Combat Mission: Shock Force

Shock Force cover

Combat Mission: Shock Force was the first game in the series which used the new CMx2 engine. It was released in July 2007.

General Information

The backstory of the game takes place in the summer of 2008. After a terrorist attack the Coalition forces, led by United States of America, invaded Syria in order to locate and punish those responsible. Task Force Thunder was given the most important task: to slice trough Syria with maximum speed in order to seal off pockets of resistance for other forces to mop up.

The game uses the new CMx2 engine which is technically better than before. It is able to render each soldier individually instead of abstracted units that Combat Mission-series used before. It also includes two campaigns (training and dynamic story-driven) which the previous titles could not model. The outcome of some missions affect the following missions. Units also transfer between missions. A squad that has taken casualties carries them over to the next one. The game also has a real-time mode for the first time in the series, but playing WeGo is also possible. The base game also has 20 single scenarios.

The game has a distinct East vs. West feel to it. Syrian forces have old Soviet equipment like AK-47 rifles and T-72 tanks at their disposal. West is represented by the U.S. Army in the base game and uses equipment like M4 rifles and M1A1 Abrams tanks. There is an inherent unbalance between equipment quality, but it is usually balanced out by uneven amount of forces available. Unconventional forces are also represented in the game. Improvised explosive devices (IED) are also found in various scenarios and campaign missions. It is possible to play red vs. blue, red vs. red and blue vs. blue. Both sides have artillery support, but only the blue side has air support available. This represents the strategy in which West military gains the air superiority in the first days of war. Air support for Red side was added in NATO module however by popular request.

The game also has an in-built editor for scenario and campaign making. There are a lot of custom scenarios and campaigns available made by the Combat Mission-community. The most popular place to look for them is the repository at Battlefront.com website. The in-game editor permits the users to do everything that the developers themselves did on mission making. There are also mods available for the game also found on the repository. These mods include additional textures for the units and the enviroment in the game, different sounds and icons for the units.

Equipment

US Army

Branches:

Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT): U.S. Army's heaviest combat formation. Contains Abrams tanks and Bradley IFV's with mounted infantry companies. Significantly less infantry and infantry support systems, it has enormous firepower and strong armor to withstand enemy. Main mission is breaking trough enemy lines and mashing up any counter attacks.

Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT): Medium force built around the Stryker vehicle family . Capable of handling the full spectrum of combat operations, best suited for missions that emphasize mobility over firepower and infantry over armor.  Capable of standing up to even heavy force and defeating it. Utilizes the FBCB2 advanced command and control system.

Equipment:

Briefing for a scenario

Small arms

• M4A1 Carbine
• M4A1 Carbine W/M203 Grenade Launcher
• M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
• M240B Machine Gun W/Tripod
• M110 sniper
• M107 sniper
• M136 AT-4 rocket launcher
• Javelin Anti-Tank Missile System
• M67 grenade

Stryker vehicles

• M1126 Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicle (ICV)
• M1127 Stryker Reconnaissance Vehicle (RV)
• M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System (MGS)
• M1130 Stryker Command Vehicle (CV)
• M1131 Stryker Fire Support Vehicle (FSV)
• M1132 Stryker Engineer Squad Vehicle (ESV)
• M1134 Stryker Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM)

Infantry Fighting Vehicles

• M2A3 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV)
• M3A3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle (CFV)
• M7A3 Bradley Fire Support (B-FIST) Vehicle

Tanks

Giving orders to a platoon during the deployment phase.

• M1A1HC Abrams
• M1A1HC SA Abrams
• M1A1HC SA TUSK Abrams
• M1A2 Abrams
• M1A2 SEP Abrams
• M1A2 SEP TUSK Abrams

Light Vehicles

• M1114 HMMWV
• M1046 HMMWV
• M707 Scout HMMWV

U.S. Air Assets

• AH-64D Longbow Apache
• OH-58D Kiowa Warrior
• F-16CJ Fighting Falcon
• F-15E Strike Eagle
• A-10 Thunderbolt II

U.S. Artillery Assets

Infantry is modeled in 1:1 scale

• M777 Howitzer (155mm)
• M109A6 Paladin (155mm)
• M224 Light Mortar (60mm)
• M252 Medium Mortar (81mm)
• M120 Heavy Mortar (120mm)

Syrian Forces

Branches (Army):

Armor: Regular army has seven armored divisions and reserve army additional division. Qualitative step down from the Republican Guard unit.

Infantry: Usually reserve and militia units. Capable of defensive operations mostly. Worst of the units in quality.

Mech Infantry: Regular army has three mechanized divisions, the reserve army two motorized units. Qualitative step down from the Republican Guard unit.

Republican Guard: The most important force protecting the regime from internal and external threats. Consists of single oversized mechanized division that has the first pick on equipment and personnel. The training standards are higher and the leadership is promoted on merit rather than political favorism.

Special Forces: Considerable both in terms of numbers and capabilities. Training standard is high and the equipment best available. Seven independent SF regiments are spread all over Syria, tasked with protecting key areas from threats. 14th Special Forces Division consits of four other SF regiments and are more heavily equipped for operations in the Golan Heights. Rapid, flexible force capable of both offense and defense. Usually encountered in company sized forces.

Branches (Unconventional):

Combatant: Usually nothing more than armed civilians, these are people of Syria who have taken up the arms in order to fight the invaders.

Fighter: Trained foreign fighters, these are more formidable version of combatants. Usually they have an uniform to recognize them by.

Specialist: Specialists fighting for unconventional forces. Includes spies which report the movements of coalition forces to the uncon's. IED operators are also found in their ranks.

Equipment:

Small arms

• PM Pistol
• AKM assault rifle
• AKMS assault rifle
• AK-74 assault rifle
• AKS-74 assault rifle
• AKS-74U assault rifle
• AKS-74 assault rifle W/GP30 grenade launcher
• RPD machine gun
• RPK machine gun
• RPK-74 machine gun
• DShKM machine gun
• PK machine gun W/Tripod
• PKM machine gun W/Tripod
• NVS machine gun
• SVD sniper rifle
• RDG-5 hand grenade
• RPG-7V1 rocket launcher
• RPG-18 rocket launcher
• RPG-29 rocket launcher
• SPG-9 recoilless rifle
• AGS-17 automatic grenade launcher
• AT-3B/C/D anti-tank missile
• AT-4A/C anti-tank missile
• AT-7 anti-tank missile
• AT-13 anti-tank missile
• AT-14 anti-tank missile
• Improvised explosive devices

Armored Personnel Carriers

• BTR-60PB
• BTR-60PBK

Infantry Fighting Vehicles

• BMP-1/BMP-1P
• BMP-1K/BMP-1PK
• BMP-2
• BMP-2K

Tanks

• T-54B
• T-55 (1970)
• T-55 (1974)
• T-55MV
• T-62 (1972)
• T-62 (1975)
• T-62M
• T-62MV
• T-72M (early)
• T-72M
• T-72M1
• T-72M1V
• T-72M1V (2001)
• T-72M1V TURMS-T

Light Vehicles

• UAZ-469B
• BRDM-2
• BRDM-2 ATGM
• BRDM-2U
• Technicals
• VBIED

Syrian Artillery Assets

• M-46 Field Gun (130mm)
• D-30 Medium Howitzer (122mm)
• 2S1 M1974 Gvodzika (122mm)
• Type 63 Rocket Artillery (107mm)
• BM-21 Rocket Artillery (122mm)
• M1937 Medium Mortar (82mm)
• M1943 Heavy Mortar (120mm)

Modules

Three modules were released for the game.

• Marines (September 2008)
• British Forces (August 2009)
• NATO (October 2010)