DerKommissar

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.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I am seriously looking at FI and BN. Though I am leaning towards BN just because the volume of material included, and I believe if I get BN I will just bite the bullet and get the big pack. 

Home Army was actually quite well organized/equipped by partisan standards. They even had a few of their own armoured cars as well a handful of captured AT guns.

I can imagine they had plenty of experience with explosives. One of their major strategic goals was the demolition of German infrastructure, such as bridges and railways. They received PIATs, as well as plastic explosives from Allied air-drops.
A big difference with CMSF, instead of getting points for preserving buildings -- the Germans would get points for reducing them to rubble. Scorched earth was the name of the game. Interestingly enough, various nationalist militias (the infamous RONA being one of them) saw service in the Uprising, Germans' own Uncons.

I really hope we get a vehicle pack for the modern titles at some point that adds engineering vehicles. At the least, mine rollers/plows for Abrams and T series tanks. Would love to see more complex vehicles as well, such as a MICLIC launcher, but I think that is much more of a stretch. 

I'd second the call for a Red vs. Red.....Preferably Conventional vs. Uncon on an urban map.
But I would say that, wouldn't I. 

A little humor....😎

I personally prefer nebulous shipping dates with quality products released rather than firm shipping dates with buggy releases requiring endless patches.
 
Chris

...retrofitted with new axle-free bogies, providing the Pillo-soft luxury of Hush-O-Matic Miracle Ride®️
 

I bow down before the genius of fellow Canuck Bruce McCall (pbuh).

Some are more accurate than others.

 

1! 2! 3! 4! I love Marine Corps!
Extra tempted to play them now that they'll be fully amphibious. 

I am simply salivating at the thought of the CMSF2 Demo, and quivering in anticipation of its release. I was just playing the second mission of the CMSF1 Marines beach head campaign last night on my PC side (I have a MacPro with Boot Camp), and every time I thought I'd just make my commands, save, and go to bed, I'd say to myself "just one more turn," and hit the GO button. Is there a "Seven-Step Program" for Combat Mission addiction?

Of course now that there is a Sherman Crab, I have hope for more engineering vehicles.

Western tanks were designed to hold the Fulda. They're heavier, bigger and designed with ergonomics in mind. They were to hold out as long as they could, focusing on the anti-vehicle role. Disable as many Eastern vehicles as possible, in order to slow them down.
The Eastern tanks were designed to be dropped off at the front lines by rail and race through Europe, taking as much land as they could. Dug-in infantry and fortifications would have to be quickly defeated. They needed a lighter, smaller and more disposable tank with an HE focus.
What's the Armata designed for? Parades, mostly. The greatest success stories in weapons' history took years of improvements. Armata needs to get tested, prior to serial production and, even more so, prior to adoption. It's not being tested. What are they going to test it on? What is the pressing scenario that requires the deployment of the Armata?
Since the reveal of the Armata, the requirements have changed. Their military has becoming smaller, and more focused on fast, decisive, intervention. It seems that for "colonial" duties, the last century's tanks are doing the job and getting constant experience and improvement.
Armata saw little else than being on parade for a few years. Meanwhile, T-72s are still rolling around at tank competitions. They're easily shipped to allies, which have the logistics and training for them. They are rolling around in horrible environments, supporting infantry and smashing buildings.
When the geographic and socio-economic factors change, they'll need to come up with a new tank. I doubt that it'll be the Armata.

Western tanks were designed to hold the Fulda. They're heavier, bigger and designed with ergonomics in mind. They were to hold out as long as they could, focusing on the anti-vehicle role. Disable as many Eastern vehicles as possible, in order to slow them down.
The Eastern tanks were designed to be dropped off at the front lines by rail and race through Europe, taking as much land as they could. Dug-in infantry and fortifications would have to be quickly defeated. They needed a lighter, smaller and more disposable tank with an HE focus.
What's the Armata designed for? Parades, mostly. The greatest success stories in weapons' history took years of improvements. Armata needs to get tested, prior to serial production and, even more so, prior to adoption. It's not being tested. What are they going to test it on? What is the pressing scenario that requires the deployment of the Armata?
Since the reveal of the Armata, the requirements have changed. Their military has becoming smaller, and more focused on fast, decisive, intervention. It seems that for "colonial" duties, the last century's tanks are doing the job and getting constant experience and improvement.
Armata saw little else than being on parade for a few years. Meanwhile, T-72s are still rolling around at tank competitions. They're easily shipped to allies, which have the logistics and training for them. They are rolling around in horrible environments, supporting infantry and smashing buildings.
When the geographic and socio-economic factors change, they'll need to come up with a new tank. I doubt that it'll be the Armata.

for those like me that weren't sure where to find em   https://www.battlefront.com/shock-force-2/cmsf2-base-game/?tab=screens

Western tanks were designed to hold the Fulda. They're heavier, bigger and designed with ergonomics in mind. They were to hold out as long as they could, focusing on the anti-vehicle role. Disable as many Eastern vehicles as possible, in order to slow them down.
The Eastern tanks were designed to be dropped off at the front lines by rail and race through Europe, taking as much land as they could. Dug-in infantry and fortifications would have to be quickly defeated. They needed a lighter, smaller and more disposable tank with an HE focus.
What's the Armata designed for? Parades, mostly. The greatest success stories in weapons' history took years of improvements. Armata needs to get tested, prior to serial production and, even more so, prior to adoption. It's not being tested. What are they going to test it on? What is the pressing scenario that requires the deployment of the Armata?
Since the reveal of the Armata, the requirements have changed. Their military has becoming smaller, and more focused on fast, decisive, intervention. It seems that for "colonial" duties, the last century's tanks are doing the job and getting constant experience and improvement.
Armata saw little else than being on parade for a few years. Meanwhile, T-72s are still rolling around at tank competitions. They're easily shipped to allies, which have the logistics and training for them. They are rolling around in horrible environments, supporting infantry and smashing buildings.
When the geographic and socio-economic factors change, they'll need to come up with a new tank. I doubt that it'll be the Armata.

WoT actually has a health bar too. Any post-impact ballistics are abstracted as damage.
WT has a cool feature that lets you see an X-ray of the post-impact damage. It's a silly game, with virtually immortal crewmen and buttoned-up track repair. They should really put that X-ray playback feature for other tank games.
Squad, its main competitor, has an armour system close to Men of War (no health bar). I'm guessing Postscript will eventually update their tanks to that level.

@11:48 "I see troops but I'm not sure if they are enemy""
Quickly brings up 'genuine WW2 GPS map' showing his exact location and brightly coloured moving markers.
Sigh!!!
 

That's a long T-55, with a curious muzzle breaks... where's the gap behind the first road wheel?

I'd say Armored Brigade (I played the demo, recently) is a bit more like Close Combat, mixed with Wargame (larger scale than Close Combat). SP is a hex-grid turn based game, and I still play it -- from time to time. It's good light fun.
It's hard to compared these games to Combat Mission, though. They are literally missing an entire dimension. Does that cannon have LOS on that part of an enemy AFV? Do buildings have floors? How does the terrain /really/ look?
I would like to recommend that people pick up the Theatre of War games, on Steam. They're insanely cheap and deserve to be played -- also, BFC worked on them! They have everything from the invasion of Poland, to Kursk, to the Korean war!
There's also a weird Combat Mission knock off, that feels like CM 1.5, almost. It's called Panzer Command. It's whole thing is that it does from Barbarossa to Berlin.
Man, they really cranked up the prices on Rome 2 -- and many of the other total wars. Crazy for a game that was barely playable at launch.

As someone who has worked in IT, let me tell you that there is no bottom limit on computer literacy. I've seen things, you people wouldn't believe.
On Steam:
I think BFC has good reason to keep off Steam. Besides the issue of licensing and Valve's cut, the main issue is the Steam user base. How many customers would Steam bring? I think significantly less than one thinks. Let's take a look at some stats from Steam Charts ( http://steamcharts.com )
Theatre of War 2: Kursk -- Monthly Average Players per Day: 2.3
Theatre of War -- Monthly Average Players per Day: 2.2
Graviteam Tactics: Mius Front -- Monthly Average Players per Day: 15.9
Tank Warfare: Tunisia 1943 -- Monthly Average Players per Day: 6.5
Steel Division: Normandy 44 -- Monthly Average Players per Day: 395.5
Wargame: Red Dragon -- 699.7
Arma 3: 16,329.6
Tactics games aren't really popular, even when compared to related genres. I seriously doubt the move to Steam would offer a significant increase in users. This being said, I'd love to see the older CM games on GOG! I think GOG is a much more friendly platform to old-ish tactics games.

Minute 2:00-1:59:

Capt. Leslie and his party were done with introductions and some practical discussion. They had just started on their second cup of chai and were planning to spend a few pleasant minutes on friendly chatting when the HQ sent for him and his 2IC – “Battalion command reports an enemy formation has been spotted approaching from the East”. They excused themselves from the chai and headed back to the command post to hear the details and alert the rest of the company. As they headed out the door Capt. Leslie noticed that one of the younger men who had not said anything during the meeting held back the translator, MCpl Haddad from 14 Platoon, briefly to whisper something to him.

“What was that about?” He asked.

MCpl Haddad smiled wryly as he replied “He said that if Assad’s men are coming he wishes us to kill as many as we can, so, there will be fewer for him to finish off - Inshallah”.

Capt. Leslie thought darkly to himself “Well that *is* the plan. My men do not need help from God to kill the enemy.”  It seems like this was going to be an eventful day after all.

The first turn of action was uneventful. No contacts were spotted. My team on KT3 moved up and the infantry deployed.






 
Minute 1:59: Orders

I corrected my mistake and moved a squad up to TK8. To avoid tiring the men out, I moved 3 section up to take 2 section’s positions and moved 2 section up to TK8.

Minute 1:59-1:58:

Things started to happen. The sniper team at Rutsey acquired a couple of sound contacts near the road. Looks likely to be a tank and an IFV.






 
Right at the end of the turn the sniper spotted an ATGM team. As the turn ended he was taking a bead for a head shot. First blood could be mine. In the shot below look carefully in the right hand side of the upper pane of the window.





 
A wider shot of the sniper aiming.






 
The infantry at KT3 also can hear armoured vehicles in the valley below.





 
Infantry moving to KT8.






 
One of them carrying a SRAAW.

As I play the games I end up musing about what else I would like to see, and ended up putting it together as a list. Thought I would share it and see if anyone else thought of similar things to me - I know that these lists do pop up from time to time! Also, all you WWII fans please excuse the Cold War obsession - it is more prevalent due to the fact that Combat Mission already covers WWII quite well, and thus I have less to wish for on that front.
This isn’t a ‘Battlefront I really want this will you add it please?’ list, just a thought exercise (although seeing these things added would be fun!).
 
1) Combat Mission: Fulda
A Combat Mission game set in Cold War Germany in the 1980s - possibly spanning several key periods, e.g.: Able Archer gone hot (1983), Black Sea incident gone hot (1988) - this would bring slightly different TOE’s to bear, such as the introduction by 1988 of the M1IP and M1A1.
Would also allow for an interesting array of weapons systems from the nations involved (a number which could expand massively to include most of NATO and the Warsaw Pact), especially: US Army, British Army (BAOR), Bundeswehr (West Germany), Red Army (USSR) & NPA (East Germany).
 
2) A core engine with add-on modules
I envision this as a DCS-style system - a (free?) core engine, which could ship with some limited forces (acting as a demo), and then each additional game we see currently is an add-on module. If done well, I imagine this would simplify updates, as well as allowing expanded possibilities: want to see how the 2017 (Black Sea) US Army would fare against the Wehrmacht of 1944 (Battle for Normandy)? I imagine that when in the editor selecting the date would now be independent of the TOE (unlike the current system, say in Battle for Normandy), and an additional tab would allow you to select the TOE’s involved (e.g. US Army - June 1944, US Army - September 1944, US Army - 1945, US Army - 2008, US Army - 2017)
I believe people have asked for this before, and that the response was that the current design of the engine couldn’t allow it, but it is interesting to see that others have thought of this/also play DCS!
 
3) Rework of CQB/building interiors
I am sure that most people would agree with me that the least ‘real’ feeling part of Combat Mission is clearing buildings, where a single man with a bolt action rifle can kill an experienced assault team armed with submachine guns as if they were unintelligent pixeltruppen (… oh… it all makes sense now…!). The ability to at least tell men to clear a building with grenades (i.e. throw a grenade in first and kill off some of the occupants) would make things so much better IMO - clearing a building known to be occupied should always be a risky scenario, but it certainly happens - especially in a more modern counter-insurgency environment.
Either way, at least having outlines of internal walls and staircases so you understand why your squad entered, faced a wall and were all mown down would be nice - but I am sure others have come up with far more sophisticated dreams for how this could be improved .
Another extension to this point would be the ability to have a team lob grenades over a wall into a non-LOS area - say you know the enemy fire team is camping on the other side, breaching and potentially killing yourselves seems foolish when you could just lob a grenade over!
 
4) A ‘formation’ button
The ability to chose the formation your infantry fireteam/squad takes would be great: you can choose say ‘column’ or ‘line’, giving flexibility depending on the scenario - no more machine-gun cutting down a column of men when they could be in a line as they cross an open space. This could even go further - ‘staggered column’ would be great IMO for patrolling troops down roads.
As a side note, having a vehicle movement speed that matches the infantry walk speed would be nice - again for when patrolling, rather than having to effectively sprint-and-drift like a submarine!
 
5) Visible helicopters, drones and aircraft
One of my pet hates of the series is hearing your TACP call ‘inbound for target, weapons hot’, and the only indication of this is a magic laser-beam falling from the sky and exploding things, or a SAM smoke trail reaching out and touching the aircraft - I personally would love to see the actual assets themselves - especially when they are shot down and crash on the map itself - a nice wrecked F-16 or Su-25T would be awesome!
 
6) Counter-battery fires
I feel that for larger artillery pieces in the modern games (where data-links and radio intercepts make tracking the location of an active battery quite feasible, being able to have an FO request counter-battery fire that would impede or stop that deadly M109 fire from stunning all of your pixeltruppen would be nice - and it would just make the massive barrages seem a little more combatable - I assume after all that if you were on the receiving end of such fire you too would be screaming into the radio asking someone to make it go away!
 
7) Combat Mission: Vietnam
It would probably have a similar feel to CM: Afghanistan or CM: Shock Force - a powerful army fighting guerrillas and insurgents, but there were quite a lot of ‘conventional’ battles in Vietnam, especially between the NVA and ARVN once the US withdrew, and the time period is also interesting - there are still WWII weapons floating around, but helicopters and M16’s now rule the field.
As a side note, I feel that a CM: Vietnam would require the introduction of UH-1 Hueys as a vehicle that you can land and transport troops with or provide overwatch/gun runs, just because of their prevalence for landing in ‘hot’ LZ’s to provide ‘dust-offs’. Also, who doesn’t want to recreate the Apocalypse Now helicopter scene?!
 
8 ) Combat Mission: Korea
Maybe it is just me and my love of all things Cold War, but an early Cold War game focusing on Korea would be fun IMO - it would play in a similar manner to CM: Fortress Italy I imagine, with big mountains limiting vehicle mobility and nasty trench warfare - which is why it appeals to me: this is where Combat Mission really shines in creating the ‘perfect storm’ of games for me (and a stark contrast to the rapid maneuver warfare that we see in CM: Black Sea or would in a hypothetical CM: Fulda!).
 
9) Combat Mission: Pacific
Now that amphibious vehicles (and flamethrowers) are tried and tested, a focus on the WWII Pacific front would be excellent - my biggest 'loss' in CM: Battle for Normandy was the lack of LCP's and LVTP's with which to do amphibious assaults. I also like the idea of a more infantry focused battlefield, where cover can be sparse or thick jungle, and where bunkers are king (perhaps this would have to ship with some fortification/trenchline improvements and expansions). 
 
Other interesting things (I hope!)
As I said above, this is all hypothetical, and I don’t expect Steve to look at this and say - lets do that! It is more getting my thoughts out there to see if anyone else has similar ideas, and perhaps recommendations of games I might enjoy because they fit those ideas. Sadly it seems Cold War games largely went out of fashion with the coming of 2000, but there are a few left out there!
Not directly Combat Mission related, but because they fit the things that interest me and perhaps others, here are some games I recommend or am watching closely:
Command MANO (especially the Northern Inferno campaign) Cold Waters Flashpoint Campaigns DCS (as already mentioned!) Men of War AS2 Wargame (EE, ALB and RD are all excellent, though more RTS and less tactical than CM for sure) Escalation 1985 (the trailer really gets the vibe right IMO, has a bit of a Deutschland 83 feel: https://youtu.be/9nupkXjbaok) I have tried Graviteam Tactics, but didn’t really enjoy it… I should go back and try it again though methinks!