Thanks for the heads up Troy. Let us know what you think as you play.
Been playing the new Close Combat and I’ve had no performance issues and I find the game as fun as it used to be.
I was going to buy the WW1 game from AGEOD as it is based off of a really in depth board game, but I will have to wait till they create the actual large manual and till people actually get a grip on how everything works…there’s a lot of negative dicussion so far in the forums.
Anyone try Kharkov? From the SSG guys, a refinement of the battlefront and Battles in Italy and Normandy games…I’m enjoying it and really like how they’ve streamlined it and love how they have implemented limited areas for operations.
I am very impressed with the new Close Combat (although I never played the originals). I just that whoever decided to make the infantry units almost impossible to see is insane. A little frustrating at times, but a very good game.
I have Kharkov but haven’t really learned it yet.
Since AGEOD’s WWI was mentioned here, I thought I would point out that AGEOD has offered a refund to anyone who bought the game from them. It sucks that the game was apparently borked to release it in time for Armistice day, but that’s really classy of them to offer a refund. Hopefully they’ll get everything patched up and working properly.
On Kharkov… I just picked it up a week ago. Been really busy at work, but have gone through 3 of the tutorials. So far, I really like what they have done.
I’ve played quite a bit of the original Korsun Pocket and enjoyed it. Kharkov appears to be not as abstracted as Korsun was, which is a good thing. I’m not sure if it was added in the subsequent titles, but actually firing artillery at a specific target vs. having it add column shifts is awesome. And, yes, the areas of operation are an interesting idea and really make the game unique.
The only negative is the screen resolution limitations, but I hear they may add widescreen support in the next patch. I sure hope so.
Looking forward to completing the tutorials and trying my first game against the AI.
Kharkov is a solid design, and is supposed to be the foundation for more battles to come. I know they have an “Across the Dnieper” add-on in the works. It desperately needs more scenarios/add-ons, but it’s a good game in its own right. Like all SSG AIs, the computer opponent is very very good at “gaming” the victory conditions, and the areas of operations rules here actually mean the AI is more or less good at historical play (something that wasn’t true in most earlier SSG games in my opinion–they were hard to beat but they played a very “gamey” game).
The WWI game I really, really want to be good, but I haven’t bought it yet because of all the horror stories on both the AGEOD and Matrix forums. As noted above, AGEOD is offering a refund, in effect admitting the game was released in not-quite-ready-for-prime-time condition. It’s developed by an Italian team, the folks who did Great Invasions I think, not the “core” AGEOD team.
The BIG news for this season, if it actually comes out, is Battles from the Bulge, the next Panther Games title using the Conquest of the Aegean system. That one looks really nice.
I’ll believe that Battles from the Bulge is coming out when it actually does. Didn’t it get back-burnered since they got a defense contract?
They had a defense contract but that wound up this past later summer I think. Lately the buzz from Panther has been that they’re shooting for Christmas time, logically enough, but yeah, when it’s done. They are in beta testing though, working through the scenarios, and they are pretty close to feature lock if they haven’t already locked stuff.
I’ve been really tempted to get John Tiller’s new Squad Battles game, Spanish Civil War. I’d love to hear from impressions first, though. I know it just came out, but has anyone tried it?
I also wanted to try his Soviet Afghan War, but forgot about it soon after release.
Just a quick note to grognards…
GTO recently released Richard Borg’s classic Battle Cry on Gametableonline.com.
It’s not exactly a grognard’s game, but it is a fantastic, fast-play strategy game. It’s my current favorite game on the site (and responsible for me picking up BattleLore and eying Command & Colors: Ancients.
Enjoy!
I have it, but haven’t done much with it yet. If you’ve played their Squad Battles titles in the past, you know what to expect. Individual squads of varying sizes, usually ten or less men, with weapons as individual counters as well so they can be dropped and exchanged. Individual vehicles and heavy weapons, solid command and control rules, hex-based, turn-based, I go-you go system. There are a HUGE number of scenarios with the game, most of which don’t mean that much to me as I know precious little about the war. Seems lovingly researched though.
I dont suppose its available digitally anywhere you have seen? My only complaint about HPS is I want to buy their stuff immediately but have to wait for the mail :(
As far as I know, no, nothing from HPS is available via download. One of my pet peeves with HPS has always been their stubborn refusal to update, modernize, and streamline their website and retail operations, but hey, I guess it works for them ;p.
One of my pet peeves with HPS has always been their stubborn refusal to update, modernize, and streamline their game interfaces, especially in the Tiller titles.
Troy
That’s easier to explain. There is one guy doing the coding, that’s John Tiller. Ok, he occasionally uses another coder for some AI stuff here and there, but essentially, it’s a one man band. In addition, from the conversations I’ve had over the years with John, the main reason you don’t see a lot of additional interface and AI work on his games is money. He’s maintained for as long as I’ve known him that even if he put a lot of money into improvements, he still wouldn’t sell appreciably more titles. We’re talking about games that sell in the low thousands, like one to three thousand, tops. He’s doing mostly government contracts now, or was last time I checked–that’s what pays the bills.
That, and all the Tiller games in each series get updated to the latest version whenever they patch, so each feature change or alteration has to be retrofitted throughout what is now ten years of titles. Ouch.
My fantasy is to win the lotto, call up John, and say, “here ya go, take this $5 million and make Panzer Campaigns II for me.”
I picked up Grisgsby’s World at War for a song at HPB. Looks like a much-more manageable HoI. HoI just made me dizzy.
I would happily modernize the Squad Battles engine for free if I had access to the source. :)
Since Matrix was kind enough to offer me a refund for my unresolvable problems with the new Close Combat, I picked up Kharkov: Doughnut Disaster on the generally good words appearing here. I had been really reluctant since it only has one scenario, but the system looked good enough to make it worth it. I’m working my way through the tutorial and must admit that I am extremely pleased with the quality and depth of the tutorial. All developers should aspire to this.
It’s a quality game and a good system–they finally have their ducks in a row I think, after the Decisive Battles and Battlfront stuff (which was good, too, but this is better). The only drawback is the one scenario, but it’s hard to win against the AI, and fairly variable. I’m really, really hoping they get the Across the Dneiper add on out soon.
In other news, it seems (Panther’s) Battles from the Bulge won’t make it this year; they’re coding the AI ability to build bridges in an intelligent fashion. so the German side won’t end up being wretched. They say February is likely.
The delay is really for the best. I wouldn’t be able to afford it until next year anyway.