Grognard Wargamer Thread!

Brooski · 2013-08-05T18:44:44.000Z

JeffL:

So, have you (or anyone else) played this? Preferably on the iPad? What’s the judgement?

It’s really not for me. The presentation is pretty sterile, and I don’t feel like the decisions it entails make for very meaningful gameplay. I know that a lot of Tiller’s work comes from his contract work with the military (and I think he has said before that without that work, a lot of his games wouldn’t get made) but as a gamer, I don’t find this kind of simulation translates very well. I also find it doesn’t work as well on the tablet as it does on the PC.

I enjoyed his War Over Vietnam on the PC more than this, for a bunch of reasons, part of which may be the mouse/keyboard interface and part being more units on the map, and part being a more interesting (to me) situation. Anyway, the iOS demo didn’t grab me at all.

JeffL · 2013-08-06T09:11:00.000Z

Brooski:

It’s really not for me. The presentation is pretty sterile, and I don’t feel like the decisions it entails make for very meaningful gameplay. I know that a lot of Tiller’s work comes from his contract work with the military (and I think he has said before that without that work, a lot of his games wouldn’t get made) but as a gamer, I don’t find this kind of simulation translates very well. I also find it doesn’t work as well on the tablet as it does on the PC.

I enjoyed his War Over Vietnam on the PC more than this, for a bunch of reasons, part of which may be the mouse/keyboard interface and part being more units on the map, and part being a more interesting (to me) situation. Anyway, the iOS demo didn’t grab me at all.

Thanks. The subject matter is enough to tempt me to purchase, but if it is that dry, I’ll reluctantly pass.

Swishtail · 2013-08-06T18:21:41.000Z

I just ordered the new reprints of John Butterfield’s RAF: The Battle of Britain 1940 and D-Day at Omaha Beach, which will hopefully arrive via my friendly neighborhood online retailer within a couple weeks. I just finished reading Joe Balkoski’s most excellent book, “Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944,” so I expect I’ll put that one on the table first.

Anyway… I’ll share any significantly positive or negative war stories I have from these here, perhaps via a game diary.

Brooski · 2013-08-13T05:48:58.000Z

New iOS game from Shenandoah, Drive on Moscow, announced today.

http://www.shenandoah-studio.com/dom/

Due “Fall 2013.”

TimJames · 2013-08-13T06:23:24.000Z

Looks like El Alamein just got bumped from Crisis in Command Volume 2. Get a games journalist on this to find out what’s going on! Edit: Pocket Tactics has some details.

I guess this is what came out of the survey for the next game in the series? Either way, I’m in for now. (I can’t do this system forever.)

Will_Scarlett · 2013-08-13T11:46:04.000Z

Brooski:

New iOS game from Shenandoah, Drive on Moscow, announced today.

http://www.shenandoah-studio.com/dom/

Due “Fall 2013.”

Nice surprise there Shenandoah. Christmas might just come early!

Brooski, your screenshot on the front page post brings back some memories …

Dejin · 2013-08-28T02:13:43.000Z

Not unexpected, but Combat Mission Market Garden add-on has been officially announced. Availability “Later this Summer”.

Brooski · 2013-09-10T09:39:20.000Z

It looks like the computer version of World in Flames is going to be released this fall/winter. World in Flames was one of those games for me that was more impressive in its concept than its execution. I remember writing about it in my Computer Gaming World wargaming column back in 2007 or so. It had been floating around in development well before that and looks like it has been floating around since. But of course the problem with these kinds of games is that it’s really hard to teach an AI to play the game competently, so a single-player games they’re non-starters. So they get developed without AI, like Computer War in Europe which makes them irrelevant to all except a tiny number of people. Which is what will happen to World in Flames, since it is being developed with no AI.

But if you want to playtest the game, they are taking applications now.

TheWombat · 2013-09-10T09:55:46.000Z

Brooski:

It looks like the computer version of World in Flames is going to be released this fall/winter. World in Flames was one of those games for me that was more impressive in its concept than its execution. I remember writing about it in my Computer Gaming World wargaming column back in 2007 or so. It had been floating around in development well before that and looks like it has been floating around since. But of course the problem with these kinds of games is that it’s really hard to teach an AI to play the game competently, so a single-player games they’re non-starters. So they get developed without AI, like Computer War in Europe which makes them irrelevant to all except a tiny number of people. Which is what will happen to World in Flames, since it is being developed with no AI.

But if you want to playtest the game, they are taking applications now.

I had the board game, at least the initial iteration thereof. It had no AI either; if I really wanted to play this by myself, I’d just play the board game probably (well, if I had it anymore!). I’m in that group of players who aren’t terribly interested in a game like this as solely a multiplayer exercise. If it was affordable, I could conceivably be interested in playing it solitaire I guess, but I’m figuring this will be a premium priced product. I also have zero confidence it won’t be a horrifically buggy mass of confusion; it’s been in development longer than the Egyptians took to build the Pyramids I think.

Scotten · 2013-09-10T11:07:28.000Z

I know they’ve developing it forever. How is the return on their (large?) investment in time and money justified by a small player base – made small by the lack of AI?

Or will this become the King of PBEM WW2 games?

TheWombat · 2013-09-10T12:06:06.000Z

Scotten:

I know they’ve developing it forever. How is the return on their (large?) investment in time and money justified by a small player base – made small by the lack of AI?

Or will this become the King of PBEM WW2 games?

I think the following for this game, while probably pretty small, is pretty devoted, so I guess at this point it might be more a labor of love (or a sense of commitment) that keeps them going. I can’t imagine this making any money, really.

tgb123 · 2013-09-10T12:29:03.000Z

It’s Matrix. They’ll price it at $80 (or more).

awdougherty · 2013-09-10T15:58:08.000Z

Make sure no one mentions the World in Flames VASSAL module to Matrix.

ioticus · 2013-09-10T16:16:14.000Z

Brooski:

It looks like the computer version of World in Flames is going to be released this fall/winter. World in Flames was one of those games for me that was more impressive in its concept than its execution. I remember writing about it in my Computer Gaming World wargaming column back in 2007 or so. It had been floating around in development well before that and looks like it has been floating around since. But of course the problem with these kinds of games is that it’s really hard to teach an AI to play the game competently, so a single-player games they’re non-starters. So they get developed without AI, like Computer War in Europe which makes them irrelevant to all except a tiny number of people. Which is what will happen to World in Flames, since it is being developed with no AI.

But if you want to playtest the game, they are taking applications now.

That’s sad news for me, I was really looking forward to this, but no AI = no buy.

spelk · 2013-09-14T12:21:00.000Z

Tiller has just released Panzer Campaigns taster onto the Google Play store!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.johntillersoftware.pzc&hl=en_GB

TimJames · 2013-09-14T12:50:25.000Z

What is the historical significance of that game on PC? Is it more in-depth than Panzer Corps and the like? Just wondering if I should keep an eye on it when it comes to iOS.

TheWombat · 2013-09-14T13:43:47.000Z

Tim James:

What is the historical significance of that game on PC? Is it more in-depth than Panzer Corps and the like? Just wondering if I should keep an eye on it when it comes to iOS.

The Panzer Campaigns series (there are a bajillion of them, starting I think with Smolensk '41 and now including spin-offs like Modern Campaigns and WWI stuff) are battalion-level (with companies and occasionally platoon breakdowns), 1km per hex (roughly) grand-tactical/operational turn-based wargames. If you ever played the old SSI games like Wacht am Rhine or Atlantic War, they’re kind of like that. Graphically they’re pretty blah, though there are numerous mods out there for that. You can visit Tiller’s own website or HPS Simulations for more info.

They’re not really like Panzer Corps, I wouldn’t say. The AI is generally fairly rudimentary (though the games lend themselves nicely to solo play), and there is very little visual flash or chrome. They do cover, on the PC, a truly vast array of battles, though, from France 1940 through Budapest in 1945, and a lot of stuff in between.

spelk · 2013-09-14T14:36:47.000Z

More information here for the PC versions (or from hpssims.com)
http://johntillersoftware.com/PanzerCampaigns.html

This current Android offering, seems to be fairly close to the PC version, apart from the obvious lack of screenspace, the menu icons seem to have been used, and the bottom unit examiner scrolls along the bottom of a portrait tablet screen. I don’t think the interface/graphics or the game engine has been significantly upgraded for this release, I think they’ve just squeezed what they could of the PC engine into the tablet product. Tillers graphics have always been about 20 years out of date, but to have a died in the wool “proper” wargame title show up, even if its a port rather than an evolution and blossoming of a new design is still a pretty big step forward.

TheWombat · 2013-09-14T17:39:00.000Z

Yeah, the John Tiller games are solid, at least, and well tested generally. They aren’t state of the art–never really were–but they fill a niche pretty nicely.

tgb123 · 2013-09-17T13:06:59.000Z

Matrix just released Ageod’s ACW II. Anyone get it yet? The first was good, but the fiddly-ness of trying to create divisions and corps ruined the fun for me, and I’d like to know if that’s changed.