expect them along with the other Hungarians and Roumanians (and other German formations like the Waffen SS) to be included but maybe not in the initial release. BF tend to release them in expansions to the initial release. I would expect something being produced two or hree months after the initial realease covering the Lvov Sandomir Operation and the autumn fighting such as the Debrecen battles (would also cover the fighting in Poland) At this point I would expect to be seeing many of the above formations to be added as was done with CMFI ann Normandy/Market Garden.

According to Hinze's account in East Front Drama there were a few Hungarian units that participated in the battlesd of July to early August 1944 including the 1st Royal Hunarian Cavalry Division, some reservist units. Hungarians and Roumanians were more AG South but with the Lvov offensive and later operations this sector remained of great importance right though to the end of the war with many well known battles fought in this sector. We really need the scope to cover these, not to mention the liberation f the Baltic States, the drive into Poland and eventually into Germany itself. I expect to finish ze series raising ze Red Banner on the ruins of the Reichstadt! Not to forget I want the rest of the Russian Front as well. ASAP!

East Freont Drama 1944 Rolf Hinze Covers the German operations in AG Centre fom July to early August 1944 so directly relevent to Red Thunder. Hinze has written a number of late war Russian Front books so well worth looking out for this author.

Making Normandy the engine for the whole of the NW European campaign seems like a much more logical decision allowing the user to run any action between D Day and May 1945 in this theatre. As LOS points out winter terrain for the Bulge and the Siegfried Line is already achieveable. The Siegfried Line campaigns, The Bulge, The Rhineland/invasion of Germany can then come in the cheaper packs instead of purchasing a whole new gaame 3.0 can then be used to showcase future releases such as the early blitzkriegs, the Desert War/Tunisia, Russian Front and more moderns #(Commbat Mission Kore 2018 for example) or as an option to improve the functionality and aesthetics. I would like to see the Funnies of 79th Armoured Division included at some point as well but I do wonder how hard it might be to do a graphically convinging Flail variant of the Sherman

We have to have a Siegfried Line Module to cover the October and November battles on the Grman border and in Holland. There is the Scheldt, Overloon, Aachen, Nancy, Metz, Hurtgen and the Vosges Mountains to fight over. Battlefront could, I am sure, employ the same"Region" solution they chose for Holland in Market Garden. The Germans get the rather dubious quality Volksgrenadiers. Allies get some minor changes to their equipment but probably require very little that is not already in. Then just add suitable autumn abd winter weather. Regarding the Bulge. I still see this as more of an add on module to Normandy rather than a new game in its' own right. Once you add the Siegfied Line battles there is actually very little need to make major changes to do the Bulge. And once you do that you can introduce a few more organisational and equipment changes to take you through the Rhineland. over the Rhine and through Germany. Which seems to make much more sense than re-inventing the wheel and doing all the coding for making the Bulge as a whole new game. That way Battlefront can concentrate more on new games for the Russian Front and elsewhere

Thanks Will try that one out when I have the time. In the meantime some of the NATO campaigns have some really good scenarios such as Die Kunst des krieges. Also Stepsons of Jihad was an interesting campaign (n a masochistic kind of a way as you play the Syrians in this one)

Great work. Hopefully you can do the same with more of the campaigns (and perhaps eventually all of them.... And then maybe with the WW2 Normandy & Italian campaigns. PS Can you do requests?

Combat Mission: Let Sleeping Bears Lie Combat Mission: Operation Barbarossa II Combat Mission: Ukrainian Holocaust

Only part of the truth. The Iraqi troops whose morale was most effected were the hapless conscript divisions. As accounts such as Certain Victory(Scales) shows the Republican Guard ansd some regular army armoured/mechanized divisions stood and fought (or at least attempted to do so before being overwhelmed by superior technology. The battles of 26 and 27 February 1991 formed part of one of the largest tank battles of modern military history. While we remember the images of surrendering Iraqi conscripts because that was what got filmed we often overlook the later battle because it did not get filmed being fought mostly at night for e thing. One sided it was but easy it was not.

No that would be a hypothetical Allied invasion of Crete in mid/latte 1943 or 1944 to kick the Germans out! :-)

However much of what air power does a an operational level is not directly relevant in the tactical environment of CMSF although we can, if we wish, model the effects by giving one side limited/poor/scarce supplies and/or lowering morale. We can delete some AFVs, impose a percentage of casualties and so on as losses caused by air action should we wish to do so Thus we can model the operational impact of the ar campaign. And on a tactical level we can give the side ith air supremacy a lot of aircraft, reduce enemy artillery availability etc. Not saying this would be a balanced game, just that there are options we coud choose. aving said that the deep penetration helicopter attack aganst the Madinah Division during Gulf War 2 demonstrating the problems attack helicopters can have even against an enemy who s not regarded as very capable

Option 5 The Dodocenese Camaign http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodecanese_Campaign OK so not Crete but very similar with the main historical batles being the German invasions of Kos and Leros in September to November 1943. Interestingly there were fairly large numbers of Italian troops on the islands, this time fighting on the Allied side. Another possibility might be to do an Allied liberation of Crete.

As regards the Arc of Crisis concept it is an idea I really like and it issomething I would like to see as the subject for a future CMSF title following the forthcoming war in the Ukraine game. However, I still want a moderns game in the Eastern European setting first. I think history has been quite harsh to the 1991 Iraqi army and not always fairly so. We remember of course the abject collapse and mass surrender of the conscript infantry divisions. The truth is theier heart was never in it anyway and they had been subject to weeks of aerial bombardment. Plus their supplies were cut off. And, to top it all they were totally outclassed in terms of training and equipment. It is no surprise they folded. If you set up Syrian force in a similar situation with little training, por leadership and abysmalmorale chances are you will get similar results. On the other hand the Iraqi regular armoured/mechanized units did, at least make some attempt to fight. There was even an Iraq mechanised division who trieda magor counter attack against the Marines at Burgan Oilfield. They were routedof course but this was one of the very few attempts the Iraqis made to counter attack and the point is they did try. The Republican Guard performed uite well, moving out of their initial positions and setting up a hasty defence/rearguard. True, some units were caught unprepared by the Allies. However the Guard divisions put up a fight for around a day and displayed some level of professonal competence. See for example the accountgiven by General Scales in Certain Victory. And in 2003 there were some RG units who did make an attempt at a last ditch stand around Baghdad However, on both occasions the RG was technologically outclassed and probably qualitatively outclassed as well.

The Iraqi Republican Gaurd and some of the regular army armoured/mechanized Divisions in 1991 were theonly units that came even close to the standard of US/UK troops. In game terms I would probably not rate RG units as bette than Regular though they mght deserve a decent morale rating. I might consider stretching a point with the RGSF Division and rate them as Veteran but I think it would be better to give them the same quality as the rest ofthe RG but with better leadership and morale. The modern Syrian army would likely be similar though they have hada couple of years combat experience against insurgents. I would reflect this by improving small unit leadership and perhaps adding some better quality small units.