Wargame Reserve

Featured Website: The Wargamer.com

2011-06-27T13:21:00.002+08:00

The Wargamer.com

The History Of The Wargamer
The Wargamer has been recognized as the leading web site for the coverage of war and strategy gaming by numerous international PC gaming magazines and publications. In addition, Wargamer.com has received nearly two-dozen accolades and awards for content and design excellence from such organizations as Encyclopedia Britannica, Microsoft France, PCGamer, Computer Gaming World, and PC Magazine.

The Wargamer was founded in September 1995, as a vehicle for locating and pairing up potential opponents for the play of computer and table based war and strategy games. Since then, under the domain name Wargamer.com, the site has more than doubled annually in terms of web site scope, content, functionality, readership, and traffic.

(In 2001 alone, the site grew in traffic by over 500 percent and, in Spring 2001, Hot100.com rated Wargamer.com as number 66 of the most popular Internet gaming sites on the World Wide Web. In February 2002, PC Magazine rated it among the top 100 Internet destinations, alongside such websites as The Onion, StarWars.com, and National Public Radio.) It is now a highly popular Internet destination and the cornerstone of The Wargamer Network.

In March 2003 The Wargamer merged with MilitaryGamer forming the largest strategy wargamer community. The site and the network’s operational headquarters are located in Staten Island, New York, one of the five boroughs of New York City. The web site is managed by a team of six professionals with diverse backgrounds that span military service, e-commerce, journalism, information technology consulting, financial services, and human resources. Most importantly, each also has an extensive background in designing, playing, reviewing, or evaluating board, miniature, and PC games that focus on war, strategy, history, and military simulations.

The Wargamer's Operating Principles and Review Process
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Operate with integrity, enthusiasm, consideration of others, and in furtherance and support of military and historical gaming in all things we do.

Provide the very best online content and coverage for the enthusiast of military, historical, and strategy gaming.

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Interview: Total War Games Modder MasterOfNone

2011-06-12T22:31:00.002+08:00

Lloyd Sabin spends some time interviewing long-time modder of the Total War series MasterOfNone on his previous work, his upcoming release Fourth Age: Total War and his future plans.

Creative Assembly’s Total War series has now been around for over ten years and has been played by millions. One of the keys to the series’ longevity is its thriving modding community, especially for the older titles. I recently had a chance to ask prolific modder MasterOfNone a set of questions on his work, the games and what he hopes is to come for the games.

Wargamer: Thanks for agreeing to answer these questions MasterOfNone. First things first: what kind of work do you do for your day job, and when did you get into modding? How old are you?
MasterOfNone: I work from home in various largely Internet-based ventures, including writing and genealogical services. Unfortunately modding and fiction writing (both of which I am passionate about) tend to encroach a little into those enterprises. I stepped into the addictive world of modding as a direct result of seeing a work thread for a Rome: Total War modification on the now-defunct stratcommandcenter.com back in October 2004. I didn't even know what a mod was until that point. The name of that mod was, of course, The Fourth Age: Total War. I was 35 then. I am now 41 and slightly graying at the temples. I think I can attribute some of that to modding!

WG: What do you think of Creative Assembly's latest releases, ETW and NTW? Will you be buying Shogun 2? Why or why not?
MON: I've only looked at demos and videos of CA's releases after M2TW. They do not appeal to me, and not just because of the period: they are less moddable and CA seems to have focused more on eye candy and less on publishing polished games with strong strategic and life-time value. So no, I will not be buying Shogun. Don't get me wrong, I think CA produces the best strategy games out there, but I think Rome was the pinnacle of their talent to date, and also a period I prefer to their other games' eras. There is a strong voice in the Total War community for a Rome 2: Total War. I’m very interested to see what the future brings.

WG: If you could arrange to have an hour-long meeting with the department heads over at Creative Assembly, what would you ask them? Do you have any suggestions that you think would help them in developing the Total War games?
MON: I would be very biased and ask for more Roman-era and Dark Age games set in the West! I'd also point them to my answer above. I think one of the reasons Rome worked was because of the diversity of factions. When CA focuses on a single culture or technology then it blurs the distinction between factions and makes play less diverse. Though I guess this cannot always be avoided with more modern time periods or with a focus on a single culture, such as with Shogun 2. Total War modding, unlike some other games, does not have tools or editors provided for it. Modding is at a very raw level, and tools (where they exist) are created by the modders themselves.
This makes modding slower than it would otherwise need to be. So, I'd ask CA to release some basic tools which they must have used themselves - even if just for old games rather than their latest. As I can understand it, CA does not want to make public that which they use to create their current game engines. A full-conversion mod for Total War takes around 4-6 years to complete - and that is with a skilled team, working hard. Tools are the best means to shorten that time.

WG: Can you name a few aspects of RTW and M2TW that you do not like? Are their features included that make you scratch your head and ask “What the hell was CA thinking?”
MON: Probably the biggest gripe you'll get from modders is how some features are hardcoded or global. This can be very annoying, especially when hardcoded bugs are true game breakers. RTW is OK in this regard, but M2TW suffers from more bugs (mainly related to battlemap AI) that make play very unsatisfying after a while. My own tastes for a Total War game favor Rome over Medieval 2. Rome offers a smoother experience. Although troops act in a less realistic way than in Medieval 2, they are easier for the player to control. Sometimes gameplay is more important than realism.
The M2 battlemap buildings are very nice, but such things fade into the background when you've been playing for a while - or annoy you because of the inherently worse AI path-finding in M2 settlements. Speed is also something that appeals to me. By that I mean that when I press the "end-turn" button I do not want to wait more than 15 seconds or so before I can start my next turn. I also prefer the sharpness of the visuals in Rome compared to the "blurred" environments and so-called "hunchback" animations of M2. I’m starting to sound like I hate M2TW but that's not true. I like it a lot, second to no other game I've played - except Rome.

WG: What was your first modding experience with the Total War franchise? Did you work as part another team or did you immediately start your own? Do you work better by yourself?
MON: I started with Fourth Age Total War (FATW) in late October 2004 as a map researcher. During 2005-06 I came to lead the team along with another guy, Apoc. I learned how to mod most things, except for 3D modelling (which is actually quite a small part of modding relative to the whole). Apoc gradually drifted away and I was on my own for some time. But occasionally others helped and, eventually, Aradan (the current lead developer of FATW) joined the team as a beta tester and then went on to learn everything he needed to eventually take my place at FATW and give me a rest. I think I work well in a team and also as a creator and leader of a mod. No mod is truly a sole enterprise. I think Aradan has done the trait coding and unit balance for all my mods, for example.

WG: How much time do you usually spend working on individual projects? How long has production been going on for your Lord of the Rings mod, Fourth Age? Can you give us some details?
MON: Mods vary in the time they take, depending on whether they are full conversions or how tightly-focused they are. Viking Invasion II took about 3-4 months because (1) I was unemployed at that period and (2) we drew on a lot of pre-existing sources from other mods (chiefly Arthurian: Total War and Chivalry: Total War). Mods get done a lot quicker and efficiently when there is one driving mind behind them - as long as that mind does not quit! Most do when they realize how much work is involved. So the Fourth Age has been going since late 2004. How many hours I have spent on it I have no idea, but we are certainly talking in excess of 10,000 hours all told, and that's just for my contributions.
Modding is a part-time job and demands all your spare time if you're in the core of a dev. team. You can take it more lightly than that, but your mod will probably never be finished if it's a full-conversion. Very, very few mods even to this day are fully complete and polished. I'm very happy FATW will be reaching that status this year! And FATW is a Middle-earth mod, not a Lord of the Rings mod: the "Lord" and the "Ring" did not make it into the Fourth Age. Our development diaries have some details about FATW 3.0. I'll just say that I believe it will be the most polished, balanced, lore-accurate, feature-rich, innovative, and stable mod for Rome: Total War the community will have ever seen.

WG: Following on from the above question, how much research do you do in preparation for a new project? Is it a labor of love, something you enjoy? What part of the development cycle do you absolutely hate?
MON: You learn so much when modding - not just technical skills, and how to do a bit of art, but also things about the real world. In Norman Invasion, for example, we have information on each region (there are about 80) built into the game: geographical, historical and topographic facts for each. That all had to be researched. We do not copy & paste from Wikipedia! Much about modding is tedious. You can spend weeks tracking down a single bug or attending to something that few players will even ever notice. I think that testing the final build and reporting all the findings is a pretty harsh phase of the mod. I personally dislike repeating things over and over. Having said this, don't think that it isn't done. It is. Aradan and I are perfectionists. We often ask outsources to do the same work more than once, until we are happy with the results.
My main strength in modding, around 2005-2007, was in research and development - seeing how the engine worked with the files, making discoveries about game features etc. and applying those discoveries in ways that made FATW unique. Of course, those discoveries were shared and I wrote several tutorials and guides too. Sharing those things only helps the community make better mods so it's foolish to keep them to yourself - of course, the way they are uniquely implemented in a mod is another thing entirely. People find out about that when the mod is released! I suppose my main love of modding is the fact that you can create a world out of your own vision or imagination. This is also the reason why I like fiction writing. Getting feedback and reviews is also nice. FATW has consistently been voted "favorite fantasy Total War mod for Rome" over the past few years by the TW's largest online community site. Viking Invasion II has been well received in PCgamer. A small mod of mine called the Multi-Mod Sampler has been twice included on the cover disk of the PCGamer too. FATW also used to be listed on the official site at TotalWar.com. I think it disappeared when they upgraded the site design a couple of years ago. That kind of recognition is nice, but perhaps the best is when a father posts on the forums and tells us he and his son are really enjoying the mod and have had hours of pleasure from it. Or when a fan tells us that FATW is better than any commercial game adaptation set in Middle-earth.

WG: Do you prefer fantasy or historical settings? Can you list the mods you've created, their main topics, and which one is your favorite?
MON: That's a tough question. I like the idea that games provide educational information, and I am not a fan of cliched fantasy. I do like Tolkien's world of Middle Earth a lot though - perhaps because its history, myths and characters reflect something in this world that appeals to me. I won't mention all the mods I've made, but only the major, more poplular ones. I've said enough about FATW, so on to some others: Norman Invasion - I like this mod a lot because I get to defend my country from the cruel Normans! It's a fast-paced, tight campaign with just 5 factions and takes place in Britain and Normandy. Much of its imagery and basis is from Viking Invasion II (see below) but it also has a lot of neat additional features such as natural strongholds and a political system (which replaces the religious one). The mod has been featured on Infernocanuck's excellent "Let's Play (Rome Total War mods)" channel on YouTube for those who want a good taste of what it's like. As of this interview, I believe it's at 15 episodes!
Viking Invasion II - This mod was made with perhaps more intensity than any other I had a part in. I really wanted to see a remake of the Viking Invasion expansion for the original Medieval Total War. VI2 got a nice review from PCGamer magazine too, back in 2009. The Dark Ages (in the British Isles) is perhaps my favorite period of history. Later a fan of the mod started working on expanding it to have two more factions and we eventually brought him onboard to release Dominion of Britannia (DoB) which aimed to enhance the historical accuracy of the mod and expand it in several ways. DoB is an expansion: players will need the final version (1.7) of VI2 to play. Gods & Fighting Men - I have a love of Irish mythology and so this was another natural one for me. It is said to be the hardest of my mods to complete. It takes place in ancient Ireland and is based around the myth of Lugh of the Long Arm as he tries to use the Four Treasures of Ireland to unite the Tuatha De Danann against their Fomor oppressors.
Interesting story: I came across a YouTube video with some good music that I thought would really fit the mod well. I discovered it was called the Blood of Cuchulainn (Cuchulainn was perhaps the most famous warrior of Irish myth) and composed by Jeff & Mychael Danna.I've always pursued a policy in modding of getting permission to use music, images, etc. and I've always been amazed at how often that permission is granted. What is more - and here is a secret of modding - if you ask you sometimes get things that you would not have otherwise have got! I sent off an email to these film scorers and soon came to realize these brothers had done some big movies. I thought they'd probably not reply, but after a few emails I found myself on the phone to their Hollywood home discussing terms of use. That permission was granted which is why you'll see full-card credit in-game for them if you play this mod. The music's just perfect!

WG: What kind of balance do you aim to strike between historical accuracy and ease of play? Is this always a tough part of development? Do you typically work with an era that you are already familiar or do you research events and time periods that are unknown to you?
MON: Accuracy is very important in FATW, accuracy to the lore. However, game restrictions and requirements of gameplay do put parameters on this - though it's amazing how innovative one can be with features to bring the two together quite nicely. I think this will be seen when Dominion of Men (the final version of the Fourth Age: Total War) is released this year.We poured quite a bit of time into historical accuracy in Norman Invasion. However, Total War games are "open" to the player's designs once the campaign starts and I dislike mods that use scripts to try and force everything to proceed historically - I feel too constricted (and distracted) by that approach and it is one reason I never use background scripts in my mods. I make mods I enjoy - whether mythical, fantasy or historical. Modding is a hobby, not a job. It's probably the reason why I think I wouldn't do too well at a developers' studio - I'd have to probably help design and create a game that held no appeal for me.

WG: Does the work of modding ever take away the pleasure you get from gaming? Do you get so overexposed to a game that you just can’t play it for a while?
MON: Yes, a little. In fact some modders - myself included - are notorious for not playing and end up having to be reminded about that distant memory called vanilla. And when new games come out, you think first about what it would be like to mod before how it would be to play!

WG: When you aren’t working on your own projects, what other modders’ work do you enjoy for the Total War series? Do you have favorites for technical fixes, graphics, etc? What is your favorite vanilla TW game?
MON: My favorite TW vanilla game is probably Barbarian Invasion (RTW) and the Britannia Campaign (M2). I quite liked the old Viking Invasion for the original MTW too. As for other modders' work - I'm actually quite fussy. I can see some mods with themes I enjoy but which aren't complete or stable, and others that are very well done and stable but whose theme does not interest me. I'm looking forward to see how "The Last Kingdom" comes out for M2TW.

WG: What of the future?
MON: I am officially retired - which means that I will not be creating any more mods and that I will not be modding at all once the final version of FATW is out this year. Of course, if my circumstances change and if a stunning new game is released with huge modding potential, I could come back... But there is still much to do on The Fourth Age: Total War - The Dominion of Men. You can follow the mod at the forums at TWcenter.net (and I'll post developers’ diary releases to the Wargamer too). These diaries are hosted on our YouTube channel HERE. For a list of all Total War mods (including mine) you might be interested in the TWC Wiki tables. I helped put these together (somewhat) and they are the most complete listing of TW mods you'll find HERE.

WG: Thank you for the interview.
Artwork that will be used for MasterOfNone's upcoming Lord of the Rings-themed mod for Rome: Total War can be found at Sarel Theron's digital art site HERE.

Interview conducted by: Lloyd Sabin, Staff Writer

After Action Review: Combat Command AAR

2011-06-12T22:29:00.002+08:00

Contributor "Obsolete" takes us into Combat Command with his AAR of Allied forces attempting to secure the Medjez El Bab-Tebourba Gap in Tunsia against the Axis.

Longstop Hill, December 23-25, 1942
Sizeof Battle: Small
Typeof Battle: Allied Attack
Axis: German
Allies: American/British/French
Location: Tunisia
Description: A small, tense battle for possession of a key position in theMedjez El Bab-Tebourba Gap area features interesting attack opportunities foreach side.

02:00 (Night), 23 Dec 1942

What a time of day (erm night) to start offa scenario. Since the terrain looks rather bland and dark at night, not tomention the night-time Fog-of-War (FoW) rules would make other units hard orinvisible to spot (depending on terrain and postures), I decided to fill in therest of the landscape here with some other windows.
The Order-of-Battle (OOB) below shows ourarmy’s breakdown. One thing that is of interest here, is that the allies aremade up of three separate nationalities. But what’s most interesting in that,is they are all part of the same division, sharing the same divisional HQ, andthere is an absence of regimental HQs.
This actually is fine for me, since itkeeps things much simpler than having to be careful on mixing differentdivision penalties, and reassigning HQ’s while trying to be careful not tooverextend command ranges, etc. Those are better served for the much larger scenarios,this one however is played on a small scale size. It is also important to notethat we are not going to be getting any reinforcements. The units that we startoff with in the first turn, are the only ones which we are going to get.
One of the first things my eyes want to seeis the Victory Objectives. This window here tells us that there are a total of5 objectives. We hold none of these yet, but by 12:00 on the 25th of December,we are going to need at least 85 points in order to pull off a marginalvictory. Since we just rolled over into the 23rd, that gives us at least 48hours (and change) to see what we can do here.
Usually I start off by planning to go for adecisive victory, and then only go for the margin when that plan fails.However, another way to go about things is to try and secure a strong positionfor the margin first, and then try to free-roll your way to a decisive as abonus.
And now, let’s take another look at ourallied troops here. You can see most of them are rifle companies, with one USmachine gun and another US tank also included. Almost all these units are usingleg movement of 12 movement points (MPs), though the tank is over 20 due tousing tracked movement. There are also two exceptions, the HQ has quite a lotof movement available, and the southernmost British rifle is also using wheeledmovement, which will let me blitz around at will, particularly on both primary(black) and secondary (brown) roads.
On the top left I have brought up the infopanel on our divisional HQ to check our statistics. Our leadership rating isnot spectacular, but it isn’t terrible either. One thing I should point out isthat all British units have a quality rating of 60%, with the Americans only50%, and our Axis opponents generally around 70%. This could end up being a bitof a problem, particularly when the strength of the German units tends to alsobe higher than what we currently have to work with.
Over to the far east is some town called‘Grich el Oued’. Well, I’m not sure what that means, but we’ll take it firstanyway to start climbing our way up to the victory level. I’m not SURE if thereis any nasty surprises hiding in there or not, but since I can’t remember everhearing of this ‘Grich el Oued’ town in any war history annuals, I guess thatis a good sign (for now).
It is time to head eastward...

06:00 (Day), 23 Dec 1942
Movement Phase
Limited Visibility
Ahh, daylight rolled in at 6 am. Thingswere much brighter, despite the bad weather.
Unfortunately, I ended up losing initiativestarting this turn. Once you lose it, things can become problematic to re-achieveit, but I was not exactly TOO worried about that for the moment.
In the current screenshot I had already movedall my other counters into place except for my ‘B 5/Northamptons’ unit. You mayhave noticed the digits on the bottom of the counters have changed to colorcoded letters now. I did this by pressing the tab key to check certain statsquickly. The red N signifies units that are out-of-command (OOC).
I had no divisions that were OOC last turn,so what happened here? Simply, me and my genius of an idea to move my HQ halfwayaround the map instead of sitting down somewhere and digging in has increasedthe chances for me to fail my command checks. The probability for this is a bitmore complex to get into details here, but basically, it’s my fault.
Besides combat penalties, these OOC unitsalso have their movement halved, which means I can’t use this unit to follow upin a manner which I had been planning to last turn. However, we’ll have chancesto linkup these OOC units next turn during the command phase.
If I had the full movement left, I wouldhave combined this with the others in order to help push weight against thatGerman infantry sitting in the mountains on a victory objective. Oh well, I getwhat I deserve I suppose. When will I ever learn?
My plans for this turn were to trap thatGerman infantry unit in my Zone-of-Control (ZoC) with my other units while Idug in and then gave him some peppering during the direct-fire phase to softenhim up, before a full assault the next turn. I also would have the option toexploit my off-board artillery strikes as well in a bombardment.
When looking farther east at the river townof ‘Halte d’el Heri’ my plan was to also pepper spray him this turn, but to notengage in any full assaults for the moment. Hopefully our artillery barrages wouldalso be able to force him into quality checks (QCs). If we could disrupt him like that, it wouldmake our future planned assault much easier.
Other than getting a number of my unitsout-of-command, I also suffered a few disruptions after rolling bad QCs. Thesehappened when moving into the minefields near River Town. My problem is I justdid not want to burn off too much time looping around those hexes, and this wascompounded by one of the mine-hexes being invisible until I actually passedthrough it, catching me by surprise.
The final worry here though, was what wascoming my way in those two German Fog stacks. The limited visibility thisweather was giving did not make my judgements easy, but once we engage I shouldbe able to get at least some limited intelligence as to what I am up againstthere. Or, the weather could change and be nice to me for once to me. Oh sure ...keep dreaming.

08:00 (Day), 23 Dec 1942
Movement Phase
Limited Visibility
The weather was still poor during the 8-o’clockturn, but since we skirmished each other during the direct-fire phases, I wasable to gather both some limited intel, and absolute intel from the enemycounters.
My favourite insight came from those poorbastards who had dug in atop that mountain peak. It seems he received not one,but two direct hits somewhere in between my bombardment, and small arms/HE fire.I suppose, there also may have been a chance he injured himself trying toescape and failing a good withdraw roll, but I doubt it.
What mattered now, was me most likely goingto break that unit completely during this turn’s assault phase. With that axiscompany down to just one platoon worth, I hardly think I could go wrong here,and quite rightfully so. I had each surrounding unit then set on attackposture. Without any intervention, that crippled defender would becomecompletely smashed.
Over by River Town we had a differentsituation. I had decided to keep my units in defend posture in order to try andpepper spray the nearby hostiles once again. It also seemed the mechanizedinfantry unit which moved adjacently north of my US tank received a littledisruption. IIRC his defence should have been a total strength of 15, but I cuthim down to 12 when I forced him into a small disruption with my opportunityfire.
On the other side of things, I did anothersilly genius move and paid the price. My British wheeled infantry which I hadon the other side of the river ... I decided to move it closer to help see whatwas going on with Jerry, and to possibly aid in some actions. I knew there wasa risk in wandering him around in travel posture, but I didn’t want to keep anyunits sitting idle. I feel units sitting idle too often equate to lostmanpower.
Of course, a stack of nearby Germaninfantry popped up on the horizon, and BOOM, I lost a platoon worth in thatcompany from reaction fire. Oh well, you have to take some and give some in war.
Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mentionsomething. Since I did not show the scenario data in the first turn, here isthat data now. I am given a total of two off-board artillery missions a turn,with a total strength of 42. While weather does correlate somewhat to theeffectiveness of bombardments, I have used a few tricks in order to maximize mybombardment chart.

10:00 (Day), 23 Dec 1942
Attacker Assault Phase
Weather is Clear
Boy, what a difference clear weather makesduring the day. Now we can finally get some good solid statistics on ouropponents which are up close and adjacent to us. It looks like our situationwith the German mechanized infantry which was trapped by our E-ZoC has notchanged. As long as I hold him within E-ZoC, he can’t shake off disruptionlevels. Of course, that’s a two-way street, unless one of us goes a level toofar down, which causes zone control to fail altogether.
In any case, I had decided to pounce uponthat friendly neighbour who was unfortunate enough to be forced to make a standin the clear and open terrain.
It is very unfortunate that my U.S. tankcompany was not able to make contact with my HQ, and would be OOC for thisturn. This would prevent me from getting a special column-shift on the combattable (tank bonus) for attacking a lone infantry out in open terrain like thiswithout any armoured defence in there. Oh well, many battles are full of missedopportunities like that.
One problem I had to think long and hard onhere, was if I wanted to add the northernmost British infantry unit into theassault or not. I was definitely not happy to see a stack of two German Fogunits just three hexes away from one of the victory points. That would be all Ineeded this game, was to watch a stack of strong Axis units cross the 1.5 Kmdistance and start to dig in on that mountain tile, forcing me to burn off timeand God knows what else in an attempt to dislodge them off the victory hex again.
I decided to err on the side of safety anddug in my unit on that mountain tile. The French infantry, despite being alittle weak, would still be strong enough to hold the other victory location behindthe former (well I assumed).
So despite I wasn’t able to assault the targetwith EVERYTHING that I wanted, (including the kitchen sink) I believed I wasstill in great shape. Actually, I knew I was in great shape to hit it. Sure,things could go wrong but from my looks at the Ground Assault combat table, theworst that could happen to me is that I go through disruption checks, while theworst that could happen to our opponent is he suffers at least two hits, andalso has to go through a nasty QC on top of that .
Ok .., Ok ... the worst that could happento me was not just a quality check, but me being forced to retreat, which wouldcause more quality checks and then ... well, in any case, I was also going toadd in our off-board artillery as well, just to be sure. Since this piece willnot be doing a regular indirect fire operation, but instead participate in theactual assault, it would suffer no table-shift penalties. The way the differingstrengths and a hundred other factors are laid out in this table, a roll from1-to-3 with my artillery should at least score a single hit on the defender.Since we’re using a 10-sided die here, that’s 30% for a positive result, andI’d like to sit here all day and roll at those odds.
I decided not to dare attack the citybehind the minefields though. Not on this turn at least. I would use my remainingartillery support to hopefully soften it up a little bit further. I knew fromcycling units in that axis stack that at least one of the counters in there haddisruption from either an arty hit, or was it my direct-fire Small Arms/HE?Regardless, if things went really well for me, I could maybe try to push intoRiver Town hard during my next turn and pry those units out of there.
Speaking of things going well, my poorinfantry far to the east /south was sitting there quite useless again. It wasforced to withdraw during the AI’s direct-fire phase, and I decided to switch itinto tactical reserve posture in order to shake off its disruptions quicker.
Now, all I have to do is hit End Phase andwe would see how we did this turn. And then ... and then ... and then...
Well, we’ll just have to end the story here,after all, I can’t afford to give away all my secrets. Otherwise I wouldn’t beable to keep my PBEM win ratio above 50%. Ermm, wait, that’s 90%, no really! (wink)

AAR written by: "Obsolete", Contributor

PC Game Review: World of Tanks

2011-06-12T22:27:00.001+08:00

Join Chris “Steelgrave” Mohon as he kicks the treads on World of Tanks and goes out for a spin.

Nice Paint Job!
Worldof Tanks is a massive multiplayer onlinegame, a next generation gem which has already attracted almost two millionplayers worldwide. At its basic level, Worldof Tanks is a 15 vs. 15 team shooter that puts you behind the turret of aTiger I searching for a target or in a Wespe self-propelled gun tracking enemymovements as reported to you by the Stuart scouting the ridge ahead. Or youmight be in the T-34/85 angling to get a shot in at the side of an advancingPershing, while behind you; a SU-85 hidden behind bushes tracks your everymove, hand steadying for the kill. Worldof Tanks has dozens of beautifully modeled units representing Russian,German and American war machines, with tanks, tank destroyers andself-propelled artillery filling your garage. The tanks look amazing…they arebeautiful beasts, represented in fine detail. I guarantee that you’re going towant to drive one home from the showroom!
The graphics are easily one of thebiggest draws of the game. The tanks look like their historical counterpartsand the terrain you drive and fight over seems real. Trees sway softly in thebreeze, dust flies up from behind your tank as you travel down dirt roads, andsmoke belches from behind your iron beast as it moves along. On the battlefield,the terrain is destructible, which can be useful in itself...if you are settingup an ambush in a tank destroyer, you can knock over a tree that blocks yourline of sight, then scurry back behind the bushes and wait for your target toapproach. Seasoned players learn to search the terrain for clues as to wheretheir enemy might be advancing...rash tankers in a hurry will knock over treesand walls, providing visual clues to their approach. A bright artilleryman willwatch for exactly that kind of movement and may well send a shell your way,just to say hello. Adding to the immersive feel of the tank you are driving andthe terrain you are crushing beneath your treads is the sound. Tanks are loud,and guns going off are noisy. Often you will hear an approaching tank beforeyou see it. Shells banging off you armor are real attention getters and thesound effects of this game add to the rich battlefield feel that you willexperience.
One area where World of Tanks truly shines is in vehicle characteristics. Thedesigners have gone to great lengths to recreate the feel and abilities of thetanks involved. Yet World of Tanks isnot intended to be a true tank simulation. While the tank exteriors areaccurately modeled, there are no complicated interior controls to learn. Youwon’t be jumping from the commander’s hatch to the driver’s seat to the gunner’sposition. In many ways, you are the tank, not the crew. The designers havecaptured that elusive balance between realism and playability, and done itwell. Driving a new tank is more of a process of learning its capabilities andlimitations, rather than worrying where the starter switch is. A light tank zipping along at 60 mph drivesdifferently than a heavy tank churning its way up a hillside, as does a mediumtank which you have overburdened with upgrades but failed to put a newsuspension in. When you are chugging up a hill at 6 mph with artillery shellsstarting to fall around you and you feel like you might as well have a neon bull’s-eyepainted on your tank, believe me…your next purchase will be an upgraded engineor suspension, and that new gun will wait.

Let’s pop the hood…
There are roughly a hundred basicmodels available at this time, divided into American, German and Russianunits. Some Japanese, British and Frenchlines will supposedly be joining the battle in the future, as will Americantank destroyers. Keep in mind that this is a game about tanks...period! Thereare no pesky infantry to avoid (or conversely, to overrun), no anti-tank gunshidden in farmyards, no fighter-bombers patrolling the skies just waiting toturn your tank into a burning hulk. Thisis strictly tank vs. tank dueling, with glory going to the survivors and thelosers slinking back to their garages to hammer the dings out.
You start off with three very basiclight tanks, a Russian MS-1, an American T-1 Cunningham, and a German Leichtetraktor.Don’t worry; you won’t spend much time in these relics. Each vehicle in thegame has a tech tree which it follows in order to gain access to higher tierequipment and units. From each of these starter tanks, you can research othertank lines, moving up the tech tree into light tanks, medium tanks, and heavy,but you also can branch off into tank destroyers and self-propelled artilleryfrom here. Each vehicle can be individually upgraded, with a better suspension,a more powerful engine, upgraded turrets, heavier guns, a longer ranged radioand a more experienced crew, so that the M-4 Sherman you are facing might havealmost a dozen different configurations, not to mention special equipment thatcan be purchased, such as faster gun loaders or better ventilation systems thatgive bonuses. The units are very customizable, and while some might rushthrough the tech tree to get to the monsters at the top, there is a lot ofsatisfaction to be had in driving a maxed-out lower tier tank with an elitecrew and a long range optic system and making kills well above your pay grade. Manyplayers have expressed the opinion that the game is just as much fun at thelower tier levels as higher, an opinion which I share.
Your tanks are stored in a garagewhich has a capacity for up to six vehicles. This can be expanded by theexpenditure of gold, the in-game currency (more on gold later). The garage iswhere upgrades take place and where you can rearm and refit your tanks. Yourgarage has a barracks attached, so if you have a veteran crew, you don’t haveto lose them when you purchase a new tank. You can just upgrade their training,hand them the keys to their new Panther, and point them in the direction of thebattle.

C’mon, let’s go for a test drive!
On the battlefield, you are going tobe teamed up with 14 other players and will be facing an opposing team of equalnumbers. Each team will be roughly equivalent in strength. World of Tanksutilizes a 10 tier system, which ranks a unit before assigning it to a battle.Tiers are based on your tank type, with a Tiger I being a tier VII and an M3Lee being a tier IV, but you can inadvertently raise your tier by upgradingyour iron ride with a higher tier gun…so that your nominally tier III tankdestroyer might be rated a tier IV. Got all that? If not, don’t worry….just getin your tank and go shoot something. It’s a great stress reliever!
Many battles will have a tierdifference of as much as three steps, so if you are in a tier IV tank, youmight be top dog with many of your comrades and opponents being lower tiers oryou might end up at the bottom of the pile on your side, facing higher tieropponents. But that is far from an automatic death sentence! There is greatsatisfaction to be found in being the weakest unit on your side, then killingsome steel cowboy who goes racing past your ambush spot, allowing you to put ashell into the weaker flank armor of his now burning tank. Being a kamikazedriver on treads results in a short match for you and a kill painted on theside of my Jagdpanther. In every matchthere is always a bozo or two who will go charging towards the enemy on hisown, then berate his teammates for not supporting him. I call this “dinner”.
The rest of your “dinner” willlikely be harder earned. World of Tanksenjoyed a long beta period, and many of your teammates and opponents areveterans who know how to scout, how to use terrain, know when to defend andwhen to go for the kill. The matches are 15 minute timed periods, with very fewmatches ending in a draw. Battles are usually bloody and more often than notcome down to a small pocket of survivors on each side angling for the win.There are no bots in this game, no AI to fool. Every kill you rack up is againsta living opponent, and every time you go up in smoke, a real person is doing asilly victory dance behind their monitor.
Worldof Tanks does not divide teams based on thenationality of the units. Each side mayhave a combination of German, American and Soviet units working side by side,stalking the opposing team. This is slightly disconcerting at first, but WoT isnot intended to be a replay of WWII battlefields. World of Tanks is a game which matches the hardware against thehardware, not nation against nation. In battle each unit has a red or a greenicon over it designating friend or foe.
While most of the matches in World of Tanks are random affairs, youcan also create a platoon with a couple of your friends and join into battletogether. Taking this one step further, if you can gather at least 15 players,you can create a clan and with this comes new maps and longer term strategiesas you battle other clans over the spoils of Europe. I haven’t gotten to testdrive a clan battle yet, but a Wargamer.com clan has just started up and I’mlooking forward to reporting from the front soon.

Okay, time to look at the stickerprice…
In what has to be my favorite newtrend in MMO’s, World of Tanks isfree to download and play. Seriously. Now, I know your daddy told you thatnothing was free in this world, and I’m not here to call him a liar. He’sbigger than I am, and I tend to bruise easily. But if World of Tanks is noton your hard drive right now, go to their website, download it for free, andplay. It’s just that simple.
Now, there are two types of in-gamecurrency found in World of Tanks,gold and credits. Credits, like experience, are given at the end of eachbattle, with the winning team receiving about double that of the losing team.Credits are used to fund your basic expenditures: repairs, replacements, andupgrades to equipment. Gold may be purchased via real money, with the currentrate being 3,000 gold for $14.95. This is enough gold to upgrade your accountto Premium status for 30 days, with 500 gold left over to spend as you wish. Premiumstatus grants more experience and credits per battle, which translates into fasterupgrades and puts your seat in the higher tier tanks sooner. With gold, you canaccelerate training for your crew, or even buy tank bling, such as better ammo.Yet it is entirely possible to have a great time with World of Tanks and never, ever buy gold. While, as in real life,rewards come much quicker with a little gold to grease things along, gold alonewon’t buy you victory.

Okay, okay, I’m sold! Wait...is that adent in the side?
Worldof Tanks does what it intended to do verywell. It’s a load of fun, and the hard work and attention to detail which thedesigners have put into their product is very evident. Even so, there are somethings that I would change about the game if I could.
First and foremost, I’m big oncustomizable interfaces. World of Tanksallows me to tinker with the keyboard and assign the basic functions towhichever keys I like. That ability is a must have for me, so they have thatbase covered. But not in the actual battles unfortunately. There is a verysmall map at the bottom right hand side of the screen which shows all units,both allied and enemy, which you are aware of. I would like nothing better thanto move that mini-map elsewhere, but no dice. The lack of customization availableon the battle screen is a frustration which I hope they will address in thefuture.
Perceived tier problems are aconstant gripe. I think that a lot of that is because many players don’tunderstand how tiers work, or how upgrading your tank can bump you up a tier.But it could definitely be improved. Three or even sometimes four tierdifferences are frustrating if you are on the wrong end of the stick and shouldhappen far less often. Nonetheless, to gamers unhappy with this aspect of thegame, I would simply point out that the first US Sherman tanker who encountereda German Tiger I on the battlefield probably wasn’t overjoyed either. Sometimesyou eat the Tiger, sometimes the Tiger eats you.
A big, big player complaint revolvesaround artillery in the game. The argument rages back and forth over whether ornot artillery is overpowered. Artillery is the proverbial hammer wielded by aneggshell. Artillery has a powerful punch, but one light tank that slips behindthe lines often means game over for artillery units. The very best suggestionthat I have heard would be to limit artillery units to 2 or 3 per side perbattle. The occasional match which spits out 5 or 6 artillery units apieceisn’t all that much fun, even for the artillery.

Clank, clank, I’m a tank!
Yes, yes I am, and my heartfeltthanks go to the designers at Wargaming.net for that! They have created anoutstanding game which will suck hours of my life away for some time to come. Thisis a game which rewards team play and good decisions, a game easy to play butnot so easy to master, lovingly built from the chassis up, a tank buff’s delightand a game which often favors the bold but just as often drops them in their...tracks.Clank, clank, I’m a tank...yes, I am…andI’m hull down over that hill, just waiting for you to show!

Review written by: Chris "Steelgrave" Mohon, Staff Writer

PC Game Review: Advanced Tactics: Gold

2011-06-12T22:26:00.002+08:00

Join Chef Chris "Steelgrave" Mohon as he peeks into the kitchen to see what Matrix Games has cooked up with their latest serving, Advanced Tactics: Gold.

So, what’s for dinner?
Two things that make me happy are wargames andfood. Yeah, I’m kind of a foodie, a guy who is not afraid to experiment in thekitchen, and I’m definitely a wargamer of many years. In the food camp, you canfind goodness from different extremes, be it an exotic meal from Chef GordonRamsey's kitchen or something down home and yummy from Rachael Ray. And so itis with wargames, where occasionally we are offered a rich, delicious gourmetmeal that is good but leaves us unsatisfied; or maybe a plate which is cold,undercooked and unpalatable; or worse the occasional MRE from your granddaddy’s’war; but every now and then we come to the table to find a serving of classic, filling,gaming goodness awaiting us, complete with sweet tea. That last descriptionfits Advanced Tactics: Gold; a fun, solid,playable and immersive game that is far deeper than it appears at first glance,a game that won’t leave you hungry an hour later.
AdvancedTactics: Gold (ATG) is a rich stew of ingredients. It is complex without beingoverwhelming; not an introductory game by any means, yet it has a comfortable,familiar feel to anyone who has played a wargame before. There is nothingground-breaking about ATG, but thatis not necessarily a bad thing. Certain elements remind me of Empires of Steel, only in a deeper andmore stylish manner, with perhaps a dash of Civfor flavor and even a hint of classic Avalon Hill board games, a touch of Blitzkrieg here and there. The game isgrognard-worthy, yet without requiring weeks of your life to learn…althoughyour might find that your evenings slip away once you start playing it. I’mspeaking from experience, once I fired up ATG,I had a difficult time stepping away from the dinner table in order to writethis review.

Mmm, something smells wonderful!
The game plays out on a colorful andfunctional map, with terrain types easily distinguishable from one another, asare the units themselves. Right clicking on the map will bring up details onthe terrain, a nice feature. The map utilizes a standard hexagon system, andwhile the maps and unit icons are readable and informative, neither falls intothe category of eye candy. This is not a game in which you are going to getlost in the artwork detail, but neither are you going to have to squint todistinguish unit types or geography. One of the nice touches is that the uniticons change to reflect equipment builds, so if you create a basic infantrydivision, then transfer enough trucks, the icon changes to a truck to reflectthis. The same thing happens if you ship out SMG’s, ATG’s, tanks or otherhardware. This is not only useful, but it ups the flavor of ATG at the same time.
On the map, there are basicresources you need to acquire in order to fuel your war machine and capturedcities provide victory points, supply and a manufacturing base for your armies.Remember, an army marches on its stomach! Your resources will go towards creating,supplying and moving your military as well as investing in technology in orderto build shiny new toys. This is not a city-building game. You are not going tobe weighing the benefits of creating the Pyramids vs. building an armoreddivision. You’ve got to feed your troops, watch your flanks, and order enough bullets;this is where a poor game interface can hinder a player. Happily, after playingthe tutorial, I spent almost no time fumbling around the map searching forhidden keys and buttons or cycling through endless menus. Kudos to thedesigners for creating such a clean and functional interface to use.
ATG comes with a tasty variety of units, with ground troopsdominating your dinner menu. You can craft your army from the ground up,peppering your divisions with a mixture of rifle units, SMG, heavy MG’s,bazooka’s, engineers, Rangers, scouts, or even staff weenies to polish your general’sstars. Different classes of tanks provide for your offense, with armored cars,artillery, mortars, halftracks, locomotives, warplanes and horses being part ofthe recipe if you so chose. Engineerscan improve resources, build railroads, create fortifications and blow upbridges; enemy incursions may be foiled as they run into your hidden anti-tankand infantry guns. To add to the mix, each type of unit can be improved upon byspending points on research, giving you even more options and decisions to make,to the point that you will not be able to upgrade every unit in the course of agame. But be careful! Tanks, trucks and halftracks consume precious fuel, andraw materials are required to build virtually everything but infantry. In myfirst game, I watched a promising offense grind to a halt when my oil fieldswere overrun and my shiny tanks sputtered to an ignoble end before the enemylines. Superior numbers can often falter against a smaller but better balanced mixof opposing units, as each class has its role to play on the battlefield. Itpays to decide on your battle plan and build accordingly, as combinedoperations are more often rewarded with victory as resources are limited andfought over.

But is it done yet?
The best of meals can be spoiled bybugs, but I’m glad to report that ATGseems to be a solid platform, no doubt in part because they are building on topof prior successes. This is a welcome change in an era when too many games arereleased prior to completion in order to meet a financial deadline. Thankfullythat is not the case here as the game is playable “out of the box”.
Fresh from the success of their popularAdvanced Tactics: WWII, ATG is more than a simple upgrade. ATG gives the player powerful scenariocreation tools and an easy-to-use random scenario generator, where you canchoose the size of your battlefield, number of opponents (up to 13: realpeople, AI, or mixed), and the skill level of each AI opponent. This allows fora huge replayability factor, and coupled with the ability to tweak virtuallyevery aspect of the game; no two games will play the same. There are also anumber of pre-made scenarios available, and the game is designed to be modfriendly as well, so you won’t find yourself fighting over the samebattlefields repeatedly.
The AI is challenging and you willfind that the enemy will attempt to flank you, cut your supply lines and sendfast units into your territory in order to seize resources. You can set the AIat more difficult levels in order to increase the challenge, which I heartedlyrecommend for all but beginning players. However, where the game really shinesis multiplayer, as no AI can quite hand you your head as efficiently as otherplayers. There is an active and vibrant community of players online and a gameor two has been known to break out among the Wargamer.com community as well.
Speaking of opponents, rather thangive us the standard Allied and Axis combatants, there are “Peoples”,reflecting cultures rather than nations, a nice touch. These includeAnglo-Saxons, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, French, and Arabiccultures, with each having a unique ability or build of some sort. So you mightbe The Empire, an Anglo-Saxon culture, mixing it up against the Sun Empire, thePeople’s Republic, and maybe the Middle Kingdom. It’s gravy, but still anenjoyable change of pace and a nice feature.

Waiter, is that a fly in my soup?
I found the AI to have occasionallapses at the basic setting, being fairly aggressive, good at scouting and makingreasonable attacks but unable to land a knockout blow. The AI would oftenattack piecemeal along a wide front, threatening my flanks but being easilyrepulsed from major objectives. At this level, the AI never did anything stupidbut never did anything brilliant either. Ramping up the AI settings upward madefor much more challenging gameplay and once you have a good feel for the basic game,you will probably want to max the AI out consistently.
My initial reaction towards thegraphics was one of disappointment, however, when playing the game I came toappreciate how functional they were, especially zoomed in, and the more Iplayed the game, the more they grew on me. The same cannot be said of thesound. I’ve come to believe that somewhere, there is a warehouse of generic wargame sounds and music, likely found on the 7^th level of Heck (since mediocritydoes not rise to Hells’ standards). I don’t buy a wargame expecting to hear thetheme music from “Patton” but at least I can flip a switch and turn the soundoff, rather than be annoyed.

My, but that’s a tasty burger!
When I go into a restaurant, I lookat the menu, but often end up ordering a favorite tried and true item. But hey,there is a reason why they call it comfort food, because a chicken fried steakwith cream gravy over mashed potatoes is a win. There is such a thing ascomfort gaming too, and if you’re a wargamer, then you can appreciate the kindof solid gaming experience to be found with AdvancedTactics: Gold. It’s not filet mignon, but it is a game that exceeds itspotential and keeps its promises; a game that will repay your investment oftime and money with hours of gaming goodness. Sometimes you just can’t beat theclassics! ATG comes to you highlyrecommended by your gaming maitre’d. Asthey say in the restaurant business, enjoy!

Review written by: Chris "Steelgrave" Mohon, StaffWriter

PC Game Review: Combat Command: Matrix Edition

2011-06-12T22:24:00.002+08:00

Scott Parrino takes command the Matrix Edition of the popular Combat Command series.

TakeCommand
To those that are unfamiliar with Combat Command in the past, Combat Command: Matrix Edition (referred to as CombatCommand from here on out) takes aclassic turn-based strategy game and improves upon it. Like with any otherstrategy game scenario, Combat Commandputs you in command of company-sized units in historical scenarios where youmust capture and hold victory objectives until the end of the scenario itself.Not only are multiple unit types are used but also HQ units to assist insupport fire and in attacks. Scenarios can last for a few turns in the span ofa day or for days, with day and night cycles. During these turns players willhave to concentrate on postures, disruption status, command links, movementradius and much more. Combat Commanddoes not split hairs on complexity and might be a tall order for first-timestrategy game players. However, the manual that comes with Combat Command is descriptive and comes with a tutorial to help getnew players situated in it. For veterans of the genre they can appreciate someof the options given to provide a challenge and the rather classic table-topgraphical style and presentation.
To call CombatCommand turn-based is a loose term; a more appropriate name would be aturn-based phase-mode strategy game. I call it this because you do notnecessarily move and attack within the same turn but rather after a series ofphases within your turn. Those who jump in without reading the manual (shame onyou) or trying the tutorial (double shame on you) may get easily confused whentheir rifle company won’t attack an enemy unit that they have right-clicked on,even when they’re right next to them. With CombatCommand you must wait until the proper phase to carry out your attack,which even then is different than most hex-based strategy games.
At the start of the players turn, there is a SupplyPhase which checks to see if units are in supply. After that, the gamedetermines which side has the initiative in the appropriately-named InitiativePhase. The previous two phases are some of the phases that are doneautomatically that don’t require the player to do anything, which is helpful toknow that certain checks and notifications occur that the player sees, ratherthan having it hidden in the background. CombatCommand is big on displaying all sorts of information to the player inorder for them to make proper decisions (or risks) and to genuinely feel likethey are a general pouring over their map to command their units. Next in linefor the phases include the Reinforcement (notification of reinforcementsarriving on the field), then Command Phase, a very important phase. Combat Command checks to make sure that DivisionalHQs are able to reach Regimental HQs, which in turn make sure they’re able toreach their own units as well as other Regimental HQs. This becomes incrediblyimportant in large attacks as units that can be supported in an attack byartillery or other units need to be in “radio” contact in order to coordinatedefense and attack situations. This grand feeling of managing HQs and units incombat to coordinate your defense lines or your assaults is a good one, albeitit is difficult to determine and solve why some units can be out of contact forno reason. Aside from this complexity managing a battle gets easier the moreyou play.
Eventually you move onto the Assault Phase, whereactual combat occurs. Here attack and defense values, including any multipliersis taken into account to get a result. Depending on how much intel you have theenemy unit, you may or may not know what sort of damage you’ve done. No matterthe unit though, every unit has three counters that stand for their damage doneto them. Once all three counters are red, the unit is completely lost. There isno way to regain the counters or to make more units; once your unit is gone, itis gone for the rest of the battle. This of course forces players to thinkahead and whether or not to withdraw from their positions to save units.
An interesting phase is the Initiative Phase, whichin itself is an important phase as it gauges which side goes first during aturn. This adds an element of tempo and momentum as players that can capitalizeon successful offensives can see themselves starting a turn each time. This mayseem like it can be abused, but in reality it is not. It rewards brilliantcommanders that utilize their armies correctly and smartly and isn’tnecessarily reserved for offensive types. Defensive commanders can also benefitif they wage their battles correctly. This element of gameplay in Combat Command makes every battle youfight a dynamic one and certainly makes situations of desperate measures (suchas my full-scale frontal assault on a hill position that ended in tragedy) onesof nail-biting experiences.
The AI can be a varied mixture. There may seem to betimes where the enemy AI will go out of its way to attack a position of lowimportance to times where you see your flank disintegrate under an armoredpush. Generally I experienced more “intelligent” AI than I did of “dumb” AIcommanders, but of course nothing can compare to fighting an actual humanopponent. Complex wargames such as CombatCommand can live or die by the AI and in this case, it lives.
For fans of fighting against other human commanders,there is that option (to not have this aspect in wargaming can be such adowner). You have your full choice of play-by-email (PBEM), hotseat or throughthe Internet. PBEM in some battles can be a bit of lengthy affair but gives youmore time to think (or curse). Hotseat lends itself to the feeling of youropponent cheating to see where your units are, but then why would you have suchan untrustworthy commander in your household?
There is no in-game tutorial; instead Combat Command offers a follow-along onein its manual where you are introduced to many of the game’s concepts andphases. I’m generally against this sort of tutorial as it involves alt +tabbing back and forth while reading and conducting the battle. Granted, Combat Command is not exclusively meantfor beginners, but an in-game introductory course would be infinitely better toget the rust out of the gears for some commanders.

Graphicaland Sound Aspect
Wargamers are a breed that appreciates fine art. Combat Command doesn’t use and doesn’tneed fanciful graphics with 3D units and lens flares coming out of the sun andanimated trees and rivers. The kind of graphics Combat Command has is what I would call fully-functional. UtilizingNATO symbols with a clean interface that gives off a feeling of actuallyplaying a table-top strategy game, CombatCommand is sure to visually please the hardcore as well as those juststarting out. While the tileset could use some work in terms of contrast anddetail to distinguish between landscape types. There is a difference betweenobvious types such as flatland and mountains, but different types of thoselandscapes are difficult to look at quickly and knowing which is which. Anexample would be that there are some mountainous terrain that is rough and somethat is not. The visual difference is slight and it isn’t until you mouse overit that you know what it is. Having multiple units occupying a hex (you’reallowed to stack a certain amount) can also make it difficult to see what kind ofterrain you are on as well.
I was able to run Combat Command comfortably on my HP Mini laptop; however somebattles that are considered medium to large in size of units and map did causea struggle. Battles of that size may see players computers stutter and lag asit loads up or goes through the actions of a turn. Of course playing on a smalllaptop is an exercise in frustration due to screen size (small) and horsepower(weak), those with PCs with decent RAM and processor horsepower should see noissue whatsoever.
A nice touch that I liked was the inclusion ofwartime propaganda posters that cycle through after a few minutes on theinterface. It certainly adds to the atmosphere and helps in giving some life tospace that isn’t utilized as much.
CombatCommand doesn’t feature much in terms of sound effects,save from the usual suspects of gunfire and explosions. I played without soundand it didn’t affect my experience at all in any negative effect.

AnEditor That Impresses
CombatCommand comeswith a robust and easy-to-use editor that allows anyone to make any type of mapwith any type of unit composition they desire. Not only can you make any mapyou want (doing one of my old stomping grounds is my current project) but youcan also create any type of unit you want. You can create a Rifle company thatis ridiculously over-powered or a push-over or follow the basic guide in themanual (you ARE reading it, right?) to create the typical assortment of WorldWar II units. Not only are you able to create the map and units, but you cantinker with AI behavior as well. This allows for a multitude of situations aplayer can create for himself or for friends.
All of this is done rather easily with simple pointand clicks or inputting some numbers. This is a great feature to have for anywar game and having it with CombatCommand will definitely please a lot of players that want to try their handat mission creating or taking up other challenges that others have created.Aside from having an awkward time laying down roads and rivers, the editor issolid and intuitive.

MyFinal Word
If you’re a fan of table-top wargames but don’tnecessarily have the table space (or your friend is out of town) and want tosatisfy that thirst, Combat Commandwill quench it. While it can be a challenge to dive into, getting to know it isworth the time. I would definitely recommend Combat Command to experienced wargamers that may want a different,more in-depth turn-based strategy game. To newcomers, you will have your handsfull but it will certainly open your eyes to the world of complex military wargames.

Reviewwritten by: Scott Parrino, Editor in Chief

PC Game Preview: Panzer Corps

2011-06-12T22:23:00.005+08:00

James Cobb gives us a glimpse into the Panzer Corps beta, a spiritual successor of the classic Panzer General series.

Panzer Corps
Developer: TheLordz Studio
Publisher: MatrixGames/Slitherine

When Panzer Generalwas released in 1994, a new audience was attracted to computer war games. Thegame’s simplicity of mechanics and historical concepts freed the genre from the“grognard” stuffiness of earlier games while keeping an acceptable veneer ofaccuracy. The multiple ways of gaining prestige points within a scenario andthe branching campaign system created the ever-popular “just one more turn”hook. Many other General gamesfollowed but the first never lost its allure for gamers. Unfortunately,attempts to port the code from DOS to newer systems never quite worked all thatwell. Matrix Games/Slitherine and The Lords Studio are re-creating anembellished version of this classic with PanzerCorps, keeping the flavor of the original while making it compatible withthe latest operating systems.

No Frills Needed
Panzer Corps’graphics are simple but informative. The 2-D unit icons aren’t fancy butclearly differentiate between type and model, e.g. a Pzkw Mark II is clearlydifferent than a Mark III without going into minute detail. A health bar andnumbers show units strength and supply. Using a hotkey brings up a moredetailed picture of the selected unit along with its twelve attributes. Thepurchase screen and the unit’s entry in the separate library yield even moredetailed looks. Illustrated collapsible sidebars facilitate play. Deployableunits or a complete list of players units can be seen with their present strengthand attributes.
Terrain shows cities, towns, hills, forests, mountains,rivers and fortifications. Although not elaborate, these graphics get themessage across well. Terrain affects movement and defense as usual but citiesand airfields have other decisive roles in the game. Capturing specific cities,shown on a strategic map, is key to winning a scenario. Other cities may notcount towards victory but provide prestige points, the coin of the realm in thegame. Airfields provide bases for air units and paratroopers. The zoomabletactical map switches from ground to air mode with a touch of the TAB key

Don’t Mess withSuccess
Panzer Corps’mechanics remain turn based and simple. Selecting a unit for movement takes aleft click and shows reachable hexes. Hexes with a dot indicate that units willarrive combat-ready while those with a truck symbol indicate infantry andartillery will arrive mounted in vulnerable trucks. A right click sends theunit to the spot unless a hidden enemy pops up. Some units such as paratroopscan mount and dismount transport. Naval movement and combat work the same asground and air.
Units can move and fight or shoot than move. Combat is withadjacent enemies marked with red crosshairs. A bar with expected losses forboth sides appears and right clicks intimates combat. Artillery can fire from arange but aircraft must be on top of a ground target. Units exchange fireduring a fight so losses are simultaneous with artillery and adjacent friendlyunits ganging up on the attacker. Units cannot be stacked although one air unitcan be in the same hex as a ground unit.
The game is played through five campaigns – tutorial, 1939,1941, 1943 East Front, 1943 West Front – or 25 scenarios. The campaigns areplayed as German through 1945 and are branching, i.e. if a scenario is lost orisn’t won decisively, the player is sent to a series of scenarios that don’tlead to the attack on Washington,DC. Levels of victory aredetermined by how quickly the player accomplishes the objective. Yet, capturingonly the strategic cities can’t be the player’s single aim. Other citiesprovide prestige points. The points can be used to buy replacements, elitereplacements, new units, re-supply units and upgrade units. Feeding and care ofunits are vital in any battle and essential for the player’s core units thatwill be carried along throughout the campaign. Prestige point functions are donethrough buttons or hotkeys and use a full turn.
The scenarios represent battles throughout the war and canbe played either as Axis or Allies. Like battles in the campaigns, terrainscale and unit size vary by scenario. The eight levels of difficult assurereplay possibilities and the scenario editor seems easy to use. A PBEM mode allowsfor the annihilation of friends and family.
Re-making a classic is always a risky business and is seldomreally necessary. However, Panzer Corpsmay give war gaming a sot in the arm as its predecessor did.

About the Author
Jim Cobb has been playing board wargames since 1961 and computerwargames since 1982. He has been writing incessantly since 1993 to keep hismind off the drivel he deals with as a bureaucrat. He has published in WargamersMonthly, Computer Gaming World, Computer Games Magazine, ComputerGames Online, CombatSim, Armchair General, Subsim, StrategyzoneOnline, Ganesquad and Gaming Chronicle.

PC Game Review: Pride of Nations

2011-06-12T22:23:00.002+08:00

James Allen from outofeight.info takes on the world in AGEOD's grand strategy Pride of Nations, tackling the Victorian period of 1850 to 1920.

Pride of Nations, developed by AGEOD and published by ParadoxInteractive.

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION
I like grandstrategy games: getting control of an entire country and leading them towardseconomic and military victory on a large scale is a fine way to spend countlesshours of your time. Two of the dominant forces in the genre are ParadoxInteractive, known for Europa Universalisseries, and AGEOD, of Birth of Americafame. Recently (well, a year and a half ago), they joined forces in an unholyalliance for grand strategy dominance. The latest title is Pride of Nations (originally entitled Vainglory of Nations, but nobody knows what a vainglory is), agrand strategy epic covering the Victorian period from 1850 until 1920. Whilethis treads the same ground as the ultimately disappointing Victoria II, Pride of Nations hopes to combine AGEOD’s strong military pedigreewith a substantial economic model and other auxiliary features in a morerelaxed turn-based format.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND
Known for their high-quality 2-D maps, I was a bitsurprised that the latest entry into the AGEOD canon lags behind itspredecessors. Perhaps it has to do with the larger game scope (the whole world,instead of just Europe), but I was not impressed by the game’s blurry texturesand lack of surface detail. The terrain is certainly less accurate thanprevious efforts on the small scale, with more squared rivers and fewerelevation changes utilizing subtle shadowing. It’s not all bad news, however,as the animations for ships and trains are a nice touch, but overall the map isnot as good as I expected. The unit and leader portraits continue to beseemingly realistic and quite varied, placing you in a great historicalcontext.
As with allgrand strategy titles, the interface is an important aspect of the game design,Pride of Nations features over twentymap filters to highlight pretty much any aspect of the game: supply, strategiccities, weather, claimed regions, relations, colonial penetration, traderegion, and more. There are also four map modes to cover the main parts of thegame: military, economic, colonial, and decision. Building something in eachmode (troops, factories, and colonial actions) is accomplished by pressing thelarge gear icon next to the large map mode button. Pride of Nations also includes large displays for nationalattributes, military units and production, resource balance, population data,research, colonial targets, diplomacy, and overall objectives accessed usingthe F-keys, although there are no on-screen icons to serve as an alternatemethod. The “B” and “T” keys also lead to extremely helpful resource balancesand trade controls. Pride of Nationsmaintains the intuitive tabbed unit organization method and features a ton ofdetailed tool-tips and messages to keep you informed.
Pride of Nations has basic sound effects for clicking onstuff and battles. More significant is the immense library of period-specificmusic (almost 150 songs) to put you in the mood for global domination. That’sabout it for the sound, so…short paragraph!

ET AL.
In Pride of Nations, you control one ofeight countries during the Victorian period from 1850 until 1920. There areonly eight nations to choose from (the United States, Great Britain, France,Sardinia/Italy, Prussia/Germany, Austria, Russia, and Japan), although you canmanually choose (though the console, the ~ key) to play as someone else. This,of course, begs the question: if you can change it, why not just listsecond-tier nations on a different page? Yes, the other countries lack events,but I'd still like to try out the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, China, theOttoman Empire, or any of the other countries around the globe. Pride of Nations also limits you to onestart date (1850), which means the grand campaign lasts 1,680 two-week turns.Turn resolution is also lengthy for me (between two and four minutes per turn),so even if all I did was press “end turn,” it would still take me almost onehundred hours to complete the campaign. Everyone’s orders are executedsimultaneously, but you can’t do anything while the game processes each turn,except go grab a sandwich or something. The winner is calculated by prestigepoints that are earned through a variety of methods, including colonies,diplomatic crises, capturing cities, and missions. The game also adds variousplausible, semi-random objective cities (up to twenty per nation) that aredifferent for each game; this may alter your overall strategy in subsequentcampaigns even if you play the same nation.
In addition tothe grand campaign, Pride of Nationsincludes four battle scenarios: the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion, the 1859 Risorgimento,the 1899 Boer War, and the 1904 Russo-Japanese War. These battles are varied inlength, but only involve the military portion of the game, so they play outjust like previous AGEOD titles. Learning Prideof Nations takes some time, and the tutorials do just an average job ofteaching the basics to newcomers (unlike the fantastic multi-tiered tutorialsof Victoria II). You can customizethe game rules to your liking, adjusting the leader activation rule, use ofrandomized generals, attrition, sphere of influence for colonization, extendingclaims (so you can claim any adjacent province in a peace treaty), and AIbehavior (including difficulty and bonuses). Pride of Nations allows you to play by e-mail, although it would benice if they were centrally hosted like FrozenSynapse or Battlefield Academy. Pride of Nations continues to supportuser modifications, and the game is only $20. Wait, what?
One of thestrongest aspects of Pride of Nationsis the economy, something that had only been a simplified component in AGEOD’sprevious efforts. Pride of Nationsdifferentiates between state money and private capital. Basically, state moneyis earned from taxes (census, corporate, excise, tariff, income, and maritime)and used to purchase military units, while private capital is accumulated fromtrade and used to construct factories. The game features over thirty resourcesand goods that can be produced, manufactured, and traded. In general, goods aremade to make your people happy (and make some money in the process), supplementthe production of more advanced items, and trade those goods to other nationsfor a handy profit. The most important item to produce is manufactured goods,required to raise troops, build factories, and place most colonial orprovincial actions; make sure you have a steady supply of it available. Pride of Nations assists in balancingyour economy through the confusing commerce screen or the much more streamlinedasset balance screen, which displays color-coded graphs depicting which goodshave a biweekly deficit or surplus. Tool-tips displayed while hovering overeach good shows trade areas that have the product for sale, which makesacquiring needed materials much easier. It’s usually a better idea to producethe most desirable goods yourself, so you can construct buildings to do so. Itcan be a bit daunting to choose which particular factory or farm to queue inwhich province, so the AI can make suggestions, shown in a tool-tip by hoveringover the “total value” number in the asset balance window. Each building needsspecific raw materials; if they are not available, the factory will temporarilyshut down until you manually reinstate it and make sure the required goods areprovided. The efficiency of the structure depends on the quality of availablelabor, regional satisfaction, available technologies, and local infrastructure.Overall, the assistance given by the asset balance window allows the player tomake intelligent, informed decisions guiding their nation’s economy.
You won’t needto keep all of your produced goods domestically, and most countries will bedeficient in at least a couple items, so trade important. Goods from severalprovinces are grouped into a trade zone; if you enter economic map mode anddouble-click on a resource icon, you’ll see a list of all the goods availablein that zone and then simply click to increase values to add your goods to theinternational market or ask for items from neighboring nations. If severalnations are competing for the same goods, technology levels and relationshipsdetermine the “winner”. While you can’t control who buys your goods (or ifanyone will actually purchase them), Prideof Nations strikes a great balance between letting the user tweak the traderequests and automating the purchases each turn once the demands have beenestablished. You can trade with any zone that’s a couple of zones away fromyour capital; reaching further zones is accomplished by using merchant fleets.These vessels park in special sea zones (inside an oval rope) that areconnected with a number of trade zones and allow for trade with those regions.Since several trade zones are connected with a single merchant zone, there issignificantly less micromanagement than if the relationship was one-to-one.Also, the goods availability seems to be pretty constant, so you’re notspending minutes each turn adjusting request levels. A cool thing is that youcan use your navy to destroy a rival’s merchant ships (since the AI nations usethe same system) and cut off their overseas trade. I like the system very much.
Like in mostgrand strategy games, you are a magical, mystical national overseer, ratherthan the actual head of state, which changes over time because (spoiler alert!)people die. Your head of state is rated in three areas that affect differentparts of your nation: imperialism (changing the military force pool andcohesion), administration (affecting production), and diplomacy (modifyingprestige). Your nation is rated in eleven areas like technology, religion,education, and bureaucracy; unlike EuropaUniversalis, these attributes are mostly static, only changing throughspecial events. There are also political factions at play in your nation; ifyour government type (there are four) supports elections, you can promote aspecific candidate, although your people will generally vote for whoever ismost desirable to them. Pride of Nationsalso includes decrees, laws, and industrial options that work like eventstriggered by the player that grant small bonuses in specific areas. Lastly,there are missions: accomplish various tasks like having the largest army orexporting cattle and earn a significant prestige bonus.
Keeping yourpeople happy is important, as riots are generally bad things. The more goodsyou provide, the more satisfied your country will be. The people require food,consumer goods, and luxury goods; there are many choices in each category(eight to ten), so you don’t need to provide every single good in the game.National morale can also be improved by capturing objectives and winningbattles. Each citizen is assigned a social class (slave, peasant, worker,middle class, upper class, or aristocracy) that determines where they can work,and rated in terms of satisfaction, militancy, education, nationality,ethnicity, and religion. Citizens can change class over time and cities cangrow. Twice a year, each province undergoes a satisfaction check that cantrigger an event (there is, of course, a table showing the probabilities):improved (or reduced) productivity, or riots that can result in destroyed goodsand rebel units spawning in the province. This mechanic gives concrete, andsomewhat randomized, consequences for your economic ability. The satisfaction-drivenevents highlight the population dynamics portion of Pride of Nations.
Pride of Nations features a lot of technologies that canbe researched in several areas: army, navy, commercial, social, and industrial.However, this process is totally automated and subsequently not terriblyinteresting: you can speed up specific techs if you choose (for a largemonetary investment), but I rarely ventured onto the research screen anddiscovered new technologies just fine. Of course, some would argue that thishands-off approach is more realistic, and the specific areas are influencedindirectly by what you build on the map (for example, more ports mean morenaval research). Plus, research is one less thing to worry about in an alreadycomplex game. Far more interesting is colonization, accomplished by usingthirty or so different actions on prospective provinces. You can choose betweenexploration, military action, diplomacy, or development; all of these willincrease your colonial penetration in the area (while some might result in anative revolt), eventually turning a protectorate into a formal colony ordominion. Pride of Nations alsofeatures a sphere of influence rating in each province (conveniently listed ina handy register of all potential colonial targets), which offers colonizationbonuses in specific areas; this is meant to somewhat script where certaincountries colonized historically. If you are the sneaky, underhanded type (andwho isn’t?), you can even send military expeditions to rival colonies, hopingto cause a native uprising. The resource requirements for placing each actioncuts down on the repetition, and requires you to decide where to best placeeach available action. Overall, the action-based colonization of Pride of Nations offers a lot morechoices than simply sending a colonist every month until the settlement reachesa specified population level.
Despite yourbest efforts, there will be other countries in the world. Your diplomaticrelationship with other nations is quantified as a numerical rating, and youare given a number of options for dealing with your neighbors: defensivetreaties, alliances, and declarations of war are the typical choices. You canalso promise support in a diplomatic crisis, grant (or request) military movementthrough their country or start a loan. If another nation sends a request oftheir own, you can agree, disagree, or simply ignore the demand. There is arealistic delay for bilateral agreements, so you’ll have to wait a turn or twoto see if the trade agreement goes into effect. Pride of Nations does not show the likelihood of acceptance beforeyou send a request, nor does the AI provide any counter-offers, so you will geta lot of rejections without explanation. There is only one option to directlyincrease or decrease relationships, so you have to rely on secondary effectsmore often; this is a bit disappointing, making it tough to anger or please thenations of your choice. You are also somewhat limited in the number ofdiplomats at your disposal, so relationship ratings will not drastically changefrom turn to turn. You will need a casus belli for declaring war on othernations, a result of them having regions you claim as your own, or a diplomaticoption that forges one. National territory changing hands was not a typicaloutcome during the time period, so most new lands will be colonies or claimedprovinces (which are fixed). Surrounding that, there are five peace treatyoptions you can request: land (which must be designed as a claimed region), colonies,a monthly payment, a nation to be freed, or a decrease in army or navy size.Overall, the standard diplomatic options are a bit disappointing. So, how areyou supposed to anger your neighbors enough so you can invade them? A crisis,that’s how.
Crises are anew adaptation for diplomacy, important enough to earn their own paragraph. Sohere it is! During each turn, the game automatically checks for places offriction (usually nearby troops, or a disputed province or colony, plus badrelations) and might trigger a crisis. The two sides then fight over the regionand a large pot of prestige; other nations can join a side (using the “promiselocal support” diplomatic option) and earn a share of the prestige if theirside wins. Whichever side is more “just” in the conflict (usually the defender)contributes less prestige to the pot, and whoever earns three dominance firstwins. Every turn, each side picks an agenda from the following list: delay(good for the defender), debate (same as delay but with a possible dominancechange), propose congress (attempt an end and increase in dominance), silvertongue or pressure support (get third parties on your side), call pressconference (win dominance), conciliation (resolve crisis), or contest on legalpoints (prolong the crisis). Essentially, each side attempts to either lengthenthe crisis or add dominance to their side. After six turns are completed (orone side earns three dominance points), the victor is determined and prestigeis awarded. A diplomatic crisis is a neat little mini-game that is far moreinteresting than simply going to war.
War it is! Goodthing Pride of Nations has averitable cornucopia of military units at your disposal. The military side ofthe game is very similar to previous AGEOD efforts (this is a good thing), soveterans will know what to expect (and can probably skip the next threeparagraphs of this review). Military units are placed into containers, usuallycorps or army-sized empty units that hold a number of different elements. Mostcontrollable elements in Pride of Nationsthat can be moved between containers are corps, division, or occasionallybrigade size, so most nations have a limited number (around ten) of units youmust handle (stationary, automated garrisons not included), reducing militarymicromanagement significantly. Each unit is composed of smaller elements thatcannot be altered, consisting of various things like air units, ships, armoredcars, artillery (both light and heavy), cavalry, engineers, and infantry (lineor elite). Each unit is rated in many areas: initiative, range, protection,discipline, damage, cohesion, movement speed, detection, hide value, weight,and combat values at various ranges. Units may also be given several specialabilities (from a list of over five hundred) that further affect combat andmovement. Leaders are similar: also given special abilities, they are ratedaccording to their experience and leadership skills, and can be promoted ordemoted over time (senior officers are intended to be promoted first, even ifthey are not as good as a younger choice).
Unitconstruction is straightforward: choose a unit from a filterable list (onlycorps-sized units, only artillery, only cavalry), and provinces in which it canbe constructed are shown in green. Then, simply drag and drop and recruitingwill commence. Reinforcement of existing units involves a mix of manual andautomatic actions: you must specify which kinds of units will getreinforcements (line infantry, support, engineers) and assign reinforcements tothose groups on the war ministry screen, but then the game actually deliversthe units automatically. This strikes a nice balance between giving the usercontrol and removing some of the tedium involved in the process. Overall, Pride of Nations gives you plenty offlexibility with your military unit composition, while still remainingmanageable thanks to the increased minimum size of the units in play.
Pride of Nations gives you plenty of orders to give toyour units. First, you must decide on a posture for each unit: passive (alwaysavoids combat), defensive, offensive, or all-out assault. You can also specifyretreat rules, from “never” to “always”. Moving units around is drag-and-drop,although you can specify to use rail or naval transports for faster travel(though this does use coal or oil). A number of special orders can also begiven to your units: seek shelter, forced march, and sortie (attack theassaulters outside the fort), evade, build forts or depots, or synchronize amove between several corps. You can also hide units in enemy territories toperform raids, more likely if a small unit has a high hide value. Options hereare pretty typical, but welcome in their scope.
There are manyfactors that affect combat other than the units themselves. Climate (rain,snow, harsh, and very harsh) affects movement, attrition, and combat. Unitswill lose strength as they move, especially through bad weather or desert, orwhen they run out of supplies. There can also be epidemics that can destroysome of your units. Having military control over a region will enhance cohesionbetween units and increase the likelihood of neighboring friendly units joininga nearby battle. Combat is entirely automated, using all of those fancyattributes discussed earlier to determine a victor. While this is a bitabstract, on a game of this scale, it’s the only practical way of doing thingsand at least the results involve detailed calculations. Supply is an importantingredient for continuing an effective attack: ammunition and other items areautomatically distributed from cities, depots, harbors, and forts to yourtroops in the field. The game will actually use rail lines if you have the railpoints left to transport goods even faster. You can also place a supply wagonin a container for a temporary solution just in case. The supply system ismeant to discourage operations deep behind enemy lines where you’ll quickly runout of the basics. While the process is quite sophisticated, I found it a bitconfusing in some situations: for example, I had some units garrisoned insidecities run out of supplies (I guess in Russia getting those goods to Siberiaand Georgia is tough). A little more explanation as to why units are out ofsupply would be helpful (the units in question were in “green” supply areas, soI don’t know what the specific issue was).
Your computeropponents in Pride of Nations seem tobe pretty competent, especially when you consider the relatively complex natureof the game. The AI handles each of the game’s aspects in varying degrees ofactivity. The computer is the liveliest diplomatically, drawing up proposalsfrequently and developing plausible responses to human-made offers. The AI alsolikes to enact new laws, adjust trade, and trigger crises with neighbors(especially over colonies). The computer is a bit slower colonizing and theyare a little cautious in battle, failing to invade territories defended byinferior units on occasion. Still, overall I was pleased with the level ofcompetence exhibited by the computer. Of course, since it takes so long to runa single turn, all of that computing time had better be used to make a decentAI opponent.

IN CLOSING
Pride of Nations is a detailed yet manageable grandstrategy game thanks to a happy compromise between giving the user control andautomating the truly menial tasks. Between adjusting trade, constructingfactories, expanding colonies, negotiating diplomatic crises, enacting new laws,and producing and moving military units, there’s almost always something to doeach turn in Pride of Nations, andyou never feel like the game is entirely playing itself. A large part of thegame is managing your economy, made easier by a predictable, straightforwardtrade system where you can request and sell goods in trading zones free fromevery-turn tweaking. You can access distant trade areas by simply placingmerchant ships in specific sea zones, a great system that allows you to messwith competitors’ economies through naval combat and consolidates the manysources of goods into distinct locations. You can also attempt to manufactureadditional goods yourself and consider the AI suggestions for the bestprovinces to construct in. AGEOD’s detailed military returns, as each of yourleaders and units are rated in many areas and exhibit a host of specialabilities to assist in combat. Military units are easy to manage thanks to a reducednumber of large armies, and garrisons are automatically formed and disbanded intowns and forts when needed. The AI offers up a proficient foe and ally, and Icould not identify and specific areas of exploitable weakness. Your countrywill change over time as new heads of state and political factions come topower. You must also satisfy the population with plenty of goods and low taxeswhile gaining prestige by completing missions, winning battles, and colonizingthe world. New colonies are established by sending expeditions, improving theprovince, and (of course) bribing the local chief. Diplomacy is differentthanks to a unique crisis game where international tension is resolved by eachside playing actions to gain dominance in the disagreement. Research is almostentirely automated and generally can be ignored. The grand campaign onlyincludes one start date along with lengthy turn resolution; additional battlescenarios only highlight the military portion of the game. The interface isdecent overall, giving access to tons of data to direct your nation once youlearn how it's organized. Finally, Prideof Nations is only $20, a significantly low price for such a large amountof content. Overall, there are only two things I would change: more start datesfor the campaign and more user input into research (plus a faster CPU forquicker turn resolutions). The remainder of the game is outstanding and Pride of Nations should immediately bein any grand strategy gamer’s library. Containing some brilliant game design, Pride of Nations is definitely a grandstrategy game of note.

The Good: Detailed yet controllable internationaltrade and economic production, meticulous unit and leader attributes withautomated garrisons, innovative diplomatic crisis mini-game, variety ofcolonial actions, optional assigned missions, population satisfaction triggersregional events, play by e-mail, inexpensive
The Not So Good: Lengthy boring turn resolution makesfor a very slow pace, bland research options, only eight controllable nationswith one campaign start date, four smaller battle scenarios disable economics,limited traditional diplomatic options to affect relationships
What say you? Manageable production and trade withsupreme military detail, abundant colonial actions, and intriguinginternational crises highlight this typically fantastic turn-based grandstrategy game, offered at a budget price

Review written by: James Allen, Staff Writer

New Screenshots and More for Panzer Command: Ostfront

2011-05-05T16:55:00.002+08:00

Plenty of new images and more information on the latest installment to the Panzer Command series
Matrix Games and Black Hand Studios are please to release a dozen new images and some more information for Panzer Command: Ostfront, the third installment to the hailed World War II turn-based tactical series, Panzer Command. Apart from showing off some beautiful Panzers in the trees or some Russian armor rolling across the steppes there are also a few key announcements:

1. Panzer Command: Ostfront is officially slated for release on May 9th, 2011.
2. There will be a full color printed manual available with the physical version.
3. The game will sell for $34.99 Download / $44.99 Physical.
4. The download version will be available free for owners of Panzer Command: Kharkov.
5. There will be a demo available before the release, so stay tuned to Matrix Games to give Panzer Command: Ostfront a spin before it’s out!

Erik Rutins, Director of Product Development at Matrix Games, said “We think newcomers to the Panzer Command engine and veterans from Operation Winter Storm or Kharkov will have a lot to be happy about with Ostfront. If the screenshots aren’t enough to whet some armchair generals’ appetites, the playable demo will truly show the excellence of Panzer Command: Ostfront.”

Experience the Panzer Command series of tactical wargames. In the new Panzer Command: Ostfront, you are a company-level commander on either the Soviet or German side, fighting on the Eastern Front. Preserve your men and defeat the enemy, there is no other way! Panzer Command: Ostfront is the latest in a new series of 3D turn-based tactical wargames which include single battles, multi-battle operations and full war campaigns with realistic units, tactics and terrain and an informative and practical interface.

Each decision you make as a commander must be weighed carefully. You will find that the gameplay is balanced to reward historically successful tactics while the AI will punish rash choices. The victory system for scenarios and campaigns rewards multiple strategies and evaluates your performance and rank after each battle.

After you have played through the 70+ included scenarios and 10 campaigns (including updated versions of all of the previous Winterstorm and Kharkov content), the Random Battle and Random Campaign generators allow you create new content with just a few clicks using the provided presets for nearly infinite replayability.

For scenario designers and modders, an innovative new Map Maker allows you to create your own realistic 3D maps from 500m to 2km scale based on actual historical locations with auto-generation features that help you create natural 3D landscapes quickly and easily. In conjunction with the powerful Scenario and Campaign Editors and the fully open unit data and models, this means that you have unprecedented access to modify the existing campaigns, maps, units and scenarios or create your own. There has never been a more open 3D tactical WWII wargame.

The list of improvements is too long for this release, but please check the Panzer Command: Ostfront product page for the full list and more information and be sure to check out the new screenshots!

PC Game Review: World of Tanks

2011-05-05T16:50:00.000+08:00

Join Chris “Steelgrave” Mohon as he kicks the treads on World of Tanks and goes out for a spin

Nice Paint Job!

World of Tanks is a massive multiplayer online game, a next generation gem which has already attracted almost two million players worldwide. At its basic level, World of Tanks is a 15 vs. 15 team shooter that puts you behind the turret of a Tiger I searching for a target or in a Wespe self-propelled gun tracking enemy movements as reported to you by the Stuart scouting the ridge ahead. Or you might be in the T-34/85 angling to get a shot in at the side of an advancing Pershing, while behind you; a SU-85 hidden behind bushes tracks your every move, hand steadying for the kill. World of Tanks has dozens of beautifully modeled units representing Russian, German and American war machines, with tanks, tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery filling your garage. The tanks look amazing…they are beautiful beasts, represented in fine detail. I guarantee that you’re going to want to drive one home from the showroom!

The graphics are easily one of the biggest draws of the game. The tanks look like their historical counterparts and the terrain you drive and fight over seems real. Trees sway softly in the breeze, dust flies up from behind your tank as you travel down dirt roads, and smoke belches from behind your iron beast as it moves along. On the battlefield, the terrain is destructible, which can be useful in itself...if you are setting up an ambush in a tank destroyer, you can knock over a tree that blocks your line of sight, then scurry back behind the bushes and wait for your target to approach. Seasoned players learn to search the terrain for clues as to where their enemy might be advancing...rash tankers in a hurry will knock over trees and walls, providing visual clues to their approach. A bright artilleryman will watch for exactly that kind of movement and may well send a shell your way, just to say hello. Adding to the immersive feel of the tank you are driving and the terrain you are crushing beneath your treads is the sound. Tanks are loud, and guns going off are noisy. Often you will hear an approaching tank before you see it. Shells banging off you armor are real attention getters and the sound effects of this game add to the rich battlefield feel that you will experience.
One area where World of Tanks truly shines is in vehicle characteristics. The designers have gone to great lengths to recreate the feel and abilities of the tanks involved. Yet World of Tanks is not intended to be a true tank simulation. While the tank exteriors are accurately modeled, there are no complicated interior controls to learn. You won’t be jumping from the commander’s hatch to the driver’s seat to the gunner’s position. In many ways, you are the tank, not the crew. The designers have captured that elusive balance between realism and playability, and done it well. Driving a new tank is more of a process of learning its capabilities and limitations, rather than worrying where the starter switch is. A light tank zipping along at 60 mph drives differently than a heavy tank churning its way up a hillside, as does a medium tank which you have overburdened with upgrades but failed to put a new suspension in. When you are chugging up a hill at 6 mph with artillery shells starting to fall around you and you feel like you might as well have a neon bull’s-eye painted on your tank, believe me…your next purchase will be an upgraded engine or suspension, and that new gun will wait.

Let’s pop the hood…

There are roughly a hundred basic models available at this time, divided into American, German and Russian units. Some Japanese, British and French lines will supposedly be joining the battle in the future, as will American tank destroyers. Keep in mind that this is a game about tanks...period! There are no pesky infantry to avoid (or conversely, to overrun), no anti-tank guns hidden in farmyards, no fighter-bombers patrolling the skies just waiting to turn your tank into a burning hulk. This is strictly tank vs. tank dueling, with glory going to the survivors and the losers slinking back to their garages to hammer the dings out.
You start off with three very basic light tanks, a Russian MS-1, an American T-1 Cunningham, and a German Leichtetraktor. Don’t worry; you won’t spend much time in these relics. Each vehicle in the game has a tech tree which it follows in order to gain access to higher tier equipment and units. From each of these starter tanks, you can research other tank lines, moving up the tech tree into light tanks, medium tanks, and heavy, but you also can branch off into tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery from here. Each vehicle can be individually upgraded, with a better suspension, a more powerful engine, upgraded turrets, heavier guns, a longer ranged radio and a more experienced crew, so that the M-4 Sherman you are facing might have almost a dozen different configurations, not to mention special equipment that can be purchased, such as faster gun loaders or better ventilation systems that give bonuses. The units are very customizable, and while some might rush through the tech tree to get to the monsters at the top, there is a lot of satisfaction to be had in driving a maxed-out lower tier tank with an elite crew and a long range optic system and making kills well above your pay grade. Many players have expressed the opinion that the game is just as much fun at the lower tier levels as higher, an opinion which I share.

Your tanks are stored in a garage which has a capacity for up to six vehicles. This can be expanded by the expenditure of gold, the in-game currency (more on gold later). The garage is where upgrades take place and where you can rearm and refit your tanks. Your garage has a barracks attached, so if you have a veteran crew, you don’t have to lose them when you purchase a new tank. You can just upgrade their training, hand them the keys to their new Panther, and point them in the direction of the battle.

C’mon, let’s go for a test drive!

On the battlefield, you are going to be teamed up with 14 other players and will be facing an opposing team of equal numbers. Each team will be roughly equivalent in strength. World of Tanks utilizes a 10 tier system, which ranks a unit before assigning it to a battle. Tiers are based on your tank type, with a Tiger I being a tier VII and an M3 Lee being a tier IV, but you can inadvertently raise your tier by upgrading your iron ride with a higher tier gun…so that your nominally tier III tank destroyer might be rated a tier IV. Got all that? If not, don’t worry….just get in your tank and go shoot something. It’s a great stress reliever!
Many battles will have a tier difference of as much as three steps, so if you are in a tier IV tank, you might be top dog with many of your comrades and opponents being lower tiers or you might end up at the bottom of the pile on your side, facing higher tier opponents. But that is far from an automatic death sentence! There is great satisfaction to be found in being the weakest unit on your side, then killing some steel cowboy who goes racing past your ambush spot, allowing you to put a shell into the weaker flank armor of his now burning tank. Being a kamikaze driver on treads results in a short match for you and a kill painted on the side of my Jagdpanther. In every match there is always a bozo or two who will go charging towards the enemy on his own, then berate his teammates for not supporting him. I call this “dinner”.
The rest of your “dinner” will likely be harder earned. World of Tanks enjoyed a long beta period, and many of your teammates and opponents are veterans who know how to scout, how to use terrain, know when to defend and when to go for the kill. The matches are 15 minute timed periods, with very few matches ending in a draw. Battles are usually bloody and more often than not come down to a small pocket of survivors on each side angling for the win. There are no bots in this game, no AI to fool. Every kill you rack up is against a living opponent, and every time you go up in smoke, a real person is doing a silly victory dance behind their monitor.

World of Tanks does not divide teams based on the nationality of the units. Each side may have a combination of German, American and Soviet units working side by side, stalking the opposing team. This is slightly disconcerting at first, but WoT is not intended to be a replay of WWII battlefields. World of Tanks is a game which matches the hardware against the hardware, not nation against nation. In battle each unit has a red or a green icon over it designating friend or foe.
While most of the matches in World of Tanks are random affairs, you can also create a platoon with a couple of your friends and join into battle together. Taking this one step further, if you can gather at least 15 players, you can create a clan and with this comes new maps and longer term strategies as you battle other clans over the spoils of Europe. I haven’t gotten to test drive a clan battle yet, but a Wargamer.com clan has just started up and I’m looking forward to reporting from the front soon.

Okay, time to look at the sticker price…

In what has to be my favorite new trend in MMO’s, World of Tanks is free to download and play. Seriously. Now, I know your daddy told you that nothing was free in this world, and I’m not here to call him a liar. He’s bigger than I am, and I tend to bruise easily. But if World of Tanks is not on your hard drive right now, go to their website, download it for free, and play. It’s just that simple.
Now, there are two types of in-game currency found in World of Tanks, gold and credits. Credits, like experience, are given at the end of each battle, with the winning team receiving about double that of the losing team. Credits are used to fund your basic expenditures: repairs, replacements, and upgrades to equipment. Gold may be purchased via real money, with the current rate being 3,000 gold for $14.95. This is enough gold to upgrade your account to Premium status for 30 days, with 500 gold left over to spend as you wish. Premium status grants more experience and credits per battle, which translates into faster upgrades and puts your seat in the higher tier tanks sooner. With gold, you can accelerate training for your crew, or even buy tank bling, such as better ammo. Yet it is entirely possible to have a great time with World of Tanks and never, ever buy gold. While, as in real life, rewards come much quicker with a little gold to grease things along, gold alone won’t buy you victory.

Okay, okay, I’m sold! Wait...is that a dent in the side?

World of Tanks does what it intended to do very well. It’s a load of fun, and the hard work and attention to detail which the designers have put into their product is very evident. Even so, there are some things that I would change about the game if I could.
First and foremost, I’m big on customizable interfaces. World of Tanks allows me to tinker with the keyboard and assign the basic functions to whichever keys I like. That ability is a must have for me, so they have that base covered. But not in the actual battles unfortunately. There is a very small map at the bottom right hand side of the screen which shows all units, both allied and enemy, which you are aware of. I would like nothing better than to move that mini-map elsewhere, but no dice. The lack of customization available on the battle screen is a frustration which I hope they will address in the future.
Perceived tier problems are a constant gripe. I think that a lot of that is because many players don’t understand how tiers work, or how upgrading your tank can bump you up a tier. But it could definitely be improved. Three or even sometimes four tier differences are frustrating if you are on the wrong end of the stick and should happen far less often. Nonetheless, to gamers unhappy with this aspect of the game, I would simply point out that the first US Sherman tanker who encountered a German Tiger I on the battlefield probably wasn’t overjoyed either. Sometimes you eat the Tiger, sometimes the Tiger eats you.

A big, big player complaint revolves around artillery in the game. The argument rages back and forth over whether or not artillery is overpowered. Artillery is the proverbial hammer wielded by an eggshell. Artillery has a powerful punch, but one light tank that slips behind the lines often means game over for artillery units. The very best suggestion that I have heard would be to limit artillery units to 2 or 3 per side per battle. The occasional match which spits out 5 or 6 artillery units apiece isn’t all that much fun, even for the artillery.

Clank, clank, I’m a tank!

Yes, yes I am, and my heartfelt thanks go to the designers at Wargaming.net for that! They have created an outstanding game which will suck hours of my life away for some time to come. This is a game which rewards team play and good decisions, a game easy to play but not so easy to master, lovingly built from the chassis up, a tank buff’s delight and a game which often favors the bold but just as often drops them in their...tracks. Clank, clank, I’m a tank...yes, I am…and I’m hull down over that hill, just waiting for you to show!

Review written by: Chris "Steelgrave" Mohon, Staff Writer

The Charles S. Roberts Awards

2011-04-17T12:49:00.000+08:00

The Charles S. Roberts Awards are presented annually for excellence in the historical wargaming hobby. Charles S. Roberts, in whose name this award is given, invented the modern wargame industry almost single-handedly. As a designer and the original owner-operator of The Avalon Hill Game Company. He founded Avalon Hill in 1958 and published Tactics II, Gettysburg, and Dispatcher. They were the first commercial board wargames and Charles Roberts was responsible for their creation, including many of the developments, such as the Combat Results Table (CRT), that were later to become commonplace. Avalon Hill became a pioneer in a new type of gaming: strategy games based on historical events and so Charles Roberts spawned the whole commercial wargaming hobby/industry we know today.

Best Pre-20th Century Era Computer Wargame

Alexandrian Wars (by Paul Bruffell), HPS Simulations
Campaign Austerlitz (by John Tiller), HPS Simulations
Campaign Chancellorsville (by John Tiller), HPS Simulations
Conquest of Medieval Realms , Matrix Games
Crown of Glory - Emperor's Edition , Matrix Games
Day of the Spears (by Michael Kennedy, Dennis L. Bishop), White Dog Games
Field of Glory , Matrix Games
Fight for the Heights (by Michael W. Kennedy), White Dog Games
Musket and Pike: The Renaissance (by John Tiller), HPS Simulations

Best 20th Century Era - Modern Computer Wargame

Achtung Panzer - Kharkov 1943
Close Combat: The Longest Day , Matrix Games
Commander - Europe at War Gold , Matrix Games
Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich (by Gary Grigsby), Matrix Games
Empires of Steel , Battlefront.com
Modern Air Power: War Over the Mideast
Officers - The Matrix Edition , Matrix Games
Operation Barbarossa - The Struggle for Russia , Matrix Games
Panzer Command: Kharkov, Matrix Games
PT Boad , Battlefront.com
Squad Battles Dien Bien Phu (by John Tiller), HPS Simulations
Strategic Command 2-Global Edition, Battlefront.com
Theater of War 2: Africa 1943 , Battlefront.com
War in the Pacific - Admiral's Edition , Matrix Games
War on the Southern Front (by John Tiller), HPS Simulations
WW2: Time of Wrath , Matrix Games

PC Game Review: Men of War: Assault Squad

2011-03-04T09:36:00.000+08:00

Chris “Steelgrave” Mohon storms the beaches of Tarawa with the U.S. Marines, fights the Krauts in Russia and takes up arms with the Commonwealth in Men of War: Assault Squad, the latest offering from our Russian friends at 1C Publishing.

War...it’s just a shot away...it’s just a shot away.

I never played the original Men of War. Generally, RTS games and I don’t get along. One might attribute that to fading reflexes on my part; I prefer to claim a preference for deep thought before making a move. So it was a pleasant surprise to discover how much I enjoy Men of War: Assault Squad, a really, really fun game that succeeds on most levels.

In Men of War: Assault Squad, you can play as the US, Germany, the Commonwealth, Soviet Union or the Japanese. Both multiplayer and solo options are offered, and solo players will be more than challenged by the new single-player skirmish mode. In skirmish mode, your squad moves from objective to objective on one of 15 different maps, and each success unlocks more equipment, resources and the occasional special unit. There is a real ebb and flow feeling to the battles, and a growing tension as your squad takes objectives and the casualties mount. But with success, you will have the chance to call in much needed reinforcements and equipment as the difficulty ramps up.

What this game is not is a resource collection RTS. There are no special buildings to construct, no wool, wood, fish nor stone to gather. Your squad is there for one purpose and one purpose only: to wipe out the enemy. Oh, and to overrun his positions, orphan his children and make him die for his country. It’s a big list! Here’s the rub: he’s not going to make it easy for you to do so!

But what are easy are the controls. Each man in your unit will defend himself and fire at the enemy, but victory depends on your capable leadership. You can effortlessly create a squad (or squads) and give them orders. You can also take control of a single soldier or tank, and your success will usually depend on knowing when to do this. Your soldiers will behave like soldiers; ducking and firing on their own and utilizing cover. But it’s up to you to get them moving by telling them what to shoot at or taking control of one and moving him into an advantageous firing position. Fortunately, the hotkeys are very customizable. If you’re like me and hate the basic WASD controls, the game makes it easy to reset buttons to your own preferences. There are a number of buttons on the screen, giving you quick access to every need, and you can drag and move buttons to where you want them. Also, for the real-time challenged, it is easy to reset the game speed down into near-Matrix like slowness…you won’t see the bullets float towards you, but it does make the game more manageable for us “deep thinkers”. All of this becomes important as the game progresses and you find yourself juggling more and more units. I often had to slow the game down to make sure I was on top of everything.

Okay, so that’s all very well and good, but the bad guys…how do they fight? In a word...tough! The AI is aggressive and smart, even on the easiest level. In the introductory scenario, I was moving my squad of Marines cautiously forward; utilizing cover and opportunity fire, when I ran into a brutal crossfire the Japanese had set up with machine guns at my 10 and 2. In the spirit of play testing, I attempted a couple of Rambo-esque maneuvers that quickly reinforced one important history lesson: most Medal of Honor awards are posthumous.

My squad did its best, despite what had to be certain trepidation at my orders. One Marine attempted to flank a machine gun nest, while the rest of my squad gave covering fire and tried to not get shot up. He did pretty well; crawling through the jungle underbrush, getting close enough to knock off two Japanese soldiers, but the third grabbed the HMG and turned him into a dead hero. Another Marine moved forward from his position only to have his helmet shot off of his head! Inspired by this, he immediately ducked for cover. Moments later, my squad, still taking heavy fire from both machine guns, broke for lunch...quickly and to the rear. Sighing heavily, I utilized the luxury that digital commanders enjoy as opposed to their real life counterparts: the button known as “reload”.

On my second attempt against the Japanese and their nasty little machine gun nests, I again flanked them. This time I was successful at getting my sniper and the private carrying the BAR within range. A few tense moments later, it was one machine gun nest down! Then the really fun part began, as I turned the captured Japanese HMG against the other machine gun nest. Not quite Sgt. York material, but still very satisfying!

The strength of this game is without a doubt its rich tactical feel and gameplay. 1C has done an admirable job of creating a very playable squad/platoon level game. Each soldier has his own inventory of weapons and equipment, and your troops will be appropriately outfitted. My initial squad had a Marine with a BAR, a medic, a sniper, a sergeant to lead them, and several riflemen. Adding to the richness of the game, each soldier is individually named….although Shawn and Eric were apparently very popular names in WWII. Much to the designers’ credit, your little men don’t feel like throw-away game pieces. When one of your soldiers dies, you feel a loss, a small sense of failure and responsibility. Yeah, you get over it quickly, but still…well done.

Next I fired up the multiplayer option and was pleased to see a number of games in motion and several players filling up more. Battles ranged in size from 4 to 16 players, and I joined an 8 player fight between the Americans and the Germans. I initially chose a crack German infantry squad and went in search of the enemy. This particular fight was a capture the flag dustup, and the fighting soon centered on a couple of large farms. As the fight went on and losses mounted on both sides, more units became available, and soon my bleeding German infantry squad was reinforced by a Panzer IV. When the bigger guns and tanks start rolling out, you can really see the attention to detail. The Panzer was sweet to look at; fun to shoot, and it was irritating when the Americans dented it with an anti-tank gun. Unfortunately, as the fighting intensified it became harder for me to keep track of what was happening to whom, which is an issue I have with real time simulations. It didn’t seem to bother the (assumedly) younger players, who were taking the battle to each other with great zeal, but for me it reinforced an issue with intense, multiplayer games of this type...there is no “slow down” button to help make a battle like this manageable. It’s strictly one speed fits all. On the other hand, if you are the quick-reflex sort who enjoys RTS multiplayer, this game is for you. The graphics ran smooth, the fighting was intense, and you have every opportunity to beat your enemies into submission.

I feel pretty….Oh so pretty!

And you should! Great attention has been paid to the graphics. The details on the tanks and soldiers will satisfy those of us who know the difference, movement is seamless, water reflects nicely, the shadows are well done, the jungle looks like jungle, and the terrain is individually modeled and not cookie-cutter spam. The various infantry units are appropriately attired and are not just little green soldiers. The scenery is lovely, and even better....it can all be blown apart! C’mon, we all enjoy running our tanks into the side of a barn…just because we can! And in this game you are rewarded with a satisfying “crunch” sound as the wood flies apart against your steel behemoth. Whoops….sorry, I didn’t see that barn there…or the farmhouse. My only issue with the graphics is that it can be difficult to tell which side the infantry is on without zooming in to look at the uniforms. In the heat of battle, I almost fired on other Marines crawling in the underbrush because I thought they were Japanese. Another game found my confused German troops trying to share a foxhole with American soldiers, who were not amused and unwilling to make room. With all that’s happening at any one time, needing to zoom in to see what kind of helmet Fritz…or Johnny…is wearing is not a good thing.

The graphic requirements aren’t bad. A 128 MB card with a Shader Model 3.0 is the minimum, with a 256mb recommended, along with a couple GB of RAM. I ran the game with an ATI Radeon HD 3800 and had no issues, as the visual effects added greatly to my enjoyment of the game.

Hey, hey, what’s that sound?

I wouldn’t know; I turned the music off. Nothing terrible about the soundtrack, but nothing special either. Just generic war game music, which I find distracting. On the other hand, the sound effects weren’t bad, with machine guns rattling, guns going off, pretty much what you might expect. It created a nice ambience for killing, so I left it on. The little soldiers are gung-ho though, and they like to shout as they engage the enemy. This led to a comic moment early on, as my tough as nails Marines shouted, “For the Motherland”, as they charged the Japanese. I’m going to have to check my history books to see when the Department of Homeland Security was created, but I’m pretty sure it was waaaay after WWII. Maybe they were sleeper cell agents?

Wrapping it all up….Pros:

The game is fun. The game is also challenging, with the AI laying in ambushes, crossfires and counterattacks. The AI doesn’t cheat that I can see. So when it hands you your head, you just have to go back and try again. Or level down the difficulty.

The graphics are very well done and add to the gaming experience, and you have plenty of accurately modeled unit choices to play with.

The new skirmish mode is fun, challenging, replayable and easy to jump into.

There is a sense of the battlefield present, where you take an objective, regroup, move on and/or have to hold your newly-won gains from enemy counterattack.

There is a feeling of actually leading men into battle…without the smell.

Cons:

The game can be too fast paced at times. There is a lot of management to tend to, not quite falling into the micromanagement arena, but close. There are lots of things to keep track of, and while your little automations will do a reasonably good job on their own, you won’t win without being on top of your game.

The AI is tough! Yes, I know….this is also listed under Pros.

It can be difficult to identify the good guys from the bad guys without zooming in closer.

And some have bemoaned the lack of a campaign mode, which was found in earlier incarnations. Others feel that the skirmish mode more than adequately replaces the campaign mode, but be informed.

Steelgrave says,

Overall, it’s a game that I can recommend with very few reservations. Coming from a guy who thinks friends don’t let friends play RTS games, that says a lot.

Review written by: Chris "Steelgrave" Mohon, Contributor

PC Game Review: War in the East

2011-01-26T14:34:00.000+08:00

James Cobb heads over to the Eastern Front to tackle Gary Grigsby's War in the East, the latest turn-based monster by 2by3 Games that gives players a chance to command either the Germans or Russians to victory in World War II.

The conflict on the Eastern Front in World War II was titanic and decisive. Games dealing with this front should be equally titanic. Gary Grigsby and Joel Billings have created such games three times since the 1980s. Their latest effort, published by Matrix Games, is not only the culmination and refinement of their efforts but is the beginning of a series. War in the East should meet the toughest grognard’s explanation while making the interface easier for beginners.

Broad and Deep

The game map is huge, covering the area from Berlin to Siberia, the Artic Circle to the Caspian Sea at a scale of ten kilometers per hex at five zoom levels. Terrain features show mountains, cities, towns, rivers, swamps and roads clearly. Units representing formations from regiments up to corps use NATO symbols and display combat and movement data either as bar graphs or numbers. Overlays help visualize weather, supply, fortification and accessible hexes. These features can be accessed from one of three tabs that call up other functions, also available with hotkeys. These other functions include victory hexes, damaged railways, factory hexes and unit status.

The other important tab shows unit factors in ever-deepening detail. The first level shows screens depicting national HQs such as OKH, STAVKA and lesser powers. Expanding this level pulls up army groups and fronts with directly attached air bases along with the HQ’s own status for supply, leader details, morale, movement and links to functions for assigning or creating units and changing leaders. Headquarters can also create and assign support units. Support units are not shown on the map but can be used to affect combat under certain circumstances. Expanding again delivers units attached directly to that higher unit and its subordinate corps and divisions. Clicking on one of these units brings up its supporting and component units as well as their factors. The next level is a regiment with its elements and factors such as fatigue. Selecting elements displays a picture and specs of the weapon. Confused? A graphic overlay allows players to see most of this information when a unit is selected.

The third tab is administrative with things like a save, exit, options and preferences. Gamers will most likely change preferences as they play more games.

Such detail obviously indicates a significant learning curve. Learning is aided by tool tips, a forty-page tutorial manual that walks through the first turn of a short scenario and a 382-page PDF manual. Since the game is windowed, players will want to leave the manual open for easy access to it from the Windows tool bar. The game simply has too many details to be completely memorized.

Sounds effects for movement, combat and aircraft exist. Those effects are fine but not spectacular.

Grappling Titans

War in the East portrays the death grapple of tyrants in four campaigns with the first starting in 1941 and ending in 1945 with the others starting in each succeeding three years, three operations and seven “Road to” scenarios. Size of choices ranges from 224 to three weekly turns. At first impression, play is simple: select a unit, mouse over to a destination with an optional path showing expended movement points and right click at the end. Attacks are against adjacent enemies using combat values and are started by right clicks. Battle results are shown on a pop-up with defenders either holding or retreating. First impressions are very misleading.

Movement is not only a function of terrain and unit type but also of supply, undamaged vehicle, supple, initiative checks up the chain of command and the strength of the enemy unit exerting influence into the destination hex. The computer AI may initiate interdiction attacks. To insure sufficient supply and command, units must be within both five hexes and twenty movement points of its HQ which must be in range of a functioning railhead. Not meeting these restrictions won’t stop movement but will reduce it. Rail, sea and air transport face similar restrictions.

Well-executed combat is also involved. A one-hex right-click attack is a “hasty” attack, good for pushing weak enemies about but doesn’t maximize the attacker’s capacity or allow the involvement of support units from HQs and other formations. Holding shift and right clicking on an enemy as well as adjacent friendly units creates “deliberate” attacks, allowing optimum use of attack factors and better chances for receiving support from in-range HQs and other units. Resolution begins with the computer handling air ops for both sides per air doctrine set earlier by players. Players can manually order air attacks on units, cities and airfields. Recon missions can dispel fog of war from units with high detection levels. Ground combat is then shown at one of seven levels of detail in the resolution screen; the lowest level just shows the end results while the highest shows the actions of each element. Victory is the ratio of the combat values for both sides as modified during battle. Defeated units can retreat, shatter, rout or be destroyed. In the worse cases, the victors can capture and eventually use equipment.

Although leaders and administrative points are used in every scenario, their importance differs between the smaller clashes and campaigns. Leaders’ morale, combat, administration and initiative ratings can affect combat and movement in shorter scenarios while administrative points are used to form and create support, transfer units and facilitate rational supply and command nets. However, these factors actually come into their own in campaigns. Leaders’ rating can change during a campaign based on win/loss ratio. A bad ratio can result in a leaders’ dismissal or execution. Administrative points can be used to dismiss and replace leaders, transfer equipment to and from the national pool. Russians use points to create new higher headquarters and move factories to safety. The amount of administrative points can increase or decrease due to a schedule or the fortunes of war.

Other details concern the automatic updating of equipment and restrictions on allied powers’ activity and surrender triggers. Russian soldiers can escape from shattered or destroyed units to create partisan units. These units are countered by the Axis by garrisons and special security units. Bombing factory cities can reduce production. National moral sets the bar for HQ and unit morale. Reverses on the front and city bombing can lower morale but not significantly.

Some gamers will find the campaigns of War in the East overwhelming. Hopefully, the shorter scenarios will whet their appetites for the real meat. PBEM, internet play and new scenarios made using the editor guarantee replay value. The word “definitive” should not be used lightly but, at this point, this product is the definitive game for the Eastern Front. Serious gamers should save their money and get it.

Pros - Great detail, clean interface.

Cons - Steep learning curve.

Minimum Specs

Processor: Intel Pentium or AMD, 1.5 GHz

RAM: 1 GB

Graphic Card: 128 MB vRAM, DirectX 9.0c compatible

Sound Card: 16-bits, DirectX 9.0c compatible (DirectMusic compliant)

Operating System: Windows XP, Vista, 7

Hard Disk: 1.5 GB free disk space

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Reviewer's Specs

Windows XP home

Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5200 @ 2.50GHz (2 CPUs)

1 GB RAM

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285

DirectX 9.0c

About the Author

Jim Cobb has been playing board wargames since 1961 and computer wargames since 1982. He has been writing incessantly since 1993 to keep his mind off the drivel he deals with as a bureaucrat. He has published in Wargamers Monthly, Computer Gaming World, Computer Games Magazine, Computer Games Online, CombatSim, Armchair General, Subsim, Strategyzone Online, Gamesquad and Gaming Chronicle.

After-Action Report from Normandy

2011-01-06T08:17:00.000+08:00

Monday, 03 January 2011
Two of our beta testers, Elvis and JonS, have just launched a series of After Action Reports from an ongoing head-to-head battle they're playing with a beta version of Combat Mission Battle for Normandy. The AAR provides the viewpoints of each players, who are not reading each other's postings, in this ongoing (fictional) battle to secure a key crossroads near la Campagne.
Don't miss this exciting series as it is being updated to its conclusion in the next days.
Click on the links below to read the AAR from the US or German side:

[ CM:BN Beta AAR/DAR Bois de Baugin - US side]

[ CM:BN Beta AAR/DAR Bois de Baugin - German side ]

Combat Mission - Battle for Normandy

2011-01-06T08:15:00.002+08:00

Combat Mission - Battle for Normandy (CM:BN) faithfully recreates the experience of tactical land warfare in Western France during World War Two. Using the unique Turn-Based (WeGo)/Real-Time hybrid game system (new to CM? Click here for more info to learn what makes it unique and different from mainstream RTS games) of our proprietary CMx2 battle engine, the first installment in this new series covers the three months after the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, from Operation Overlord in June through the Cobra Breakout in August.
At the player's fingertips are a large array of carefully researched US and German Army formations, equipment, and vehicles (click here for a preliminary Table of Organization & Equipment) in what is probably the most versatile, genuine and powerful battlefield simulation to date.

Terrain
CM:BN depicts the 1944 Normandy landscape, both rural and urban, with an authentic atmosphere and, more importantly, tactical fidelity. Barns, churches, houses with sloped roofs, and many other styles of buildings are included in addition to revamped "modular" style buildings for building larger blocks, towns and even entire cities. Many new terrain types such as heavy forest ground, railroads, crops, (animated) water and fords, bridges (with weight limits) and of course the infamous Norman "bocage" hedgerows allow for a distinct and realistic look and feel of both rural and urban environments.
As one should expect, the terrain isn't there for looks alone - the detailed 1 meter by 1 meter terrain mesh allows for stunningly realistic maps that go far beyond visuals. Dynamic lighting, deformable terrain including partial and complete destruction of buildings, a wide range of weather types and environmental effects including rain, fog, heavy winds (with ballistic effects), realistic ground conditions, many new 'Flavor Objects' such as gravestones, haystacks, sheds or woodpiles and graphic special effects only help to further accentuate and intensify the playable environments.

Reality modeling
Like earlier Combat Mission games, CM:BN puts players in control of teams, squads, individual vehicles, and support assets organized according to painstakingly researched historical TO&E (Tables of Organization and Equipment), including US Army Infantry, Airborne and Glider, Armored, Engineers of different types, towed and self-propelled anti-tank units, and more. For the German Wehrmacht, the TO&E includes Heer (Army) Panzergrenadiers, Pioniers, Füsiliers, Sturmgeschütz and Panzer formation, and more.

Each soldier is modeled individually, including independent spotting and combat/weapon capabilities. The new context sensitive equipment loadout for individual soldiers means that you will see a Panzergrenadier firing his MP40 machinepistol with a Panzerschreck on his back. When the Panzerfaust is fired you see it visually and then it disappears. A large variety of completely new animations, stances and positions adds to the immersion. Soldiers can surrender and be "rescued", administer "buddy aid" to wounded comrades, share ammo with nearby troops and vehicles, fire from open topped vehicles or open hatches and much more.

The new improved Tactical AI ensures genuine battlefield behavior even at the smallest scale, no matter if you play a small platoon firefight scenario, or a large battalion sized engagement.
Vehicles are also simulated in greater fidelity in CM:BN than what was possible before. The new system allows not only for exponentially greater data modeling, but also the best visuals provided yet with the extremely detailed hi-polygon 3D vehicle models with articulated suspensions, animated hatches, MG and weapon mounts and smoke launchers. From the extensive damage modeling individually for each sub-system including the most realistic ballistics, armor and post-armor effects available to date, to the randomly individualized vehicle models (including external equipment like sandbags or ammo boxes, wheels and tracks, damaged fenders and more. Additionally, gone are the old CMBO days when US tanks magically moved through hedgerows without leaving an actual breach. Now you can watch a Sherman with Rhino attachment plow through bocage, leaving a gap for infantry to follow.

Command & Control
CM:BN features one of the most advanced C2 (Command & Control) models available in a game, controlling in a realistic way the flow of battlefield recon information, unit cohesion, availability and application of air and artillery support, and more. Two new Commands (Scout Team and Driver Team) allow more tactical control..

Weaponry
CM:BN features a mind blowing array of weapons, vehicles and equipment, all meticulously researched and recreated in astonishing detail. Besides the obvious World War Two era tanks, halftracks, trucks, and small arms and weapons, CM:BN introduces large crew-served weapons as well as on-map mortars and Infantry Guns (both of which are capable of firing in the direct as well as indirect roles). All of which are organized within historically correct command structures.
Player placeable Target Reference Points (TRPs) allow for increased accuracy and decreased delays for support fire missions. Static defenses and fortifications such as bunkers, trenches, barbed wire, and hedgehogs offer tactical challenges to both attacker and defender. Better still, in CM:BN fortifications are both user placeable and unknown to the enemy until after the Setup Phase.

Replayability
Unlike many other games, CM:BN offers far more than a limited handful of maps and missions. In fact, CM:BN delivers endless replayability, just like the first Combat Mission games did. Besides two semi-dynamic campaigns, one from each side's perspective, you will find dozens of standalone missions, full two-player capability for both online play as well as Play-By-Email (PBEM), and an innovative and almost entirely overhauled QuickBattles system including troops purchase, "cherry picking" and map selection and preview.
And that's just what comes with the game. Players have full access to a full featured Mission Editor to create their own maps, missions, and campaigns. If making new battles isn't your thing, then simply enjoy what others make by downloading them for free. There are more Combat Mission scenarios to download than any person could play in several lifetimes.
And make no mistake that missions in CM:BN are just an endless reproduction of Capture the Flag... the dynamic style of play inherent in our game engine allows for a variety of objectives that can even be unique for each side in a given battle, allowing each side to fight to fulfill its own goals rather than a single set common to both.

Gameplay
To accurately simulate the often frantic and rapid pace of modern combat, the Combat Mission game engine was designed and programmed from the start to be RealTime. Experience Combat Mission like never before as you order your units while the battle rages on around you.
Knowing that RealTime play is not for everyone, Combat Mission Battle for Normandy also offers the same ground breaking WeGo hybrid turn based system that propelled the original Combat Mission games to an unprecedented three Wargame of the Year Awards from PC Gamer magazine. Better still, the underlying RealTime mechanics overcome several game play problems found in the old Combat Mission WeGo system.
Play the game as you want, against the AI in Realtime or Turn Based Mode or against another Human player in Realtime TCP/IP or WeGo in PBEM (Play by Email) and Hotseat.
Building upon the legacy started 10 years ago with the release of the ground smashing Combat Mission Beyond Overlord, CM:BN incorporates years of experience and customer suggestions to produce what we think is the most genuine and enjoyable simulation of tactical ground warfare of World War Two. CM:BN is based on the extremely powerful proprietary CMx2 engine - the foundation for which was laid with the Combat Mission Shock Force series of Modern tactical warfare games. The CMx2 game engine is now in its 4th year of improvements and expansions, not the least of which are the host of brand new features necessary to simulate WW2 warfare in a temperate climate.

If you are a seasoned CM:SF player and just finished storming a village in Syria with a mix of NATO and US troops earlier today, feel free to skip the next part and jump right into the "What's new in Normandy?" section!
If you are new to Combat Mission and usually play RTS or FPS games, we're strongly recommending that you to read this next section carefully.
Go to the official game website at http://www.battlefront.com/normandy for more details, screenshots and news!

Last Updated ( Thursday, 23 December 2010 )

World Supremacy Announced

2010-09-18T12:47:00.001+08:00

Shrapnel Games and Malfador Machinations have announced they are working on World Supremacy.

Shrapnel Games has announced it is partnering with Malfador Machinations to take over the world of strategy gaming. Gamers may recall that Malfador Machinations is the developer of the highly acclaimed Space Empires series of games. Set in the contemporary world, World Supremacy is a Beer & Pretzels strategy game with a twist. One of the great strengths of Space Empires was its modability, and Malfador Machinations is working on building that same flexibility into this game.
A turn-bassed strategy game that uses either random map generation or user-created maps, players will have access to thirteen types of units ranging from subs to fighters. Players will be able to invest in their economies and destroy other players' economies, configure numerous variables before the start of each game giving extensive replayability to the game.
Shrapnel Games encourages gamers to "say hello to your foes with a well placed nuke or two." If that's the kind of fun that floats your boat (and let's face it, who wouldn't like it?) then World Supremacy is going to be a title worth keeping an eye on.
As a bonus, we've managed to finagle a few screenshots of the upcoming game.
Keep checking back with The Wargamer for more information, and in the mean time, check out the official product page at Shrapnel Games.

Screenshots Feature: Lionheart Release Date Confirmed

2010-09-18T12:43:00.002+08:00

A release date has been announced for Lionheart and some new screenshots have been shared to celebrate.

Paradox Interactive and Neocore Games have confirmed the release date for Lionheart: Kings' Crudaders will be October 8, 2010. This real time strategy game will pit players between the years of 1189-1192, calling upon warriors to enter the heart of the battle in one of the most vicious wars of all time. Players will take on this challenge as either Richard the Lionheart, a man determined to take back the holy land, or as Saladin, a ruler who must prepare for an inevitable invasion.
Lionheart: Kings’ Crusade invites players to rewrite history through controlling and upgrading leaders and their armies, guiding various historical factions through political events, collecting relics, and unlocking new content in a feature-rich campaign set to take on the strategy genre by force.
Lionheart: Kings' Crusade will be available on all leading digital distribution platforms and in retail stores. For more information about the game, join us on Facebook, visit www.lionheartthegame.com/ or www.paradoxplaza.com and follow @PDXInteractive and @Lionheartgame or keep checking back with The Wargamer.

Interview: Field of Glory Renaissance

2010-09-18T12:42:00.002+08:00

The Wargamer's Jim Zabek gets a one-on-one interview with Richard Bodley Scott, developer of the Field of Glory: Renaissance miniatures rules.

Richard Bodley Scott has been wargaming since 1971, when he was 17. His interests are mostly Ancients and Medieval, but also Renaissance. He is a GP (Doctor) and has lived and worked in Usk, Wales, since 1982. The first set of wargames rules he wrote (sadly unpublished), was a set of English Civil War rules for 6mm figures. He co-authored DBM, which led to DBR, although my involvement in the latter project was less. He is also a co-author of Field of Glory: Ancient & Medieval and co-author (with Nik Gaukroger and Charles Masefield) of Field of Glory: Renaissance.

Jim Zabek, The Wargamer (WG): Warfare during the Renaissance had changed significantly since the medieval period, so much so that it required an entirely new rule set for Field of Glory. Can you tell us what has changed between the Renaissance and the rules for ancients and medieval?

Richard Bodley Scott (RBS): A lot has changed, but the basic mechanisms are the same, and should provide an easy transition (back and forth) for those familiar with FOG:AM. Very broadly, the main changes are as follows:

A complete revision of the troop-types and troop capabilities to reflect the weapons and tactical doctrines of the period.
Changes to the combat mechanism to make firearms more effective – despite often being present in relatively small numbers in the earlier part of the period.
Rules for the various formations which were such an important aspect of military evolution during the period.
Changes to the deployment and movement rules to reflect the shape of armies on the battlefield, as depicted in contemporary illustrations.

WG: The 16^th and 17^th Centuries were a dynamic period of development for military technology. What we would call “revolutions in military affairs” were fairly common. What were some of the challenges you faced in creating a wargaming system for this era?

RBS: Western European infantry tactics started the period with massed pike formations, then evolved gradually throughout the period as firearms became more and more important. Initially, arquebusiers were in separate bodies from the pikes, and acted mainly as skirmishers or defenders of field fortifications. The Spanish began experimenting with mixed formations, initially the colunela, each comprising about a 1,000 pikemen, arquebusiers and sword-and-bucklermen. This was then replaced circa 1534 by the tercio, a huge formation comprising 3,000 pikemen and arquebusiers. This acted like a mobile fortress on the battlefield, being capable of delivering an inexorable attack, but also of defending itself from attack from any direction. Its main disadvantage was that only a small proportion of its firepower could be brought to bear frontally. As time went on, tercio formations became shallower and more streamlined, being eventually replaced in the first third of the 17^th century by smaller bodies of about 600 pike and shot, the shot now being ideally 2/3 of the total. The advantage of these smaller, shallower formations was that they maximized frontal firepower. By the time they became standard, the arquebus had largely been replaced by the longer-ranged musket.
Further developments were made by the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus, who entered the Thirty Years War in 1630. Firepower was increased by the attachment of small fast-loading guns to each infantry brigade. In addition, instead of one rank firing at a time in a continuous rolling fire, as was traditional, Swedish musketeers were trained to fire, when required, by volley (salvo), followed by an immediate charge by the pikes while the enemy was reeling. Effective though these salvo tactics were, their regular use did not survive the destruction of the Swedish army at Nördlingen in 1634.
In the later 17^th century, the proportion of pikes became even lower, ultimately being replaced by the bayonet.
Cavalry tactics also evolved during the period. Initially the main heavy cavalry type was the fully armoured, lance-armed gendarme, the successor of the Medieval knight. In Germany, however, in the mid 16^th century, a new type of cavalry, the pistol-armed reiter, was developed. These formed up in deep formations and used the caracole, a system whereby a deep formation of pistoleers could deliver a continuous barrage of pistol fire against a stationary target (usually a pike block) – each rank firing in turn then moving off to the rear to reload. German reiters were used in large numbers as mercenaries outside Germany. In the last quarter of the 16^th century, the Huguenot (Protestant) faction in the French Wars of Religion re-equipped their aristocratic cavalry with pistols, but, instead of shooting with them at a distance, developed the new tactic of charging vigorously, saving their pistol fire for the moment of impact. These new cuirassier tactics proved superior both against lance-armed gendarmes and traditional reiters. Despite this, for three-quarters of a century there continued to be proponents of the lance and the use of pistol or carbine at a distance. Towards the end of the wars, Henri of Navarre (later Henri IV of France) pioneered the use of commanded shot: detached bodies of infantry arquebusiers placed between the blocks of horse to offset enemy cavalry superiority. This tactic was later put to good use in the 30 Years War and English Civil War. In the 1630s, cavalry tactics developed further, with the use of shallower formations and more aggressive charges.
All the above changes needed to be reflected in the rules, without making the rules too complex.

WG: How did you avoid seeing one “RMA” instantly trump an earlier technology to make a more balanced game?

RBS: This was an important design objective. Historically, however, each “RMA” did not immediately trump the earlier technology. Each infantry evolution took decades to permeate the whole of continental Europe (longer on the fringes), and no state was conquered as a result, so clearly the superiority of the new systems was not overwhelming. Cavalry developments took even longer to be generally adopted. The Spanish favoured the lance until the 1630s, and shooting by cavalry at a distance survived the development of cuirassier tactics by more than 70 years.
This phenomenon was partly due to inertia, and partly because the older systems did have certain advantages of their own. For example, what the tercio lacked in frontal firepower and efficiency, it to some extent made up in resilience and all round protection.
Hence the rules do reflect the advantages of each new system, but not excessively so, and technological advantages are costed into the points system.

WG: How much emphasis is there on formations in the game, and what kinds of variations are there?

RBS: We wanted the rules to give games that look and feel like historical battles of the period. Formations are therefore important, and must be strictly adhered to. Amongst the specified infantry formations are pike keils, colunelas, early tercios, later tercios, standard pike and shot, and later 17^th century pike and shot with only a few pikes. Whilst avoiding excessive complication, each of these formations has special rules (in the main rulebook) to bring out its flavour. Moreover, the deployment and movement rules favour deployment in the chequerboard formation seen in contemporary illustrations, with infantry in the centre and cavalry on the wings. Other systems from outside the mainstream of Europe are also covered.

WG: Can you discuss the evolving role of armor in the game?

RBS: In the early part of the period pikemen and cavalry were often quite well armoured. In the 17^th century, armour was gradually abandoned, first for infantry then for cavalry, so that by the end of the century most troops lacked armour. We attribute this to the diminishing benefits of armour as firearms became more effective and more prevalent. Nevertheless, armour remained in regular use by troops expected to fight hand-to-hand throughout the 16^th century, so we do represent its benefits, though the advantages are minimal against shot.

WG: Artillery was less effective during this era than it would become later. How is it incorporated in your rules?

RBS: Artillery was of great importance in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, but its efficacy must not be over-emphasized. It was certainly not as effective as artillery in Napoleonic times, and not capable of repelling an enemy charge on its own. A contemporary depiction of the Battle of Dreux (1562) shows both sides’ artillery surrounded by the dead bodies of their crew, having been ridden over earlier in the battle! What artillery were capable of was causing a slow trickle of casualties on the enemy (heavier if the target was in a deep formation) that could make a defensive position untenable or sufficiently damage an assaulting formation so that other troops could more easily repel the assault. The rules are balanced to reflect this historical role and not over-represent the effect of artillery. The regimental guns pioneered by the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus have their own special rules.

WG: Your rules even include accounting for naval bombardment. That’s really rather novel. What inspired you to include this aspect?

RBS: Naval bombardment had a significant effect, for example, in the battles of Pinkie (1547), Gravelines (1558) and Nieuwpoort (1600).

WG: Firearms played a growing role in warfare during this period. Can you share some of the developments and challenges in bringing this aspect to the game?
As mentioned above, firearms largely negate the effects of armour under the rules. In addition, we wanted their shooting to have as significant effect as it did historically, despite battle groups only being partly comprised of shot bases and ranges being quite short. Those who have played FOG: AM will be familiar with the dreaded “Death Roll”. In order to avoid recording casualties, this is a simple dice roll which must score greater than the number of “hits” (an abstract concept not representing actual physical hits) received to prevent the loss of a base following combat. When shot at, the death roll is made with a +2 bonus to represent the fact that shooting in Ancient and Medieval times was less deadly than close combat. In FOG:R there is no +2 bonus on the Death Roll when shot at mostly by firearms, which makes shooting by firearms significantly more deadly. Troops shot at by bows and other obsolete missile weapons still get the old Death Roll bonus.
The effect of this is that base losses have a much more significant role in FOG:R than in FOG:AM. In addition to ensuring the importance of firearms, play-testers have generally agreed that this increases the tension and excitement in the game.

WG: What types of expansions do you have planned?

RBS: There will be six army list companion books for FOG: R, covering the armies of Europe and the rest of the World throughout the 16^th and 17^th centuries. The first book, Wars of Religion, is being published at the same time as the rules, and covers the armies of the first half of the 17^th century in Western and Central Europe, in particular those of the Thirty Years War and English Civil War. The second book, Trade and Treachery, covers 16^th century warfare in Western and Central Europe, notably the Italian Wars and the various conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in the initial turmoil of the Reformation. The third book, Clash of Empires, covers Eastern Europe and the Middle East in the 16^th and (in some cases) 17^th centuries. The fourth book, Colonies and Conquest, covers Arabia, South and East Asia. The fifth book, Duty and Glory, covers the second half of the 17^th century in Europe. The sixth book, Cities of Gold, covers Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.

WG: It has been said that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. What lessons of history can the battles of Renaissance Europe teach us?

RBS: The main lesson derived from the wars of the Renaissance is the futility of war. Though they seemed of overwhelming importance to the participants at the time, few of the major conflicts that raged throughout Europe over the 16^th and 17^th centuries had any major lasting geopolitical effects. Some matters of religious or political freedom (or otherwise) were decided, but the map of Europe remained substantially unchanged.
However, safely distanced from the bloodshed by several centuries, we can enjoy the tactical challenge that these wars present to us as wargamers, and the unique flavor of the period.

Terra Militaris Announced

2010-09-18T12:33:00.000+08:00

A new browser-based RTS is in the works.

Gala Networks Europe has announced it is working with the developer Snail Game on a new MMORTS entitled Terra Militaris.
The game itself is interesting in its concept. Based upon the ancient world, players develop their civilizations (Rome, Egypt, Persia, or China) with a hero, who helps upgrade technology, economics, construction, and the military. There will be a partial RPG system where the hero gradually levels up.
There is a strong multiplayer component with the game that allows players to form guilds, attack other players, explore the world, spread the civilization’s culture and religion, and building trade routes.
There are other things which make this game interesting. A new trend is appearing in the gaming world with more and more browser-based games appearing. Terra Militaris is one of those browers-based games, and it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the motive. Technology, of course, makes it possible. The internet and broadband ISP’s make what is called “thin client” gaming possible again. It’s an old debate, whether any kind of computer system is better off with the majority of the code running on a remote client, or on a central server.
The motive, as I mentioned, isn’t difficult to figure out. Game piracy is a huge concern to developers and publishers, and elaborate, and sometimes draconian, copy protection schemes (often called Digital Rights Management or DRM) have been created to limit piracy. Within that debate is an entirely other debate about how much lost revenue piracy costs, but it is undeniable that piracy does cost some lost revenue.
If robust DRM schemes are controversial to many gamers (and they are) the next step is to host the code yourself, thereby eliminating the possibility of it being copied, cracked, or stolen. So having browser-based games facilitates this “fat server” concept, protects the code, and also opens up some new and potentially cool side-effects. First, system requirements no longer become as important, so many older PC’s can run a browser. So long as the latest Flash version is loaded the gamer is likely to be able to play, which breaks the cycle of needing to upgrade a gaming PC every three or four years. Not all games use Flash, but many of these browser based games are going that way.
Most of these browser-based games are free to play, but offer a subscription or for-pay upgrades or content expansions. In addition by running the game in a browser it is playable on both a PC and Mac.
Terra Militaris will be available by the end of 2010 through the gPotato.eu games portal with no download or subscription fee required. To play the game, users will only have to login to the official website using their favorite PC or Mac web-browser, and jump into the game in seconds. More information about the game will soon be available on http://terra-militaris.gpotato.eu.

Convention Coverage: Heat of Battle IV

2010-08-18T20:33:00.002+08:00

Start planning for next year, because this is the coolest gaming convention on the planet.

Author: Jim Zabek
For the last four years the National World War II Museum has been the host of Heat of Battle, a wargaming convention.

There's nothing like being welcomed to a wargaming convention with a real 88.

Sponsors of the convention. Without them it wouldn't happen.

There are two things that set Heat of Battle apart from a convention like Origins. First, it is significantly smaller. Attendance is a few hundred gamers, not ten thousand. Second, and more importantly, is the setting. The convention is held within the museum. If you liked the movie Night at the Museum, you’ll love Heat of Battle, because this is the real thing.

It's like Night at the Museum...only real!

What amazes me is that there aren’t tens of thousands of gamers packing the halls of the museum. This is real wargaming sitting right next to and under real equipment used during World War II. I personally cannot think of a better setting for a gaming convention, and even though Heat of Battle ended yesterday, I’m already thinking about next year. If you’re into the history of the Second World War visiting the National World War II Museum is a must. And if you’re a wargamer (and you probably are if you’re reading this) then planning a visit where you can mix touring the museum with wargaming is a must. Visiting New Orleans is fun in and of itself, but mixing in the Museum and a gaming convention? That’s crazy talk. But it’s real.

Gotta love random lagniappe.

Driving into New Orleans on Friday afternoon I got some lagniappe. Heat of Battle was so named at least partially because it’s summertime in New Orleans. That has some real benefits: hotels have discounted rates, which makes it nice and cheap to game at the museum. The flip side to that is it’s summertime in New Orleans, and, well, it’s hot. Except Friday wasn’t. Glancing up at the thermometer in the car, I see it’s a chilly 85 degrees. Last Thursday saw the remnants of what wasn’t much of a tropical depression pass over. It must have brought some cooler weather with it, because when I step out of the car, it feels good. Living in the Deep South I’d point out that in summer sometimes you want to bring a light jacket or coat to keep warm. No, 85 isn’t frigid for us. We compensate for hotter temperatures by keeping the AC cranked. My folks often complain my house is so cold that you could hang meat in it. The reason behind that is simple: when you get out of the heat, you want to cool off. Fast. Friday I didn’t have that problem. 85 was pleasant. Saturday, however, saw temps another ten degrees warmer. So much for the weather report. So what about the games?

Gaming for Heat of Battle started at 9 AM and it kicked off with a bang. A classic Avalon Hill tournament kicked off with classic titles like Afrika Korps, Bismarck, Midway, and Panzer Blitz, just to name a few. The tournament would go on all weekend, and evening games were allowed back at the hotel. Other games included a tutorial for Down in Flames, GMT’s The Battle for Normandy: “Bloody Omaha”, and Command Decision – Test of Battle “The Battle for Lindern” names about half of the games going on Friday morning. When one considers that there are typically at least four of five guys at every table, that’s a good start to an early morning. Saturday would see the bulk of gaming. More games being played: Memior ’44, Knight’s Cross, Axis & Allies, Axis & Allies War at Sea, Flames of War…it’s a long list of games that were going on. This year unfortunately found Heat of Battle without any electronic gaming on hand. However, the boardgaming and miniatures gaming was excellent.

Knights Cross is a great game of aerial combat that's fun and easy.

Photo on the lower right is an exhibit from the real thing.

One of the trends in minis gaming is a move toward Micro Armour. Micro Armour is 1:285 scale. That means tanks, vehicles, and stands of men are the size of a small coin. In chatting with gamers it’s clear why the move to this Lilliputian scale is popular. It’s cheap. With the bad economy, guys are turning to inexpensive ways to satisfy their gaming urges. 1:285 minis are by almost any measure cheap. Not inexpensive…it’s cheap. About $40 can buy you a company of Tiger tanks. They’re also fast and easy to paint. At 1:285 there isn’t much detail to fuss about. The Army Painter’s Flames of War line of spray cans lays down a coat of both primer and base coat with one shot. A second color for camo or shading, a dip in some shadowing, and it’s done. In the time it takes me to assemble paint and detail, say, a Warhammer 40,000 Land Raider, I could probably crank out an armored division of World War II Micro Armour.

Microarmor in Command Decision.

The downside to minis this small is its size. In helping a friend put away his micro minis after a fun game of Command Decision, we discovered we were missing a Bren carrier. Considering the size is a piece of lichen he was using on the map, I was afraid he’d find it ten years from now at the bottom of his lichen box after he used the last of it to create some bocage for a Normandy game. Fortunately it turned up the next day in another box. Buying, assembling, painting, and storing larger minis has its drawbacks, but it’s tough to lose a 1:48 scale Sherman under a sprinkle of lichen. I guess no system is perfect.

The scenario and a welcoming committee.

The map.

Another perk buying admission to the convention yields is a ticket to the new theater at the museum, which shows the 4D movie experience, Beyond All Boundaries. There’s not much to add that will do the show justice. It tells our American story of World War II. All I can say is, “Wow.” Running about 45 minutes this is a must-see.

The gaming was taking place right next to the exhibits.

Beyond all Boundaries is just one of several expansions going on at the Museum. There are now three, yes three, gift shops at the museum. Several days ago a thread was posted in our forums about a grandma who had used her husband’s souvenir (a live hand grenade) as a paperweight. Naturally enough, when it was discovered there was a bit of excitement about getting it out of the house. So as I was going through one of the gift shops I stumbled across an entire crate of hand grenade paperweights. Given the recent timing of the forum post, I couldn’t resist. (You can get your own here) The expanded gift shop has a ton of stuff worth checking out. Everything from collar pins of division badges to clothes with the Museum’s logo on them, to books. And do they have books. It’s quite impressive how many titles I’ve never heard of, and I buy books like nobody’s business. From now until September 30^th, the museum’s store is offering a 10% discount on online orders to celebrate the gaming convention. Use the discount code HEAT2010 on your order.

Finding a crate of grenades? Priceless.

However, no convention would be complete without a vendor room, and every year Mike Bobe has made the trek from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans to bring a small sample of his game shop, www.bobeshobbyhouse.com, for attendees to enjoy. I always make it a point to stop by and pick up something. His biggest selection is models and miniatures, but he’s got books, games, paint, glue…a bit of everything. Most of it is about World War II, but there was the odd game like Settlers of Cataan in there and a model from War of the Worlds to break up the nearly endless stream of Panzers and Shermans and T-34’s. Mike and I discussed a trade since I have an overabundance of books and thought I could benefit from lightening the load with those that I was unlikely to ever actually read. He made me what I thought was a very fair offer, and I walked away with some really cool stuff that would have taken me considerably longer (and more money) to accumulate. I joked it was a win-win-lose situation: a win for him, a win for me, but a loss for my wife, who was gleeful when she saw a box of books walk out the door, but less joyous when a larger box of models and stuff walked back in. But love knows no boundaries, so she indulges me. What she’s blissfully unaware of is that I’d like to eventually build up a small army of 1:48 scale tanks with which to play some Command Decision minis. I’ve gamed for the last four years at the museum using those miniatures rules, and it is an elegant yet hard core rule set. Very grognardly, but hits the mark. I play with a great group of guys who know the system pretty much cold. The result is a gaming experience that is not to be missed. It’s fun, challenging, realistic, and the minis are attractive. The game I played saw me taking command of a battalion of Canadians and attempting to drive the Germans from the hills outside of Agira, Italy. The German commander managed to roll some stellar results as I stormed up the hill and I saw entire companies of infantry blown away, my efforts crashing to nothing before their fortifications. Even losing is a win, because it’s fun to game with a good group of guys, a good set of rules, and all under the roof of the coolest Museum I have ever been to.
I played several other games through the weekend, but the other item of note that I’d like to share is Sunday’s Guest Speaker, Captain Rick Jacobs, USNR (ret). Captain Jacobs gave a thorough and interesting lecture on The Battle of France: Dunkirk. It was immensely enjoyable to have Captain Jacobs’ insight into how the French line collapsed at Sedan, and the German Blitzkrieg nearly consumed the British Expeditionary Force. A sad campaign for the Allies, but a great learning experience. Every year there are a few lectures offered during Heat of Battle, and they are always entertaining and educational. Another “can’t miss” opportunity.

Daily afternoons from 3 - 6 the Museum’s The American Sector Restaurant offers half-priced drinks and $0.75 sliders. If I had been staying in New Orleans it would have been a good bet I’d be there. Unfortunately, a mid-sized drive precluded any alcohol since I was commuting to the con. Still, it’s a great deal if you’re staying in a hotel. The museum is in the Warehouse District just a few blocks from the New Orleans Convention Center, so hotels are plentiful and nearby. The Superdome is just a few blocks away, as is the French Quarter, so if anyone is looking for something to do other than gaming at the hotel there’s plenty to do.

An upsized game of Memoir '44.

And that is pretty much that. As conventions go, Heat of Battle feels like a regional one, but with the added bonus of gaming under the watchful eye of a C-47. I love the fact that after the museum closes gamers still have the luxury of touring the museum. It’s fun, there’s no other way to describe it. My advice is if this sounds at all intriguing then readers should start making some vacation plans for next year. No official date has been announced yet for it, but it’s a good bet that the second week of August is when next year’s convention will be. Looking at a calendar it’s probably going to be either the 12^th or the 19^th of August if past dates are any indication. Game masters are always welcome, so if you have a favorite game you like to play then signing up to host a game (or three) would be an easy way to get in on the fun. Then again, there are always plenty of games available, and there’s usually an empty table or two on which to plunk down a spontaneous game if something else is filled up. If you haven’t been to the National World War II Museum yet, there is no better time to visit than when it’s filled with favorite wargames on the topic.

Panzer General® Russian Assault?

2010-08-06T22:27:00.000+08:00

What is Panzer General® Russian Assault?

Panzer General: Russian Assault is a sequel to the hit title Panzer General: Allied Assault and is a quick playing game of WWII tactical / operational combat using a unique blend of cards, miniatures, and a board game. The game will support both solo and 2-Player gameplay.

What's new to the series with Russian Assault?

There are 80 plastic miniatures depicting tanks, infantry and artillery. There are also over 100 new Action Cards, Units, and Abilities. The game provides 12 solo and two-player scenarios depicting combat situations between the German and Russian forces in such battles as Stalingrad, Kursk, Moscow, Leningrad and many others.

How is the game played?

The game uses cards to represent forces deployed and maneuvered on a tiled map grid. Action cards give those forces bonuses in movement and combat. Russian Assault takes place in the largest theatre of WWII, the Eastern Front. Units and variable terrain closely depict the different climates and combat situations experienced in this theatre.

PC Game Preview: Battlefield Academy

2010-07-28T22:22:00.002+08:00

Offering a great mix of fun and realism, Battlefield Academy is looking good.

A few years ago the BBC created a small Flash-based game that was a complement to a TV series they had created entitled Battlefield Britain. The game was called Battlefield Academy. Simple to play with simple graphics Battlefield Academy was surprisingly successful as a free web based game. There were literally hundreds of thousands of gamers who swarmed the BBC’s website to play the game. The game was too popular for a follow-up game to be ignored. Slitherine stepped in and reworked and improved it so dramatically that the web-based version is essentially unrecognizable from the game that is about to be released.

The original flash-based Battlefield Academy game.

And what a game it is.
Traditionally game reviewers are supposed to treat previews somewhat gingerly. After all, they aren’t finished works. However, there are times when the picture is clear. In this case, my build of Battlefield Academy is a very late one, and though I haven’t been told as such, if it’s not gold code, it’s gotta be very, very close.
So I’m tossing convention to the wind. Slitherine has a winner.
The first thing gamers noticed when Battlefield Academy was announced is the cartoon-like graphics. The design was deliberate; Slitherine wanted to craft a visual appearance that would appeal to a younger audience. We crusty old wargamers typically grouse about how graphics don’t matter as much as gameplay, and I think Slitherine has got the right idea in trying to break with a conventional wargame look. They were likely faced with two possibilities: first, invest tons of money into eye candy, or second, go with a more affordable low-graphic approach, but use a method that had the opportunity to be accessible to a younger audience. The product is Battlefield Academy as we see it in these screenshots.

A bit cartoon-like, but the graphics are nothing like the flash-based game.

I’ve probably invested about ten hours so far in playing Battlefield Academy and can honestly say that I am wholly addicted.
Set during World War II, the map is tile-based, squares rather than hexes, but tanks can face corners as well as sides of the tiles, so they effectively may be placed in one of eight directions. Turn-based, most units get two shots during the player’s turn as well as a movement allowance. When applicable units can have several modes of attack. For instance infantry can shoot at other infantry at a distance with their rifles. When closer they’ll hurl grenades, and if next to an enemy unit, have the option to assault into the tile and attempt to overwhelm their target. Some infantry have limited anti-tank ability and can attempt to assault armor.

A Hurricane exits the map on the lower right of the screen after a successful attack.

There are engineering units, regular infantry, machine guns, mortars, and so far it would appear that the entire catalog of vehicles and armor used in World War II. I’ve been playing the North Africa campaign and have seen Italian carros and German Stug A’s as well as Panzer III’s. As the Brits I have used Matildas and Bishops, 2, 6, and 25 pounder artillery, Hurricanes have been called in for airstrikes…in short, all the right parts are here.
Comparisons immediately come to mind: Steel Panthers, the granddaddy of them all. Battlefield Academy is no Steel Panthers, however. Battlefield Academy is less hard core. Gameplay and fun were the watchword as the game was being built. There are solid elements of realism here; the unit catalog alone should make that clear. But in the end, this is a light wargame. I never played much Panzer General so I can’t really make a solid comparision with it. However, I did play, and loved, Codename: Panzers, and Battlefield Academy is equally fun and addictive, with perhaps a bit more realism in it.
Though concessions were made to fun, the realism hangs in there. Players don’t have a choice about which type of ammo to use – the game simply assumes the player would wish to optimize whatever load is required to take out the target unit. Some units, for instance a Bren or Vickers gun team, simply cannot fire at tanks. In Steel Panthers I could, and sometimes did fire ineffectively at Russian tanks just to rattle their cages a bit. Sometimes they’d even break and run if they’d been peppered with the proper mix of real anti-tank fire and a lucky drumming on the hull of an MG. Not so in Battlefield Academy, but units do have morale states and I have managed to scare off more than a few German units by simply bouncing enough tank rounds off their hulls – even with no effect.
Armor isn’t fully modeled in Battlefield Academy, but rather units are given ratings for all sides and the top (airstrikes are part of the game) and this is a mixture of both the armor thickness and slope which produces a single value.
Rate of fire isn’t exactly true – most units have two shots, some three, so there is still a gamey feel to Battlefield Academy which could be a turn-off for gamers who cannot abide anything but the highest, purest degree of realism.
For most gamers, however, including most wargamers, we’ll trade a bit of realism for fun if the fun quotient is high enough. Fortunately for us, Battlefield Academy has that fun quotient. I think most gamers are going to really like it.

Press Release: Divinity II Announced

2010-07-17T11:25:00.002+08:00

This new game will include "remastered" copies of the previous adventures, Ego Draconis and Flames of Vengeance.

Focus Home Interactive has announced it will publish Larian Studios' role playing game: Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga on both the PC and Xbox 360.
Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga includes the original adventure “Ego Draconis”, and “Flames of Vengeance”, the Dragon Knight's new adventure that continues the epic story and adds dozens of hours of additional gameplay. Divinity II – Ego Draconis appears here as an entirely new and re-mastered edition with improved graphics and content that make the game even more beautiful and more impressive than ever before!
As for Flames of Vengeance, this new adventure brings players new quests, new creatures and many new items. Flames of Vengeance also benefits from all the graphical improvements made to Ego Draconis, and delivers a spectacular finale to the Dragon Knight Saga!
Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga offers an epic total of over 60 hours of gameplay and more than 180 original quests that combine into a fantastic role playing experience. We invite you to discover more about Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga throughout a series of new images, that offer a glimpse into the new adventure Flames of Vengeance.
Divinity II – The Dragon Knight Saga includes the complete and re-mastered adventure Ego Draconis, and the brand new adventure Flames of Vengeance. The game will be released in Europe in October 2010 on PC and Xbox 360.

In Stores: Field of Glory Immortal Glory Launched

2010-07-17T11:21:00.000+08:00

Slitherine, Matrix Games and developer Hexwar are proud to announce the release of Field of Glory Immortal Fire.

The game is the third in the series of add-ons and follows the successful launches of Rise of Rome and Storm of Arrows earlier this year. Immortal Fire is also the first in the series to be simultaneously released for both PC and Mac operating systems.
Since its release in October 2009, Field of Glory has been praised as one of the best wargames ever created and this add-on is packed with new features, upgrades and maps. There are over 60 large maps for DAG battles, 200 new battle group graphics and an enhanced AI opponent. For all information about it, check out the product page.
The game is available for download on both Slitherine and Matrix Games shops.
Alongside the release of Immortal Fire, the whole Field of Glory game system gets a major update to v. 1.3.0 and below is a full list of the changes. The update is downloadable directly from within the game.
Version 1.3.0 changelog
For everyone

Add: Revised facing arrows. See the preferences window for a choice of bases/facing arrows.
Add: Display of results of previous games in multiplayer window.
Add: Logic: Ability to give more than one move order to any one unit in each player turn.
Change: Improved general's flag graphics.
Change: Logic: Units that evade as the result of a charge order now face in the direction that they evaded.
Change: AI Logic: New deployment logic gives much better battles against the AI in DAG games.
Change: UI: Both the number of unviewed results and the total number of results are now shown in the multiplayer window.
Change: Windows help window now opens on the same page it was on when you last closed it, for consistency with the Mac OS X version.
Add: Duplicate play: Ability to issue a challenge to a paired/duplicate historical game. A single challenge to be to play as both sides in an historical battle and the overall win to come from combining the results of both battles. This allows unbalanced games to be extremely interesting.
Add: Ability to cancel old challenges and claim games where the opponent has not moved for 30 days. See opponents turn tab in the multiplayer display.
Add: 40 new large (30 x 5) maps for random selection within DAG battles.
Add: Logic: Units mow evade if contacted in a pursuit move.
Add: Units that start the game in woods are now hidden to the enemy until they move or shoot, or an enemy unit moves close to them.
Add: Ability to copy and paste units in the map editor.
Add: Net: Description for server code 27 (corrupt cookie).
Add: Ability to claim old multiplayer games.
Add: More detailed message in the case of -1 Network Connection multiplayer errors.
Add: Over 100 new units images for use in the scenario creator.
Fix: In the map editor, in Mac OS X, you could not access unit properties by right-clicking a unit.
Fix: In the 'new game' window, the value for Complexity did not always fit.
Fix: UI: The radiobutton for 'paired games' was wrongly left visible in army generator games.
Fix: In the army generator, when enforcing the type of or-constraint that requires all one or all the other troop spec to be selected, the count for the wrong row would sometimes be increased.
Fix: Logic: The Variable Die Roll was sometimes being recalculated when a previously-calculated value should have been being re-used.
Fix: Logic: Before this fix, no more than one pursuit could succeed as a result of any one charge or attack order.
Fix: The preferences were sometimes not being stored when the user's multiplayer password was remembered.
Fix: UI: At the end of a multiplayer game, the user would sometimes be asked if they want to save the game.
Fix: If one side moved no battle groups at all in a player turn, and just ended the phase, then in the following player turn a phasing unit could be wrongly frozen (i.e. marked as being unable to do more).
Fix: Logic: It was possible for ranged units to shoot out of the fog when Fog of War was enabled.
Fix: UI: The 'cancel' button in the dialogue box for accepting passworded challenges did nothing.
Fix: The help window would sometimes be blank in OS X with Safari 5.
Fix: UI: Looting help message now reflects new camp break points value.
Change: UI: Possible fix for the bug that some users were reporting where the help window flickered (possibly related to ATI graphics cards).

Only for owners of Rise of Rome

Add: All Rise of Rome armies that could have allies from the Immortal Fire army pack have been added, with no need to own Immortal Fire.

Only for owners of Immortal Fire

Add: All Immortal Fire armies in the DAG
Add: All Immortal Fire armies that could have allies from the Rise of Rome army pack have been added, with no need to own Rise of Rome.
Add: New Scenario - Sparta 338BC.
Add: New Scenario - Crocus Plain 353BC.
Add: New Scenario - Gaugamela 331BC.
Add: New Scenario - Gabiene 316BC.
Add: New Scenario - Hellespont 321BC.
Add: New Scenario - River Thatis 310BC.
Add: Over 100 new units images exclusive to Immortal Fire for use in the scenario creator.

Screenshots Feature: Hannibal

2010-07-13T13:36:00.007+08:00

THE WARGAMER scored some exclusive screenshots to acompany the news that Matrix will publish this upcoming wargame.

Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) and Forced March Games (www.forcedmarchgames.com) have announced that they have reached a publishing agreement to bring Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War to gamers worldwide. Sporting original themed art, a fantastic soundtrack, and crisp, intuitive turn-based gameplay, Hannibal brings an innovative and fun blend of diplomacy, strategy, and tactical action to the ancient Mediterranean!

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said "From the first screenshots I was struck by Hannibal's art direction and neat interface. Once we played it, we realized the solid gameplay will keep you coming back for more, even if you've never played a game set in this period before! We believe all strategy gamers in search of a well-balanced and polished experience will appreciate this game and we're proud to add it to the Matrix/Slitherine catalog!"

James Warshawsky, Lead Developer at Forced March Games, added, "We're thrilled to be working with Matrix to bring Hannibal out to strategy and ancients fans. We've tried to take a unique approach to virtually all aspects of Hannibal to bring a truly fresh experience and we think that gamers will agree that we've done just that!"

Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War is a new and innovative turn-based strategy game that puts you in command of the Carthaginian military during a period of total war over land and sea with the young Roman Republic. With this military juggernaut of the ancient world at your disposal, you will vie for control over

Italy

, Carthage,

Spain

and the Mediterranean Sea using a combination of strategic political maneuvering and sheer tactical skill both on land and sea. Play consists of two layers; the first is a strategic layer where you must prudently steer your forces to the destruction of Rome's army and the ultimate destruction of the Republic and city itself. At your disposal are a variety of unit types and historical commanders from which to form your armies. On the tactical scale, when meeting the enemy in battle, skilled leadership and a knack for war come into play as you use a simple but engaging battle system to best your opponents.

Commanders would do well to be shrewd in both war and politics as they must use diplomacy and cunning to appease and satisfy their own senate while cultivating key alliances in places like Gaul and Syracuse. To ensure that no two games are alike, a variety of historical option cards are available in every game. These cards simulate a variety of plausible events like reinforcements, political influence, revolts, desertion, specialized battle tactics, and more. The end result is engrossing and addictive turn-based gameplay and a challenging AI opponent that will keep you coming back for just one more challenge and to try just one more different strategy. Hannibal features truly unique historically themed artwork in nearly all aspects of the game. This is coupled with loads of high quality, Ancient period music to make for an immersive and wholly enjoyable experience!

Get more information on Hannibal: Rome and Carthage in the Second Punic War from its official product page.

Developer Feature: King Arthur - The Saxons

2010-07-07T23:45:00.002+08:00

The Saxons expansion to King Arthur will bring new units and function, and is billed as a "sandbox" expansion.

Billed as a "sandbox" expansion, King Arthur: The Saxons brings a number of changes and improvements to the base game:

A brand new campaign with 30+ hours of gameplay where you take the role of the Saxon king. The campaign is set during the events of King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame, but it follows a stand-alone story with a different ruler.
A totally new gaming experience with the free sandbox gaming mode – the objectives are only strategic goals and not the compulsory elements that lead you through the background story.
A complex diplomatic management: you can establish diplomatic relations with your fellow kings and also with the guild of the outlaws, the Christian Church, the Sidhe, famous knights and brides-to-be.
Customizable Victory Conditions: you can set your own goals for the endgame (the number of Provinces conquered, the number heroes gathered, Gold accumulated and many more)
Customizable characteristics for the gaming environment: you can change the importance of magic in the world or the aggression level of the AI.
5 new unique heroes: gather the knights who follow the traditions of Beowulf, the legendary monster-slaying champion.
3 new and unique unit types: the Guardians have many aspects, but they are all mighty and otherworldly warriors.
5 new units
10 new Hero Skills
5 new Unit Skills
More than 30 unique artifacts (among them 5 sets of items that work more efficiently if collected)
More than 30 unique diplomatic and battle quests.

Developer Feature: Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem

2010-07-07T23:44:00.000+08:00

Strategy 3 Tactics' Jim Martin discusses all the new features in the upcoming release of Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem.

CLOSE COMBAT: LAST STAND ARNHEM - Project Preview

Developer: Strategy 3 Tactics / Black Hand Studios
Publisher: Matrix Games / Slitherine
Article author: Jim Martin – Project Lead / Strategy 3 Tactics

Game Historical Context

September 4^th 1944 - The Allies liberate the last of Belgium and halt their advance. Three months and 450 miles have passed since the Normandy landings on June 6^th. Throughout Holland, Axis troops retreat in an uncontrolled dash toward the German border.
In Germany, Field Marshal von Rundstedt surmises that the allies have stopped in Antwerp due to short supplies. Taking advantage of the lull, von Runstedt quickly reorganizes the scattered German troops into a fighting force.
September 14^th - Allied Supreme Commander General Eisenhower agrees to British Field Marshal Montgomery's plan Operation Market Garden. If executed properly this two pronged assault could bring an end to the war before Christmas.
September 17^th – The largest airborne assault in history, Operation Market Garden, begins. British XXX Corps starts the long drive to the Rhine while U.S. And British airborne troops secure the road and bridges along the route. For Operation Market Garden to be successful, the Allies must secure every bridge along the 64 mile corridor.
Now in this classic top down real-time tactical simulation, you take command of either the Allied armored and airborne forces or the hastily organized German defense forces. You must either successfully execute the world’s largest ever airborne operation to bring an end to the war before Christmas or prevent the Allies from reaching their ultimate goal, Arnhem Bridge. In this highly enhanced rebuild based on the critically acclaimed and award winning Atomic Games Close Combat series of games, you are in command!

NEW Game Features

The Grand Campaign design and game engine

Small preview picture of the game strat map with added historical content showing the full operational area of Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem Grand Campaign.

TROOP POINT BUYING SYSTEM

The Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem Grand Campaign operational area covers the area that the allies historically intended to occupy at the end of “Operation Market Garden”. Some give and take had to happen between the real life proportions of the geographical operational area and the strategic map proportions to keep a viewable size to the game icons and map areas while minimising empty areas of strategic map as much as possible. We believe we have achieved a comfortable balance between all the necessary factors.
The design of the strategic map image itself was intended to mimic military strategy maps of the period. Many actual military maps of the area were used as reference and the image you see was created from the ground up in a style that suits the game operation well while maintaining that military map look.
The Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem (CCLSA) Grand Campaign and engine was developed utilising the Close Combat: The Longest Day (CCTLD) engine. All of the features introduced in CCTLD have been carried over into CCLSA while many new features have been introduced. We decided early on to do Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem as the last rebuild in the series, so that we could make sure that all the previous improvements were incorporated into its design and so that we would have the ability to give it more time than any of our other releases, all with the goal of doing justice to the original Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far. CCLSA makes use of all the great improvements and features introduced to the Close Combat series by Close Combat: Invasion Normandy (CC5) and all of the improvements in our Matrix Games releases of Close Combat while re-introducing the features appreciated by Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far (CC2) fans.

CCLSA battlegroup screen showing the frontline force pool and units slated to go into battle.

A troop point buying system similar to CC2, in which users have the ability to buy units if the battle group and parent formation have points available to spend, has been re-created as well as a parent formation point pool on which several battle groups may draw additional unit buying support. In the screenshot to the right you can see the that there is only one battle group on this map since only the tab for the front line BG force pool is active. The units listed in the force pool have next to them their purchase point cost and how many of each unit type remains in the battle group. To the right of that near the top is the total purchase points left available in the battle group point pool and to the right of that the formation point pool. The formation point pool is the parent formation to that battle group. In this case it was the U.S. 82^nd Airborne 504^th PIR.
During unit selection units may be swapped out at will, without point penalty as long as the battle group has not yet seen battle. The point value you will get for returning a unit to the force pool is shown in the upper right corner of the unit icon on the Battle Group screen. If the number is green the unit is uncommitted and the number shows the full value of the team. If the number is red the unit has been committed to the Battle Group’s active roster and the number shown is 50% of its full value. The full details of the point system operation are clearly explained in the game manual.
DESTRUCTIBLE BRIDGES

Sequence showing bridge before destruction, bridge exploding, bridge destroyed, and the bridge repaired.

Also re-created is the ability to destroy bridges on the tactical map which has consequences on movement in the strategic layer. When a player controls a bridge victory location, during a battle, a timer counts down. If that player maintains control constantly during that count down when that timer expires, the player controlling the bridge victory location will have the option of destroying the bridge if he so chooses. Once the bridge is destroyed, the battle automatically ends shortly thereafter and the player who destroyed the bridge will automatically relinquish control of the map to the opposing side but the opposing player will be unable to move on to adjoining maps to which the terrain on the uncontrolled side of the bridge was linked. The player that maintains control of the map may initiate repairs to the bridge to be able to use that location as a point to cross the river once repaired.
New graphics and system for handling those graphics were introduced into the game engine to give a very realistic simulation of a bridge demolition. The game engine has the ability to utilise a total of 25 different bridge locations and accompanying historical graphics and is also modifiable. The Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem Grand Campaign makes use of 15 of those based on bridges the Germans historically had wired for demolition during the Operation Market Garden campaign.

FERRY AND ASSAULT RIVER CROSSINGS

This shot shows two different river crossing locations on the strategic map. One only has an assault crossing available and the other has a disabled ferry boat crossing with assault crossing available.

Continuing on with the new features relating to the strategic map are ferry and assault river crossings. Various locations on the strategic map can be identified as either ferry crossings or assault crossings. These crossing types allow the player the crossings are available to, to be able to cross a river at a non-bridge location. In our Grand Campaign design these locations represent historically accurate locations at which a full regiment would've been utilise within the game scale and timeframe. Various rules apply to where and when these crossings are available and are clearly explained in the game manual.

STATIC FORCES, RESERVE BATTLE GROUPS, LOCKED DEPLOYMENT TEAMS

Two new features introduced to in Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem are the simulation of reserve and static battle groups.

A look at the force pool lists on the battlegroup screen. On the left is the front line battle group force pool list and on the right is the reserve battle group force pool list.

This shows a view of both static (oval icons) and mobile (square icon) battlegropups on the strategic screen.

Reserve battle groups refer to the ability to now have two mobile battle groups on one map at the same time. One battle group moves as the front line battle group and the other moves as the reserve battle group. The player selects which battle group is which by moving the battle group the player would like to have as the front line battle group first. Any battle groups that follow will become the reserve battle group.
Once at the battle group screen where units you are taking into battle are chosen, a player may choose to bring in units from the front line battle group or the reserve battle group. Depending on the battle group size, in some cases this will result in a larger combined battle group by through having access to and filling previously unavailable battle group slots. For instance, a company-sized battle group will only have 6 unit slots available to it as compared to the lead element of a regiment-sized battle group which will have 15 units available to it. If these two company sized battle groups are brought together on one map the resulting number of units by the combined force will be larger than the size if either one of the companies were on that same map by itself with a combined maximum of 15 teams total.
Static forces refer to battle groups that are not moveable by the player but represent a fighting force tied to a particular map for as long as those units survive and are able to maintain control of that map. In Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem these are meant to represent the German Bodenständige Einheit (which translated roughly means troops that guard fixed installations or fixed defence lines) that were involved in the initial fighting during Operation Market Garden.

Shows the three gun emplacements around Best Bridge to represent the units historically placed around the bridge to protect it from aircraft fire.

Similar to the static battle groups on the strategic map is a partly re-created and partly new feature that allows for locked deployment teams to be placed on a tactical map. This feature was introduced to the game engine to allow us to represent historically important units that were not part of a larger battle group to be represented without taking away from a unit slot in a mobile battle group. For instance at Son Bridge two German 88mm Anti-Aircraft guns had been placed in the area of the bridge to defend it from attack by allied planes. In Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem these units are represented. During the first battle on this map these units are statically positioned and the German player will be unable to move them but on subsequent battles able to reposition them during the deployment phase and they remain available for as long as they survive.

BATTLE GROUP STACKING ON THE STRATEGIC LAYER

Along with the concept of having a front line and reserve battle group on a given map area, we now have the ability on the strategic map to move a battle group through a map area even if another battle group is already stationed on that map. As long as you control VL's from all connected strategic areas a battle group can move “through” a map area on the strategic map. The inability to do this has been a shortcoming of the CC strategic map since CC4 introduced the improved strategic layer and many Close Combat veterans will most certainly appreciate this new feature.

The text briefing screen superimposed over the unit selection area of the battlegroup screen

NEW SCENARIO EDITOR FEATURES

Several new features and enhancements have been added to the scenario editor. One is the ability to add a text briefing for custom scenarios. This appears in the game as a pop up window prior to unit selection on the battle group screen and the player clicks once to remove it from view. It is an opportunity to introduce additional historical content specific to a given scenario.
Another new feature added to the Scenario Editor screen is the ability to set entry locations for arriving battle groups in a custom scenario. By shift+LMB a map diamond in the scenario editor screen a pop-up dialog appears. All battle groups present on a map not on the controlling side will have a drop-down menu next to it where you may select a specific VL that battle group will allowed to be deployed around. This gives a scenario designer considerable flexibility in creating historically realistic scenarios.

A screenshot of the scenario map entry information screen activated by shift+LMB a map diamond in the scenario editor screen.

Yet another new feature added to the scenario editor is to allow the scenario designer to set custom point allowance for battle groups to use for purchasing units. This gives the scenario designer an easy way to influence battle group strength without having to redesign the force pool data.
In addition some enhancements have been made to the way the scenario editor operates. The side control states that determines which side controls a given map now has the ability to scroll forward through the states as well as backward by LMBclicking or RMBclicking respectively. This way if you accidentally bypass the control state you intended to use a simple RightMouseButton click returns you to that state rather than having to scroll through the entire list.
Also the date bar slider operation has been improved over Close Combat: The Longest Day. The sliders are easier to grab, are easier to see and allow for specific selection of a given turn easier.

Features carried over from Close Combat: The Longest Day

An illumination flare lighting the battlefield.

Night time effects

Night time effects simulate the conditions you'd expect to find during night battles. Besides the visual effect of a darkened map environment we've enhanced the Line Of Sight(LOS) model to effect what your units are capable of seeing during night battles.

Explosives from bridge demolition lighting up the area.

Flames from burning tanks illuminating the immediate area.

To take that one step further we've added the ability to deploy illumination flares to improve LOS in those areas of the map illuminated by those deployed flares. As a realistic looking depiction of real flares the size of the lit area fluctuates in size to simulate how real flares fall through the air, flickering and swinging back and forth as they fall to the ground. Each player receives approximately two per 15 minute battle and more for longer battles.

Artillery round flashes lighting up the surrounding area.

When used this is what airborne deployment zones look like.

Simulation of airborne battle group deployment drop zones

This feature simulates realistic deployment conditions of airborne drops. Older versions of Close Combat only allowed battle groups entering a tactical map to be deployed by the map edge. In addition to allowing airborne battle groups to be deployed to the map's interior rather than forcing them to deploy on the edge airborne deployment is now random on the first turn or multiple turns of a campaign. When your battle group deploys on a tactical map prior to battle you may find you're in control of the center of town, two opposite corners of a map, in the middle of a field or any combination or number of VL's possible. Prior to battle during the deployment phase you may move any of your units around in any of those lighter colored areas or to take the realistic simulation a step further you could opt to not move any of your units prior to battle so that the initial minutes of the start of the battle are spent organising your units and positions on the map while under enemy fire.

Stratetgic screen menu for accessing the "Rest" command.

Resting of battle groups

Most previous versions of Close Combat did not take into account the cost of doing battle and the effects of constant activity on a battle group on the strategic layer. Similar to the Close Combat: Cross of Iron feature of being able to rest and refit units, we've added the ability to rest battle groups on the strategic screen to reduce a battle groups units fatigue as well as restore cohesion to those units. Players will find that resting a battle group for a turn will see improvements to the fatigue and cohesion levels as well as enhanced performance the next time that battle group encounters battle.
Battle groups of varying size

This feature allows for the simulation of battle groups of varying size as they pertain to military organisational structures. For example previous versions of CC only allowed for battle groups to consist of 15 units in size, no less, unless the force pool file was set up to do so. With this new feature an extra level of control is available to restrict a battle groups size to 14, 13, 12 or fewer units.

Showing two different sized battle groups.

The extended force pool list of Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem.

In the context of Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem a battle group of 3 battalions (9-12 Companies) has 15 units available to it on the battle group screen. A battle group consisting of 2 battalions (6-8 Companies) will have 12 units available to it on the battle group screen. Battalion size battle groups (3-4 Companies in size) will have 9 units available to them on the battle group screen. And a 1 or 2 Company size battle group will have 6 units available to it. The bottom line here is that there is far more flexibility in the portrayal of historical events than offered previously.
Extended Force pool list

Although previous versions of Close Combat had 25 slots available in the Force Pool files only the first 20 of them were utilised in the game at any given time. We've added the ability to not only utilise all 25 slots but to see them on the battle group screen when selecting units. More depth and variety of unit types can be portrayed in the game as a result.

Force morale and Victory Location report on the battle debrief screen.

Force morale/cohesion and Victory Location(VL) control report

The original Close Combat: Invasion Normandy contains an end of battle loss report which is nicely detailed but only vaguely indicated the changes that occurred during the recently completed battle.
We've added a report on that screen that shows you exactly how many VL's changed hands as well as the effect that battle has on your Force Morale and Overall Cohesion for the game just played, displayed in a graphical format that is easy to understand at a quick glance. It aids each player in understanding the changes his battle groups are undergoing and allows him to make better decisions on the next strategic turn.

Battle group Cohesion and Fatigue status on the upper right corner of the battlgroup screen.

Summary of battle group cohesion and fatigue status

A graphical report of your battle groups current cohesion and fatigue is now displayed on the battle group screen so that you can make proper decisions about your battle group composition on the battle group screen.
These graphical meters give you realtime info on how cohesively you should expect your battle group to react in the next battle and how well you should expect them to carry out the orders given to them.
Usage of 4800pixel x 4800pixel maps
Previous versions of Close Combat (versions 3 through 5) only allowed for the use of map images up to 3600pixels x 3600pixels and this was a limitation on the amount of area possible to depict on one map. In game scale the maps are now capable of depicting an area 960 meters square which is an increase in overall map area of nearly 1.77x the original. That's 0.59 miles in either direction. One very effective use of this particular feature in Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem is the Valkenswaard map. Historically it was the stretch of road on which British XXX Corps began fighting their way to Arnhem in an attempt to relieve the Frosts' 2^nd Battalion holding out at the Arnhem bridgehead. A long stretch of roadway across open ground on a raised road under heavy fire. With stock CC5 map allowances this would not have been doable with any semblance of accuracy. It also assists in creating a game play balance that gives the German battle group on this map (which consists of a skeleton of guard troops to create a basic defensive line) a chance of delaying the heavily armour battle group of XXX Corps long enough until the German players full battle groups appear on the scene to give XXX Corps a good fight.
Game operation in windowed mode

This handy enhancement allows the user to play the game in windowed mode without the game automatically pausing or being interrupted like it used to in stock CC5. With windowed mode activated in the user options menu, upon restart the game will display in a window that allows simultaneous use of chat programs, or any other app running at the same time. Also windowed mode allows players connecting for a multi-player game to monitor the connection process via a text chat program without risk of interrupting or causing the connection to process to fail.
Off-board or off-map support quantities now tied to difficulty level

This feature allows the support quantities to be tied to difficulty level so that if desired, support levels can increase with the easier levels of difficulty or vice versa or any combination therein. In CCTLD players will find that the easier difficulty levels give each player more support and more difficult levels less support.

Shows strategic map connections between all maps when you hit the space bar.

Improved graphical communication of strategic map connections

Stock Close Combat 5's only method of communicating to the player what directions he could move his battle groups in on the strategic layer was that any map area a given battle group could move to would be outlined with a yellow outline if the said battle group was left-clicked+held. Now if you hit the space bar ALL strategic map movement arrows will appear showing all possible connections. So in combination with this new feature players will be able see all available map connections through which a battle group may move if a given tactical maps victory location is controlled.
New planes, vehicles and assorted other graphics

Just a few of the planes and vehicles in Close Combat: Last Stand Arnhem.

Besides the two dozen new maps we've created for your enjoyment of the CCTLD Grand Campaign, we've added historically accurate planes and vehicles that are replicas of exact color schemes and designs of the theatre. Painstakingly researched and drawn down to the very last details.
Comes with all new 60+ battles, operations and campaigns

To get players started we've created and included single battles for each and every one of the 64 tactical maps as well as operations and campaigns intended to simulate historical actions in Normandy. Only time for one battle? You can then sample any one of the 64 beautifully hand drawn maps. Want immersive extended operation or campaign you can either play against the AI or versus another human player and partake in operations or campaigns where you can track your units progress and be in command of Allied or Axis forces.

Features carried over from Close Combat: Wacht am Rhein

Expanded strategic layer to 64 maps

No longer requires 3^rd party utilities for modding

As part of the scope of the rebuild projects we've allowed for all data files to be edited using a basic spreadsheet program of any type. Also many details previously inaccessible in the exe have been exported to text files which are also editable features. With a basic graphics editor and spreadsheet editor many features previously uneditable are now easily altered with minimal effort or utilities. Among the modifiable features: ALL strategic layer features, ALL campaign details including weather, turns per day, scoring, all support mission types for both sides and locations, battle group recycling, battle group retreat/disband, supply and much more! The possibilities are nearly limitless!
Data file maximum entries expanded

Teams, battle groups, elements, force pools soldiers, vehicles, and weapons files maximum number of allowable entries extended. Previous versions of Close Combat were somewhat limited in the number of possible entries allowable in the data files so with expanded limits it's now possible to mod a larger range of historical scenarios than ever before. It's now possible to represent multiple nationalities with varying capabilities available to both sides.
Improved AI

Further improvements have been made to the AI from to reduce some of the more inadequate performance issues, in particular with respect to vehicle pathing, the 'crawl of death', and Team and Unit morale and response in general.

STANDARD FEATURES FOR ALL CLOSE COMBAT VERSIONS

The features listed in this section are features that have always been a part of Close Combat so if you're new to Close Combat, as we hope you are, these are additional features you should expect to see.
Scenario Editor - Create your own "what if" Scenarios

The scenario editor allows the user to create your own scenarios with control over many of the game details right from within the game. You have control over the length of the operation or campaign or create one turn/single battles. You can control how many battlegroups participate in the operation or campaign and you can even control when reinforcements arrive on the strategic layer in the operation or campaign.
The scenario editor also allows for historical setting of weather conditions which effect vehicle and troop mobility as well as the amount of supply and naval, artillery, mortar, air support and supply each side gets. A very flexible system that allows for hours and hours of gaming enjoyment far beyond the 60+ battles, operations and campaigns we've already provided.
Enjoy the huge variety of modifications available from the Close Combat Community providing years of additional gaming pleasure.

From the first release of the game right up to now Close Combat has ALWAYS had a devoted talented group of fans with a steady stream of game modifications that alter the installation configuration beyond what we've provided. As an owner of Close Combat you would be joining a rich, long standing gaming history and be able to utilize those fantastic modifications as well as many web forums created by Close Combats loyal fans.
Enhanced to run well on modern DirectX systems

We've made many improvements to the game engine to ensure the game will be playable on newer operating systems long into the future. This includes updates to be compatible with DirectX 9c.
Accurately depicts World War II tactical warfare and its challenges

One of the real features of Close Combat has always been its ability to reasonably depict historical events with an accuracy far beyond many other tactical games. The psychological model combined with with astonishing detail in equipment types and modeling for soldiers on up through planes is what earned Close Combats the awards it earned upon it's release as well as the adoration of fans for over 15 years.
Realistic soldier psychological profiles during combat

This is really what makes Close Combat what it is. How the stress of combat and the potential loss of your life or your buddies effects a soldiers performance and ability to carry out his duty. Besides being effected by bullets flying through the air and bombs bursting nearby there is a radius of command model whereby the soldiers effectiveness is altered by the presence or loss of his immediate superior officer as well as the overall success of the battle from minute to minute. Combine this with the excitement of playing against the AI or another human player and you can quickly see why the game has been so popular for so long.
Accurate and realistic equipment modeling

As mentioned above there is great depth to the amount of detail included in all Close Combat releases. The games data files include how many grenades a soldier carries, what type, how much ammo he carryies, what kinds of secondary weapons he carryies, if a weapon requires an assistant gunner as a crew, how heavy a weapon is and how that effects his mobility, how much armor a weapon has the capability of penetrating, what type of rounds tanks carry whether they be armor piercing, high explosive smoke or some other type of round, if the tank has the capability to fire while on the move or not and on and on. Nearly ever conceivable detail is modeled in some fashion and has a direct effect on the gameplay.

Close air support and direct and indirect fire

The original game creators were quick to realize that a game about individual soldiers and their comrades and units they belonged to would not be complete without that unseen angel of air support and support artillery. Depending on the scenario design players will possibly see the appearance of this type of support sometime during the battle. Simulated in these new Close Combat releases are close air support, naval barrages, artillery barrages and mortar barrages as well as illumination flares. All added to simulate the support echelons found on the battlefield.
Protect your men in buildings, bunkers, and trenches

The map design allows for many different terrain types including multi-level buildings, trenches, bunkers, trees, varying elevations, road types, terrain types and just about anything you'd find on the battlefield viewable from 500ft in the air above the battlefield. All have differing levels of protection and differing effects on movement. It creates a very realistic environment that requires the player to make smart choices about his battle plan and to carefully consider each command he issues.
Includes specialized squads, weapons, soldier types, attack Aircraft & Artillery

Close Combat has always included specialized squads such as flamethrower teams, anti-tank teams, anti-tank guns, a plethora of tank and vehicle types as well as nearly every conceivable type of aircraft and artillery piece you'd expect to see on a battlefield. For the new Close Combat games, the data design includes engineer teams, rifle squads, machine-gun squads, assault squads, command teams, anti-tank weapons, flamethrowers, anti-tank guns, tripod mounted machine guns, mortar teams, tanks, half-tracks, armored cars, off map close air support, naval barrages, mortar barrages and illumination rounds.

In Stores: Storm Over The Pacific Released

2010-06-18T17:22:00.002+08:00

Storm Over The Pacific has been released along with a release-day patch.

Staten Island, NY, June 15^th, 2010 – Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com), Slitherine Strategies (www.slitherine.com) and Wastelands Interactive (www.wastelands-interactive.com) are pleased to release Storm over the Pacific! This new and accessible Pacific Theater strategy game from the developers of WW2: Time of Wrath is aimed at strategy and wargamers who want to play smaller Pacific scenarios or the whole Pacific campaign in a weekend.

Additionally, customers who purchase the physical version of the game should also note that there is an at-release v1.01 update available for download. This will bring the game to the same version as the digital download copy, which is already updated to v1.01.

Last, but not least, be sure to check out the new 30+ screenshots showing off nearly every aspect of play in Storm over the Pacific!

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said “Storm over the Pacific portrays the massive conflict that was the Pacific Theater of World War II. This one is not “grognards only”, but is at a scale and detail that makes it accessible to wider range of gamers. Wargamers who have played WW2: Time of Wrath will know that Wastelands Interactive specializes in making ambitious and detailed strategy games that are also fairly straightforward to play. That makes for a pretty addictive package, gameplay-wise. Add in a full editor and good support for modding and this is a one-two punch that is tough to turn down!”

The creators of WW2: Time of Wrath move to the Pacific theater with Storm over the Pacific. Depicting the epic conflict between Japan and the United States, players choose from 26 available countries with historically accurate orders of battle including land, sea and air units and leaders. Concentrate on directing one country or command several to lead an alliance of nations. Engage in battle over the vast expanse of the Pacific with 16 unit types modeled with an intuitive supply system and governed by realistic and historically accurate weather patterns.

Behind the front lines, players can also manage alliances, monitor economic conditions, and research new technologies. With shrewd management of research resources, players may even embark on a dramatic race to develop Atomic weapons and turn the tide of the war! Even the best laid plans may still falter, though, as hundreds of historical events may occur throughout a campaign, adding the element of surprise and unpredictability that is so commonly found in war.

Storm over the Pacific also sports a configurable user interface that allows you to freely arrange the information and orders panes on the screen. With this sort of freedom, commanding armies and managing nations is easier than ever! Create your own intuitive interface suited to your play style so you can concentrate on plotting to defeat your enemies!

Get more information on Storm over the Pacific from its official product page.
The patch may be downloaded here: ftp://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/StormoverthePacific/StormoverthePacific-Update-v101e.zip

Screenshots Feature: Commander: Conquest of the Americas

2010-06-18T17:21:00.000+08:00

We have scored some screenshots and info on the trade system of this upcoming strategy game set during the Age of Sail.

Paradox Interactive and Nitro Games have released new information about two integral features of Commander: Conquest of the Americas: the trading and advisor systems.

With the new trading manager, players are able to create automatic trade routes with multiple ports of call. To create a powerful trading empire, players need to manage their newly found colonies by constructing new buildings and developing production chains. The new trading manager will allow players to maximize their trading capabilities in an attempt build the most powerful empire possible.

In Commander: Conquest of the Americas, the player now has four advisors to guide the player in the right direction but will also hold the player accountable that certain benchmarks are met. This feature allows players room to maneuver and change their focus even during the same campaign.

Scheduled for release on July 30, 2010, Commander: Conquest of the Americas features elements from both trading and strategy games. Choosing from seven different European factions, take charge of a European power aiming to conquer the New World. Found new colonies and manage their resources, production, military, and much more as they develop into a full blown empire. Choose to command ships in RTS fashion or take direct control as your fleet engages ships of an enemy nation or blood thirsty pirates at a highly detailed tactical level.

For more information, please visit www.cota-game.com, www.paradoxplaza.com or follow the game on twitter @cotagame and join the community on facebook.
View the the brand new E3 trailer on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/Paradoxplaza or download by following the instructions in the press section.

Screenshots Feature: Shogun 2: Total War Concept Artwork

2010-06-14T15:20:00.000+08:00

With SEGA's announcement that the next Total War game would be Shogun 2, we managed to nab some artwork from the upcoming game. Like the original Shogun, players will assume the role of Daimyo and attempt to unify Japan during its medieval civil war period.
“Developing Shogun 2: Total War gives us the opportunity to use recent technology to portray one of history’s most exciting civil wars.” commented Mike Simpson, Creative Director at The Creative Assembly and father of the Total War franchise. “Ever since we developed Shogun: Total War 10 years ago, the team at The Creative Assembly has always dreamt of using our accumulated experience to revisit Total War in Feudal Japan.”
Promising "enhanced full 3D battles via land and sea" Shogun 2: Total War is expected to be releaed in 2011. Keep checking back with The Wargamer for more information.

After Action Review: Command Ops Battles from the Bulge: Hell on Wheels AAR

2010-06-14T15:18:00.002+08:00

Panther Games' Richard Simonitch shares an AAR with us regarding his new game, Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge.

Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge

Hell on Wheels Counterattack - January 4-8, 1945

By Richard “simovitch” Simonitch

“Hell on Wheels Counterattack” is an historical scenario depicting one of the key stages of General Lawton Collins’ US VII Corps counterattack against the northern flank of the German “bulge” in January, 1944. The VII Corps attack began on January 3, 1945 with four (2 armored and 2 infantry) Divisions attacking through heavy snow and mists along a 25 mile front between the Ourthe River and the main Bastogne-Liege highway near Manhay. The goal of the counterattack was to link up with Patton’s 3^rd Army near the town of Houffalize and cut the head off of the German salient. By this phase in the battle, the Germans knew that a crossing at the Meuse could not be forced but they were determined to dig in and hold on to the gains achieved from the bitter victories won during the previous weeks.
After annihilating the German 2^nd Panzer spearhead at the tip of the bulge on Christmas day, General Harmon’s 2^nd Armored Division was pulled back into VII Corps reserve to rest and refit for a few days before moving southeast into position near Soy. At around the same time Hitler began preparing to withdraw his depleted SS divisions from the Ardennes fighting to form a new operational reserve. A few of the withdrawing Panzer Divisions were able to leave a few kampfgruppen behind to man the front lines as the main bodies pulled back.
I will be playing the side of the Germans using realistic orders delay and standard weather and reinforcements. My command is the weary but veteran troops of Kampgruppe Kreutz, formed from the remnants of the 4^th SS Panzergrenadier Regiment of the now withdrawn 2^nd SS Panzer Division. The action begins before sunrise on the 2^nd day of the US counterattack, in the area between the Ourthe and the Aisne Rivers. The AI opponent will command CCA of the 2nd Armored “Hell on Wheels”, with the attached 335th Regimental Combat Team from the 84^th “Railsplitters” Infantry Division.
I have selected to play the defending side in this scenario to showcase the abilities of the attacking AI in Command Ops. As most computer wargamers know, an AI that is both effective and aggressive in the attack is a rarity, unless perhaps one that is heavily scripted. One of the problems with scripted AI’s is that once the human player figures out the course of the script the game is no longer a challenge to play solitaire. The developers at Panther Games knew that they would need a world-class strategic AI if they were to have any chance of marketing a game with no PBEM capabilities (although internet play is quite the wargaming experience.) As a beta tester and scenario designer for Panther Games for over 5 years I can say that they have come very close to hitting the mark at both the strategic and tactical AI level. But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
Situation report: January 4, 1945, 0730
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -3d Celsius
The briefing states that I am to retake Trinal, the town northwest of Beffe and at the same time hold the line Beffe-Magoster-Amonines against all comers. As the situation becomes untenable I am to fall back to the southeast, ultimately denying access to the road to Samree near the bottom right corner of the map. And I’m getting no reinforcements! I can get an overview of my force composition by selecting the on-map boss (the highest ranking HQ) and reviewing the General information tab. The column on the left shows the composition of the selected unit and the column on the right shows the composition of all units currently under its command. I can see that I have 18 AFV’s under my command.

I can filter out all but armor units on the screen and quickly determine that my AFV’s consist of 2 companies of StuG III G assault guns totaling 13 guns. Estab views are now available for all vehicles and equipment, including the in-game performance specs by double-clicking the item you want to examine from the E&S tab:

The 5 remaining “AFV’s” are likely halftracks or other lightly armored non-artillery type vehicles scattered about.
I don’t know, but it looks like a lot of American metal coming down the roads toward my positions along the top of the ridge and in Amonines… my better judgment tells me to sit tight in Beffe in case I need to send help in that direction… but obedient slave that I am I will launch an attack on Trinal and hope that distracts the ami from their main objectives. For the attack on Trinal the obvious choice is to send the I Battalion currently situated in Beffe and Magoster. I will detach the PaK Platoon and send it to the objective in Magoster and manually direct every piece of artillery to bombard Trinal to soften things up. In a stroke of temporary insanity I will also send a detachment from II Battalion forward into the woods to hopefully block the road from any mechanized advance. 6 Company is ordered to stay and defend where it is in the woods overlooking Amonines. By detaching the motorized PaK and mortar platoons from the Panzergrenadier Battalions I have created all-infantry, dismounted foot Battalions that can enter woods unimpeded. Dismounted troops are new to Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge (CO:BFTB), representing units that had previously lost or otherwise abandoned their organic vehicles.

Note that the terrain in the screenshot indicates ground snow. CO:BFTB will change the graphic patterns depending on the 5 ground conditions: Snow, Ice, Normal, Mud, and Quagmire. This battle took place in the midst of the worst winter to hit Europe in several decades.
The very first order I give in most games is for the on-map boss to defend in-situ, with max rate of fire, aggro, and usually max losses. If applicable I will also set the facing in the general direction of the enemy. This means every subordinate unit that doesn’t get a command from me will still eventually get the order to defend in place with all they got. I also make sure “rest after bombard” is checked off so my artillery will continue firing on their own after they have been placed on call by the defend order.

So now I’m ready to order the I and II Battalions (Bn) forward to set my plan in motion. Nothing fancy, just the standard line formation with a 600m wide frontage, max ROF and aggro, and medium acceptable losses. Note that there are several new buttons available on the user-interface. These toggles allow much more flexibility and options that you may invoke as you command your troops to their destiny. We will look at a few of these more closely later on. For now let’s get the attack rolling!
Situation report: January 4, 1945, 1030
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -1d Celsius.
I Bn has assembled in Beffe for the attack on Trinal but get’s clobbered by artillery fire every time it tries to venture up the road to it’s forming-up point. I’m going to abandon this futile attack and defend the town instead. The 2 Antitank gun Companies (Coys) successfully moved and unlimbered in Magoster, fighting off a small attack from some American tanks at daybreak. The enemy is apparently having some second thoughts about rushing in without infantry support. My foray into the woods by II Bn was without incident – I’ll hold there a while and see what happens… Meanwhile the Americans have entered the outskirts of Amonines. I’m going to withdraw one of the Engineer Coys and the Stug Coy back along the road toward Dochamps while they are still in good order to keep in reserve or conduct a fighting withdrawal. 5 days to survive without hope of reinforcements does not give me much to play with.

Situation report: January 4, 1945, 1444
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. 1d Celsius.
Just as I began my withdrawal from Amonines I was hit with a combined artillery and tank assault that ejected me from the town in short order. Although I still hold blocking positions along the road, my troops are starting to disintegrate from the pressure. Thankfully the night comes early in the Ardennes winter and I should catch a break while the Ami’s rest and regroup. I’m still holding Beffe although my AT screen in Magoster has been overrun. The rest of my front line is still intact, although my troops are getting fatigued rather quickly in this weather.

OK, so… a few things to know about CO:BFTB that are different from COTA and HTTR. The first is that you will find your troops getting fatigued easier in CO:BFTB. A lot of this is due to the cold weather which, along with proximity to the enemy and resting up in towns and villages, now affects the rate at which your troops recover from fatigue. You are also given more options on how much you want to push your tiring troops before they stop listening to your unreasonable requests to keep moving. If you don’t rest your troops, preferably in urban terrain a few kilometers from a known enemy position, they will become too fatigued to listen to your commands even under threat of a firing squad.
Situation report: January 5, 1945, 0400
Weather: Ground snow, heavy snow falling. -6d Celsius.
All units resting through the night – no enemy activity to report. Hopefully the enemy has not been infiltrating down the path through the woods to Dochamps through the night. Dawn is a few hours away still, I guess I’ll find out then.

Situation report: January 5, 1945, 1100
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -4d Celsius.
So far this morning the American attacks have been light – they must be as exhausted as we are. Mostly we have seen exchanges of artillery harrassing fire from both sides. I was happy to see my 12cm Mortars get resupplied overnight because they helped break up a morning attack on Beffe that came down the road from Trinal.

Situation report: January 5, 1945, 1600
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -4d Celsius.
It’s nearly dusk and there has been nothing but harassing fire from both sides all day, what a relief! I still have to survive for almost 3 more days though and the Americans probably know that they have plenty of time (unlike most AI’s this one always knows how much time it has, and plans accordingly.)
I’ll take this opportunity to show some of the new Task Options that are available in CO:BFTB. Most of the force from Amonines has withdrawn to the southeast down the road along the Aisne Rivers using delay commands. Here you will find an engineer and a JdgPz Coy dug in at one of their waypoints at the edge of the forest at an intersection along that road. Thinking this would be a great place for an ambush before continuing the delay task toward Dochamps I select the waypoint to bring up Task screen:

Here I can adjust the characteristics of the selected unit’s current task, usually without imposing additional command delay, such as the formation, speed, rate of fire, frontage and facing. There are also tabs now for force delay (to coordinate timings of attacks by different groups), resupply priority (to micromanage re-supply during shortages), rest setting (to keep awake or rest during night time or when exhausted) and 5 new toggle boxes for Task Options. You will find yourself using these toggles a lot to maximize the capabilities of your units as the battlefield situation changes. These options are:
Ambush = when checked, the force will refrain from opening fire until the enemy is very close. The default is off.
Attacks = when checked the force may initiate attacks on it’s own initiative. Good for clearing out resistance during an advance with limited intel, but bad if you want to make progress on a tight schedule. The default is off.
Bypass = when checked the force may reassess if it encounters enemy opposition and choose a new route to bypass them. otherwise the force will continue to follow the original route. The default is off.
Stragglers = when checked, the force will not stop and rest with any subordinates that are too exhausted to continue. Instead it will press on leaving the exhausted “straggler” behind. Otherwise the whole force may stop and rest with the exhausted unit. The default is on.
Basing = when checked, any subordinate base units are free to determine their own depot locations. otherwise, the basing code will be ignored and you will have to manually look after them. Unchecking this is useful when you want your whole force to move or exit. The default is on.
OK let’s see if they will spring the trap or get caught napping. I could order them to stay awake all night but they will be too tired by morning so I’ll set it to “minimum” rest as a compromise. Resting units can still react, but not as well as awake units.
Situation report: January 6, 1945, 0800
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -5d Celsius.
In the early morning darkness I withdrew my I Bn in good order from Beffe to backup positions behind Devantave. I had over 90% of the victory points that I was going to get for Beffe and I know I will need these troops later. I decided to keep II Bn dug in in the woods west of Amonines, perhaps for a spoiling attack later. It’s already too late to withdraw them without getting wiped out I fear. Again the Americans were idle. What are they waiting for?

Situation report: January 7, 1945, 0230
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -4d Celsius.
January 6^th saw the US attack with a vengeance, booting me out of Devantave and now threatening Laidprangeleux. They must have been well rested because the attack is still going strong in the wee hours of the morning. At least I withdrew my II Bn in good order back toward Dochamps, leaving a rearguard back at Amonines (very nice choice by my AI subordinates…). All in all my Kampfgruppe is still somewhat intact so hopefully this US attack will die out and I’ll have another chance to regroup.

Situation report: END GAME January 8, 1945, 1000
Weather: Ground snow, light snow falling. -4d Celsius.
Well, The US attack kept rolling throughout the day and night right on through to Dochamps and on down the road to Samree. There wasn’t much I could do to stop them as my 2 main battle groups melted away in front of the American Juggernaut. Surprisingly though I pulled out a marginal defeat (it felt more like a decisive thumping). Even though I managed to sneak back into Devantave and Dochamps near the end the points are given for occupation, not completion so those were acts of futility and probably didn’t make much of a difference. It was also probably a waste to throw my II Bn into the woods at the start of the game – they could have been used to better effect in delaying the main US advance. The successful German player in this scenario will fight a well coordinated fighting withdrawal, denying the US the occupation points and conserving his own forces to defend the big points at Dochamps and Samree during the endgame.

This has been a pretty fair demonstration of the capabilities of the Command Ops AI as well as providing the uninitiated gamer a taste of how the mechanics of a typical game of Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge will the play out. The AI player seemed to know when to push the attack and when to rest, leaving itself just enough time to gain the objectives that it needed to win with the time remaining. The player will also find that the AI will not only seek out victory locations – it will also seek out and destroy your troops that happen to be in the area if it thinks that you are a threat to it’s pursuit of victory. Like Highway to the Reich and Conquest of the Aegean before it, Command Ops: Battles from the Bulge continues the tradition of Panther Games’ reputation for providing the gamer a historically well researched, unique, and cutting edge game experience.

Book Review: Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat

2010-05-31T11:28:00.000+08:00

The debate about rifles versus muskets during the Civil War has long held the rifle unequivcally superior. Earl J. Hess has a different take.

Author: Earl J. Hess
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
Reviewing Author: Jim Cobb
Few things are sadder than an author who uses a “straw man” unnecessarily. Earl Hess brackets his fine work, The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat by proclaiming the general statement that the rifle musket did not revolutionize warfare. He makes a good argument toward his point but hides the wealth of information about his subject by trying to be an iconoclast. If readers are put off by his early stridency, they will miss some fascinating material.

Killing the Snake Again

Historians such as Paddy Griffith have discounted the theory that the high casualty rates of the American Civil War were due to the longer range of the rifle musket. Reading a nineteenth-century account of the Magenta-Solferino campaign of 1859 points the problem out clearly. The Austrians had rifle muskets versus the French smoothbores. The French took galling casualties at 500 yards but could charge safely over the intervening ground and rout the Austrians with the bayonet. Why? The Minie ball flew in a parabola that climbed high at 100 yards and only descended at 400 yards. Adjusting sights could compensate for this but the Austrian troops weren’t trained to do it.
So it was with both Union and Confederate troops. Both sides raised and deployed troops hastily with little training in musketry other than how to load and fire quickly. When commanders as well as the soldiers themselves noticed that fire over more than a hundred yards was ineffective, tactics adjusted themselves accordingly. Thus, the much maligned use of Napoleonic formations was due to understanding what troops could do rather than ossified military mindsets. If fire was only effective at 1812-like ranges, 1812-like tactics had to be implemented.

The Good Stuff

Hess makes his point early and sums up well at the end with several charts and examples from European wars before and after 1865. The most interesting parts of the book lie in between and are a windfall for anyone interested in nineteenth-century warfare.
The narrative starts off with both sides’ frantic efforts to arm new recruits while the North’s industry and the South’s blockade runners geared up to provide modern weapons. Anecdotes about Belgian muskets and re-tooled 1812 flintlocks provide amusement and insight into the attitudes of American recruits. Some regiments refused the foreign or in adequate weapons while others went back to smoothbores because rifles couldn’t fire “buck and ball”. Equally entertaining are stories about how troops went about maintaining their weapons with improvisation often winning out over the manual. The acceptance and use of Springfields, Enfields and repeating rifles later in the war is described using numerous anecdotes.
Hess waxes anthropological when talking about the American gun culture. He points out that attitudes towards firearms differed by region and, even in regions where marksmanship was prized; soldiers often didn’t carry over their hunting skills to battle. The concept of an American gun culture is a minefield. Fortunately, Hess, unlike Michael Bellesiles in Arming America, doesn’t espouse a political agenda and is careful about his facts.
A description of how the rifled musket was used in battle shows how each side tries to control combat by using fire by file, by rank and by platoon. Not surprisingly, any order degenerated to individual fire by the third shot and became increasingly less effective. Charts facilitate a discussion on the ranges engagements were fought at and reload times. The result is a comprehensive study of musketry during the Civil War.
Hess really warms to the topics of skirmishing and sniping. Skirmishing took on a life of its own from use of two flank companies covering a regiment to full regiments thrown out to cover brigades. Hess argues that skirmish lines became crucial to victory and that the Union’s success in the Atlanta campaign was due to its ability to create large skirmish formations in the field continuously. He further asserts that the Civil War was the apogee of the skirmish line.
Sniping is the only area where Hess considers the rifle musket revolutionary. Picked, trained marksmen could actually make use of the weapon’s increased effective range. Again, he uses anecdotes, diaries and letters to describe the psychological profile of the snipers, their techniques and weapons. These soldiers were doubtlessly the forerunners of modern “ghillies” with virtually the same characteristics.
Hess discusses the role of the rifle musket in the development of field fortifications, mounted infantry and continuous combat. Many of his points are aimed at reversing generally accepted views and can be contested. The incredible value of his book is setting a context for discussion and providing a sound basis for debate. With that rarest of entities – a detailed bibliography, The Rifle Musket in Civil War Combat should be a trusted resource to any Civil War historian.

About the Author

Developer Feature: HPS Announces Red Victory

2010-05-31T11:19:00.002+08:00

HPS has announced the highly anticipated sequel to Advance of the Reich.

At Stalingrad, the largest military offensive in history ground to a halt as the Wehrmacht met and was defeated by the Red Army. The German Sixth Army has surrendered and the Soviets have a renewed fighting spirit. Now it's time for the Red Army to press the Germans back towards the Fatherland. In the next 2 1/2 years of titanic struggle, the Soviets will push all the way to the Reich’s capital of Berlin. Can you lead the Red Army, sweep over your foes and outperform the historical Soviet commanders? Can you as the Wehrmacht stop the Red Tide from engulfing the Reich?

Red Victory is the long awaited sequel to Advance of the Reich, published over seven years ago. It is a tactical level computer wargame with scenarios ranging over the entire Eastern Front, 1943-45. The basic unit is the squad, but players can form units up to division level. With this game, the Squad Battles engine has received many upgrades and the level of detail has grown. The number of scenarios included in this title has almost tripled, as have the number of maps available for player use.
The last half of the war on the Eastern Front (1943-45) is covered in detail here with multiple scenarios from battles in Kharkov, Warsaw, Kursk, Kiev, Korsun & Berlin, to name but a few. Any wargamer with an interest in the Russian Front will find many hours on challenging engagements awaiting them.

Red Victory

90 stand alone scenarios and 3 campaigns to choose from.
37 unique maps ranging in size from 900 hexes to 86,400 hexes providing ample ground for scenario designers to create their own actions.
3D graphics with a wide range of AFVs being modeled.

Engine changes include:
1) Added sled vehicle flag to designate such vehicles as the Russian aerosled.
2) Added Infrared Detection Devices and three uses for those:

MP-44/StG-44 with Infrared
PzKw V Panther with Infrared
SdKfz 251/20 with Infrared

3) Added Demolition Vehicles SdKfz 301, 302, and 303 (See Remote Control Vehicles under Movement section of Users Manual).
4) Added Direct Fire vehicle flag for designating aircraft with no targeting scatter (see Support in Users Manual).

The game also has the standard scenario, OOB, parameter, database & sub-map editors included with the game. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.
Red Victory is scheduled for release on 4 June 2010, except for an early release at TillerCon.

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

-1 GHz Pentium CPU
- 512 MB RAM
- 500 MB Hard Drive
-Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 operating system.
-Microsoft DirectX 9.0+

Developer Feature: HPS Announces France 14

2010-05-31T11:18:00.000+08:00

HPS has announced France 14 with a long list of scenarios and the differences between it and Panzer Campaigns.

The Great War exploded in the summer of 1914 as Germany marched into Belgium, sweeping aside Allied forces in pursuit of the crushing victory they expected with their finely tuned, but heavily modified, Schlieffen Plan. The German army then pushed on into France and as its columns closed in on Paris, victory seemed a foregone conclusion. However, defying all odds, the weary French and British made an about face and counterattacked along the Marne, defeating the Schlieffen Plan and halting the German advance.

The 1914 campaign in France would be the opening act of a gruesome war that would not end until 1918, a war which would end with the overthrow of many of the monarchs in Europe, and consume the lives of over eighteen million people. The First World War would mark the end of the Napoleonic old European order, and would be the catalyst for an even greater struggle known as World War II.

France

'14 is the first title in a new series entitled First World War Campaigns. This series attempts something that has never been attempted before: to cover all the major campaigns of World War One, with units going down to battalion level. The history of the war itself is often plagued by inaccurate stereotypes and assumptions, and this series attempts to dispel them and bridge what is otherwise a relatively empty wargaming void in history. The First World War Campaigns series also seeks to demonstrate the evolution of warfare between the Napoleonic period and the Second World War by demonstrating the evolution of weapons and tactics: it will show the rise of tanks, poison gas, assault infantry, and airpower. If you like Panzer Campaigns or the Napoleonic Battles series, then First World War Campaigns will help complete your wargaming experience!

France

'14

33 stand alone scenarios and 6 campaigns to choose from
Battles include:

The Ardennes,
Mons,
Le Cateau,
Guise,
1st Marne (the entire battle from Paris to Nancy, not just the BEF area),
1st Aisne,
1st Arras,
1st Ypres
Sorties out of Antwerp
Assaults on Liege and Namur, and more

Campaign scenarios consist of:

the early German invasion of France up to the reversal at the Marne (158 turns),
the exciting "Race to the Sea" where both sides attempted to outflank each other in a great meeting engagement from the Aisne to the English Channel (246 turns),
the entire Flanders campaign (190 turns),
the gut wrenching campaign covering the entire 1st Battle of Ypres in all three of its phases (190 turns), and more

Utilizes an easy to use and intuitive interface similar to the Panzer Campaigns and Modern Campaigns game series
Represents all major aspects of warfare during this period, including deadly machine guns, the evolution of cavalry, the birth of aviation, the awesome power of siege artillery, the devastating firepower of massed artillery and field guns, and more.

Some differences between First World War Campaigns and Panzer Campaigns:
·         Setting up prevents all firing including direct fire
·         Costs MG and Field Guns (non-IF artillery) full allowance to setup
·         A Towed Gun Limitation value limits the number of deployed towed guns in any one hex
·         Cavalry charge (man unit on horse)
-          4x assault
-          Assault cost 1/3
·         Mounted cavalry takes assault losses when defending at 1/12 normal value but must retreat if the defending hex consists entirely of mounted cavalry and the attackers do not consist entirely of mounted cavalry
·         Costs Cavalry 2/3 allowance to change to Travel Mode
·         Cavalry costs 2X Victory Points
·         Mounted cavalry cannot recover fatigue
·         New Fort hex (1.5x pillbox effects)
·         Detached units -1 morale
·         Attachments at Army level
·         MG units can retreat with no additional losses (goes to travel mode)
·         MG units must be in Travel Mode to move
·         Siege Guns - must be in travel or rail mode to move
-          Costs full movement allowance to go into travel mode
-          Requires setup
-          Cannot fire Op Fire or Defensive Fire or Fire Direct
-          Setting up probability is half normal
-          One fire per turn
-          Fire against Forts and Redoubts *= 50
·         All air strikes are subject to scatter up to 2 hexes away
·         Air recon scatters but provides the same information
·         All indirect fire is plotted on map and resolved at beginning of next turn
·         Field Guns (non-Indirect Fire artillery) can retreat from assault with 1/2 losses and do not exert a ZOC
·         Only engineers can damage rail
·         Units moving at night not by rail or road movement become Disrupted
·         All assaults at night result in Disrupted attackers
·         All HQ units in Travel or Rail Mode are Out of Command
·         and more!

New changes to both engines:

·         Added new Forced Bridge Crossing Rule which allows units to force a bridge crossing against enemy ZOC (see Users Manual under Movement)
·         Increased engineer digging in bonus from 2x to 3x
·         Changed hot key "R" to Toggle Rail Mode

The game also has a scenario and sub-map editor included with the game. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.

France

'14 is scheduled for release on June 4^th, 2010.
The list of scenarios included is:

France

’14 Scenario list

00_Started: Getting Started
1914_0804_01s_Liege: The Assault on LiÃ¨ge
1914_0812_01s_Haelen: The Battle of the Silver Helmets
1914_0815_01s_Dinant: A Crossing at Dinant
1914_0818_01s_Gette: Driving the Wedge
1914_0820_01s_Nancy: Von Moltke's Indecisiveness
1914_0822_01s_Campaign_Early: Home Before the Leaves Fall
1914_0822_02s_Charleroi: Lanrezac, the Defiant
1914_0822_03s_Ardennes: Offensive Ã Outrance!
1914_0823_01s_Mons: The Contemptibles Make Their Stand
1914_0823_02s_Mons: First Clash at Mons
1914_0824_01s_Elouges: Flank Guard at Elouges
1914_0825_01s_Antwerp: The Rage of Dreaming Sheep (1st Sortie)
1914_0826_01s_Le_Cateau: Taking One for the Team
1914_0826_02s_Cambrai: Unwritten Valor
1914_0829_01s_Guise: French Morale Restored
1914_0901_01s_Villers-Cotterets: A Desperate Rear Guard
1914_0905_01s_Iverny: Uncovering the Enemy's Hand
1914_0906_01s_Marne: Miracle at the Marne
1914_0906_02s_Ourcq-Morins: The Juggernaut Exposed
1914_0906_03s_St_Gond: Foch Stands Firm
1914_0906_04s_Vitry: Opportunity Lost
1914_0906_05s_Revigny: Flirting With Disaster
1914_0909_01s_Antwerp: The Belgian Diversion (2nd Sortie)
1914_0913_01s_Aisne: Everything at Stake!
1914_0917_01s_Campaign_Race: The Race to the Sea
1914_0919_01s_St_Mihiel: A Dagger to the Heart
1914_1001_01s_Antwerp: Never Give Up!
1914_1001_02s_Arras: Turning the Flank
1914_1018_01s_Campaign_Flanders: Where Valor Sleeps
1914_1018_02s_Campaign_Yser: The Belgian Bulwark
1914_1018_03s_Campaign_Ypres: The Graveyard of the Contemptibles
1914_1018_04s_Ypres: The Salient is Formed
1914_1020_01s_Campaign_La_Bassee: The Unglamorous Struggle
1914_1020_02s_La_Bassee: A Taste of Hell
1914_1025_01s_Ypres: The Salient Pushes Back
1914_1029_01s_Ypres: Enter the Conqueror
1914_1110_01s_Ypres: Last Chance for Glory
1914_1111_01s_Ypres: The Prussian Guard's Grand Finale

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

-1 GHz Pentium CPU
- 512 MB RAM
- 400 MB Hard Drive
-Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 operating system.
-Microsoft DirectX 9.0+

Industry News: HPS Greek Wars

2010-05-14T18:39:00.000+08:00

HPS has just released a new game set in ancient Greece.

HPS has just announced the release of Greek Wars, its latest wargame set in ancient Greece. Developed and produced by Paul Brufell, Greek Wars focuses on the Trojan Wars where the hoplite and the phalanx were the dominant force of the day. Farmers trained to work in a phalanx formation, they dominated battle from 500 BC to 400 BC. Some of those battles are still studied today, from the battles of Thermopylae to Marathon and Plataea to the Peloponnesian Wars, hoplites decided the course of empires.

The battle at Thermopylae

HPS Greek Wars brings this era to computer gaming, with a full panoply of scenarios of Greek versus Persian and Greek versus Greek. Greek Wars has over 60 scenarios in which Athenians, Spartans, Persians, and many more clash in battles which still resound today. Scenarios allow players to deploy armies of the era using the full range of classical weapons, from infantry spears to bows and various types of cavalry. Command anything from the famous 300 Spartans to the mass armies of the Persian empire, 100,000 strong.

A column of hoplites

Greek Wars includes an enhanced computer A.I. that plays an aggressive strategy against the gamer. In response, players must use their best formations and tactics to win the day. Game tactics are based on historical factors, so you can use the lessons from Herodotus and other ancient historians to win through. You may also face off against an opponent, or join in a multi-player PBEM battle with hundreds of units. Scenarios are drawn from history, or players can engage in balanced hypothetical matches from the table top series of battles
Greek Wars uses the HPS Ancient Warfare engine. This provides a hex based, tactical, plot, simultaneous resolution execution. A game turn is composed of three phases: (1) The player assigns commands to his units (movement, changing formation etc). (2) The program then determines the net effect of these orders as the move is played out. (3) Finally, units move, fire at each other, and engage in melee combat. The players watch the outcome of their decisions as a turn of action unfolds. The game then moves on to the next turn.

A 3D view of a fort, and an overall view of its defense

Game Scale:

Each hex represents a distance of 20 meters.
Each turn represents 15 minutes of real time.

Scenario include such great battles as:

Thermopylae
Marathon
Plataea
Leuktra
Mantinea
Koronea
And many more

In addition to the main game engine there is also a scenario editor included which allows players to create their own scenarios from scratch, edit existing scenarios, and build their own Order of Battles. Detailed instructions are included on how to use the editors but also on how to calculate points for your army and even how to modify the stock graphics if a player so desires; this latter function is called “Paint your own army”.
Covering everything from palisaded camps and fortifications to open plains and mountain passes, 48 maps are included in the game covering both historical and random locations. Thus, a large amount of terrain is available for scenario designers to use in creating custom battles.

Carthage in Sicily

This is the fourth title in the Ancient Warfare series of games and significantly extends the face of simulated warfare. Features include improved skirmishing for light troops, coalition armies whose contingents can change sides, and more realistic Command and Control rules. Any nation in the game can combat any other nation, providing for a vast array of battles to be fought. So grab your spear and hoplon and march along with Greek Wars.

Battle at a mountain pass

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
- 1 GHz Pentium CPU
- 512 MB RAM
- 1000 MB Hard Drive
- Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7 (Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft)

UPC Code is: 7 13016 00903 4
MSRP: $49.95

Screenshots Feature: Disciples III

2010-05-06T12:53:00.002+08:00

Some hot new screenshots for Disciples III have just arrived.

Ridgewood, NJ, May 4, 2010 - Kalypso Media today released new screenshots from the upcoming turn-based strategy game Disciples III: Renaissance. In these images, taken directly from the upcoming fantasy title, viewers are treated to some of the stunning visuals powered by the game's new graphics engine. Kalypso Media will release Disciples III: Renaissance in North America in July 2010 on Windows PC. The first two Disciples games were highly addictive turn-based strategy games set in a fantasy setting. With such great games leading the way, expectations are understandably high surrounding this third release of the venerable franchise.

The developers claim that Disciples III: Renaissance will be a "leap forward in the evolution of the turn-based strategy RPG genre". Building on the successes of the first two games, Disciples III: Renaissance introduces a host of new features as well as the compelling gameplay that made the previous titles so popular.
Disciples III: Renaissance uses its own proprietary 3D game engine that promises to take the stunning visuals in the previous games to new heights. Combat is being revamped so that units will be able to move around the battlefield. Players will be able to select from five different races and the single-player game promises nineteen scenarios. Keep checking back with us for more information as it develops.

In Stores: Air Strike Eagles Released

2010-05-06T12:52:00.000+08:00

An arcade WWII Flight Sim has just been released from Slitherine

Aistrike Eagles of World War II is an exciting, arcade style, flight combat game set in World War II. Players take part in a series of campaigns, each simulating a different sector of the war. Unlike other games, in Airstrike players don’t need to complete an entire mission to advance in the campaign. Success or failure, the war goes on!

The initial campaigns will allow gamers to control iconic aircraft of the USAAF. Free download campaigns will be released in the coming months, covering different theaters and other air forces, such as the RAF, Luftwaffe, and the Soviet Air Force.

Each month players are given a selection of missions to play in different locations. By flying these missions, you will improve your Service Record, and earn promotion to higher Ranks. Total victory in a mission can earn prestigious Medals, but even partial success will help the war effort, provided you manage to damage or destroy enough enemy aircraft or facilities.

The game releases today, April 29^th.

Features

·         3 Nonlinear Campaigns: over 45 missions including patrols, maneuvers, strategic bombing and air support
·         Historically Themed Campaigns: fly in the battles that determined the outcome of the war
·         Simple Controls: easily fly your aircraft with just a mouse and keyboard.
·         Fly 5 USAAF planes: P-51, P-47, P-80, B-17 & P-38
·         Play Multiplayer with up to 8 players over a LAN (Local Area Network).

For more information please visit the official website.

Industry News: Field of Glory Gets Medieval On PCs

2010-05-06T12:49:00.002+08:00

The conversion of the tabletop miniatures game has moved from ancients to medieval, and gamers will now be able to enjoy battles between 1300 and 1500 AD.

Developed by HexWar, Storm of Arrows is the second expansion for Field of Glory. It covers armies of Western Europe from 1300 to 1500 AD. With over 100 unit images and a host of news features including archers stakes and the possibility to deploy troops mounted or dismounted in DAG games, Storm of Arrows adds a new level of gameplay to Field of Glory.
Players will now also be able to fight against armies from the same army pack for historical match ups or set up ahistorical battles from other army packs to try “what if” battles such as medieval knights against Roman legions.
In this Field of Glory Digital expansion set players will find:

Over 100 new unit images
Archers stakes
Ability to deploy troops mounted or dismounted in DAG games
New unit types: Knights, Crossbows, Medieval Artillery, Battle Wagons

Available Armies

100 Years War English (Continental)
100 Years War English (Britain)
Wars of the Roses English
Medieval Welsh
Later Medieval Scots (Britain)
Later Medieval Scots (Continental)
Later Scots Isles and Highlands
Later Anglo-Irish, Medieval Irish
Medieval French
Ordonnance French
Free Company
Navarrese, Later Low Countries
Medieval Burgundian
Ordonnance Burgundian
Swiss
Later Medieval German
Later Medieval Danish
Later Medieval Swedish
Condotta Italian
Medieval Crown of Aragon
Medieval Portugese
Medieval Castilian
Santa Hermandad Nueva Castilian
Later Granadine

An upgrade patch for Field of Glory is also simultaneously released fixing a number of issues reported on the Slitherine forum and improving many areas of the game. The full list of changes can be found here. It includes:

Improved shooting behaviour that makes foot bows much more realistic
Improved movement behaviour that forces unit to move in more realistic ways
Improved evade & rout moves
Many bug fixes for issues reported on the forum

For anyone else you can find out more on the Storm of Arrows product page.

Day of the Spears Released

2010-04-17T13:03:00.000+08:00

Zulu impis close in on British positions in Day of the Spears.

DAY OF THE SPEARS: The Battle of Isandhlwana has been released. For some time featured as a downloadable work in progress, Day of the Spears is now considered complete. Minor bugs have been removed and Mr. Dennis L. Bishop's article, "The Battle of Isandhlwana", has been added. Anyone who downloaded an earlier, pre-release version of the game is encouraged to return to www.whitedoggames.com and download the release game.

White Dog Games Computer-Based and Print-and-Play Boardgames

2010-04-17T12:59:00.000+08:00

Wargame Reserve

Featured Website: The Wargamer.com

The Wargamer.com

Interview: Total War Games Modder MasterOfNone

Lloyd Sabin spends some time interviewing long-time modder of the Total War series MasterOfNone on his previous work, his upcoming release Fourth Age: Total War and his future plans.

After Action Review: Combat Command AAR

Contributor "Obsolete" takes us into Combat Command with his AAR of Allied forces attempting to secure the Medjez El Bab-Tebourba Gap in Tunsia against the Axis.

Longstop Hill, December 23-25, 1942

PC Game Review: World of Tanks

Join Chris “Steelgrave” Mohon as he kicks the treads on World of Tanks and goes out for a spin.

Nice Paint Job!

Let’s pop the hood…

C’mon, let’s go for a test drive!

Okay, time to look at the stickerprice…

Okay, okay, I’m sold! Wait...is that adent in the side?

Clank, clank, I’m a tank!

PC Game Review: Advanced Tactics: Gold

Join Chef Chris "Steelgrave" Mohon as he peeks into the kitchen to see what Matrix Games has cooked up with their latest serving, Advanced Tactics: Gold.

So, what’s for dinner?

Mmm, something smells wonderful!

But is it done yet?

Waiter, is that a fly in my soup?

My, but that’s a tasty burger!

PC Game Review: Combat Command: Matrix Edition

Scott Parrino takes command the Matrix Edition of the popular Combat Command series.

TakeCommand

Graphicaland Sound Aspect

AnEditor That Impresses

MyFinal Word

PC Game Preview: Panzer Corps

James Cobb gives us a glimpse into the Panzer Corps beta, a spiritual successor of the classic Panzer General series.

No Frills Needed

Don’t Mess withSuccess

PC Game Review: Pride of Nations

James Allen from outofeight.info takes on the world in AGEOD's grand strategy Pride of Nations, tackling the Victorian period of 1850 to 1920.

MY POORLY WRITTEN INTRODUCTION

GRAPHICS AND SOUND

ET AL.

IN CLOSING

New Screenshots and More for Panzer Command: Ostfront

PC Game Review: World of Tanks

Join Chris “Steelgrave” Mohon as he kicks the treads on World of Tanks and goes out for a spin

Nice Paint Job!

Let’s pop the hood…

C’mon, let’s go for a test drive!

Okay, time to look at the sticker price…

Okay, okay, I’m sold! Wait...is that a dent in the side?

Clank, clank, I’m a tank!

The Charles S. Roberts Awards

PC Game Review: Men of War: Assault Squad

Chris “Steelgrave” Mohon storms the beaches of Tarawa with the U.S. Marines, fights the Krauts in Russia and takes up arms with the Commonwealth in Men of War: Assault Squad, the latest offering from our Russian friends at 1C Publishing.

War...it’s just a shot away...it’s just a shot away.

I feel pretty….Oh so pretty!

Hey, hey, what’s that sound?

Wrapping it all up….Pros:

Cons:

Steelgrave says,

PC Game Review: War in the East

James Cobb heads over to the Eastern Front to tackle Gary Grigsby's War in the East, the latest turn-based monster by 2by3 Games that gives players a chance to command either the Germans or Russians to victory in World War II.

Broad and Deep

Grappling Titans

After-Action Report from Normandy

Combat Mission - Battle for Normandy

World Supremacy Announced

Shrapnel Games and Malfador Machinations have announced they are working on World Supremacy.

Screenshots Feature: Lionheart Release Date Confirmed

A release date has been announced for Lionheart and some new screenshots have been shared to celebrate.

Interview: Field of Glory Renaissance

The Wargamer's Jim Zabek gets a one-on-one interview with Richard Bodley Scott, developer of the Field of Glory: Renaissance miniatures rules.

Jim Zabek, The Wargamer (WG): Warfare during the Renaissance had changed significantly since the medieval period, so much so that it required an entirely new rule set for Field of Glory. Can you tell us what has changed between the Renaissance and the rules for ancients and medieval?

WG: The 16th and 17th Centuries were a dynamic period of development for military technology. What we would call “revolutions in military affairs” were fairly common. What were some of the challenges you faced in creating a wargaming system for this era?

WG: How did you avoid seeing one “RMA” instantly trump an earlier technology to make a more balanced game?

WG: How much emphasis is there on formations in the game, and what kinds of variations are there?

WG: Can you discuss the evolving role of armor in the game?

WG: Artillery was less effective during this era than it would become later. How is it incorporated in your rules?

WG: Your rules even include accounting for naval bombardment. That’s really rather novel. What inspired you to include this aspect?

WG: What types of expansions do you have planned?

WG: It has been said that those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. What lessons of history can the battles of Renaissance Europe teach us?

Terra Militaris Announced

A new browser-based RTS is in the works.

WG: The 16^th and 17^th Centuries were a dynamic period of development for military technology. What we would call “revolutions in military affairs” were fairly common. What were some of the challenges you faced in creating a wargaming system for this era?