En bref. Battlefront a confirmé l’arrivée en cette fin de semaine d’un nouveau volet de la série Combat Mission, qui prend cette fois la route des Ardennes en 1944.
Pour plus d’informations sur CM Final Blitzkrieg, pour lequel une démo est aussi disponible, voyez le communiqué suivant, ces précédentes captures d’écrans ou le site officiel.
Communiqué
Centered on the frozen battlefields of the Battle of the Bulge, Combat Mission: Final Blitzkrieg depicts the desperate struggles between Allied and Axis forces during the latter stages of the Western Front in 1944 and 1945.
Following the July breakout during Operation Cobra, liberation swept across France as the Allied forces rapidly advanced in the wake of German collapse. Wehrmacht forces, shattered from crippling defeats in August, reeled towards the German border so quickly that for a time the only obstacle holding back Allied forces from moving east was the inability for supplytrains to keep up with the advance. In an act of operational improvisation, German commanders began to stabilize their defenses in September, as Allied forces ran up against the Siegfried Line and various rivers such as the Rhine. Met with determined German resistance and often rough terrain, the Allies began their long, hard slog into Germany.
During summer and fall of 1944 the Allies had been almost exclusively on the offensive. However, the Germans had been preparing a massive counter-attack of their own for months. Named Wacht am Rhein, or “Watch on the Rhine”, this bold operation was designed to launch a fast armored strike through the rugged Ardennes in southern Belgium, repeating Germany’s triumph in 1940. The ultimate goal of the offensive was the port of Antwerp, which would cut off a vital supply sources and separate the American and British armies. During early December 1944, the Ardennes was such a quiet front that the Americans had taken to using it as a proving grounds for green divisions and a rest area for burnt-out divisions. Meanwhile, the Germans quietly gathered a massive, freshly reinforced and re-equipped force on the other side of the front lines.
On December 16, 1944, a massive German artillery barrage shattered the cold and quiet morning, signaling the beginning of the last great German offensive, and what would later become known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Key content for Final Blitzkrieg includes
- Base game covers the western front from October 1944 to January 1945, although emphasis is placed on the winter battles of December and January.
- Regions depicted includes the Ardennes, France, Germany, and Holland.
- Detailed, historically accurate formations for the United States Army, German Heer, Waffen-SS, and Fallschirmjäger, depicting combat formations from the squad to the battalion level.
- One training campaign, three historical campaigns, 25 standalone scenarios, and multitudes of Quick Battle maps to test your tactical acumen.
- Painstakingly researched and highly detailed combat equipment for the United States Army, German Heer, Waffen-SS, and Fallschirmjäger, including well over 100 vehicles and dozens of various small arms and heavy weapons.
- Combat Mission: Final Blitzkrieg is a STANDALONE base game. Final Blitzkrieg does not require any other Combat Mission products in order to play. Future expansions (modules and packs) will expand Final Blitzkrieg to include additional nations, forces, and equipment, and extend the timeline of the Western Front all the way to VE (Victory Europe) Day in May 1945.
Some fun new equipment! (see the TO&E page for a complete list)
- M4A3E2 « Sherman Jumbo » assault tank (75mm, 76mm, and flamethrower variants), clad in armor thick enough to rival heavy German tanks!
- M4A3E8 « Easy Eight » medium tank, the most advanced Sherman model of the war.
- M36 GMC tank destroyer, armed with the deadly 90mm cannon.
- M24 Chaffee light tank.
- Flamethrower variants of the Sherman tank.
- Jagdtiger, the heaviest armored fighting vehicle to see combat in World War II.
- Sturmtiger, equipped with a 380mm rocket launcher.
- Flammpanzer 38, a rare flamethrower-equipped Hetzer.
- Late models of many different German tanks, tank destroyers, and self-propelled guns, including the late Panther Ausf G equipped with chin mantlet.
Experience the western front’s winter combat on myriad battlefields
- New players can cut their teeth on the Lutrebois Training Campaign. Take command of the 134th Infantry Regiment and CCA 4th Armored Division, and defend the Bastogne corridor from German assault at a small town named Lutrebois.
- The Aachen Campaign allows you to experience the challenges of tactical command in the urban deathtrap of Aachen. Lead 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment as they relentlessly grind forward into the center of Aachen.
- Can do you better than Peiper? The Kampfgruppe Peiper Campaign places you in charge of the spearhead of the fated assault through the Ardennes from December 17-19. Fight for control of Stavelot, Stoumont, and crucial bridges. Balance your priorities in force preservation, fuel, and speed in order to break through the American defenses. Can you do better than history and reach the Meuse?
- The Courage Conquers Campaign gives the player command of the entire Combat Command Reserve (CCR) of 4th Armored Division from December 23-26, as they strive to bash through the German encirclement of Bastogne from the south. Command Lt. Col. Abrams’s tank (yes, THAT Abrams). Battle the 5th Fallschirmjäger Division and 26th Volksgrenadier Division. Be the first to reach the 101st at Bastogne in the historic armored dash through Assenois.
- Twenty-five standalone scenarios cover a wide variety of battles along the western front from October 1944 to January 1945. Experience WW2 combat at Chaumont, Herrlisheim, Singling, Grosshau, Cheneux, Meijel, and many more historical locations.
