German infantry advance into a village, supported by French armour, now in German service.
There are an unknown amount of American paratroopers in the vicinity...

Combat Mission?

French tanks were actually very good,pity they never deployed them effectively (unlike the Germans in the screenshots of course)

Yep, CM Battle for Normandy with a couple of vehicles from the new vehicle pack... the bottom picture of the Char B is wearing a modded skin by Aris.
Oh, and this model Char B has a flamethrower

Yes the French squandered their tank capacity by poor military leaders, that never gave them any serious strategic consideration, they had no Guderian who spend a decade after ww1 to develop, an effective tank deployment strategy.
The French divided all their tanks, by assigning 2 per infantry company all along the front, most where destroyed by 88s, Panzer MK II had no chance against Charr B tank.

Cheers
Walt

The side radiators were vulnerable I believe.

Indeed the French Char B was feared by the Germans and gave them a nasty surprise along with the Matilda II when there AT Pak guns at the time couldnt stop the tanks the few times they did go on the offensive before the fall of France.

Not really. They were a double-v louvre which had as much material in any line of fire as the side armour, and in advance of most German anti-tank weapons.

Only *one* vehicle was claimed to have been immobilised by hits near the louvres, and this is not a confirmed claim.

We do know that stopping this type (CharB bis) was a very tall order during 1940, though the Char B was a bit easier to knock out as it's armour was no thicker than that of the light tanks the French had available. (Still notable in being much thicker (up to twice as thick in the sides) than the German mediums).

Only German field artillery was useful against these tanks (direct fire from 105mm, 150mm howitzers and guns, and direct fire from 88mm and 105mm anti-aircraft guns).
As with all heavy tanks, fuel, mobility (ground conditions, bridges, width of routes ~ if only to permit turning), reliability were the main limitation. It was difficult to recover vehicles immobilised, and there were almost no suitable transporters to reduce the requirement for fuel and maintenance.

Renault R-35 is knocked out and crew killed as they try to probe around a bridge... (you can see the hit, just forward of the rear wheel)
The Char B moves up ready to take on the paratroops.

I used to play combat mission, but found something different.




Cheers
Walt

Thanks for the derailment...

If you like complex campaigns, depth of strategy, supply and troops management, this game leaves all in the dust.
In campaign play everything that happens matters, you are limited in resources, one lone AT gun might just knock out the last tank the enemy has and turn the tide in your favor, after the engagement the remaining troops are refitted if reserve is available, and carried forward to the next battle, so if you rush in headless you may not have much of a army left by the third engagement, the game is infinitely configurable to suit your play wishes, its a steep learning curve, the 3d battle field is unequaled by any game of its kind, that's just my opinion.

Its impossible to go back to CM after you play this and get the hang of it, its to bad the Dev's
don't want to do western or north Africa scenarios, it would open a large market for them, the Russians
seem to make strange business decisions these days, when it comes to military or flight Sims.

Cheers
Walt

I have all the WWII Combat Mission titles. I also have all the Graviteam WWII titles and will buy the next one Mius front as well... there is room on my hard for more

lol barking up the wrong tree I guess?

I privately ask gravieteam about 2 years ago to make western WW2 addons , they said no!

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Northrop Grumman Corporation forcing C1 to make
royalty payments due to aircraft featured in the IL-2 sim.


There was a undisclosed cash settlement between Ubisoft C1 and Northrop Grumman.
Oleg was very bitter after that event, saying that he will no more, produce American game content.

Cheers
Walt

I'd love an Afrika title with improved graphics engine to rear its head somewhere down the line

Of course think how easy it would be for them, to built western theater of operation, they already have American tanks, and German and British gear, just built the maps, and sell it, its not rocket science.

It would open the door to many addons.

Cheers
Walt

'Not one step back' springs to mind!