DerKommissar

I flipped through the campaign notes, and unless I missed it, they didn't list the designers and testers' names. So, whoever you are, my hat's off to you. It was the first campaign in a while I found legitimately difficult. I loved it. 
I thought it was an excellent depiction of the type of hastily improvised Pak-fronts the Germans would concentrate and lay across an allied mechanized thrust. You could feel mission-to-mission that you were fighting an enemy desperately trying to prevent a breakthrough or blunt a flanking thrust. There was always a great deal of opportunity for mounted manoeuvre, with use of artillery and masking fires, and the time limits encouraged a surgical attitude. I did a lot of bypassing and leapfrogging (often under light fire) of my units through one another to try and meet the timetable. Nor do I think the timetable was artificial: you're doing an armoured thrust up an enemy's flank, speed is key and the campaign captures that. 
I also appreciated being in command of a relatively untested unit. I'm somewhat familiar with the actual fight for Cellano and I do remember reading the German unit was about as fresh as the South Africans facing them, and it showed. I never felt the difficulty was artificially heightened by suddenly encountering some random, fanatic, Heer unit. The casualties seemed realistically proportionate as well. The lack of resupply and reinforcement made it quite the administrative challenge too. I spent a lot of time deciding which unit was up front or would be the main effort, trying to spread out echelon consumption and casualties. Most of the platoons were combat effective to the end, even if some were glorified squads. 
Needless to say, the maps were all gorgeous. 




If anyone wants a good little combined arms battle in complex terrain, and practice busting concentrated pak fronts, I definitely recommend. 

Would be a long game where you mostly get hit by off-board mortars. After 10519200 turns, suddenly there's no more air support and then you lose.

Happy to hear that they're focusing on modules for existing titles (give BS and FB some love).
Cold War has risen to be my fave, hope to fight Germans in Germany.

Well cat's out of the bag now...so we are officially doing a CMCW module.  I will let you guys speculate on scope and scale and we are still working the features list right now.  I would expect an official announcement in due course.

The ugliest and sexiest tank at the same time.

Personally, I'm fine with a CW module for FB and a UK/NATO/USMC module for CMBS (bonus if they add French forces).
Then repeat the aforementioned UK/NATO/French/USMC module for CW.
Then an early war in the east front.
But, I'm only one guy/bot...

Most definitely. The Saddam's strategy did not hand him a decisive victory over Iran. He should have made the same conclusion as WW1 combatants. Instead he used the same tricks on a vastly more advanced force.
Hindsight will soon be 2021. It was him against half the world, his only hope was to maximize attrition on the Coalition. By lining up his troops in the desert, then digging them in -- he maximized the effectiveness of the Coalition's main force multiplier. Sure, hiding wouldn't have won him the war, but at least it would have prolonged the inevitable.
By the way, huge fan of your videos!

Not a flattering photo, to be sure.

Even with fancy paint and a new turret, it still looks like a junkyard pig.
I think the 28 is underrated. It had a 3 man turret with a 76mm gun, a bad ass V12 bomber engine, and standard issue radios. I may fear this as much as an early war P4.

Vickers D3E1 looks like a steam cabinet, a tractor, and a lawnmower had whatever the stuff from Transformers was poured over them and out sprang this:

Mobile Infantry, Skinnys, and Bugs!
 
...Oh yeah, and Bolos. 

CW feels like the golden mean of CM2. You get two very diverse, very different, and yet balanced, factions. The lack of modern electronics makes combat much more personal. Great to see BS and SF toys placed in their original setting.

Scratch two Shermans…
 

 

Tanks.
One of the biggest weaknesses of Soviet infantry is their almost complete lack of AT weapons. Everyone else has things like bazookas and panzerschrecks that make you keep your distance. Soviet infantry usually doesn't have anything except grenades. Some of them might have AT rifles but they're not that common and mostly useless against anything other than light vehicles. 
If you have tanks, sometimes you can afford to be aggressive and drive them right up into the Soviets' faces and blast them point blank and they can't do anything about it. It can be fun to drive right up next to an enemy occupied house and blow it up, since you can almost never do that in the other CM titles. In the Fire and Rubble module, the late war Soviets sometimes get captured panzerfausts but I'm not sure how common they are.
For my own infantry, I like to split them down to small teams and spread them out as much as possible. Their job is to mostly just spot things for tanks to shoot at. If they see anything or run into a nest of resistance, they halt or even pull back while my tanks and artillery are called up to deal with it. The infantry only begin advancing again after the enemy positions have been thoroughly plastered by HE and MG fire.
Firefights in this game are usually determined by who can put out more weight and volume of fire than the other guy. If you have no tanks and have no choice but to fight them at close range, you can still beat Soviet SMGs if you find some way to put out more bullets than them, like by sheer weight of numbers, but tanks are always best. 

AGS-17 uses in most cases exactly for indirect fire. CM engine too much limits capabilities of this weapon, allowing only direct fire mode. But for this mode there is need the same as for mortars - some unit which has LOS to target and C2 to AGS crew. In real situatuons AGS fire indirectly even w/o LOS, but current engine can't reflect this

you expect me to remember something from April?  I can barely remember yesterday... what day is it?  Is the Canadian module out yet?

Wake me up when September ends 😉

Wishing for a Cold War prequel to Khabour Trail, following PPCLI and friends in Europe.


The Cold War was over before my friends and I were born. In a strange way, there is a second-hand nostalgia towards the time period. It could be our parents and grandparents telling stories about duck 'n' cover drills. It could also be that Cold War-era media (music, movies, shows, games, books, etc.) are culturally significant. I agree about the geopolitical world seeming to want an encore.

To answer the question of "troop quality" between the US and Soviet in and around the late 70s/early 80s?  Not really...that is kind of my point.  I mean the only conflicts of note to see US and Soviet involvement were Vietnam and Afghanistan and neither were 1) the same, or 2) a resounding success.  All those prove is that big conventional militaries suck at COIN...not a real surprise there.  It also shows that troop quality for both superpowers in these conflicts was poor; both sent largely conscripts and dumped mountains of hardware on the problem.
That said, both the Russians and US were capable of producing excellent troops as was demonstrated in WWII (Soviets in the East and US in the Pacific). In the timeframe of the game I would probably give the tactics and operational edge to the Soviets.  They were playing an old rulebook but had mastered it.  The US was in transition and hadn't a good grasp of their former or new strategies yet.  Hardware was again at parity, with definite edge to the Soviets on mass.  
I guess the answer is that both sides were capable of pushing out excellent-to-'ok'-to-poor troops so any and all combinations/matchups are probably on the menu depending on the context of the fight.  

Phase 3: Assault

Major Chetty leads Task Force 1 into a hail of fire.

Shermans supporting Major Jensen's Task Force 2, answering, in kind.

All of the Battlegroup's Stonks are dumped on the defenders. Major Chetty speeds onwards.

Infantry from Major Ntsimango's Task Force 3, advance under artillery cover.

Jerry answers with artillery fire on Task Force 2's base of fire, as our own barrage ends.

Task Force 2 gets bogged down in house-to-house fighting, not far from their objective.

Major Chetty's gamble pays off, as Bravo is virtually undefended. Task Force 1 quickly moves to exploit the enemy's rear.

As the smoke from Task Force 2's light mortars clears, the 88 is ambushed. Major Chetty scores a battlefield commendation.

As the bullets crack over their heads, the German officers decide it's not worth it, after all. If only they'd had that revelation, earlier.

Phase 2: Base of Fire


Snipers sit atop the hill, in sturdy brick structures on Point Charlie. Shermans have to fill in as field guns.
 


Sustained HMG fire is forcing Jerry to pull back from Point Bravo. This flank looks weak, Major Chetty is growing eager for an attack.
 

Forward observers enjoy a great view, as spotting rounds fall on Point Alpha. All of the Battlegroup's howitzers are coming down on Celleno.
 

Task Force 1 is poised to strike. Task Force 2 and 3 are waiting for artillery cover. Assault is imminent.

I've managed to finish it before F&R dropped. Still have to select, crop and upload the images, and the new games have been keeping me busy. I'll post part 3, soon!

PRELUDE: A Retrospective

This was our Battalion's first battle against the Hun, in Italy. It has been a rude awakening, and lessons were learned the hard way.
 

After a heavy bombardment, Jerry pulled back from his defensive line. Little did we know about their well-prepared fallback positions.
 

Their guns are well positioned, camouflaged and fortified. They make mincemeat out of infantry, and seriously crippled a couple of Shermans.
 

We tried to advance quickly, to avoid being bled dry in kill-zones. The Hun made great use of automatic weapons and hand-held anti-tank launchers.
 

We decided to take it slow, to conserve our forces. If this deadly maze is a sign of things to come -- we will need them for taking Celleno.
 

First, we take our time probing their positions. Second, we slowly surround them. Third, we pound them into submission.
 

Fourth, Jerry counter-attacks with tanks. This caught us off-guard -- we can expect armoured counter-attacks, going forward.

I've managed to finish it before F&R dropped. Still have to select, crop and upload the images, and the new games have been keeping me busy. I'll post part 3, soon!

Is there any unofficial fix for this?

Phase 2: Base of Fire


Snipers sit atop the hill, in sturdy brick structures on Point Charlie. Shermans have to fill in as field guns.
 


Sustained HMG fire is forcing Jerry to pull back from Point Bravo. This flank looks weak, Major Chetty is growing eager for an attack.
 

Forward observers enjoy a great view, as spotting rounds fall on Point Alpha. All of the Battlegroup's howitzers are coming down on Celleno.
 

Task Force 1 is poised to strike. Task Force 2 and 3 are waiting for artillery cover. Assault is imminent.