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A new modern campaign?

Concord

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I am running a WW2 Eastern Front campaign at the moment, using counters on a hex map, with battles played out in CMRT.
Running that campaign has been manageable (despite having 60 counters in play), primarily due to having all the CMRT battle maps all ready to go before the campaign started, and letting players buy their forces in a QB situation, within limits.

Looking into the future, I was thinking about doing some initial planning for the next campaign.
I'm considering using one of the CM games in a modern setting.
But I'm not very knowledgeable about CMBS (which I own, but have only played a few times) or CMSF2.
I also hear CMSF2 is about to be released on Steam soon.

Do you think there would be much interest from FGM players in this?
It would be interesting to know how many members play these more than or as much as the WW2 titles in the series.

As the designer, there would be some specific challenges to overcome.
For starters I would have to learn more about the equipment and vehicles available in the game chosen, which will affect the setting and balance of competition.

The other challenge would be the map gathering process.
For the Brigade Battles campaign, Panzer_Kraut and I gathered all the maps we could find on the internet, and I then cut them all down to about 1km square and sorted them according to quality and type.
Does anyone know if there are many player-made maps for these titles? Or a broad range of decent stock maps?

Whichever title would be used, I'd want to avoid reference to the actual conflicts happening in Syria and Ukraine. Set up some fictional situation.
There are some interesting things that could be done, such as an entire campaign that takes place in a properly-scaled city, complete with some open spaces, industrial areas, commercial districts, suburbs, etc.

If there is enough interest in this, I (with some assistance along the way) could start the process of setting up the concept, so that when my WW2 campaign is complete, we already have the groundwork laid for this one.
 
I´m interested and I´ve made a map! (have not published it though.)

Edit: I only have CMSF2 though. And all the addons as well.
 
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BS and SF2 both. Mostly BS.
Which game to use depends on your focus. A more generic Middle Eastern look with late 90s early 2000s equipment use Shock Force.
A more modern eastern European look Black Sea
 
I am running a WW2 Eastern Front campaign at the moment, using counters on a hex map, with battles played out in CMRT.
Running that campaign has been manageable (despite having 60 counters in play), primarily due to having all the CMRT battle maps all ready to go before the campaign started, and letting players buy their forces in a QB situation, within limits.

Looking into the future, I was thinking about doing some initial planning for the next campaign.
I'm considering using one of the CM games in a modern setting.
But I'm not very knowledgeable about CMBS (which I own, but have only played a few times) or CMSF2.
I also hear CMSF2 is about to be released on Steam soon.

Do you think there would be much interest from FGM players in this?
It would be interesting to know how many members play these more than or as much as the WW2 titles in the series.

As the designer, there would be some specific challenges to overcome.
For starters I would have to learn more about the equipment and vehicles available in the game chosen, which will affect the setting and balance of competition.

The other challenge would be the map gathering process.
For the Brigade Battles campaign, Panzer_Kraut and I gathered all the maps we could find on the internet, and I then cut them all down to about 1km square and sorted them according to quality and type.
Does anyone know if there are many player-made maps for these titles? Or a broad range of decent stock maps?

Whichever title would be used, I'd want to avoid reference to the actual conflicts happening in Syria and Ukraine. Set up some fictional situation.
There are some interesting things that could be done, such as an entire campaign that takes place in a properly-scaled city, complete with some open spaces, industrial areas, commercial districts, suburbs, etc.

If there is enough interest in this, I (with some assistance along the way) could start the process of setting up the concept, so that when my WW2 campaign is complete, we already have the groundwork laid for this one.
For sure Interested in BS or SF2 (would be interested in WW2 as well though).

I think there is (much) more content for CMSF2, mostly back from CMSF. On the BFC forums there are some downloads for a lot of scenario's. I have 699 files in scenario folder, although obviously not all are great maps ;-).

This map alone would be good for some battles I'd say.


Attached.
 

Attachments

  • South Sahrani Beta 5.zip
    2.2 MB · Views: 6
be interesting to know how many members play these more than or as much as the WW2 titles in the series.

As the designer, there would be some specific challenges to overcome.
For starters I would have to learn more about the equipment and vehicles available in the game chosen, which will affect the setting and balance of competition.

In the editor (QB is different) I think the Syrians can be quite the challenge for NATO, given a realistic/properly designed scenario. Syrian combined conventional and unconventional have an interesting mix of forces. Almost all arty etc is slow to call in, apart from some direct fire mortars (81/120mm). When combined uncon/regular Syrians have a great collection of assets for ambushes (ATGMS, IED/VBIED, etc). They do lack on the attack, but the Turms-T / T-90 are very decent tanks, the BMP-2/3 are capable in their own right and the infantry with RPGs can be deadly in urban terrain.

CMBS is a great game too, but RU forces aren't on par with USA. US has much better spotting, especially Abrams latest gen (with APS it's borderline invincible), Bradley ( with APS it's a beast too), Javelins. Also better drones and helos which fire better missiles (hellfires), which aren't susceptible to APS.
 
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Some great insights, thanks!

CMSF2 is set in the 1990's? I didn't know that!
Good to see there is an interest in CMBS as well. Wasn't sure about its popularity.

In terms of balancing, remember that all fights would be quick-battles, with some restrictions to points and equipment.
There won't be much opportunity to shape the scenario other than that.

If US forces have a noticeable edge, there may be a way to soften that issue a bit via purchasing restrictions.
I'm even considering largely infantry/mechanized forces clashing in a city, without much (or any?) heavy armour.
So what about the CMBS Russian forces vs Ukrainian forces? How do they compare?
 
So what about the CMBS Russian forces vs Ukrainian forces? How do they compare?

That's about all I ever play in CMBS, and its darn good fun! Potential danger for your campaign is that its mirroring real (current?) conflict?

Certainly for CMBS, worth talking to @Rico , as he has already got many great ideas and collateral for such a UKR vs RUS -asseted campaign, that removes the UKR/RUS labels; he treats them as two former Soviet republics, which potentially allows you to strip out the 1st tier equipment like T-90's and APS...


 
Whichever title would be used, I'd want to avoid reference to the actual conflicts happening in Syria and Ukraine. Set up some fictional situation.

You could use SF2 and Blue vs Blue for some reasonably balanced forces and have the scenario be a massive NATO training exercise.
 
Definitely there if BS. I'm awaiting to see the SF2 pricing on Steam though.
I'd say dont hold your breathe! Steam takes a whopping 30% cut of each sell. Essentially profiting off the backs of devs. Which is part of the reason why BF held out for so long not going to Steam.

But yes, I'm all for a modern campaign. Either CMSF2 or CMBS, doesnt matter to me! (y)
 
@Rico sounds like you've been looking at ideas for a modern campaign as well?
I'd be open to a collaborative effort if you'd like. Happy to just listen to your advice otherwise.
 
I'd love a modern campaign in Black Sea. I'd be interested in helping to make or find maps. I'm recreating a factory that from Wargame: Red Dragon. Those are important pieces of real estate, right?
 
@fabishd would you be able to give me some very general advice about the scale of modern battles?

The battle maps would be either 1km...or as small as 500m if it ends up being an urban environment.
Below is just a random choice of the city of Vilnius, Lithuania.
I have put a hexgrid on top where every hex is 1km.

I realise this is a question with many dependencies, but in a modern setting, how many infantry might be fighting on a side in a 10km area?
How dense would infantry stack in a 500m x 500m combat area? A battalion? More?

example map 1.jpg
 
I'd love a modern campaign in Black Sea. I'd be interested in helping to make or find maps. I'm recreating a factory that from Wargame: Red Dragon. Those are important pieces of real estate, right?

Map gathering and creation is the key element for me. It is the ONLY thing that allowed me to get Brigade Battles up and sprinting so quickly. Everything else is easy.
 
I don't own any of the modern CM titles and don't intend to, but I do wonder if having the majority of the fights in urban environments would be appealing to players? Maybe have the map set up similar to the BB campaign, ie towns being key points strung together by open, wooded, and village areas?
 
Here is a 500m zoomed in section of the map above.
Plenty of room for firefights. Could even go smaller.

View attachment 20446

From a purely CM background (non-military), if I was defending the south side of Gedimino pr, I would very comfortably defend in depth with a a couple of modern infantry platoons? Or even a platoon with some heavy weapons squads attached.

@Vartuoosi ?
 
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I don't own any of the modern CM titles and don't intend to, but I do wonder if having the majority of the fights in urban environments would be appealing to players? Maybe have the map set up similar to the BB campaign, ie towns being key points strung together by open, wooded, and village areas?
Yeah, remains to be seen. Just trying out different ideas. For this one I am strongly considering a modern urban environment. Not set in stone, but I think it could be interesting. Like the whole campaign is one big blow-by-blow battle for a city.
 
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