Haven't built any badgers, yet. But I keep plugging away at these campaigns. I'm finding that, at least in the ones made by PT, that I often need a second go to get a result. It's obviously far easier once you know the enemy OoB. In his campaigns there are evidently 4 different AI plans, so you can't be sure of enemy positions even playing it over, but you essentially know what you'll be facing.

I'm not sure how I feel about his campaigns having the branching difficulty thing. Essentially some of his campaigns determine the difficulty of following mission based on the player's performance in the previous ones. The better you do, the harder it is. One one hand it's a way to keep the challenge level up for players of all skills. On the other hand I think I prefer the ability to build some momentum, that is, a good performance in one mission will give me some sort of edge in the next. Jury's still out until I have more campaign time under my belt.

So I have about 4 campaigns going. Another one I've started is Kampfgruppe Engel, which puts the player in command of a company of Germans with armor during the Falaise operations. The first battle map is excellent. It's that almost perfect blend of open fields with broken sightlines that makes for fun battles. A 57mm gun took out the gun on my Panther, so since it would be persistent and I really need a fully functioning Panther I'll start this one over.

What's the deal with re-arming my pixeltruppen? In many of the AAR's I've been reading, players are using the ammunition resupply. How is it done? I know buddy aid is one way, but how about with vehicles. Do I need my guys to get in the vehicle and it's automatic? How long do they need to stay embarked? Is it proximity based and they just need to be close enough?

I figured out the ammo resupply thing. You need to have the pixeltruppen climb aboard and choose 'acquire' from the action menu. That brings up a list of what's on board and you can scoop some up and return to the fighting position. Works a treat and you can keep those mortars supplied. It also brings in to focus another aspect of tactical command, and that's utilizing your 'tail'. Getting the ammo and supplies to your fighting men while keeping the vulnerable vehicles safe.

Still playing the campaigns, and am really liking the Kampfgruppe Engel one. I'm only two missions in, but the battles have been great and the maps excellent. Since it's a German campaign in the Falaise pocket I don't expect to like it for much longer lol, but so far it's been really good. And I still have my Panther. Oberfeldwebel Hartigs and his crew are stone cold killas.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned how much I like the support artillery system. And I do, but the quirks and limitations are frustrating. As an example.... I've been using my on-map mortars mostly in direct fire mode. So I bring one forward to a hedgerow and he has clear line of sight to say an enemy ATG behind a hedgerow on the opposite side of the field. So I have the mortar squad engage and watch as a dozen shells fall harmlessly 10 feet short of the hedge. I don't expect unerring accuracy, the exact opposite in fact, but the mortarmen are incapable of adjusting fire and I cannot target the area behind the hedge because I have no LOS.

So it got me thinking about how great it would be if we could call adjustments. Just a simple 'add 15' or add 50' or whatever it might require. I understand you can only aim at what you see, but that shouldn't restrict where you are able to place your indirect fire. Accuracy should suffer, as the fall of the shot is unobserved, but it's frustrating that the system is tied so strictly to LOS. Anything within LOS should be considered a possible aiming stake, and fire should be able to be placed anywhere along that azimuth as long as it's within the weapon's range.

Another frustration is the inability to use area fire with mortars in direct fire mode. I don't mean area fire as in target some piece of real estate, but area fire in terms of spreading the rounds as you can when calling in an indirect fire mission. My workaround is using the 'target briefly' order and shifting fire each turn, but I wish I could have more variety with the 'pattern' of my fire. Like have a linear pattern for direct fire mortar smoke missions.

One thing I can't decide if I miss or not... Command Delays. This was a feature in the CMx1 games like CMBB and CMBO. Units not in C2 range suffered delays in responding to orders. There are many arguments to be made pro or con, especially the way it was implemented in those games. But it made co-ordinating an assault or any move more difficult. As an example in CMBB it was much more difficult to attack with BT-7s than it was with PzIVs simply because the latter had radios and the former did not. In CMx2 engine games everyone responds immediately, suppression status notwithstanding. Not sure I like it better.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it. The CM games have a steep learning curve, but the payoff in enjoyment is excellent.

Yeah, the resupply thing had me stumped for a while too. Board and 'acquire' it is. A bit cumbersome TBH for something that can be done from the ramp IRL but not a big deal.

Use the driver of the jeep or truck if he can dismount to deliver ammo.

Seriously? I never tried that. That's like... real life.

Thanks, you've done some fine work with this game Luke, appreciate your uncompensated efforts to help deliver a fine tactical simulator. So far in this thread I have listed some complaints while neglecting the game's strengths. Where this game shines is in ballistics, spotting and C2 in my opinion. Those three things, along with soft factors like morale and suppression, are at the core of a great tactical level simulator. The spotting in particular is superb, and vastly improved over the CMx1 engined games.

I am still progressing through the campaigns. I'm about halfway through Road to Montebourg, maybe 8 battles in. Great campaign. At first I hated bocage country, but I've come to understand much better how to fight in it and things are going quite well. There is a mission called 'Turnbulls Stand'. Essentially it pits your paratrooper platoon against nearly a battalion of German infantry with armor support. One of the most satisfying battles I've fought. Somehow managed to come out of it with only 8 casualties and with the Germans on the run. I could imagine my pixelparas rising from their holes with their Garands held high whooping it up as the Germans turned tail.

I'm on the third or fourth mission of Kampfgruppe Engel, which is an interesting change of pace. You're tasked with recovering a King Tiger tank that was abandoned due to lack of fuel. It's behind enemy lines and you need to punch through and get the squishy Tiger crew mounted and then withdraw, all the while being pursued by a massive force of infantry, Shermans and TDs supported by heavy artillery. Great stuff.

Battle Pack 1 for CMBN released $10

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?opt...&Itemid=596

Includes a new campaign! That's what I'm talkin' about.

New patch, 3.12 is out as well


http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2306&Itemid=518

I finished the 'Tiger Poaching' battle, and what a battle it was! Managed to exit my forces with light casualties and a lost kubelwagen. Knocked out 26 tanks as well as about 2 companies of infantry. The German armor, in particular the Panther and the King Tiger, were the stars.

Because I fought a leapfrog withdrawal, the enemy artillery helped considerably. They would target one of my defensive positions and call down artillery, but by the time it arrived I had withdrawn and the American infantry dutifully occupied those positions in short order only to get pummeled by their own guns. I used to say that nothing is more beautiful than watching enemy artillery fall where you had just been, but it's even more beautiful when the enemy troops are there as well

Great stuff!

Here's the report for Tiger Poaching, just to give you an idea of what the player is up against. I exaggerated earlier a little about the number of tanks knocked out, chalk it up to battle fatigue

How many of the enemy casualties were caused by their own artillery I do not know, as the mission requires the player to exit, and doing so prevents seeing how many kills each unit got, which is a real shame because I love that stuff and especially so when there are so many to count.


Spoilers warning for those who might still want to play this campaign.

Just downloaded the battlepack... will give it a go tonight

I'll pick it up soon I'm sure. I also have an East Front itch (re-reading Bidermann's 'In Deadly Combat' at the mo), so I plan to pick up Red Thunder as well. Fighting on the Steppe will come as a shock after spending so much time in the bocage I get the impression though, that there is less user made content for CMRT and CMFI, which is understandable I suppose. I can only repeat my wish that there was some sort of campaign generator in the game.

Trooper, did you give the Battle Pack a go? Any impressions? I saw on the BFC forums that the campaign is 5 missions long, though perhaps the battles are of the larger variety.

Installed it, but the missions and campaign were greyed out in the menu... checked on the forums which says to restart the game and all would be fine, nope!
Then decided to authenticate the game once more and then all was well

Then my new HOTAS turned up, so spent the night getting that installed and running... I'll certainly have a bash at it over the weekend, if not before...

Did the Battle Pack include the patch?

Played the next battle in Kampfgruppe Engel following Tiger Poaching. It's called Hunters in the Mist. I found it somewhat easier than the previous mission, I think mainly because I hadn't lost any armor up to this point aside from a PzII in the second mission. So that meant we had 3 Mark IVs, 2 Panthers, a King Tiger, a Jadgpanther and two PzIIs plus a recon platoon, an understrength infanty company along with various support vehicles like halftracks, trucks and kubelwagens. In addition, you're given some big off map artillery, 105 and 150s.

The mission itself is an interesting one. It's essentially a meeting engagement, with two overall objectives. You have to move north to secure a couple of hamlets, with an enemy infantry force coming south meeting you head on. A second large armored force is moving across the map west to east, ostensibly moving through the area enroute to another battlefield to the east.

Your task is to defeat the infantry force (which is supported by tanks and artillery, which knocked out my crack Pak40 that had close to 20 rings painted on the barrel, the bastards!) and push through to take the objectives, while simultaneously dealing with the armored force and preventing their exit. The enemy are Canadians. To complicate matters, visibility is around 400m at mission start meaning you're in for a close range tank slugfest, partially negating your firepower and optics advantage, though the enemy has nothing to match your heavier armor aside from overwhelming numerical superiority and plucky PIAT teams.

After finishing this battle I looked at the next. It is a river crossing (the Dives), which shouldn't be too difficult considering the armor at my disposal, until I noticed that I have to fight the battle with the same ammunition I ended the previous mission with. And for the tanks at least, it ain't much. I have to figure out a way to do it with little support from my tanks. It should prove a mighty challenge.

Yes, the Battle Pack 1 includes the latest patch

Thanks Trooper.

Does anyone play in real-time? I love the WEGO system and tend to watch several replays of each turn, one in each 'sector' of the battle. I can't see any compelling reason to play in real-time aside from the fact you can more quickly react to blunders you committed. But I imagine some prefer it. Just curious.

How much time do you tend to spend in the setup phase? I can easily spend an hour or two here. I try to study the map as closely as I can, and plan my approaches. Determine likely spots for the enemy positions. I try to envision how the battle will unfold, to think 10, 20, 30 minutes ahead. Determine lines-of-sight, defilade, covered routes. Of course no plan survives contact with the enemy, but I'm always semi-amazed to see how much time I took just setting up.

Never played real time... I like to fuss around watching things between turns sometimes.

Yes, I can spend quite some time in the set up phase, looking at things from the troops point of view, checking for the best line of sight, where is the dead ground, checking possible enemy approach routes etc...

Agreed, and WEGO works great. The only advantage I can see, aside from additional challenge, is what I mentioned -- correcting blunders. A few weeks ago I played a battle. It was the final mission of the Task Force Raff campaign. We were attacking a farmstead. I had a few Shermans pounding the area, and it had 'appeared' that we had cleaned out the immediate area. With the Shermans suppressing from the front, I brought a platoon in from the flank. There was a road running alongside the farm, with a big bocage type hedge alongside the road. I got the platoon in position to assault across the road. Thinking it was safe I dashed a couple of squads through the bocage and across the road. But there was a single landser with a Spandau still alive lying behind a low wall. He popped up and let rip, nearly wiping out both squads. Die and learn I suppose.

But if I had been in real time I could have quickly changed orders, thrown smoke, charged a tank, lots of options. In WEGO, I had to watch for 30 seconds while these guys got shredded. But I suppose that's part of the attraction, you issue orders and live with the consequences.

That's why I dumped WEGO for real time. The added realism of being able to think it through from each units perspective before committing was destroyed by the sometimes catastrophic events that unfold in the 30 second time slot with no way for you to react.

I miss the replay feature, but at least I don't get screwed by the 'meta-rules' anymore. Games also feel more immediate now, not as - almost artificially - drawn out.

But that was after ages of playing WEGO. And I sure miss replay. It's one of the joys of this format, to check out that squad ruining a tank's day from every angle.

Credit to you for being able to play that way. I wonder how I'd do in anything but a small battle in real time. I know I would miss the replays too. It would be cool if after the real time battle you could watch a replay.

If anyone is in to the campaigns like I am, I started a thread at the BFC forums, and forum member Blazing 88 was kind enough to dropbox a bunch of campaign files. They will only be up for a week so grab 'em while they're hot. I am landser at BFC forums.

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/122106-campaigns/