Matrix Games Forums

Some have posted regarding the fragility of infantry in the Western Desert Campaign and imo, it's true if you've ever tried to maneuver your foot sloggers into harm's way amidst the constant threat of ambush.

But once you do get a foot momentum going, this game is just an absolute pleasure to play with fond memories of dare I say, ASL underlying the action on screen.

The tanks and vehicles are great - but IMO the longevity of this game (and hopefully series) is dependant on the ability of players to put infantry into the line and truly get the combined arms aspect of warfare going.

Big infantry skirmishes and even infantry-only firefights make up complete games and swarthes of scenarios in the hobby today - Combat Commander, Conflict of Heroes, ASL, Lock n' Load etc.

If this game can just tweak infantry vulnerability a little to give these fellas a little more of a lifespan once in contact, then this game has the hallmark of a classic. Going to ground, smoke., cautious movement orders etc., may help here.

... Oh - that and the ability to move MG teams.

They really shouldn't be bolted to a single position on the map once deployed.

Mortars should be mobile as well I feel.

For infantry the most needed command would be to give the order to 'ambush'. I played the Tiger scenario in the Normandie campaign and 2 infantry squads have been placed to fields away from 3 tigers at the start. In the open. No chance for them to survive [;)]

Ambush would be great. Maybe a command to dig in which would need 2 or 3 turns?

But it's not critical. I can try to move my infantry careful with tanks attached and if they receive op fire the tanks can try to supress which works fine for me.

I agree with all of the above.

Absolutely agree. These guys are too vunerable.

Trey

There is a "Hold Fire" command for infantry which acts like ambush.
I think what we need is a "Take Cover" command like in Squad Battles.  This limits their movement but more protection on open ground.
 

One very valuable trait of infantry is their ability to kill even heavy tanks, when often your Shermans can't. The game also captures the danger of moving armor through close terrain without a screen of foot sloggers. Goes to show that a game doesn't have to bludgeon you with hardcore stats and date to teach relatively realistic tactical lessons.

AFter checking out the videos I have to agree it really does look like it could be a fantastic Infantry combat game.....A major stumbling block for many WW2 war games is that the infantry are so vunerable...the only one I know of that doesn't suffer from this is Squad Battles.....I love the look of this engine, combine it with a detailed tactical modleing and I will be buying....

Is this game easy to mod to make it as realistic as possible with regards to infantry?

Nope, it is a good simple abstract game.

Actually Pip said it was easy to mod.  In the squads file iirc.  Increase the infantry armor.

But you know that is not what he is asking.

It depends what you want to add. Changing data is easy but limited in what you can achieve. You can add anything you can think of if you want to edit the scripts. Officers, command points, ammo, resupply etc.

I wouldn't want to change what appears to be great simple gameplay......just wanted to know if what goes on under the hood is detailed....

We model things like morale, suppression, cover, range, penetration etc. Units react when enemies come in to range, depending on their settings e.g. you can tell units to hold fire. It's not a perfect model as it is turn based in teh way UFO games were so simulating a real time environment requires certain abstraction but you do have to use realistic tactics in my opinion though I may be biassed

Echo junk2drive. I have played Close Combat & Squad Battles some but apples & oranges. Mod it if you must but I like it the way it is. I agree though that a Hide command might be nice. I order Hold Fire but it is not the same. Infantry seems to be spotted easy anyway. I would hide from a Tiger or a Panther or any of the WW2 acv's if I was infantry. Infantry anti-tank tactics were mostly suicide missions according to my reading of real engagements.