RescueToaster

Ah, I remember Q5, first shown by Aunty on 24th March 1969.

Yes, looks like info is right.  Announced in Slitherines TeaTime programming.  So BFN is a maybe in Q2 or Apr-June.  

CMSF is designed to have very few Blue casualties while Red gets slaughtered.  However, have found that in CMBS it's very easy to get slaughtered if one makes one mistake.  In many WW2 games have suffered far fewer casualties than in CMBS.
While I like to play all games for the change (and to prevent burn-out after 22 years of CM games) the WW2 games followed by CMSF sem much more satisfying due to the large amount of RL dats on wars that were actually fought. I find CMCW to be a step above Dungeons and Dragons. Hopefully, we will get a l;ot of RL data from the Ukraine war re how Red equipment works.  So, it will be interesting if this leads to a large revamp of the game, or if the game reflects R accurately.

Haha!  I know how you feel!  It's nice to open up Red Thunder and not stress when you send your Soviets to their deaths.  😁  I think you have a good point though.  Modern is so much more deadly which makes those casualty red lines even harder.  But playing them just make you better and better at figuring out how to do that!
I'm finding Cold War is the absolute worst for instant death and heavy casualties.  I play PBEM Black Sea (only Russia vs. Ukraine) and hold my own just fine but man, I have been getting slaughtered in Cold War!  I did spend this past weekend with a change of pace back to WWII and it was really really fun.  CMBN is really impressive with everything added and going on with it.

That is true @Simcoe but I find myself getting much more emotionally attached to my Black Sea pixeltroopen than I do my WWII pixeltroopen for some odd reason. Many more explicatives are uttered whan my M2 Bradley opens it's doors and my soldiers get mowed down by machine guns. Compared to the same situation with a half-track. Dunno why.
I can see where the pucker factor is high because the unit tasked with recon is very expensive (again such as a Bradley).  But I don't know why it's the same with pixeltroopen.  Maybe modern troops are more relatable than the mass troops that had to be used in WWII.
And, of course, it may just be me...

Mostly CMCW for the last year

Sorry to have triggered you.  We are talking about fictional game set in 2017 though.  I do understand your point but it's really not a political discussion.
I mean, we are wargamers and this is a wargaming board.

That's odd considering what the Nazis did in WW2 - far worse than what's happening in Ukraine today.   It is an odd human phenomenon that the more time that passes we no longer feel outraged.  I predict that another few decades and Hitler's era will be historically "revised".

Arbitrary distinctions don't really help anyone, and clearly the answer is "both", but:

Based on what Steve has said previously, WW2 outselling Modern, outside of CMBN, isn't true at all, and this has been hinted at being quite the reverse. CMBN is likely to be the best seller individually, certainly (although the lack of CMBN on Steam might have cut into that for the time being).

In terms of comparison:

It's an awful lot easier to make a workable scenario for a WW2 title. You can throw a US rifle company and a German rifle company onto a map, stick an objective in the middle and have a decently interesting game. That means the floor is a lot higher, and it's a lot harder to get it wrong.

The problem with the WW2 titles though is that you're answering questions that are extremely familiar, and all have well-trodden answers. There's little mystery to engage with, and few high concepts to grapple with. One of the most interesting experiences with CMBS was reading some of the Lessons Learned from the fighting in Ukraine since 2014 (e.g.: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316122469_Karber_RUS-UKR_War_Lessons_Learned). It's very interesting how many of those lessons are learnable using CMBS - a testament to CM as a valuable tool for simulation, as well as how some or most of the assumptions made by BFC were correct, or at least along the right lines.

So with the modern titles you can engage with some Big Ideas - some of which have no real-world solutions. There's a Stryker brigade sitting in real-Europe as a quick reaction force, which could be brought into action against a peer opponent (or as recent experience suggests, possibly a peer opponent). How well could that do in a near-peer situation? Black Sea can give you some answers to that. The Modern titles allow you to solve novel problems that haven't been solved hundreds of times before. That means the potential ceiling is significantly higher.

Now, that brings with it some other issues. Specifically because the ground is not as well trodden, the scenario and map design is significantly more difficult. All of the modern titles are asymmetric to some degree - CMCW is the most balanced in power level between the factions, but they play extremely differently to each other. The more asymmetric a scenario, the more difficult it is to create something that's interesting. Also, if the aim is to explore unanswered questions, then it's more than possible that the tools provided are not appropriate.

So, no, I don't think it's an age thing (aside from the short-term situation, where only the modern titles are on Steam - that will skew things). I also don't think it is or should be an either/or thing. Preferences are personal, naturally, but it does seem a bit daft to limit yourself in that way, since it doesn't seem to serve a particularly useful purpose.

No worries. I was kinda snappy myself. However, as others stated already, I have somewhat of a justification for my pessimism because some Modules took forever to release and the Steam version of Cold War was delayed many months.
But to be sure, I am very much hoping for a on-time release for BN. I am not very interested in that particular CM iteration but bringing out BN on time means that the other games will probably release in the respective months as well.
I also don't want to disrespect the hard work Battlefront are obviously doing and on how many stuff they work simultaneously. But I do share @Darren1989's urge to see those games released on Steam since they will have much better regional prices and maybe even an early sale and so I don't have to spent 100 euros (2 or even 3 weeks of food for me) on a Fortress Italy Complete Bundle.

When the Market Garden module gets released I will be releasing officially the Combat Mission Tactical Problems Blog (link).
It has been up for some time as I have been slowly adding content. Eventually I will have practice scenarios that will be targeted towards practicing and experimenting with different tactical concepts. The first scenarios are completed and tested, only waiting for the module to release and for me to finish the content necessary for their completion. These problems will be progressive, meaning that you will start with small units (squads and tank sections) and then build to full company (+) combat teams.
The tactical concepts and procedures will get more complicated as you progress. I will add to this content as I get the time and motivation.
I thought a little sneak peek, now that Market Garden preorders are active, was in order. Feel free to look around and comment, either on the blog or in this thread if you have any questions or if you see any errors or issues.
If any of this information helps your CM play, in any of the different CM games (the concepts will be similar from game to game) please drop in and let me know.
Here is the overview post from the Combat Mission Tactical Problems Blog:

Yes. I was talking about trees (in game) in standard terrain. As opposed to woodland (or "Forest" as it is misnomered by BFC).
I did try to find a picture of a Rhino taking out a tree in Normandy but couldn't find one.
Meanwhile... "Knock down a tree? Clear off, I'm too busy being cute". 
 

Please don't tempt fate! They will be accurate within ~5 years!

One of my ongoing side projects (aimed, mostly, at the new influx of Steam Players) is to host an 'All in One' for every CM game here.
This is my initial effort for CMBN & its primary feature is a large collection of weathered vehicle & guns mods (almost entirely by @Aristoteles & @umlaut). It also features terrain mods by @SeinfeldRules, @Falaise & @patboy. UI mods by @Juju, @Marco Bergman& @Mord alongside loading screens by @umlaut. Infantry mods by Vincenzo21, @Damian45, @Vein, Jacquinot, @EZ, @mjkerner,  @Jorge MC, @nik mond& @Aristoteles. Building mods by @Tanks a Lot & @Juju as well as the ME effects package, ME soundscape, subdued @Taranis& HQS voices plus many others.
It has integrated & default early summer & early autumn (using the [holland] tag) options as well as a couple of zip files which can activate a late autumn & late summer look.
Additionally it comes with a vast quantity of content (hundreds of scenarios, scores of maps & 20 odd campaigns).
Here's a taster of some of what you can expect...
 







Here's the link for the CMBN 'All in One'...
https://www.mediafire.com/file/bplqhvfkl4da5pq/CMBN_Initial_%27All_in_One%27.7z/file

I recently put up an "all in one" modpack which includes the @Kieme(ITA) HD mods...
 

When they shoot the heil out of you.
They built this one to standards.
 

Looks like 2022 can be a very good year, Thanks for the bones Steve
I saw nothing about the upcoming Cold War module but maybe that CM family have a new tradition, it will be announced at the same time it's ready for preorders!
Free Engine 5 upgrade is a nice surprise as well.

Buy it from Battlefront and add it to your steam library via Slitherine/MatrixGames. That way you have both options, steam and non-steam installation.

Been lurking for a while and decided to sign up for the forums and hopefully add to the discussion since I'm all hyped up for CM:CW!
I was browsing the Googles and found this bibliography file of 10 Cold War related books and figured I should share. I believe almost all of these have already been mentioned, but I like the brief description for each book. 
I'd like to make it clear that I did not make this list - I'm just sharing (and formatted and edited it a tiny bit to make it easier to read!).
https://img.lib.msu.edu/general/events/contest/2006/2006GrevstadBib.pdf  written by Ted Grevstad-Nordbrock
For those who don't want to click away: copy/paste below the break - book names are in bold, author names in italics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Ten Literary Accounts of a War that Was Never Fought”
Ted Grevstad-Nordbrock
Bibliography List:
- World War 3. Bidwell, Sheldon, ed. (1978).
Though non-fictional, Sheldon's work takes on an air of fiction when it hypothesizes about how a third world war in Europe might realistically start, and how it would play out. Like other books in this collection, slogging but indecisive conventional warfare inevitably leads to the use of nuclear weapons.
- Red Storm Rising. Clancy, Tom. (1986).
Clancy is, of course, the best-known author of the group included here. This work, one of his earliest, describes a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict on land and on the seas.
- Armor at Fulda Gap: A Visual Novel of the War of Tomorrow. Cook, J. L. (1990).
Cook's illustrated work is an unusual mix of fact and fiction-of real-world armaments that would have been used to fight a third world war as well as fantastic imaginings of what the near future might hold. The title of the book makes reference to two common themes in the theory and literature describing a NATO-Warsaw Pact confrontation in Europe: the Fulda Gap, a historical passage-a "gap" in the otherwise rough terrain-from eastern Europe to the west, named after the German city; and armor, the tanks and mechanized vehicles that would contend for this strategic region.
- Team Yankee. Coyle, Harold. (1987).
This best-selling work intimately chronicles the efforts of an American tank platoon in defending a small swath of West Germany during a Warsaw Pact invasion. The story is based on the Hackett's The Third World War: August 1985, which Coyle acknowledges in his introduction.
- The Third World War: August 1985. Hackett, John, General Sir. (1978). 
This influential account of World War III is told by a British general. The illustrated edition features images of the battles, including the two terminal moments of the short war: nuclear strikes on Birmingham, England and Minsk.
- The Third World War: The Untold Story. Hackett, John, General Sir. (1982).
 Hackett's follow-up fleshes out and expands the narrative begun in "August 1985."
- First Clash: Combat Close-Up in World War Three. Macksey, Kenneth (1984)
First Clash offers a Canadian take on NATO's efforts to repulse the Red Army during its invasion of West Germany. That this fiction is based in fact is emphasized through the use of annotated maps, images, and text boxes that contain discursive notes on tactics, armament, military organization, etc.
- The War That Never Was. Palmer, Michael A. (1994).
Written after the Cold War ended, this book describes World War III on a global scale (a war that "never was"), as told by a fictional Russian character to his old enemy and new ally: an American.
- Red Army. Peters, Ralph. (1989).
Peters's book is unique in that it tells the story of a conflict in Europe from the perspective of soldiers in the Red Army. This is perhaps one of the best written of the books of this genre.
- Red Thrust. Zaloga, S. J. (1989). 
Though no less fictional than any of the other works included here, Zaloga's text reads almost like a casebook. He offers a series of hypothetical NATO-Warsaw Pact battle scenarios in Western Europe, each with an accompanying postmortem: tactical strengths, weaknesses, and what might have been done by military leaders to affect a different outcome.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope this helps some, and also thanks for all of the recommendations so far. I currently have a few of these on the way!
-RT

No and in reality I assume they wouldn't hold back.  Not much sense holding onto ammo if the enemy aircraft is attacking your troops.  The stinger dudes on the other hand... volley firing off your entire ammo load for one aircraft is pretty excessive.  There are a number of things you can do to control their access to ammo and how many crews you have positioned to fire.  It's good practice to review everything you have and build a plan as to how to utilize those assets.  The US campaign has at least one battle that is a couple hours long and the soviets have significant air assets.  First time I played it I hadn't really experienced it yet.  I think I was out of AA within 15 minutes.  The rest of the battle was not fun.  😜 

Dragons in the dark

Here is a grenade exploding literally right in a dude's face.
 

Grunt - A Scout Team Dismounts


Armored Cav 113 Tucking Away From Soviet CAS

The Most Dangerous PRC on the Battlefield - Armored Cav RTO


Overwatch - Armored Cav Hammerhead

June 2, 1979, 0613 hours, Rulfenrod, West Germany
Remnants of a US mechanized infantry company push to establish a hasty defense as a bloodied armored cavalry troop withdraws through their line.  Opposite of them, a combined Soviet forward patrol and vanguard battalion rally to maintain their momentum and pursue the battle in depth.

Eyes of the Forward Patrol - Route Reconnaissance North of Rulfenrod


Ivan - Providing Security


Forward Patrol Light Armor Exploiting a Dried Creekbed


Moving to Contact - Soviet Recon Bringing Extra Ass

And unlike most units it's best to NOT load em up with spare missiles as they will fire the lot very quickly, and then you are helpless.