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CMFB Campaign: Fields of Tears

Fields of Tears is a interactive CMFB Campaign that picks up where my CMBN Campaign: In the Fields Where the Poppies Grow leaves off and follows the actions of Captain Charles Stevens and A Company, 31st Tank Battalion, 7th Armored Division, around St. Vith, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.

It requires the latest version of CMFB and all immersion mods needed are in the download. They are tagged to this campaign only.

It is playable from the Blue Side only.

The campaign is a story driven campaign like "Poppies" where you must keep Stevens and other important personnel alive and still complete the mission objectives to advance in the campaign. The storyline is in the Designer Notes for each mission.

The campaign begins with a mission in Germany and then continues after the Germans launch their Ardennes offensive Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein. Elements of the 7th Armored Division, the 31st Tank Battalion, including Captain Stevens and A Company are sent to the St. Vith area where they are to make contact and destroy the enemy forces advancing on the town.

The campaign is based loosely on historical facts.

Core Units:

A Co HQ:

Capt. C. Stevens (Snake Eye) (CO)
1st Lt. P. Jarrett (Hammer)
2nd Lt. R. Vanicor (Dancer)

1st Platoon:

WO C. Carlisle (Cowboy)
SSgt B. Hash (Machine)
Sgt. E. Edmond (Easy)
Sgt. M. Newby (Dinosaur)
Sgt. J. Smith (Cleaner)

2nd Platoon:

WO J. Courville (Pappy)
SSgt. R. Davis (Uptight)
Sgt. B. Tuck (Preacher)
Sgt. K. Hooper (Jester)
Sgt. D. Gray ( Slick)

3rd Platoon:

WO J. Royce (Southpaw)
SSgt. C. Honeycutt (Cool Hand)
Sgt. W. Morris (Hook)
Sgt. S. Gappa (Cruiser)
Sgt. D. Burlyson (Joker)

B Company:

3x Platoons

31st Tank Battalion HQ:

Lt. Col. R. Erlenbusch
Maj. W. Beatty
1st Lt. Minvielle

CCB 7th Armored Division:

Brig. General B. Clarke

1x Platoon (Recon)

Non Core Units:

334th Infantry Regiment
D Company

38th Armored Infantry Battalion
A Company
B Company
D Company

423rd Infantry Regiment
F Company

168th Engineer Battalion
A Company

23rd Armored Infantry Battalion
HQ Company
B Company

87th Cavalry Recon Squadron
Troop B

16th Field Artillery
4 x 105mm Howitzers

203rd AAA Battalion
1 x Platoon

275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion
4 x 105mm Howitzers

German Forces:

13th Fallschirmjager Regiment

193rd Volksgrenadier Regiment

16th Panzer Regiment

146th Artillery Regiment

Fuhrer Begleit Brigade

Grenadier Regiment 294

Artillery Regiment 1818

190th Regiment 60th Volksgrenadier

14th Fallschirmjager Regiment

116th Panzer Division

19th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment

20th SS Panzer Grenadier Regiment

1 Fuhrer Begleit Brigade Panzergrenadier Battalion

Campaign Specifics:

Campaign Tree:

1. Antons Bridge ( Allied Attack)
2. First Contact (Meeting Engagement)
3. Holding the Line (Axis Attack)
4. Something Wicked This Way Comes (Allied Probe)
5. Counterattack at Hunnigen (Allied Attack)
6. The II SS Panzer Corps Strikes (Axis Attack)

Maps:

The first battle, Antons Bridge, is an original map by me.

The other maps in the campaign are from the excellent master maps that came with the game. I reworked them extensively to achieve the immersion I was after for the campaign.

Mods: (All credit goes to the authors of the mods)

US and German Snowy Uniforms and Gear by Ithikial.
King Tiger Mod by PzPJ
American Sherman Pack and Gear by Aris
Snowy US Vehicles by Umlaut
Mords US Portraits by Mord (modified by me with the unit insignias used in the campaign.)
Various winter fortifications from the Winter Mod by the Winter Mod Team
Assorted damaged vehicle textures by me

Special Note: I used Worghern Blitzkrieg Environment : CMFB 2.0 while designing the campaign which is not included in the download. I highly recommend adding this as the campaign was designed and modified using these textures as well as the Winter Mod for CMFB which will work seamlessly with Worgherns mod.. While it can be played without these I highly recommend using them as the tags in the campaign will pick them up.

Here is the link to download Worghern Blitzkrieg Environment : CMFB. http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=3984

Here is the link to download Kohlenklau’s Winter Mod for Final Blitzkrieg. http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=3991&

Also Umlauts Snowy German Vehicle mods are not included but highly recommended.

Once again to follow the storyline read the Designers Notes.

I hope it proves to be enjoyable.

Here is the link to download:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/v0kdb0qhc34iti5/CMFB Fields of Tears.zip?dl=0

Michael
(dragonwynn)

 

 

 

Edited by dragonwynn
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Wow Michael... how do you manage to produce so many high quality campaigns so relatively quickly.  Very impressed.

Haven't been able to get to your campaigns as quickly as hoped.  Am starting a CMBB (CM1) tournament game on a 3Km x 3Km map with a Regiment+ on each side and a couple companies of armor plus all sorts of AC's and transports.  Maybe the last hurrah for CM1, so didn't want to miss this final Ride of The Valkyries...

Actually... if anyone is interested check out WeBOB:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/webandofbrothers/invitiation-to-participate-in-bb13-round-4-t19054.html

 

Edited by Erwin
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54 minutes ago, Erwin said:

Downloaded your campaign folder, but when I try to copy the .cam file I get a shortcut to the campaign, not the campaign itself.  ???

The shortcut points to Users\Mike Jones\Documents\Battlefront etc...

I must of made a clicky error. Try this link to the actual .cam file lol.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbm6nm8ekz3a3f6/Fields of Tears.cam?dl=0

Place in the campaign folder. Let me know of any issues. I will correct the error in my dropbox when I get time.

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Yes, I fired it up and the new .cam d/l is good.  Looks like another great campaign. 

You have a talent for good description and "setting a scene".  Your designer notes read like a Tom Clancy book based around a WW2 battle. 

However, I would have thought they would have at least held, if not actually shot, the German kid tho'  Can't believe they would let him go and warn the German FJ after your description of how many men Capt Stevens has already lost.

One problem with all the new mods is that if one already has a lot of the mods already in place, there will be a lot of duplication which may a) slow down loading and b) may lead to conflicts. 

(My Vin's animated text is out of date and had to be removed.  What is the latest Vin's animated strings text version file for CMFB btw?  Mine is dated April 23, 2016.)

 

 

 

Edited by Erwin
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Although I'm still struggling with "In the Fields Where the Poppies Grow"; I have downloaded this, and taken a quick peek. Thanks for putting the Mod pack and the tags together. I really appreciate people who go to the time and effort to do that. Although, I do have to hold my hands up and say, that I have removed the music mod, I can't send my boys into the walds of Germany or the forests of Belgium without Count Basie's "Jumping at the Woodside".

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If you are new to the game system, you may want to get good at scenarios first. 

However, Campaigns are really the best way to enjoy CM games imo.  The best campaigns require a player to practice force and ammo preservation over numerous missions and you often can experience branching "storylines" depending on your success/failure at a mission. 

 

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Thanks guys for giving it a try. I tend to make my campaigns to be a bit aggravating but I do try and replicate the combat conditions as accuratly as possible. Its easy to design a campaign to be a walkover but its challenging to create one that challenges the player. Hopefully I have achieved a good balance though the mission Something Wicked This Way Comes may prove to be a cusser lol.

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On 12/6/2017 at 6:58 PM, dragonwynn said:

Thanks guys for giving it a try. I tend to make my campaigns to be a bit aggravating but I do try and replicate the combat conditions as accuratly as possible. Its easy to design a campaign to be a walkover but its challenging to create one that challenges the player.

Well I can say with confidence that you have made a tough campaign. I've played all the missions but the very last one, and all of them gave me a run for my money. My biggest issue always came down to a time crunch.

I'm interested to know what others think of the first mission. For me, it felt a bit too difficult for what I viewed as a prequel/intro to the main campaign. There are a whole lot of Germans in that village. 

I think my favorite mission was the second one. Really good mix of attacking and defending, room to maneuver, and more than a few nail biting moments. 

Also a quick question on the modpack; where are the Mord portraits? You list them as being part of the modpack, but they aren't actually there. I figured it might just be a simple case of copy/pasting from previous campaigns mod lists but I thought I would ask anyways. 

All in all I think this is another great campaign! Its release was also very timely, and I'm glad that CMFB has gotten some more much needed community attention!

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Thanks for giving it a try IICptMillerII. Glad you found it enjoyable. I checked the mod folder and well go figure...I forgot to put Mords portraits in the folder lol. They only show up in the first mission. I wanted the unit portraits to have the correct unit symbols I had added but when I used the standard game portraits it seemed glitched and they would not show up correctly. So I used Mords which I added the unit symbols to in the first mission and the others showed up correctly in the following missions. I will add them into the mod pack when I get time. It was for immersion only so not a game breaker.

I tend to make my first missions a handful, Ive been beatup several times for this in other campaigns :P. That mission was ment to pull you into the storyline which you may or may not have followed if you just played through. Ill see what other players have to say about it and make some adjustments to lighten it up if needed. Thanks again for trying it.

Michael

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Ok correction. Mords portraits are not in this campaign. Due to the above mentioned glitch I had removed them at the last minute and forgot to change the campaign details.  It should show the standard CMFB portraits with the correct unit insignias. Let me know if it didnt. I like mords portraits and use them alot in my campaigns but for some reason they would showup in the first mission but the remaining missions would not show the correct unit insignias. Sorry for the confusion, thats what happens when you become senile....:angry:

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9 hours ago, dragonwynn said:

Ok correction. Mords portraits are not in this campaign.

Ahh ok. Doesn't take away from the experience at all. I was just curious if I was missing some parts from the modpack. Thanks for clearing that up.

10 hours ago, dragonwynn said:

I tend to make my first missions a handful, Ive been beatup several times for this in other campaigns :P. That mission was ment to pull you into the storyline which you may or may not have followed if you just played through. Ill see what other players have to say about it and make some adjustments to lighten it up if needed. Thanks again for trying it.

I definitely appreciate the narrative approach to the campaign. Especially when its all tied together in the final mission. I was just over eager to get to the snowy missions :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dragonwynn,

Always a pleasure to play your campaigns.  This one is no exception.  Thanks for your hard work.  It really shows. 

The first battle was no pushover.  The 334th suffered a bit as I was really worried about using all the core tank units in an aggressive fashion.  Turns out you have to in order to be successful.  I even had the LT COL and the Major manning machine guns in their halftracks. 

Cleaner's tank got knocked out by a panzerschrek, but there were no flames and the crew got out with only one casualty, the loader I think.  Then they got wounded some more when artillery dropped on the woods where they had run in a panic.  Easy managed to bog and then immobilize his tank in the woods in just the right position where he couldn't shoot at anything.  Jerk!!!

However, both are back in armored beasts for the second battle.  As I think I got lucky in the first battle, I'm really worried for the second as there are many more opportunities to lose core tank units.  Fielded for this battle are A Co HQ, 1st, and 2nd platoon.  Damn, I can feel the tension ratcheting up already and all I've done is the set-up. 

 

Heinrich505

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