It's chock full of maps and OOB data for the fighting in the fall of 1944. It's largely contemporaneous to the Ardennes Offensive (all the old German equipment has been destroyed in Normandy), so the aspiring scenario designer wouldn't have to do much, perhaps nothing, in the way of building weapons or units.
I have often thought a series of small scenarios like this would be great for demonstrating the intricacies of the engine.
One mission might start by demonstrating how attached tanks can aid infantry in an assualt on a posn which resists indirect artillery fire. The second phase of the scenario might be against a feature which prevents this armd support, but demonstrates that the mobility of a small force of armd cars or armd infantry equipped only with mortars can have an impact uot of all proportion to its size.
The scenario might culminate in a set piece battle between two identical force, which has reached stalemate, and challenges the player to break into the enemys rear with a small force and disrupt his artillery, command and logistics and therefore allow the mainforce, now no longer impeded by orders delay, to attack successfully.
The hypothetical maps might start in a linear way, say 10's of Km long but only 2-3 wide, or bounded by impasssible terrain, so as limit the players options, until the finale when multiple routes are offered, only one of which is feasible given the force mix offered by the particular random reinforcement schedule.
PS. One thing i hate about most contour maps, like the one above, is that unless contour labels are placed frequently you can sometimes mistake a hill for a depression, unless there's a river or some other feature giving it context. If, in addition, a hillshade or coloured layer background is used like in AA/Command Ops the contours are given alot more immediate effect. I love the new feature in BFTB mapmaker letting you cut and past terrain shapes from one altitude layer to the next, otherwise i'd never get anywhere with a map!
Osprey also published a book called Lorraine 1944 (part of the Campaign 75 series). I have long thought it would be fun to play this in a game and thought about it for TOAW III but never committed to the editor to build it.
"Popular Opinion? What I suggest you do with 'Popular Opinion' is biologically impossible and morally questionable." -
"One ping to find them all,
One ping to link them;
One ping to promote them all,
and in the darkness sink them"
You can pick up the whole WW2 Green book archive on disk from Paperless Archive for $99. They have very frequent sales of it as well, just get on their mailing list. It seems like they run the sale every other month from the amount of email I get.
I agree it isn't the same as having the books and more importantly maps where you can hold it in your hand, but it is a close second. Especially if you want to carry Normandy, the Bulge, Lorraine etc all with you when you travel. [;)]
Yes and I can tell you from personal experience that he drives it on the one hand like a rally car and on the other like it was armoured and he has nothing to fear.[:)]
Well finally aquired physical copies of the Lorraine campaign by Cole and the Siegfried Line campaign by McDonald. The maps look fantastic! Too bad this forum is on its last legs for CO.
