Shock Force - Marines is the first of several planned expansions of the Combat Mission contemporary warfare setting.

This, the first Module, adds a significant number of new formations, units, weapons, equipment and vehicles for both the US and Syrian sides, as well as brand new missions, maps and a campaign. General game engine improvements (such as TacAI changes, tweaking cover values and so on) are included as well, although they are also available to all Shock Force customers.  This ensures that everybody plays by the same rules and experiences the same basic gameplay.

More information about how Modules work can be found in the FAQ section on the left

So what does the Marines Module include?

New TO&E

• Marines Infantry Battalion
• Marines Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (LAV)
• Marines Tank Battalion
• Marines Assault Amphibian Company (AAV)
• Marines Engineer Battalion
• Syrian Airborne Battalion
• Syrian Mechanized Airborne Company

New Weapons

New Vehicles

• Marine M1A1 Abrams
• Marine M1A1 FEP Abrams
• LAV-25
• LAV-AT
• LAV-C2
• LAV-25 A2
• LAV-AT A2
• LAV-C2 A2
• AAV-7A1
• AAVC-7A1
• MTVR 6x6 Armored Truck
• Mk23 7 Ton Truck (unarmored)
• M1046 TOW Humvee
• M1114 Humvee w/ Mk19 Grenade Launcher
• T-90SA Tank
• BMP-3
• BRDM-2 (AT-5)
• M1A1SA TUSK Abrams tank
• M1A2 SEP TUSK Abrams tank
• M2A3 IFV Bradley with explosive reactive armor (ERA)
• M3A3 CFV Bradley with explosive reactive armor (ERA)
• M7A3 BFIST Bradley with explosive reactive armor (ERA)

New Scenarios and Campaign

• A number of standalone missions, a couple dozen brand new Quick Battle Maps and a completely new Marines campaign are included in the Module! More details about the Campaign can be found under "Campaign" on the left menu.

New Game Engine Features

A large number of game improvements, bug fixes and engine enhancements are going into the Marines module. Most of them will be made backwards compatible for users without the Marines module as well in a v1.1 patch for CMSF. Below is just a short list of some of the highlights, for now.

INTERFACE

• Movement Destination Highlights: When placing a waypoint over ground terrain, the destination "action spot" is highlighted in yellow. Teams B and C (if any) also have their adjacent destinations highlighted when plotting moves and when giving facing orders attached to a final waypoint. Note that final facing is important for positioning "wing man" teams, so you should attach facing orders to final waypoints as needed.
• New Color for KIA: The colored "highlight disc" for dead soldiers is brown, to distinguish them from seriously wounded soldiers whose disc remains red. "Buddy aid" can still be given to dead soldiers, but all it does is reclaim their ammo and weapons if possible. "Aid" to dead soldiers is pretty quick.
• Target Arc and Facing orders may be given with mouse clicks that go "off map".
• When placing a target arc, the distance in meters is displayed.
• Disembarking troops may attach Face, Deploy, and Pop Smoke orders to waypoints.
• "Target" command is available in the editor to check LOS (no targeting orders are saved).

ARTILLERY AND AIR SUPPORT

• New sound effects for incoming rounds, jets, helicopters, cannon fire, bombs, spotters, controllers.
• Smoke artillery missions (and computer-player AI Support Plans may use it)
• Computer player uses artillery and air support dynamically throughout the game, not just pre-planned strikes.

INFANTRY MOVEMENT

• New soldier TacAI for Fire on the Move: Moving soldiers will sometimes stop and take a quick shot at nearby/exposed enemy troops, then resume moving.
• New soldier TacAI for Moving Under Fire: Moving troops that come under heavy fire will only switch to Slow (i.e. crawling) if they are so tired that they could otherwise only use walking speed (i.e. not even Quick). Otherwise they try to move faster. And sometimes they cancel their move altogether and seek nearby cover.
• Soldiers do a better job finding ridgeline positions even when "heavy" cover like trees is also present.
• Soldiers position themselves better at corners of buildings and walls.
  Note: the effectiveness depends on the orientation of the building in relation to the underlying action grid.
• Soldiers move faster with Fast move, even when carrying heavy loads.
• Soldiers move along trench lines better.
• Sound effects for footsteps.

VEHICLES

• Improved damage algorithms for external systems on armored vehicles (e.g. optics, smoke generators, lasers, missile launchers).
• Secondary explosions for burning vehicles as ammunition "cooks off".
• Improved vehicle navigation in narrow urban spaces.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Internet Play: improved speed and reliability.
• Explosions: the simulation of blast and shrapnel effects has been improved. The main thing you'll likely notice is that huge weapons like airplane bombs are a bit less able to cause casualties at long range. 
• Bunkers
• Handled better by computer player
• Protect correctly versus artillery fire
• Correctly simulate top hits from Javelins
• Machineguns may "deploy" inside buildings, though assembly time is 2+ minutes.
• Sound effects for weapon reloading.
• New background sounds for day and night.
• Added a "special equipment icon" for night vision gear.

The Marines Module is packed with a lot of cool stuff and it is available for purchase immediately to you all. "All" means to anybody with a Battlefront, Paradox, and Gamer's Gate version of CM:SF.

CMSF Marines is available only from http://www.battlefront.com/ and is not sold in stores. The price is $25.