Revising The Road to Montebourg campaign

[Paper Tiger]

Some of you may have noticed that I've poked my head up again after a very long absence. I've just been very busy with real life and wanted to spend some time playing games rather than designing content. But this game is a bit like crack for me, it's just so addictive and watching Usually Hapless play this campaign on Youtube got me back into it. (Yes, it's ALL your fault Hapless  )

I've done a bit of work fixing things and now want to turn my attention to my first campaign for CMBN, the Montebourg campaign. It's the oldest and was made using v1.0 of the engine meaning that there are only 8 AI groups and no air support. There have also been a number of changes to the game which mean that I can experiment with some of the new stuff while reworking this one.

It's not going to be a total overhaul but it will no longer work for players with only the CMBN base game so it's a Repository jobbie. I'll let you guys know what you'll need but it will probably require the full Monty as I want flamethrowers in it. It's also worth saying that anything new in it will be historically accurate and not just added in for the laughs. So no SS with JgPZIVs. Pity.

So, I'll keep you up to date with my progress on this. I'm not looking to do a LOT of work. It's mainly to reacquaint myself with the scenario designer and writing AI plans.

 

Mission 1

I have no plans to change anything at all about the opening mission at all. It's fine as is.

Mission 2

There is a 'new' short 'Brecourt' mission. It's not really new though as it was in the revised version on the Repository. I'll need to tweak this one as the game seems to have become more lethal since I last played it but otherwise, it's good to go.

Mission 3

The first mission to get a full rework is Turnbull's Stand. I'm reworking the AI attack as there were only two AI plans and they were terrible. I've made a number of revisions to the map itself to reflect the reality of the day so it's a bit more open with less bocage and more hedges.

I've spent pretty much all morning and most of the afternoon learning how to script an AI attack using the new tools and the first AI plan is almost done. I want a second one with an entirely different focus but it should be much faster to do as I'm not 'learning' anymore. Then, I'll mix it up so that there's four attack plans.

 

And that's where I'm up to. There's no timetable on this. I'm not in any hurry but by posting about it here, I've kind of declared my intentions and am far more likely to stick with it.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Paper Tiger

[Erwin]

That is good news PT.  Plz don't take on too much all at once and burn out again.  

A thought... We've had a lot of new members.  Could you post a list of the scenarios and campaigns you made so folks know.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Erwin

[Paper Tiger]

I wouldn't worry about me burning out this time. My real-life work situation is practically serene compared to what was going on 10+ years ago. Plus my mother died which was a bit upsetting. While I plan to do some smaller campaigns, I doubt I'll ever try anything as ambitious as the Nijmegen campaign again. But declaring that would be stupid - these projects take on a life of their own as I work on them and I think, 'Ah, a mission with this would be cool!'

That's a good suggestion - it's been 10+ years since I made anything so who knows who I am. I'll make up another post for the main boards after this.

[CarlXII]

An updated version of this campaign is something i have wanted for a long time...More AI groups, triggers, flamethrowers, Indoor AT fire possibility, more AI orders, area fire, reverse command, facing command and a whole bunch of additional vehicles.

Having this campaign updated to 2023 standards will make for an intresting playthrough indeed. I hope you will be able to pull it off.

I have more then ones contemplated updating this campaign myself to see how it would play out with all the new toys/features but i soon realiced that i probably would not manage it (time wise) and it would also be sad ruin such an impressive campaign ...

Best of luck with the project !

[Erwin]

15 hours ago, Paper Tiger said:

my mother died which was a bit upsetting

Same here last year.  My condolences...

[landser]

Welcome back mate, it's encouraging to know you may be producing new content, or even only revising existing stuff. Your campaigns are excellent.

Road to Montebourg is one of my favorites. On a different forum I wrote reviews for a number of campaigns I played. I thought you might like to read what I wrote about this one.

The campaign opens with an infantry attack over a huge expanse of open ground. At the far side of the map a small German force with pillboxes awaits, hemmed in by mines and supported by artillery. When I first saw the map I thought 'no way'. No way I'm getting across this ground without massive casualties. But this mission is a showcase for suppression in Combat Mission. Combined with tactical use of smoke, machine gun and mortar fire I was able to do it with surprisingly light losses. Find, fix, destroy.

I think it's the second mission that puts the player in command of a combined arms force for an attack on a town called Ecoqueneuville deep in bocage country. When I played it I used a beautiful three-pronged attack, sending engineers the long way 'round the left flank, blowing gaps in hedgerow after hedgerow to hit the final objective from the flank while my main body converged through town. It all went splendidly until the final hurdle. At the last objective, the German company commander went nuts with his MP 40, defiantly mowing down my troops despite the deluge of fire directed his way. Quite disheartening to have such a well-executed plan devolve in to chaos with the finish line in sight, especially when a single maniac wielding a machine pistol holds off a company of well-equipped troops.. But it also makes it memorable. I wish I remembered his name. Respect Herr Hauptmann, respect.

Another memorable mission is called Turnbull's Stand. It pits the player's paratrooper platoon against nearly a battalion of German troops supported by armor. You make your stand in Neuville au Plain, barring the way to St Mere Eglise along the N13. At times it felt all would be lost, but my plucky paras won the day, and the Germans eventually turned tail. I could imagine my troopers rising from their holes, smoking Garands held high, whooping it up as the enemy fled. An amazing victory and one of the shining moments of my CM career. Paper Tiger mentioned in a post that the player is not meant to stop the Germans, just cause as many casualties as possible and get your men off the map. But I managed to send the enemy running. Great stuff and highly satisfying.

 

I use this Turnbull's Stand memory often, as it really did feel great to make the Germans turn tail. Having read the OP, I'm glad I played the 'old version', as I suspect it is about to get harder. Looking forward to playing whatever you cook up.

[Paper Tiger]

It's always heartening to geed feedback on your work, even better if it is positive.

Don't worry, I'm taking care not to up the difficulty too much. In the revised version, the 2/8 INF's experience will largely be Green because in testing, I found these units performed more realistically with Green. However, you get air support in some missions which compensates for the loss.

The PIR and GIR units won't be changed in any way except of course, there will be flamethrowers in some missions. I haven't seen them yet but they're in the new core unit file.

As it happens, today, I worked on the second, 'new' mission, based on Brecourt, and this is a fine opportunity to make use of the AI triggers. There is a small counterattack that was 'timed' in the original mission but now it will happen when you touch an objective. Not saying which one though. I'm learning how to handle units more effectively in RT now so testing the missions has become much more fun.

'Turnbulls' Stand' has a much better set of AI attack plans now. (I was appalled when I reviewed the AI plans as they were pretty basic and lacked any real co-ordination. While that is more realistic given the historical action meant that the Germans were surprised, it was an 8-hour action condensed into 40 minutes so it can't be too unco-ordinated. Otherwise, it's a wipe out for the AI)

I'm not sure if you'll be pushing them back but based on what I've watched on Youtube, I wouldn't put it past a good player to slay them regardless and drive them off the map. Not to spoil anything but they have a more realistic attack behaviour now. I pulled off a couple of victories in testing yesterday though and I'm still far from being a 'good' player yet so it's not going to be an impossible task for a reasonable player. Oh, and there are old, captured French tanks which have replaced the MkIVs. Boy, do they suck! But they're fast.

[Paper Tiger]

It's been a long weekend here so I've been able to spend three consecutive days working on this. I've just finished working on the Brecourt mission and completed it with only one casualty. To be sure it wasn't a fluke, I ran it again (it's only 15 minutes long) and won again, this time with 4 casualties. If you know roughly how that action panned out in real life, the same tactics will serve you well here but if you just rush in, it probably won't work out so well for you. Neither will it work if you take your precious time.

Of course, this is not Easy Company's assault but rather an homage. And it just feels right. BTW, if you have already played the revised version of the campaign, you might notice that I've redesigned the trench network to better reflect the historical set up.

So, Missions 1 and 2 are done as well as Turnbulls' Stand. I'm only going to rework a few missions so it may happen quicker than I'd thought. The main task is importing the new core units to each mission. That's not as small a job as you might think

[Warts 'n' all]

12 hours ago, Paper Tiger said:

 geed 

In case anyone is wondering, according to the O.E.D.

Geed - To get and read correspondence, normally of a pleasing nature. 

[AlexUK]

Very nice! This is a great reason for another play through 

[David Jaros]

Paper tiger is back excellent news

[Paper Tiger]

To catch up, I've imported and placed the core units in all the phase 1 and 3 missions and am now preparing to import them into the phase 2 missions (From Hell to Le Ham). These are more tricky because there are German core units in all these missions so I have left these until last. I should have the German core units done by tonight and have them imported tomorrow which means testing and AI plans can begin in earnest this weekend. And do I have some new ideas...

I have to admit, I really like what I can do with AI triggers. They were just making an appearance when I last played the game and I was initially disappointed that they didn't 'branch'. But I can see how useful they can be in some of the AI reworks I've done for my CMSF2 campaign already.

Once I've redone the AI plans, I'll create the variants and then will compile a new revised Montebourg for the scenario depot. They're not all getting extensive AI reworks, just the ones which I feel would benefit most from some extra attention, like Turnbull's Stand for example which has an AI attack.

[Erwin]

Looking forward to it.  Appreciate you sticking with the renovations.  But, hope you have time for new stuff too.

[JM Stuff]

13 hours ago, Paper Tiger said:

To catch up, I've imported and placed the core units in all the phase 1 and 3 missions and am now preparing to import them into the phase 2 missions (From Hell to Le Ham). These are more tricky because there are German core units in all these missions so I have left these until last. I should have the German core units done by tonight and have them imported tomorrow which means testing and AI plans can begin in earnest this weekend. And do I have some new ideas...

I have to admit, I really like what I can do with AI triggers. They were just making an appearance when I last played the game and I was initially disappointed that they didn't 'branch'. But I can see how useful they can be in some of the AI reworks I've done for my CMSF2 campaign already.

Once I've redone the AI plans, I'll create the variants and then will compile a new revised Montebourg for the scenario depot. They're not all getting extensive AI reworks, just the ones which I feel would benefit most from some extra attention, like Turnbull's Stand for example which has an AI attack.

Also appreciated your presence on the forum, since only couple of days that you are on, we see already a shining sun.

Wait... I will make the list of all campaign from all modules from CM.

(just kidding)

JM

[Paper Tiger]

9 hours ago, Erwin said:

Looking forward to it.  Appreciate you sticking with the renovations.  But, hope you have time for new stuff too.

There will be something new. I've already got an idea which I'm going to work on quietly. However, I've now got access to all the maps and missions from both Hasrabit and Road to Dinas and I'd really like to bring them up to date.

The main issue with 'new' is that I'll have to learn how to use GIMP with a reasonable degree of competence to create the artwork for anything new. I'll achieve that by bringing the old campaigns up to date (the art work for Hasrabit is ghastly - I think I used Paint to do that). I was really surprised just how good some of the maps for Hasrabit were. The titular village is surprisingly detailed and looks really good as is but the real problem is that the map is tiny, about 600m  x 600m. Plus there are just too many trees and forests, not to mention large swaths of glowing yellow wheatfields on these maps. Very NW European. I don't want to have many trees but rather have plenty of orchards. And there are far too many tall walls around buildings too. I want the maps to look more like they did in my NATO campaigns missions.

While I'm importing the new core units into Montebourg, I'm also working on reworking my CMSF USMC Gung Ho! campaign and the maps are all being reworked as the above suggests and some considerably expanded as well. Since the tactical maps no longer reflect the reality of the revised maps, I'll experiment with a new format for operational and tactical maps.

BTW, unlikely but if any of you think, 'Gung Ho!' I missed that one.' and download it, just wait for the revised version to come. It was made back before I did the NATO campaigns and uses the old attack at 1:3 odds rather than the later attack at at least even odds or better. I missed the USMC because I was working flat out on Dinas which is a monster and so I wanted to play around with the USMC on some revamped Dinas maps. It won't be a long wait.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Paper Tiger

[Bearstronaut]

I greatly enjoyed your CMBN campaigns so I am really looking forward to any new ones you decide to make.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Bearstronaut

[Myles Keogh]

It's great news that a truly classic campaign is getting an update.  It was my first real experience with CMx2.  (Sadly, I retain a vivid memory of playing it in May 2011 mainly due that being just weeks after my father's sudden passing.)

I have questions: is the update going to include stuff from the Vehicle Pack to make some scenarios more historically accurate?  (Example: replacing the PZ IVs in Turnbull's Stand with captured French tanks which weren't available upon CMBN's original release.)  Or will it remain playable with just CMBN with no other modules needed?

[Paper Tiger]

Yes, subbing the old captured French tanks was the first change I made. The original Montebourg campaign was developed while the base game was in development so I wasn't able to use them first time around. IIRC, there was no allied air support when the game was first released either which is why there's no air support in the base campaign either. That's changed too. 

The Vehicle Pack will be necessary because I'm using flamethrowers this time as well. The Airborne and Glider Infantry both get them in their missions in phase 2. I've yet to see these in action as I've been importing the new core units and placing them but that work is all done now and so proper playtesting begins today. 

[Warts 'n' all]

Having been away for quite a while for health reasons, both my own and my PC's. Did this reworking ever get finished?

[Paper Tiger]

On 12/7/2023 at 6:38 PM, Warts 'n' all said:

Having been away for quite a while for health reasons, both my own and my PC's. Did this reworking ever get finished?

Not yet but it's on the to-do list. The real hold-up is reworking the Le Ham mission which is a monster. It turns out that there were no AI plans for this mission and I have to remedy that.

Otherwise, most of the details are complete. I've learned how to use some of those special moves like Withdraw for example so I'd like to revisit most of the AI plans and see if they can be improved further but I'm not going to let it turn into another monster revision that will never get finished. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Paper Tiger

[Warts 'n' all]

On 12/10/2023 at 9:27 AM, Paper Tiger said:

Not yet but it's on the to-do list. The real hold-up is reworking the Le Ham mission which is a monster. It turns out that there were no AI plans for this mission and I have to remedy that.

Otherwise, most of the details are complete. I've learned how to use some of those special moves like Withdraw for example so I'd like to revisit most of the AI plans and see if they can be improved further but I'm not going to let it turn into another monster revision that will never get finished. 

Oh, thank you so much for the reply. I shall certainly give it a whirl when it is finished.

[Paper Tiger]

Here's an update on how this is going. I have changed the structure of the original campaign to give it a new opening mission which, together with the original starting mission, Beau Guillot, will form a new campaign prelude, the outcome of which will determine certain parameters for the three Chapter 1 - Georgian Ridge missions. 

Having revised and tested the new AI plans for both the prelude and all the chapter one missions including the variants, I'll be picking up where I left off with Turnbull's Stand tomorrow. This is one of the very few AI attack missions so it will require a bit more time to get right but I learned a LOT from making USMC Gung Ho! so I'm guessing this will be better than the previous revision I made earlier this year. I'll just have to make sure that it's winnable. It's almost certainly going to play very differently from the old version, that's for sure.

I seem to be taking about a day to revise a defensive mission at the moment so if I am able to stick with a decent schedule, I should have most of this done before Xmas. However, the two blocks to swift progress will be Le Ham and the finale, Eroudeville. Le Ham didn't have any AI plan associated with it - it was a pure set-up with no variants and I can't let that stand. Eroudeville has a pretty sizeable AI attack so that will take a few days to revise as well.

 

A few observations about the new core forces - having the US 2/8 INF mostly Green makes for a rather different experience and I nearly undid the change as it was definitely harder to manage these forces in combat. But instead I've added some extra firepower to some of their missions to compensate them for the loss. In Guillot, you get a Destroyer on call to help soften up the defenders and there is air power in a couple of the Georgian Ridge missions. In Hameau, I've added an AA Quad Half Track to provide the attacker with some extra punch as well. The defenders get a little boost too to keep things interesting - nothing massively OP of course, but after all, most of you will have already played the original campaign so these changes should make it feel fresh.

The new AI plans are a considerable improvement over the old as well and the AI is much better on the defence now than it previously was so you'll need to be a little more cautious. Except for the new opener, there are always two or more AI plans in each mission, usually five. The opener is a recreation of a certain famous, historical action which I released as a stand-alone scenario to the old repository so it's intended to be fixed.

I have also found an old mission, Maxwell's House, which I kept a back up of on the Beta boards. It was offered as a possible scenario for the Arnhem module but it didn't cut the mustard. Fortunately, it was still in my folder there so I have been able to revisit it as well. it's a German attack on a tiny but highly detailed rubbled map defended by a very small but elite force of Red Devils in Arnhem. NOT Historical at all, just 100% for fun. It's definitely NOT going to be added to the Nijmegen campaign - that one is finished and I have no plans to touch it again (play perhaps  but definitely not redesign) The Breakout from the Neerpelt Bridgehead and the Aalst missions pretty much broke me, the work that went into them was tremendous. The other two Irish Guards missions that formed that series were no picnic to make and test either.

[Warts 'n' all]

Did someone mention Maxwell's House?

 

 

[Paper Tiger]

A few thoughts on what I've been doing these last couple of day. I've been working on Turnbull's Stand and learning how to use Order triggers. After quite a bit of experimentation, I understand how it all works and there are some cool things I can do with them but building an entire attack plan with them is an exercise in frustration. I can achieve much the same result by using objective triggers and Exit After timers  so I revised my attack plan today.

I reread the account of Turnbull's action on D-Day this evening and was surprised to read that he had no heavy weapons, no mortars, just a couple of MGs he'd picked up along the way and a bazooka team. Vandervoort dropped off a 57mm AT gun before the main German assault and that was all he had.

Also, the German 'tanks' were not French tanks but were probably Stugs so I've taken them out. To be honest, they were 100% pure crap and utterly useless in the hands of the AI so subbing them gave me great joy. The only way to keep them alive was to keep them hidden which is not much fun.

In keeping with the historical account, I have made several major revisions to the map and the mission. Now you can only set up in the orchard on the west side of the road. The two East Touch objectives are also gone - you're only keeping the Germans out of the orchard.

Finally, you have two squads now with the attached teams giving you 42 men, the exact number Turnbull had on that day. The German don't outnumber you 5:1 but the mission is only 50 minutes long so who cares?

I am pretty sure my original OB was inspired by an ASL scenario, probably called Turnbull's Stand. That's where the French tanks and the Marder came from. So it's ASL no more and now as historical as I can make it. When reading about the action this evening, I was surprised to find that I've scripted something the Germans tried to do and Turnbull had to react to so I'm happy with the AI work I've done today.

I'll continue to test this tomorrow which makes three days of work on this. After this, I'll get back to much easier AI defensive plans.

[Warts 'n' all]

Which units would the Stugs have belonged to mate? I can't find any record of there being any on the Cotentin on D-day. Of course, we didn't have horseless fighting vehicles in my day. So what the hell do I know?