Brooski
1861
tgb123
1862
Bruce, I think you really liked the Conflict of Heroes adaptation, so I will be real interested in your take on Lock 'n Load - Heroes of Stalingrad
vyshka
1863
It was entertaining to See Iain telling Johan that they have no idea how to market strategy games. I am guessing that the EU series alone has probably made more than the entire Matrix catalog. Johan was right that the problem with Pride of Nations was not the pricing strategy, but the game itself.
Whew… some of the posts on those threads are seriously out there. That Iain and Johan manages to keep a polite front in the face of some of that “feedback” is impressive.
Pride of Nations… I actually agree with both Johan and Iain. I agree with Johan that the problem with PoN is that the game is an inaccessible game, with an unfortunately clunky engine. However, that it would be relatively inaccessible shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, when you’ve seen what the two Phils (AGEOD) have done in the past (the troubles with the engine are another matter, but that’s one of the risks of complex software development). If the game were more accessible and had been better received, I can certainly see where Johan is coming from, but given that the game is what it is, I think Iain is right. You can’t deep discount an inaccessible game like PoN and expect it to do recoup the price difference in sales.
The opinion posted by Iain is nothing new; and to be honest, I tend to agree with the broad lines of his argument, even if I wished that there were more attempts to make really accessible grand strategy and wargames.
From April 29th to May 5th, Matrix Games is offering Forge of Freedom and John Tiller’s Battleground Civil War for $19.99/$29.99 (Digital/Boxed version)
I finished Hell’s Gate and now I’m 4 turns into the Korsun Pocket short scenario on the eastern side. It still sort of looks like the maps in the book. Here I am on January 27th:
I wasn’t able to get any overruns on the first turn or two against the fortifications. The combat advisor showed yellow numbers on a few of them, which should mean I can get an overrun chance somehow. [EDIT] (Looks like green is the overrun odds.) I might have arranged the units improperly. Sometimes that advisor is more trouble than it’s worth because I start obsessing over how to get the odds it claims are achieveable. But I only have one undo, so I have to be careful. Hopefully I will spend less time with it once I get a better feel for things.
I’m playing with visible enemy units on this one to get some practice. Do you guys think it’s important to play with hidden units to get the most out of the game? I will probably try the western side next, maybe as the Germans. Then I will get myself pumped up for the full campaign as the Soviets.
I was considering graduating to Korsun Pocket after a similarly great experience with Unity of Command, but holy hell, that looks confusing.
there should still be the Battles in Italy demo around. It’s one of the sequels of Korsun Pocket, and the demo comes with a full scenario based on the battle of the bulge; the jump from unity of command is big but not that huge, since UoC employs a simplified version of some of the systems found in these games.
Mark_L
1869
Oh, I dunno. Looking at the units I see a unit identifier, a NATO symbol, green bars which I assume mean number of units in each stack, and vertical lines which mean…well, I don’t know what they mean. But I don’t think it looks like it would be too tough to learn.
The units look straightforward enough; but what’s annoying is the terrible background map and garish unit colors. Eyestrain, nausea, etc.
It’s more cluttered than confusing. For example, if you keep each part of a division on the same stack or close by – which you should for a bonus – then you’re really only dealing with the same number of ‘units’ as UoC. Turn one was a little daunting because I felt like I needed to play super efficiently like a simpler puzzle-like wargame. I took out a few static fortifications that the combat advisor said were vulnerable. Now all I’ve done is press the extended movement button and move all my units as far as possible while watching out for dangerous clear terrain tiles and deep strikes (the AI nicked one of my supply trucks). I haven’t touched my units on the far flanks. It’s surprisingly easy.
Of course, I need to see what kind of score I end up with. I vaguely feel like I should be attacking more units.
well that has always been divisive… personally I lik the bright colours and the handmade map more than the usual grey dulness and tile based map of many other wargames.
Canuck
1873
I could be wrong but I don’t remember there ever being a demo of Battles in Italy. These games are published by Matrix which generally doesn’t do demos. There might be some Let’s Plays on YouTube perhaps.
*nope I couldn’t find a single video. I lay the blame directly on Matrix because other than fixed resolution issues, Battles in Italy (and all of the other SSG games) is a brilliant game where you’re playing a hardcore grog game but you don’t need to be a grog to play. It doesn’t help that the game came out 8 years ago this month and it still costs $50 for the downloadable version.
Canuck
1874
By the way, Matrix seems to have absorbed at least some marketing sense as they have had a “Deal of the Week” thing going for the past couple weeks. If they continue this with all of their games then I will reward them with some money. I would jump on a deal to get the new Korsun Pocket for $20.
Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) is happy to announce the second deal of the week for all those who want to satisfy their hunger for wargaming.
From 6th to 12th of May, Steel Panthers - Generals Edition will be sold at $29.99/$39.99 (Digital/Boxed version) and Uncommon Valor will be sold at $19,99/$29,99 (Digital/Boxed version), which is a discount of up to 57 %!
Visit the Matrix Games Store, choose your favorite of the two games (or better both of them!), add them to the cart and enjoy a wargaming party!
Take advantage of this Deal and come back next week: new Deals will be knocking on your door.
unic
1875
I think the demo being recalled was the Battles in Normandy one: http://www.gamershell.com/download_8562.shtml (“Includes both a tutorial and a full “Ardennes Offensive” scenario, also known as the Battle of the Bulge”, I presume this demo is available from other download locations as well)
Some games published by Matrix games have demos. Not the majority, but enough that it’s worth looking around for them - in particular, many Slitherine titles, and I’d also point out Command Ops: Battles for the Bulge as one of their big and highly regarded series having a demo.
I finished the 2nd Front scenario. That was a little too easy. I got twice as many points as the cutoff for an overwhelming victory. I’m sure I left plenty on the table too. The AI is a bit uneven. It will punish mistakes like in Unity of Command, but it looks really confused if you watch it move units around. I was able to surround a bunch of units and crush them. I’ll definitely give the AI hidden units next time to force myself to play a little more cautiously and to allow it to attack where I don’t expect.
Anyway, I had a great time with it. If any of you have this game on a shelf and have always been dying to try it, now’s the time! I’d be happy to answer questions. It’s really quite easy to play.
Here’s the final turn, first day of the thaw. Someone mentioned garish colors? (Eh it’s not that bad.)
The Panzer counterattack in the south (below this screenshot) looks pretty wild. There wasn’t enough time for the Germans to do anything before the scenario ended. That will be fun to deal with in the full campaign.
I finished the 1st Front scenario (another overwhelming victory) and I’m about to dive into the full campaign. It’s very exciting!
I can’t decide what bonuses to give the computer to lower my VPs a little bit. I’d rather not give them extra supply, because it’s fun to threaten supply lines. I’d rather not give them extra combat odds, because that seems unfair. That leaves giving the computer extra replacements. I can still fight and maneuver on equal footing, but it will take a little longer to wipe out the AI.
I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind a good comp-stomp anyway. I’m going to crush the fascists!
BTW, Bruce, I remember somewhere you recommended The Ardennes Offensive as an alternative to KP. That seems to be included in this edition as a bonus campaign. I’ll be playing that next.
I honestly don’t think so when playing against the AI when I see it more as a straight chess match/mathematical problem, but against a PBEM opponent it’s nice to be able to feint and bluff.
I do like the hand-painted look, but I felt SSG went a bit overboard in later versions with the cluttered iconography. It’s like it’s turned up to 10, and thought it was fine at about 7.
I like The Ardennes Offensive because I think it’s a better situation than KP. The Germans are under time pressure and have real traffic problems to deal with. I also liked the old Ardennes Offensive graphics which I found less cluttered than KP. I highly recommend it.
That’s a good point. Maybe I won’t bother with it then.
The other way I could handicap myself is with random unit strengths or random weather. But I’d rather play the historical layout first.
I haven’t played Korsun Pocket, but Kharkov: Disaster on the Donets has a neat feature where each scenario has a number a number of possible mystery variants. Playing without fog of war takes some of the mystery out of it.
I tend to play with FoW on in any case, even against the AI， since it tends to be a bit more challenging, and in my opinion fun. I’d recommend you at least try it out, and go with whatever you like best.
Also, reading these latest posts made me re-download Kharkov, and after playing it for a while I decided to get back into War in the East. Yay!
