Combat Mission series

[Phil Stanbridge]

The Combat Mission series of games are the most realistic wargames you can get on the PC. Sure enough after 4 years these are the only games I now play frequently.

"The release of Combat Mission has done for wargaming what the tank did for warfare, launch a total revolution that will forever change the face of combat!"

The series started out with Combat Mission Beyond Overlord (Western front 1944-1945) - this was the original game which changed the way a "modern" wargame was portrayed on the computer.

This was followed about 12 months later by Combat Mission Barbarossa to Berlin, which implemented some major aesthetic improvements and gameplay modifications. This is the game I still play frequently. This game focussed on the entire Eastern Front campaign from 1941-1945, and included useage of the minor nations for the first time in 3d!

The third game to follow was Combat Mission Afrika Korps which concentrated to the war in Afrika/Italy from 1939-1945. This again was an "upgrade" to the series, and offered minor graphic/gameplay engine improvements. For the first time you could focus on war in the desert in 3d on a HUGE scale!

So what makes the Combat Mission series of games so special? Apart from the fact they are award winning games, they are the only games to offer "realistic" batallion (+/-) level combat engagements based on historical or fictional events. I really cant do the series justice - if you have any interest in realistic WWII events, and want to recreate them, then invest in the CM series!

http://www.battlefront.com/index.htm

 

[stocky]

Phil are you on commission?

Is this like a realistic WOW/ AOE type thing? I used to play AOE, although it seems to have disappeared...

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

Follow my After Action Report (AAR) for a minor Axis Probe.

January 1944, Dawn. The weather is overcast/snowing. There is snow on the ground, and light snow is falling, and it is extremely cold. There is a stiff breeze and serious wind chill.

I (the player) have been given control of a reinforced Romanian Ski Company (infantry) that has two 76.2mm anti tank guns (towed) and a Renault R-35 light tank in support. I am also supported by four guns of 122mm heavy artlillery (off map). I have total control of the scenario, so I can start my men wherever I like behind the "dead zone". I organise my platoons into groups and have my company commander control the 60mm mortar detachment for indirect spotting. (more on this later!)

My mission is to "probe" the allied position in front of me. I know I am up against a moderate force of 300 points, but I do not know exactly what this consists of. I could be up against an elite armoured force of T-34/76 or I could be pitted against a partisan company of weakened infantry. Only time will tell! (I have set FOG OF WAR to realistic)

My organisation of the reinforced company prior to engagement. This is the most important part of any battle! I have grouped my platoons (ski troops) and have the light tank on point. Note the towed anti-tank guns in the background. The Romanian Infantry is wearing their adapted winter uniform.

This is the same scene taken from a birds eye view hovering just above the trucks. If you look closely towards the top of the screen you can just point out a grey marker flag with a question mark - this is the overall mission point. I need to reach that flag within 80 turns, with as little loss as possible.

This is the first person view of a soldier in the first platoon. This is the most realistic way to play the battle out.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

Phil are you on commission?

Is this like a realistic WOW/ AOE type thing? I used to play AOE, although it seems to have disappeared...

It needs serious pimpage mate, I have never before played anything like it - kudos to the fact it is such a mature game - and it is being modified and played daily! The majority of the graphics are simple BMP's and the sounds are WAV files. It's great!

Age of Empires is that? Well yes, sort of. But on a much huger scale. And it's We Go You Go, not real time as such.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

Alpha Company, Platoons 2 and 3 advance on skis, along with the 60mm mortar detachment under the cover of darkness. The Company commander will look for cover in a forward building with excellent line of sight over the terrain. Providing this HQ unit has direct line of sight with its 60mm mortar detachment they can control indirect fire with ease and create havoc up to 600m! These little mortars can knock out even the most determined AT guns.

This is a closeup of the 3rd group, 3rd platoon, A Company. It is led by Ser Stanescu. I've bought up a detail box of the inventory of the squad. They have 8 rifles, a MP-44 sub machine gun and a light machine gun in support, along with a handful of HE grenades and 2 x 30m panzerfausts (As it was historically). They have 100% allocated ammunition and are crack troops. The squad has 10 men, and there are 3 squads per platoon, plus HQ attachment. There are 3 platoons, plus light support per infantry ski company. That's just over 150 men if my maths is correct.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

The rusty Renault R35 makes an entrance. I've ordered the tank to advance slowly to a covered position on the main road. It's highly likely the Ruskies have mined the road nearer the objective, so I have to be very careful where I position myself. It's a crap tank in all honesty, and is only really any good in an observation role this late in the game. But it's the best tank available to me in January '44 so I need to make use of it.

The R35 control menu - plenty of options available to me here. Seek Hull-Down, Move, Hunt, Cover arcs, shoot and scoot etc.

The detailed inventory box top left shows you the detailed specifics that makes this game so appealing. Everything is covered from armour penetration to quality of the metal used and it is as accurate as possible! I would have hated to be in this tank in WWII! Even the lightest anti-tank gun will make mince meat of it.



Notice how this tank has been caught out with the weather! The infantry have been supplied their winter uniforms, unfortunately the tank will have to fight in the summer livery! Ouch!

1st Platoon, Company A, and the two 76.2mm anti tank guns have been kept back in reserve for the time being. You can see Platoon 2 and 3 advancing to their positions in the distance along with the 60mm mortar detachment and AT rifles. Good luck men!

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

aaaaah...

I am ambushed as I try to find covered positions for my light support units! This AT rifle unit is pinned down by light machine gun and rifle fire from approximately the position the yellow line shows. I lose one man to the fire, the other guy tries to find immediate cover! My unit can hear engine sounds in the background too - chances are there is a soft skinned vehicle hanging back, or even maybe a light tank! He will be rewarded for his efforts in this battle..

Within a turn I launch the crushing counter offensive - I have two squads advance as quickly as possible to covered positions to flank the gunfire, and advance my tank. Because the units are on skis they can travel a lot faster than normal units, and this takes the ruskies by surprise! They project gunfire at the AT rifleman, and quickly turn to cover their flanks! Within moments a heavy artliiery shot flies overhead.. but misses. They've got armour! I can only hear the armour but cannot see it at this point. Fog of war in full chaotic effect!

A lone artillery round explodes by my AT rifleman - and he panics as a result and tries to find desperate cover. My tank idles and then spots a soft skinned AFV in the distance towards the left flank - it could be a carrier or a light tank - and turns the turret to greet it but worse still I see a plume a smoke in the distance and the resounding crack of an artillery shell fly overhead. Again he misses, but my guess is they have some kind of anti tank gun in front of me. The smoke plume suggests a tank destroyer but my recon cannot confirm either way. My two squads find cover on the flanks, but I need to regroup. I am under fire from every direction!

Notice the Objective marker has changed to represent a Soviet flag. The Soviet force have the main ground here.

 

[maverik-sg1]

You need bigger tanks mate

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

At the end of the fourth minute (1 turn equals 1 minute) I can collect my thoughts and watch over the action replay if necessary. My two squads have just about reached cover, but the squad on the left flank (2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon) is under murderous fire. I have already lost a man from this crack group, mowed down by the thunderous rusky machine gun fire on his approach. Chances are there is a heavy machine gun in the building on the right, although this is speculation at this point. What is certain, there is a soft skinned machine gun vehicle towards the left flank - and with little AT assets available this squad is under constant pressure.

One man down, after a minute's fighting. A likely chance of heavy machine gun fire from the red line, with a enemy vehicle targetted on the left flank. (yellow line). The rusky symbol in the middle house represents a likely "sighting" of an enemy unit. A good three to one against the survival of this squad unless I can counter act it in the next few minutes.

The Killing Fields...

A great shot of the moment a high explosive shell impacts the soft snowy land in front of the 3rd squad, 3rd Platoon. One man is incapicated as a result of the fire, but more importantly the blast radius injures/kills a man from the mortar crew nearby. Panic ensues. Chaos all round! These men are seriously pinned down under murderous direct fire from machine guns and artillery. They need to withdraw if possible. They are in open ground, the worst possible place for them to loiter!

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

You need bigger tanks mate

LOL!! You're not wrong..

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

update:

The reconnaisance with force is over. After a structured withdrawal I have concluded the following.

Opposition forces discovered within ten minutes:-

1 x SU76 mobile artillery

1 x BA64 machine gun vehicle

2 x Heavy machine guns

1 x Platoon of infantry (likely)

My forces to date:

Casualties :- 6 incapacitated/KIA.

Chances are there is a full and reinforced company entrenched within the village. It's a killing field.

It's unlikely the rusky force will launch a counter attack - they already have the flag and they have at least two heavy machine gun placements within brick houses. It is up to me to launch the attack to win the objective.

It's impossible to win if I use a direct head on attack - so I will use the left and right flanks. I will also call my off board artillery to hit roughly the area around the SU76. This will take 5 minutes. I have positioned one of my anti tank guns ready for any Soviet counter attack, and have Platoon 1 and the remaining gun well back off the front line.

So I bide my time for the next few minutes - perhaps sneaking a few squads into position, ready for the final attack.

 

[stocky]

Where's the air support when you need it... 8)

Does the game support air strikes?

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

Where's the air support when you need it... 8)

Does the game support air strikes?

It certainly does - and I had the choice of at least 7 different types of air to ground straffing and bomb/rocket attack aircraft when I was picking my fine force. But they are very expensive and not particularly accurate - I've had air strikes hit my own forces on more than one occasion, and at times it's enough to sway the action the other way. I guess that's the way it was.

To give you an idea how the bomb blast works an average 75mm high explosive shell inflicts about 45-49 points worth of damage. This is enough to kill individual/grouped up squads of men, tanks and totally flattens light buildings within two or three direct hits An average large calibre shell could inflict 300 points of damage. A 1000 pound bomb from an aircraft could inflict upwards of 1000 points of damage per hit. The largest damage blasts I've seen are from a ships artillery on the Normandy missions in Beyond Overlord. I'm guessing these were 7" shells upwards although I cant remember for sure. It was many thousands of points of damage, enough to totally wipe out entire companies of infantry and static positions and destroy heavy tanks outright. I *think* the largest calibre in CMBB (Barbarossa to Berlin) is 350mm or thereabouts. Massive amounts of damage and huge amounts of fun to play with!

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

End of Turn 10

11 minutes into the battle..

I've managed to regroup Platoons 2 and 3 to the flanks, along with the 60mm mortar detachment and 122mm artillery spotter. The arty spotter doesnt have line of sight unfortunately, so his arty might be inaccurate and could even fall off map - time will tell, there is 3 minutes left to wait. The Company commander cannot get line of sight either due to a lack of cover, so the 60mm mortars are next to useless at the moment.

The Renault R35 will now support 2nd Platoon on the right flank - they are still under lethal fire from well positioned infantry/machine guns in the scattered trees. Another man falls..

2nd Platoon will keep the right flank busy whilst 3rd Platoon advances on the left. I'm hoping the artillery will hit home accurately! I should bring 1st Platoon into the fray very shortly. I am also preparing one of the 76.2mm anti tank guns by moving it towards the right flank to cover 2nd Platoon.

Finally, the Company Commander has reasonable line of sight (indicated by the light blue line) to the enemy observed points. What's more he has direct control over the 60mm mortar detachment and he has the enemy SU76 (soft skinned open top) in his sights! Fortunately the enemy havent spotted the team hiding on the hillside, and the mortars are actually using a defilade. If anyone was to fire their rifles at this point they would instantly expose their position and draw fire from every enemy position within range. :O

Notice the shell holes created by the enemy 76mm shells. You can use these to your advantage in some cases, using them to hide troops as a fox hole.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

15 minutes into the battle...

View from the Soviet defenses. The SU76 has been identified and targetted by the on-board mortar detachment. You can see the surrounding shell hole chaos - about 20 rounds have been fired but the fog of war prevents me from knowing the actual condition of the unit - it may well have been damaged or destroyed at this point. (I'm hoping anyway!)

Target for tonight!

As many units as possible on the right flank are ordered to target the enemy machine gun nest - including my trusty R-35, with its lowly 37mm AP shells. I've taken more casualties including two gunners on the 76.2mm AT gun. They have 1 minute to setup, then they will let loose their 76mm HE rounds of death..

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

Today's updates:

Turn 15. After a successful regroup and recon in strength, 3rd and 2nd Platoons relayed the information to the Company HQ and searched for cover. The 60mm mortar detachment proceeded to extinguish 25 rounds of 60mm high explosive in the vacinity of the tank destroyer (SU76). The vehicle obviously paniced under the bombardment and turned to reveal it's weaker side towards my guns - within a few seconds my R-35 fired two rounds of AP into it's side. All went quiet for a few seconds, then the crew was seen bailing out. Success! The only potential significant AT threat on the map has been destroyed!

Moment of death - the Su 76 paniced and fled directly into the firing arc of my R-35. It can been seen here taking a shot of 37mm AP to the side. Even my lowly 37mm round can kill this tank destroyer once it reveals the weaker armoured sides. From the front it was virtually impossible to penetrate even at less than 100m.

The Pressure is on! :- Within a turn I decide to focus all the attention on the copse ahead of the Platoon. I need to advance to this area so hit it with everything at my disposal. This great shot shows my 76.2mm AT gun firing support into the scattered trees.

The Calm Before the Storm! A minute or so later and all is eerily quiet. My Platoon regroups and catches a breather. The dead SU76 can been seen in the distance. The remaining crew members ran for cover in the house opposite. My trusty R-35 stands guard.

The Platoon makes a mad dash - the AT gun had levelled the pine trees ahead, and you can clearly make out dead infantry sqauds in the surroundings. Whatever was there has been dealt with. Hardly a shot has been fired, so my men decide to run for the cover of the copse ahead. A smoke screen covers the approach as best as possible..

 

[maverik-sg1]

I am actually reading this as part of a series (EPUK's version of band of brothers).... can't wait for the next installement!!

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

ahhhh..

I have been ambushed again.. Clever Soviet gun crews remained hidden until the last moments. Within 60m my platoon was mowed down by a hail of machine gun and rifle fire. A few soles scurry for the cover ahead, the rest withdraw as best they can under the cover of smoke.

Remnants of 2nd Platoon make a desperate dash for cover - only 16 men remain from the 30 that started out. It's a hopeless situation for them now.

This great shot shows the moment the house used by the enemy crew is destroyed outright by a single 76mm round of High Explosive. I'm hoping that the blast radius would have taken out anything nearby also..

I have just 3 men left dodging the bullets in the pine trees ahead. 5 made it across, but 2 were since hit by a flurry of machine gun fire. They have a LMG and two bolt action rifles plus a selection of hand grenades at their disposal. Even still, 3 men makes not good odds against various static machine guns positions. My problem is I cant get the Platoon anywhere near them for support, nor can I identify the enemy at this point in time - I guess this is the end for 2nd Platoon.

The 3 men dive for what cover they can whilst the rest of the Platoon regroup 150m behind them.

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

The attacking squad from 2nd Platoon are routed by heavy gunfire! The men turn their backs on their HQ and run off the map! The cowards!! They call these crack squads!!

All is quiet for another turn or so.. This gives me time to collect my thoughts and regroup once again. I have taken about 18 casualties from 2nd Platoon alone - not great. These are either dead, injured or AWOL. (I will find out exactly what happened later). 3rd Platoon is slightly better off, but not by much. They are just as pinned down.

The Soviet force does some recon! And pays for it in blood! The advancing soft skinned vehicle heads straight into a trap! I have set a cover arv for my 76.2mm AT gun and he immediately fires one of his AP rounds - it bangs straight into the middle! Direct hit!

If you look carefully you can see the projectile being fired from the gun.

A second later! Boom! The vehicle is knocked out!

Within minutes I have regrouped both 2nd and 3rd Platoons. My HQ squads have full control back over these crack units. I set my forward observer (artillery spotter) to target the rough area around the objective. It's obvious now that the enemy has grouped a large force of machine guns and infantry in this area with exceptional line of sight advantages.

Within moments the arty barrage hammers home! 122mm shells burst outwards destroying everything in their path!

The artillery is on target for once yay!

 

[Phil Stanbridge]

I can see Russian infantry routing under the shell bursts of my 122mm. I have obviously hit home and it hurts! These guys werent dug in and were actually regrouping when I hit them. Chaos ensues, and not for the first time.

Buildings collapse under the bombardment. Shells explode. What a sight to behold.

I advance 3rd platoon as quickly as possible to the vantage point ahead of me, amongst the tree line, flanking any machine guns. I use the artillery as cover. I am prepared to take losses at this point to gain the advantage.

I get across to the other side without incident - the squads from 3rd Platoon make it unscathed, not surprisingly. Only they are without their HQ and support units - these were left in a defense defilade 200m behind.