Freyberg

I've played around with scenario design. I made several for CMBB/AK, and have almost completed one for FI. I'd be into having a go.

I've been acting under the assumption that a covered arc makes troops stare harder - I don't have any evidence that it works though, but I bet it does.

Human wave was a cute command. It was cool to have something so specific to that theatre and those troops. It would be fun to have it back.

I'll definitely buy any early-war game that comes out.

CMBN has a slight edge in bigness and flashness, but CMFI is my favourite, for which I gave reasons in your other thread on the Normandy board.

I love them all - I'm so addicted I even bought the Shock Force bundle - but if I had been obliged to pick only one, I would have picked CMFI. It has New Zealanders, which is super for a Kiwi, but it also covers a wider range of the war - starting in 1943 - with a wider range of force types. Vehicles and infantry in 1943 have some quite interesting limitations - whether your tanks have radios is a toss-up, squad automatic weapons are noticeably fewer, and infantry AT weapons are gold! But it goes all the way to mid 1944, so you get to play the later war too. It includes Winter, and it has Italians, who are an interesting army with a lot of hardware typical of the early part of the war (if the early war interests you). There are fewer maps and scenarios, but some of the best scenarios I've fought have been CMFI, and the maps are very nicely done - although the AI plans on the Holland QB maps are a little better, to be honest. The CMBN maps are great too, but the Holland ones are extremely flat (surprise surprise) and the Normandy ones are frequently dominated by bocage (ditto), so I find the Italian ones more interesting and varied (though that's partly because I still haven't learnt how to win in bocage). There's everything from pleasant countryside to ugly rugged hills. CMBN is amazing, but CMFI is my slight favourite.

I played a lot of CMBB/AK/BO - I don't remember that command.

Looks and sounds spectacular. I can't wait.

Also coming from CMx1 after a few years away I didn't find the learning curve that steep.

Admittedly, the AI is rather passive in defence, which is less suited to armour, but I've had some good battles against the AI recently - as well as some that were too easy. It's worked best if I take the 'force suggestions' in the force picker - although I usually tidy that up a little. Sometimes it's too easy, but I've had some good battles - for example with mostly Sherman 75s against very well sited German heavy armour. One of the best recently was SS mechanised (my force) against British airborne. The AI set up the British guns, mortars and MGs very well - it was tough getting my infantry forward against MGs and mortars that were supporting each other very well, and the German HTs didn't have a chance until the infantry had got far enough forward to spot some very cunningly positioned ATGs. The flat Holland maps added nicely to the difficulty. It used to be the AI would position everything quite oddly - things that ought to be at the front were at the back and so on - but now it usually positions assets better on defence than I would have myself. Still the AI could be more responsive and aggressive - which I'm sure is just a matter of time - but I'm having a lot more fun with QBs than I ever did before.

Perhaps I'm just imagining it, but it seems to have made a big difference. QBs against the AI can sometimes actually be quite challenging now.

When I first tried QBs against the AI, it often seemed that opposing forces were oddly positioned and didn't defend well, and QBs were usually a turkey shoot. I didn't play this sort of QB for a while, but have played a few recently, after the recent patches. The AI seems to do a much better job of choosing and positioning forces now. Occasionally it still does something weird, but a lot of the time the enemy forces are very well positioned, with ATGs in great spots and so on. Perhaps I didn't give the game a chance the game a chance the first time round, but QBs against the AI seem to be much improved now.

A realistic mix - PzIVs against a mix of Sherman 75s & a few 76s, with maybe a single Panther to make things interesting - is a fair mix IMO.

Sherman and PzIV have very different characteristics, so it depends on the map and the tactics it allows. PzIV have better optics and an accurate gun, so if they can keep the Sherman at range, they will cream them. But Pz IV is somewhat lightly armoured and slow to load, while the Sherman is fast, manoueverable and 'quick on the draw' - and can usually survive at least one hit - so at close range the Sherman is at a big advantage.

Fortress Italy with Gustav Line is a great game too.

It's still in the balance for sure. The forces are well-balanced - it's been a nice close game so far.

Haha! Your defense is already cracking

Having light armour - bren carriers are my favourite - supporting scouts and infantry is a good tactic. TRPs are essential in most situations, and speculative artillery strikes are useful, or wait 'til your scouts get killed then plaster the area with heavy artillery. Area fire, especially grazing fire, actually travels quite a long way, so if you fire in the general direction with MGs you'll probably get some good suppression. The advice above about having pauses between short hunt commands is good. Teams leapfrogging helps too.

Did Allied gunners aim for this point? If so, is this modeled in the game?

This is an excellent scenario. It's large, and there's a lot of clicking required for each move, but I like big scenarios. I'm about half-way through, playing head to head, and it's developed into one of the most chaotic and bloody battles I've ever played. My heart races when I play back each move. First class !!

Area MG fire (target light), at the ground in front of a building seems to spread bullets around pretty well. I've used this in urban environments against buildings I couldn't target with shells, and it seemed to have an effect. Grazing fire at a nice low angle at an action square in front of a target you can't hit directly seems to have a good suppressive effect. It would actually probably be unrealistic to be able to hit a building with a shell from a very oblique angle, although I'm happy to be corrected.

I loved CMAK and CMBB. It was deeply distressing when work needs forced me to upgrade my Apple system to the brand of OSX that made those games unplayable for me.

I'd like to see more natural map elements (roads etc, not jaggy) and knocked out tanks - decals, damage, turrets blown off, tracks unravelled.

That was a super interesting and fun AAR, c3k. I hope you do another one soon !

You guys know more than me, so yeah, I'm sure you're right and I'm wrong - plenty of tanks would have had hatch locks. No doubt BFC will finesse the infantry close-assault thing over time.