Combat Mission Sample scenario

Ken Levine ("System Shock 2", "Thief", "Freedom Force") wrote me a nice email after playing this scenario. It's nice to know that one of the big names in game design will take the time to write the humble author of a freely available scenario.

Besides timing, one of the best things about my scenarios is presenting a dilemma for each player. Someone said that the essence of strategy was to present the enemy with two equally harmful choices. There are four major problems in this scenario.

German dilemmas: For the Germans, they have forces that may be cut off on on the Allied side of the bridge. If they leave them there, these defenders will be wiped out but may cause early damage and slow down or disorder the Allied attackers. If the German commander tells these defenders to run and strengthen the northern shore, it concedes the southern shore without a fight. The German also has to decide when to open fire and reveal his gun positions. The more he waits, the greater the surprise and also the accuracy of his guns improves. But at the same time every metre the Allies gain is one closer to the victory points (the "?" flag positions). The allies also have decisions to make.

Decisions for the Allies: The Allies have a 2-1 advantage over the Germans but they don't know where the Germans are positioned (each player can position their units within a specified area before the battle). They have to take the bridge and the church but only have 30 minutes (turns) to do it. If they charge, they will take heavy losses. If they wait, they may not have time to root out the Germans. There is another crossing on the far edge of the map that is probably lightly guarded. But again, it takes time to make that route.

Download this scenario for Combat Mission here. | This is what the map looks like in the editor. | This is the scenario briefing that the player gets when he launches my scenario. | This is what the German defender reads. | This is what the Allied attacker reads.