Close Combat: The Bloody First....

Close Combat The Bloody First. I've cast and eye on the game from time to time out of interest. Mainly due to nostalgia for the games that I'd played previously in the 2D-ish-ness of the early franchise(the second, 3rd and 4th games). The newer games(Gateway, Arnhem, Panthers) never 'did anything for me'. The Bloody first had the potential for a true move to 3D for the franchise. The game does seem to add more of a grand strategy feel. In looks anyway. But I think they've lost the accessibility and a certain hop in "fun" factor(it is a game after all). I like strategy games but I've never been into the 'real' grand strategy games (Gary Grigsby's War series never mind the likes of Hearts of Iron 4 et al). Grand strategy always reminds me of the 90's Battleground series that seemed overly complex and a far cry from what I was playing at the time, Command and Conquer. This new close combat is somewhere in between what I've liked and what I wished I could immerse in and play but gives no motivation for me to try.

I might have another 'assessment' of Gateway, Arnhem and Panthers....

Close Combat 2....

I've been pottering about with The Close Combat games again. My favourites being #2,3 and 4.
In trying to record some gamplay 3 and 4 were acting very shy by crashing a lot. 2 stood the test of time. So I did a lot with it. Even if it doesn't have a lot of the features in 3'n'4. Like the epic plinking noise for tank damage or persistent wrecks. Still a fun game.

The Son town bridge taken with 33 seconds to spare. It never happened that way in the campaign...

I had been thinking that there must be a different unit allotment and quality for the single battle map.
But no. They take the starter units from the previous map and add in the likes of the machine gun and PIAT team equal to the number of points you would have had to spend anyway. Which makes sense as your forces would've had to push through the town map before getting to the bridge.

Fair enough. If they were to alter that calculation then you'd have too many variables. How many day's into the battle do you start, how many casualties you take, how long your ceasefire lasts and how many reinforcement points you get to spend. So yea I get it, day one, same as the previous map plus the extra teams. Simples.

Here's an older campaign battle on the same map; I think I was a more cautious commander trying to keep a coherent force for the next map... I should have pushed them harder.

A Casual Carebear

Blast from the past....

It's been a while since I played the old Close Combat games. My last look at the second game, third game and the fourth game has been a while ago. The original CD's still run/install on modern pc's but I saw the series in a sale on gog.com.  At less than €4.50 per game and with some extra cash off (gog wallet from previous purchases) they were even cheaper so proved hard to pass up. CD's fail and OS's change after all. It's nice to have a version that is 'supported' in some long term way without self help/modding or fooling about.

https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_2_a_bridge_too_far
https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_3_the_russian_front
https://www.gog.com/game/close_combat_4_the_battle_of_the_bulge

Moving my old saved game/campaign info under the new versions worked flawlessly.

Some more minor nostalgic gameplay incoming.... As if I needed more distractions from the main games I want to finish....

Casual Carebear