Game Scale

[Erik Springelkamp]

In Combat Mission the scale is company/battalion (you can take a few battalions, but that will take a lot of computing power).

However, many large operations involved far larger formations, who were often closely cooperating during an offensive.

In CM, we often have to attack over several phase lines, and attrition is usually felt by the time the attack reaches the second or even third phase line.

In a large operation, wouldn't it be desirable to have the first wave take the first phase line, then bring up fresh troops to take the next obstacle, etc.

This would lead to much lower % losses per unit (as is argued in other threads is historical).

This occurred to me while I was playing a few scenarios of Highway to the Reich and Battle for the Bulge by Panther Games, where a company is a single counter, and successful attacks often involved an assault in successive lines.

[Sgt Joch]

this is already in game.

In a scenario, you can have reinforcements arrive at any time in the game.

In the campaign, you track a core unit, usually a company throughout the campaign. However, you can receive additional forces in any one battle.

It all depends on the imagination of the scenario designer.

[Broadsword56]

Sounds logical, but not so much when you really look into the peculiarities of this particular campaign in Normandy in the summer of '44:

* Yes, in theory battalions cooperated on attacks -- at least on paper, as far as the orders that came down from division HQ. So the map overlays would show starting times, objectives, phaselines, battalion boundaries, etc.

*But in practice, the bocage terrain meant each battalion was really "fighting its own private war." While battalions were usually in radio or phone contact through higher HQ, they really couldn't see each other or cooperate effectively. It was extremely challenging even for battalions to get their companies coordinated. US accounts of the time seem to constantly mention companies and even entire battalions getting lost or out of contact. Normandy was truly a battalion commander's campaign.

*Yes, it would be great if fresh units would be available to come up in a CMBN battle to take the next obstacle, etc. But again, consider...

-- The time scale of a typical CMBN battle scenario (2 hours, 1 hour or even less).

-- In this Normandy campaign, before Operation Cobra, the gains or losses of terrain from hour to hour or day to day were very very small -- often times just a few thousand meters, or a single apple orchard, or nothing at all.

-- At the scale of 1 battalion, if you use the "2 up, 1 back" doctine of the time, then you've got your 2 rifle companies on the line and your 3rd rifle company is your reserve/flank guard/exploitation force. Anything beyond that is really beyond the scale of one CMBN battle and you should really just set up a new scenario representing the new situation.

--While battalions could move fresh companies up, bringing fresh battalions up was another thing entirely, and not something that really could easily be done in the midst of an active battle. The process was complicated and it made the units extremely vulnerable while it was taking place. So the US battalion commanders really sweated the details of how/when the fresh troops would advance and occupy the frontline hedgerow positions while the troops on the line withdrew, all without confusion and without letting the enemy know it was happening -- because the Germans were notorious for launching an immediate attack whenever they knew a unit change was taking place. So the handovers were usually done at night and in silence, etc.

Bottom line: CMBN seems (to me) just the right scale for this particular time and place in the war. The higher-level stuff is better simulated in a campaign or operational layer (using another game, as we've been discussing in other threads).

[Erik Springelkamp]

Thanks for the reactions.

I am just trying to understand the context of these CM battles better.

And I realise that those second line assaults I have been seeing in BFTB would set in hours after the first assault, which is beyond the time scale of CMBN.

[MikeyD]

The game scenarios won't be too far outside of the *sweet spot* in terms of preferred gameplay, for obvious reasons. But remember purchasing the title doesn't just give you access to what's in the download. It'll also give you access to every size and shape of battle from anyone who wants to build & post for the forum for years to come. The v1.00 game download is only the starting point. I count 300 scenarios on my folder for CMSF currently.

[Wodin]

^+1 seriously before you iknow it you'll have untold campaigns and scenarios and other mods....CMBN alone will keep you happy for years and thats before the modules are released..