Sighs
Kids these days, right?
I think it’s been mentioned as the primary prompting here to those who bemoan “I play solo two-handed because I can’t find anyone to play with” near 1,000 times in this thread (although, I’ve become convinced that the above sad lament is more of a canard or a rationalization and should read “I play two-handed solo because I really just want to do that.” ).
Yeah, I wasn’t suggesting it as news so much as a personal revelation of someone very late to the party.
I also realized this morning that VASSAL was discussed just a half dozen posts above mine. D’oh. Kind of like when you learn a new word and you realize it’s used all around you and you just never saw it. For whatever reason, VASSAL never registered until someone hit me over the head with it. I realized after digging in last night that I’ve even seen lots of YT videos of people (some from this thread) using it to play online.
If I might add one thing…
As someone less experienced with wargames, sometimes this 8k-post thread can be …well, a bit intimidating, not so much from its length but from the qualify of experience of many people here who have decades with the genre. I confess I’m sometimes not quite sure to what degree more basic conversation is welcome, and I’ve deleted things before posting them a number of times because I just wan’t sure. I genuinely don’t want to annoy those here, and apologize if I’ve done that.
Grognard means grumbler, and a certain number of posters seem to want to adhere to the thread title no matter what.
But no need to be hesitant about sharing your views; no one owns this thread.
From my point of view, wargames are such a small subsection of gaming that any fresh post(ers) are more than welcome- especially enthusiastic ones.
Keep it coming!
I’ve been enjoying wargames since Tobruk and theatre Europe on the C64, and am still amazed about how far wargaming on the PC has progressed and how much great choice we have.
I don’t play as much as I used to and definitely do not post as much as on Usenet (war-historical for life) but really enjoyed quite a wide variety of titles recently:
- HOI4 for global real-time grand strategy, with the excitement excellent Kaiserreich mod for alternative WW2 where Germany won ww1
- Strategic command war WW1 for a more standard but clever turn based take
- unity of command 2 for operational scenarios with a UI and graphics slick as butter
- order of battle WW2 for a better take on Panzer general
- fields of glory 2 for a boardgame on a PC where you push little Legionaries around
And as you mention, VASSAL allows you to play a metric ton of titles against opponents across the world as well.
Not a bad state of play for a genre that used to be moribund.
You should post anything ! If you just asked about vassal earlier We could’ve hit you over the head with it earlier! :-) Seriously you should ask anything in here.
Okay, thanks! Good to know, and I’ll hesitate less going forward.
I can totally understand that it could be painful to have to explain basic things to newbies all the time, though.
Related question on forum etiquette…
If one were to post a multi-post AAR, would that be best done in a new thread? I’ve seen some done both ways here, so not sure about protocol, or even if there is protocol.
My pure preference is that it be done in another thread, though one surely would post the link to it here. It’s kind of off-topic in the sense that this thread is kind of a general wargame thread, not specifically devoted to an AAR.
Thanks. Makes sense.
I prefer that as well. Easier to follow if you’re interested. Easier to ignore if you’re not.
Every time I play a wargame or historical strategy game, I get the urge to play another one. (This isn’t necessarily a good thing.) I just finished up the latest Unity of Command II DLC. Now I’m left wondering, have there been any relatively popular new wargames released in the last few years? Emphasis on the relatively popular. Nothing has triggered my radar in years like the good stretch I had with Commander: The Great War, Flashpoint Campaigns, and Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe.
I’m not necessarily looking for a recommendation. Maybe I’m just checking that my radar is still calibrated right.
Strategic command ww1 is pretty good- and punishes you if you approach it like WW2.
Planning is key.
John Tiller has passed.
Vale John.
Sounds like your radar is right to me. If you liked Strategic Command WW2 Europe, maybe consider Strategic Command WW2 World at War, the global version? It hooked me for several weeks, and I had my hands full playing as the Allies against the Axis AI. But it is a bigger lift than SC: Europe – a lot longer to play. I’m not sure if/when I’ll get back to it myself.
I’d say the same of the new War in the East. A younger me would’ve jumped at it, but it’s a huge game, so I dunno.
Can anyone think of a good recent turn-based computer wargame that’s on a less massive scale than the two I’ve mentioned?
Edit: RIP John Tiller.
Don’t worry he has to put up with me :)
I’ve been playing Warplan. It’s closest analog would be SC Europe. I think the interface is a little cleaner though.
I love Warplan. I’ve been play testing War Plan Pacific and it is coming out today. I heartily recommend it.
The Strategic Command series and now the WarPlan series are really confusing me. Are some of these re-releases?
Wow. RIP. Played lots of his games. We all move on…unfortunately.
I played quite a few years and years ago, but I tried one of the “remasters” done by WDS and while it looked a lot sharper on modern monitors, it was still constrained by ancient technology. Everything had to be done through the toolbar up top. It’s as if it was designed for the era of the one-button mouse. 30+ years of UI/UX evolution makes it difficult to play.
Right-click is your friend!