(Spoilers) Just Completed the NTC

[Simcoe]

Wow! That last mission had me at the edge of my seat the entire time. The Russians had cut off my escape route, my vulcan was out of ammo and a hind had free reign on my troops. The BMP's smartly disembarked their infantry and waited for me on a reverse slope. I charged my infantry, M113's, M60's over the hill with heavy casualties and rushed my remaining troops through to extraction while missiles and cannon fire rained overhead.

The Russians were merciful and didn't bring artillery which would have easily decimated the small patch of hills I used for a defence but they swarmed the entire map. They flanked me at every turn and set themselves up on hills overlooking my position hoping to catch an unsuspecting vehicle with an ATGM. 

There was this glorious point where I said out loud "AM I ABOUT TO BE OVERRUN!?" My wife was very confused. I cheered every time my brave tankers got a hit and yelled in anger whenever my M150's missed their target. 

Thank you for everyone's hard work. I felt it the entire time.

A few observations:

• To me, this campaign should be called "Hull Down in the Desert". I never used the hull down command before this campaign. Boy did I get my ass kicked until I finally did. Before, I was getting hammered by ATGM's and tank fire but after I wised up those babies were sailing over my head all day long. 
• The mortar teams feel very anemic. They are quite inaccurate and the smoke they produce is pitiful. On the other hand they have a large amount of ammo and call in times are very quick. They were able to take out a few BMP's and distracted tanks in a pinch
• I was slightly disappointed with the first two missions (probably due to ignorance). They both start out really fun. I took "Hasty Attack" in the first mission and loved the early artillery barrage and watching the BMP's racing toward my position but after a while they just sat there and it was up to me to finish them off while they sat there. The second mission had the enemy slowly retreating with hull down positions but once the full battalion showed up they just sat there while I slowly carved them up. 
• ATGM's are terrifying. I shelled the AT-4/7 on the hill in the "Hasty Attack" mission for 20 minutes before moving a M-150 out in the open and sure enough....
• I don't know if I can go back to the WW2 titles after this. The modern titles can be very frustrating but they are so fast paced that you can iterate over and over until you get it right. I replayed the first five minutes of the first mission in this campaign for a week trying to figure out the best way to attack it. The first five minutes of a WW2 title is just infantry slowly walking into the combat zone. Still need to finish the Rollbahn D campaign though...
• I love how balanced both sides are while being so fundamentally different. For example: each unit in a US infantry platoon has at least one pair of binoculars and an observer team. Compare that to the standard Soviet infantry platoon that has one pair of binoculars! The US feels like a tall lanky boxer squaring off against a smaller, more muscular MMA fighter. The US wants to keep you at bay and hit you with long range fire and indirect support. This requires flexibility and constant information on the enemy. The Soviets embody the old saying "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". The third mission put into perspective how devastating they can be once they are inside your defensive line.
• It's really interesting seeing first hand why the BMP was so revolutionary. In a US company combat team, I was constantly wishing my M113's could do...something...anything. Meanwhile, the BMP's were hitting my tanks with ATGM's, peppering my infantry with cannon fire, dropping off troops AND supporting them. I can't wait to get my hands on them in the Soviet campaign.

If you've reached the end, thank you for listening to me ramble. 

[Bil Hardenberger]

Thank you for the comments... @George MC helped me ham fist my way through this campaign... his AI programming was masterful and he had to jump through hoops to make it do what I wanted it to.  

The final scenario was the graduation from NTC.. basically if you have made it that far you might have been feeling a little cocky, and it shows what a proper Soviet Battalion attack looks like, it should have been a shock.  The action this was based on though, was a weakened Company Team against the entire NTC Regiment... so we took it easy on you.  

@Simcoe What did you think of the Decision Points?  I have seen little feedback on those and am wondering how they appear to the casual player.

Thanks again for the comments.  Bil

[domfluff]

The list of bullet points really feels like you've understood the point of the thing, congratulations man. I do think that Cold War really shows off what CM can do, and it works well within the limitations of the game - the map sizes of the campaign missions are correct for the period, there are ATGMs with limited ranges, etc.

[Simcoe]

2 hours ago, Bil Hardenberger said:

Thank you for the comments... @George MC helped me ham fist my way through this campaign... his AI programming was masterful and he had to jump through hoops to make it do what I wanted it to.  

The final scenario was the graduation from NTC.. basically if you have made it that far you might have been feeling a little cocky, and it shows what a proper Soviet Battalion attack looks like, it should have been a shock.  The action this was based on though, was a weakened Company Team against the entire NTC Regiment... so we took it easy on you.  

@Simcoe What did you think of the Decision Points?  I have seen little feedback on those and am wondering how they appear to the casual player.

Thanks again for the comments.  Bil

Thank you for creating/helping create this campaign I greatly appreciate it.

The AI was extremely scary, especially on that last mission. I wasn't expecting them to cut off my extraction point!

For the decision points: I think they accomplished what you were setting out to do. Each decision feels impactful and the AI acts accordingly. Both situations feel pretty balanced as well. I hope to see more decision points in campaigns going forward. Thank you for asking.

 

[Simcoe]

1 hour ago, domfluff said:

The list of bullet points really feels like you've understood the point of the thing, congratulations man. I do think that Cold War really shows off what CM can do, and it works well within the limitations of the game - the map sizes of the campaign missions are correct for the period, there are ATGMs with limited ranges, etc.

Thanks!

Agreed. I think Combat Mission excels in simulating tank/infantry cooperation with an emphasis on armor and that's Cold War in a nutshell.