Grognard Wargamer Thread!

Ex-S_Woo · 2016-04-30T07:18:01.000Z

…only if you don’t already have Pike and Shot Campaigns though :)

Canuck · 2016-04-30T07:37:14.000Z

Yeah, I was thinking about Pike and Shot. The Heroes of Normandie game also looks intriguing too.

vyshka · 2016-04-30T09:49:46.000Z

I’m looking forward to the variation of pike and shot set in Japan.

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Preachy_Preach · 2016-05-03T05:38:15.000Z

I see Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa is out on Steam - I can recommend getting through Matrix, simply because the manual is actually a proper hardback book printed in full. The designer’s notes are fascinating. I just wish I could spare the time to play the bloody thing as a lot of interesting thinking seems to have gone into it.

TheWombat · 2016-05-03T05:46:51.000Z

Preachy Preach:

I see Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa is out on Steam - I can recommend getting through Matrix, simply because the manual is actually a proper hardback book printed in full. The designer’s notes are fascinating. I just wish I could spare the time to play the bloody thing as a lot of interesting thinking seems to have gone into it.

If you buy it via Matrix you get a Steam key anyhow, so best of both worlds.

Canuck · 2016-05-03T07:14:18.000Z

All of the ToW games are on sale on Steam for a ridiculously low price. Are they worth looking into? I know they’re not quite as realistic as the CM games but they might still be fun I suppose? Also, Graviteam Tactics: Operation Star is on sale for about $7 or so. I wonder if that’s worth getting. I tried Achtung Panzer but was never able to get over the horrible UI. I just bounced off it.

TimJames · 2016-05-03T11:37:48.000Z

Preachy Preach:

I see Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa is out on Steam - I can recommend getting through Matrix, simply because the manual is actually a proper hardback book printed in full. The designer’s notes are fascinating. I just wish I could spare the time to play the bloody thing as a lot of interesting thinking seems to have gone into it.

Man I’d love to dig into this. I was debating between Command Ops “2,” Kharkov from SSG to see if it recaptures the magic of Korsun Pocket, or this one. I think I’m leaning Barbarossa now for the manual and notes. I love reading companion books to go with my wargames.

TheWombat · 2016-05-03T13:32:35.000Z

Tim James:

Man I’d love to dig into this. I was debating between Command Ops “2,” Kharkov from SSG to see if it recaptures the magic of Korsun Pocket, or this one. I think I’m leaning Barbarossa now for the manual and notes. I love reading companion books to go with my wargames.

I’ve tried to play the SSG games on a modern machine and it doesn’t work well for me at all. The fixed resolutions, even at the highest supported ones they have, make for dreadful looking games with hard to read type. And that pretty much ruins it for me. Shame, because the base games are great. Too bad SSG never did embrace, um, modern Windows programming. Or any modern programming whatsoever, at least at the API or UI level.

TimJames · 2016-05-03T13:49:21.000Z

I played KP a couple years ago and overcame the resolution challenges. Perhaps I should leave that as a pleasant memory instead of pushing my luck. It’s risky to try with Matrix prices.

TheWombat · 2016-05-03T14:06:49.000Z

Tim James:

I played KP a couple years ago and overcame the resolution challenges. Perhaps I should leave that as a pleasant memory instead of pushing my luck. It’s risky to try with Matrix prices.

If you have a 4:3 monitor of modest size it might work ok. Widescreen is teh debbil though.

TimJames · 2016-05-03T14:10:00.000Z

TheWombat:

If you have a 4:3 monitor of modest size it might work ok. Widescreen is teh debbil though.

Well, you would need a nice CRT. I don’t mind 4:3 windowboxing on my widescreen monitor.

Maybe pixel doubling will become an industry standard and I can play it at a clear 2048x1536 one day.

Profanicus · 2016-05-03T14:38:12.000Z

TheWombat:

If you buy it via Matrix you get a Steam key anyhow, so best of both worlds.

Do they send you Steam/Matrix keys if you order the boxed version? Or do you need to wait for it to arrive?

TheWombat · 2016-05-03T16:29:05.000Z

Profanicus:

Do they send you Steam/Matrix keys if you order the boxed version? Or do you need to wait for it to arrive?

You go to the Slitherine site and enter the Matrix serial number to register it. Then you hit the button that generates a Steam key. Pretty simple.

TheWombat · 2016-05-03T16:29:29.000Z

Tim James:

Well, you would need a nice CRT. I don’t mind 4:3 windowboxing on my widescreen monitor.

Maybe pixel doubling will become an industry standard and I can play it at a clear 2048x1536 one day.

The windowboxing works, yeah, but my problem is that the text then is miniscule.

vyshka · 2016-05-03T16:43:24.000Z

Profanicus:

Do they send you Steam/Matrix keys if you order the boxed version? Or do you need to wait for it to arrive?

I’m pretty sure if you order the boxed version, you are also getting access to the downloadable version as well and will get a serial # right away which you can register on the slitherine site to get the steam key.

TimJames · 2016-05-03T17:52:17.000Z

TheWombat:

The windowboxing works, yeah, but my problem is that the text then is miniscule.

Just to wrap up this aside, most videocards let you scale by aspect ratio. But then the text is blurry. I think I went with the blur and just got used to it. Occasionally I fired it up 1024x768 and longed for the crispness.

Canuck · 2016-05-04T01:37:52.000Z

Canuck:

Yeah, I was thinking about Pike and Shot. The Heroes of Normandie game also looks intriguing too.

So I think I’m going to go with one of these two. Any opinions about this? I’ve played the original Battle Academy and I realize that this is not exactly the same kind of game. I know absolutely nothing about this time period but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Heroes of Normandie also looks quite interesting. Going over the Heroes of Normandie thread, it looks like it was criticized for being fairly dry and very dice roll heavy. Has anyone played the more recent updates and with the new cards system? Has it gotten better?

TheWombat · 2016-05-04T04:29:22.000Z

Pike and Shot would be my choice. P&S:Campaigns is great. Heroes is nice looking but I agree it’s sort of dry in its digital form. Never played the boardgame, but a lot of stuff that probably is cool on the table top just doesn’t translate well to the screen for me.

amandachen · 2016-05-04T09:01:12.000Z

Bundlestars has a Slitherine/Matrix bundle.

Tier 1 ($1.99): Battle of the Bulge, Time of Fury, Pride of Nations
Tier 2 ($3.99): Close Combat Panthers in the Fog, Vietnam ‘65, Ravenmark, Legions of Steel
Tier 3 ($7.99): Pandora First Contact

Here are some spare Steam codes. Take one. Leave the rest for the other boys and girls.

Pride of Nations: *FH7Q-KFR6Q-EKMM3 (zee/zed)
Vietnam '65: *3YFF-DLHLK-FP7F6 (for)

amandachen · 2016-05-04T09:09:46.000Z

The Bundlestars store also has deals on individual games.

Battle Academy – 75% off
Battle Academy 2: Eastern Front – 75% off
Battle of the Bulge – 33% off
Buzz Aldrin’s Space Program Manager – 50% off
Distant Worlds: Universe – 50% off
Last Days of Old Earth – 15% off
Order of Battle: Pacific – 40% off
Vietnam ’65 – 50% off
Warhammer 40,000: Armageddon – 35% off