Beach White: Semper Fi, Syria! Mission 1 is out for Patrons! (Patreon)

Here we go! Kicking a new campaign off with some amphibious recon shenanigans. Seeing as though this actually the first CMSF2 campaign I've tackled for the channel, it's also the first time I've had to deal with Shock Force's backstory which- to my knowledge- mostly exists in the booklet that comes with the hard copy of the game published by Paradox Interactive way, waaay back in the distant past.

So that's a bit of fun. It also meant recreating the paper map that came with it, because apparently there isn't a digital copy around. So if you ever wondered exactly what happens in Shock Force... here you go!

 I also went out of my way to add some context for the campaign by re-installing ARMA 3 and messing about with textures. Sadly, I don't think ARMA supports the size of custom texture that would make that map readable, so I had to chroma key everything in. (Just ignore the rough edges of the first map: I don't have the patience to go back and redo everything to fix it :/ )

But having the briefing actually take place on, first, an LHD hangar deck surrounded by marines (wearing, I'm sure, the wrong shirts) and then on a whiteboard squirreled away in a corner of a room is hopefully a bit more engaging than just sticking the maps up. It's not like the edges of the screen get a lot of use anyway...

This kind of scene setting is also a bit of an extra that's something different for me to tackle, as are the arrows that fade in in the direction they're going for a 'drawing in' effect rather than just fading in equally.

As regards the actual scenario, it's essentially a stealth mission, which is not exactly CM's strongpoint, but hey: it's not badly done and the player gets the assets to complete their objectives. The fact that I'm able to condense 2 hours of game time into about 10 minutes of video is just how it was always going to pan out.

I am really looking forward to tackling this campaign though: not only do I have a soft spot for Shock Force's marines, but there looks like there will be plenty of variation in the campaign. MEUs bring a lot of toys to the fight and there's a good mix of terrain between the coast and Homs.

Schedule-wise, I'm going to kick this one out a little early so you guys can get it before the Youtube Members: the release schedule has condensed a bit after last week, so you're going to be a bit more in-sync for a bit until I can kick out an extra video.

Speaking of... next up is some kind of War Room episode...