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Western Front campaign anyone?

Concord said:
I am considering starting up a Western Front campaign for FGM sometime this year. Are there FGM players who would get into it?

Currently I am running an Eastern Front campaign and I'm developing a modern one as well (probably ready for launch around June this year).
These are priorities and I won't abandon them, but I feel capable of getting another one rolling, if there is interest.

Checking the Battlefront website, I only just realised there are extra expansions available for both CMBN and CMFI that I don't have, such as CMBN Commonwealth and CMFI Rome.
I am prepared to invest in these modules. However, the easiest solution may be CMFB.

Here is an overview of each game. Which one to use?
The biggest challenge of creating and running a campaign is the availability of decent battle maps that are approximately 1km x 1km (or larger - can be cut down).
Are there any FGM players who can tell us which Combat Mission game has the most maps available this size, both stock and player-made included?


Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
The base game covers the three month period following the Allied D-Day landings, from Operation Overlord in June through the Cobra Breakout in August. American and German Heer.
Commonwealth Forces
British, Canadian, Polish Allied, Waffen SS and Luftwaffe Field Division.
Market Garden
Allied forces include the full range of American, British, and Polish Airborne forces, plus British ground forces that lead the relief effort.
On the German side are ad-hoc units quickly thrown together from Heer, Waffen SS, Luftwaffe base personnel, and Naval staff units.


Combat Mission Fortress Italy
Starts with the Sicilian campaign from July through August 1943.
American, Italian, and German forces. Italian Bersaglieri, American Rangers, and the German Herman Göring Division.
Gustav Line
The Italian mainland, revolving around Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino, and culminating in the capture of Rome on June 4, 1944.
All German and American forces are updated to reflect formational and equipment changes since the Sicilian campaign.
Brand new formations and equipment cover the elite Fallschirmjäger and the combat formations of the United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, and New Zealand.
Rome to Victory
Continue to fight your way through Italy from June 1944 in Rome to the Italian Alps
New TO&E that includes Indian, Brazilian, South African and Free French forces. Also added are Waffen SS and Luftwaffe Herman Goering units and new vehicles and combat formations for existing nationalities.


Combat Mission Final Blitzkrieg
Covers regions depicting the Ardennes (Belgium), France, Germany, and Holland from October 1944 through the end of January 1945.
United States Army, German Heer, Waffen-SS, and Fallschirmjäger.
Click to expand...
FB Master Maps 3km *2km Just Check it out Rühr Monschau and Twin Villages You could actually include the British Army for the Overloon Batlle but there is no map for that one.
 
Something for you to look at. The Germans attacked FB (Meijel Mayhem) the Americans the British counterattacked. (War Museum Overloon.

overloon.jpg
 
Nathangun said:
Minus the modern highway.
There are some great 1:50,000 scale maps of Belgium and Holland here.
Click to expand...
Impressed I can see you have been here 8 years longer. Wonderful AAR's you posted. Yes, the town was destroyed all the houses are modern.
 
I'm no grog, but I appreciate your commitment to historical accuracy. What I do know is that field sizes were smaller back then, there was a lot more nature and weeds (no herbicides), and most countryside roads were the muddy kind. Village centres had houses right next to each other (no space in between). I dont think farms usually had a tall wall around them like some Afghanistan compound. Sometimes maybe, but usually not. The reason being that countryside Europe in the 40's was pretty peaceful. We didn't have roving bands of bandits or cattle thieves scouring the countryside.
 
I checked, and CMFB only does US Allied units. If we were to do a Commonwealth operation I'd need to use CMFI or CMBN.
CMFB covers Oct-Dec 1944 and Jan 1945. The available regions are the Ardennes Begium, France, Holland and Germany.

All the terrain images I've seen so far of Holland is that it's very flat, which might be problematic for map design.
According to one website, after liberating Brussels in early September 1944, the Allied forces halted their advance.
Then came Operation Market Garden. We've already had one campaign on FGM featuring this - Hell's Highway, which used CMBN.

Doing the campaign using Commonwealth forces might be interesting, and it would pit forces against each other that are both armed with bolt action rifles.
There might be some issues with all the DLC's for CMFI and CMBN though, while CMFB is a stand-alone pack I believe.

I'm still leaning towards the campaign being US vs. German using CMFB, but I'm willing to change course if players want.

Does anyone know if there's any difference in CMFB to available forces or terrain based on what region you choose?
I noticed that the posters and signs on some of the the buildings change depending on region chosen.
 
A brief consideration of CMFB regions as a setting

Germany
In Germany, the main operations I could find were the Battle of Aachen, where the US forces were fighting against the Siegfried Line network of fortified industrial towns and villages speckled with pillboxes, tank traps, and minefields. And the Battle of Hurtgen Forest to the south, which had the initial goal of pinning down German forces in the area to keep them from reinforcing the front lines farther north in the Battle of Aachen. The Hurtgen Forest was a staging area for the Battle of the Bulge.

I don't think any of this is suitable. Siegfried is mainly fortifications, Hurtgen is a meat grinder, and the Battle of the Bulge has been done already on FGM. Add to this that the German army were becoming vastly outnumbered and replacements were often untrained boys and old men.

Holland
Holland being so flat (and divided by rivers, dykes and wetlands), and being focused primarily with Operation Market Garden is probably out too.

That leaves Belgium and France.

Belgium
Allied forces (the 21st Army Group, Commonwealth forces of British and Canadians) entered Belgium in September 1944. The capital Brussels was liberated and then the port city of Antwerp. The US First Army captured areas south of Brussels in early September 1944. The U.S. units were spread very thinly from south of Liège, through the Ardennes and into Luxembourg, leaving their defensive line lightly reinforced. Between September and 16 December, the Ardennes Forest was the "quiet sector"—the Americans used this area to rest tired units. Then in mid-December came the Battle of the Bulge, which lasted until mid-January 1945. A pre-Battle of the Bulge setting may be possible.

France
France had many notable operations take place, including Operation Dragoon in southern France and Operation Cobra, the breakout from Normandy. Then there was the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine. The French First Army was very active in several operations. After the Battle of the Bulge, there was also the German Operation Northwind in Eastern France.

Eastern France might be a good setting for the campaign. From what I can tell, many Allied units were static, while supplies were racing to the front by truck transport from the harbours (the Red Ball Express).
 
Concord said:
I checked, and CMFB only does US Allied units. If we were to do a Commonwealth operation I'd need to use CMFI or CMBN.
CMFB covers Oct-Dec 1944 and Jan 1945. The available regions are the Ardennes Begium, France, Holland and Germany.

All the terrain images I've seen so far of Holland is that it's very flat, which might be problematic for map design.
According to one website, after liberating Brussels in early September 1944, the Allied forces halted their advance.
Then came Operation Market Garden. We've already had one campaign on FGM featuring this - Hell's Highway, which used CMBN.

Doing the campaign using Commonwealth forces might be interesting, and it would pit forces against each other that are both armed with bolt action rifles.
There might be some issues with all the DLC's for CMFI and CMBN though, while CMFB is a stand-alone pack I believe.

I'm still leaning towards the campaign being US vs. German using CMFB, but I'm willing to change course if players want.

Does anyone know if there's any difference in CMFB to available forces or terrain based on what region you choose?
I noticed that the posters and signs on some of the the buildings change depending on region chosen.
Click to expand...
The area and terrain where US forces operated in the Netherlands is similar to the South West of West Australia. Province of Limburg has plenty of hills you can modify some FB maps.
 
Nathangun said:
The German city of Aachen was the first city to fall, how about that? It happened after the Bulge battles.
Click to expand...
Small correction here,
On 21 October 1944, US troops occupied the German city of Aachen after 19 days of fighting. Aachen was one of the largest and toughest urban battles fought by US forces in World War Two, and the first city on German soil to be captured by the Allies.
Ref: https://www.historyhit.com/day-history-aachen-falls/
 
You're a good advisor to have with your unique background. :)
And I only just remembered that the country is called the Netherlands and Holland is only the coastal provinces (correct?)
Strange how many sources (including CMFB) call it Holland. Then again, they list the Ardennes instead of Belgium.

Thanks for the link. I will read. I guess at some stage they would have had 'static' lines in the area that would fit this scenario?
Maybe I should abandon the terms 'static' and 'quiet part of the lines', because it won't be long before the place erupts into all-out fighting. :sneaky:
I was using those terms because there will be little - if any - armour involved, and only platoon sized formations.
Also, it will be 2 equal forces vying for control, rather than an attacker/defender situation.
 
Concord said:
You're a good advisor to have with your unique background. :)
And I only just remembered that the country is called the Netherlands and Holland is only the coastal provinces (correct?)
Strange how many sources (including CMFB) call it Holland. Then again, they list the Ardennes instead of Belgium.

Thanks for the link. I will read. I guess at some stage they would have had 'static' lines in the area that would fit this scenario?
Maybe I should abandon the terms 'static' and 'quiet part of the lines', because it won't be long before the place erupts into all-out fighting. :sneaky:
I was using those terms because there will be little - if any - armour involved, and only platoon sized formations.
Also, it will be 2 equal forces vying for control, rather than an attacker/defender situation.
Click to expand...
In FB the Meijel Mayhem scenario is in the 'Peel' region which is at the border between Brabant and Limburg. That makes for your game purposes all of Limburg province your area of operations. Maastricht to Bastogne is shorter than Perth to Bunbury. People born outside the provinces of North and South Holland take an issue which is fair enough. I don't mind.
 
Concord said:
You're a good advisor to have with your unique background. :)
And I only just remembered that the country is called the Netherlands and Holland is only the coastal provinces (correct?)
Strange how many sources (including CMFB) call it Holland. Then again, they list the Ardennes instead of Belgium.

Thanks for the link. I will read. I guess at some stage they would have had 'static' lines in the area that would fit this scenario?
Maybe I should abandon the terms 'static' and 'quiet part of the lines', because it won't be long before the place erupts into all-out fighting. :sneaky:
I was using those terms because there will be little - if any - armour involved, and only platoon sized formations.
Also, it will be 2 equal forces vying for control, rather than an attacker/defender situation.
Click to expand...
Well, the Ardennes region does overlap Belgium, France, Luxembourg and even small bits into Germany. :cool: :D
 
Ardennes (Belgium), to Hürtgen (Germany) to put it in perspective the area is smaller than the Perth metropolitan area. It is now a nice Sunday's drive. For the Netherlands it is FB October 1944 -January 1945.
 
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I wouldn't consider Market Garden 'done', sadly the Hell's Highway campaign didn't get very far. What may be possible is to pick elements of the operation, there are also some existing master maps of the bridges which would make it much easier. The operation/campaign could then skip from each area of operation rather then try and cover the entire. It would also cover a mix of allied forces.
 
That sounds like a very dynamic campaign indeed. I think it would be quite a challenge to design!

P.S. My campaign designs so far have been very combat oriented.
The historical setting has been slapped on like a bumper sticker. ;)
The setting helps determine the kind of terrain and the kind of forces available, but that's about it.

One day I might tackle an historical campaign, but it would take tons of research.
I'm finding it hard enough as is, tracking down general info about actions (you'd think you could find more history buffs on a website like FGM, but most are silent).
For example, I could not find a single mention of what German units were defending in the Netherlands in '44.
Not that it matters to me, because I've decided to once again to make it semi historical (um...maybe based loosely on semi historical) :sneaky:
 
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One interesting setting could be like a US airborne company trying to keep open Hell's Highway itself from constantly probing German attacks by improved German kampfgruppen trying to block the road behind the force trying to force their way to Arnhem... recapture taken villages, clearing German ambushes and roadblocks...
 
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