Road to Montebourg

[Paper Tiger]

Voldonikov & Bimmer

thanks very much for the detailed AAR's. I really appreciate it. I like to see what people are doing when they play my missions. I try to anticipate what a player will do when I'm scripting my AI plans and it seems like I'm doing a reasonably good job so far It also reads like you guys got AI plans 2 and 4 respectively. That helps me as well.

Perrmanent666

nice screenshot! I hope you'll post more. The maps look their best when viewed right down at ground level. Good luck with mission 2.

[Myles Keogh]

I fought the first mission for a Major Victory. I didn't get under 10% friendly casualties for the Total Victory despite trying very hard to minimize losses: sending scouts out and lot's of fire supression before making any move. However, I still lost 15 killed/severely wounded and 7 lightly wounded.

One thing I do love about CMBN over CMx1 is how actually seeing each individual casualty represented really strikes home how careful you've got to be with your pixelmen's lives. In CMx1, I often acted like a deranged Soviet commissar by ordering Larry, Curly, and Moe to take incredible risks with their lives. That has not been the case with CMBN.

I still shake my head over some of my losses from the opening scenario: a single mortar round knocked out my entire heavy machine gun team except for one man, and later a building collapsed on the 1st platoon's HQ killing the lieutenant and the platoon sergeant (I'm still not sure what caused the building to collapse other than it was already badly damaged when the platoon HQ entered it. Another German mortar round, perhaps?) The first platoon also had a couple squads shot up at close quarters. One squad assaulted a building and ran into a semi-deployed MG-42 team positioned behind a hedgerow next to that house. Five men had entered the house and only one was able to flee back to the rest of the squad. Another 1st platoon squad split into assault and fire teams. I sent the assault element into a heavily wooded area to hunt down what I assumed were broken and fleeing Germans. Instead, they ran into a German platoon HQ that promptly shot three of the four men including the squad leader. I would have never remembered these sort of incidents with CMx1, but CMBN really does strike home how deadly a WWII battlefield could be.

[pagskier]

Damn I got stopped in front of Ecqhonoville, Fox compagny I lost 2 tanks and more than 30% of My troop due to this damn AT gun... I keep my 105 but always got wrong firemissiong that were falling short.

I manage to turn around the town and get in town with my hook force through the fields. But it seems that I didn't have enough time and got a tie...

Now I'm going with E compagny through the surrounding towns... I'm at le Hameau right now...

My question is: Will I have the chance to renew the attack on eqcoville? or I'll follow E compagny now?

[vetacon]

This campaign is phenomenal; I'm halfway through mission 3 and can barely tear myself away.

The infantry modelling in CMBN is perfectly suited to these sorts of battle. Gotta love those big ole US infantry squads - that's some firepower.

As if all this weren't impressive enough, if you look at Ecoqueneauville on satellite view of Google maps you'll be stunned by the similarity to the mission map.

Paper Tiger - I salute you sir. How many man hours did this monster consume in construction?

[Chainsaw]

Im loving this campaign!

PT, will you release the scenarios as singles later on? some of these scenarios I sure would love to play again as single missions or PBEM!

Im starting on "Hell in the Hedgerows" and the name of the scenario don't sounds to promising

[Clavicula_Nox]

I love this campaign, PaperTiger. I am currently on the mission following Turnbull's and, I must say, that as a paratrooper, I am very appreciative of the care and design you have given to these scenarios. I have read about Turnbull's action in LTG Gavin's memoir On to Berlin! and smiled as soon as I saw the scenario title.

I echo Chainsaw's request for the missions to be uploaded as single scenarios.

[Paper Tiger]

pagskier

Yes, you'll follow E Company though the rest of the series of battles for the Georgian Ridge (2 more missions only). They will have to perform the assault on le Hamelet from the south immediately after they capture le Grand Hameau. There are actually some advantages to that. I look forward to hearing how you get on with the E Company branch.

vetacon

I really enjoy playing Infantry-centric battles with company sized forces and so I made a whole campaign of missions that suited me. I'm glad you are enjoying them. This campaign probably won't appeal so much to the mech-heads and armour fans though. There are some tanks and support vehicles in some of the missions but most of the time, the foot-sloggers are on their own. There are some pretty awesome artillery assets coming in the later battles though

Each map in the campaign is a very accurate representation of the real world location .... today. Fortunately, unlike Syria, there are ample street-view photos on Google Earth that allow us to see these small hamlets and by observing the buildings types, it was possible to discern which were likely to be there in WW2 and which were of later construction. You'll also find that the elevations are extremely accurate too. In fact, getting the elevations done properly was the most time-consuming aspect of creating these maps. It helps to have some good music to listen to while doing that.

It's probably not much of an exaggeration to say that I spent about 800 hours constructing this campaign. Considerably more if you include the time I spent doing the necessary research required to construct the campaign.

Chainsaw

I am really looking forward to hearing you you fare with that mission. The le Ham series of battles were the most time-consuming missions to create as I wanted them to be special. They are the core of the campaign. Bear in mind while you play it that the Allies got their asses kicked by the defenders in this mission so the historical result would probably be a Total German Victory.

Regarding releasing them as stand-alones, I'm working on converting some of these maps to QB maps. They will be very highly specialised though and will only be playable as Infantry-centric battles only. I have already converted le Grand Hameau into a small QB map and it plays very much like the scenario, only with more uncertainty. Playing them PBEM? I'd have to rework the German set-up zones to make these missions playable in that way. I use a rather convoluted method to create my AI set up plans and I doubt the German player would appreciate the restrictions they impose. But we'll see...

[Paper Tiger]

Clavicula

I got to use all three of the main infantry formations in this campaign, and I confess that the 2/505 missions were probably my favourite missions. Turnbull's Stand, les Licornets, Breakthrough/Stalemate and Holding Action all have beautiful maps. I doubt I'd know which one to pick as my favourite although I supect most folks will pick the Breakthrough map when they finally get to see it. Turnbull's Stand got a lot of attention from the start, right up to the end. I was deeply impressed after reading the accounts of his platoon's incredible stand and wanted to do it justice. About six weeks before the game was released, I reread Keegan's account of his stand and returned to the map to put in the high hedgerow and the large compost heap. Once I redid it, I was very happy with it. It does make for a cracking stand-alone too and I play it over and over again.

That's an 81mm mortar zeroing in on these guys firing positions.

[Chainsaw]

Chainsaw

I am really looking forward to hearing you you fare with that mission. The le Ham series of battles were the most time-consuming missions to create as I wanted them to be special. They are the core of the campaign. Bear in mind while you play it that the Allies got their asses kicked by the defenders in this mission so the historical result would probably be a Total German Victory.

I loved the Scenario! my god you had me on my toes 95% of the time!

But this is how I faired, OK result?

(WEGO, IRON mode and no restarting.)

Gonna try to write up a AAR on this battle later on

[Paper Tiger]

Chainsaw

That's probably the best result I've ever seen for that mission. Time limit reached too! I was worried that it might prove too difficult and that it would 'break' the campaign. Congratulations. I'll look forward to reading the AAR. Then I'll know which of the 4 AI plans you got.

[Comandante]

Understood in terms of gameplay, but really this seems more appropriate for a CMSF type theatre, unlike Nomandy where units suffered alot of casualties in order to achieve objectives.

It would be more realistic if your losses were replaced by low quality troops rather than not getting enough troops to make it through. Although I'm only into about the sixth mission so my comments maybe premature.

I didn't use the road much at all in the first phase - I went through the hedgerows by using my combat engineers and came up on the first farm house complex through the fields. A squad of infantry moved along the road short of the first junction and took the first line of defenders in the flank.

After that, moving onto the three story building on the right that dominates the church and most of the town was easy. I put my artillery observer on the third level and bombarded the objective with everything I had.

When my infantry moved into the town they engaged the AT gun and killed the crew. I lost 1 tank and was on the verge of a total victory when the game crashed! I was too pissed off to play the same battle again and moved to the Pz Lehr campaign instead.

[Paper Tiger]

Sounds a lot like what I usually do when playing that mission too. Bummer about the game crashing though. There's no guarantee that when you return to the campaign that you'll get the same AI plan either.

Good luck with the German campaign.

[Chainsaw]

Chainsaw

That's probably the best result I've ever seen for that mission. Time limit reached too! I was worried that it might prove too difficult and that it would 'break' the campaign. Congratulations. I'll look forward to reading the AAR. Then I'll know which of the 4 AI plans you got.

Thank you very much! I would have lesser casualty's if I hadn't screw up the smoke mission when crossing the Creek... but that's life, happened in real life to! (I never reload a scenario in a campaign. Only if it was the AI doing something terrible stupid, if it was my fault I live with it and move on)

Here is the AAR

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23950968/Hell%20in%20the%20Hedgerows%20AAR.pdf

[Paper Tiger]

Chainsaw

Thanks for posting that. I've downloaded the PDF file and read quickly through it. I'll have to read it more carefully to figure which AI plan you got but at the moment, it looks a bit like Plan 3. Getting feedback like that makes all the work put into creating campaigns worthwhile.

[Chainsaw]

Is there any difference in the level of opposition in the different plans? or same units but moved around? so I just didnt have the pure luck of getting the weaker forces plan?

[Paper Tiger]

The AI plan will only determine where the units set up at the start of the mission and what they will do as the mission clock advances. Some placements are better able to counter the move you made through la Vallee. Two of them will make the left flank a very difficult proposition. It looks like you got one of the other two. And one of those two makes la Vallee into a small fortress. So, whichever plan you got, you did the right thing to beat it. You might not be so lucky next time.

BTW, in the early stages of developing this mission, the Germans had some very serious artillery assets on call including some Nebelwerfers. (handihoc and Seabee never saw that version) At that time, this mission was near impossible to win without losing about 50% of your force. Since cutting the nebelwerfers and the 120mm mortars from the German OB, it looked doable without stressing out the player too much playing it. It should be fun.

I will wait and see how other folks fair when they reach this mission. Now, you're onto 'Breakthrough'. Good luck with that one.

[Fetchez la Vache]

I don't know how you chaps do it. I've been playing for 4 days now and I'm still on mission number 2...

... and thoroughly loving it. :-)

[BigDork]

Hey all. I just played through the 2nd battle (again) and did a small AAR as I went along. You can check it out here.

Paper Tiger... great job. I don't think I've had so much fun while swearing so much in a long time. Can't wait to keep going.

[PondScum]

Turnbull's Stand got a lot of attention from the start, right up to the end. I was deeply impressed after reading the accounts of his platoon's incredible stand and wanted to do it justice. About six weeks before the game was released, I reread Keegan's account of his stand and returned to the map to put in the high hedgerow and the large compost heap. Once I redid it, I was very happy with it. It does make for a cracking stand-alone too and I play it over and over again.

Damn - now I feel bad about wimping out on Turnbull's Stand for a draw! My only actions were to plink 2/3 of the AI's armor, and then drop mortar fire on a hedgerow where it was massing for an attack. The number of infantry icons in two *other* locations convinced me that my forces wouldn't hold, and I didn't want to lose the 500pts if the AI touched a victory location before I exited, so I bugged out. Turns out I didn't quite kill enough to gain 500pts for casualties inflicted

The maps are awesome, and the AI setups have included some very tricky problems. I am learning that an MG42 is never gone until you've physically seen all of its crew either dead or run away, that an MP40 is a thing of terror in close-range ambushes, and that Shermans are mobile .30-cal pillboxes that can suppress an enemy all day (>4k rounds of ammunition!). The one bright spot is that so far I've never been seriously mortared, because I keep my forces spread out and moving.

Huge thanks for this - I was a little leery about playing mostly-infantry battles, but I'm learning so much more about game mechanics, and having a blast while doing so - it's everything a great campaign should be!

[Fetchez la Vache]

Huge thanks for this - I was a little leery about playing mostly-infantry battles, but I'm learning so much more about game mechanics, and having a blast while doing so - it's everything a great campaign should be!

Completely agree. I would have avoided these type of infantry missions like the plague in any of the CMx1 games. Now I'm finding infantry more interesting to play than armour.

[pagskier]

On Le hameau, I got on obj. but got a Tie again!! Twice on obj.

I always get the 2 first points but I always got friendly fire kills that is a Tie.

Now I just restarted the campaing. Had that damn barb wire with no bangalore had to turn around and that inflicted me some good casualties. Again had too much FF... lol I wonder how I do that.

Since I'm a newb and I play at Iron I think I do ok... But I need learn a bit more strategy... I'm waiting for the paper manuel to get in so I can do the tutorial campaing

While I'm learning it the hard way. I'm a die hard CC player so I got a lot of tactics Dialed in. Keeping it brit tactics by leading usually 2 compagny front with a leapfrog on the 3rd one in the back. On such map with support weapon covering from the flank. This way I keep an agressive Firepower on my obj. and try to follow my barrage and smoke. I'm having difficulty having the right timing.

On this ecqueville I plan on Going 2 comp. by the fields and 1 comp. by the sunken road again. with a wide move around. Having effective firepower, I think i'll manage to get in town again. Now I need to take care of that damn 75mm... I spread my forces a bit more this way But I feel that my 2 comp. leapfroging in the fields will overcome any effective firepower by the flanks.

If I get it right there is no way to ressuply mortars between the battles?

[Clavicula_Nox]

First screenshot is from one of the earlier missions with 2/8, but I can't remember which:

Side shot on a StuG III in Les Licornet:

Of my casualties, I would say just 50% were leaders, 2 platoon leaders, 1 platoon XO (leaving the platoon to be led by a Staff Sergeant), 1 Tank Commander, and 2 squad leaders.

[bodkin]

I'm finding the Neuville au Plain mission the hardest so far, I just can't seem to get near the objectives within the time limit without taking heavy casualties.

[Paper Tiger]

BigDork

I read your AAR. Thanks again for posting that. Unfortunately, I can't see the screenshots as imageshack doesn't let Indonesia use it. There are a lot of piracy issues here so that's understandable. Good luck at Hameau. It should be a reasonably easy fight depending on how you appraoch the village and the AI plan.

Clavicula

Again, that's one of the best results I've seen playing les Licornets. It can be pretty brutal if you don't do it right. I can tell from the screenshot you posted which AI plan you got. The other would have been tougher on your left flank move . It's VERY satisfying pulling that flanking move off and getting a bazooka team on the StuG's flank. I've had some great fights on that map. And the other screenshot comes from the Grand Hameau mission (#3).

pagskier

I think you'll find all the help you need to get you through the Tutorial campaigns in the briefings themselves so it wouldn't hurt to go through them first before getting too deep into Montebourg. With regards to your question about resupplying the mortars between missions, your forces will receive full resupply after each series. There is no resupply between the three missions that comprise the 2/8's assault on the Georgian ridge as it's just one battle divided into three manageable actions. If I'd wanted to, I could have made that one large map as the three locations are all quite close to each other. But I play in RT and so find the smaller size more manageable. Your mortars will be resupplied in full after the Hamelet mission (#4)

bodkin

Again, a lot depends on your approach to the objective and the AI plan you get. I try to make each AI set up strong v one approach. It sounds like you're approaching against the AI plan's anticipated direction.

And to you other guys, thanks for your comments as well. I love the CMx2 Infantry game. Even in CMSF, I felt the light infantry formations were the most fun to play with. And each map in this campaign got a lot of lovin' over the course of its development. Each time I played the mission I made small tweaks and improvements to the map so they were all 'works in progress' right up until the weekend before the game was released. I kind of miss working on them now although I expect, one day, I'll expand this to include some of the fighting on the road to Cherbourg. Then, I'll tweak them further.

[PondScum]

First screenshot is from one of the earlier missions with 2/8, but I can't remember which:

That's from the 3rd battle, "La Grand Hameau"

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I encountered the AT gun in the same spot, and my assault on it looked exactly like your screenshot