Best Battlefront Game for Smaller, focused battles...

[John Kettler]

mythtrip,

Welcome aboard!

In terms of content, this available gaming options for a particular title (and not owning CMFI, CMRT or CMSF in any form), would say the hands down best logical choice would be the CMBN Big Bundle. Here's what it costs (substantially discounted presently) and contains. On a side note, somehow I missed Battle Pack 1! Thought I had everything ever released for CMBN. If you want a small, tightly focused battle in CMBN, and it's in the base game, play 18 Platoon. It'll give you all you can handle. Played British vs AI, and despite doing everything tactically useful I could come up with, came back with my platoon so thoroughly shot up it's debatable whether or no I still had a command.

https://www.battlefront.com/battle-for-normandy/cmbn-big-bundle/

On the other end of the tech spectrum is CMBS, where the forces tend to be small indeed, the result of smaller than WW II squads typically (because of lower IFV troop capacity) and high point costs for modern weaponry, including body armor making the men harder to incapacitate or kill, especially against cartridges far weaker than full rifle cartridges typical of WW III.The US iconifies this situation, where in all but defined scenarios, you will seldom find a fleshed out American force  and it will likely have poorer quality troops than you'd expect, simply to have sufficient troops with which to fight. All that tech costs money (points), and you find you can't afford Paladins but have to make do with mortars. Drones are great but can and do come to bad ends (a less common Russian problem), and precision and near-precision guided munitions provide great capability but drive up costs, too. Can't say much about CMFB, having barely started to play ot before an old head injury's donwnstreameffects KOed my ability to play any CM at all for about a year now.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

[Bud Backer]

I find doing a decision matrix is the easiest and most successful way to make a decision, as all games have small to huge battles possible.

I think the key thing is to decide what period ( WW2 or Modern) interests you the most. 

if Modern, then CMSF2 or CMBS are your options.

CMSF2 has more nations and more variety of equipment, but is focused more on a counter-insurgency/asymmetric sort of warfare where one side typically has a lot poorer equipment than the other, but has more numbers and has to use different tactics than a stand up fight. There are no seasons here, it’s basically dry and hot.

CMBS has more direct head to head combat, with forces that still have to adjust for each other’s advantages but would be largely conventional combat and tactics. There are no seasons here, it’s basically midsummer.

 

If you prefer WW2, then the choices are going to first be broken down by front - East or West

If East, then CMRT is your only option, covering June 1944-May1945 (once the latest module releases). Once the module releases you will have all four seasons here.
 

If West, then CMBN, CMFB, CMFI are your options.

CMBN runs from June 1944 to Sept 1944. If Normandy, Cobra and Market Garden are your thing, this is your game. No winter here.

CMFB Runs from October 1944 to January 1945 (eventually to be extended to May 1945). Winter is possible here as is autumn and eventually spring. If Bulge, Aachen, and eventually pushing into the Ruhr etc are what interests you, this is your game. 

CMFI runs from July 1943 to May 1945. Thus it has the largest variation in time period. It has a huge variety of forces and terrain possibilities, all four seasons can be played here. 
 

If Western front stuff is your thing, but you’re undecided what place and period, I’d seriously look at CMFI. 

Edited August 25, 2020 by Bud Backer

[MikeyD]

A handy method of making a decision is to have a friend make the decision for you. If you're disappointed in his choice that means you really wanted the other title all along 

[Pablius]

I don't own any of the WWII titles so I can't comment with any detail about those, but my guess is that CMBS have more variables to play with regardless of the size of the scenarios, given the modern technologies simulated (night vision, thermals, various drones, active defense systems on some vehicles, more guided weapons to go around, etc.), otherwise CMSF2 with all its modules provides a big array of different formations, but the cost is higher with all the bundles

It's true that CMBS is more unforgiving, after playing it for a while going back to CMSF2 feels much less lethal, at least playing blue forces against lesser quality red forces

If I have to pick one I would go with CMBS just for the newer stuff, you can still kind of simulate asymmetric (or more precisely somewhat less lethal) warfare by setting up a scenario that way, just not with unconventional forces like in CMSF2

If newer stuff is preferred then pick up CMBS, but if more stuff readily available is a priority and cost is not a problem, then go with CMSF2 

 

 

[Artkin]

CMBS hype. Give us abrams without tusk kit, marines, and vdv!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[scarletto]

Play every demo available, they have small scenarios, see what one you like most, then go for that one. Then buy the rest as time and money allow.

[Artkin]

definitely buy the rest, and definitely convert the maps over as you get the new titles. I have a tutorial!

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by Artkin