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New campaign for CMBN: "Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere".


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I have this evening posted my 82nd Airborne in Normandy campaign, "Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere" at the scenario depot.

This is my final contribution to CMBN. With that I am retiring from all things CM and moving on to other interests. I will check in here once in a while for the next few months to see what's new.

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3 hours ago, WimO said:

I have this evening posted my 82nd Airborne in Normandy campaign, "Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere" at the scenario depot.

This is my final contribution to CMBN. With that I am retiring from all things CM and moving on to other interests. I will check in here once in a while for the next few months to see what's new.

wow, looks cool and highly elaborated, thanks! 😎 Hope I´d find time for it anytime soon! Good luck and have fun with other interest then. I´m in very similar situation btw. 🍻

https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy/cm-battle-for-normandy-campaigns/mission-boston-objective-la-fiere/

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I'll try this one as soon as I've finished CMRT SPW lessons scenarios!

One first comment though: in the pdf file, you're writing

Quote

Branches are shown indented.

Unfortunately, there is no identation in the following list, all 11 scenarios are using the same indentation. Similarly, I'm confused by the fact that you're writing about 9 to 14 scenarios whereas the list shows 11!

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6 hours ago, PEB14 said:

I'll try this one as soon as I've finished CMRT SPW lessons scenarios!

One first comment though: in the pdf file, you're writing

Unfortunately, there is no identation in the following list, all 11 scenarios are using the same indentation. Similarly, I'm confused by the fact that you're writing about 9 to 14 scenarios whereas the list shows 11!

Whoops, forgot to delete the line about the branches.

The 11 scenarios listed are the core of the game, the trunk of the tree so to speak

If the player has certain adverse outcomes early in the game then two historical events might be bypassed due to German successes early on. I decided not to show the branches to keep the two bypassed events a secret.

The additional three scenarios reflect second attempts to capture a position by both the Americans and Germans.

Guess I'll have to rewrite and repost the pdf. Thank you for catching that.

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3 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Thanks for all the work that you have put into this project. I have a battle with Big C to contend with at the moment, but hopefully it's been caught early doors. And I look forward to giving this campaign a go sooner rather than later.

Good for the early detection. Wishing you a best possible outcome.

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20 hours ago, WimO said:

At this time, a new, corrected and more comprehensive pdf has been posted with the campaign file.

Good one!

Now the Boots are on the Ground! 20 minutes in the first scenario and yet no enemy contact! What a big map… Funny how Timmes stumbled into Levy, they really instantly met upon Levy's arrival: if intended then it works very well!

 

@WimO, a few comments if you care. All minor.

CAMPAIGN BRIEFING
La Fière and its causeway are not named on the general map, neither is Merderet river. A detail but it would help understand the context.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND scenario
Briefing: there is no tactical map in the briefing -> is it intended?
Are « Assembly 1 » and « Assembly 2 » at Amfreville « touch » objectives? These two locations are not mentioned in the briefing at all.
Map: there are several typos Types in landmarks:
    « Cauquiny » should be « Cauquigny »
    « Cauquigny Capel » should be « Cauquigny Chapel »
    « to Geec de Vains » should be « to Gaec de Vains »
    « La Fericotterie » should be « La Fericoterie »
    Is the lone « G » floating beyond « Hameau aux Brix » intended?

And one last question, why is Timmes’ 1st Team rated as « Headquarter », not « Parachute 44 » or « Airborne »?

Now please excuse me, I shall go on towards Cauquigny and Amfreville!

Edited by PEB14
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2 hours ago, PEB14 said:

    « Cauquigny Capel » should be « Cauquigny Chapel »
 

I had to have a little chuckle over this one. In Kent we have a village called Capel-le-Ferne i.e. a chapel built on a site where ferns once grew. Over the years it has been, Marie in the Verne (Church of St. Mary being the name of the chapel), Capel ate Verne, Capell, and Capell' in le Ferne. So I suppose we can cut @WimO a bit of slack, if he makes the odd typo or two.

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26 minutes ago, Warts 'n' all said:

I had to have a little chuckle over this one. In Kent we have a village called Capel-le-Ferne i.e. a chapel built on a site where ferns once grew. Over the years it has been, Marie in the Verne (Church of St. Mary being the name of the chapel), Capel ate Verne, Capell, and Capell' in le Ferne. So I suppose we can cut @WimO a bit of slack, if he makes the odd typo or two.

Thank you for the 'slack' Warts & All. Yes, I tend to make typos quite frequently and also miss too many despite proof reading.

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3 hours ago, PEB14 said:

Good one!

Now the Boots are on the Ground! 20 minutes in the first scenario and yet no enemy contact! What a big map… Funny how Timmes stumbled into Levy, they really instantly met upon Levy's arrival: if intended then it works very well!

 

@WimO, a few comments if you care. All minor.

CAMPAIGN BRIEFING
La Fière and its causeway are not named on the general map, neither is Merderet river. A detail but it would help understand the context.

BOOTS ON THE GROUND scenario
Briefing: there is no tactical map in the briefing -> is it intended?
Are « Assembly 1 » and « Assembly 2 » at Amfreville « touch » objectives? These two locations are not mentioned in the briefing at all.
Map: there are several typos Types in landmarks:
    « Cauquiny » should be « Cauquigny »
    « Cauquigny Capel » should be « Cauquigny Chapel »
    « to Geec de Vains » should be « to Gaec de Vains »
    « La Fericotterie » should be « La Fericoterie »
    Is the lone « G » floating beyond « Hameau aux Brix » intended?

And one last question, why is Timmes’ 1st Team rated as « Headquarter », not « Parachute 44 » or « Airborne »?

Now please excuse me, I shall go on towards Cauquigny and Amfreville!

Levy appears regardless of the direction that Lt. Col. Timmes takes.

Thank you for picking up the typos in the landmarks. I had forgotten about the landmarks for months. Will correct these and add the suggested additonal labels after I collect together all forthcoming reports about issues encountered.

The lack of tactical map in the first scenario is intended. You have landed severely scatterd, in the water, in the dark and are temporarily lost. As the player you already have far more information about the map than did Lt. Col. Timmes and Col. Millet.

I purposely do not always disclose whether objectives are touch or occupy. This is to force the player to make tough decisions similar to the acting C.O. on the ground.

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3 hours ago, PEB14 said:

And one last question, why is Timmes’ 1st Team rated as « Headquarter », not « Parachute 44 » or « Airborne »?

 

That is what the core units file gave me as the first two elements on the battalion list. I assume that Timmes managed to collect at least some of the men from his 'stick', i.e., the headquarters team.

The floating 'G' that you mentioned was actually the number 6. On my original master map I have landmarked many elevation points and erased them for the campaign. This one got overlooked. It is 6 meters above sea level.

Edited by WimO
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2 hours ago, WimO said:

Thank you for the 'slack' Warts & All. Yes, I tend to make typos quite frequently and also miss too many despite proof reading.

You're more than welcome, Mate. Over the years, we've had maps that use nothing but US English, maps that use nothing but French, and some that use a mixture of the two. I'm sure if we wait long enough someone will come along and demand that you change it to "Chapelle".

Okay, enough of this bolleaux, I'm cracking on with Mission 1.

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To Kohlenklau:  One of my 'back to' activities is ping pong. We have a regulation table and spacious setup in our "basement". My wife is Chinese and the competition is fierce. I rarely win.

To Warts 'n' all: Unfortunately every map is going to have the typos because they are a function of errors in the Master Map. Over the past hour, I have corrected all the label erros in all the maps but that's no help to those already playing. I won't recompile until I hear if there are more erros. I considered translating all the texts in the campaign to French as well since for our French-Canadian, Belgian and French players and also considered Dutch and German but then I thought .. too bxxxdy much time.

Come summertime, I think I'll work on some furniture renovations.  I picked up some old solid-wood display cases, storage cupboards and oak desk that the university was throwing out (into the dumpster - crazy!). I rebuilt and refinished one of the storage units into a bookcase about 5 years ago. Now I want to refinish two of the glass shelved and glass fronted display cases to hang in my hobby room and display my 'toy soldiers'.

That should keep me busy and away from the computer for a bit. 

 

Edited by WimO
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48 minutes ago, WimO said:

That should keep me busy and away from the computer for a bit.

I am building a 24 foot tall dining room. It has stairs and a loft. Also building a small house for my son. 700 sq ft.

PING-PONG sounds fun. My wife and I have an excellent rivalry in scrabble, rummy, flinch, farkle and darts. No ping pong yet!

Edited by kohlenklau
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1 hour ago, WimO said:

To Warts 'n' all: Unfortunately every map is going to have the typos because they are a function of errors in the Master Map. Over the past hour, I have corrected all the label erros in all the maps but that's no help to those already playing. I won't recompile until I hear if there are more erros. I considered translating all the texts in the campaign to French as well since for our French-Canadian, Belgian and French players and also considered Dutch and German but then I thought .. too bxxxdy much time.

 

I don't mind the typos. It's only when some Scots gits changed their name from Steward to Stuart that I got a bit tetchy.

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AAR Boots on the Ground

I just finished the scenario. I played until full time (2 hours), it took me about 6 hours.

Just as a reminder, I'm a newbie as this was only my 14th Combat Mission scenario.

I scored a "Total Victory" (15 casualties on my side, 59 on the German side). I got all location VP, except Assembly 2.

I liked the very unusual rythm of the scenario: long distances, long period without action and suddenly an intense firefight. Sounds realistic.

WImO, here is how I translated the briefing into action and how the action then developed (spoilers ahead!)

You set three objectives: 1) Occuping Cauquigny Chape; 2) Scouting Amfreville, which means: occupying Amfreville is not a requirement; and 3) there is the bizarre Timmes Orchard objective, which is simultaneously an objective and a fall back point. I understood why only when I read designer's notes at the end of the game.

According to this briefing I headed towards Cauquigny with Timmes, joined by Levy, letting Amfreville in Miller's hand. Once Cauquigny Chapel in my hands, I really didn't understand why Timmes shall fall back, but I decided to send him with some escorting troops to occupy his fallback point (after all, it was a mission objective). I never really thought that I could send Timmes towards Amfreville: according to the briefing, Amfreville shall be scouted, and to so Miller is enough. So Levy remained in Cauquigny Chapel with all his men (C2-wise). Once in his fallback point Timmes stayed there until the end of the game; he didn't fire a single shot during the whole game.

In the meantime Miller's advanced to Amfreville. He sent scouts towards Assembly 2 point but they were quickly killed. His group then headed towards Assembly 1. Two scouts managed to touch the area, but in front of strong resistance I decided to fall back - scouting mission accomplished. This is where I think something's wrong. According to the briefing, I HAD to fall back to a specific point. In RL, I wouldn't have gone in this direction, considering both my avenue of approach and Miller's initial setup positions. I hence felt frustrated as I lost more men while trying to fall back as requested by the briefing and the victory conditions, than during the scouting mission in Amfreville! Once disengaged, Miller reached his fallback position and stayed there for the remainder of the game. That means that Miller was in action for less than 55 minutes - including approach march to, and retreat from, Amfreville.

Then the stragglers arrived. They start far away from... well, from everything, so I just sent them to join Timmes (except one team who joined Miller). None of the stragglers fired a single shot. Their arrival nevertheless decided me to free most of the men who escorted Timmes from Cauquigny; I sent them back towards the chapel. They helped to repulse the last German assault there.

So during the last 60 minutes, nothing more happened, except in Cauquigny. I repulsed two German assaults there. The AI didn't manage to position his HMG in a good firing position, so I never was in real danger. Nobody moved during the last 15 minutes.

So I clearly didn't behave historically. But I think that I behaved as many players would:

- this is a campaign's first mission, so one shall minimize the risks and especially casualties.

- Timmes and Miller are tagged as critical for the campaign, so nobody wil put them at risk if unnecessary.

- I occupied most of the VP locations, only letting go the one furthest away from my  initial deployment areas.

The strange thing is, I won the game without using 1/3 of my troops, and with another 1/3 staying still for half of the game...

I had the feeling to play two completely independant scenarios, and that's the way I won it: Levy and Timmes at Cauquigny, and Miller at Amfreville.

I hope this AAR helps!

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1 hour ago, PEB14 said:

AAR Boots on the Ground

I just finished the scenario. I played until full time (2 hours), it took me about 6 hours.

Just as a reminder, I'm a newbie as this was only my 14th Combat Mission scenario.

I scored a "Total Victory" (15 casualties on my side, 59 on the German side). I got all location VP, except Assembly 2

As a "newbie" you can be forgiven. But it is best to begin such a detailed overview with the phrase "SPOILER ALERT" at the top of the post, so that people who are yet to play or finish the mission don't have their fun ruined.

If you wanted to just share your thoughts with @WimO you can always go to his profile and send him a private note. 

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