Section Leaders:
  Fionn Kelly & Madmatt 

Reviewed By: Maastrictian

The views and opinions expressed here don't necessarily reflect those of the staff and management of CMHQ, they might, but we would never say that in public!

September 2^nd, 2000  

Far From Over - Paderborn
(Wild Bill Wilder)
  Played as Allies.  A great scenario! This one is a bit chaotic and tank heavy for my personal tastes, but the surprise of seeing... lets just say rare German vehicles.  A good map, I especially like the having a very large map of which not that much is actually used. It gives the player a lot of freedom to maneuver and was greatly appreciated.  There was a bit of a problem with German reinforcements and Allied movements but not the end of the world (though it could have been).  As a side note this scenario gets away with something a lot of scenario’s don’t: having rare vehicles.  It is cool in this context because it is historical.  Scenario designers be warned.

...The Road to Marseille
(Berlichtingen)
Played as Allies.  I really appreciated the two main things that make this scenario unique - it deals with the French, it only involves light units, and it has a well detailed map. The ridges in the central forest and the slightly raised wheat field on the left are just very nice details. I also like the engineers as partisans. Having and advanced unit like that really spices things up. The problem I had with this scenario was the lack of German AT. This would make it interesting to PBEM, but the AI just can't deal. Given the French players overwhelming armor superiority, it becomes just too easy for them. As a side note: Kudos to Fionn for a good analysis of tactical options. His analysis matched what I did pretty closely... I must be getting better .

Attack on Monastery
(Philip "Rommel22" Svoboda)
Played as Allies.  I will preface this review by saying that its possible what happened to me was unique. However, After about 5 turns my .50s had killed both SPGs and then I just sat there. The Germans sat in their trenches for 25 turns. Nothing happened. Now... I can't say I blame them... the American position is the ultimate fire position... give me three 76mm guns and I'll hold that position against an armored division (or so). It is possible that this scenario was not meant to be played as the Allies, but there was no mention of this. I have two other critiques. The terrain was not that great... the hill top was square and flat the German "trench" was an interesting idea... but being 20m wide it looked a bit odd. Additionally, the starting, locked set up positions are horrible. Every squad is split and half of the teams are out of command and control. I'm not sure if this was intentional, but the docs did not explain it. This is a very interesting idea for a scenario, especially the Italian flair... but it needs some major reworking.

Parker's Crossroads
(G.R. "LeBlaque" Mathews)
  Played as Allies.  When the man says this one is a challenge for the Allies he ain't kidin'! I like it because you really have to husband all your resources. Infantry has to kill tanks, Greyhounds have to kill tanks, and the Arty has to be applied at precisely the right time (that's what lost me this one). I was impressed that the Axis managed to make a very credible assault (not something the AI is good at) I can't say I tried it, but my impression is that this would be a walk over for the Axis. My one critique would be that the "perimeter defense" flag in the middle of the field needs to be a bit closer to the town, possibly on the furthest out clump of trees. As it is, the Axis can just place a tank there and hold it all game with no problem.

Cannes Strongpoint
(G.R. Mathews)
Played as Allies.  Another historically interesting one about a little known section of the war. I didn't have an specific problems with this one... I just didn't find it that tactically intriguing. You spot the bunkers with your infantry and then run the tanks from cover to cover while blowing the enemy infantry away. A 'shrek or two could have made things much more interesting.

Veghel - Based on Historical
(Blue Macs)

Last time I reviewed Veghel Town (by Kris Handshin), here is another look at the same battle. This one was a very mixed bag. It tries to do something very interesting, which is starting the scenario in the middle of the battle. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the AI, but likely due to initial starting positions, the Americans have time to rest up and calm down before the German attack hits. Also, considering that one half of the flag points (one big flag vs. three little ones) are on the German side of the river German forces are a bit tough. For the first 9 or 10 turns of the game the Germans have 6 unarmored guns and 5 armored ones (including three 150mm guns total) against the Allies one 57mm. The allies, in short, get hosed real quick and I (at least) found it hard to recover. I would tone down German forces or move the flag. I also felt the map was a bit off.  It is a faithful recreation of the CC2 map, and I don't know how accurate that was. Both this scenario's and Veghel Town's maps had the same theme, I would be interested to know which is more accurate. While I had problems with both maps, I like Veghel town's better. One more map comment: the cathedral seemed a bit too big IMHO. Its 120m long, which seems huge to me .