Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy Vehicle Pack, Developed and Published by Battlefront Inc.
A screenshot review by Boggit, 21 November 2014
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to field some of the rarely seen specialist Allied vehicles, or scratch built German armoured groups that fought in Normandy? Well now you can. Drawing heavily upon Hobart’s “Funnies” of 79th Armoured Division and the “Ersatz” units created by Major Alfred Becker – a rather unique engineer – for 21st Panzer Division – Battlefront have introduced a vehicle pack that brings new vehicles and weapons into the mix for their Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy game.
A Churchill AVRE supported by infantry advances in spite of nearby mortar fire. It also carries a breach team for when a 290mm round is just overkill. Reloading the Petard mortar on the AVRE is slow, but historically correct.
The vehicle pack requires the installation of the version 3.0 game engine, which is separately available from Battlefront. V3.0 brings Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy up to the same level of development as Combat Mission: Red Thunder, which provides a lot of improvements. You can check out some of these described in my Red Thunder review here . Continue reading →
We kick off TANKSgiving with a GARPA full of tracks and turrets. GUNNER – SABOT – PREORDER!
MBT (GMT Games) P500 $65 (retail $95) – Made the cut
The Cold War goes hot in 1987 and the Reds are rolling West. 100m hexes hold individual tanks, infantry squads, and all manner of nasty battlefield surprises. With a whole arsenal of tanks, helicopters, ATGMs, and close-air support at your disposal, combined arms warfare splays across a collection of geomorphic maps and into your game room. Expansions are already on p500, and the mapboards are compatible with GMT’s Panzer to give you more to play with. Check out their p500 page for a LOT more info, and get your order in now.
John and Ed, thank you for agreeing to talk to Grogheads about your recent work. Both East Prussia ‘14, and Panzer Battles: Kursk, the Southern Flank are recent releases and show some interesting developments in John Tiller Software games
Ed, I know that you’ve put many years of research into the First World War Campaigns. What attracted you to the period in the first place, and do you have any favourite campaigns you’d like to explore?
Ed Williams: I have always been interested in World War One for as long as I can remember. I am not sure what initially attracted me to the subject, perhaps it was the movie Lawrence of Arabia, but I recall my desire to read and watch movies and documentaries about the war all the way back in grade school. About ten years ago I was attending college and I took a history class taught by an excellent professor (Dr. Robert Bruce) and the class covered the war, but not all the boring economic and political stuff, it was purely about the battles and the conflict itself.
I suppose it was that class that piqued my interest, but it did so at a perfect moment since I had just finished the HPS Korea ’85 game some years before and I was basically twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do.
So, I had the experience to develop a new title, the free time to do it, and a renewed spark of interest in the subject matter. I took the interest and came up with an idea of a World War One game using the Panzer Campaigns engine at its core, but of course it would need to be modified. I set about creating a list of modifications that were necessary and I presented them to John, and he was receptive to the idea, made the appropriate adjustments, and so I intentionally charged forward before I had time to think about how difficult of a task it would be.
As for my personal favourite campaigns, I am interested in all campaigns of the war but my personal favourites would have to be anything in Palestine and Mesopotamia, the Galicia campaign, and the 1918 battles.
The first bombardment at Tannenburg by I ArmeeKorps field artillery starts auspiciously with the disruption of a Russian unit – an assault will soon follow. New features like radio intercepts now add to the game experience in East Prussia 1914
Following up his visit to Colorado, Jim drops some more Lock’n’Load news in our lap.
Click images to enlarge
Old Roads Well Trodden
Last week Grogheads published my initial take of a visit to LnL Publishing. Along with me, Dave Lowry also visited LnL Publishing and his article can be found on Clubfantasci.com. Between our articles a number of questions were raised by readers regarding the direction of the company. It is not the intention of this article to address every question raised, but rather to share additional information which should give readers a sense as to the overall direction LnL Publishing will take. Hopefully many of the questions out there will be given answers.
LnL Publishing’s roots are firmly established in traditional tabletop warming. Readers concerned that LnL might depart from those roots should rest at ease: all that printing equipment recently purchased is of little use to electronic games. Yes, LnL is interested in expanding its horizons into different genres and media, but gamers should rest assured that Mark Walker continues to work on boardgame designs.
What can gamers expect to see in the near future? I already hold in my hands (well, technically it’s in the chair next to me as I type) World at War Compendium 2. A reprint of Compendium 1 is also in my possession. Printed and sealed in a plastic bag, it lacks only counters, which have to be printed overseas, in order to ship out the door.
The new Compendium includes additional maps, along with the scenarios, counters, and AARs.
The first GARPA of football season brings you a variety of gaming projects for you to throw your backing behind, and includes (gasp!) digital games! Also of note is that none of these have hit their funding goals yet, so they all need your help.
Hitler’s Reich (GMT Games) P500 price $48, not there yet
GMT recently dropped 5 new games on their p500 system, but Hitler’s Reich is the one that grabbed our attention as being the first of a new series of strategic level card-based games. We can’t wait to see some art samples, as a fast-playing game that lets your re-fight WWII while still incorporating key personalities like Patton and Zhukov. An economics model truly puts this at the “full-theater” level and if it really can be played in one sitting, then it’s totally worth dropping your pre-order dime at GMT’s site.
