What games lead you to CM and what do you also play now?

[arpella72]

I was looking for a realistic wargame time ago and "Theatre of war" came across. It was a good game with a very good level of detail in balistics,damage modelling,etc. In fact, some modelling was better than the one in CM. I played a lot with it till I found Combat Mission. I tried Graviteam games but thought they are quiet good I found the IU was difficult to work with. Now, I,m looking forward to play a game that is due to be released soon. It's called "Task Force Admiral" and covers the air/naval fighting in the Pacific during WWII. It looks great and it strechtes from both the tactical and operational layers. What is more, I need a change and I,m a bit tired of muddy,snowy, wooded landscapes. Sunny Pacific awaits me. 

Anchors aweigh ! 

[Brille]

Interesting topic so far.

Well I´m pretty divers in terms of gaming and can play games in any direction be in simulations, roleplay, action adventures and so on.

But coming to CM took a while back then. I guess the first step in this direction was with Sudden Strike , which wasn´t by far a serious wargame sure but that one  I played very often at a friends house. After that we transitioned to Blitzkrieg which was a pretty similar game but with a more realistic touch to it.

I played that one to the bone with it´s addons, be it in singleplayer or LAN against my friends. (ah the good old LAN parties).

After that I got to Soldiers:Heroes of world war 2 (predecessor of Men of War) and Codename Panzers (Phase 1 and 2).

Those 2 games couldn´t be any different. The first one had a good realistic feeling to it with it´s damage model and ballistics (especially with mods). And with the direct control of units it had a unique gameplay for strategy games at the time. Codename Panzers was a more arcadey approach to the matter and the most played on actual online multiplayer at the time by me. It had some decent story in single player too though.

But it was at that time I got notice of the CMx1 games. Since Sudden Strike, Blitzkrieg and Codename Panzers were published by the same company (CDV), I was more or less active on their forums. And it turned out that they were publishing the Combat Mission series for the german market too.

But my younger self being spoiled by better graphics I viewed it as an very oddly looking game series at that time and not worth of my time.

It then so happens that a guy prepared a narrational Combat Mission:Barbarossa to Berlin event on the forums (GAGAExtrem where are you ? ). He would play a battle with units that the community would choose and those units would be named after those participants. They could also choose what to do with the units and he would translate that into the game.

My unit was a Panzerschreck team by the way. (And I even got some kills )

This event with all it´s pictures and videos was an eye opener for me and I just needed to have these games. That´s when a few days after I got myself the Combat mission anthology, CMBO, CMBB, CMAK combined. It just feeded my need of realism with good overview and control over situations.

And I sticked to these games ever since.

[Vinnart]

I was reluctant to try Cmx1 since I was very big into Sudden Strike 2 real time multiplayer at the time, but an old buddy from the military kept bugging me to try an email game. Needless to say after a few turns I was hooked. Been playing ever since, and beta testing the game for about ten yrs now. I still play around with Sudden Strike 2 now and then with the Real Warfare Mod. It's certainly not the realistic game CM is, but fun nostalgic and like the art/ animations.

Free stand alone version of Sudden Strike 2 Real War Mod full game if you want to check it out. It's old, but it just is charming to look at. I guess now I understand why model trains were a hobby once.

https://www.sudden-strike-maps.de/index.php/sudden-strike-rw/rwm-8-5/category/113-rwm-8-5

Edited September 2, 2023 by Vinnart

[B2-Spirit]

6 hours ago, Brille said:

It then so happens that a guy prepared a narrational Combat Mission:Barbarossa to Berlin event on the forums (GAGAExtrem where are you ? ). He would play a battle with units that the community would choose and those units would be named after those participants. They could also choose what to do with the units and he would translate that into the game.

My unit was a Panzerschreck team by the way. (And I even got some kills )

That's a good idea for a battle. Also you'd have the added pressure of not wanting to let anyone down by getting their unit slaughtered 

[herr_oberst]

Avalon Hill on the tabletop in all forms... then Close Combat (I loved shepherding a Kubel w/a MG42 on it behind a hedgerow), then found CMBO Alpha AAR (Fionn and someone?) with 3 pixeltruppen marching along as squads -- mind-blowing at the time, and watched VoT, then played, driving a Tiger in 3d, feeling invincible (however short-lived). Been CMxx ever since.

[kohlenklau]

 

[JoMac]

For me, it all started when Dad got me into WWII HO ROCO & Airfix Tabletop minis, then Micro-Armor...Then, TV Computer games such as PONG and Atari's Air-Land-Sea Combat, etc (ok, maybe those don't count as much)...Then, board games such Panzer Blitz AH, ACW, Star-Fleet Battles Board ADB/Star-Trek Combat Simulator FASA...Then, back to 15mm WWII & ACW Tabletop minis...Then, Computer Games such as Apples SSI Series, then Talon Soft's East-West Front Series...Then, finally CMx1 CMBO back in 2002 (got it when CMBB came out), then CMx2 CMBN probably back in 2013.

Yeah, it's a small list, but all good...Where is John Kettler when you need him? RIP my Friend.

Edited September 7, 2023 by JoMac

[Ithikial_AU]

I was one of the "young ones" back in the CMBO days still being in high school when that was released. I think I was 15 when it was released. I was also both a miniature and card/hex wargamer at the time, so add on a love of history meant CMBO/CMBB/CMAK scratched a lot of itches in scope and scale. Playing as my native Aussies in North Africa in a computer wargame was (and still is) an incredibly rare opportunity. I had to move away from the CM community in the back half of my University study as it was gobbling up far too much of my time. Came back into the fold after I had finished my graduate-ship and set down some career roots, so that was just before the release of the NATO module for CMSF1.

Would love to be happily retired, play a long running physical hex wargame in my lounge room during the day and Combat Mission in my study in the evening. Okay a little excessive but can't see myself not doing something in this space for a while yet.

[WimO]

Start Age 8: Elastolin knights, castles and siege engines. Then followed in order: Airfix HO WWII Brits and German figures and Sherman and Panther tank kit in scale to match; Monogram model knights, accumulated toy knights and castles of all sorts ending with Swoppets Wars of the Roses and Elastolin 4 cm Romans. .... pause during high school ... In university restarted: Avalon Hill and SPI boardgames (innumerable), restarted Airfix HO scale Napoleonics, Romans and Brits, Robin Hood etc etc.; modelling Airfix and Historex Airfix 54 mm Napoleonics and many other figs.; settled into 15 mm Wars of the Roses minis, Wings of War WWI minis and 28 mm gladiators. Monthly minis historical gaming club. First computer wargames Samurai and Rome Total War. FIrst WWII computer game Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin. And here I am in CMBN and all CM WWII titles. 300 Samurai minis waiting for a paint job. Over 65 years of wargaming. The social life of miniature gaming is the best. Computer Wargaming has the advantage of faster play than minis and fewer rules to read or argue over.

[landser]

Similar for me to many posting here. I played CC1 and CC2 prior to picking up CMBO. Steel Panthers was probably my first proper wargame. I was also playing some of the Talonsoft games from the 90s, the Battleground series.

Steel Panthers though is what I credit for kickstarting my interest in all things WW2. Here is where I learned what a Wolverine was, or a Matilda, a Hellcat and all the guns and other weapons systems.I was in my early twenties and knew what WW2 was, but not much more.  This was the beginning of my descent in to grog.

My older brother played Steel Panthers too. I can still recall a battle we played hotseat. This was thirty years ago, mind. I was Germans and he was the British. it was a wide open desert map. I had only discovered what a dual purpose 88 actually meant just a couple days before. So I had deployed a line of 88s backstopping my positions. When my brother's armor appeared on the open terrain I would spring the trap and destroy him in detail. Delighting in the anticipation of my masterful strategery.

On the first turn he sent over a bomber strike that wiped out my 88s before they fired a shot

[Centurian52]

1 hour ago, WimO said:

Computer Wargaming has the advantage of faster play than minis and fewer rules to read or argue over

I think the advantage of computer wargaming is that it can have way more rules. It's just that the human player doesn't need to learn any of them, because the rules are being read and executed by a cpu instead. It takes a lot of very complex rules to properly model reality. I think one of the biggest limitations of any tabletop game is that you are very limited in how many rules you can have before you start to overwhelm the human players with the complexity.

[Thomm]

Close Combat 2

Could only play it on my aunt's computer.
She did not really understand my fascination with it, though.

 

 

 

[Flibby]

My first wargame, if you can call it that, was North and South on the Atari ST. Then some others such as Historyline 14-18 before I got a PC and the usual Close Combat route. With a growing family I mainly play vs the computer which is a shame but it's useful to test out tactics.

[sawomi]

Theatre Europe (C64) -> Red Storm Rising (C64) -> Battle Isle games (Amiga) -> Jagged Alliance (PC) -> Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles (PC) -> Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far (PC) -> Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord [beta] (PC)

Edited September 15, 2023 by sawomi

[Duckman]

I've played a lot of flight sims, RTS games, and some paper wargames but the big one that eventually led to CM was Close Combat.

I was a superfan and played all the old versions. CM is a lot like the CC you dreamed about back then, even if can't totally match it for simple charm. Of course both have some distorted ASL lineage. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Duckman

[ratdeath]

Scramble (VIC20) -> Gunship (C64) -> Red Storm Rising (still awesome) (C64) -> Second Front "Germany turns East" (Amiga) -> Steel Panthers (PC) -> Falcon 4.0 -> Close Combat 3 -> Combat Mission

With many, many hours in Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies & EverQuest 2.

[sawomi]

2 hours ago, ratdeath said:

Scramble (VIC20)

this one?

There very first video game, I played till I had 'won' (means I managed to fly a whole loop)

[ratdeath]

3 hours ago, sawomi said:

this one?

There very first video game, I played till I had 'won' (means I managed to fly a whole loop)

Yup. And classics like Frogger

[marklaker]

Stick figures drawn on school paper in place of assigned math problems => SPI/AH boardgames => Steel Panthers => Talonsoft Battleground Series => SPWAW => CM1.  

[sfhand]

For me it all started with Pong... I've dabbled and dived into all types of games since. I don't CM much anymore but that could change on a whim. As a gamer I find there are a lot of fantastic games to appreciate and enjoy. The last time I dabbled in CM it was like I never played before, those who've vanquished me in H2H will not be surprised by this  But don't write me off, like MacArthur, I shall return.

[JoMac]

Ah Yes, 'Pong'...I remember that being one of my first Video Game Systems.

[Rob2020]

My wargaming history is probably like many others, having started with board games. I was very lucky in that Avalon Hill's The Russian Campaign happened to be my first real wargame, back in '77, bought at a Brentano's bookstore in Queens, NY, when I didn't even know such things existed. To date, it is still considered one of the best ever made, and considering the many dogs I could've picked that might have turned me off the hobby, I was lucky. Dabbled in a few other classic AH titles in those early years, but never too seriously.

In '85 I bought a C-64 and spent many hours playing many SSI wargame titles, along with a few others (eg, Silent Service, Dungeon Master). Same for the Amiga a few years later. It was on the Amiga, in 1994 that I first played-by-email extensively, although only one game - Gary Grigsby's Second Front (forerunner of his War in the East). PBEM'd that for the better part of the year against a guy. The game actually didn't have a PBEM system built in, we just exchanged save-game files. We got half-way through when I had to quit because I was moving to another state, albeit only temporarily.

Played a lot of Empire Deluxe (newer version available here) in those days too, along with the original Civilization and Railroad Tycoon.

Also in the early 1990's, I had a subscription to Computer Gaming World, hands down the best computer gaming magazine ever published. Nowadays, all issues are available for free here. If you're a younger player and have never heard of this magazine, check it out, especially the early 1990's issues, and you will be amazed at the quality of the production. It's probably still a good resource for people contemplating playing older games, perhaps on DOSbox.

Due to my move, I was out of the computer gaming picture for several years, between 1994 and about 1998, when I got my first MS compatible computer. However, the damage was done, and I was never again to be as avid a gamer as I was in the earlier years. One of the titles I've always regretted missing out on during those "missing years" were Grigsby's Steel Panthers series. Still, in the later 90's I played some Civ2, followed by Civ3, probably some more Empire Deluxe and a few lesser titles. By that time, I hadn't boardgamed for 20 years, but kept track of the goings on through the 'net.

Got into the original Combat Mission in 2000. The hype for it in the online wargaming circles was daunting, mostly through word-of-mouth, and the game did not disappoint in the least. It was an epiphany. It simply blew away all other tactical computer wargames. Barbarossa and Afrika Korps followed and I played them, although again, not with the fervor of my earlier gaming years.

Also around that time I acquired the games I had missed out on, but never got into any of them. I still have them all, including the updated Shrapnel Games version of Steel Panthers Main Battle Tank, but have only tinkered with it. The old graphics are kind of a turn off.

It was the later 2000's when I found a steady PBEM opponent and we played the original trio of CM games for about two years. We would only play scenarios blind - that is, only scenarios that neither of us had played, and only by reading the general briefing and our own respective briefing. This is really the only way CM scenarios should be played, in my opinion - and only once. Although I've never created a scenario myself, this method gave me some insight into how I think scenarios should be constructed, and maybe one of these days I'll share those opinions. Most of the scenarios we ended up playing were reasonably good, some were very good, and a small number were not so good. Even though we played for about two years, we only ever played one scenario at a time, so we ended up playing maybe 40-50 total - not really that many.

Although I had an almost-top-of-the-line computer built in 2008 (the one I'm still using), I never took the plunge into CMx2 - I mean the ones starting with Shock Force. I just had other stuff going on in real life and computer gaming didn't appeal as much to me as it did years earlier. I did visit the BFC website and glanced over the forums from time to time, but never bought any of the newer games.

One game I did get into, starting about 2012, was making houses for Sims 2. To this day, I'm addicted to house building for that game, and the game remains considerably popular, with many people saying it is still the best in the series. I've never actually played the game too much, I just like making houses for it and uploading them for others to play. I'm also still occasionally playing Civ3. Never progressed beyond that because in my opinion the games starting with Civ4 are fatally flawed (can't move over mountains for the duration of the game? Really? Sorry, that breaks it for me). Still also play Railroad Tycoon II Platimun from time to time, a great game and the best in that series, imo.

I only recently upgraded from Win7 to Win10 and decided to look into CM again. I've only downloaded a couple of the demos so far, and have only fired up one of them. I dunno, I'll probably buy a title or two eventually, although wargaming just doesn't appeal to me as much as it once did.

I dunno, but between real life, surfing the 'net, and watching videos at various sites, there's just not much time left for actual gaming. Especially not if a game has a steep learning curve. It's not the games' fault, but my own apathy and laziness.

 

This got played to death, back in '85-'88:

 

The map graphics were stunning. The green dot is Midway Island. The blue thingies are task forces. The red thingie is just the cursor. Regardless, this game was tense!:

Edited November 2, 2023 by Rob2020