Heirloom_Tomato

Sorry @IanL and @Heirloom_Tomato I have other projects right now keeping me busy so don’t have time for a game, Public or otherwise.  Ian, contact me in a month or two, the scabs from our last fight should have fallen off by then.  

If you are after the most variation in units, terrain, weather, Nations and TO&E, the only choice is CMFI with the Gustav Line bundle. CMFI is hands down my favourite game, even though I never thought I would like it to the extent I do. The scenarios are a challenge, the Italian forces are completely unique and everything from tiny little scout cars to the massive Elephant or Brummbar, CMFI+GL has it all. 

I also played it (in H2H), and it is a very good infantry fight... Played also long time ago vs AI, and i got a good fight !
Thanks!

Hey, guys -- just a quick line to say that I'm back from my extended summer break. No time to start any new videos yet, but I am chipping away at the map again. Tons more work to do on it, but I've made a lot of progress. Here's  a birdseye of the current status:

Macisle out.

Covering the road with a little help from big shellholes.

 
That moment of relief when your best platoon, the one that you've had in reserve, makes it across the bridge unscathed.

 
Followed by that moment of shocked horror when an enemy 150mm shell falls completely out of pattern...right onto the platoon leader's head!

 
In an instant, the "power platoon" is reduced to a handfull of shellshocked "scouts." The gods of war can indeed be cruel.

looks so gooooood

 

If you want a totally different environment from what you already have, I'd say go with Fortress Italy. It offers probably the most unique look and feel of all the WW2 titles, IMO. Plus lots of varying landscapes -- flat, to huge hills and mountains. Plus it has snow, if you want, like Final Blitzkrieg. Plus... CMFI base game also has tons of content. (It seems like there's more than the other titles, but I'm not positive.)
CMBN would come in 2nd on my list, but the big determinant in enjoyment of that title is going to be whether a person likes the hedgerow style of fighting. It's very different. Maybe check out a few CMBN AAR's to see if that style appeals to you?
I've gotta say though... you really can't go wrong with any of the WW2 titles. They're all a blast in their own unique way.

A small note. A new set of accurate Canadian infantry textures just got turned in 5 minutes ago. So however lovely the Canadians in the AAR looked they will look even lovelier in the release game.

For nigh on ten years now my biggest projects have always been my portrait mods. I have invested weeks and months on end, that have added up to hundreds and hundreds of hours of time and frustration creating them. I have made easily over ten thousand portraits, through trial and error, redesign, and updates. It's been a true struggle at times, and I am never happy with the outcome, though I'll say I am, once a project is complete. But I am always fighting the design decisions I started with way back in SF1 and it's hamstrung me artistically. After the FB portraits I decided I wanted to redo all the portraits for all the titles (the BN mod is long over do for an update) . So, after a long hiatus, I set about trying to get to someplace that would finally make me happy. I decided to start with RT to get ahead of the module release, and after a week or so of fiddling, resizing, making test bmps, and checking in game, this is what I came up with.

For about two seconds I thought they looked good. But once again I was confronted by the poor design decisions I adopted all those years ago. You see, I have been in a constant fight with what I term the "bobble head effect", which causes the portrait heads to appear bulbous and fat-headed. It occurs because I opted to show each portrait with a split face on the bmp. It has been my bane since my BN mod and it frustrates me to no end. And considering how I built each face from screenshots, pieces of faces from all sorts of pictures, and the fact I only worked on the left side of the face, well it doesn't leave me room for presenting them in any other way. And On top of all that, I have always felt there was inconsistency in the quality of the faces, and that they appeared too cartoony.  So with that said, I am putting these portrait mods to rest. I have taken them as far as they will go and they have reached a dead end. They had a good run but there really isn't anything more I can do to improve them.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Now, check out what I have been doing for the last two weeks and tell me I didn't make the right decision...



Now for some comparisons of the old style and the new.


 
Now the portraits in the context of their own mod. It'll give you an idea of the overall design.


 
And within the context of the game UI.


 
Some of the portraits are tentative/place holders until I find something that really blows me away. Or will be replaced later. The Heer Armor and Armor Infantry come to mind as far as that goes. Luckily I haven't made anything yet with them, just tests.
Now, unfortunately I will probably have to share a lot of the portraits (mostly Germans) across games, however backgrounds and the like will be changed for each setting.  And I will of course do all the battalions and regiments etc. Whether or not I will be able to keep the quality across titles remains to be seen but I will do my best. It is going to be a colossal amount of work, already has been. For the Germans alone I have created and discarded over a thousand portraits. LOL. Every time I think I have one down and start producing keepers, I stumble across a better pic, or I adjust some color to better fit the portrait into the overall look and I have to redo a ton of work. I just replaced the Heer Infantry yesterday, now I have to redo 374 that I had already made, as well as the SS Arm Infantry. I have done this a couple times already. But getting it right is what's most important. Perfection is what I am aiming for.
I don't know how long it will take. Getting the right pics is painstaking and laborious as hell. For every good one I make I throw out five. But this style will be the definitive version of my portrait mods from here on out. As I complete them I will remove the old versions from the planet. I'll start threads in the corresponding game forums as I progress.
Welp, that's about it. I was gonna keep all this to myself and wait to surprise everyone, but I have been working in a vacuum for a month and it feels good to talk a little bit about it. Especially as I have been going full bore, night and day for two weeks straight. I Hope you guys like what you see. I think it's the best work I have ever done.

Mord.
 

Like I mentioned, the performance for Nordwind could be described as uneven and the descriptions I mentioned were for the initial attacks on New Year's Day with specific Volksgrenadier units.  You also can't draw much of a conclusion from total casualty figures since those would include a lot of non combat related casualties and there were phases of the operation where both sides were attacking and defending at different times.  Hatten, for example, was an intense city fight for more than a week before the Americans elected to voluntarily withdraw several miles behind a river to shorten their lines.  The Germans were so battered and bruised from that battle that they didn't even follow up the American withdrawal for something like twelve hours if I remember right (scenario Hot Time in Hatten and Breaking the Line).  The US twelfth armored division also launched a division level counterattack on the German bridgehead over the Rhine and was annihilated (scenario: A War Without Mercy and Last Man Out).  On the approach march to Wingen sur Moder the Nord battalions almost wiped out an entire American company in prepared defensive positions and followed that up by capturing or killing several HQ and supply units in the town itself without suffering very many casualties in the process (scenario Wax Museum and Drive them Out).  Troops out in winter conditions with WW2 era equipment for extended lengths of time would also suffer a lot of frostbite and sickness related losses.  So basically quoting Operation level casualty figures tells you nothing of value with regard to how the units fought tactically.  In order to know what happened tactically at the squad and platoon level you have to read first hand accounts.

Minute 1:49-1:48:
As the smoke builds the sniper team pulls back.

 
Artillery continues to fall on the enemy.

 
A BMP shows itself on objective Rutsey and is taken out by a tank.

Minute 148: Victory
And that's game. Canadian army victory. With no casualties! Sounds like the my defensive plan to stay back and pick off the enemy as they moved forward under observation worked.

 
The Syrian army did secure Rutsey but I never planned to hold that.

 
Again no Canadian casualties so no points there. Wow I am surprised by that but I am sure Bil could have pushed further and caused some even if they might not have been any more successful

 
I also did not have any one on objective Jones so no credit for that. But no one could have pulled back from that location safely so it made sense to leave it unguarded.

 
Scored a few points for causing casualties.

 
The tanks on KT3 each scored a BMP and a handful of casualties.

 

 
The enemy ATGM I was targeting with mortar fire was not doing very well.

 
Interesting a few tanks I had not seen yet. I suppose they were waiting for other forces to deal with my tanks on KT3.

 
The enemy poised to move onto Rutsey.

 
The artillery kills are scored by the caller now. Some combination of the original mortar fire and the later 105 call.

 
Artillery kills associated with the caller – this time the second mortar call.

 
A final look at the battlefield.

Lots of gnashing of teeth and angst over nothing at all...
Not sure of the age group of some of the posters, but surely, grown men can't get that het up over a computer game?... 
Not sure how they cope when real life problems that matter surface... still, it's a funny old world isn't it 

It's never been tried in politics...

Minute 150: Orders
Just in case the sniper team has been spotted before they continue they can pop some smoke of their own.

 
The team from 15 Platoon is exhausted from crawling. This is not a good thing. Tired is OK but exhausted is not good. Change their orders to stop moving until they recover.

 
Since there is an ATGM team that the tanks spotted – saturate the area with HE.

 

 
Since the other AT LAV got a kill let's move the other one up just a bit so it can see past the two story building it has been hiding behind. But just a bit so most enemy vehicles near Rutsey will not be able to see it.

 
Also the contact info is not flowing through the Squadron command so I am going to get 18 troop's HQ tank to back up to be near the CO so they can get better information on what the enemy is up to.

Minute 1:53-1:52:
This was a fairly eventful turn starting with one of the tanks at KT3 taking out another of the enemy team behind the hill.

 
The sniper team makes a clean escape and to the cover of the ravine. Clearly and all out assault is under way on the farm buildings. To bad for Bil, he is shooting at nothing.

 
The tanks over at KT3 spot and kill the BMP that raced over to K11.

 
Nice close up of the kit decal:

 
The FO re-positioned to their new location – not on the balcony.

 
Smoke has started to fall around KT8. It seems like Bil is planning to head down AA1 or 2 after he takes the farm. Or perhaps he thinks the mortar attack on his ATGM team came from an FO there.

Minute 152: Orders
Make sure the sniper team gets a rest after fording the river.

 
With more action happening on KT11 15 Platoon's advanced squad will reposition to be better able to see activity over there.

 
The FO will call in a 105 barrage on top of the farm objective, using TRP1.

Minute 1:52-1:51:
Sniper team finishing fording...

 
Just as auto cannon fire racks the location they were moments ago. MCpl Morrison is still one step a head of the enemy pursuing him.

 
Observers over at KT3 watch as troops disembark from a truck near KT1. Among them is an ATGM team. Bil apparently really wants an at team up there.

 
That enemy team on the back side of KT3 pops up again. This time with something dangerous in hand. Fires....

Misses high...

And feels the return fire.

 
The smoke is getting thicker over at KT8.

Minute 151: Orders
Well if the enemy insists on trying to get an ATGM team on KT1 I am happy to drop more mortar shells on them.

 
Just for reference here is what the squad from 15 Platoon see compared to the Mortar HQ's call.

 
Clearly the tank's ambush location is to well known. Time to reposition the tank again. There are plenty of spots I can put my tanks hull down so I can do this all day long.

 
A slight tweak to the orders for the team from 15 Platoon. Included in that is some time to rest. They are tired from crawling already.

 
A small change to the observation teams from 14 Platoon to compensate for the smoke.

Minute 1:51-1:50:
Some HE sores over the head of the sniper team. I wonder if they have been spotted or if it is just a high shot from the area firing the enemy assault team is conducting.

 
Shortly after that the lead tank goes up in flames. I was surprised since I was really just observing that area – or so I thought. It turns out one of the AT LAVs spotted the enemy tank over top of the building they had been hiding behind. Missile away...

 
Direct hit. The enemy tank brews up.

 
One of the tanks on KT3 spots an ATGM team through the smoke and opens up. The round is short.

 
Observers on KT3 watch a truck race across the open ground. Another ATGM team for KT11?

 
A shot showing the enemy units advancing on Rutsey.

Correct. There is currently no preorder option for the upgrade, only for those seeking to add or purchase for the first time.

Right at the top of the TO&E list it says:
Not a complete list.
I am sure a beta tester will be along shortly to give an answer to your question.

I haven't figured out the total scoring as you would see in a campaign.  What I did was set up the first 2 scenarios and use the average from the play test games to create the initial set up locations for the last one. Santa Maria is a fresh battle. The map is clean. Miramar has the Greek 3rd trying to get to the Canadian Saskatoon unit and moving forward from there. The map has burning wrecks and damage. Some of the units on both sides are also less than full strength because of battle losses. Rimini Airfield then starts with the map littered with wrecks and such from the first 2 battles. A lot of the units are at less than full strength. 
In my game with Rocketman his results closely mirrored the historical results that I had read about.
Right now I am trying to create a scale for the cumulative score from all three games. That's going to be the best I can do until a system is in place for H2H campaigns. 

Hi All,
 
I have been working on a three-part H2H scenario dealing with the battle for Rimini Airfield.  This was a part of British 8th Army’s Operation Olive assault up the Adriatic coast. It took place in mid-September 1944. The 1st Canadian Division, which included the Greek 3rd Mountain Brigade (their first and last major engagement), New Zealand 19th Armor and 22nd Motor Battalion. In front of them were a combination of the German 1st Fallschirmjager Regiment, 162nd Turkestani Battalion and various support units.
By the 15th of September the 1st Canadian had moved up the coast were just south of the airfield. They needed to take the airfield before moving onto the town itself.
Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese, commander of the 8th Army had this to say about the battle; "The battle of Rimini was one of the hardest battles of Eighth Army. The fighting was comparable to El Alamein, Mareth and the Gustav Line (Monte-Cassino)."
The morning of this battle the Canadian Saskatoon Light Infantry had probed north up the coast road and been stopped by fierce resistance. And this is where the battle begins. 
I broke the battle into three parts:
1. Santa Maria, which was the assault on the small village and church complex called Casalecchio, west of the airfield. 
2. Miramar, the assault up the coast road 
3. Rimini Airfield, the final attack on the airfield. 
Using the same map, I isolated the fighting areas for Santa Maria and Miramar. Then used the entire map for the Airfield.

Overall map

Saskatoon waiting for help.

PzIV on overwatch

Knocked out Panther Turret Bunker
Special thanks to BobWillett and Rocketman for all their help, input and play testing.  I hope to have it at the Scenario Depot in the next few days.
 
LiveNoMore

The demos are on the main page with all the info for each game. 
Red Thunder:
https://www.battlefront.com/red-thunder/cmrt-base-game/?tab=demo
Final Blitz:
https://www.battlefront.com/final-blitzkrieg/cmfb-base-game/?tab=demo
Black Sea:
https://www.battlefront.com/black-sea/cmbs-base-game/?tab=demo