CM game recommendation?

[HW Plainview]

First time posting since CM: Afrika Corps. I was kind of turned of by the modern combat approach (and pricing) but now I see the Battlefront store has a nice library. I was thinking about picking up a WWII Era Combat Mission game. Any recommendations?

 

I was thinking about Red Thunder because it has quite a few units I enjoy and frankly I'm not so interested in the Italian campaign or playing in Normandy again. Final Blitz is coming out but I don't much enjoy super late period WWII as the war was already over basically. 

 

But hey, I'm open to suggestions! Maybe one game has better features than the other? Please help me decide  

 

Side question: Why does battlefront only focus on 1943+?? It seems like 1939-1942 has been completely ignored in the new Combat Mission games. 

[sburke]

umm I think you kind of answered your own question.  CMRT is the safest from the point of view of your interests excepting it is also late war.

The reason for focus seems predominantly financial.  Those are what sell in our niche community.

Edited February 4, 2016 by sburke

[MikeyD]

BFC has worked overtime (quite literally) to keep the game engine up-to-date across its active titles. So 'feature differences' aren't that significant between title. CMRT and Bulge have tank riders. CMBS has amphibious vehicles and guided missiles. CMFB and CMFI module have winter snow. Really, its best not to be too analytical making your choice. You're not choosing between artificial heart designs, just between wargames. Pick something you'll enjoy playing! The pressure's off, nobody's life is at stake, except for your poor doomed pixeltruppen.  ,

Edited February 4, 2016 by MikeyD

[Heirloom_Tomato]

I will make the recommendation to at least download the CMFI demo.  I was not too interested in Italy either and yet it seems to be the most fun.  The variety of equipment in CMFI + Gustav Line module is huge and with the Gothic Line module on its way soon, CMFI will be very interesting indeed.

[HW Plainview]

Cool! Thanks for the replies

 

Yea I just downloaded the Red Thunder demo yesterday (took like, 6 hours for some reason). I didn't see the CM:FI demo. I should check that out too. How's the multiplayer community? It is still pretty difficult to find opponents? I don't expect it to be like. StarCraft easy or something, just curious.

 

And it seems strange the Combat Mission fans wouldn't be interested in early war scenarios. There are so many interesting battles. Polish units, French units, earlier PII, PIII and PIVs. Half of the war is ignored and the only thing the Wehrmacht is doing is defending in their current library. I know there are attacking scenarios but late war units aren't built for the mobility that made the early German Panzer Groups famous. 

[domfluff]

For finding opponents, The Blitz and The Few Good Men are two of the more popular forums - to give you an idea, the Drums of War Tournament currently running on The Few Good Men has seventy players, so there are plenty of people around.

Multiplayer is well worth getting in to, but CM is very unforgiving.

I'm sure that players would be interested in early war scenarios (I would), but I also imagine there are significant financial concerns. If I had to speculate, I would guess that the rough model would be to iterate backwards. This would allow for maximum reuse of assets between titles, so that each game can improve on the last. CMFI already has most of the units that would be required for Tunisia 1943, for example,  but earlier in Africa would require significantly more vehicles, formations, etc. Jumping straight to 1940 or 1939 would be a much larger leap.

[Ts4EVER]

If you are new to the series I would recommend Normandy tbh, because the hedgerow terrain makes learning the basics of the game a lot easier in my experience. Italian terrain is much less "clear cut" by comparison and the whole southern Campaign feels more unforgiving in general. Can't comment on the Russian front, but I would suspect it is at least somewhat similar.

[lordhedgwich]

CMFI is the best in my opinion also CMFI with the Gustav line has wayyyyy more content than Red Thunder You would be missing out if you didnt get CMFI 

[Bud Backer]

I will make the recommendation to at least download the CMFI demo.  I was not too interested in Italy either and yet it seems to be the most fun.  The variety of equipment in CMFI + Gustav Line module is huge and with the Gothic Line module on its way soon, CMFI will be very interesting indeed.

I would agree with this. The game I was least excited to get, but turns out to be offering a huge variety of locales and equipment. As this came up in another thread I'll just post a link Here.

 

For finding opponents, The Blitz and The Few Good Men are two of the more popular forums - to give you an idea, the Drums of War Tournament currently running on The Few Good Men has seventy players, so there are plenty of people around.

Both those sites above are well recommended. I'm on FGM and don't think I can take advantage of a fraction of the number of possible opponents available. On the other hand, just by participating in this forum, I've met > 90% of my opponents here. 

Multiplayer is well worth getting in to, but CM is very unforgiving.

Multiplayer is indeed well worth playing. It's far more stimulating play than against the AI - as one would expect. Finding suitable opponents who complement your skill level is not hard too, on this forum and on FGM in my experience. The ones you really like become good repeat partners that you really look forward to playing. 

[Bud Backer]

I should point out that the demos are not necessarily updated to the latest version of the game - and the demos are made when the game is typically released, so today's CMFI demo likely does not have the full features of today's full CMFI game. Hence your experience will not be identical when making comparisons between CMRT and CMFI. 

I believe CMRT's demo is current. 

[Heirloom_Tomato]

If early war is your thing, CMFI is the only way to go.  It starts in July 1943 and with the Gustav Line module takes it out to May of 1944.  There is an upcoming module to take this game out to the end of the war and it will add a ton of new units and nationalities. Both CMBN and CMRT start in June 1944, so CMFI is the clear early war favourite. While there are no Panzer II's there is most definitely Panzer III's and IV's. 

As for multiplayer, I have had zero issues finding people to play right here on the forum.  I will also extend an invitation to play you a match in any of the CMX2 titles you choose to purchase.  Send me a pm once you have made your choice.

[MikeyD]

In CMFI Sicily basegame Sherman 75 is the "überweapon" early on, especially against the poor Italians, and fights on an even playing field against early PzIV. Then Tiger I arrives. Then Panther and Ferdinand show up in the module. Oh my, the tables have turned!   Italians have their tankettes and Semoventes plus the 'mighty mouse' of the game - the French R-35 firing canister rounds. That's fun to play with.