Things went swimmingly until Turn 17, the turn I attempted my first bit of house-clearing. In the hands of the stoical AI it sat tight and consequently suffered the same fiery fate. Under human control, the second T-62 would probably have popped smoke or backtracked after witnessing the death of its sibling. Using a sickle-blade of carefully arranged waypoints, it then re-entered the woods at a different point. The shady hiding place I chose for the M150 – the only AFV I’d deployed in the northern half of the map – came with unexpected fringe benefits – foliage-framed views of two T-62s stationary on the eastern edge of the map’s large rapeseed field.Īfter coolly nailing one of the sunbathing brutes, my TOW toter reversed, reloading as it did so. Uncertain whether the thrum of distant whirlybirds audible during Turn 2’s replay was ambient frippery or a helpful warning of trouble on the way, I erred on the side of caution and directed my trundlers under nearby tree canopies. My first vehicular order was prompted by a sound rather than a sighting. Keen to set-up, the mortar team and their spotters (the company HQ) hurried north to a promising wooded knoll aligned with the map’s longitudinal highway. While all of my AFVs and the lion’s share of my infantry loitered in the hidden-from-view deployment zones, my trio of three-man scout teams began watchful rambles eastward. Garden-less houses unimaginatively scattered along a west-east highway… countryside devoid of fences, tracks, and agricultural detail… “Village-Hills (912 X 512) 159 Attack” felt like it had been thrown together in a hurry.īut I put my cartographic misgivings to one side and decided to press on.Īware that I had plenty of time to take the two objectives and keen to remain as unobtrusive as possible for as long as possible, I issued few orders in the early turns. …had to wrest from a Russian force of unknown composition, I almost bailed before the first shot had been fired.
Happily, as the Cold War scrap I’ve just concluded illustrates, it is possible to miss the legibility, simplicity, and flexibility of Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord and its two sequels and still have a great time with their pricier successors. Untouched fundamentals mean all of the stuff that’s been rattling the cages of CMx1 lovers for years – problematic action spots, flawed FIBUA, mindbogglingly complicated LoS situations, script-reliant AI, the absence of randomly generated maps, poor performance, limited scope… – remains potentially aggravating in CMCW. * You can play with turns or without them
#Combat mission cold war crack series#
The evenings I’ve spent Combat Mission Cold War-fighting this week, suggest the latest instalment of Battlefront’s wallet-withering WeGo-and-turnless* tactics series isn’t going to help ‘second-generation CM’ overhaul ‘first-generation CM’ in Tally-Ho Corner’s Top 50 Wargames chart (Not voted yet? What are you waiting for?). While these pieces shouldn’t be interpreted as whole-hearted endorsements, they are proof that the game in question can, when the planets align and the wind is blowing in the right direction, produce bursts of wargaming bliss. When I’m eager to communicate enthusiasm but not, perhaps, ready to pass judgement. One Good Turn is the feature format I reach for when a single segment of a military TBS or TBT session leaves me feeling surprised, smug, or outwitted.