Vehicles to expect in the Commonwealth Module: A conjecture

[Sequoia]

Yes I know, I have still LOTS of things I haven't tried in the base game, and calling it the Commonwealth Module may be a misnomer etc. But I looked at vehicles available in CMBO during the June to August time frame and came up with this list. I give it here to start a discussion of what we might be seeing in the first module. In this list I am making the big assumption that we will have flamethrowers by then:

Stuart V

Sherman II

Sherman IIc Firefly

Sherman III

Sherman V

Sherman Vc Firefly

Cromwell IV

Cromwell VI

Cromwell VII

Cromwell VIII

Churchill VI

Churchill VII

Churchill VIII

Centaur IV

Wolverine

Sexton

Churchill AVRE

M5 Halftrack

Universal Carrier

Universal Carrier with Bren mg

Universal Carrier with Vickers mg

Damlier AC

Humber Scout car

Churchill Crocodile FT

Jeep

Jeep with MG

Truck

and maybe a Staghound armored car or two though this was not in CMBO.

Also maybe as they were just introduced in August are the Challenger tank and the Wasp flametrower vehicle.

Battlefront went into much more detail with early, mid and late variations in CMBN than they did in CMBO so we may see more variations again. You'll notice most of these will require entirely new models. My understanding is model construction takes longer for CMX2 than CMX1.

For the Germans the word has been to expect the King Tiger, maybe both variations and the Jagdpanzer V.

All in all a lot of content and work for the module. Fortunately, there's plenty to keep us busy until then thanks to the scenario and campaign makers.

[Lt Belenko]

The Churchill FT is the important one on the list. If its there, then BFC has solved the flame issues.

[sburke]

Not from my Landsers perspective...they prefer BFC kindly let that slip.

[Gpig]

Don't forget the Canadian WASP (universal carrier with TONNEs of napalm)

And the . . . uh . . . I forget what it's called. Twin 20mm AA guns in a turret, mounted on a Cromwell chassis. What're they called again?

Gpig

[Sequoia]

Got the Wasp in there at the end along with the Challenger as vehicles that may or may not fit into the June to August timeframe. The CMBO database says August but I don't know how accurate that is. Of course it also depends on if fire makes it into the game in time for the module. I'd much rather be in a Churchill Croc than a Wasp myself.

[MikeyD]

Me, I'd rather see Churchill IV 6 pounder in the game than the Croc (at least initially). After you've burned down the entire map 3-4 times it starts to lose it appeal. Britain had converted all their Churchills to 75mm before Normandy then re-converted something like 1-in-3 back to 6 pounder to act as tank section hole-punchers. 6-pounder with APDS was called the poor man's 17 pounder. Did considerably better than the US 57mm AP round with burster charge. And Brits had 6 pounder HE.

The list above forgot Achilles (M10 with 17 pounder). I did a nice little Achilles mod for CMAK back-in-the-day.

[GhostRider3/3]

I am curious if there will be the Hummel (150mm) and Wespe (105mm) SP Artillery for the Germans, after all, there finest panzer divisions were equiped with I believe 2 battery's of Wespe's and one Hummel SP batteries.

It would be nice to have them available for either the map or offboard artillery... maybe they are there but I have not seen them available.

[boresite]

Don't forget the Canadian WASP (universal carrier with TONNEs of napalm)

And the . . . uh . . . I forget what it's called. . What're they called again?

Gpig

Centauer AA Mark-I and -II?

[boresite]

Don't forget the Canadian WASP (universal carrier with TONNEs of napalm)

And the . . . uh . . . I forget what it's called. Twin 20mm AA guns in a turret, mounted on a Cromwell chassis. . What're they called again?

Gpig

Centauer AA Mark-I and -II?

[MikeyD]

I don't think Hummel and Wespe were much used for direct fire infantry support, and the guns may be too powerful for on-map indirect artillery support. Not to say that they won't show up in the game, but it'll be more out the goodness of Steve's heart than for any tactcal consideration.

Centaur AA - I may be wrong, but I'm not entirely sure they ever fired a shot in anger. As tank crews got depleted to an alarming rate I believe Centaur AA crews all got reassigned in short order.

[Gpig]

Crusader! That'a the A.A. tank I was thinking of. And most definitely, they fired many a shot in anger. Maybe not against axis aircraft, but ground targets.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=32546

[sburke]

Crusader! That'a the A.A. tank I was thinking of. And most definitely, they fired many a shot in anger. Maybe not against axis aircraft, but ground targets.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=32546

Those guys don't look like anything would anger them. I think I will leave the rest of my comments about how they appear to myself...

[Sequoia]

The list above forgot Achilles (M10 with 17 pounder). I did a nice little Achilles mod for CMAK back-in-the-day.

According to the CMBO database the Achilles doesn't appear until Jan '45 so we won't be seeing it until the Bulge game Commonwealth module. . The rearward facing Archer appears in Oct '44. Not sure where that will fit in.

[Sequoia]

Crusader! That'a the A.A. tank I was thinking of. And most definitely, they fired many a shot in anger. Maybe not against axis aircraft, but ground targets.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=32546

The Crusader AA is Elmar B's favorite too but I don't think we'll be seeing it, or any Flakpanzers, quad aa halftracks, or any flak guns period until a good on map aa system gets worked in. The tea leaves seem to indicate this will come after fire is in so I'm guessing this will not happen in the Commonwealth module. What do your tea leaves say?

[wokelly]

I'm personally pretty excited for the Churchills, some tanks with some decent armour protection will be nice. A note for battlefront, the guys at WWIIOL recently discovered the Churchills gun mantlet on the Mark III and IV is actually 10cm thick, not 8.6cm thick like the turret armor is. One guy contacted a group restoring a Mark III, Mark IV and Mark VII and they measured the mantlet thickness by hand. Mark III and Mark IV have 10cm mantlets and the Mark VII has a 15.2cm mantlet.

You can see their website here:

http://www.churchilltank.com/Home_Page/Home.html

According to the CMBO database the Achilles doesn't appear until Jan '45 so we won't be seeing it until the Bulge game Commonwealth module. . The rearward facing Archer appears in Oct '44. Not sure where that will fit in.

There most certainly were Achilles (well 17pdr armed M10s) in Normandy. British Divisional AT brigades were 50% towed 17pdrs (with a few 6prdrs), and 50% M10s (with half with the 3" gun and the other half with 17pdr). Even a few photo's of KOed ones in Normandy.

Crusader! That'a the A.A. tank I was thinking of. And most definitely, they fired many a shot in anger. Maybe not against axis aircraft, but ground targets.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/item.php?product-id=32546

Certain scenario's need them. At St. Lambert the crusader AAs were used to engage German infantry as well as to run ammunition from the rear to the front. Apparently the 20mm fuzes were very sensitive, would detonate on tree branches or upon coming in contact with a human. There apparently is footage from the camera man at St. Lambert who went through a wooded area where the Crusader AAs had engaged German infantry. The Crusaders had shot into the trees and the wooden splinters along with the shrapnel had cut up all the Germans who had been infiltrating that way.

[Sequoia]

The CMBO database pdf which I downloaded from the Repository must be wrong about the Achilles then. Interesting. That's why I love these forums. Once upon a time there were these excell spreadsheets of when weapons appeared and fell out of use for all three cmx1 games. Would any one still happen to have those?