Close Combat: The Longest Day Campaign Thread
Hi guys!
So, it's time to reveal a nerdy passion of mine. Every few months or so, when I find that I have a lot of free time, I fill it with a campaign of one of my favorite games- Close Combat. For those of you who have never heard of this game, I will say that it's fantastic, and everyone should try it out. Basically, you have a big map with 64 sectors that are all connected to each other by roads. You then command one side and move battlegroups around the map. The actual gameplay occurs when there is an engagement at a sector, and you fight it out in real time in that particular map. The battlegroups are usually at the company level on the field, but they represent regiments on the stratmap. For example, the screenshot I attached is an engagement on some map in Normandy between U.S. and German forces.
Every single soldier in each battlegroup has a name, rank, weapon, and squad role, as well as his own stats. The game keeps track of kills, medals, injuries, and levels of things like morale, strength, experience, cohesion, etc. During battle soldiers sometimes flee or surrender. On very rare occasions they go nuts and run into enemy fire fanatically. The psychological aspect of this game is really impressive.
Anyway, whenever I start a campaign I do this thing where I flip some coins and pick a soldier (sometimes a few per side) to keep track of from beginning to end. It's fun to see where a soldier goes, where he earns certain kills or suffers certain injuries, etc. The last time I played through a campaign, my 'guy' was SS-Sturmmann Utz from SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 20 in the 9. SS, who was severely injured in Arnhem during Operation Market-Garden and sent home.
I like to tell people about how my campaigns are going, and my girlfriend gets tired of hearing about it, so I am going to keep updating this thread as I play, complete with screenshots!
I am going to fight as the Allies for Normandy in this campaign. My forces are mixed U.S., British, and Canadian troops. The game includes almost every major unit present during the actual battle, and the objectives are the same as what they actually were. The way I play it is what makes the difference. If, for some reason, I wanted to pull back the British paras from Pegasus Bridge and let all of the tanks that Hitler held in reserve absolutely steamroll their way up the French coast, I could let that happen.
My question before I begin: Would any of you equally nerdy gentlemen like for me to pick a soldier at random for me to keep track of and update you on? I think it would be interesting to see who lives and who dies, who gets injured, who earns the Iron Cross or Bronze Star, etc...
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by Danmark
its just an opinion.
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