Arjuna.R

https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battle-for-normandy-campaigns/the-road-to-montebourg-revised-for-v4-0/
Don't worry, this won't overwrite or otherwise delete the original campaign that came on the disk. IIt's a completely different file. This is substantially different from the vanilla campaign and the number of changes made is huge but the most important one to note is that you will need both the Market Garden module and the Vehicle Pack to play this.
 
Other important highlights are that the 2/8 INF core units are now mostly Green with High morale which means you'll need to manage them more carefully in a firefight.
All-new AI plans using triggers and most of the tricks that came with later versions of the game.
Flamethrowers are included in some missions.
Some maps have been revised, most notably the map for Turnbull's Stand which veterans of the original campaign will probably notice quite quickly.
A 'new' mission has been added although those of you who found and played the earlier revised version that was uploaded to BFC's old Scenario Depot will recognise it. The campaign has a prelude phase consisting of the new mission and then the old campaign opener Beau Guillot. You should notice quite a few changes made to that mission as well - some extra help to make up for the drop in experience.
There is air support in quite a few missions now and less artillery, at least the bigger guns anyway.
 
Anyway, let's post this and then I'll see what needs to be 'fixed' or not in good time. This is an old campaign so i'm not expecting a ton of feedback for it for quite a while but let me know and I'll fix things. Now I'm taking a break from CMBN. I haven't quite decided what comes next - finishing Hasrabit or a new version of Gung Ho! for the German forces. Later, I'll get to work on the two Scottish campaigns I'd mentioned elswhere.
 
Have a Happy New year.

Sorry lads.  Sworn to secrecy and all that.  (Now that last statement does imply there are indeed secrets….sweet delicious secrets).

India successfully landed a ship on the moon.
Fabulous!  Go India!
Modi will meet with Putin and talk about..................football 😂

Steady as she goes gentlemen.

I hate it when my vehicles start getting peppered with .50cal in CMCW. It means that vehicle is about to have a really, really bad day in about 2s.

This.  As we have seen in Ukraine, once contact is made and the shooting starts everything goes.  In CMCW we have a lot of turret mounted .50 cals on the US side with the M60 series and they are definitely going to open up on enemy armor.  AP .50 cal can damage enemy optics etc, as well ricochets can hit supporting infantry.  The reality is guys are going to let loose on any enemy with pretty much what they have. Fire discipline will try and control usage rates but restrictions on target types is incredibly hard to enforce.  Or worse, if you do somehow beat it into them you get troops afraid to fire and hesitate.
As we expected CW is WW2 on steroids.  The ranges and intensity of fires increases dramatically and tactics need to adapt.

I sure hope not 🙂 I think he means that the modules for CMBN (Commonwealth, Market Garden, Vehicle Pack, Battle Pack1) will be available on Matrix/Steam at the same time as the base game.
The DLC that @Ithikial_AU is working on is something he is still working on 🙂 It's not ready yet.

To echo what IanL has stated here, please note that it is slowly being chipped away at but I have a "real life" job to attend to that has it's own ups and downs. (Still trying to win Lotto and retire to a life of wargaming). I don't work for Battlefront but keep them in the loop with the status of the project. BP2 - Utah Beach was always going to be a release beyond CMBN coming to Steam. The big milestone was getting all the maps pretty much locked away before Christmas (70 sq km+ worth) except for the odd touch ups here and there while scenarios are being built.
I'd imagine it would be similar to CMSF2's release on Steam where the whole game family came out at once, but @BFCElvis should be able to confirm what exactly comes out on Steam on the 28th of March.

Ok, pre-Alpha disclaimer so details are subject to change but this is the first map in the Canadian campaign "On the Weser" - got big plans for this one. A Pete Wenman original:

Just southwest of a little town called Boffzen and south of Hoxter (From Google Earth):

Blow up of Canadian AO with rough zone of this map:

Well that is a loaded question to be honest.  Bil H will no doubt chime in but a few factors came into play as I recall:
- Resources.  We can take a really good shot at BAOR and not cripple ourselves in development for years - along with the other BFC titles.  The core team is pretty small and we were looking for a quick, but solid, follow up to the main game.  Germany would have been a lot more work, as would  any other NATO nations, and the French were just a non-starter.  Those modules will take much longer, particularly in vehicle modelling and artwork.  BAOR had a lot of new vehicle models but much more manageable in the timelines for a first DLC.
- Locale.  The Northern Plain was actually where the most likely Soviet Main effort was going to fall.  Hate to admit it but Fulda was a bit of a sideshow in the overall Soviet plan.  It made sense game wise simply because the largest market for the game is the US, and we had a lot of details on this fight - US research is a dream as they put everything out there, Canadians are a nightmare.  That said we really wanted to do the northern plains from the start and historically that is BAOR or the Germans.
- Expertise.  We had experts on both UK and Canadian orbats right out the gate, which made research a lot easier.  I joined in 1988 and had a lot of my old battlebox stuff to pull from and some old timers I still know from up the day.  On the UK side we had similar expertise.
- Timeframe.  Late 70s, early 80s is really the “tipping point” of the Cold War.  It was when the doctrine and equipment of both sides was pretty balanced, each offsetting the others strengths and weaknesses.  Before this you get the nuclear armies, which were just nuts. And after you get the  western advantage leaning into overmatch and then we start to look a lot like CMSF or BS.
- Straight up cool factor.  So how would the UK done against the Soviets?  Canadians are fun because they mix European and US kit.  You wanna know how a squadron of Leo’s would have done…well let’s find out.  Not saying the other nations are not interesting but when you add everything up it just made more sense to do BAOR next and they would be fun to play.
As to “how will they play”…totally honest…no freakin idea.  We also had no idea on the main game.  It wasn’t until I played those first few scenarios while we were early in did we see that we were onto something.  BFC doesn’t balance for gameplay or market. They literally plug in the data from research and then throw it at each other in game. The balance is almost entirely emergent.  When we do up scenarios and campaigns there is always a level of balancing that goes on but this is macro stuff like force size and enablers.  For CMCW we were amazed at how little balancing we had to do. I designed the campaigns and scenarios based on doctrine on both sides and basically how they would have gone into a fight with each other.  The fact that these led to tightly balanced fights that require deep understanding of what each side can do was all pretty much emergent design.

Cold Warriors.
  Well it looks like Steve has already dropped the mic over on the annual update thread, so let myself, Bil H and Cpt Miller (along with a small team of unwashed heathens - two of whom are actually from the UK), be the second to announce the first CMCW Module - CMCW - British Army On the Rhine (BAOR).

We are still in development so I will only outline the broad strokes of what we are working on, and insert the caveat that we reserve the right to add/subtract - 
 - Time frame of the game is going deeper backwards into the Cold War.  We are setting the clock back to 1976, so CMCW will now encompass 1976-1982 (including some minor tweaks to the existing US orbats).  As has been noted we are less interested in the later Cold War years largely because they really do start to resemble the later CM titles and we are shooting to keep CMCW distinct in its own right.
- UK BOAR - right now we have a pretty comprehensive build planned for the UK units as they transitioned from their 1974 structures - to where they landed in 1980.  As per the picture above players should be able to become deeply engaged within the historical BAOR sector of the ETO.
- And because I just have to represent the home team, we are also doing the Canadians.  That little black box is the planned 4 CMBG AO - you will note this was right at the tail end when the brigade was still part of the BAOR, although for those that really want to play First Clash and park them down in Lahr you are fee to do so because the basic unit structures remained the same.
- We do have plans for the Soviet side, but are going to hold off on details until we zero them fully in...more to follow. 
- I will let you all speculate and discuss what new vehicles and weapon systems we are talking about but there is a not insignificant list of new ones we are planning - more as we start to get some cool screen shots.  
As noted by Steve, we are well on our way and are planning for a release this year - content and full scope remains TBA.
Thank you all very much for your support, the response to CMCW has been well beyond what we were expecting and that is entirely thanks to you guys.

I've long felt that training missions were a good idea - something above a simple "how to play the game" tutorial, but below a full scenario.
Ideal would be something that wasn't necessarily all that challenging, but still allows you to lose - essentially a "if you can't do this, you don't understand it" check.
Once you have this ideal situation locked down, the scenarios and campaigns proper can then give you the "real" version, on less than ideal terrain or with additional complexities.
That kind of thing would answer an awful lot of criticisms of various platforms and systems. At various times people have expressed frustration with Stryker, ifvs in general, the Italians, the British 2 inch mortar, halftracks, combat in urban and wooded terrain, etc. etc. 
The soviet tutorials in cold war do a good job of expressing some of the core tenets, and the second develops on the first. The halftrack tutorials in the bp do a similar job - I got more use out of the mortar halftracks as a combination of mobile direct and indirect fire than I've ever done before, and tutorial 3 might be my favorite scenario in the battlepack, for all of the above reasons.

Aye it’s an interesting read. But aye given the increasingly prevailing strategic and tactical situation of limited application. 
 
One if the things I’ve sought to do is give players some pointers on how best to apply RL doctrine and tactics into CM given some game engine limitations and at least have done insight into how best to get the best out of their SPW/combined arms team. 

And that gives me another chance to say thanks George ❤️.

Hi all
I've created this post to make available some resources that may be of use to players.
I've attached the Five Days One Summer campaign flowchart - so you can see where you are going, if you wish. If you'd rather not see into the future then best not read it.
I've attached the Tigers at Ogledow campaign flowchart - again possible spoilers here so if you'd rather not know, don't look!
Also I've attached a SPW Training Missions Tactics and Lessons document. This document provides a deeper overview of the doctrine and tactics taught (and used) by German armored panzer grenadier units equipped with the Sdkfz 251 halftrack and its variants (referred to as a Schützenpanzerwagon or SPW) in the later part of the war, around 1944. Its main intent is to provide additional background to the series of scenarios and missions in the battle pack for Red Thunder, in particular the series of three SPW ‘Lesson’ series scenarios. My thanks to @domfluff who reviewed this and provided tactical insight, oh and it was his idea originally.
Five Days One Summer Wiking panzer grenadier mods - I've added a wee package of mods I used for the grenadiers in the Five Days One Summer. I basically assembled others excellent mods to create a look which is in the Wiking Mods GMc Mix . Main changes are grenadiers are in light battle rattle - no extraneous kit, crusher caps are M43s and senior officer has a 'Wiking' cuff band and a M43. My thanks to the talent and good will of Aris, @EZ (WSS Senior Officer and WSS camo uniforms), @Frenchy56 (Crusher and side caps to M43) @kohlenklau (No-gear mod - the campaign is mod tagged 'no gear') @Lucky_Strike (Senior officer peaked caps to M43s). I used Aris' Soviet tank mods, his Soviet faces and VM's summer Soviet uniforms.
Five Days Campaign Overview_v1.pdf SPW Training Missions Tactics and Lessons_FINAL.pdf
1831305623_FiveDaysOneSummerMods.rar
Tigers at Ogledow Campaign Overview_v1.pdf

Does that mean the wait on the RT battle pack is almost over?
Okay just saw the Mac issue problem in the other thread.  Macs, who would have them...

You aren't going to win with your tanks.  You are going to win with your infantry.  I think I'll leave it at that - don't want to give too much away in case anyone else is trying this one.  Well, infantry and artillery.

I know everybody is excited and would like to know what is next after the Base Game... believe me we are all excited too!
As far as follow-on modules go.. yes several are planned, but what they are specifically we will keep to ourselves until after the game is released.  For now the focus must stay on the base-game for us, but feel free to conjecture and dream, I enjoy those threads, but we won't be confirming or denying anything until after this one is on the street.
Just so you guys know that we aren't ignoring you in those discussions, we are trying to stay focused and not get sidetracked so we can deliver this thing in time.
Cheers, Bil

@Bil Hardenberger did up the NTC Campaign with the help of @George MC.  For CMCW we made a deliberate decision to stick closely to the doctrine of the period for both sides.  We did do tweaking for play balance but on the whole the aim was to give each side the forces they would have had back in 79-82.  
The short answer to your question is most likely: because that is what the Soviets would have had the capability, doctrine/training and intent to do within that scenario.  Bil H was at NTC back in those days so I will let him fill in the details.

I do think that CMCW is not a good first CM title. It's excellent, but it's aimed a little higher than some of the others, and things like the NTC reflect that.

The real-world NTC is an environment where you're supposed to fail, essentially - it's a very powerful training tool, but it's brutal and intended to be.

The CMCW NTC campaign is very, very good at showing you what you're up against - the BMP-1 in CMSF is a joke, and in CMCW it's a serious threat. You can't park US tanks on a ridgeline and destroy everything like you can in CMSF or to a lesser extent CMBS. You have to read the terrain and pick your battles, lean on combined arms and use every aspect of your force.

It's a serious challenge, and in particular it'll punish bad habits learnt in the other CM titles. The M1A2 is such a large advantage in CMSF and CMBS that you can get away without using your armour correctly - it offers a *large* safety net, and will cover a lot of your shortcomings. This is objectively not true for the M60A1, and that's one of the major lessons which the NTC is trying to teach.



 

I do this too from time to time. There are things I prefer in CMx1. Not enough to elevate those games over CMx2, but enough to get me to fire them up from time to time.
I like the concept of Operations (more than the execution) and have fun with those.
I prefer the way the Hunt command works.
I like the command delay mechanic
I like the full-war scope of CMBB
Little things like that. Keep on keepin' on

I Started playing his Von Schroif Campaign and Der ring Der 5th Panzer Mission after hearing about his work from all of you on the forum and its awesome, I see why everyone is excited, briefings, tactical maps, it is all superbly done. 

George's level of detail is fantastic. I can't wait to sit in one go and get at the campaigns.

Born ginger, born whatever people may be is what they are. How people live their lives in relations with others after that is the measure.

Better gay than myopic, unfortunately in my later years I must wear glasses. Pursuit of happiness is a human right. For us it is playing combat mission. Some people find issue with that too.