Battlefront's "Crustacean Force" is out now ;)

[Boggit]

Lobsters of Doom!!!! Strike that. Crabs of Doom!

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The Sherman Crab anti-mine tank is just one of a number of unusual and exciting vehicles included in the Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy Vehicle Pack (for PC and Mac OSX)! How about the Churchill VII Crocodile or the French Char B-2(f) flamethrower tanks? Or the Churchill AVRE with a massive 290mm "Petard" mortar! The CM:BN Vehicle Pack includes over a dozen oddball vehicles that were too fun to leave out of the game.

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The Vehicle Pack requires the base game upgraded to v3.0 but no other modules (however, to access module specific vehicles, that module is required; for example, you can't access the British vehicles if you only have the base game and no modules). It comes with IMPORTANT special installation instructions, which you'll find at the bottom.

The Vehicle Pack doesn't include any missions or campaigns. The vehicles can be used right away in any new QuickBattle or in the editor to make your own scenarios and campaigns.

The Vehicle Pack updates your game engine from v3.00 to v3.10. It includes a number of bug fixes and other improvements to the engine that will also be part of future free patches.

Click here to buy the Vehicle Pack now!


Click here for more details!

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IMPORTANT INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
The Vehicle Pack includes important updates to our anti-piracy protection and activation system. As such it comes with new instructions for how to install and activate it:

Most importantly, the Vehicle Pack will require you to activate your base game v3.0 as well as any modules you may have in addition to the Pack itself. You will need the v3.0 Upgrade license key for the base game that you received when you purchased the 3.0 Upgrade, and keys from the purchase of each of the modules (for example: the CMBN + Commonwealth Forces Bundle, or the Big Bundle, or any module alone). Re-licensing these after installing the Vehicle Pack is NOT going to use any of your remaining activations.

The way you activate changed, as well. When launching the pack for the first time, you will be prompted to activate the base game. Use the 3.0 Upgrade license key for that. On subsequent launches, the activation screen will NOT appear automatically. To force it to show up and allow you to activate additional components, please use the "Activate" shortcut instead of launching the game. The shortcut will allow you to enter any valid key to unlock additional content, such as modules, packs or upgrades. You will have to do this for each module, upgrade or pack you own. The shortcut can be found on your desktop after installation, or inside the Start>All Programs>Battlefront group on the PC, or inside the Documents folder on the Mac

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Detailed activation instructions are available in the ReadMe file available during installation, as well as in the game manual, and in our Knowledgebase at http://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com.

Boggit - sorry guys I don't know how to insert the pictures, but I've added the attachments so you can see the pictures anyway. :)

[Elvis]

No one is ignoring it. But we kinda high jacked the Black Sea thread with it. :)

[Ubercat]

Wow. It actually appears that they aren't charging for it.

[Philippe]

Your sense of humor is more advanced than mine, or I'm missing something (which happens a lot these days).

I make it another 20 bucks for vehicles "that were too much fun to leave out of the game".  Does this mean the East Front game will have the multi-turreted Soviet monsters?

[sandman2575]

The Vehicle Pack doesn't include any missions or campaigns. The vehicles can be used right away in any new QuickBattle or in the editor to make your own scenarios and campaigns.

Does this mean what I think it means:  the new vehicles will *only* show up in QuickBattles -- i.e. they haven't been integrated into any of CMBN's existing 'set piece' battles or campaigns?

[Skoop]

You have to add them to scenarios yourself in the editor.

[sandman2575]

eh, was afraid of that.  i find CMx2's quickbattle generator completely baffling, so i stick to the set-piece battles and campaigns.

A lot of nifty stuff in this vehicle pack, but i'd likely see none of it the way i prefer to set up.

[Yskonyn]

I am sure people will come up with interesting scenarios in a while with the new vehicles.

[Skoop]

Have you done much navigating in the editor ?  Adding these units to any scenario only takes a couple clicks.  You could go back and play some of those meatgrinder scenarios with these new vehicles and see how they go.  You can open campaigns with the scenario organizer mod and make edits as well, then repack and play.

[sandman2575]

Haven't spent time with the editor, admittedly. Will give it a look later tonight though.

Seems like you would need to do more than just add the new vehicles to the OOB to make their inclusion interesting.  How easy is it to add minefields and bunkers / pillboxes?  Having the Sherman Crab without a minefield to clear kinda defeats the point...

[Sir Slash]

Sandman, check the repository of user-made scenarios at the Battlefront web site.There are some excellent battles and campaigns posted there and I'm sure before long new ones will include the pack units.

[Michael Dorosh]

When I reviewed CM:BN on release, I noted specifically that French-made tanks in German service were absent from the order of battle. I recall one or two of the most vocal of the Battlefront beta testers getting their noses out of joint at my comments, generally implying "who cares, they weren't important." On the contrary, a number of formations that were in action as early as D-Day made use of these vehicles and for anyone attempting to make historical scenarios - or using historical sources as fodder for scenario design - the lack of specific equipment types was a very real burden. The addition of these French tanks is therefore a welcome addition.

I see Boggit has found his way to this:

http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=3391

I had that scenario in mind ever since CM:BN's initial release.

The addition of British engineering equipment - flamethrowers, AVRE and flail tanks - is another welcome addition since more set-piece attacks simply weren't conducted without them. Curious is the absence of the Wasp flamethrower carrier, however, though I suppose one can argue that they didn't become common until the post-Market-Garden period. They were first issued to 1st Canadian Army in June 1944, however, though their most famous use - at the Leopold Canal - wasn't until October, after the time period of CM:BN. I wonder if we will see them patched into CM:BN eventually, or if we will have to buy the next "family" of games in order to get them.

What I like most about the Flail tank is that it is not simply another vehicle with some slightly modified stats and a different colour of camouflage, but also comes with additional abilities that we have not yet seen in the game, further expanding the scope of the simulation. The ability to remove obstacles is exactly what engineering units are supposed to be able to do and I hope we see more of this in future.