Fire and Rubble: What are you looking forward to the most?

[Bubba883XL]

the new terrain and weather, late war vehicles ...just the whole module..

[JM Stuff]

destructible buildings and walls street and environments ... different vehicles wreck !

 

 @wadepm"We of the forum will be an old man when we finally... but I we will enjoy it nonetheless..".

 

[waffelmann]

That this agonizing wait is over ...reminds me a bit of waiting at christmas for the presents when i was little child...

[Aragorn2002]

1 hour ago, waffelmann said:

That this agonizing wait is over ...reminds me a bit of waiting at christmas for the presents when i was little child...

BF has made us drink this cup to the bottom, that's for sure. Won't easily forget that. Well, perhaps the module will.

Edited February 12, 2021 by Aragorn2002

[Kevin2k]

On 2/6/2021 at 11:12 AM, Aragorn2002 said:

3. Cool and new variants of the Sd Kfz 251 and 234.

 

I checked the TO&E between the base game and the Module. And it seems the German half-track list of the module is a bit exaggerated, as most of them were already in the base game. I count three actual new ones: 

- PSW 234/4 (Pak 40, this is not a half-track..)
- SPW 251/21 Ausf. D (Drilling Flak)
- SPW 251/22 Ausf. D (Pak 40)

 

[Bubba883XL]

I think the most to be fair is the terrain/weather. As it fits into my plans for another urban environment. Maybe something like Breslau or Posen. 

[Sgt.Squarehead]

What was I looking forwad to most? 

I've completely forgotten. 

An Afghanistan Module maybe? 

[Aragorn2002]

9 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

What was I looking forwad to most? 

I've completely forgotten. 

An Afghanistan Module maybe? 

You traitor...

Well, I'm as thrilled by the Cold War news as everyone is and I enjoy the present hype, but the reality is that for the time being we will only have the USSR and US units. I never played as the Russians or Americans in any of the CM games and I never will. Just not my cup of tea. The Cold War will only become interesting for me after the other NATO countries appear and given the experiences of the recent years that could take some time....I will of course buy it to support the gang.

An Afghanistan module? Well, let's give it another seven years or so....

The battles that can be recreated with the coming Fire and Rubble module are many and extremely interesting, for example:

- The defensive battles East of Warsaw in the Summer of 1944 (IV. SS Panzerkorps with Wiking and Totenkopf among others!). Comparable to Manstein's counterstroke at Charkow in the beginning of 1943 and much overlooked in the history of the Eastern front. Read 'From the Realm of a Dying Sun' by Douglas Nash, three volumes, of which the third will be published soon!

- The entire Courland-battle (all four of them) with incredible fierce fighting and the ideal background for smaller scenarios.

- The defensive battles in Eastern Prussia in the autumn of 1944, and the counterattacks at Goldap and Nemmersdorf (remember that name). I'm thinking Hermann Göring Panzer Division!

- Fallschirmjäger in the Baltics and on other sectors of the front!

- Winter scenery! Cold War will not become cold for quite some time, I can assure you...

- The fierce German counterattack at Lauban in March 1945 with Remer's Führerbegleit-Panzerdivision among others!

- The final and crushing Soviet Oder-offensive and the desperate battles that followed in the beginning of 1945.

The battle of Bautzen, the last German victory in ww2, in april 1945, against the Polish 2nd Army.

- The entire battle of Hungary in snow and ice, with all German and Soviet offensives. King Tigers vs. Josef Stalin-tanks, new Soviet AT and SU, etc. etc. Worth a module of it's own!

- The entire battle in and around Berlin, with Volkssturm, HJ and what's left of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS.

- Fallschirmjäger! Gebirgsjäger! Volksgrenadiere! Volkssturm! Luftwaffe Field units! Naval infantry!

- Partisans!

- German Heavy Cruiser and Destroyer batteries! Prinz Eugen!

- A multitude of superb maps!

- New sexy vehicles like the Jagdpanzer IV L/70, Ostwind Flak, StuG IV, Jagdpanther, Panzer III, Elefant, Sherman, Valentine, SU-100, M-10, SPW 251/17, SPW 251/21, PSW 234/4, SPW 251/22, M17, M15, M5, 128mm PAK44, 100mm M1944 and so on and so forth.

Do you remember again?

 

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Aragorn2002

[ratdeath]

I am looking forward to Fire & Rubble

Snow and stuff!

Hopefully we get Fire & Rubble before Cold War ( assuming we get Cold War in April ).

Early East Front (41-43) and a Cold War (probably 84-89 if asked) has always been the two families I wished they would eventually make in either CMx2 or a future CMx3 engine.

So one down.. hoping for the next one soon!

[Artkin]

17 minutes ago, ratdeath said:

I am looking forward to...

a Cold War (probably 84-89 if asked) has always been the two families I wished they would eventually make in either CMx2 or a future CMx3 engine.

[Aragorn2002]

10 hours ago, ratdeath said:

I am looking forward to Fire & Rubble

Snow and stuff!

Hopefully we get Fire & Rubble before Cold War ( assuming we get Cold War in April ).

Early East Front (41-43) and a Cold War (probably 84-89 if asked) has always been the two families I wished they would eventually make in either CMx2 or a future CMx3 engine.

So one down.. hoping for the next one soon!

Eastern front 1941-1943 is also high on my list, but I fear we have to be very patient. 

[Vacillator]

11 hours ago, Aragorn2002 said:

I never played as the Russians or Americans in any of the CM games and I never will. Just not my cup of tea.

That's pretty hard core, respect .  But what about the British?

Being British, of course I usually play on the Axis side but I do still like to play as the Allies and a lot can be learned about your 'enemies' by playing as them.  Plus a lot of the content is designed for play as Allies only.  

Thinking a bit more about it, I'm quite partial to Russian armour anyway.  My introduction to CM was playing Monster Mash in the RT demo.  Badly as the Germans first time.  Successfully as the Russians second time (which was great at the time).  And then finally successfully as the Germans, but obviously with too much 'intel'. 

Thinking even more about it, I'm partial to armour full stop, so if it's a couple of Shermans that's fine and perhaps raises different challenges to a couple of Panthers or Tigers.  It's all good .

EDIT:  So your quote above suggests Cold War may be problematic?

Edited February 19, 2021 by Vacilllator

[JM Stuff]

That I can download it !

[Aragorn2002]

56 minutes ago, Vacilllator said:

That's pretty hard core, respect .  But what about the British?

Being British, of course I usually play on the Axis side but I do still like to play as the Allies and a lot can be learned about your 'enemies' by playing as them.  Plus a lot of the content is designed for play as Allies only.  

Thinking a bit more about it, I'm quite partial to Russian armour anyway.  My introduction to CM was playing Monster Mash in the RT demo.  Badly as the Germans first time.  Successfully as the Russians second time (which was great at the time).  And then finally successfully as the Germans, but obviously with too much 'intel'. 

Thinking even more about it, I'm partial to armour full stop, so if it's a couple of Shermans that's fine and perhaps raises different challenges to a couple of Panthers or Tigers.  It's all good .

EDIT:  So your quote above suggests Cold War may be problematic?

I've often played as the British, since I'm half Germanophile, half Anglophile. Especially Arnhem/Oosterbeek and Operation Epsom/Normandy. The Brits had the most difficult job in Normandy and were up against the best German divisions. The CW module of CMBN contains some superb British infantry scenarios. I know I'm limiting my gaming experience by only playing Germans or Brits, but there it is. Perhaps a generation thing. 

I will buy Cold War and maybe even take a look at it, but I won't play it until the Dutch, Germans and British have arrived.

And I really, really hope the Finns, Danish, Norwegians and Swedes will also join the fight.

And don't get me wrong, Americans are great, generous people and I do like them. But not in wargames. They did give Combat Mission to the world, the best wargame ever, so they have a right to serve their own countrymen first.

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by Aragorn2002

[Aragorn2002]

37 minutes ago, 3j2m7 said:

That I can download it !

[Vanir Ausf B]

On 2/8/2021 at 9:50 AM, landser said:

I'll go against the grain and say I'm not looking forward to this module, but whichever one follows with 1941 and 1942.

Late war hardware doesn't light my fire. There will be a lot of very cool vehicles and formations in the module I'm sure. But as lethality goes up, compelling gameplay goes down, at least for me.

F&R adds the Panzer IIIM to the German arsenal, so if you limit the Soviets to T-34/76 you can get a pretty good approximation of late '42 warfare.

[Vacillator]

21 minutes ago, Aragorn2002 said:

I'm half Germanophile, half Anglophile

Perhaps awkwardly these days, I'm a 'Europhile'.  Always will be. 

But I agree with most of your comments and it's your choice of course.  I will probably play Cold War straight away, even though I have little clue about some of the hardware involved (shame on me, but we have a lot of people with personal knowledge here).

And yes, Americans are generally great (with the odd exception ) but that's true of any country.

[Aragorn2002]

2 minutes ago, Vanir Ausf B said:

F&R adds the Panzer IIIM to the German arsenal, so if you limit the Soviets to T-34/76 you can get a pretty good approximation of late '42 warfare.

There's one factor which guarantees that an Eastern front module 1941-1943 will come eventually....Steve is also an Ostfronter.

 

[landser]

22 minutes ago, Vanir Ausf B said:

F&R adds the Panzer IIIM to the German arsenal, so if you limit the Soviets to T-34/76 you can get a pretty good approximation of late '42 warfare.

That's true, but sort of like saying you'd like to hear Beethoven's 3rd and the orchestra just plays E♭

Sounds nice, but missing something, ya know?

Anyway, my day will come eventually. And I haven't ruled F&R out, just of the four possible years the next module could have covered, it happens to be the one I am least interested in. But Combat Mission is a wonderful tactical simulator and the worst of it is better than most of the rest of 'em. So you never know, and I'll almost certainly get the expansion if it spawns a covey of new campaigns.

 

[Anonymous_Jonze]

12 hours ago, Aragorn2002 said:

You traitor...

Well, I'm as thrilled by the Cold War news as everyone is and I enjoy the present hype, but the reality is that for the time being we will only have the USSR and US units. I never played as the Russians or Americans in any of the CM games and I never will. Just not my cup of tea. The Cold War will only become interesting for me after the other NATO countries appear and given the experiences of the recent years that could take some time....I will of course buy it to support the gang.

An Afghanistan module? Well, let's give it another seven years or so....

The battles that can be recreated with the coming Fire and Rubble module are many and extremely interesting, for example:

- The defensive battles East of Warsaw in the Summer of 1944 (IV. SS Panzerkorps with Wiking and Totenkopf among others!). Comparable to Manstein's counterstroke at Charkow in the beginning of 1943 and much overlooked in the history of the Eastern front. Read 'From the Realm of a Dying Sun' by Douglas Nash, three volumes, of which the third will be published soon!

- The entire Courland-battle (all four of them) with incredible fierce fighting and the ideal background for smaller scenarios.

- The defensive battles in Eastern Prussia in the autumn of 1944, and the counterattacks at Goldap and Nemmersdorf (remember that name). I'm thinking Hermann Göring Panzer Division!

- Fallschirmjäger in the Baltics and on other sectors of the front!

- Winter scenery! Cold War will not become cold for quite some time, I can assure you...

- The fierce German counterattack at Lauban in March 1945 with Remer's Führerbegleit-Panzerdivision among others!

- The final and crushing Soviet Oder-offensive and the desperate battles that followed in the beginning of 1945.

The battle of Bautzen, the last German victory in ww2, in april 1945, against the Polish 2nd Army.

- The entire battle of Hungary in snow and ice, with all German and Soviet offensives. King Tigers vs. Josef Stalin-tanks, new Soviet AT and SU, etc. etc. Worth a module of it's own!

- The entire battle in and around Berlin, with Volkssturm, HJ and what's left of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS.

- Fallschirmjäger! Gebirgsjäger! Volksgrenadiere! Volkssturm! Luftwaffe Field units! Naval infantry!

- Partisans!

- German Heavy Cruiser and Destroyer batteries! Prinz Eugen!

- A multitude of superb maps!

- New sexy vehicles like the Jagdpanzer IV L/70, Ostwind Flak, StuG IV, Jagdpanther, Panzer III, Elefant, Sherman, Valentine, SU-100, M-10, SPW 251/17, SPW 251/21, PSW 234/4, SPW 251/22, M17, M15, M5, 128mm PAK44, 100mm M1944 and so on and so forth.

Do you remember again?

 

 

I would love a Warsaw Uprising Campaign or Scenario. Modded partisan uniforms with the home army armband. With all the new urban assets! It could be fantastique! 

[Aragorn2002]

11 minutes ago, Anonymous_Jonze said:

I would love a Warsaw Uprising Campaign or Scenario. Modded partisan uniforms with the home army armband. With all the new urban assets! It could be fantastique! 

Great idea. That shouldn't be difficult for a gifted modder.

[Vanir Ausf B]

53 minutes ago, Aragorn2002 said:

There's one factor which guarantees that an Eastern front module 1941-1943 will come eventually....Steve is also an Ostfronter.

Yes, but Steve is also a business man and he's been open about the fact that sales are heavily influenced by the presence of two things: Americans and German "big cat" tanks. The east front prior to 1943 has neither of those things (not counting that last few months of '42 when the Tiger tank was introduced). Not saying it won't happen but I'm not holding my breath.

[Aragorn2002]

11 minutes ago, Vanir Ausf B said:

Yes, but Steve is also a business man and he's been open about the fact that sales are heavily influenced by the presence of two things: Americans and German "big cat" tanks. The east front prior to 1943 has neither of those things (not counting that last few months of '42 when the Tiger tank was introduced). Not saying it won't happen but I'm not holding my breath.

Holding one's breath is very bad for one's health when it comes to CM releases. I've nearly choked on Fire and Rubble.

But you're right of course. On the other hand, as someone pointed out, Steve also wasn't keen on Cold war or Steam. And they are both coming. 

[infierno]

On 2/19/2021 at 12:50 PM, Anonymous_Jonze said:

I would love a Warsaw Uprising Campaign or Scenario. Modded partisan uniforms with the home army armband. With all the new urban assets! It could be fantastique! 

This is precisely what I came to post.

[kohlenklau]

I am looking forward to seeing what I can do with the new module to take it earlier in the war.

Yes, of course I will enjoy the fruits of many great folks labors with (for example) Berlin battles. Thank you everybody that was involved. Valentine lend-lease tanks, thank you MickeyD

I am today enjoying the 5 year old snows of the CMRT Winter Mod (released late 2015) but of course it is a workaround with modtags and many things not fully winterized. I use muddy terrain to TRY and simulate snow. Nothing perfect.

Once I get the module, I will tinker and try to put fur hats on Germans. See if I can make a BETTER Kholm Siege mod.

I have a Soviet Great coat mod with Sergeant Major shoulder tabs. 

I have a Finn Mod. 

Looking forward to more CM fun.