17pounder

I had a small quick battle scenario a few days ago, random everything except my force which I picked as an infantry/tank/assault gun mix as the attacking Russian (plus some Il-2 strafing). I too came across a StuG firing from a very competent concealed position under trees (superb ai). However he was spotted because I sent my more disposable infantry (penal battalion?) ahead of my armour, suspecting this would happen. The StuG just couldn't resist giving my men a dose of HE and thus exposing himself. From then it was a case of marking his position before he disappeared, and outflanking him as best as possible, not helped by being a river map with marshy areas! I lost both my T-70's doing this, but better them than my heavies. Eventually I found just 2 locations where I could get shots of at him, again by using my infantry - of which I had plenty. I then used both my Su-85 and T-34/85 to arrive in position at exactly the same moment to confuse the enemy gunner! He got off the first shot at my SU but luckily it didn't penetrate fatally though he pulled back panicked, but now of course being a StuG he was at a disadvantage because he had to move the whole vehicle to get a shot at my T-34/85 which was at a greater angle than his limited traverse (trees didn't help him either!) - by the time he had it was too late for him, my tank got off 2 shots AP at his side and it was sorted. The enemy's whole defence seemed to hinge on that SP gun, and then it was just a case of rooting out AT guns with my infantry and MG teams with my tanks. My Il-2 came in very handy for recon as well as strafing. You know Operation Bagration was probably pretty similar to this scenario in many ways.

There is of course one last German offensive in the east, presuming winter 1944-45 is the way this game goes; Hungary and Budapest. Not much snow though - mostly slush and mud! But at least it would get the SS involved, also of course Fallschirmjäger were rushed east to try and plug the gap after Bagration, so some nice new OOB's. Yep I'll probably buy it after all !

He was probably the political commissar for that unit and he knew what was coming if the enemy caught him alive.

I'm still trying to get to grips with this one, I know there's a great wargame in there if only I can find it, but it's hard work to get into, unlike this series.

Interesting, though will be quite similar to what we already have? Not sure I'd want to pay for essentially more of the same, even with snow and a Christmas tree! I remember CNBB - what a game that was. Kursk will be worth adding for sure as it's a very significant operation and also adds some new vehicles. But winter 1944-45 is basically CMRT with some snow, and not a lot because it was a mild winter too!

What can we expect the next module to represent in this game? My money is on winter for starters, just because we've already got summer. I'm going to predict winter 1942-43 in the sector of Army Group South. This will also introduce the SS to the game and recreate Manstein's miracle at Kharkov as well as the winter fighting around Belgorod. Of course a certain city on the Volga will be represented too! Be nice to get some earlier vehicles in the game too. What do you reckon they've got planned?

Sure you can play Kursk on CMRT - the maps are all summer and you can build your own scenarios too, or just pick one of the more open, steppe like maps in quick battle. There are plenty of fortifications to choose from too. The only real absentees are KV's and Elefants. The infantry both sides are covered, if you want to replicate the SS instead of heer, then there are mods to change them to look like SS over at greenasjade.

Hi all, I'm a keen CM freak and have been playing the series since CMBO, but this is the first time I've been on this forum. Currently my fav is red Thunder, but I just love the entire series; best computer war-game ever. Maybe I like the Eastern Front best because I have no interest in who wins particularly and hence can really enjoy seeing both sides taking a beating!! Wonder if any of you had seen this nice bit of German newsreel footage on youtube: Be patient through the dull bits because it really heats up later (about 3.33m). Best of all the footage has been digitally enhanced and it REALLY makes a differance, which makes it special in my book. After some tank ditch digging and a show of Kriegsmarine might you'll see fw-190 jabo's hassling the Russians and later some excellent action footage of Stug's supported by infantry battling Red armour at quite close range. Later the film has the Americans on the receiving end too, guess the German public are being told that Germany is winning on both fronts! It's great footage though.