CMFB Rollbahn D Full Campaign

[Erwin]

Yes, I already played the first 6 missions, but it's very enjoyable to read your DAR to see how you handle the same situations.

[danfrodo]

On to mission #6.  Peiper again delayed by what in english is called "my day job", also my new guitar and NFL football, all conspiring to suck the time away.  Which reminds me, I hope BFC shows some compassion and releases some new stuff before the playoffs end.

Anyway, battle #6.  Says I start w a Spitze group with reinforcements coming later.  Usual great big map, which again THANKS to the author for the effort in making it really feel right.  I send two PZ4s (on hunt) a little ahead of the main column, thinking I won't get hit until I reach more defensible terrain later.  But it's 1900 hours, very dark, so anywhere is liable to provide an ambush.  And it does....

Where is all this coming from??  someone is tossing grenades onto my engine deck.  Kinda wish I had those side skirts, maybe would block the low throws. 

And what is this?  Satchel charge?  --- dang Ami engineers!  (note artificial brightness turned on here, alt-B for new folks, you don't have to play in the dark the whole time)

Tank #2 moves up to support, not understanding the threat is RIGHT THERE IN THE BUSHES!  It's knocked out also.

This is not a good start, to say the least.  I don't have cheap armored cars or other recon assets so I am very vulnerable to this sort of thing.  And did I mention it's really dark out?  Most WW2 armies did not like night ops unless they had a good reason or no choice, here's great example of why.  Few engineers in the bushes just knocked out two expensive vehicles and killed most of the expensive crewmen. 

I don't mind losing the Ardennes as the germans because I actually should lose considering the whole thing had zero (less than zero?) chance of success.  But I don't want to lose just 36 hours into the fight!

[Myles Keogh]

I'm up to Mission #9 (Poteau the Priority).   It's been a lot of fun and am just amazed at the amount of work that went into making this.  It's spectacular!

Thanks to the very generous time allotments, I've been able to win one Total Victory after the next, but the losses are starting to pile-up.  By the time I got to #7 (Butchers of Baugnez) the Spitze had been reduced to a single 4-man PzIV and an empty halftrack.

A few notes: SPOILERS!!!!

 

 

#2 Leaving Lanzerath: An American marksmen team was able to inflict 10 casualties with a lot of them KIA.  Who was shooting that sniper rifle?  Sergeant York?  It took me a while to find that team and then had to use up almost an entire platoon's worth of ammo trying to suppress/kill them.  Those stone Belgian buildings are tough!  On the other hand, Lt. Bouck's platoon didn't put-up much of a fight.  Of course, I knew where he was because the story of his I&R platoon has been featured in almost every Bulge narrative since David Eisenhower made it famous in "The Bitter Woods."

#3 Minen the Gap: this was a neat scenario and an example of how of this was a clear labor of love.  Creating that fantastic map just for the player to experience some of Peiper's frustration in navigating the poor Ardennes roads.  (I chose the "correct" path and, as a result, only lost one Panther to mines.)

#6 Bullingen China Shop: Didn't expect much of a fight especially early on.  So, I blundered right into the ambush.  This was the scenario that whittled the Spitze down to almost nothing.

#7 Butchers of Baugnez:  Massive map!  My tanks destroyed Battery B from a distance.  Unfortunately, I found myself cursing CMx2's inability to provide a "follow-the-road" or "convoy" feature.  Laboriously plotting every single vehicle's road movement and having to use the pause key to avoid traffic jams.  Ugh!  I've hated that since CMx1.  I know BF tried to get a "convoy" feature into one of the CMx2 upgrades, but they had to throw in the towel on it because they couldn't get it to work.  A shame. 

 

Speaking of CMx1, there was a scenario designer for that game, "McAuliffe," whose passion was the Bulge.  He designed a host of well-researched CMBO scenarios with beautiful maps based mostly on the fighting around Bastogne.   This campaign reminds of those scenarios: a labor of love by someone truly passionate about the subject.  That's one thing I miss about CMx1: its scenario editor's ease of use encouraged similar passion projects.   I miss the plethora of user-designed scenarios that one saw with CMx1.  CMx2's editor provides vastly more tools, but it's clear that's proven intimidating to would-be scenario designers.  Thankfully, The Forger wasn't intimidated.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Myles Keogh

[Warts 'n' all]

On 1/15/2022 at 7:46 PM, danfrodo said:

 NFL

"What in English is called" Gridiron Popcorn Ball.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Armoured Rugby?

[Bulletpoint]

22 hours ago, Myles Keogh said:

#3 Minen the Gap: this was a neat scenario and an example of how of this was a clear labor of love.  Creating that fantastic map just for the player to experience some of Peiper's frustration in navigating the poor Ardennes roads.  (I chose the "correct" path and, as a result, only lost one Panther to mines.)

#6 Bullingen China Shop: Didn't expect much of a fight especially early on.  So, I blundered right into the ambush.  This was the scenario that whittled the Spitze down to almost nothing.

I also fell right into that ambush. It's quite clever that it comes right after "Minen the Gap", so the author lulls us into a false sense of security after moving through so much countryside without any enemy forces.

Without that prequel, nobody would fall into the ambush, because you'd be ready for a fight straight from the start, which I find very realistic... It's just a pain to plot all those movement paths.

 

[Aragorn2002]

On 1/17/2022 at 4:41 AM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Armoured Rugby?

That reminds me the Six Nations tournament is approaching again!

Edited January 22, 2022 by Aragorn2002