Wargamer's Corner

Any opinions on The Troop? Just came up on my You Tube feed. First time I am hearing of it. I think that there is a demo.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1...

Tried the demo, you should too. First thoughts are that it's trying to be an updated Battle Academy. IGO-UGO combat, no reaction fire, but it's got that same sort of beer and pretzels fun feel. However, if you like this and don't have Battle Academy and BA2, definitely get those immediately.

This game needs work but it's got the bones of a good one. I just hope they step up the detail. Note that it's turn and hex-based, so it's not Close Combat or Combat Mission or Graviteam Tactics. It's got much more in common with Valor and Victory or the excellent Lock 'n' Load Digital Tactical. However, it's less complicated than they are and much less finely tuned. The terrain though is excellent and atmospheric.

I would wait and see how it develops, and try the above games to see what you like. LNL DT is a great boardgame adaptation and on 15% to 60% discount except for the most recent scenario packs. BA and BA2 are *ridiculously* cheap these days - about $11 for the set and maybe another $10 for all the DLC - and are the finest beer and pretzels board wargames on pc, especially for relative beginners, with hundreds of scenarios. If you don't have those, definitely add them to your list.

Thanks for the recommendations Robear.

Let us know how you get along!

Eugen Systems has announced WARNO, a “Cold War goes hot” spiritual successor to Wargame. Set in Europe, in the late 80s. Hits early access in January: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1...

Just a note to say that Armoured Commander 2 has a roadmap stretching to August 2022, which includes new units, the South Pacific theater, quality of life improvements (colors, UI, etc), gun tractors (to allow artillery to move around, and to provide the opportunity of mobility kills), and other things including bug fixes. Truly an amazing value.

He's looking at Korea and other conflicts (maybe Palestine and Arab-Israeli wars into the 60's) as fodder for a follow-on.

Well, my son is enjoying both Hearts of Iron IV and TABS. Hearts of Iron mostly because it has the nations. We will see if he goes back to Battle Academy at some point. Thanks everyone for your input.

I'm glad he's enjoying them! Perhaps this year I'll eventually get back to learning and playing Hearts of Iron IV myself

Apologies if it's been discussed previously, but has anyone spent time with Command Ops 2? Looks like it might be some crunchy wargaming to explore. I stumbled onto it today while exploring the Steam sale, and picked up the Greek DLC, which was recommended as a starting point.

I've been pushing CO2 for years now lol. It's pretty much the best at what it does (although Armored Brigade is similar, just set 40 years later). It's pretty much dependent on a small team, so new games in the series can show up years later than hoped for. The beauty of it is that once you get the feel of the pathfinding and timing, you can pull off some really satisfying uses of terrain and forces. It's all about timing and understanding the orders system, what *exact* behavior comes from each order and when to change them up.

The game has you thinking like a commander. Where will I attack, and given that, what forces do I commit? How much time will I allot to planning, and how long will those plans take to get to the units? Where do I assemble them? What formations should they use (or will I let them choose)? How do I ensure they advance up that small forest path instead of across those farm fields, and how long will that take? What will the enemy be doing in the meantime? How many forces do I leave as a reserve? Which units attack and which provide fire support?

And so forth. Truly a Grognard masterpiece with an unforgiving AI.

Robear wrote:

I've been pushing CO2 for years now lol. It's pretty much the best at what it does (although Armored Brigade is similar, just set 40 years later). It's pretty much dependent on a small team, so new games in the series can show up years later than hoped for. The beauty of it is that once you get the feel of the pathfinding and timing, you can pull off some really satisfying uses of terrain and forces. It's all about timing and understanding the orders system, what *exact* behavior comes from each order and when to change them up.

The game has you thinking like a commander. Where will I attack, and given that, what forces do I commit? How much time will I allot to planning, and how long will those plans take to get to the units? Where do I assemble them? What formations should they use (or will I let them choose)? How do I ensure they advance up that small forest path instead of across those farm fields, and how long will that take? What will the enemy be doing in the meantime? How many forces do I leave as a reserve? Which units attack and which provide fire support?

And so forth. Truly a Grognard masterpiece with an unforgiving AI.

Cool, thanks! I was born for this. -- General Custer.

The one thing is to understand *exactly* what the different commands (movement types especially) will have the units do. Check out whatever guides you can find.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Well, my son is enjoying both Hearts of Iron IV and TABS. Hearts of Iron mostly because it has the nations. We will see if he goes back to Battle Academy at some point. Thanks everyone for your input.

Great! Glad it worked out

What did he think of BA? Too tactical?

Robear wrote:

What did he think of BA? Too tactical?

I think he loaded it for 5 minutes and went back to the others. Unfortunately plagued by an issue many kids have in that he saw someone recommend the other games on YT and didn't care about BA since he had never heard of it before.

Plenty of time to discover it in future.

Valor and Victory will be getting a Stalingrad DLC - tactical of course! - sometime in the next 6 months. It will also get something called "Advanced Squad Leader" mode... A good tactical game in the same mode as Lock n Load Tactical Digital, but only for WW2 (so far) and a bit more towards the ASL mechanics than LnLTD.

I have to say, Stalingrad on pc is a tactical game dream of mine. So much potential there. I'm happy to see it.

I haven't bought V&V yet since I'm just getting into L&L, but if they can offer something like ASL Red Barricades then I'm all over it.

qaraq wrote:

I haven't bought V&V yet since I'm just getting into L&L, but if they can offer something like ASL Red Barricades then I'm all over it.

During the last Lock n Load video stream they said that they have plans to create some historical modules similar to Red Barricades etc. in the future. Anything they create for tabletop you can expect to come to digital.

Anybody looking at Campaign Series: Vietnam?

I just got my annual coupon and I'm thinking about grabbing it next week. I've never played any of the Campaign Series games.

PWAlessi wrote:

Anybody looking at Campaign Series: Vietnam?

I just got my annual coupon and I'm thinking about grabbing it next week. I've never played any of the Campaign Series games.

It is on my Matrix Wishlist. I do want to see what people think before buying, so if you pick it up, please share your thoughts.

Slitherine has Campaign Series: Middle East 1948-1985 on sale for $20 to celebrate the new Vietnam game coming out. Is it worth grabbing?

Grabbed ME a while back, found it too much of the old HPS engine to really enjoy. On the fence about Viet Nam, since they have done engine, AI and map/ui improvements. But I really wonder whether it's at the level of the work that Wargameds has done with Tiller over the last few years (and now will run with, since JT died a few months back and they bought his company from the family).

Middle East, though, didn't work for me.

I'm a big Campaign Series fan from way back.

I played CS:ME when it was first released and called Divided Ground. I didn't like it back then, but after playing this new version of CS:ME I think they fixed most of the problems from the original. There are some great large tank scenarios like Chinese Farm that are a blast to play, but the weakest part of the game is that the scenarios can get samey pretty quick. Take this Israeli Task Force and seize that fortified position in a featureless desert. I'm a fan of the series and I love the game, but I'm not sure a non-fan would get much out of it unless they love the topic.

I just got CS:V and I have to say I'm very impressed. The game engine is the same, so if the graphics bother you, you will be disappointed, but I like how the game works. More important is that they seem to have figured out what made Vietnam a unique war and added that to the game. Civilians are a part of the game and you need to be careful not to harm them. They also added some better concealment routines so you often find yourself fighting an unseen sniper or VC squad in the jungle. You need to blindly target them, but be careful, if they are in a village hex there might be civilians around.

I'm only playing the tutorials right now, but I think CS:V will be a winner.

Please keep us updated on your thoughts, TAZ89. Really on the edge about this one.

Found out that CS:ME is being modernized to the 4.0 version that Viet Nam has, and should be released late 22 or early 23. Might be worth waiting for that version.

V&V Stalingrad Is out, and my pc is in the shop lol. Figures.

Regiments is pretty solid. Try the free play test. WARNO is Steel Divisions 2 modern era with a graphics upgrade, if you liked SD2 you'll probably like WARNO.

Regiments is out?! Or is it just the taster?

I grabbed WARNO and I'm enjoying it. Looking forward to more divisions.

Regiments playtest is out and available through Steam. I have it downloaded but I haven't spent any time with it yet.