General discussion - Talonsoft West Front question

[Vacillator]

I could possibly have tried another forum but everyone here is so helpful, so...

Can anyone remember a campaign for Talonsoft's West Front (now under the John Tiller Campaign series name of course) based on the impossible task faced by 12th SS in Normandy?  From memory it was produced by someone in Canada, and had at least 15 scenarios, but was unfinished when I last downloaded it.  It was a memorable experience, with the sense of impending doom from the likes of naval artillery, air power and massed armour.  I've looked for it but couldn't find it, although I did find downloadable scenarios at The Blitz website, where I think @IanL moderates. 

Rather annoyingly I think I have it on an old internal hard drive which sadly is lacking the attached PC to read it - I suppose a cable of some sort might help.

Anyway, thanks for any help with what used to be my favourite game series - not any more of course!  Which could perhaps suggest I forget about the above and get on with CMBN instead

[A Canadian Cat]

I do help moderate over at the blitz but only the CM forums. I don't know anything about John Tiller games. I hope some one helps you out.

As for reading your lonely HD you can get a universal adaptor for just these occasions it lets you hook up a bare drive to a USB port so you can get the data off. I have one in my filing cabinet ready to go. Sadly that doesn't help you but  you can buy your own for a reasonable price

https://www.amazon.ca/NewerTech-Universal-Drive-Adapter-Bare/dp/B07D6X9CC1

[Lucky_Strike]

10 hours ago, Vacilllator said:

I could possibly have tried another forum but everyone here is so helpful, so...

Can anyone remember a campaign for Talonsoft's West Front (now under the John Tiller Campaign series name of course) based on the impossible task faced by 12th SS in Normandy?  From memory it was produced by someone in Canada, and had at least 15 scenarios, but was unfinished when I last downloaded it.  It was a memorable experience, with the sense of impending doom from the likes of naval artillery, air power and massed armour.  I've looked for it but couldn't find it, although I did find downloadable scenarios at The Blitz website, where I think @IanL moderates. 

Rather annoyingly I think I have it on an old internal hard drive which sadly is lacking the attached PC to read it - I suppose a cable of some sort might help.

Anyway, thanks for any help with what used to be my favourite game series - not any more of course!  Which could perhaps suggest I forget about the above and get on with CMBN instead

I have a copy of a version of it, not sure how complete it is or what version it is. Long time since I touched West Front, one of my discarded play things on the way to CM.

I actually have a whole bunch of scenarios, campaigns, mods and data for WF and EF which I can bundle up if you want to browse through some ancient history, not sure what most of it actually is as it's so long since I looked at it, let alone played either. Anyway you're welcome to any of it that you might find useful.

[Vacillator]

@IanL thanks, I'll look at getting a cable.

@Lucky Strike thanks also - have DM'd you (possibly twice, sorry).  Agreed, it may be so ancient that my memory of it is better than the reality.

Cheers!

[Thewood1]

Try the Matrix forums.  There is still some support for the descendants of the Talonsoft series.  btw, this should probably be in the real General Discussion forum, not the Combat Mission - General Discussion forum.

[Vacillator]

2 minutes ago, Thewood1 said:

Try the Matrix forums.  There is still some support for the descendants of the Talonsoft series.  btw, this should probably be in the real General Discussion forum, not the Combat Mission - General Discussion forum.

Thanks - I have an offer of help from Lucky_Strike so I may be okay.  You make a good point about the real General Discussion forum, apologies for my bad

[landser]

On 9/12/2020 at 1:40 PM, Vacilllator said:

 

  From memory it was produced by someone in Canada

 

IIRC, that was a fellow called tankerace.

[Vacillator]

1 minute ago, landser said:

IIRC, that was a fellow called tankerace.

Sadly my weary brain no longer has that information .  If I find out, I'll post here (albeit in the wrong forum).

[Lucky_Strike]

2 hours ago, Vacilllator said:

Thanks - I have an offer of help from Lucky_Strike so I may be okay.  You make a good point about the real General Discussion forum, apologies for my bad

On its way to you now - enjoy!

[Vacillator]

20 minutes ago, Lucky_Strike said:

On its way to you now - enjoy!

 

Okay so with many thanks to @Lucky Strike I have the campaign and the first 6 scenarios which will be enough to see if it still gets me excited.  Also in the properties of the read me file I found the author name James Govostes at J&G Associates.  A search for him showed me that I'm not the first to look:

http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/showthread.php?tid=73722

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=975126&mpage=1&key=&#2014997

Seems the last version anyone had has all of 23 scenarios but still unfinished and it sounds like Jim had moved on to other things. 

Further searching has revealed he is on LinkedIn... the plot thickens, a contact might be possible but perhaps I'll try the campaign again first.

[StieliAlpha]

On 9/14/2020 at 4:50 PM, Vacilllator said:

 

Okay so with many thanks to @Lucky Strike I have the campaign and the first 6 scenarios which will be enough to see if it still gets me excited...

That will be interesting to hear. I usually find it quite difficult to come back to old games. Though I just recently went a long way to get my old „Tin Soldiers: Julius Ceasar“ back. But that‘s a different story...

[Vacillator]

34 minutes ago, StieliAlpha said:

That will be interesting to hear. I usually find it quite difficult to come back to old games. Though I just recently went a long way to get my old „Tin Soldiers: Julius Ceasar“ back. But that‘s a different story...

Agreed, me too but West Front and East Front 2 used to be my favourites so we'll see.  Haven't tried Tin Soldiers, seems to be another Matrix Games offering these days (which is of course fine by me)?

[Anson Pelmet]

I used to play a lot of East Front 2 and recall a self-generating campaign mode, in which you could buy a core force (including yourself in a kubelwagen) and then you'd be plunged into a randomly-chosen battle, and given a few non-core forces to play with too, and you had to fight that battle. And the interesting thing was that sometimes you had to attack and the defending force would be too strong, and you had to realise that and mimimise your losses, and opt for a 'defeat', and then what was left of your core unit would be transported to the next randomly-chosen battle. Between battles you'd be awarded some replacement points, which could be used to buy new units for your core, or reinforce existing units in the core. Units would start off as 'green' or 'regular' but as they got more combat experience their experience level and effectiveness would increase, so long as they didn't get too denuded in battle.  If you lost too many battles (2 or 3 in a row) you'd get a notice relieving you of your command and ordering you to report to the Gestapo, or something like that. Or if your commander unit (the name of which you could choose) was killed in action, the campaign automatically ended. I wonder if Combat Mission could one day have such a function. I remember it keeping me amused over 10-15 battles before my luck ran out... 

[Vacillator]

2 hours ago, Anson Pelmet said:

I used to play a lot of East Front 2 and recall a self-generating campaign mode

Yes it has a lot of good features and for a hex-based game was visually okay back in its early days.  UI is rather clunky but that's not so unusual.