Chudacabra

It was certainly worth the downloading troubles yesterday. Great job yet again! Just played Gagarina Ave Checkpoint (Russians vs. Ukrainians) and it was great fun. BMP3s are a blast (literally) to use, although I was a bit sloppy and lost quite a few of them. While I really enjoyed CMSF, it could be damned near impossible to win as the Syrians in many battles. This game is much more balanced and it looks great. Don't underestimate anyone in this game.

Thanks again for the Youtube uploads. This week's videos should be very helpful to anyone new to CM games. After watching the graduation exercise, I do have a question with regards to the IFVs and their coaxial machine guns. I found that IFVs in CMSF almost never used their coaxial machine guns on target light and instead used their cannons. Has this changed at all? Also, will IFVs with AGTMs still use them when targeting something that isn't an armoured vehicle?

Does anyone know if Stingers will be the only American AA asset?

I do think that CMRT has a bit more aesthetic polish to it, but I find the other games just as much fun to play. In my (subjective) experience, CMFI generally has the most challenging and best designed scenarios. CMx1 games also did seem to have an enormously larger number of scenarios when compared to the newer games as well, even taking their age into consideration. I am really looking forward to earlier Eastern Front battles however, particularly 1942. I might have to wait a while for that though.

Great video! How did the battle turn out?

Agreed, although I think battles attacking against a well set-up computer opponent can be just as challenging, but playing a human is more fun.

Thanks for doing this every Sunday and posting the streams on Youtube. It is much appreciated. I have a question about the Ukrainian BTR-4 though. As they seem to be a very tall vehicle with what I think is an unmanned turret (could be wrong about that), how will their spotting work when hull-down? It seems like they would be well suited to being deployed as such, but they might not be able to see much.

It certainly seems that Bil's "seize the hill" plan may not have been the wisest course of action in retrospect. I really thought he had it in the bag for a bit, but it wasn't clear what forces his opponent would be receiving. It certainly does seem that you're going to have to be pretty crafty to effectively use the Russians against an American armoured force. I think you'll have to rely on terrain and either hit-and-run from a distance, or fight up close on reverse slopes and built-up/wooded areas. Easier said than done unfortunately. I was also glad to read that the scenario had been cropped and will be larger in the actual game. I really don't like the "teleporting into view" reinforcements, although in this case it seems to have worked in pnzrldr's favour.

I would imagine crew fatigue is not modeled in CM, unless you make them dismount and run around, then get back in.

I would really appreciate this. It was a feature in CMx1 games. It was particularly satisfying with cruiser fire support (185 kills!).

I really enjoy CMSF. I particularly like red on red battles, but playing as the Syrians vs. NATO is certainly a big challenge. Red Stream (Syrian army vs. insurgents) was probably the best scenario I played. I have everything except for Market Garden at the moment and they're all truly excellent, but I mostly play CMFI and CMBN. I even played Afrika Korps recently and while the graphics are dated, the gameplay is still top-notch. I actually think the CMx1 games were better suited to larger battles due to the greater level of abstraction. That doesn't reflect poorly on the new games though, they're just different. Even though the technology has changed, I imagine many of the principles from the WW2 games will remain true. Just think of everything as a Panther with an elite crew who are really good at pigeonholing.

Do you have any means of clearing mines if there are some around the power station?

Thanks for the update. Would much rather wait for a better game, just make it good!

I certainly sympathize. It seems this battle would have been much more realistic/better if the map continued a km or so west of the hill, giving you space to withdraw and/or deploy your forces.

This strikes me as a rather unrealistic element in this battle, although I suppose this scenario might be more about showing off the various units in the game than realism. It certainly won't be boring, but it might be over quickly.

As much as I would love to see this game for Christmas, I can't really imagine there being too many people giving it as a gift, unless someone is looking to seriously disappoint a significant other. Can't wait though!

Will future modules include different seasons? Maybe I missed it, but it seems like so far all we've seen is summer. I always felt winter battles were best in CMBB and would like to see them in modern combat.

Thanks for the videos and the wonderful AAR. The BMP-3's certainly look like fun. Can they fire the 30mm and the 100mm simultaneously?

Just don't poison Bil in the third turn!

Glad to see this! It should be a great AAR. I really like the sounds of this battle. Best of luck!

Another question that may have been answered elsewhere: shipping to Canada will be US$27 as with previous games?

I thought it was pretty much a deadpan version of Inglourious Basterds and was fairly entertained by it. It's certainly no masterpiece and it makes very little sense, but it looks good and has plenty of action.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2014/10/the-battle-for-donetsk/100831/ Interesting set of photos from Donetsk.

Truly excellent AAR! It's a pleasure to follow.

I fondly remember CMAK and CMBB for all the old memories. I think that CMx1 was better suited to larger battles (this doesn't reflect poorly on CMx2 though, they're just different) and the two player campaigns were a blast. I still think Line of Defense is the most fun, albeit not entirely realistic, scenario for any CM game and I was very glad to find someone had made it for CMx2. So far in CMx2, I've really enjoyed Fortress Italy and Gustav Line. While RT is great, I do feel as if some of the content could have been better, but it is awesome fun to have flame throwers again. All in all, it is a wonderful family of games that makes just about anything else pale in comparison (except for Mario-Kart for SNES, that's still great).