While I preferred the Combat Mission CMX 1 series for many years (until late last year, really. 10 years with Combat Mission, wow!) I really hate to say it, but that engine is officially dated, for me. I consider this a "CMX 1 version 2.". Buying it Monday and I preordered CMBN months ago. Fun vacay coming up!

link?

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/391/downloads/

demo download link: ftp://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/PanzerCommandOstfront/PanzerCommandOstfront-Demo-v327gB.exe

thx, wasn't sure i this was from Slitherian or something else.

Sorry, watching Gulliver's Travel with the family

Looks to be a nice game! Honestly I did not like Winterstorm. It was too much like Combat Mission, but at that time Combat Mission looked better, and I was really comfortable with the controls of the CM series, and it had alot more content than Winterstorm. Winterstorm struck me back then as a "Chinese Clone" of CMBB. But Ostfront, from the demo, seems like a high quality game, with a excellent attention to detail. The graphics, while not as detailed as the new CMBN, or Kharkhov '43, are extremely clean and well done. Nice demo, can't wait for the release!

so hows the gameplay with it...simular and as detailed in accuracy as the original CM series... haven't had time to download yet.

thx for the news BTW.

Just from judging the demo, and reading all the info about it on the web, I would rate this, like I said, a "Combat Misson: Barborossa to Berlin 2.0." Seems like it's going to be a solid release for the genre. I don't think it's any match for the CMX2 engine, but solid nonetheless.

I was at work earlier. I should have added that those of us used to playing CM, the view controls might rake some getting used to, as well as the combat system.

I like it... and seems to have alot of content coming in the full release... bad timing thou with CMBN coming anyday... but I'll support a smaller team like this.

thanks for the links!

I have heard good things about PC series. I, too have CM:B4N preordered and I will buy the PCO game when it is released.

It looks like the CM:B4N demo did not make it out last week.
hopefully this week?

The more I play the demo, the more I like it over the original CM series. The graphics are very clean (more along "table top minature clean," vs. "nice" or "cool" or "detailed."). Which isn't a bad thing at all, IMO. In fact the more I play it, the more I feel CBBN will have some good competion. In fact with CMBN coming out, I may never return to the original CM. The only thing I wish they would add, which may in fact be there, is animation for crewman escaping their vehicles, as well as have the dismounted crewmen being able to be combatants.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3290633.html#Post3290633

Thx for sharing this news, never heard of it...stopped following Matrix Games a while ago due to most being those grid grand strategy games I don't like much... but love this demo and the classics it seems based on...unofficially of course, lol.

Really, I am no longer awaiting CMBN like it's the second coming. I was never a big fan of BFC release/update policy -it alienates newly interested people to BFCs excellent line up. It's very snobbish, IMO. But it's their company, and for hyper realistic RTS, they were the only show in town. As cheesy as Matrix Games my appear to be to some, they have a good record with the grognards in keeping the genre alive. May 11 is the new release date for PCO, and I think BFC might have good reason to look in their rearview mirror. Competition is a very good thing!

Competition is a very good thing indeed but I don't believe PCO is anything near CMBN. IMHO, I don't think BF has anything to worry about. I am not too impressed with the demo, infantry ops leaves something to be desired.

While I wouldn't say PCO is near to CMBN, it is a solid second for releases in the genre for this year! I agree about the infantry comparison, BTW

Yeah, I haven't made up my mind on this yet but I am glad we got two games of this sort out for our enjoyment. The armor componant seems very well done. That infantry though just gives me pause. I know they have said the infantry model will be addressed in next upgrade of the series. I certainly hope so. I also am of the hope they completely redo the HUD interface. I find it poorly suited for giving the player the information he needs on the battlefield regarding units.

Have you found your infantry doing odd things? for instance, I have read reports where players state their infantry has been bailing out of APCs with pinned status when in the vicinity of mortar fire/artillery fire.

Yes I have actually. My panzergrenadier always seem to bail out of the half-tracks before they reach the objective...and I don't know why. It may be that I don't quite fully understand the orders commands yet and may have my infantry set wrongly. I'll be pouring through the manual later and see what I'm doing wrong...if anything.

I do not think you are doing anything wrong. Other players of the demo have mentioned that a mortar will land 50m from a loaded halftrack and a second later the halftrack crew has bailed and is pinned.

With the full release, I'm finding alot of "odd" things. The command system is really, & I hate to say it, but Bizarre. The pathfinding for "withdraw" needs alot of work. The manual is weak, at best. And a few other things. The new units look very well done to me, but the legacy units need alot of work, IMO. Still, overall, I recommend it to anyone serious about the genre. Pray-haps it just takes some getting used to, but some of the design decisions definately needs some revamping. In comparison to more modern games, PCO shows more of it's boardgame beginnings to be easy to get into to. Still a good game, but it needs modernization in the rule department.

Ya I bought the full version... a good game, (never played the earlier versions), but as I play I find myself saying... well thats not really right, usually with the interface and command and control... still good fun, and works on anything...even my old work laptop.

Downloading the full game now, since I got it free because I own PC-Kharkov.

So far I'm enjoying the Panzer Command Ostfront demo, but I have had the game crash on me a couple of times. So, I want to make sure this game is stable before purchasing it. Personally I like the realism and scenarios better than CM. That and their DRM (having been charged extra to re-download games I already bought) will keep me away from that series. The only downfall I've noticed so far, are the clunky movement orders. I can never seem to get my troops aligned in a logical manner in one turn.

It would be much easier if I could set the formation before giving any sort of movement order. It would be even better if the AI arranged them for me, or at least not allow them to move past my given waypoint. Currently I'm having certain squads move out of cover, going past my marked location. It's very frustrating. Maybe I'm missing something though, I'll have to read through the manual to make sure.

Yet another misinformed statement.

what are you talking about JayTac... i can go to my account at battlefront and view my keys and download any and all of my games i ever bought there... come on... if your going to post something like that, make sure it's factual please.

I just had to reset my BF Shock Force lic. because of a computer reformat and I had no issues with re downloading a game I bought in 2008.
BF is very nice.

As for the PCO controls: Going from CM to PC controls is a hard nut to crack. Older PC owners/ users already know all the complex commands to use.