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Best scenarios of the WWII CM2's


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I'll list the scenarios that I made! Nobody lists them among their 'favorites', but I am a bit biased towards them. They're my babies! Your own opinion of them may vary.

CM:Normandy - Kings in Retirement, A Delaying Action
CM:Fortress Italy - R2V Rive Ridge, R2V Two Crowns, R2V Pursuit Force.

Hmmm... I had made a scenario for CM:Final Blitzkrieg (the first scenario built for the title, actually) but it didn't survive to make it into the finished product. The scenario map's in among the QB maps, though. I really fell down on the job for CM:Red Thunder, nothing at all in there from me. I promise to make up for that in the module.

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3 hours ago, Commanderski said:

Within the past few months I acquired all of the WWII CM2's and bundles.

Which scenario's and campaigns are the most fun while still challenging?  I'm sure opinions may differ but I'm open to all recommendations.

There are so many................  But I'll mention one I just happened to re-visit lately.   CMRT Der Ring Der 5 Panzer Division.  It was made by @George MC.  The map is a work of art and is the size of a master map.   Anything by George MC or @Combatintman is quality work along with many other scenario designers.  If you haven't played Der Ring Der 5 Panzer Division, I recommend it.  :)    

Edit:  For campaigns CMRT KGr von Schroif is excellent.  It comes with tactical maps in a zip file so the player can print out the maps and use them for planning and SitMaps.  There is also a table displaying the unit, commanders and their soft factors.  A PDF file briefing handbook consisting of 133 pages comes with the campaign.  The PDF handbook contains a campaign flowchart, graphics, tables, symbol keys, historical information etc.  Very cool, detailed, immersive stuff with this one.  Also created by @George MC.      

The below link is for the campaign. 

https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-red-thunder/cm-red-thunder-campaigns/kampfgruppe-von-schroif-cmrt-campaign/

Edited by MOS:96B2P
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Ahhhh I could use a little bit more to go on if I were to tailor my own suggestions to your taste, but Blunting the Spear  in Red Thunder is the single most adventurous campaign I think I've played in CM but it's a bit daunting unless you're prepared to manage an entire battalion's worth of tanks and infantry. 

In Fortress Italy you should definitely play The Fleeting Moment because you'll never get a better chance to play around with the Italians, though it's a very challenging campaign and I have yet to beat it. You may want to grab the campaign unpacker in order to actually play through it because I found the 3rd mission in the campaign simply impossible to progress through as briefed. 

In Battle for Normandy it's a bit of a toss up with Scottish Corridor and Road to Nijmegan. Scottish Corridor is pretty reasonable to maybe even a bit easy as far as difficult goes, contingent upon learning how to walk the British Army's walk properly. It's a rather more doctrinal campaign like Blunting is. Road to Nijmegan is really varied and huge...and has outlets for you to proceed the campaign even if you get bogged down on a mission because the designers knew it had to be a challenging campaign since Market Garden failed in real life. 

 

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12 hours ago, MikeyD said:

I'll list the scenarios that I made! Nobody lists them among their 'favorites', but I am a bit biased towards them. They're my babies! Your own opinion of them may vary.

CM:Normandy - Kings in Retirement, A Delaying Action
CM:Fortress Italy - R2V Rive Ridge, R2V Two Crowns, R2V Pursuit Force.

Hmmm... I had made a scenario for CM:Final Blitzkrieg (the first scenario built for the title, actually) but it didn't survive to make it into the finished product. The scenario map's in among the QB maps, though. I really fell down on the job for CM:Red Thunder, nothing at all in there from me. I promise to make up for that in the module.

I am going through the R2V battles and about to start your Pursuit Force, in setup phase just trying to formulate my plan.  I can say I very much don't trust that hill on back left corner.  Nor that tree line on the back right.  Good cover for a little while before the roman ruins except for spots where the back left hill can be seen.  Interesting tactical problem once I leave my concealed setup area.  I would say "thanks" but I might end with my force smashed, so I think I'll wait until I finish.  😊

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I have always started (in most warfare) with smaller scenarios and worked my way up.

I like smaller scenarios.  Each decision seems much more critical.  The loss of a squad to a round of canister is far more painful than when there are a few companies on the field.

I appreciate the fine work of all scenario designers.  Although I have never built any scenarios myself in any game (except for testing), I realize that good scenarios require historic knowledge, technical expertise with tools, imagination/creativity,  visualizing, and extensive testing always with an eye to how the player might approach it.

Beyond the developers, you guys are the heroes that have made CM the success it is today!

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On 1/3/2020 at 2:06 AM, MikeyD said:

I'll list the scenarios that I made! Nobody lists them among their 'favorites', but I am a bit biased towards them. They're my babies! Your own opinion of them may vary.

CM:Normandy - Kings in Retirement, A Delaying Action
CM:Fortress Italy - R2V Rive Ridge, R2V Two Crowns, R2V Pursuit Force.

Hmmm... I had made a scenario for CM:Final Blitzkrieg (the first scenario built for the title, actually) but it didn't survive to make it into the finished product. The scenario map's in among the QB maps, though. I really fell down on the job for CM:Red Thunder, nothing at all in there from me. I promise to make up for that in the module.

Kings in Retirement and A Delaying Action were among the first scenarios I played when CM:BN was fresh out of the oven. I recall really enjoying both.

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There are many good scenarios
but precisely Bulletpoint which gives you advice just above makes at least 2 super
like the Contact Front with its magnificent and immersive map without shark teeth (zigzag route)
or the very boring (I can't get a satisfactory result) Pierrefitte en Cinglais with his multiple AI plan

Edited by Falaise
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I'm looking for some Battalion sized engagements. It's hard to do in QB since there are so few Huge maps, I feel like I've played each of them a hundred times. The Large maps end up disrupting the unit density, and without reinforcements it's hard to get everything moving smoothly without a giant mess of units at the start line.

I think I read that map size is limited by the engine, but I hope that the open terrain and large engagement ranges of the modern titles inspire some changes to that.

For WW2 scenarios, some maps are large enough. It's just tricky because without reinforcements everything is on the map at once, which is not ideal.

me07LaA.png

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16 hours ago, Falaise said:

There are many good scenarios
but precisely Bulletpoint which gives you advice just above makes at least 2 super
like the Contact Front with its magnificent and immersive map without shark teeth (zigzag route)
or the very boring (I can't get a satisfactory result) Pierrefitte en Cinglais with his multiple AI plan

I'm happy you liked Contact Front.

Did you find Pierrefitte-en-Cinglais too difficult, or was there another reason you found it boring?

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just difficult, i think this is one of the mission combat scenarios i have the most played. The best I got is a minor victory !!!
I like it.
 I know the place well, almost at the level of the field where the Americans are deployed, in the real world when I was a teenager, I found a German helmet !!!
it's the British who fought there

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19 hours ago, DougPhresh said:

I'm looking for some Battalion sized engagements. It's hard to do in QB since there are so few Huge maps, I feel like I've played each of them a hundred times. The Large maps end up disrupting the unit density, and without reinforcements it's hard to get everything moving smoothly without a giant mess of units at the start line.

I think I read that map size is limited by the engine, but I hope that the open terrain and large engagement ranges of the modern titles inspire some changes to that.

For WW2 scenarios, some maps are large enough. It's just tricky because without reinforcements everything is on the map at once, which is not ideal.

me07LaA.png

This is an excellent table Doug. Note the very wide margins for German and Russian defensive fronts...much of this was due to the vast nature of the East which required everyone to fight more or less in strongpoint style rather than as a continuous frontline. Conventional trench lines fronts did exist near places like Leningrad though because of the static fighting and because the forests were so thick individual outposts would simply be overwhelmed if their flanks weren't guarded.

The only thing missing from that chart is Regimental frontage, which is probably missing because of the tendency of Regiment-size formations (and their often misunderstood sibling the "Brigade") to vary more extremely than the others. Regiments were probably the most wieldy formation size that were heavily armed enough to not be irrelevant in large battles, which is probably why it was hard for the author to parse their usual frontline in any Army... they might be assigned the frontage of a Company one day or a Division the next. 

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5 hours ago, Falaise said:


it's the British who fought there

Yes, if I remember from researching for the scenario, it was the XXX Corps. The only reason it's US troops in my scenario is because I didn't have the Commonwealth expansion at the time.

I have been working a bit to redesign the misson, including changing the church and redoing all the elevations, turning down the difficulty a bit, etc. And also to make it a CW mission. But I haven't found the time to continue.

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4 hours ago, SimpleSimon said:

the only thing missing from that chart is Regimental frontage, which is probably missing because of the tendency of Regiment-size formations (and their often misunderstood sibling the "Brigade") to vary more extremely than the others.

It's funny that you should mention that because I served in a Commonwealth military and it seems totally reasonable to be a member of a Regiment and assigned to a Brigade. I have no idea what everyone else is doing. My Old Man was a LCol and had a member of the Royal Family present new colours to the Regiment with Battle Honours dating to 1885, I can't imagine the Brigade having that stature.

Brigade-Level Combat Mission would be incredible but without some kind of AI like Command Ops 2 and huge maps, totally unplayable. Maybe CM 3.

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4 hours ago, Bulletpoint said:

I have been working a bit to redesign the misson, including changing the church and redoing all the elevations, turning down the difficulty a bit, etc. And also to make it a CW mission. But I haven't found the time to continue.

The place has changed a lot in the last few years.
Your map is closer to the Pierrefitte of 1944 than the one you can find on google map, it is remarkable.
the wall around the cemetery disappeared in the late 90s and early 2000s.
with the British it would be even more complicated !!
I think just by removing some of the tetraedes
I'm going to try
an interesting link for pre-war visuals

http://villesducalvados.free.fr/01pierrefitteencinglais.htm

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8 minutes ago, Falaise said:

The place has changed a lot in the last few years.
Your map is closer to the Pierrefitte of 1944 than the one you can find on google map, it is remarkable.
the wall around the cemetery disappeared in the late 90s and early 2000s.

That is because I have made the map by recreating a wartime air recon photo - and I spent a LOT of time placing every single tree :) 

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SUPERBE Stephane, je pense même m'inscrire,car il  y a des vues fabuleuses  du débarquement, et plus loin sans être gênés par les autoroutes actuelles, de plus je peus également voir mon ancien village â Strass.! 😉

Edited by 3j2m7
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10 hours ago, Falaise said:

200106110636697063.jpg

There there is all France in photo between 1947 and 1960. https://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/donnees/photographies-aeriennes-1950-1965
In some towns, looking closely, we can still see armored wrecks in the fields, boats on the beaches and the temporary aerodrome !!!

Merci, I had not seen that photo. But here is the photo I used:

 

D-LYHQGXYAYLOaX.jpg

 

I also used old photographs to get some details right. For example, in some of the first versions, this house had three stories, but I realised it had only two:

pierrefitteencinglais8.jpg

 

 

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