Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.
In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on
other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home
Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men.
The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to
Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage and devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
SIGNED: Dwight D. Eisenhower
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Overall a very nice campaign, well suited to the short endurance British airborne forces have ammunition wise, and a good depiction of an epic part of the Overlord story.
Cons:
• Mission #1, consider placing the bunker elsewhere, or scrapping it entirely. Frankly, the way bunkers are modeled in CM does not match the peculiarities of the events that took place in the real attack on Pegasus Bridge. Especially if it winds up on the players left, it’s practically guaranteed to kill almost a dozen of your troops in just the first turn.
• Mission #1, the HMG placed by the HQ just across the bridge is located in a small shed lacking windows facing the player.
• Mission #1, the trenches lapping into buildings. I get what you’ve tried to create here in regards to underground shelters, but it doesn’t work out. More often than not it simply breaks AI path finding, rendering any units that enter these houses unable to leave them again.
• Mission #1, I’m not quite certain why one of the HQ groups in the Town Hall is rated an Elite skill level unit. I can not recall reading of any German special forces in the region (which it effectively is, being rated the same as the Ox and Bucks), and all it seems to accomplish is guaranteeing that casualties are sustained if you attempt to make the reconnaissance of the crossroad.
• Mission #3, I only received either a Minor or Tactical Victory in this mission the first time I played it, losing the campaign, because I didn’t kill enough enemy troops. This was due to a + platoon sized element of German troops just stopping out in the fields on my right flank. Considering that mission at hand was to stop German infiltration, this would appear somewhat broken.
• Mission #5. This is the mission I’m currently playing, and I must say that having several German tanks and large infantry units spawn for all intents and purposes right in my face just does not make for an enjoyable experience. I think that at some point I will attempt to power through this for the sake of experiencing the remainder of the campaign, but if the first mission had been similar to this, I honestly think I’d have Alt+Q’d and immediately deleted the campaign.
A lot of this comment is taken up by the list of cons, so I feel it prudent to clarify that I very much do enjoy this campaign a great deal. It is well made, exciting and plays out nicely. Unfortunately it’s simply hard to write much of the good without giving away major spoilers. Excellent campaign, a worthy depiction of the real Operation Deadstick!
Played through the first scenario which was great but the victory areas did not register as captured (had them all) and therefore got a Total Defeat and the campaign ended.
Frustrating.