More Gameplay

More goodies

Units have a response time to commands, and artillery can take anywhere from seconds to minutes to bring to bear on a target. That same artillery can be wildly off the mark and hit your own units, if the spotting is done poorly. The game models seven optics systems, the ‘standard’ one available for Axis and Allied units alike, and six specific models available for German vehicles only. The effectiveness of the optics is even affected by the temperature! Combat results are decided by simulated physics, not dice rolls. Shells have trajectories; they streak across the map and hit armor at angles, which are factored into calculations. Armor may not be pierced, but it can “flake” so that the internal armor breaks off in chunks which fly around in a tank like ricocheting bullets.

Feed them the love

One more time!

Damn ricochets

The game offers sixty scenarios, some historical, some not. This is a considerable number and will offer a lot of play time, especially if the AI is allowed by the player to deploy its own forces (it often changes deployment strategies.) The AI is rather challenging, but unless luck is on its side, an experienced player will win most scenarios, often decisively. Multiplayer, especially the thought-provoking play-by-email option, is far more competitive. In addition to the scenarios, there are ten very long operations that span several missions each. These tend to be more difficult, but are no replacement for a campaign.

The feasibility and charm of a full campaign mode are best featured in Matrix Games’ free download of an updated version of Steel Panthers, Steel Panthers: World at War. It is much more pleasant to command your force, not just a force. When it is bought, designed, updated and experienced your leadership, the force you command becomes much more personal.

Some of those aspects make an appearance in the Quick Battle mode, which allows players to create a random map (often of very high quality) and purchase units to their tastes but within scenario limitations.

He's surrounded

Even the infantry are joining in

That crew has a 5 second lifespan

Those limitations are dependent on the front; so for example you won’t see Finnish units outside Finland, or Italian units up North. The time period is obviously a factor, but in more ways than one. Not only are units unavailable before their official introduction, they also tend to be rare and thus expensive if just introduced, or if they are old and being phased out.

The aforementioned limits also appear in the excellent scenario editor which comes with the game. If CMBB receives anywhere near as much community support as the original Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord did, and there’s no reason to think why it wouldn’t be more popular, then players can reasonably expect thousands of quality player-made scenarios to pop up.