I agree with where you are placing those as well as the definition. I really need to check out some of the suggestions here.
But they have Wargame right in the title! Plus they use terms like Airland that only Grogs would recognize…
:-P
Have any of you ever tried actually consuming beer and pretzels whilst playing these games?
Memoir 44 is definitely B&P, but I’m not entirely convinced Command & Colours Ancients or Napoleonic are.
Panzer Corps is basically a clone of Panzer General. Order of Battle takes the basic premise of PG and actually improves on it. If you wanted that type of game, I would say Order of Battle is the one to go with.
[quote=“Pod, post:43, topic:129853, full:true”]Memoir 44 is definitely B&P, but I’m not entirely convinced Command & Colours Ancients or Napoleonic are.
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I think Battles of Westeros might be the most B&P of the C&C games (although here the system is slightly different).
I think Warhammer Age of Sigmar is about as beer and pretzels as miniatures wargames go. The base rules are only 4 pages!
Here’s a couple that I just thought of that I don’t think have been mentioned yet:
- Strategic Command: War in Europe. It’s a bit more involved than PG but only slightly more so. It’s more wide scope and also includes research along with some limited diplomacy.
2)Hannibal:Rome and Carthage and the Second Panic War. I haven’t actually played this one so I don’t know for sure that it’s B&P but it looks relatively simple.
Ultimate General Gettysburg should fit the bill. I seem to remember individual scenarios taking 30-45 minutes to play, and a full campaign maybe 4 hours. Really simple controls, very pleasing miniature diorama aesthetics, and a decent density of meaningful decisions. The AI wasn’t great when it came out, but some people suggested it’s improved since then.
This game is evil. On the surface, this precessor to Napoleon: Victory&Glory looks like it might be the same game, less the tactical battles, but I found the strategic card game in the first game to be much harder and requiring a lot more thinking. Napoleon might be more complex, but more complexity doesn’t mean an easier time. Too much thinking is required in Hannibal for it to be B&P to me (or else, I’d up @SamS’s Hearts of Iron IV with this Twilight Struggle).
I’d say Twilight Struggle is closer to being a beer 'n pretzels game than HoI. You can teach someone how to play TS in half an hour or less (play it, just not play it well). HoI has a much steeper learning curve
Anything like Axis & Allies or Command HQ? The original Command HQ is on Steam but I’m not interested in going back almost 30 years.
That’s a game screaming for an HD remake.
I brought up Axies and Allies when talking with @marquac about the latest Strategic Command (WW2 World in Europe Theater in Flames, or something). It reminded me of it, but my memories are so diffuse, the game was probably a lot more simple than the modern one (I don’t ever remember reading 200 pages of rules to play Axis and Allies).
Yeah, A&A rulebook was about 32 pages of large text.
Thanks for the Atlantic Fleet recommendation. Checking it out now.
The ultimate mix of beer and pretzels and grognard games is … Combat Mission. Specifically, CMBO, CMBB, and CMAK. I’d pay $1000 for a modern day super awesome graphics and physics update of that game.
If I know Battlefront you’ll probably have to. Plus an additional $100 per patch/bug fix.
Sick burn, bro.
But, unfortunately, right on the money. The CMBO 1 series is pretty much my idea of the perfect WW2 tactical wargame.
Sadly both correct :( Even worse it seems like I would have to buy a mac version AND a Windows version of Red Thunder if I want to play on both platforms. Seems a little silly.
[Edit: blah, off-topic rant. those publishers don’t deserve this much attention.]
Which A&A are you referring to? The old Avalon Hill board game that made it to PC in '98 or the Timegate Studios game that was out around 2004 that was more RTS-like?
I played the hell out of A&A as both a boardgame, as well as the computer version of the boardgame that was out many years ago. Despite being ancient, it ran well even on Windows 7, but I haven’t fired it up in some time. It desperately needs an HD remake, and a better AI too for that matter.