A great result, and excellent commentary as usual. I particularly enjoyed the fact that you mentioned that your play was beginning to get a bit sloppy near the end. A nice human touch.
These are the most enjoyable combat mission videos that I have seen. Absolutely superb narration. Are you planning on doing more campaign videos? I would love to see the task force thunder campaign.
Cheers man! I don't particularly have any plans to Task Force Thunder, mostly because it's a pretty long campaign (Road to Montebourg took about a year), but some of the NATO campaigns (or parts of them, at least) are in the running. I do have a multiplayer campaign that I need to make videos for though
Sorry I'm a few years late to the party! I'm loving your videos. They're very well edited telling the story of each battle in a succinct way that is engaging and interesting. I love how you explain your thoughts at the start about your plan of attack. I don't know you're background, but I hazard a guess you've got some sort of military background or you're really well versed on tactical planning. I've not watched a lot of your videos (you've made a multitude!) but I'm hoping there's one that goes into more depth about how you devise your plans.
WW2 strategy games are very interesting to watch due to the specialization of weapons and units. There aren't as many "jack of all trades" elements as there seem to be in modern warfare. Your infantry squads can't take out tanks from hundreds of meters with an ATGM, you need something else for that for instance. Makes for very interesting decision making.
All of your CM videos are fantastic stuff. I only just found these games and started learning. You make it look much easier than im finding it! :D Waiting for Normandy to hit steam!
One of your better videos to date, to be sure! The artillery section at the start of the battle is a very welcome addition imo. One can really tell how much effort you put into this one, so cheers! Can't wait to see the next campaign, ze Germanz really operate in a more agressive style I'd guess suits you perfectly. Any chance you could give us a tease on your sceduale, what videos we should expect next? :)
Congrats on finishing this. The whole things was an epic slog. I bought CMBN when it first came out, but never went with the expansions as the hedgerow country gave me severe claustrophobia. Maybe ship on out to Club Med for your next campaign?
Why did you choose to use the 81 mm mortars to hit the 88s and the 105s to hit the triangle wood? Was it a concern for preserving 105 ammunition for the assault on the town itself? I would have thought that for such a large beaten area and the threat of the 88s, the 105s might do better at ensuring that they're knocked out than the 81s.
Saving the 105s for the village was definitely a concern, but the 81s have a much faster rate of fire. With the intent being destruction, what I wanted to do was get as much HE onto the target in the shortest possible time: the 105s take a lot longer to reload than the mortars and heat up faster, so although they might put more weight of explosive out, there's a higher chance that the enemy will have time to run away from the target area. If that makes sense.
With the introduction of the 4.03 patch I thought that I would give this campaign another go. I managed a Major Victory overall suffering two defeats along the way, "Hell in the Hedgerows" and "Ecausseville".
Nicely done man- it seems like Hell in the Hedgerows and Ecauseville are the tough ones. Maybe my playthrough would have panned out differently if I had had 4.03 installed...
There's no AAR-objective for the exit because of how the exit objectives work in CM games: every unit not exited when the time runs out are considered destroyed, so units that don't exit AND have been defined as targets will give points to the opponent as if they managed to whack them during the battle.
I got wrecked on this mission suffering a tactical defeat with over 100 casualties. My Shermans could never spot the last Stug and the indirect fire was brutal. I tried to exit most of my force via the long rout and I did, with heavy losses from laser-like artillery into the dense woods. I didn't know this was the last of the campaign or I might have behaved differently. I was trying to preserve my forces... it would help if this information were more transparent when you're playing campaigns. I was overall embarrassed and hamulated at my inability to move and spot the last Stug.
I'd like to see you do "Courage and Fortitude." I *hate* that campaign. It was the first I played originally and I still am having flashbacks to the original after having just loaded up CMBN the first time since 2013.
I think Courage and Fortitude is maybe a little too similar to Road to Montebourg to do right away (ie. US Army attacking Heer in Normandy), but it's an option for down the road.
It's on the cards. Might be a while though, I've definitely got one (much shorter) campaign lined up and there are some from CMFI and CMFB that I'm eyeballing. Plus, there's the new Red Thunder module coming out soon (hopefully) and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into that.
I've got to say I'm suprised you don't, or at least didn't used to, aim for a surrender more often. Given the amount of artillery on call at times it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to utterly smash a fortified position like Eroudeville and then force the surrender out of them in more cases than not. It's a shame the objective for exiting the map wasn't included for scoring though - When it got to the break point, the plan in my head was to exit as many troops as possible, but not before battering Eroudeville with whatever was left of the artillery (and perhaps some area fire from the shermans). It seems to me that on a strategic level, Eroudeville is not really relevant, and a strong force occupying the ridgeline would leave any German resistance there cut-off and encircled by the troops following Fox and Easy. A good pummeling from the artillery might convince them to throw the towel in, meanwhile the primary objective of the campaign is achieved. Of course as it pans out, that would have been a poor result in terms of scoring.
Great series, got put onto it by EvilTwinn and watching it has been a welcome respite over a very shitty weekend. Does an excellent job of breaking down your thought processes and transforming the often somewhat opaque blow-by-blow of wargames into a more consumable and dare I say compelling narrative for the viewer. Looking forward to seeing more in the future, maybe something with the Brits one day.
God damn, that Sherman dying to the stray 88mm was something!
Yep, I wasn't expecting that!
It's been a fun journey all the way back to June of last year. Looking forward to whatever you decide to do next!
Sixteen videos, four and half hours of high quality narration and editing. That's simply insane. Hope the next series isn't as taxing!
Glad you enjoyed it man! Though like you say, it was a fair bit of work. Next campaign series is going to be a little shorter.
@@usuallyhapless9481 Maybe some Fortress Italy next!? :)
A great result, and excellent commentary as usual. I particularly enjoyed the fact that you mentioned that your play was beginning to get a bit sloppy near the end. A nice human touch.
Thanks very much man!
This was a delight. Thank you for this wonderful little movie.
Excellent to listen to whilst on the bike trainer in the shed during lockdown mate! Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it man! Here I was thinking that sheds were a peculiarly British thing...
These are the most enjoyable combat mission videos that I have seen. Absolutely superb narration. Are you planning on doing more campaign videos? I would love to see the task force thunder campaign.
Cheers man! I don't particularly have any plans to Task Force Thunder, mostly because it's a pretty long campaign (Road to Montebourg took about a year), but some of the NATO campaigns (or parts of them, at least) are in the running. I do have a multiplayer campaign that I need to make videos for though
Loved this series. Got me the combat mission bug .
Great video and campaign playthrough! I really enjoyed the hedgerow fighting with its special rules.
Looking forward to the next series :)
Cheers!
Sorry I'm a few years late to the party! I'm loving your videos. They're very well edited telling the story of each battle in a succinct way that is engaging and interesting. I love how you explain your thoughts at the start about your plan of attack. I don't know you're background, but I hazard a guess you've got some sort of military background or you're really well versed on tactical planning. I've not watched a lot of your videos (you've made a multitude!) but I'm hoping there's one that goes into more depth about how you devise your plans.
WW2 strategy games are very interesting to watch due to the specialization of weapons and units. There aren't as many "jack of all trades" elements as there seem to be in modern warfare. Your infantry squads can't take out tanks from hundreds of meters with an ATGM, you need something else for that for instance. Makes for very interesting decision making.
The road finally ends eh. What a campaign! Can't wait for the next one.
Thank you for a great and entertaining campaign!
All of your CM videos are fantastic stuff. I only just found these games and started learning. You make it look much easier than im finding it! :D Waiting for Normandy to hit steam!
One of your better videos to date, to be sure! The artillery section at the start of the battle is a very welcome addition imo. One can really tell how much effort you put into this one, so cheers!
Can't wait to see the next campaign, ze Germanz really operate in a more agressive style I'd guess suits you perfectly. Any chance you could give us a tease on your sceduale, what videos we should expect next? :)
The very broad template at the moment is: sand, WW2 unit guide, more sand, WW1 War Room, even more sand, Basics, sand...
@@usuallyhapless9481 Ooooo sand.... By any chance.... th-cam.com/video/FTQbiNvZqaY/w-d-xo.html ? Thanks for the tease! :)
This is just a preliminary comment for the Algorithim(tm). It will be updated when I'm finished watching this 37-minute long video.
Legend says he still hasn't finished watching the video...
Congrats on finishing this. The whole things was an epic slog. I bought CMBN when it first came out, but never went with the expansions as the hedgerow country gave me severe claustrophobia. Maybe ship on out to Club Med for your next campaign?
Awesome work!
Cheers!
Good video once again!
Thanks very much man!
Why did you choose to use the 81 mm mortars to hit the 88s and the 105s to hit the triangle wood? Was it a concern for preserving 105 ammunition for the assault on the town itself? I would have thought that for such a large beaten area and the threat of the 88s, the 105s might do better at ensuring that they're knocked out than the 81s.
Saving the 105s for the village was definitely a concern, but the 81s have a much faster rate of fire. With the intent being destruction, what I wanted to do was get as much HE onto the target in the shortest possible time: the 105s take a lot longer to reload than the mortars and heat up faster, so although they might put more weight of explosive out, there's a higher chance that the enemy will have time to run away from the target area. If that makes sense.
That self-propelled artillery Piece is Just so top-heavy
With the introduction of the 4.03 patch I thought that I would give this campaign another go. I managed a Major Victory overall suffering two defeats along the way, "Hell in the Hedgerows" and "Ecausseville".
Nicely done man- it seems like Hell in the Hedgerows and Ecauseville are the tough ones. Maybe my playthrough would have panned out differently if I had had 4.03 installed...
That took over a year !? I thought it's only 3 months or so. I guess I enjoyed it ;)
Been binge watching all your stuff, so dope especially the Shock Force 2 stuff. Do you plan on doing a Shock Force 2 campaign ever?
Cheers man! We have just finished a CMSF2 Multiplayer campaign, so that's definitely coming soon.
There's no AAR-objective for the exit because of how the exit objectives work in CM games: every unit not exited when the time runs out are considered destroyed, so units that don't exit AND have been defined as targets will give points to the opponent as if they managed to whack them during the battle.
That sounds about right.
I got wrecked on this mission suffering a tactical defeat with over 100 casualties. My Shermans could never spot the last Stug and the indirect fire was brutal. I tried to exit most of my force via the long rout and I did, with heavy losses from laser-like artillery into the dense woods. I didn't know this was the last of the campaign or I might have behaved differently. I was trying to preserve my forces... it would help if this information were more transparent when you're playing campaigns. I was overall embarrassed and hamulated at my inability to move and spot the last Stug.
I'd like to see you do "Courage and Fortitude." I *hate* that campaign. It was the first I played originally and I still am having flashbacks to the original after having just loaded up CMBN the first time since 2013.
I'd love to see some mechanized assaults as the 3rd Canadians in normandy
You should take all these scenarios and try and remake them in multiplayer
That's a pretty good idea actually. I have ripped the maps out...
Please do another campaign. Courage and Fortitude is nice short campaign although not a German one. The German ones are good to.
I think Courage and Fortitude is maybe a little too similar to Road to Montebourg to do right away (ie. US Army attacking Heer in Normandy), but it's an option for down the road.
Good work Hapless. Any chance for an Epsom playthrough?
It's on the cards. Might be a while though, I've definitely got one (much shorter) campaign lined up and there are some from CMFI and CMFB that I'm eyeballing. Plus, there's the new Red Thunder module coming out soon (hopefully) and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into that.
Groovy. I'll be honest; I just wanna see what you can do with Churchills and 25pdrs.
Thanks for the really good CM videos man
@@owendouglas3895 I DO like Churchills and 25pdrs...
Wait till you see. See what? "What a man can do to another man."
I've got to say I'm suprised you don't, or at least didn't used to, aim for a surrender more often. Given the amount of artillery on call at times it seems like it wouldn't be too hard to utterly smash a fortified position like Eroudeville and then force the surrender out of them in more cases than not. It's a shame the objective for exiting the map wasn't included for scoring though - When it got to the break point, the plan in my head was to exit as many troops as possible, but not before battering Eroudeville with whatever was left of the artillery (and perhaps some area fire from the shermans). It seems to me that on a strategic level, Eroudeville is not really relevant, and a strong force occupying the ridgeline would leave any German resistance there cut-off and encircled by the troops following Fox and Easy. A good pummeling from the artillery might convince them to throw the towel in, meanwhile the primary objective of the campaign is achieved. Of course as it pans out, that would have been a poor result in terms of scoring.
Great series, got put onto it by EvilTwinn and watching it has been a welcome respite over a very shitty weekend. Does an excellent job of breaking down your thought processes and transforming the often somewhat opaque blow-by-blow of wargames into a more consumable and dare I say compelling narrative for the viewer. Looking forward to seeing more in the future, maybe something with the Brits one day.
Do some blacksea uncons of Ukraineians
The Shield of Kiev campaign is a strong candidate ;)
singleplayer CM is so....sad
But on the plus side, playing one game takes an afternoon instead of weeks. There's value in both single and multiplayer.