dragonwynn

And based on my research thats exactly how the engagement played out. The Germans ( 5.Kompanie) after following the lanes through the mines were able to surprise the Russian FO's and supporting troops who literally didnt see the Germans until they were in the trenches. If you want to wait until I update thats entirely up to you (and I will fix the mortar issue) but its not a problem that will make or break this mission. I will probably wait for additional feedback on Zitadelle (I know this is the wrong forum for this, just responding to your inquirey) and then update it. As far as The Heart of Darkness I would like to hear from anyone who has advanced past the first couple of missions to see how those played out. Michael

I understand completely and I think you have the right approach trying to avoid taking the hits. Obviously in the real thing a commander would try and avoid that as much as possible. Most of my campaigns are designed with that very thing in mind, to avoid as many casualties as possible so you will have enough to progress. On the same note assumimg pixel truppen will cease to exist I try and give some balance through replacements/reinforcements or the inclusion of non core units in the battles. The Zitadelle campaign in CMRT as well as this one will require careful unit management, especially your armor but Zitadelle is the Eastern Front and pixel truppen will die so your attempt to be strategic in both is a good path to take. I feel the same way when I play a mission, my pixel guys are my responsibility and I hate it when I blunder the strategy and they get 'schwacked' as GruntGI puts it lol.

Ok it appears that the FO is attached to the II SS PzGr Rg HQ. I added in 1 FO to each mortar detachment and they can access the mortars to their assigned detachments. The kicker is when they reach the hill they are now out of contact with the assigned mortars. Its the same with the mortar detachments HQ units. However both can access the off boards artillery and mortars at the hill. So in the update I may just take out the on board mortar squads and add them as off board for a little more support. The FO's and HQ should be able to call them in.

Unfortunately I dont think I have a creators solution to heavy casualities. You can either model the enemy OOB as pathetic so its a boring turkey shoot or give the player forces so much muscle that the result is another boring turkey shoot. I try and find a balance between realism and keeping the missions exciting and challenging so I have no easy answers on how to keep from taking casualties.

Not at the moment. Working on something for CMFB which will be my first effort for that title. I do have one semi worked on for CMSF but haven't got it to where I am satisfied with how to advance the campaign. It involves a hypothetical clash with Iran but just cant get the story and timelines to come together yet.

Wow really good stuff Heinrich505. Those Crocs can be a real terror if your on the receiving end. Glad ole Gus made it.

Glad you guys are liking the "schwaking" lol. The village can be taken but it is a pain.

Not sure why the FO are not allowing you to call the on map mortars I will look into that. Your strategy sounded good though, once you get to the trenches its not that strong of a defending force. If you can stay out of the mines its a straight forward assault.

Glad you liked it and I hope the rest of it proves enjoyable for you also.

I found it best to use short move commands to keep the guys moving within the boundaries. The Russians had mined the entire approaches to their trenchline but once you get to the trenches on the crest you can fan out with out danger from the mines.

Hehe yea it is tough to see them in the rain and dark. Now just imagine what that real grenadier felt like trying to feel his way through a narrow lane with death on either side

Yea not sure why they have binoculars. Yes Heart of Darkness is CMSF that I did a while back

The cleared lanes through the mine fields do start in the blue setup areas. There are two boundaries to each lane, if you wander out of these boundaries you can expect to take casualities. In the real engagment the pioneers marked the lanes but probably with cloth or string or something similar. The posts were the best I could come up with what was available in the editor. I had to use the aufklarung units as the core to elimnate the panzerfausts. These are only 6 man squads so I added a LMG team to each for additional firepower. In most of the defensive scenarios I have already split the teams ( 3 men each) but since each mission has a setup zone you can regroup them as desired.

Ok here is the updated .cam file that fixes the save bug. https://www.dropbox.com/s/9gmemljggwryqo4/Zitadelle.cam?dl=0 Just delete the old one and replace with this one. If you are several missions into the campaign then just save with the procedure mentioned above. Michael

Guys Ill try and get a fix up for the saved bug soon. Working all weekend so will not have much time until maybe Monday. Sorry bout that. You should just be able to delete the file all the way over to Zitadelle or even rename it something different. The idea of having a different number beside each save is a good one though.

Thanks guys glad it seems to be enjoyable. Sorry about the save game bug, screwup on file name on my part. Think you will find the last few battles to be a real hoot ?Erwin not sure on the splash screen thing l did no modding of that

Ok it appears that the : in the game file is the issue. I was able to save and load successfully with just Zitadelle. I will correct this in the next update. Sorry bout that. Michael

Yea I know the night missions can be a pain but historically thats how it started.

Let me know if anyone else has trouble with the save issue and I will look into it.

This thing has been sitting on my hard drive for quite sometime. I was waiting for a module or vehicle pack to be released to give me the correct vehicles needed but since that doesn't look like its going to happen anytime soon I decided to finish it and put it up for play. If the vehicles needed are released I will go back and update it. It has only been partially tested. Zitadelle:Totenkopf's March to Prokhorovka depicts actions of the 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf during Operation Zitadelle, or more commonly, The Battle of Kursk, during July, 1943. It requires the latest version of CMRT. The details are as follows: Zitadelle: SS Totenkopf's March to Prokhorovka Zitadelle is a CMRT Campaign depicting the actions of the 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf (Deaths Head) during Operation Zitadelle, the German code word for the Battle of Kursk. It follows the divisions engagements from July 4, 1943 until July 12, 1943. The campaign should be considered semi-historical simply because of limitations in the CMRT engine, mainly force composition and equipment. All the battles however were actual engagements and I tried to replicate them as accurately as I could. It requires the following: CMRT version 4. The Included Mod Folder for immersion. Division Totenkopf was one of three SS Divisions attached to the II. SS Panzer Korps that fought in the southern sector of the campaign. Totenkopf, along with the other two divisions, 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division Leibstandarte and 2nd SS Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich, along with support units, were under the command of SS Obergruppenfuhrer Paul Hausser and would be the main offensive punch for the Germans in this sector. The 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Division Totenkopf is commanded by SS Brigadefuhrer Hermann Preiss during Operation Zitadelle. Note on Commanders: I have tried to add in as many of the key commanders as possible for historical immersion. During the battle the II.SS Panzer-Korps lost many key commanders since many German commanders lead their troops from the front, so there was a lot of moving leadership around. I set the command tree for this campaign as it was in the beginning of the actual battle where I could. This campaign features the following units as the core units. German Order of Battle: 1. I.SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 (SS Sturmbannfuhrer Fritz Knochlein) 4 x Kompanies 2. II.SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 (SS Sturmbannfuhrer Ernst Haussler) 4 x Kompanies 2 x Kompanies (Reserve) 3. III.SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 (SS Standartenfuhrer Karl Ullrich) 4 x Kompanies 4. I.SS Panzer Regiment 3 (SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Erwin Meierdress) 2 x Kompanies ( 47 MkIVG tanks) 1 x Kompanie (Reserve) (22 MkIVG tanks) (These represent tanks repaired and returned to service during the battle and will be available later.) 1 x Support Kompanie (Flak Zug) 5. I.SS Panzer Regiment (SS Obersturmfuhrer Wilhelm Schroder) 9.Kompanie (Tiger Kompanie) (11 MkVI Tiger 1 tanks) 6. II.SS Panzer Regiment 3 (SS Sturmbannfuhrer Georg Bochmann) 4 x Kompanies (59 MkIVG tanks) 1 x Support Kompanie (Flak Zug) 7. SS Pionier Battalion 3 (SS Obersturmfuhrer Georg Kinzler 1 x Kompanie 8. SS-Sturmgeschutz-Abteilung 3 (SS Hauptsturmfuhrer Werner Korff) 2 x Batterie 1 x Batterie (Reserve) 9. SS-Panzer-Aufklarungs-Abteilung 3 (SS Sturmbannfuhrer Otto Kron) 2 x Kompanies (Equipped with SPW 251 from the divisions halftrack battalion) 1 x Kompanie (Reserve) 10. I.SS Panzergrenadier Regiment 6 (Armored Battalion) (SS Obersturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Schneider) 1 x Kompanie (Armored Car) 2 x Kompanie ( Halftrack Battalion) 1 x Kompanie (Halftrack Battalion) (Reserve) Soviet Order of Battle: (Non Core) 1. 1241st Rifle Regiment (375th Rifle Division) 2. 155th Guards Rifle Regiment (52nd Guards Rifle Division) 3. 196th Guards Rifle Regiment (67th Guards Rifle Division) 4. 245th Tank Regiment (2nd Guards Tank Corps) 5. 289th Guards Regiment (97th Guards Rifle Division) 6. 237th Tank Brigade (31st Tank Corps) 7. 96th Tank Brigade ( attached to the 52nd Guards Rifle Division) 8. 284th Guards Rifle Regiment (95th Guards Rifle Division) 9. 287th Guards Regiment (95th Guards Rifle Division) 10. 181st Tank Brigade (18th Tank Corps) Notes on unit composition: Due to limitations in the current CMRT engine I used Aufklarung compositions to eliminate most of the panzerfausts which were not present during Operation Zitadelle. A few of the HQ units still randomly retain a few but there is nothing much I can do. Just use your imagination and let them be very accurately thrown teller mines. Also historically Totenkopf had the following tank strengths: 59 PzMkIII's 47 PzMkIV (long barreled 75mm) 11 PzMkVI Tigers 8 Befehls Pz. (Repair Vehicles) With the MKIII not being available I have substituted in the correct number of MkIV's, so the tank strength is correct on numbers but not correct on tank types. If BFC decides to make the MkIII (and KV-1) I will try and update this beast. As mentioned above there is one Kompanie in the I.SS Panzer Regiment 3 that is a reserve and this represents repaired tanks that were returned to service during the battle. These will be available towards the end. The Campaign Tree: 1. Hill 218 - Axis Assault (Dawn) 2. Breaking the Line - Axis Assault (Day) 3. Actung Panzer - Axis Probe (Day) 4. Clash at Kochetovka - Axis Attack (Day) 5. Decision - Gives you the opportunity to play the next mission with or without using some of your reserves. You must be careful here as you will need every available asset in the later battles. 6. 96th Tank Brigade Counterattacks - Meeting Engagement (No reserves) (Day) 7. 96th Tank Brigade Counterattacks (Reserves) - Meeting Engagement (Reserves) (Day) 8. Hells Bridgehead - Axis Assault (Day) 9. Tooth and Nail - Allied Attack (Dawn) 10. Fire and Steel - Meeting Engagement (Day) For this campaign to be successful it will require careful management of your unit preservation, as the last battles will require every resource you can muster. 9.Kompanies Tigers will be especially important as you will get no replacements for them. (There was only 11 total during Zitadelle) Artillery and air support will be available in most missions for both sides. The Mods: Included with the campaign is a mod folder that contains the following: 1. Veins excellent Totenkopf Uniform mod. 2. Several terrain and effects textures from different sources for immersion. 3. Aris PzMk IVG, SPW 251, Stug III and PzMkVI Tiger textures modified by me with the correct insignia used by Totenkopf during Operation Zitadelle. 4. Custom Loading Music 5. Totekopf Portrait Mod - I added the Deaths Head insignia to the portrait of the armored infantry and tank commanders from Mords Red Thunder Portraits mod. These will now show the correct insignia and are tagged to this campaign only. The Maps: The maps were all created by the author (me) and I have tried to make them as accurate as possible. Most are large and may task slower systems. Be sure to read the mission briefings for each mission. I have included some historical information that the campaign was based on in each of the designer notes for each mission. This will give you a bigger picture of the events that are happening when each mission is played out. As always let me know of any bugs or screw ups and I will fix and update. I hope the campaign proves enjoyable. Here is the link to the campaign: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jl13w5orjp2b7dz/Zitadelle.zip?dl=0 Michael

lol well hopefully you will be successful in the victory column.

Your welcome and hope you find it enjoyable. Michael

Great stuff Heinrich505. Love the narrative and screenies to go with it.

Great work NPye. I could have used those in my campaign The Last Panzer which has two battles in Berlin lol. Awesome stuff my friend. Michael

Here a few screenshot art images from a upcoming campaign in CMRT. I will add more as the campaign progresses.