Heirloom_Tomato

This was posted in a thread in CMFB page but I thought it should also be posted in the general forum. Here is a link to a very large and free collection of period maps of Europe from 1943-1944. For the Italy section there is also the City Map plans available. The central Europe section should cover the area for the next module for CMRT. I think a few people here will find this to be very interesting. Big shout out to @AlsatianFelix for the original find.
https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww2/ww2_topos_home
Here too is the map collection from the University of Texas. They also have some amazing maps.
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/europe.html
As a side note McMaster is not too far from home and in a few years when my oldest is ready for university, I think I will have to encourage her to take a campus tour and I shall get lost in the map room.....

This was posted in a thread in CMFB page but I thought it should also be posted in the general forum. Here is a link to a very large and free collection of period maps of Europe from 1943-1944. For the Italy section there is also the City Map plans available. The central Europe section should cover the area for the next module for CMRT. I think a few people here will find this to be very interesting. Big shout out to @AlsatianFelix for the original find.
https://library.mcmaster.ca/maps/ww2/ww2_topos_home
Here too is the map collection from the University of Texas. They also have some amazing maps.
http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/europe.html
As a side note McMaster is not too far from home and in a few years when my oldest is ready for university, I think I will have to encourage her to take a campus tour and I shall get lost in the map room.....

Go to bed I said, nah check just one more time!! Woo Hoo!!!!! Thanks Steve!!

Have you read Mark Zuehlke Canadian Battle Series Books? He has three books covering the CMFB time frame and there are literally hundreds of cm scale scenarios in each book. I am currently reading "The Cinderella Campaign" about clearing the Channel Ports and I am really hoping Wasp flame throwers make it into the game at some point.

I’d be happy to have expanded Italians (flesh out the Sicily ToE, Co-Belligerent, Fascists, Partisans) and Operation Dragoon follow Rome to Victory in CMFI.
Of course since Canadians went from Italy to North-West Europe for the end of the war there’s no secret for what I want to see in CMFB...

Go to bed I said, nah check just one more time!! Woo Hoo!!!!! Thanks Steve!!

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

CMBN produced one of the greatest emotional impacts of any game I've played.
Testing a pre-release battle as US vs German AI. I knew there were some Germans in some heavy woods. This was a bocage fight at close range. I split a squad. Team A area fired on the German location for 30 seconds. Meanwhile, Team B split around and approached from the back side to nail the Germans.
Team A, area fire done, advanced as ordered. They spotted the Germans. There was a brief exchange of fire. One German survived. He knelt there, arms raised, surrendering to Team A. But, behind him, Team B saw a "?". They let loose a volley...and shot the German in the back, killing him.
Total kick in the guts.
I only saw it because of WeGo. It was because of WeGo that I figured out what happened.
That was 6 months before the public release of CMBN and it is still a clear memory. Damn. That's the hallmark of a great game.

At least he threw a grenade at the tank. I bet it at the very least it gave one crew man a slight headache or ringing in his ears for 30 seconds. I was surprised to see your guy made it into the building and was not shot down by the bow gunner. When I watched the turn I could not help but say out loud "You idiot!!! What are you doing......"

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

I don't see this as a bug but rather an expected feature of the game. I have been in a few "risky" situations where some of the people involved ran away while others of us ran towards the "risk". In none of these situations was anyone's life on the line or in any real immediate danger.  It is not unreasonable to me to see a few guys from a squad turn and run when coming under fire, especially if they are already on the move.
In the game situation I quoted, I was impressed that it was the SQUAD leader who came back to his cowering man, stood his ground, got the guy to his feet and brought him safely back to the rest of the squad. As you say it looked just like a movie and was very easy to visualise all the profanity being directed at the guy on the ground.

That is awesome. These little details make the game so exciting. 

YEP! YEP! YEP! Exactly why I've been running my face on here about WEGO forever and a day.
I remember the very first game I played of BN back when the demo came out. I had ordered a squad to run through a farmyard towards some cover. To my surprise there happened to be a couple Germans in a near by house I hadn't counted on. My guys were trotting right past them, fish in a barrel, stacked up to be mowed down. The last guy in the squad spotted them, stopped mid stride and shot a rifle grenade through the window they were standing in and killed both of them. Then he continued on like it was no big deal.  Not as dramatic as your cool stories of course but it was the type of fidelity in a WWII scene I'd been pining for since CMBO. Basically, 10 years of dreaming come to fruition. Beautiful moment.
I started a thread like this for SF many years back that got pretty big. Hopefully this thread will balloon like that one did. I love reading these types of posts. I want more.
Great stories, man. Thanks!
Mord.

Thanks the stories, HT. I fully agree that WEGO is one of the most appealing features of CM.
Here's one of my own moments, that I found both nerve-wrenching and hilarious at the same time (from a recent replay of my own CMBN scenario "Tiger by the Tail"). I had ordered this guy to move left around the buildings to left. The plan was that he should then ambush the King Tiger with his PIAT from within one of the buildings. But apparently that wasn't exciting enough.
 

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

The game is still keeping track of the number of KIA or WIA removed from the field of play correct? If I have 10 guys go down, four KIA and six WIA and I do no buddy aid, the game knows how many bodies are on the ground at the end of the battle. If I give buddy aid to those same 10 guys and there are no bodies on the ground at the end of the battle, the game still knows there were 10 casualties. So this information is being stored somewhere and then recalled at the end of the battle for the AAR page. If this is correct, somehow displaying the data on the AAR page showing how many men were removed from the battlefield would be interesting to see. As an example:
Men Ok:56
KIA: 4
WIA: 6
Buddy Aid Given: 0 or 10 for the two examples given.
I think it would give casualties an ever greater impact in the game if at the end of the battle you saw just how good or bad of a job you did taking care of your wounded men. 
I know it seems simple and often what seems simple would require a complete rewrite of the whole game code so, not gonna happen , but it would be fun to see. It could even be used as a house rule to declare a winner in the event of a draw. The guy who gave more buddy aid wins.

Since buddy aid does affect the number of men KIA vs WIA, the game must be tracking the number of men who received buddy aid. If this is true, I wonder if it would be possible to have this stat show up on the AAR screen to show us how many men survived due to buddy aid. 
I don't think it should have any impact on the score of the game as the AI does not move any of its men over an action square or two to give buddy aid.

Currently in game we have changing ground conditions based on rain, ie a damp battle field will become wet after certain amount of time has passed if it is raining.  I am wondering if the same will hold true for frost in the upcoming Bulge game. To be specific, will ground that is frozen and hard at 8 am gradually become soft and muddy at around 10 am as the sun warms up the ground?
 
This is something we count on happening in the late fall and early spring.  We farm some wet ground and just about every year we have a major rain storm in the fall and the ground becomes very wet and impossible to work or to harvest.  So we wait for the days when we get a good hard freeze over night and then head out to those fields early in the morning and work there until late morning and the frost is coming out of the ground and the fields become impassable again.  In the early spring, we use the early morning frost to help carry our equipment as we try and frost seed spring grains or to underseed clover into winter wheat.  There is usually a couple of hours each morning where the ground can carry the heavy farm equipment without making too many tracks.   As the sun warms up the ground we need to stop or risk making a mess. In the span of an hour, the ground conditions can go from leaving a light track to making deep ruts.
 
Given that the Bulge title is supposed to cover the war from October through to the end of the war, this is a weather feature the battalion commanders on the ground would have encountered.  I would expect to see many maps in the Bulge title loaded with muddy sections and areas of maps impassible to tanks.  As much as I don't like having my tanks get bogged down, I expect to see it happen with far greater frequency in the Bulge game. The tactical challenges of facing thawing ground will certainly be interesting.

I have to disagree that this is outside of the scope of a regular CM battle.  In real life, on the farm, in my fields, I can go from working ground at 0900 to being parked in the yard by 1100. Is a two hour battle really outside the timelines of CM?
 
A real life example: 
 
This fall we had a significant amount of rain and I was unable to work ground at my parents farm.  We waited until late November when we finally had an evening with temperatures dropping to -6C overnight.  In the morning I was able to start chisel ploughing at 0700 as the sun was coming up.  By 0900 the temperature had risen to +2C and the sun was shining brightly.  The top of the ground was starting to get slick but still held the tractor up without issue.  By 0930 the tractor was beginning to leave a small track and the wheels were wet. By 1000, mud was starting to stick to the tires but the tractor was still able to drive without leaving too big of ruts. By 1030, the back window was covered in mud, the tractor was struggling to pull the chisel plow and at times I had to lift it completely out of the ground to keep moving. After the third time of lifting the plough out of the ground to be able to keep driving, I called it quits for the day.
 
So even if we take the entire timeline into account, it is 4 hours or the maximum amount of time available for a CM battle. At the start of the battle the risk of bogging would be quite low but as the battle rages on the risk would rise rather rapidly. Now I know there are not many 4 hour battles but a battle fought anywhere in this timeframe will see the ground conditions changing and there will be an impact on how vehicles are able to travel.

Currently in game we have changing ground conditions based on rain, ie a damp battle field will become wet after certain amount of time has passed if it is raining.  I am wondering if the same will hold true for frost in the upcoming Bulge game. To be specific, will ground that is frozen and hard at 8 am gradually become soft and muddy at around 10 am as the sun warms up the ground?
 
This is something we count on happening in the late fall and early spring.  We farm some wet ground and just about every year we have a major rain storm in the fall and the ground becomes very wet and impossible to work or to harvest.  So we wait for the days when we get a good hard freeze over night and then head out to those fields early in the morning and work there until late morning and the frost is coming out of the ground and the fields become impassable again.  In the early spring, we use the early morning frost to help carry our equipment as we try and frost seed spring grains or to underseed clover into winter wheat.  There is usually a couple of hours each morning where the ground can carry the heavy farm equipment without making too many tracks.   As the sun warms up the ground we need to stop or risk making a mess. In the span of an hour, the ground conditions can go from leaving a light track to making deep ruts.
 
Given that the Bulge title is supposed to cover the war from October through to the end of the war, this is a weather feature the battalion commanders on the ground would have encountered.  I would expect to see many maps in the Bulge title loaded with muddy sections and areas of maps impassible to tanks.  As much as I don't like having my tanks get bogged down, I expect to see it happen with far greater frequency in the Bulge game. The tactical challenges of facing thawing ground will certainly be interesting.

Currently in game we have changing ground conditions based on rain, ie a damp battle field will become wet after certain amount of time has passed if it is raining.  I am wondering if the same will hold true for frost in the upcoming Bulge game. To be specific, will ground that is frozen and hard at 8 am gradually become soft and muddy at around 10 am as the sun warms up the ground?
 
This is something we count on happening in the late fall and early spring.  We farm some wet ground and just about every year we have a major rain storm in the fall and the ground becomes very wet and impossible to work or to harvest.  So we wait for the days when we get a good hard freeze over night and then head out to those fields early in the morning and work there until late morning and the frost is coming out of the ground and the fields become impassable again.  In the early spring, we use the early morning frost to help carry our equipment as we try and frost seed spring grains or to underseed clover into winter wheat.  There is usually a couple of hours each morning where the ground can carry the heavy farm equipment without making too many tracks.   As the sun warms up the ground we need to stop or risk making a mess. In the span of an hour, the ground conditions can go from leaving a light track to making deep ruts.
 
Given that the Bulge title is supposed to cover the war from October through to the end of the war, this is a weather feature the battalion commanders on the ground would have encountered.  I would expect to see many maps in the Bulge title loaded with muddy sections and areas of maps impassible to tanks.  As much as I don't like having my tanks get bogged down, I expect to see it happen with far greater frequency in the Bulge game. The tactical challenges of facing thawing ground will certainly be interesting.