You may remember that in July last year, indie computer wargame developer Wargame Design Studio had been given responsibility of updating JTS’ Civil War Battles series.

Now, just shy of a year later, the company has released the first wave of updates for those games.

Campaign Antietam, Campaign Chancellorsville and Campaign Peninsula are the first titles to be updated to version 3.0, as well as getting new hand-drawn 3D maps that you can download separately.

A fourth title, Campaign Petersburg, already had 3D maps, but has also been updated to version 3.01 to bring it in line with the other three in terms of quality:

A lot has been done and you will notice more options to switch graphics on and off as well as additional graphic sets. The Old Banshee team have closely collaborated and provided their excellent work in theses patches and map updates. In Chancellorsville, the team even provided multiple maps covering the different seasons as this area was fought over for an extended period of time. Seeing the attention to detail including both summer, fall, winter and snow maps was above and beyond.

You should check out the official update post for the full change-log in terms of how these games have been updated. There’s also plenty of imagery showing off the new 2D and 3D interfaces.

These updates are free for existing owners of either the HPS or the JTS versions of the Civil War Battles games. Anyone purchasing updated titles from today will get the updates automatically included in the purchase.

It’s late 1944 and the Western Allies have broken through my Axis forces in Southern Germany, exploiting on to Berlin. A counter attack from the Ruhr by my new heavy tanks cuts them off from their supply securing me just enough breathing space to regroup. Soon my Austrian armies will counter attack the now beleaguered Western Allies.

I breathe a sigh of relief as the Soviet Union declares a surprise attack on the decadent West. Soviet forces thrust out of Persia into British India whilst simultaneously launching an assault on the still beleaguered Western Allies holding onto Berlin. As both Pakistan and Berlin fall under Russian control they win a military auto-victory and I hold the Western Allies player entirely responsible for our loss, “You had one job! All you had to do was defend Berlin!” I cry.

Triumph & Tragedy is a three-player sandbox WW2 strategic level block board game that was released in 2015 and was overshadowed at the time by the innovative Churchill wargame that came out at the same time. Triumph & Tragedy was perhaps seen as a little light weight in a field already groaning with heavy weight strategic WW2 games. So, while it took a little time for the game to get noticed and played, it’s now ranked the 5th best war game ever on BoardGameGeek.

It will shock some wargamers to know that I sold all my strategic level WW2 games after discovering Triumph & Tragedy. “Why would you do that for a beer and pretzels game?” friends asked. My answer is that Triumph & Tragedy is a plausible sandbox game that achieves a high level of playability by refined mechanics and ditching chrome. Conflict, politics, research and force development combine to form a challenging, evolving, narrative that is fun and can be played by, and this is awesome, non-wargamers who are happy to play a longer game.

On the surface Triumph & Tragedy is a traditional block war game and whilst that mechanic loses some unit designation granularity it works delightfully here. With a 1936 start it allows for pre-war planning and development you can only dream of in the likes of Hearts of Iron (Er, you what mate?-ED). Want to build a massive secret Soviet strategic bomber programme for a long term conflict? Or a capable Allied wide ranging ASW capability in 1938? Go for it. Although if the Axis suddenly attacks with a small, high powered all mechanized force then make sure you have a fairly good impression of a Downfall meme that you can roll out.

Equally the game allows for alternative political developments. Pretty much anything can happen within the confines of an alt-history WW2 game but the cards are weighted to make more historically unlikely events such as Turkey joining the Soviets or a Nazi atomic victory harder to achieve.

Triumph & Tragedy is technically a card driven game but it bears little resemblance to its cousins. Every year your very limited Industrial production points can be spent 1:1 on reinforcing blocks, acquiring new blocks, industry/ research cards or activation/ diplomacy cards. The dual role of the cards is very finely tuned, a unique mechanic system that allows the narrative to smoothly transition from peace to war without need for more chrome.

This causes endless heart-breaking trade-offs; do you gamble and hope to make a breakthrough in radar technology or do you build that card to get another factory? Do you forgo the opportunity to delay American entrance into the war in order to pull off a dramatic combined arms move on Scandinavia to secure vital resources? Invariably this just means that the rare Spanish diplomacy card you have has to be spent as an action propping up some weak front you hoped that no one would notice.

Rarely do you get an opportunity without potential sacrifice; there’s a constant barrage of meaningful but costly decisions that you get to implement. You can’t simply sit in Bertesgaden eating crème cakes, but neither do you need to do a maths quiz on how many hexes the 11th army can move before it gets cut off. But if you dare to dream about an Axis Spain closing up the Mediterranean or green lighting Operation Sealion, then this game allows you to draw up operational plans to do so without recourse to the rule book.

The beauty of Triumph & Tragedy is that it is truly a three player game that reflects the reality in the European Theatre of operations. The Soviets and the Western Allies need to keep a close eye not just on Germany but each other as well or face the risk of the opposing ally running away with the game. Knowing when to shift approach with the other 'ally' is hard; bluster and (mis)perception play a big part in this game.

At some point the reward from diplomatic efforts tail off as the neutrals pool begins to thin out. Judging that critical moment requires both knack and bravado and can lead to fascinating spirals that set up a credible narrative.

The tension is compounded because the country that declares war gets to fire first in every combat for a season. This is a huge advantage that can devastate opponents; you can bag tens of divisions in massive pockets. The result is that you all sit around the table Reservoir Dogs style in a tense trigger standoff. However, timing the best moment is harder than it sounds and it’s just as probable to blow the advantage and find your Tarantino/Pearl Harbour Operation turning into the Dieppe raid.

It could be argued that there is a tad too much direct conflict between the Soviets and the Western Allies for the purists but both sides can deprive each other of political allies through card play if they think ahead. This is of course easier said than done when you’ve just found out that the huge stack of Axis blocks in East Germany isn’t a Panzer Army because they just moved into the Western approaches and are now sat quietly on your convoy routes.

Most strategic level WW2 games take days to play but Triumph & Tragedy can be reliably played from 1936-45 in 5-7 hours. Make sure to add another hour for the debrief because with so much intention and data obscured for most of the day you can easily lose the next day of work explaining the 'logic' of why you would have won if you hadn’t stripped Moscow and Leningrad for the Caucasus Front.

After fifteen playthroughs I was fairly sure that we had mastered at least the basic strategies of the game. I asked for playthrough data on BGG and was astonished to find that the game was being played fundamentally differently by other people. The sandbox nature of the game allowed for a proliferation of viable strategies and outcomes that I hadn’t considered as realistic.

For those of you who are already Triumph & Tragedy converts you will be pleased to know that the designer, Craig Besinque, is already working on a Pacific theatre sister game provisionally called Conquest and Consequences that will allow up to five players to play out the entire war, although it may be sometime before we see it. Until then I will be perfecting my axis 'win by 1940' strategy doodles and trying to procure a much bigger table.

It’s the 74^th Anniversary of the D-Day landings, which means it’s time for Matrix Games & Slitherine’s annual D-Day sale.

Starting from today until June 10^th, you can use the discount code ‘D-Day30’ in the coupon field on either the Slitherine or the Matrix store carts to get 30% off your order. If you’re not entirely sure how the coupon works, or you’re worried the discount hasn’t been applied to your order, we suggest you read this guide and/or contact their customer support.

This code will not work on any other store, like Steam or GOG. The coupon will also only work on WWII-themed titles, the full list of which can be seen here.

There’s too many of them to list out, but titles such as Strategic Command WW2: War in Europe, The Operational Art of War IV, Unity of Command and various Matrix-era Close Combat games are amongst the list, all of which feature in our round-up of the best WW2 war games.

If you see any other companies, digital or physical, doing a D-Day sales event, let us know in the comments and we’ll make sure to let everyone know.

If you feel the ground trembling beneath your feet, do not be alarmed. Its only the pounding hooves of massed Kataphraktoi as they trample the unwashed masses of the Persian God-King. Yes, its DLC time for the uber popular Field of Glory II (FOG2) computer game, which in this round looks at the age of Byzantine General Flavius Belisarius (and his sidekick the Armenian eunuch general Narses) as they reconquer the old Roman Empire in the name of Emperor Justinian I. Though a price has not been announced as I write this little tome, previous FOG2 DLC have cost $14.95 US, so it’s likely this will be the price point for Age of Belisarius (AOB).

Is it worth it? Read forward and judge.

What it is Not

Outside the addition of dismountable cavalry – kinda mandatory when you’re playing Byzantines – the game adds nothing new to the underlying software that controls play. There are no new options available for the player, no new gameplay processes to learn, no corrections or modifications to the data such as the all important Points of Advantage (POA) which determines final odds for resolution of melee and fire combat. The game simply works the same way as always, and familiarity is not a bad thing.

Likewise, the game provides the same map editor as with previous iterations, the same process to play custom battles or campaigns, to include combat between factions that never existed at the same time or on the same piece of real estate. There as historical campaigns as before, as well as 'Epic' historical battles. Even the background music and clash of steel sound effects are pretty much the same.

Nothing has also changed about superbly rendered terrain layouts for the various battles, looking very much like a PELA (HMGS – Pour Encourage les Autres) award winning table, though alas the Hobbit Hovels and Dwarf Forests have not been changed. The individual troop sprites are detailed, with appropriate animation for the situation at hand. The garb is historically accurate to about the 85 – 90% as a barbarian army will have enough soldiers garbed in varying shades of blue to let you know which side the lads are on. Yet these units still come attired in various other types and color of clothing, with shield patterns (and a record of these exists for the Byzantines) also in multiple designs and colors. Seriously, when you zoom in this looks a top notch miniature wargaming collection, and folks of that ilk have a BIG reputation for getting their armies well painted, accurate and detailed.

And my tabletop background was one reason I was waiting with baited breath for this DLC to come out. I have already reviewed the GMT game Cataphract which covers this period, and I own a 15 mm Byzantine army from this era in pewter. The early Byzantines have always been known as a “Roles Royce” army in miniature circles. For tournament play these guys are very expensive point wise to field, but quality is through the roof. A great part of this army is still native, well drilled Roman troops with good morale, and everyone seems to have multiple weapons. Seriously, this is the time when Byzantine heavy horsemen are fully armored and pack lance, darts, bow, pulse rifles, rail guns and Stormbolters.

Well not really, but true enough to make early Byzantines the most unique of armies to deploy and play.

What it is

What this game is includes four new campaigns, six new historical battles, 37 new 'Quick' battles, 17 new units, 11 new factions and 30 new army lists (thus making a total of 166 for the series). The new units include everything from Bedouins to Byzantines, the latter counting two sets of dismounted cavalry within their ranks. In a nod to what is to come, the new unit list also presents both Spearmen and Raw Spearmen for the Dark Ages. These new units, in turn, add themselves to troop types from previous packages to produce the various factions and army lists, with several of the latter (there are three Byzantine, for example, representing different time frames) lumped together to produce a faction. The factions are Avars, Byzantines, Franks, Gepids, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Slavs, Turks, Vandals, Visigoths and Welsh. Many of these eventually wind up as Byzantine allies.

The battles include Dara 530 AD, Tricamarum 533 AD, Taginae 552 AD, Volturnus 554 AD, Bukhara 557 AD and Raith 596 AD. The first four are Belisarius or Narses against somebody else, but Bukhara features Persian against Hephthalite (yes, I had to look them up) while Raith features Scots-Irish fighting Angles. One of the things I did notice when playing these battles was a little bit of tournament style tweaking to even things up a bit. At Volturnus, for example, both history and game commentary acknowledge 18,000 Byzantines deployed to meet 20,000 Franks as another 10,000 were down and out from dysentery. However, the actual number as expressed in the scenario indicates 35,000 Franks. I do get it, because any army that meets these specific Byzantines with anything like equal numbers tend to DIP (Die in Place). The same battle, BTW, also featured off turn board reinforcements for Narses in the form of Heruli Dismounted Noble Armored Cavalry arriving turn nine.

Finally, there are four campaigns. These are King of Kings II (Sassanids), Rise of the Avars, Belisarius and Clovis I. I’m not usually big on campaigns, but the last one has me intrigued as Total War Thrones of Britannia really got me interested about that slice of history. Clovis, as you recall, converted to Christianity in 496 AD at the behest of his wife, and then united all Frankish tribes under his rule. He is now regarded as the first King of France.

Game Play

At first glance, this DLC may seem a little light on content for your drachma, but I would argue what really makes this a must buy is the gameplay. The period represented covers a period of transition from classical antiquity to the Dark Ages. This in turn means a transition from infantry heavy armies to one based primarily on cavalry, Kataphraktoi to western knights. Incursions from the east of cavalry based armies like the Huns forced first line defenders like the Byzantines to adjust and adjust they did. Yes, earlier Roman armies had heavy cavalry support, but the numbers were far less and multiple arms on one soldier was not often seen. AOB represents a clash between old and new.

All of this makes for very different gameplay than before. On one side, such as at Volturnus, you have a typical barbarian army consisting of warriors toting sword and shield, while archery support may be 2 to 5 % of the total force, if that. Their initial charge might be tough to stop, but they don’t maneuver well, and the absence of any horse whatsoever is not pretty. If the AI does its job well, the tactical sophistication of these “grunts” is likely less than Neanderthal 101, particularly if lead by a dunderhead like Butilinus.

On the other side of the field are early Byzantines, where not only do you have a lot of regulars, but most everybody wears armor, even the Roman archers, and everyone totes more than one primary weapon. Indeed, this is a very bow heavy army, but the difference is a lot of these archers are on horses, often armor clad. Quite frankly, I’ve never really played any army in the FOG2 series that had this many ranged weapons, as I have always considered them to be a tertiary weapons system without a lot of staying power, or so I thought.

AOB has pretty much changed all that with game play that demands a mental shift from conventional wisdom. Armored Byzantine bowman shoot the Franks unmercifully but can still hold their own in close combat. Byzantine horse circle to the rear and flanks of their opponents, but do not charge. Instead they also unleash holy arrow Hell upon their opponents. When the Franks slowwwwwwly wheel enough to face them and charge, the Roman horse evades. Then the next turn said Romans return to shoot again and so on, until an emaciated Frankish warband is charged in the flank or rear by enemy armored heavies with lance. From an overall picture, this also seems to encourage the computer AI to break formation and send small 750 man Frankish mobs hither, thither and yon to counter these threats, thus creating gaps with additional flanks and rear to exploit. While not normally thought of this way, it might not be a stretch to suggest that the bow, not lance, was the Byzantine super weapon at this time.

Hopefully the boss will allow me an after action report on my latest clash on the Volturnus but suffice it to say it’s a new style of fighting, historically accurate and an awful lot of fun.

Finis

Yeah, it’s worth it. As a pewter pusher I like the fact that it plays like a tabletop game, and considering the design pedigree of the underlying game, why shouldn’t it. Now consider that FOG3 tabletop is going for $48.00 US, only two army lists included and no historical scenarios. Conversely FOG2 computer sells for $ 29.99 with 75 army lists and 12 historical battles, and all the POA calculations are done for you. Due to reformatting, the add-on army list books for tabletop are more difficult to compare, but you get the picture. And when fused with the new type of warfare and its related unique supporting gameplay, these are shekels well spent.

I’ll close by saying after 55 hours of play time, this DLC is better than excellent. It’s addictive.

We anticipate the next week or two to be a bit quieter as the annual E3 storm makes it way through the games industry. Granted, it's rarely of any consequences to Grogs, and while some companies will continue on as normal, others like Matrix Games will probably be keeping their heads down. It's been a wonderfully varied week for wargaming news though, so let's take a look at what's been happening.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

New Game Spotted: Victory at Sea Pacific

The eagle-eyed community over at Grogheads has spotted a new Naval RTS game set during the Second World War, specifically the Pacific Theatre. There’s no news on a release date as the Steam page only says ‘2018’, but it looks intriguing:

Victory at Sea Pacific - the game of naval combat during the Second World War where a player can switch between commanding the entire Pacific theatre to zooming down to take control of individual ships and flights of planes.

It appears to be a more sandbox style game, offering the players the chance to command the grand-strategy of the Pacific theatre, as well as get down and dirty in tactical engagements.

Victory at Sea Pacific features;

• Search and destroy enemy fleets across the entire Pacific Ocean
• Effortlessly switch between commanding the entire Pacific theatre and controlling the fate of individual vessels and planes
• Upgrade Ports and build shipyards
• Harass shipping and starve ports of vital supplies
• Organise large scale amphibious assaults on major ports
• Control unique vessels such as the huge I-400 submarine aircraft carrier
• Build highly skilled crews ready for combat
• Pausable gameplay allows you to order fleets and then continue the action
• Play as Axis or Allied fleets (Axis Campaign coming soon)

There’s a lot of information to read though, so we suggest you check out the official Steam page to get the full breakdown.

Strategic Command WW2 Patch 1.13

Matrix Games’ answer to Hearts of Iron has received a new update last Friday (we missed the news, sadly), which brings a lot of amendments to the campaign as well as the usual round of bug fixes.

You no longer need to worry about the weather AP exploit, and Leningrad is now easier to defend thanks to the Neva river being converted to a ‘Major River’. You can read the full patch notes here.

Grand Tactician Dev Diary

The developers behind the Grand Tactician ACW game have dropped a new diary talking about various systems that are important between the ‘Day’ segments where most of the fighting happens. Resupply, moral, logistics and communication... you can read all about it here.

Clad in Iron: Philippines Update

The late Mr. Cobb was a bit of a fan of Clad in Iron: Philippines 1898. It received a small update earlier this week that added torpedoes and a few new ship types. Graphics were also given a bit of a spruce.

You can read more details here.

New Armoured Commander II Build

We’re going to try and champion as many smaller indie wargame projects as we can, and Rev Sudasana’s Armoured Commander II is one of them. This week he released a new development build for testers to try that adds Air and Artillery support.

You can read the full change-log as well as grab a link to he build here.

And now for something completely different…

You may remember that I visited the UK Games Expo this past weekend – there were some interesting table-top war games on show, which we'll have a round-up of on Monday. On a personal note, I myself picked up something that could very interesting.

LEADERS seems to be following the Fantasy Flight Games ethos of creating a hybrid experience. It’s fairly light on components – several bags of game pieces, some reference sheets and some dice. Everything else is controlled via an App that not only teaches you how to play the game, but allows you to conduct espionage, send diplomatic messages to other players, and runs the game's varied scenarios for you.

I’ve yet to get it to the table, but I’ve been poking around here and there, so will report back with further impressions as soon as I can.

That's all for this week's round-up, enjoy your weekends and happy gaming!

The UK Games Expo isn’t exactly Salute, so it’s not a place that screams ‘wargames’, but for those who are willing, do a little digging and you’d be surprised what you may find. This is a round-up of eight interesting new & upcoming wargames from the recent show in the NEC Birmingham, UK.

The cooperative U-Boot boardgame (PHALANX) was perhaps the most beautiful thing at the expo, even sparkler than their Kickstarter campaign. The huge, sleek, model submarine is so good that I made a mental note to install cardboard hatches down my corridor and change all the light bulbs to red so that I can re-enact Das Boot.

U-Boot - They won't catch us this time! Not this time!

However, whilst I am prepared to rebuild my family home around this marvel I am concerned that the game has far too many optional plastic extras and not enough gameplay. I watched two play tests and I just couldn’t see what decisions the crew were making and I was concerned about the level of downtime. Either way, I’m on board and at worst the neighbours will have something real to complain about as we all charge to the starboard end of my flat to dive that little bit quicker.

I also had a look at Red Alert: Space Fleet Warfare (PSC) the very latest Command and Colours spin-off but this time in spaaaccce. PSC ought to be a safe pair of hands for this tried and true system, as they did an excellent job with the WW1 Great War series based on the mechanics. The number of spin-offs that are being made for Command & Colours (we must be on eight by now), I reckon we will be playing Command and Colours Cities within the decade.

I love how this system creates command inefficiencies using a card hand to limit your operational choices. However, I do wonder whether by the 24th century super AI’s cores with high capacity datalinks will really struggle with the same communication issues as Alexander did in 320 BC. The demo game was huge at UKGE yet apparently this is the size that the production version of the game is. So, if you want Red Alert then you might want to go to ‘bigger table’ action stations immediately, and then head on over to the Kickstarter page.

Also at the PSC booth was a demo copy of Quartermaster General: The Cold War (PSC), which should be going to Kickstarter in July. It is the latest instalment of a series I’ve been a big fan of as it allows me, and non- wargamers, to play through an entire conflict in a single evening. The latest offering looks at the Cold War period and has three teams, the Non-Aligned Powers (the UN), the Soviet/Warsaw PACT and the US/NATO. A first for the series, this game actually requires a minimum of three people to play, with additional players (up to six) teaming up (although there is still only one deck per faction, unlike past games).

Some lovely tank and aircraft components for Quartermaster General: Cold War

The game assumes that the Cold War is going to get fairly hot at times so takes a few liberties, incorporating nuclear weapons that you can prepare and use but for a cost in cards relative to how much you escalate by. Air Force pieces allow you project power over distance without involving ground force pieces.

I’m not entirely sold on the concept of the Cold War interspersed with direct confrontations as it feels unrealistic. I do like the idea of nuclear escalation and the tension associated with it but the idea of nuclear weapons being routinely or flippantly used seems wrong. Nuclear codes should be in a brown envelope that sits in the bottom of the box to be only used in a time of great emergency rather than thrown around with gay abandon, however I know that liberal distribution of thermonuclear weapons will appeal to many.

I also had an opportunity to have a look at This War without an Enemy (Nuts! Publishing), a strategic level English Civil War game based around cards and block mechanics. Right now, the only table-top game on this theme is Unhappy King Charles (GMT Games) which is really worth playing but its long and the cards feel a bit theme dry.

Draft map for War without an Enemy.

This War without an Enemy promises to be a shorter game that is designed by an expert on the period who has added a nice layer of chrome on the cards without going full Homer Car. Furthermore, the game has blocks so it addresses the fog of war issue that was lacking in Unhappy King Charles. I am not always convinced that war games undergo the best play-testing because of their complexity but knowing some of the very experienced play test team I have great vibes about this game.

FITNA - Modern war in the Middle East is a 2-6 player game on modern wars in the Middle East, also from Nuts! Publishing. FITNA contains approximately 10 scenarios relating to recent events in Syria and Iraq. It’s a quick play system based on a similar card activation system first seen in the Iran-Iraq war game Bloody Dawns, which is also designed by Pierre Razoux.

The problem with current games is that they quickly date and lose some of their appeal but FITNA has been designed to allow players to create their own scenarios to explore any new conflictual situation in the Middle East. This really appeals to me and it looks like the cards are flexible enough to allow the game to be adapted.

The classic War of the Roses game Kingmaker is coming back into print courtesy of Gibson Games. Kingmaker has had numerous editions over the years but still suffered from a number of crucial gameplay flaws. I am sceptical as some recent reprints of old classics have been disappointing as there wasn’t an associated mechanic update. However, Gibson Games tell me that they are not just updating the components but the design too which will address previous issues.

There is death on these here rails.

There still isn’t a great meaty War of the Roses game so I am excited about the prospects of once again dragging my opponent’s heir down off his horse for summary execution whilst mixing up muddled quotes from Shakespeare and Game of Thrones.

I’ve been reading and playing a fair bit on the Russian Civil War recently, so I was quite excited to come across a tactical wargame on the Estonian Civil War called 1918: Death on the Rails. This blends fog of war blocks with a Conflict of Heroes type mechanic and a pretty innovative initiative system that allows only your opponent to see how many moves you have left. This system really changes the way that you approach the game and how lucky you feel when you go to move just a little bit further.

The game also comes with a 3D model of a train that can come on and provide mech-warrior like firepower on rails. The only thing is that this topic is really very niche, you would have thought it better to start with the main Russian Civil War forces. However, as there is no Russian Civil War tactical level board game available then this might scratch that, till now, impossible to reach itch.

Last but not least, there was a tactical skirmish game called Farsight. Set in a grim future of declining resources and PMCs wielding awesome mechs, this is a game largely about positioning and information gathering. Players deploy units to the filed face-down, which are only revealed when they are spied upon buy agents, or they enter into combat. There are other agent types that get deployed on a separate ‘Shadow Map’, where you not only have to mark down your own agent’s deployments, but also try and figure out where the enemy agents are as well (so you can kill them).

The board state at the start of the demo.

The game revolves around the capture and control of various control points, with the player holding the most being declared the victor. Combat can either be dice-based or number crunching, which gives this game a rather sour aftertaste – during the playtest, bad dice rolling meant we lost all but one engagement, and that single victory was one we would have lost had we been using the number-crunching rules. For a game that has some quite clever mechanics in the pre-battle stages, it’s a shame its combat system is rather basic.

Farsight has already gone through ha successful Kickstarter campaign, and Braincrack were largely there to try and shift the last remaining copies they had of the core-set plus the miniatures pack. They’re thinking of doing an expansion, as well as perhaps a second run of the core set, but probably not this year.

Paradox's grand-strategy wargame Hearts of Iron 4 hasn’t built up as powerful a salvo of DLC as its other squadmates in the Paradox Development Studio roster, but with the release of Waking the Tiger, there’s enough extra stuff available for purchase that you might want to know which order to attack them in. We’ve called each paid offering to attention to assess their capabilities and see how well they pass muster.

Note on the Expansion Pass:  If you’ve never heard of the Hearts of Iron 4 Expansion Pass before, none of this information is relevant as it’s no longer available for purchase. But if you did get a hold of it back around launch and are curious, every major DLC mentioned in this guide is included with the Expansion Pass (Together for Victory, Death or Dishonor, and Waking the Tiger), as well as one more, unannounced major expansion.

Want to know which DLCs are worth the effort for Europa Universalis IV, Stellaris or Crusader Kings 2? Our sister website Strategy Gamer has you covered!

Together for Victory (2016) - $15 [Review]

What’s in it?

• New focus trees for the Commonwealth nations: Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the British Raj. NOTE:As of the current stable patch at the date this article was written (Patch 1.5.1; 28 March 2018), a large part of the focus tree for India/British Raj is bugged and not working correctly.
• Autonomy system allows subject countries to assert their independence over time, and for overlords to integrate subjects more fully.
• Allows asking for, in addition to offering, lend-lease of equipment.
• Spearhead command allows your custom battleplans to include more direct, focused assaults.
• Technology sharing allows less advanced faction members to get discounts on technologies that have already been researched by another faction member.
• New voiceovers in German, French, Italian, British English, American English, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish.
• 19 new infantry and airplane models for the featured nations.

Is it worth it?

The focus trees for the Commonwealth nations are pretty underwhelming. There are mods available on the Steam workshop for several them that, in my opinion, are more fun to play with than the official DLC ones. How much you’ll enjoy the rest of the grab bag features relies a fair bit on how much you enjoy playing minor nations. Autonomy can be a fun way to go from a subject to an equal partner, but from the overlord side, you’ll rarely have the time or resources to do much with it before the war ends. Spearheads can be a nice time-saver, but also don’t do anything you couldn’t accomplish already by micro-managing your tanks. Honestly, my main reason to recommend it is the new unit models and voice overs, which help add texture and immersion to the war.

Death or Dishonor (2017) - $10 [Review]

What’s in it?

• New focus trees for four minor European powers: Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia.
• Equipment conversion allows you to re-purpose old or captured equipment (such as refitting older Panzer models into StuGs).
• Licensing allows you to gain access to another nation’s equipment designs in exchange for industrial capacity, or license your own designs for a profit.
• New subject types for Fascist nations such as the Reichskommissariat which behave differently from normal puppets.
• New unit models and voice overs for the featured nations.

Is it worth it?

I think the content designers did an overall better job on the focuses and events in this pack than they did in Together for Victory. From restoring the Austro-Hungarian Empire to dealing with King Carol of Romania’s ongoing antics and shenanigans, I got some of my most entertaining playthroughs trying to scrape by on the mean streets of South-Central Europe. I don’t really find myself using equipment conversion that often, but licensing is great if you’re playing a country with limited research slots and you don’t, for instance, have the luxury of always staying up-to-date in fighter tech. As with Together for Victory, the new unit models and voice overs offer a lot of value for me - but your mileage may vary if you’re the NATO counter type of player.

Waking the Tiger (2018) - $20 [Review]

What’s in it?

• New focus trees for Communist China, Nationalist China, the Chinese Warlords, and the imperial puppet state of Manchukuo.
• New focus tree branches for two of the major Axis powers: An 'Oppose Hitler' path for Germany that can lead to the restoration of the Kaiserreich or a democratic, constitutional monarchy, as well as democratic and communist paths for Japan.
• Command Abilities allow generals with certain traits to spend Command Power on temporary, unique buffs to the armies they lead.
• Expanded Decisions list including the ability to form or reform some anachronistic/ahistorical nations or develop strategic resources in historical areas that did not have them at the start of the war, but were discovered to have them later.
• Border Conflict mechanic allows certain countries to engage in a limited skirmish over control of a single state without declaring all-out war (Chinese Factions only).
• Infiltration mechanics allow Chinese communists to subvert local authorities and seize control of states covertly.
• Power Struggle mechanic allows Chinese factions to compete for national leadership politically, without bloodshed.
• Troops who remain in a hot or cold area long enough can become acclimatized, gaining modified unit models and reduced penalties for fighting in that climate.
• Air wings can now be sent as volunteers along with land divisions.
• New orders give more control over what types of targets strategic bombers prioritize.
• Sending military attachés allows countries who can’t send volunteers to aid a warring nation and gain some army xp.
• Allows merging of under-strength divisions.
• Allows you to set custom unit insignias for each, individual division.
• Adds a minimap.
• New unit models for Chinese infantry, cavalry, artillery, and planes.

Is it worth it?

If that feature list seems huge compared to the previous two expansions, that’s because it is. Waking the Tiger is definitely the most value you can get for your money of the currently available Hearts of Iron 4 DLCs. It’s the first expansion that really feels like a Paradox expansion in how much it changes things up. The Chinese focus trees aren’t all great - for instance, a lot of the interesting power struggle stuff for China becomes irrelevant 90 percent of the time since the United Front must either band together or get absolutely demolished by Japan. Border Conflicts, especially, seem like a rushed feature that doesn’t always behave in logical or predictable ways. The new options for Japan and Germany are a lot of fun, though. The new unit models and Acclimatization system bring even more realism and some unique strategic concerns - you don’t want to train troops you plan to send to North Africa in the mountains of Montana, for example.

Miscellaneous DLCs

Colonel Edition Upgrade Pack - $10

What’s in it?

• Seven new models for heavy cruisers from various Allied and Axis nations.
• Eight new tank models each for the Soviet Union, United States, Britain, Germany, and France (for a total of 40).

Is it worth it?

47 new models is a lot, but this is purely visual. If you don’t mind your Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs looking identical (or you play with NATO counters), it’s an easy one to skip.

Sabaton Soundtrack - $3

What’s in it?

• Five World War II-themed songs from Swedish power metal band Sabaton.

Is it worth it?

If you like Sabaton, sure.

Sabaton Soundtrack 2 - $6

What’s in it?

• Ten more World War II-themed songs from Swedish power metal band Sabaton

Is it worth it?

If you really like Sabaton.

THE BREAKDOWN

Best New Features:

1. Waking the Tiger
2. Together for Victory
3. Death or Dishonor

Best New Focus Trees:

1. Waking the Tiger
2. Death or Dishonor
3. Together for Victory

Required for a “Complete Experience”:

• Germany - Death or Dishonor, Waking the Tiger, Colonel Edition Upgrade Pack
• Japan - Waking the Tiger, Death or Dishonor
• Manchukuo, All Chinese Factions - Waking the Tiger
• Britain - Together for Victory, Colonel Edition Upgrade Pack
• United States, Soviet Union, France - Colonel Edition Upgrade Pack
• Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, British Raj - Together for Victory
• Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia - Death or Dishonor

Make sure you check all our DLC Buying Guides regularly, especially after a major DLC release or around a major sales event. We'll always keep these up-to-date so you're fully informed as to what to buy.

Many players got their first taste of a wargame with Panzer General. Panzer General eventually formed a key part of the fantastic ‘5-Star General’ series, a collection of releases which were innovative in their turn-based combat and scenarios. The 5-Star General Series would take you from 2D to 3D unit sprites, from WW2 to fiction based WW3, and all away into fantasy and space battles!

Given that there were nine entries in this series, how does each game stack against each other? Well, we don't have anything better to do, so let's settle this debate once and for all, so that it never need be spoken of again. This list is in descending order.

9. Panzer General III: Scorched Earth

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations, Inc. / Mattel Interactive
Released: 2000
Purchase:Free

It should come to nobody’s surprise that Panzer General III: Scorched Earth is the weakest of the entire series. As the last released, it really misses the mark on a lot of the expectations of long time fans. Arguably, the entire game feels more of an expansion (focusing on the Eastern Front) than a fully-fledged game, PG3SE manages to have the same issues that Panzer General 3D suffers from.

This problem stems from the focus on 3D models for the units and cities. It can be speculated that the changes to 3D models forced the battles to shrink and the stakes to be lowered. Compensating, PG 3 focuses on having a leadership pool that grows as the game progresses and each have an equipment speciality. While the older games sprites have aged like a fine wine, some of this early 3D work can look very blurry and awful. The martial music here seems very repetitive, more-so in PG3SE than anywhere else. You might find yourself muting your first Panzer General game! If it wasn’t enough, PG3SE is the least compatible with modern computers in the series.

While not terrible, it shows that with Panzer General III: Scorched Earth, the series was coming to a close. From its flaws, it makes sense that PG3SE doesn’t see the reverence that the earlier releases.

8. Star General 

Developer/Publisher: Catware / Strategic Simulations
Released: 1997
Purchase:Free

Star General was a bold move by SSI, to go where they have never gone before with the series, into spppaccceee. The premise was once again exciting, with the hex combat seeing itself split amongst planets, moons and the stars with great looking space combat. What especially stands out for this sci-fi spin is the music, easily the best part of this release. Diplomacy, planet exploration and switching between maps can be exciting, but cumbersome.

Star General’s flaws stem from joining a genre that’s already well established with space epics such as the Masters of Orion series and others. Coupled with some poor sound choices (besides the music), still clunky user interface, uninteresting scenarios and campaign play with demands of some scenarios being absurd with its turn expectations. For the scale of the battles being what they are, you will find yourself going to run out of turns more often than not.

It shows that SSI didn't develop this title. It lacks the captivating elements that other games in the series have. While some fans swear by it, overall the feeling is most people have skipped this underdog.

7. Panzer General 3D

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / TLC Multimedia & Ubisoft
Released: 1999
Purchase: GoG Ubisoft

Panzer General 3D was following a trend at the time of its release by incorporating 3D elements into the game. Because of this, it feels rather chopped and limited in scope because of this new transition. However, PG3D is still an excellent romp and showed that SSI could still be innovative with the series.

PZ3D can be divisive among series fans, as it was the start of smaller scale battles and more of a tighter experience. With smaller battles, the scenarios seem to be more polished and there is some variety to be had. PG3D was first to allow leaders to focus on combat specialities for their units. The user interface of the 3D games seems more logical and intuitive than predecessors, something closer to what modern standards call for, but not there just yet.

However, innovation from 3D graphics and the leadership mechanics could not save PG3D from being low on this list. The graphics arguably have not aged well, at least compared to the fantastic sprite work of previous titles. It goes without saying that PG3D also struggles with compatibility issues. Even with a re-release on GoG, it still suffers immensely with graphical glitches and a sense of non-cooperation with Windows 10.

The developers knew that they missed the mark with this release, because a year later they would try to correct with PG3SE, bringing the Eastern Front to the game engine and some minor fixes. Looking back on Panzer General 3D, it seems too little in content and too late in release. 

6. Fantasy General

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / Strategic Simulations
Released: 1996
Purchase: GoG

Fantasy General, for many wargamers and fans of the series, is something of an oddity. It turns out SSI is also well known for games influenced by Dungeons & Dragons, and in trying to break away from its World War staple, FG manages to take the hex-based strategy series to new places.

Beautiful sprites and a new fantasy world was exciting to look at back in 1995. The soundtrack is exciting and fitting for the theme, while the sound of FG is engaging. AI reacts and puts up a fight when pressed.

Fantasy General’s biggest flaws are the clunky split-up user interface, pacing of the later missions and of some of the scenarios. Another deficiency is the balance of forces. Some of the maps become so large and the turns so tight that some units are completely useless because of the level design; your tactics mainly end up revolving around cavalry and heavy infantry exclusively. These set backs and a rather generic fantasy world place Fantasy General in middle of the pack.

5. Allied General

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / Strategic Simulations
Released: 1995
Purchase: Free

Allied General was the direct sequel to Panzer General, releasing the following year. It acted as a direct opposite in the field of the Axis armies, focusing on battles from the Allie's perspective.

A great element of Allied General was the return of the little battle animation bubbles that could be toggled to spice up the combat and bring in that little extra immersion. Allied General felt more balanced and geared towards infantry whereas Panzer General was all about the ze panzers.

The scenarios and campaign were well designed, and a lot of enjoyment can be found from fans of the series. Particular standouts in AG are the Finland scenario and Africa campaigns. It also helped that for a lot of the scenarios, you could play as the Axis to keep things fresh.

For those who spent a lot of time on Panzer General, coming to Allied General would be less enticing because of the large similarities. You may even come to be a bit disappointed if you were looking for more than just the same. Furthermore, the scenario roster seems a bit lacking in the retail release when compared to Panzer General and others in the series. AG lacking a 1940 Western Europe scenario seems like such a missed opportunity as well. While mechanically it didn’t particularly take many chances, Allied General is a competent release that is just overshadowed by giants that were to come.

4. Pacific General

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / Strategic Simulations
Released: 1997
Purchase:GoG

Pacific General is a fantastic effort to bring the fight to the Pacific, featuring large naval battles and island hoping. It was another great avenue for SSI to explore.

PacGen was the first in the series that really captured the sense of combined arms, the first game to establish the ability to move multiple units first, then to attack for maximum damage. Naval warfare was well put together, and naval units could repair themselves or suffer critical consequences from a strike. Again, the sound and visuals are top notch.

Things begin to unravel on the edges of Pacific General. While the scenarios are a lot more laid back and feasible for newcomers than the original, some scenarios border the line of impossible and PacGen veterans all know of the 'prestige save exploit', which enables more prestige to purchase units to get over some humps. 

Pacific General really shines in it’s presentation and scenarios. Veterans and newcomers alike can find there to be both exciting battles to be had and challenges to overcome. Yet some of the issues such as ageing, a rough time working on modern computers and the same scenario balance problems of which are peppered in all 5-Star General series games still manage to prevent this one from leading the pack. 

3. Panzer General II

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / Strategic Simulations
Released: 1997
Purchase:GoG

While there were a few years and releases between Panzer General and Panzer General II, it seemed that the intent of this release was to be a worthy successor for the original game.

PG2 really does deliver on a lot of expectations for fans of the series. Better looking sprites and maps, fantastic audio and soundtracks will accompany the thrill of exploiting holes in the enemy’s defence. Fantastic campaigns and scenarios to chose from, with a fantastic list to start from calling back to the early days of vast amount of content. Every unit has an incredible face uplift under this new impression. With sprites turning to face the enemy and each unit having a great level of detail for a game designed in a small resolution.

Incorporated from Pacific General, you can now move multiple units and then fire, creating new ways to decimate the opposing force from supporting attack bonuses. Additionally, veterancy is a feature of which units can acquire leaders and skill bonuses making them even more valuable on the battlefield with continuation in the campaigns.

But some players may find that Panzer General II does have a few flaws. Again, some levels become a race for the objectives kind of puzzle which limits strategic thinking, and immersion breaking. Being the seventh release of the series, more than just an objective chase game type would be appreciated. As the title of the game suggests, focus of the game is again brought back to the armored nucleus of the Axis armies, and scenarios of which excelled from this template. Those who are fans of the other releases in the series may feel left out because this.

It became important for modders to make up for its flaws in user generated scenarios. PG2 has a fantastic repository of scenarios for it, which can be found here. 

2. Panzer General

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / Strategic Simulations & Mindscape
Released: 1994
Purchase:Free

Panzer General was the first game in the series and a giant amongst contemporary wargames. It brought wargaming to a whole new accessible echelon that blended fun and quick play with critical and strategic thinking.

PG has managed to be remembered fondly for decades now. The presentation has been world class, and at the time of 1994, the user interface was acceptable and easy to navigate. A healthy manual told players what to expect and actively tried to encourage the player to think about their actions.

The vastness of scenarios and campaign mean there's hours of fun to be had and set the standard of what was expected in later releases. To this day, Panzer General inspires new projects with its content and has many spiritual successors. The AI in Panzer General was great at the time, and still puts up a fight although in some cases, it can be felt that the AI does cheat.

While nostalgia might make us see past some of the flaws, they are there. AI can be problematic, and some turn demands for scenarios can be restrictive to the point of no fun. Panzer General unfortunately is a bit of a drag to get working on modern computers (unless you manage to read our helpful guide here!).

Panzer General was so solid at the time and was incorporated into further games in the series. Modders and enthusiasts went to work to keep Panzer General alive by bringing its content to later titles and updating through a remake known as Panzer General Forever. It’s a close call for first but Panzer General can hang its head high knowing that it started a fantastic series and still holds up today.

1. People’s General

Developer/Publisher: Strategic Simulations / Strategic Simulations
Released: 1998
Purchase:Free

People’s General is a juggernaut of a wargame. Approaching 21^st century warfare with the 5-Star General lens and operating with Panzer General II’s mechanics and looks, it produced an astonishing recipe for operational wargaming.

People’s General was a far more advanced version of PG2. Leaders were handed out when important areas were captured, there were more options for purchasing units, movement felt more organic than static sprites and experience levels. The soundtrack for PeG was a mixture of martial and totalitarian sounds, adding to the stress of how important it was to knock out that AAA that’s been wrecking havoc on your jets trying to break up armor thrusts.

At release, People’s General came with 9 campaigns and plenty of scenarios. Over a hundred additional scenarios were developed, covering everything from America’s Revolution all the way to the Falkland’s War. Those scenarios can be found here. Graphically PeG is the best of the series. Under the engine called 'Living Battlefield' beautiful vistas cover up the hexes alongside great looking unit sprites from a variety of nations and factions. The UI meets the modern warfare setting by being neat and straight forward.

The weakest element of People’s General was the lack of naval warfare in the base game. While naval warfare has evolved in radical ways since the last world war, it would have been fantastic to see Strategic Simulations explore this, as they did with Pacific General under their new engine.

People’s General takes all the lessons learned from the 5-Star Series and really runs with it. It’s a real shame that its legacy is ultimately overshadowed by the original Panzer General. However, all games of the series are phenomenal and full of potential. So, what are you waiting for? Time to earn those stars, general.

Do you agree with how we ranked the 5-Star General series? Let us know in the comments!

OK, BLUF – Bottom Line Up Front. I’m not a World War II guy, primarily because I spent 24 years in the US Army which also had a very strong penchant for the color ‘olive drab’. Games covering the fight against the Axis really just remind me too much of my old job, particularly if staff operations are concerned. So, it goes without saying that Lock n’ Load (LNL) Publishing’s PC video game Command Operations 2 wouldn’t be my first choice of game to play.

Still, color me both surprised and damned impressed, the LNL crew have produced a game so realistic and detailed, yet so easy to actually play (even on low end machines), that it deserves a look even if you are not an enthusiast. No, it doesn’t specifically simulate the G-2 (Intelligence) dropping off a terrain analysis to the G-3 (Operations), but if you want to immerse yourself in all aspects of controlling combat forces on the ground true to life, this game is for you.

Seriously, if you have ever spent time in an M-577 Command Track, you’ll get this. Here’s why.

For Grogs Only

For starters, the base version of this game is free, and the download comes with three scenarios that include Return to St Vith, Manhay Crossroads and Greyhound Dash. In this respect LnL has taken the same approach as the World War I flight simulator Rise of Flight, where they charge for additional expansion modules. These run an average of about $30.00 US / £23 sterling and contain 12 or so new scenarios plus the maps and data to go with them. For example, one module is called Command Ops 2: West Wall and concerns the Allied assault against the German Siegfried Line with such battles as the Peel Marshes, Geilenkirchen, and the Stolberg Corridor.

Be advised, however, this is truly a game for Grogs, maybe even uber Grogs because of the subject matter. Grogs is short for the French word Grognards, which means grumblers, and a nickname applied to perhaps the most celebrated and devoted soldiers in history, Napoleon I’s Old Guard. In the gaming world it refers to gamers who absolutely love detail and will not sacrifice one iota of realism for the sake of easier gameplay. CO2 is definitely a Grog game as the most crucial aspect of play is planning operations in hyper detail, rather than executing them. While you can choose a large unit such as a division, draw a line from its HQ to the objective and then hit “run” to let the AI take over, that is not the way the game is supposed to be played.

There are no numeric values in the game that allow you to measure combat strength against an opponent, and the square grid does not regulate movement, so you can’t avoid traffic jams on the way to the LD (military speak for Line of Departure). Instead the player must examine status charts, then match their data against the Mission, Enemy, Terrain and Time (MET-T, also military – see where this game is going?)  thus, triggering well-reasoned decisions to do the job. Except not just your job, but the rest of your staff’s jobs as well because you are them. Thus, you cannot assume resupply, or that your subordinate units will not misunderstand your orders, which BTW involves a default 30 minute delay from issuance to execution.

Fortunately, the game has cleverly managed to fuse all these responsibilities with simple gameplay, in part due to the St Vith scenario being the subject of a YouTube video that serves as the game tutorial. I only wish the designers had explained this a little better as I struggled trying to run a traditional tutorial with instructional dialog boxes. However, once I did figure it out, it worked marvellously, and was certainly better than plowing thru a user’s manual that is just plain YUGE! Instead one of the designers with a very pleasant accent walks you through the scenario per a 53 minute lecture, really a casual conversation with graphics. I must admit this allowed me to learn the proverbial ropes of CO2 a lot faster than with other games.

Move Out!

This game is very easy to play as regards typing and clicking mouse buttons, but very tough on brain power requirements. At the beginning, after you have chosen your scenario, a screen will pop up and allow you to set certain overall properties such as orders delay, historical weather or not, then the same for reinforcements and supply. I would recommend the defaults as they are the most realistic.

Doing so transports you to the game map which is quite attractive and designed similarly to standard 1:50 K military topographical maps, to include those dreaded contour lines. Units represent HQ, infantry and tank companies, combat trains, artillery batteries and other independent formations such as mortar platoons. The unit iconography here is best described as exceptionally functional. Coloring is grey for the Germans and (ugh) olive for the Americans, with NATO symbology as to type, size and designation with a small colored status block. Again, no numbers to indicate exact data. Zooming in will give you more information such as the exact position of the units within, say, a battalion, as well as facing. Even on a low end machine, doing this and other functions was smooth, effortless and very quick with a value mouse. For a guy who has suffered through the opposite, this is not an insignificant thumbs up.

Then you read your mission statement, evaluate the status of your combat units and begin the game’s most important process – planning. Get familiar with the plethora of buttons at the bottom of the screen and the dialog boxes they launch, then pick a battalion and its units by drawing a square around them. Using the mouse cursor, draw a line from the battalion’s current location to its initial objective, then using that as a way point, to its next objective and so on until it reaches its final objective. Then bring up the Task Dialog and select the button for the mission to be performed, whether it be Defend, Attack, Probe or something else.

At this point launch the Task Edit Dialog and choose specific parameters for your battalion, because if you don’t, the AI will determine what is most appropriate and execute accordingly. Be it known that when I moved out for St Vith, I forgot to do so with an infantry battalion and it decided on a Desert Storm flanking movement vice going straight ahead (not funny). Otherwise this dialog box, perhaps the most important of all included, will let you set strict limits and instructions as to what your battalion should do. You can set formation (Double Line, Echelon Right, etc), the type of route (Most Direct, Avoidance, etc), the start and completion times of the operation and the intensity of several factors such as ammunition expenditure, casualties taken, aggressiveness and so on. Artillery units are similar but include Fire and Bombard buttons for targeting purposes. The other dialogs are mostly informational but must be monitored to insure you know the current combat state of your forces, less you allow an infantry company woefully low on ammo to press forward vice resting and waiting for supply. Again, these are mostly colored bar scales and do not show precise numbers.

Now for the Schwerpunkt of all of this, after all units have been so modified. Hit the Run Button in the Controls Dialog and the software will automatically run, in real time (you can accelerate this), your plan as developed above. As such I found it particularly difficult to judge movement across different terrain by different unit types such as a leg infantry battalion, moving slower than expected and thus not on hand to support their armored infantry brothers. I didn’t have hexes and movement rates to guide me. Fortunately, the player can intervene by clicking on a unit down to constituent companies and change things on the fly using the same procedure above. However, while the PC stops the game for you to do this, you will have to contend with the delay of orders parameter you originally set up. Remember, the default is 30 minutes.

In conclusion, the St Vith tutorial is highly recommended for first play, as the opposing sides are close enough together so contact will be immediate with no long wait trucking down a highway. In this case, the US 4^th Armored Division is likewise recommended as it is the subject formation on the YouTube video. Victory is determined by receiving points for capturing certain objectives by games end.

After Action Report

As I noted in the beginning, World War II gaming of this sort is not my favorite, but I still have to call Command Ops 2 an excellent game. It approaches a very detailed and complex subject with a system of play that is both easy to learn and smooth as silk to play. Mastering play is not easy, but that’s the hallmark of an exceptional product. Other games, of this subgenre, and others, take note.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play the Greyhound Dash scenario, but as the Germans. They don’t wear olive so it’s all good.

Unfortunately, this is another edition of the column that had to be written in advance (it's currently Thursday evening), so apologies if you released any red-hot wargaming news today and it’s not made it into this week’s article. We’ll circle back to it when we can.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming...

Matrix Games & Slitherine

It’s been another relatively quiet week for Matrix Games, with only two noteworthy announcements to share.

First up, AGEOD’s Wars of Succession has been considered worthy enough to get a Steam version made, which was released yesterday. Read Bill’s review to find out what we thought of it, and then if you don’t own it yet there’s currently a 25% discount running on the Steam store.

We also got a new announcement this week – 2016’s Tigers on the Hunt is getting its second piece of DLC, this time looking solely at the Normandy campaign. Six new battles across 2 Campaigns. You can find out more about the DLC here, and you can read our review of the base game here.

Heliborne Update

Granted, it’s not a wargame per-se, but there’s something oddly captivating about Heliborne’s dedication to its subject matter. Marcello was rather taken with it, and after having taken it for a spin myself I can’t get enough of jumping into a transport helo and ferrying troops and supplies all over the place.

Logistics is a critical part of war that often gets ignored or abstracted, and it’s refreshing to play something that pushes that right to the forefront.

The game has just released its 0.96 update, which adds a new PvP map and some other small tweaks, as well as a special event. You can read the full change-log here.

New game Projects

Two new games have emerged from the depths this week:

Project Neptune seems to be a naval-simulation that wants to take on CMANO, although all we have to go on is a YouTube video, a Patreon page and the words: “Project Neptune is a community-driven, crowd-funded, run by a gaming fanatics venture to create a brand new Tactical Naval&Air Simulator worthy of the XXI century.”

We’ll let you know if anything else crops up.

Forward Line, on the other hand, has an actual Steam page you can look at. It’s more ‘strategy’ than wargame, and while it has a WW2 theme it’s not really rooted in any specific historical events. It boats the following features:

• Medium weight two player strategy game.
• No random elements. Forward Line is all skill and no luck.
• WW2 theme.
• Ruinous symmetrical warfare.
• Single player against the AI.
• Internet, LAN and Hotseat Multiplayer.

They’re looking for beta testers, so if you go to their General Discussions thread you can request a key and get involved.

That's all for this week's update, enjoy your weekends and happy gaming!

The stars have aligned again and called for an accounting of Korean War games. Really, it’s two rather terrestrial factors at work here: The Koreas have been in the news again lately thanks to a dizzying 180 degree turn in foreign policy by President Donald Trump's administration, and The Wargamer has recently run two very good guides covering the best First World War and World War II games available. It makes sense to cover the Korean War next, and now.

Unfortunately, the shortage of Korean War-themed games that I complained about here last year persists. Unlike World War II, the Korean War simply hasn’t been a popular setting for games or film. The reasons for this are open to speculation; my own view is that it’s much tougher to map the sides of the conflict onto simplified notions of 'good guys' and 'bad guys,' and that the west runs into difficult moral territory when we start talking about how the fighting came to a provisional close. Korea was a difficult, brutal, and depressing war, and the lack of a clear-cut resolution makes it unattractive as a source of American myth-creation.

All that to say this: I’ve decided to cheat heavily in creating this list. The selection of actual Korean War games is small enough that it’s hard enough to even create a list of them that are playable on modern machines, much less a list of 'the best' of those. Therefore, I’m expanding my scope to include a few categories that wouldn’t otherwise be considered. These are:

• Games about the Cold War, as long as these actually include the Korean War somehow, and
• Korean War mods and user-created scenarios for relatively well-known strategy and wargames.

Preliminary throat-clearing out of the way, it’s time to strap in. We’re in for a bumpy ride.

Full games

Theatre of War 3: Korea

Publisher: 1C Company
Released: March 24, 2011
Tags: Strategy, Cold War, RTS
Purchase:Steam

Right away, I’ll have to qualify my recommendation here. While 1C Company has made some very nearly excellent real-time strategy wargames - particularly the Assault Squad series - Theatre of War 3 can’t honestly be counted among the best of them. AI ranges from fiddly to terrible, the “dynamic” campaigns aren’t actually very interesting, and it’s riddled with the jankiness that even newer 1C titles haven’t been able to rid themselves of completely.

That said, Theatre of War 3 provides one of the vanishingly few dedicated, out-of-the-box Korean War strategy experiences available, and it added some key innovations to the 1C formula. The campaigns were non-linear and changed based on your performance and decisions, and it adopted a more squad-focused control scheme, saving you from having to manage each individual soldier as in the first Men of War. Theatre of War 3 also adds some of the important new hardware of the time, like transport helicopters, new artillery pieces, and jets. I’ve been particularly impressed with the terrain, which features steep Korean mountain ranges and rural architecture that set it apart from 1C’s WWII games.

You’ll have to be pretty forgiving with this one, particularly if you’ve gotten used to the new-fangled conveniences of Assault Squad 2, but as Korean War games go, this is one of the most focused and modern, sadly enough.

MiG Alley

Publisher: Empire Interactive
Released: November 30, 1999
Tags: Flight sim, Korean War
Purchase: Used CD-ROM, via Amazon

The late ‘90s saw several ambitious flight sims take on the Korean War: Virgin Group’s Sabre Ace: Conflict Over Korea and Rowan Software’s response, MiG Alley two years later. It was the latter game that really shone, though, with a healthy selection of aircraft, a very good flight model for its time, and not one but five dynamic campaigns. While the first four had you flying pre-planned scenarios, the fifth campaign depicts the 1951 Spring Offensive, and gives you operational control of more than a hundred aircraft involved.

In terms of roster, MiG Alley was pretty generous: you had the F-84 Thunder jet, several variants of the F-86 Sabre, the P-51 Mustang, F-80 Shooting Star, and a couple MiG-15 variants as well. They all felt distinct in the air, too, thanks to the game’s attention to detail on the individual aircraft flight models.

MiG Alley came out back when it was normal to pack 100+ page instruction manuals with flight simulators, and Rowan went the extra mile by further including not only a keyboard overlay and a booklet solely dedicated to explaining the difference between the F-86 and the MiG-15, but also a paper reproduction of an actual 1952 RAF briefing sheet.

Unfortunately, despite glowing critical reviews, MiG Alley sold abysmally. Empire Interactive shut down Rowan Software in 2001, but the source code was released so that the player community could keep updating the game. The license for the source didn’t include textures or terrain details, but you can find the rest of it over on GitHub.

Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles

Publisher: Mindscape Inc.
Released: 1996
Tags: Turn-based, top down, historic
Purchase: Free, via Abandonia

I regret the fact that I missed out on the Steel Panthers games back when they were fresh - my interest in tanks around that time was largely eaten up by a ridiculous little sci-fi game called Command & Conquer. But even though I skipped over SSI’s hex-based armor classics at the time, their influence can still be felt today. Matrix Games bought the rights to Steel Panthers and released Steel Panthers: World at War in 2000, and the Strategic Simulations DNA runs through modern titles like Order of Battle.

Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles covers 20th century conflict from 1950-2000, and it includes several Korean War scenarios. The Battle of Chongju is represented, there are two scenarios for the Battle of Chosin, and one each for Pork Chop Hill and Bunker Hill.

For games that are now old enough to order their own cocktails, the Steel Panther games hold up surprisingly well, provided you’re willing to put up with the process of getting them running on DOSBox or a similar emulator.

MacArthur's War: Battles for Korea

Publisher: Strategic Studies Group
Released: 1988
Tags: Top down, turn based, historic
Purchase: Play for free at Archive.org

This one is notable for its wildly ambitious scope way back in 1988 - imagine, thirty years ago, the hardware we had available and the moxie it would have taken to try to make a fully-functioning tabletop wargame work on that. MacArthur’s War: Battles for Korea pretty much pulls it off, recreating the cardboard counters and colorful maps of tabletop wargaming for Commodore 64.

I didn’t play this at the time, since I was eight years old and was still trying to figure out how to play the dreadful Ghostbusters game that appeared on the Atari 2600. But fortunately, MacArthur’s War has been saved and made available by the Internet Archive, and you can play it right in your web browser, free of charge.

I’ll confess I haven’t had much luck with it - I haven’t been able to turn up the original documentation, and the tinyscreen resolutions and dinky RAM chips of the era made abbreviations vital. That means it’s pretty tough to decipher what your commands are, or how things like turn order and combat resolution work.

But just looking at the thing as a wargamer three full decades later, it’s impossible not to be impressed by MacArthur’s War, mysterious as it is. Units are grouped into historic regiments, you have accurate military symbols for infantry and armor divisions, and several historic scenarios to choose from. It’s tremendously advanced for its time, and I’m keen to keep poking at it until I can figure out how it works.

Twilight Struggle

Publisher: Asmodee Digital
Released: April 13, 2016
Tags: Board game, strategy, simulation, Cold War
Purchase:Steam, Mobile, or the tabletop version via Amazon

The Korean War was a bloody, horrible three-year conflict, but it wound up being just one of the many proxy wars that erupted at friction points between the two global superpowers who found themselves locked in the Cold War for most of the second half of the twentieth century. Twilight Struggle is a game about the nightmarishly complex web of relationships and the razor-thin balance that existed between the U.S.-led West and the U.S.S.R., and while very little of it deals with the Korean War as a conflict, it’s a fantastic game that provides some valuable context.

The best way to play Twilight Struggle is with a friend, on a tabletop, but with the tabletop retailing for more than $100, the more affordable Steam version (or the even more affordable tablet version) might be a good way to see if it’s up your alley. The digital version also serves as a perfect way to learn the game, and you’ll be able to drop straight into the traditional experience once you’ve played a couple games on the computer.

There’s little I could add to what Matt Thrower has already written on Twilight Struggle, so I’ll point you to his glowing review here at The Wargamer, and to his discussion about the game with Shut Up & Sit Down’s Quentin Smith. As Twilight Struggle is Matt’s favorite game, he’s welcome to do the heavy lifting on explaining how it works and why it’s good. But one element of Twilight Struggle that Matt highlights in both pieces is the game’s card draught system, which I think is relevant here. Both players draw cards and conceal them from each other, making Twilight Struggle a game about asymmetric information. That’s something that traditional wargames don’t often do very well, but it’s arguably the most important driving element of the Cold War and abstracting it to a simple mechanic like a hand of cards is very clever indeed.

User-created mods and scenarios

In the interest of time and space, I’ll go quickly through a few Korean War mods and scenarios available. Several total conversion projects focused on the Korean War have launched, but most of these have petered out before releasing a final version. But there are enough bits and pieces out there to get started. It all depends on what you want to accomplish.

If you own The Operational Art of War IV (review), you’ve got the Korea as the setting for its starter scenario. It takes some doing, but scenarios built for previous TOAW titles, as well as Alternate Wars, can be converted to work in the latest software. Matrix forums user CaptainKoloth found an Alternate Wars Operation Chromite scenario, recreating the landing at Incheon, and updated it for TOAW4, which you can find here. It’s included in a massive pack of 415 old scenarios converted for use in TOAW3 available from The Operational Art of War Legacy Project, courtesy of Matrix forum user Ryan Crierie.

For John Tiller’s Campaign Series, forums veteran Mike “Warhorse” Amos has a Korean War mod that he’s been updating for years, now in version 2.02. You can find the download link in this post.

There are several Korean War mods for the Men of War series,but they’re all a bit half-baked in one way or another. You can try Korean War 1950-1953 for the original Men of War, or Korea 1953 v.0.9 for Assault Squad 2. Korea war (the Forgotten war) [sic] for Assault Squad has gotten a little attention on YouTube, but there’s very little to it and the project hasn’t been updated since 2012.

ArmA 3 players are in pretty good shape here. There’s the Korean War mod by JackAttackJRMV. Right now, it’s just adding U.S. Marines and North Korean Army factions and vehicles to the game, but he has a host of additional features on the 'planned' list, including ROK forces, PRC forces, a new map, plus the MiG-15 and F-86 fighters. Jack recommends installing the Korean War Factions mod by jarrad96, which adds period-accurate uniforms and gear. Both these mods require subscribing to several others in the Steam Workshop, but Steam will give you a handy list of links to go through whenever you’re missing any required components. Of course, if you’re just browsing and don’t feel like installing several gigabytes worth of mods, you can use the Get to da Choppa mod (requires Apex) and pop on the theme from M*A*S*H while you fly around Altis in a Bell 47.

And that about wraps things up for our list of Korean War games. Researching this piece, I found that other writers have been complaining about the lack of games - of any genre - dealing with the Korean War for the full 30 years represented here, and the situation is unlikely to change any time soon.

If you have a favorite Korean War game, mod, or scenario that we've missed, please be sure to let us know in the comments.

Eugen Systems’ Steel Division: Normandy '44 can be hard on a new player, something that gets worse with every patch. With an ever-increasing line up of arcane vehicles which require expert knowledge to even recognise, Steel Division pulls no punches. To make matters worse, the number of different play styles available means that knowing which division does what well defines how you approach each battle. Is it better to hold off early on against the 3. Fallschirmjager? Or should I push as fast and as hard possible from the moment the game starts?

Despite its learning curve, Steel Division is one of our favourite WW2 wargames. You should check out the others.

This guide aims to, very quickly and very simply, tell you what each division in the game does, what general strengths it has, what units to watch out for, and obvious weaknesses. Whilst every division arguably deserves a guide specific to them, we’re interested in the big picture here.

Allied Divisions

General comments: As a rule, Allied Divisions have large numbers of thinly armoured tanks, some packing a bigger punch than others. Their infantry generally comes off worse in a long range firefight, but the generous support options available to them can even the odds. Allied divisions want to gain an advantage in the early phases before the Axis big-hitters come out. Their aircraft are usually better, but if they do lose the air war the allies will suffer heavily from axis ground attack aircraft as their air defences are weaker than their Axis counterparts. Seizing the initiative from the first encounter and keeping it is the name of the game here.

US 3rd Armored

Strengths: Shermans, endless Shermans. Endless Airpower. Surprisingly powerful AA (because every vehicle has a .50 machine gun).

Weaknesses: Expensive but only adequate infantry. Shermans are thinly armoured, and support vehicles means that you are often in for a hard time in phase C.

Beware: Sherman Jumbo, it will bounce almost anything. M16 AA vehicles that shoot down a surprising number of aircraft for what they are.

Commonwealth 15th (Scottish) Division

Strengths: A very well-balanced deck. A good choice for a beginner with every unit available in some form. Good veteran infantry, backed by effective armour. Rounded out by good airpower and artillery.

Weaknesses: If the division loses its relatively meagre (and thinly armoured) supply of tanks, late Axis armour can cause real problems.

Beware: Churchills, the AVRE and Crocodile are devastating to anything they see that’s not a vehicle.

US 2nd Infantry Division

Strengths: Infantry, endless infantry. Beware phase A Ranger units especially. This is coupled with endless artillery – 12 tubes of 105mm howitzers can lay waste to any area of the map the player doesn’t like.

Weaknesses: Armour is very poor. 75mm armed Shermans do not go far in phase C. US anti-tank weapons aren’t much either.

Beware: Rangers! And the oncoming artillery storm.

Commonwealth 3rd Canadian Division

Strengths: Strong infantry; Stormtroopers are terrific for early game pushes. Good artillery support and effective anti-tank weapons.

Weaknesses: Suffers in open warfare, limited armoured support, thin skinned tank destroyers.

Beware: Wasps – a Bren Carrier outfitted with a flamethrower that will clear any building it sees.

Polish 1. Pancerna Division

Strengths: Large quantities of fast armour and reconnaissance.

Weaknesses: Very ordinary infantry. Pitiful airpower that is good only for laughs if it actually manages to achieve something.

Beware: Early game pushes, Stuarts and Cromwells can be very dangerous.

Commonwealth 6th Airborne Division

Strengths: Strong veteran infantry, exceptional air support. Good artillery observers into the bargain, if you want a block of buildings levelled, bring these guys in. This division loves a city fight.

Weaknesses: Limited armour and anti-tank weapons. Vulnerable without its airpower.

Beware: Mosquito Pathfinder, setting fire to the road your forces are going down really puts a crimp in any plan to get to a town before the airborne does. Naval artillery.

US 4th Armored Division

Strengths: The faster, shootier cousin of the 3rd Armored. Less Shermans but they’ve been replaced by Hellcats.

Weaknesses: Extremely thin skinned armour, concerted pushes by heavy armour will break this glass cannon.

Beware: Hellcats, faster than a speeding greyhound, more stopping power than a locomotive (we haven’t tried the tall buildings bit yet). The B-26 Marauder with its multiple .50 calibre machine guns can give thin skinned axis vehicles an incredibly bad day.

French Demi-Brigade SAS

Strengths: 3 distinct phases of strong infantry. Strong armour arrives in phase C. Very powerful air support. A surprising number of tricks up its sleeve as well.

Weaknesses: Very slow start. Artillery, armor and infantry support is very lacking.

Beware: FFI Partisans; A Panzerfaust works both ways. FFI Jagdpanzer IV, the most effective way to shut down any push against this division for all of phase A.

Allied 1st Special Service Brigade

Strengths: Veteran infantry, thousands of 'em. Plentiful phase A armour and infantry support vehicles.

Weaknesses: Pitiful late game armour. Very little anti-tank weaponry that isn’t handheld (and therefore very squishy). Poor early game artillery. Airpower seems strong but suffers against Axis fighters.

Beware: Morris LRC OP, because there’s not much that beats unloading 960 rockets into the countryside. Seafire L.III: they might be just a recon aircraft, but they pack a decent amount of weapons into the bargain.

Commonwealth Guards Armoured Division

Strengths: Plentiful armour, much of which has a chance of knocking out the majority of what it’ll face. Veteran air support that makes up for in quality what it lacks in quantity.

Weaknesses: Thin skinned and non-veteran tanks, very average infantry.

Beware: The amount of Fireflies this deck can bring is ridiculous. Its Tempests are also some of the best aircraft in Steel Division.

US 101st Airborne Division

Strengths: Vast quantities of well-armed infantry. Ridiculous amounts of air support. Not bad tank destroyers late game either.

Weaknesses: Infantry is relatively green. Tanks suffer heavily in the late game. Artillery is adequate but will suffer against the more artillery orientated German decks.

Beware: All that airpower.

French 2e Blindee Division

Strengths: Very powerful & fast moving early game. Plentiful armour and tank destroyers. Veteran infantry in the early game. Light vehicles and armoured cars, if played well, can be very dangerous when used in a push.

Weaknesses: Thin skinned armour, infantry are few in number in all phases.

Beware: The early game. This unit can run amok given half a chance. Its early game infantry are hard as nails.

Commonwealth 7th Armoured Division

Strengths: Large quantities of veteran armour and infantry. Its air power, if not dealt with, can be extremely dangerous.

Weaknesses: Very expensive infantry and armour. The tanks especially are very vulnerable. Its artillery is not much to write home about. Airpower at a disadvantage in a dogfight.

Beware: All those Fireflies.

US 1st Infantry Division

Strengths: Vast quantities of veteran infantry and assault infantry. Infantry support of all kinds is very dangerous. Artillery is plentiful and varied, including phase A rocket artillery observers.

Weaknesses: Extremely lacking armour. No tank destroyers. Bazookas and anti-tank guns will run into issues with heavier axis armour.

Beware: All that infantry. Early on, anything the division wants it can take. Its Phase A infantry support vehicles will make the infantry’s job all the easier.

Axis Divisions

General Comments: Axis Divisions are often far more specialised than Allied divisions: being very good a specific ‘thing’ but falling far short in areas that don’t come within that strategy. In this regard, a jack of all trades Axis deck is difficult to identify. Axis armour, of course, is some of the toughest in the game, and a King Tiger on the attack or the defence is a fearsome weapon.

Axis infantry is strong and, with their long-range firepower thanks to the omnipresent MG-42s, extremely dangerous. Their airpower depends heavily on the player. Played well it is very dangerous thanks to veteran pilots and powerful armaments, even despite their aircraft as a rule being slower than allied fighters. Played poorly and the Axis player will find themselves out of aircraft and under constant air attack. Axis air defences, one of their strong points, can only go so far to alleviate this, especially if the enemy brings the artillery.

German 91. Luftlande Division

Strengths: Very strong early game infantry. Reconnaissance infantry are some of the best in the game. Large amount of airpower and eclectic mix of artillery.

Weaknesses: Rapid decline in strength of infantry. Limited armour selection consisting of outdated French Vehicles and relatively modern assault guns. Artillery suffers against Allied counter-battery fire.

Beware: The recon infantry, especially the ones packing Panzershreks, no hedgerow is safe. The HS 129 B3, a tank buster that will kill almost any enemy vehicle it comes across from the right position. Hide your armour.

German 12. SS-Panzer Division

Strengths: Deadly armour that will be a match for anything the Allies can bring out. A large variety of armoured artillery, ranging from mortars to rockets. A dangerous and overlooked anti-tank section.

Weaknesses: Expensive infantry in only 'reasonable' quantities. Expensive armour that makes every loss hurt all the more. Airpower limited to three choices. Every loss here counts as well.

Beware: The phase A Firefly will shut down any vehicle push made by the allies in that phase. Panthers, Tigers and Wittman round things out. The rocket artillery can really mess up anti-tank weapons.

German 3. Fallschirmjager Division

Strengths: Extremely powerful infantry, the equal of anything the allies can bring. Dangerous early game armour that can be tricky to deal with. A very powerful air force that can easily wrest air superiority from the allies. Their AA screen, whilst limited, brings a lot of FlaK 88s.

Weaknesses: A slow decline in infantry effectiveness as the game progresses. Relatively weak armour and a merely adequate artillery tab.

Beware: Veteran axis pilots, their aircraft will shoot down anything they can reach. Early game infantry are to be feared.

German 17. SS-Panzergrenadier Division

Strengths: Decent numbers of infantry including many varieties of specialised assault infantry. An artillery line up that includes a ridiculous amount of rocket artillery. A variety of large calibre anti-tank guns and light vehicles. AA defences are equally varied.

Weaknesses: Infantry can suffer against a stronger infantry deck. The armour isn’t much to write home about, being more assault guns and the occasional tank. The artillery chews through supplies like nothing else and requires a lot of logistics vehicles. Rockets tend to get easily hit by counter-battery fire.

Beware: All the rocket artillery, especially the 300mm varieties. The specialist infantry can be very dangerous if used properly.

German 21. Panzer Division

Strengths: Vast quantities of armour in all phases, ranging from French cast offs and captured Shermans to King Tigers. Good armoured car selection and an impressive amount of (very odd) artillery pieces.

Weaknesses: Very, very limited infantry. Do not take this deck if a friendly player is using a similarly poorly equipped armoured deck. You will be thrashed as your infantry are rolled over by endless allied infantry and 'good enough' armour. Expensive armour and logistics heavy specialist artillery . Limited (if veteran) airpower.

Beware: King Tigers. All that scary rocket artillery.

German 352. Infanterie Division

Strengths: Endless quantities of budget infantry. Ridiculous amounts of AA and artillery (including some of the longest ranged pieces in the game). All of this is rounded out by extremely deadly tank destroyers.

Weaknesses: Very budget infantry. These guys will need plentiful support to hold a coherent line. Limited armoured support with assault guns the best available.

Beware: All the 88s! This deck can bring a lot of them. Jagdpanthers will destroy just about any allied tank without breaking a sweat.

German 716. Infanterie Division

Strengths: Endless quantities of budget infantry, but they get better as the game goes on. Even more ridiculous quantities of AA. Artillery pieces that look like something out of Warhammer 40,000 round things out. The veteran air power isn’t bad either.

Weaknesses: Poor armoured support, reconnaissance infantry is quite limited. Artillery and AA vulnerable to enemy artillery fire.

Beware: All the 88s! If you thought the last deck was bad… The Flammpanzer B2(f) makes for a terrific support vehicle early on – whenever it actually reaches the frontline.

German Panzer-Lehr

Strengths: Very strong armoured cars, a massive armour tab with all the Tigers even the most dedicated Wehraboo could wish for. This deck lives for phase C.

Weaknesses: Everything else. Infantry is poor, AA and artillery is limited. Aircraft are few and everything is expensive. You will need to be carried in the early game.

Beware: The Tigers.

German 9. Panzer Division

Strengths: Slightly more infantry (for once) than your standard armoured deck. An eclectic mix of vehicles, ranging from some nifty phase A recce options all the way up to Tigers.

Weaknesses: Most of the tabs are simply 'average'. Airpower is average, AA is average, Artillery is limited AND average. None of it is necessarily bad however. The armour, as usual, is very expensive. So is the infantry, though the halftracks they come in are pretty nifty.

Beware: The Tigers and/or the endless waves of Panzer IVs. The infantry will put up a stronger fight than one might expect.

German 116. Panzer Division

Strengths: A very strong phase A, with large quantities of armoured cars backed by a very strong selection of veteran tanks. A very dangerous rush deck.

Weaknesses: Infantry is extremely limited in the early game. The early game armour advantage is good, but things change in the late game with the formation becoming merely a mid-tier armour unit with none of the fancy things like Tigers. Likewise the artillery is expensive and not overly numerous.

Beware: The early game vehicle rush.

German 2. Panzer Division

Strengths: Another strong phase A division. Armoured cars are good for charging around wreaking havoc, and are veterans too. A wide array of 'eclectic' specialist vehicles. A larger selection of infantry than we’re used to with panzer divisions. A large selection of veteran tanks.

Weaknesses: Very expensive infantry; those halftracks take their toll. AA selection is good but you have few slots to put them in, same with the artillery.

Beware: Veteran Panthers. The Borgward IV, there’s nothing like saying hello to the enemy with half a ton of explosive.

German 16. Luftwaffe Division

Strengths: Hordes of throwaway infantry, mountains of anti-tank guns and an endless supply of AA defences. The veteran 88s are to be feared.

Weaknesses: The throwaway infantry, while numerous has little to redeem them except a few selections that come with panzerfausts. Artillery is thoroughly ordinary and the airpower, whilst plentiful, has no dedicated fighters. Armoured support is the standard set of French castoffs and assault guns. Recon is equally ordinary.

Beware: The endless veteran 88s – keep your airforce at home for this one.

German Festung Gross-Paris

Strengths: A Frankenstein’s monster of a division. Endless quantities of infantry and armour. Some of these are pretty good too. Tigers and plentiful infantry is a relatively rare combination. Everything else comes in decent quantities as well.

Weaknesses: Poor quality air power, antiquated French models do not cut it against Mustangs. Artillery is limited, as is recce infantry.

Beware: The Tigers and the sheer amount and variety of stuff this division can chuck at you.

German 1. SS-Panzer Division

Strengths: A very dangerous variety of veteran armour. An impressive selection of veteran infantry as well. The recce options may be some of the best available in the game.

Weaknesses: Infantry comes in relatively small amounts. Its airpower, whilst good, lacks fighters. Almost everything it can buy is expensive.

Beware: All this those veteran tanks! The infantry will put up a stiff fight as well. Veteran Pumas are a menace in phase A.

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It should be emphasised that every division in Steel Division is vastly more complex than the very short summaries I have given them here. However, I hope that the information will at least provide the neophyte with at least some small idea of what each divisions does - as well as saving you from some nasty surprises along the way!

Our French doppelgänger Wargamer.fr has been posting about Battlefront’s Combat Mission series today. Most of what they’ve reported on has been stuff we covered a few weeks ago, but that's not the point. It's all in french, anyway.

What's cool is that they’ve managed to dig up some shiny new screenshots that we didn’t see before. We'll post some below, but you can see the full gallery on the respective WGFR articles.

Combat Mission Shock Force 2 (Article)

Combat Mission Red Thunder (Article)

Combat Mission Fortress Italy - Rome to Victory (Article)

Are you excited for the new Combat Mission projects, or have you moved on to other series?

What do you get when you take a very popular, computer based naval warfare game, then change all the oceans to the forests and fields of 1944 Western Europe, and all the ships to tanks that fought in this same environment? What you get is Mythical City Games new $19.99 PC offering, Battle Fleet Ground Assault (or for this review BFGA).

And like their World War II naval game, Battlefleet 2, the game is quite popular and has attracted a pretty large following, with comments like“Just plain fun!” gracing the game’s Steam page. So, when the boss asked me to find out why, I jumped at the opportunity.

Here’s the intel report.

Tech Specs

According to Steam this game should run well on low end machines, but I did not find this the case. The minimum specs are Win 7 SP1 or later, Core 2 duo 2.4 MHZ processor, 2 gigs of RAM, a 512 MB video card, Direct X 9.0 and 500 MB of hard drive space. I usually do reviews on my wife’s Lenovo work station, which is low end but certainly exceeds these minimum requirements. The game ran very slow and choppy, particularly the mouse and the delay between click and action was noticeable. On the other hand, on my rig (the one NASA rents to move the International Space Station), no problem. Here we are talking about a Quad 4.2 MHZ processor, 32 GB RAM, 4 TB hard drive space, high end NVIDEA . . . well, you get the picture. The game ran as smooth as silk and faster than the Millennium Falcon on the Kessel Run. I've yet to have a crash and installation was a snap.

The game uses 3D graphics for all its tactical engagements, and while not absolutely top of the line (the anti-aliasing department especially), they are quite good and more than hold their own against the competition. A comparison of the actual real estate and buildings reminded me a lot of the quality and style of Matrix Scourge of War Waterloo, and that’s pretty darn good. The tank models are especially well defined, and – saints be praised – are in the proper coloring and insignia for this stage of the war. This means no Panzers painted grey, but rather tan with various types of forest green and rust brown mottled camouflage. Shermans do not have some funky red or blue stripe for identification as to which side they are on. Explosions look real and I liked seeing each shot whip down range until impact. I’ve seen real tanks on the firing range, and yes, you can really see the round fly towards the target.

Campaign Configurations

The game offers several options of going right into tank on tank combat, to include Quick Battles where the AI chooses everything for you or Custom Battles where you choose the turf (say Normandy), sides (US, British or German) and the number and type of tanks deployed (bought from a list using an initial allocation of points), although some vehicles are locked out until you win a few rounds. However, the heart of the game seems to be a simple campaign system, emphasis on “simple.”

Players choose one of the three combatants, then are presented with a map of 1944 Western Europe around or after the 6th June D-Day Invasion. The map is subdivided into various areas each with a national icon that shows the number of tanks (if any) in the area, the number of transports (if any), the number of airstrikes available (if any) and the number of industrial points produced (wait for it . . . if any). These latter points are pooled for your army to produced and purchase new tanks, but again some vehicles are locked out until you start winning tactical battles. The German Panther is noteworthy here.

To conquer one of these territories, and thus rob the enemy of industrial points and so on, the player simply moves an icon from one of his areas into an adjacent unfriendly area. If both sides’ icons show tanks, the player is immediately transferred to a battle map representing typical terrain of the region and tactical combat begins. For example, if the US invades Norway and its icon shows five tanks, there will be five tank models positioned in the map. If his German opponent shows six tanks, then six tanks models will be deployed. The AI does this for the player and the force is always a mixture of vehicles plus transports, not five British Churchill’s for example. Oddly, there are only tanks, no infantry anything in the game.

If you win this 3D slug out, you capture the enemy’s territory and decrease his industrial capacity. For your side, tanks may be replaced or repaired using your own industrial points compiled at army level. Its actually simpler than described here, and while it may not be very realistic, it works.

Tank on Tank

When you get to the battle map in BFGA, although your forces are positioned and visible on the map, the enemies are not. Instead you have to be within sighting range and have an unobstructed line of sight to the vehicle before it pops up on the map, normally in the worst location imaginable for the player. This can be a real challenge as some battles, seem to take place at night, dusk or dawn. Thermal scopes are not in vogue.

BFGA uses an integrated, alternating turn sequence, which exposes the game’s naval heritage. Assume you are the Germans in Southern France and your force consists of two Panzer IV Js, two Panzer IIIs and a Sturmgeschutze III, while your Commonwealth foe brings two Churchill’s, a Crusader and two Stuarts to oppose you. At the bottom of the screen you’ll find a bar with counters displaying silhouette icons (some with the wrong image, but this was a Beta) listed in order of their XPs, which I assume are some kind of activity points. The tank with the highest number of XPs goes first, the one with the second highest number second and so on. Thus, in a single turn, normally one of 25, a British Churchill (thick hided beast) could start, followed by a Panzer IV H, then another, then a Cromwell, then a Stuart, then two Panzer IIIs and so on. A tank must complete all its actions before the next tank begins.

And there are only two actions – Move and Fire. A single tank may either move twice, or move once and fire, the latter action allowing for two rounds down range. If movement is picked, a large movement circle is dropped on the tank and all the player does is click on a point within the circle for the vehicle to move to. It will do so automatically, the AI maneuvering it around obstacles and the like. At the end, the tank gets a free change of facing to boot. When firing, a similar targeting circle is dropped divided into distances of 100 something. Firing the vehicle is done with a compass like device to draw a straight line to the target. The player then chooses AP (Armor Piercing) of HE (High Explosive), and then the amount of distance keyed elevation power to put behind his round. Finally, one click, and “BANG,” shot out and its quite possible you could overshoot or undershoot your target. Getting the hang of eyeballing the range is really one of the most distinctive features of the game.

Its also possible while moving to acquire 'ammo crates' that convey some sort of bonus in the form of a Strategy Card. I nabbed two, both allowing me to pick one tank for upgraded gun optics, thus dividing the targeting circle into distances of 50 vice 100. Its kinda hokey and Doom like, but great for a laugh.

Aftermath

I’ve often said there are WARgames and warGAMES, but with BFGA we seem to have a hybrid. The actual tanks themselves seem well presented, both visually and in the accuracy department, but otherwise, the game is about historically realistic as a Brussels Sprout. But I really, REALLY like the way the game plays, particularly hidden movement, the integrated, alternating turn sequence and the range finding process. The latter really impressed upon me the difficulties of engagement without auto-laser range finders.

So yes, “It’s just plain fun!” and after games where brain cell melting is an integral part of play, this is exactly what you need. Its not that expensive, so I’d recommend you give it a shot. And it was intriguing enough to me that I went back and picked up the naval edition for $14.99. Just take the game for what it is and have a blast.

We’ve been recovering from Storm E3 this week, so not a lot ‘new’ has occurred in war game town – I’ve been waiting for the Steam sale to start (more below) so I can pick up some games on the cheap, and we’ve been doing some more deep dives and lists for you. Now it’s the weekend, and I imagine you’ll want to get back to your favourite past time, so we won’t keep you.

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

Matrix Games / Slitherine

Only two items of note this week. First up; Scourge of War: Waterloo has been updated to V 1.03. The changes mainly target the Tactical AI, with some Campaign AI tweaks and a range of improvements and balance changes. There’s a special procedure you need to follow if you need to restart a saved multiplayer game. You can find out more about it and the full change log here.

Secondly, Slitherine and Matrix have returned to Fanatical with another impressive bundle of war games. For as little at £1.29, you can get up to £140 worth of games. The bundle breaks down as follows:

• Tier 1 (£1.29): Battle of the Bulge, Time of Fury& Pride of Nations
• Tier 2 (£2.69): The above, plus Alea Jacta Est, Last Days of Old Earth, Hell and Advanced Tactics Gold
• Tier 3 (£4.89): The above, plus Pandora: First Contact

Tier 2 seems to be the sweet-spot. Pandora was an interesting Sci-fi 4X war game, but we imagine it might get over shadowed by Proxy’s upcoming 40K/4X game, Gladius: Relics of War, which releases next month.

Holdfast Adds Prussians

Holdfast: Nations at War just dropped a huge update. The bulk of the changes revolve around adding the game’s first new faction, the Prussians. These plucky Germans were integral to the Waterloo campaign, and its good to see them finally join the fray.

Other changes include interactable objects, like doors, a game engine upgrade to improve melee combat, two new maps and a redesigned spawn interface. That’s just the tip of the iceberg, however – if you want to find out the full extent of the update, we suggest you check out the full change log here.

Steam Summer Sale

In case you hadn’t noticed by now, Steam’s ‘Summer Sale’ event is now on – one of several seasonal discount events, you can pick up a variety of games at often ridiculous (or at the very least, unprecedented) discount levels.

A cursory glance at the Steam Store using ‘wargames’ as a search term reveals plenty of healthy discounts. To name but a few:

• Field of Glory II (34%)
• Cold Waters (30%)
• Ultimate General Civil War (65%)
• Dominions 5 (25%)
• Atlantic Fleet (30%)
• ArmA 3: Apex (66%)

Everyone’s getting involved, including Matrix Games and the independent wargame developers. Don’t forget to check out our lists to see if there’s anything you want to pick up on the cheap:

• Best WW2 Games
• Best WW1 Games
• Best Naval Games
• Hearts of Iron 4 DLC Guide
• Arma 3 DLC Guide

Let us know if you end up buying anything!

Military Operations: Benchmark Tool

Remember that crazy cool Military Operations project we talked about before? Well the developer has finally released the Benchmark Tool that will allow you to test your rig’s capabilities. This test is converted into a ‘score’ which is posted to a leaderboard they’ve set up.

Be warned – it needs at least 3GB of VRAM on the graphics card to run and is a 20GB download. I downloaded it and the program rejected me, like all the women in my life. We’ve got Bill Gray on the case who sports a respectable 4GB of VRAM on his own graphics card. Look out for a write-up next week. You can read more about the benchmark itself here.

That's all for this week's round-up - enjoy your weekends!

Fanatical must be really trying to drive the business at the moment. No sooner did we report on an interesting Matrix Wargames bundle, another one has appeared from the bocage.

For the price of a ‘bit much for what it is’ sandwich (£3.59) you not only get Battle Academy 1 and its legions of DLC, but you also get Battle Academy 2 and the Battle for Kursk add-on. If for some reason you only wanted the first game, you only need to pay £1.39.

Even the Steam Summer Sale, as good as that tends to get, is selling BA2 alone for £7.49. I believe the scientific terms for this sales event is “a steal”.

Battle Academy and Battle Academy 2 are considered to be fine examples of WW2 turn-based tactical wargaming. The first game was released (under the name ‘Battlefield Academy’, but they got into hot water with EA on that one) way back in 2010 and its sequel was released I 2014.

Coverage on Wargamer has been a bit spotty across the various releases and DLCS, although you can read our review of Battle Academy 2 if you want to find out what we thought.

Let us know if you end up picking it up – we know the Colonel already has!

You know the Apocalypse is just around the corner when the Boss asks the tabletop guy to look at some gaming software because he has the only rig powerful enough to do it. In this case the culprit is a Dutch design for a World War II operational to RTS tactical level game called Military Operations Benchmark (or MOB). The last word refers to the fact that this free download is actually not a playable game, but a demo that puts your graphics processing unit (GPU) through some very heavy paces to see if it will run the thing, adding your score to a Steam leaderboard. (I checked, Bill ranks #157 -ED)

Then the software does a short video culminating in allowing you to zoom around the battlefield on 17 May 1940 as the Germans face off against the French and Belgians (the BEF being on the way) in the battle for France.

The entire concept for this game seems to be the eventual mapping of the planet during World War II for play. Participants become army and corps commanders and manage their forces from that level, concerning themselves with things like planning and logistics. However, the game then allows you to zoom down to the tread level to directly supervise, say, a company of Pzkw III’s as they saunter through the Ardennes. Control at this level is somewhat limited, but every vehicle (and yes, with infantry this time) is represented on a one to one scale. Here we are talking about tanks, Zundap motorcycles with side cars, artillery pieces with limbers and ammo trains, even staff limos for the generals.

Well my rig will run the game, scoring around 3200 points the first time I ran it, then around 2600 the second time. It’s a hog, so here is how much digital horse power you’ll need.

Tech Specs

From the start MOB impressed me as being unique (I was going to use the word “quirky”), but it is after all somewhat of a beta minus right now. Downloading from Steam is very slooooooow, in part because the game sizes out at 25 gigs. For comparison, a Hollywood History game like the recent Total War tome Thrones of Britannia weighs in at 30 gigs, and a more serious wargame like Matrix’ Pike & Shot Campaigns a mere 500 megabytes. Oh, and BTW, because this is more a non-playable demo, you will have to hunt to find it in your online library, because the Valve folks lists it under 'Other Software' and not 'Games.'

The actual specs for this game are pretty impressive. Minimum requirements are Windows 7 + 64 bit (Windows 10 64 bit here), an Intel or AMD Quad processor (AMD Quad Core 3.5 HHZ to 4.2 MHZ in Turbo), 8 gigabytes RAM (my hardware has 32) and 25 gigs of hard drive space as noted before. The big thing, however, seems to be the video card which demand three gigs of video RAM, and a graphics processor that will support two TFLOPS (as in two trillion floating point operations per second), Open GL 4.3 and Open CL 1.2. My video card is an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (EVGA), specs Base Clock: 1354 MHz / Boost Clock: 1468 MHz; Memory Detail: 4096MB GDDR5. With a designation that long, it had better support these specs, and seems to.

So ready to go right? Not so much. As much as I tried, I could not get the game to run directly off Steam without getting a critical error message that stopped loading. Yet, on the Military Operations HQ Website, there is a small frame announcing the availability of MOB and a button to click on to download from Steam. Click on it, and it will immediately start the game you’ve already installed from Steam and does so effortlessly, without any issues and as smooth as silk. Like I almost said, “quirky,” but off we go.

Into the Breach

Before you ever see the battlefield, the METIS simulation technology setup routine will take you through a number of steps to initialize the game, test your video hardware, render and process graphics and so on. All of this is quite slow, and if my smart watch is correct, we’re talking about a good five minutes each. At the end of the process you will be presented with a screen display of six charts showing how well or bad your graphics card did in the intense testing phase. A final score is also given and posted to the Leader’s Battle Board on Steam. Then the game starts in earnest with a splash screen and four buttons at the bottom. It seems if you don’t do anything within a certain time the game takes you on a whirlwind tour of Europe at the beginning of the 1940 campaign in France, starting from a global view down to a continental and national view where icons for various Allied and German headquarters begin to float above the landscape. The tour continues down to the individual tank level where trees, wheat fields, individual buildings and long convoys of troops moving into position become visible. You really don’t have to do anything but sit back and enjoy the show.

However, if you had clicked on the ROAM button back on the splash page, you could then conduct the tour yourself, going to different portions of the campaign area and so on. Control for doing so is a combination of mouse and keyboard, with arrow keys moving things left and right, the mouse scroll button for zooming and the right mouse button for tilting and spinning the screen. As you move from operational down to the low tactical level, mouse-controlled speed becomes slower and slower. Clicking on a headquarters activates it and then you can see all sorts of things such as area of deployment while several common military map symbols delineate lines of contact and axis of advance. There are only four buttons at the bottom of the screen, and they allow you to change icon appearance, etc., while the question mark button at the lower left brings up the command hierarchy of whatever unit you activated. This says to me that while you can control a company of French Char B-1 bis and chunk a round down range, the game is mostly played by issuing orders to subordinate commands, only intervening when absolutely necessary.

The graphics are a mixed bag. As far as terrain is concerned, the images are very geometric and angular, with many forests looking similar to the design style I’ve seen in games like Matrix Field of Glory 2. They are also non-descript. A town for example, has buildings with the correct outline, but no detail. In other words, there is no siding, no windows or doors and no shingles on the roof. From a distance this actually eyeballs pretty well as small towns and villages look the way they should and often displayed top down on military maps.

Vehicles are quite nice, however, and very accurately rendered both in composition and paint scheme. French tanks, for example are all properly camouflaged in the wavy tan/green/chocolate brown pattern that has captivated the miniature wargaming set. Troop transports (in other words, trucks) are also quite nicely done as opposed to the after thought appearance found in many computer games. MOB also includes a full complement of not only artillery pieces, but their limbers as well and I just love the Mercedes and Renault staff limos. Yet even here, the graphics fall short of the very high quality you might find in a Steel Division 44, as the images too rely on harsh edged geometry that has little to no anti-aliasing. Thus, the main drive wheel on a Pzkw IV is not really circular, but actually a pentacontagon (50 sided, but I bet you knew that, right?).

Overall the thing to remember here is that you are allowed to explore and look around, but not really play anything. While that concept might not appeal to some, I will admit I took away at least one thing positive from my experience. I was dumbfounded as to how hard it was to locate military units on the battlefield when displayed one to one, in scale and properly portioned on a battlefield as vast as it was in 1940. While most gamers are used to seeing a counter or highlighted marker that easily identifies whomever, this software plays it like it really was and really is today. The military units are so small as to look like ants from above, and easily missed if you don’t keep a good eye out. The space between fighting formations is wide, deep and thoroughly vacant. As a retired colonel, I know because I’ve been there, so to speak.

End of Day Retreat

It's a bit early to be talking about recommendations; MilOps is, after all, a work in progress so one has no way of knowing what will change between now and release. There is also no way of knowing what the final hardware requirements will be (there was talk of optimising for 2GB Gfx cards though) or how much the game will eventually cost. For now, the best thing to say is that the benchmark tool hints at a diamond in the rough, albeit a very promising one. I declare it promising because I’ve rarely seen a game so ambitious in its scope and depth as this one, something the proverbial uber-Grog will unquestionably love. So, if the designers pull off what they intend, the drinks are on me.

Military Operations: Benchmark is available now on Steam for free. The final game currently has no release date.

We return with more games and their compatibility with modern systems. Previously with volume I and volume II, we established that many classic wargames can be remedied with some virtual tinkering. Much better than hitting the computer with a hammer!

In case you missed it, we recently published a list of the best Korean War games, check it out!

This series continues to serve the purpose of taking a look at classic wargames, and ensuring that each game is still playable through a step by step guide. Whether it be from CD installation, digital distribution or other online means, the intent is to make sure these titles are approachable and playable today.       

Shattered Union

Developer/Publisher: PopTop Software/ 2K Games
Released: 2005
Purchase: Steam

Shattered Union is an exciting title which sees the player battle across the former United States as one of seven factions. A great unit selection, impressive visuals and a reputation system that effects what powers can be used in the fight (with a bad reputation you’ll get offensive and destructive attacks and with a good reputation there is more emphasis precision strikes and repair buffs on deployed units just to name a few). 

Today, Shattered Union suffers from a nearly unplayable state for Windows 7 & 10 users. Running the game out of the box, you’ll get errors for colours and memory limits. To make Shattered Union compatible with modern machines, only a few steps are required. What is necessary is copying a few files into the game’s directory and tinkering with some of the graphical options to ensure a stable experience.

• Click on the link here and find yourself looking at a web page dedicated to fixes for Railroad Tycoon 3. Scroll to the middle of the page and download the fix titled Blurry Texture Fix (36 kb)

• Inside this file, you’ll find d3d8.dll a file which tricks the game into thinking you have the right system requirements. Place this file in your game’s root directory. Don’t know what a the game’s root directory is? Right click on the Shattered Union installation and click properties. Shuffle right to the Local files and go to Browse Local Files. Viola! Copy and paste in this main directory.

• While that will settle some cases just by itself, most players will be prompted that Shattered Union is unable to find Steam. Luckily there is a super quick fix for this. If the Shattered Union directory is still open, click a few folders up to the Steam Library and find yourself the steam.dll file.

• COPY (do not cut!) this file and place it into the Shattered Union game directory. With this, launching through steam or through the directory should be a hassle free experience.

• Shattered Union will now successfully run, but there is still some optional house keeping that is required. Users who find themselves crashing on some maps (such as the New York or Los Angeles maps), this is because of some rendering issues. Dropping your graphical options to about half way, as opposed to maximum rectifies this issue. You’re not losing too much on the beauty scale on this 13-year-old title, so don’t be worried about putting that slider to the left. Resolution options are also limited, and the game seems more stable in window mode than in full screen, so consider that option if you are still having any troubles.

Make sure you are continually saving, as this game does not have any auto-save features! You would hate to have to repeat turns if you were unprepared for potential crashes. Now it is time to unite the contiguous United States and strike down each of your opponents and achieve total victory!

Gates of Troy & Spartan

Developer/Publisher: Slitherine
Released: 2004 & 2005
Purchase:Slitherine (Gates of Troy), Slitherine (Spartan)

This guide is going to be slightly different, encompassing two similar Slitherine developed games that suffer from the same issue, Gates of Troy& Spartan. These titles are essentially companion games, both dealing with the ancient times of spear, shield and diplomacy. Manage your settlements and amass your armies to dominate the ancient world landscapes found in these scenarios and campaigns which to choose from.

These titles are the same in that they are both missing a select file and some visual options that are required to run the game on modern hardware. These steps are following the work of user zakblood who has done a lot of fantastic compatibility work over at the Matrix Games forums, so thank you for this! The original thread can be found here.

• The first step is to add a .dll file in the game’s directory for it to run. This is a trend for newer operating systems to be missing these files, as they become less relevant with each year passing. Posted by Slitherine themselves, you can find the missing .dll file here.

• Once downloaded, open the file and place it in the game’s main directory.

• Additionally, copy and paste this .dll file in your System32 folder.

• Spartan the other title will require the exact same step of adding d3drm.dll to the game’s main directory. You won’t need to add d3drm.dll to System32 again, in case you were wondering.

• You should now be able to run Gates of Troy and Spartan on your modern computer without any issues. Alt-tabbing the game essentially makes the game’s knees buckle so it is recommended to not do that. For those who are multitaskers, there is a window option available. In the game’s main directory, click on the data folder and find the user text document. Make sure you have administrative permission to do this. If your computer (or you’re not too sure what the hold up is) isn’t allowing you to edit the user text file, save it somewhere else and copy it over and replace. You’ll now be able to run it in windowed mode!

• Oh no! Looks like the windowed mode isn’t cooperating, do not panic however. Just need to edit the compatibility mode of the game to Windows XP (service pack 2 was used here) and run the game in reduced 16-bit colours mode, and you’ll be happy with the results.

With all of that out of the way, you’ll be able to boot up and begin your conquests.

Note: While zakblood in his steps turned off 3D mode, I did not. I saw no difference in performance or graphics. If there is trouble on your end, feel free to switch from 2D/3D in the start up menu.

Steel Panthers: World at War

Developer/Publisher: Matrix Games
Released: 1995
Purchase: Matrix

The Steel Panther series is a fantastic legacy in wargaming. Fantastic gameplay clashes head to head with phenomenal scenarios and established detail in each game.

Wargamers are fortunate enough that because of Steel Panther’s legacy, support has carried through to the latest iteration of Windows operating systems. A fresh install of Steel Panther: World at War will boot on Windows 7 & 10 but without changing anything, these games can suffer from technical issues.  

With a fresh install, users will find that their modern computers tend to manage Steel Panthers: World at War with a little less finesse, and a little too much blitz. You’ll have your mouse speeding through your battle screens (and is particularly awful in the artillery menu). Graphical glitches, broken audio are also possibilities, particularly for Windows 7 users. So how do we fix these potential errors?

Dedicated fans have gathered and with the generosity of members from members of SP:WaW Depot, there is an excellent forum, scenario depository and many troubleshooting elements out there for those looking to get their Steel Panther fix.

For bugs regarding the artillery window, you can find the patch here. Note that this only works for version 8.403.

For wargamers with corrupted colour palettes for Windows 7 (or 8 … if there are any people on Windows 8 still), this link here will straighten you out. 

If any wargamers are looking to enhance their stock experience, the depot also has you covered with Enhanced FR (also known as SP: WaW 2016). Download and installation steps can be found on the depot’s forum here. So special thanks to depot user Major Mess.

Enhanced FR changes and adds Order of Battle (OOB) details, assembles patches that fix errors created by modern operating systems. To install Enhanced FR, simply install wherever you like, it is a stand alone compilation.

And with these fixes and the alternative of Enhanced FR, Steel Panthers: World at War has plenty of life on Windows 7 and 10. Now with your tanks at the starting line, it is time to close the hatches and forward into the enemy! Happy hunting.

I love it when I get to review games like Matrix’ Field of Glory II for the PC. Not only does it satisfy my miniatures craving without extra time and money (neither of which I have in abundance), but I have always been impressed by the way the designers meshed playability with historical accuracy. I determine the latter by a very simple technique: I play a couple or three of the included historical scenarios, using the same deployment and tactics with whatever side I command. So, it was with the Age of Belisarius (or AOB) DLC, featuring one of my favorite armies, the Byzantine Romans, on the fertile fields near the River Volturnus in October 554 AD.

What Really Happened

With Byzantine General and Eunuch Narses rampaging in central and southern Italy, the Gothic King Teia called for aid from Frankish King Theudebald who promptly refused. He did, however, allow two chieftains named Leutharis and Butilinus at the head of 70,000 men to respond. The former chap basically pillaged everything he could lay his hands on until chased over the Alps by plague and the Byzantine General Artebanis. Conversely, Butilinus continued south to confront Narses, but a severe outbreak of dysentery reduced his force from 30,000 to 20,000 effectives. And those effectives counted about 95 % undrilled barbarian warriors with the remainder light archers, but not one mounted soldier among them.

Narses marched out to meet the Franks with 18,000 men with a typical core of well trained, multi-armed Roman heavy foot and horse, backed by mercenaries and irregular Allied Foederati such as the Heruli. These jovial chaps almost skipped the festivities when Narses executed one of their captains for murdering a servant, but their commander Sindual assured his boss he could persuade them to return. Thus, Narses deployed his heavy cavalry on the wings, and his heavy infantry in the center. The idea was to sucker the Franks into driving into his infantry while his heavy horse enveloped both flanks. A gap was left in the center of the infantry (obviously Narses was the trusting type) to allow the Heruli to fill in when they arrived.

Meanwhile, Butilinus received two Heruli deserters who told them their comrades’ irritation over Narses lopping the head of one of their officers and advised him to attack now before the Heruli changed their minds. Given the Byzantine commander Charananges had already raided and burned his wagon trains to the ground, Butilinus agreed, gave his army a rousing speech and marched towards Narses in a huge triangular wedge, with what few archers he had out front. He smashed into the Byzantine center and pushed it back, but true to their word, the Heruli returned to fill in the gap and stabilize the infantry fight. Then the Byzantine cavalry arrived on both flanks plus the rear of the Frankish army and defeat became a massacre.

Roman spin doctor Agathias said only 80 Byzantines were lost while only five soldiers of the enemy made it out alive. Likely just a modicum of exaggeration here, but it was not a good day for Butilinus and his mob. By 562 AD the Byzantines had reconquered Italy for the Emperor.

Game Setup

Volturnus is one of the Epic Battles included with the AOB DLC and the deployment of both armies is pretty much historical, as is their composition. As the Byzantine commander, I was given the option of purchasing some additional units to bring my force to its full strength of 18,000 (11,901 original strength), and I was going to need it. In a likely nod to the miniature wargaming ancestry of the game, I faced 35,437 Frankish warriors and not the 20,000 that historically fought, something the AOB historical commentary confirmed. Its likely this was done to make the battle a fair fight. In the miniature gaming world with point systems, Frankish armies are REALLY big, Byzantines not so much. But Byzantines are a 'Cadillac Army' in that although their numbers are smaller, high quality means they are a lot meaner.

Frankish tactics for the game were also historical. Butilinus, stout of heart (if thick of head), put his forces into the same giant wedge as did the real commander and decided on “hey diddle, diddle, straight up the middle” as his battle plan. Units were light archers and individual Warbands representing 750 men, the elites in chainmail, the rest heavy foot with sword, shield, javelin, axe or whatever was laying around the hut when called to service. As undrilled foot, the entire army did not get the ¼ turn freebie that most Roman regulars had.

For my part, I decided to move my foot archers to the wings of the infantry to pummel the advancing Franks. I also withdrew the entire infantry line one square backwards each turn, hoping my doing so would encourage the enemy to chase me. The infantry was mostly regular Roman Scutatoi heavy foot with spear and darts. On the wings my cavalry (heavy armored lancers, heavy armored archers, triple armed Kataphraktoi and a few Huns) would attempt what Narses did by moving through the woods that anchored my flanks, then behind some low-lying hills to mask the enemy from seeing them. It was also a good way to see if the AI was cheating or not.

Turns 1 – 4

In these turns both sides pretty much followed their standing orders as noted above. I did notice that there was a movement advantage in keeping your formations dressed properly and together vice sending units willy-nilly like Maserati’s. I also noticed that getting my cavalry 'over the hills and through the woods' was excruciatingly difficult and a lot slower than I originally thought. Nevertheless, the AI played it fair and square as no Frankish Warband moved a sandal until my cavalry came into line of sight.

Turns 5 – 10

These were the decisive turns of the game though I did not know it at the time. The Byzantines continued their plan as before, but a lot of Frankish warbands began pealing away to move to the rear – way to the rear – as well as to the farther end of my central infantry line. Thus, the center of the Roman infantry, which still had a gap for the Heruli to fill, was wide open. Yet the Frankish forces available to attack this section became less each turn. Why? Because punctuating the din of clashing metal and the moans of wounded men was the distinctive sound 'TWANG!' Twang! Twang, twang! And twang again.

I’ve already mentioned my heavy Roman foot archers, but each cavalry wing also had three of four squadrons of light cavalry archers, some Byzantine Flankers, some Huns. While my heavy horse was still maneuvering unseen, the light horse got behind the Franks and started shooting them every turn. The foot archers did the same thing against the forward flanks of the wedge. The AI immediately responded and sent a boatload of Warbands to run these lads down, often to no avail as my chaps simply evaded away before contact. Yet the Warbands continued to follow them, with some nearly hitting the far edge of the board by game’s end. Seriously, for all I know they may well be in Londinium by now.

Despite my jaw hitting the table, I recovered enough to realize what was happening. The brutish Franks chasing down my archers not only weakened the attack against my infantry (the Heruli arrived Turn 9 BTW) but opened huge gaps on both flanks and in the rear for my heavy horse to use like an Interstate. So, I did.

Turns 11 +

Not that this battle was easy, mind you. Even with decremented forces hitting my infantry, those Warbands are tough and I’d rate slightly superior to Roman Legio Comitatensis in the Impact phase of combat. Outside one cohort, my infantry, to include the pike packing Heruli, came out second best. Narses and his army were actually losing pointwise by a decent margin despite everything, but the infantry held just long enough. The heavy cavalry hitting the Franks from behind, coupled with the loss of Butilinus and his second in command in one turn (I love Cohesion Tests), turned the tide and the Byzantines triumphed on points, but not on the stated victory conditions.

Lessons Learned

Yes, the game is historically accurate, and I do get it as regards pumping up the numbers for Butilinus the Bubblehead to make the game equal. Had this been dead on history, 20 Frankish Warbands would have been absent from the screen, and game play would have been at Centurion vice Legate level. As I have seen on the tabletop and as it was at the real battle, meeting this era of Byzantines in battle with equal numbers will send you straight to whatever mental institute they had back then.

My big mistake was in sending my cavalry around both flanks in too wide a circle in order to disguise my movement. I suppose I was used to French Cuirassiers rumbling about, but horse and especially heavy horse, move very slowly. Also, the ability of certain terrain to degrade movement was a surprise, especially going up or down what I thought were gently rolling slopes. I likely would have been better off in shortening the route of my cavalry to get in position and risk them being seen sooner. As it was they did arrive where they were supposed to within acceptable time, but not by much.

The behaviour of the AI was the biggest surprise, I mean, like, wow! The AI does NOT like being shot at and will do anything to relieve this discomfort, following their tormentors to the end of the board, if not the earth, if need be. For example, the AI sent some 6000 heavy foot to run down 960 Huns they couldn’t catch. On the other flank, the count was 3750, but the Byzantine Flanker (I assume these were Trapezitoi) units were only half the size of their Hunnish compatriots. And from my perspective it didn’t seem as though the casualties inflicted every time a 'twang' was heard was that much, but the AI disagreed.

And finally, do not take that loss of the ¼ turn freebie for granted. It may not seem like much, but if you have an entire army of such soldiers, it becomes a real pain in the Heruli.

But overall, with the AIs behavior in particular, the game reminded me of the necessity to be flexible and ready to act on the unexpected. After 162 hours of play time, one does start to learn a thing or two.

Nothing major’s really happened this week, but there has been a fair amount of little news bits that have surfaced. My own gaming endeavours have revolved around dabbling with Steam Sales recruits War of the Zombie and Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault or trying out my new table-top acquisition:

Meanwhile, in the world of wargaming…

Strategic Command Updated to Version 1.14

Nothing much else to say here – the most recent entry in the Strategic Command series has received a small patch. The steam build should have auto-updated by now, but if you’re on the standalone version you can download the patch here.

Changelog:

• fixed a DECISION firing error that caused some events to fire in the wrong sequence during a surrender DECISION event.
• fixed a reinforce or upgrade tool error that would sometimes reset the desired reinforce or upgrade highlight setting.
• fixed a bug where air units were being re-assigned to more optimal supply HQs even though their current attachment was to an HQ set to Manual attachment mode.

CAMPAIGNS

• MOBILIZATION_1 script entitled #NAME= USSR DoW On Persia (Syria->Axis) corrected to have the correct Country_ID and also for the name section of that and many other scripts to say "Allies DoW On..." rather than "USSR DoW On" (sPzAbt653).
• SURRENDER_2 script entitled #NAME= AXIS AI: Germany Occupies Luxembourg (100%) removed (sPzAbt653).
• UNIT scripts for De Lattre de Tassigny amended to Lattre de Tassigny to prevent duplication (Derikuk).

Tigers on the Hunt: Normandy Expansion

As is customary, the announced of Tigers on the Hunt: Normandy’s existence was quickly followed by news of the release date. The second expansion for this interesting turn-based tactical WW2 game will be releasing on July 5^th.

We may not have a review ready in time for release, but we’ll get one to you ASAP.

Hearts of Iron 4

The development diaries for Hearts of Iron 4 have resumed! They’re now finally going to start to talk through the features coming in both the recently announced Man the Guns update, and the ‘Ironclad’ 1.6 Patch, although we’ll be lucky if either of these are ready before the end of the year.

First up, the free feature ‘Fuel’ is under discussion. This was a feature In Hearts of Iron 3 that was thematic, but ultimately lacked any kind of bite too it as it was relatively easy to make-sure you had enough fuel for your needs.

Now the life-blood of the WW2 war machine is back. It’s created by having an excess of Oil (and Oil is no-longer going to be used in the production process), and you need to stockpile it so that you have enough to fuel your motorised army units, as well as your planes and your fleets (which guzzle up fuel while they’re out on missions).

There’s different facets to Fuel’s re-emergence, so we encourage you to check out the full diary for the info.

War of Rights

War of Rights has cropped up on our radar before. A successfully kickstarted multiplayer shooter set during the American Civil War, we haven’t really kept on top of it as a project since we first heard of its existence.

They’ve recently posted a rather lengthy blog post on their Kickstarter page detailing their ‘Update 100’ features (150 player servers!), as well as trying to deal with concerns over the next phase and the Steam release. They want to get some more features out in the short-term, but they’re hoping to release into Early Access by year's end.

Free ArmA III Content

Bohemia are releasing some free goodies for owners of the ArmA 3: Jets DLC: a new ship, and four new static emplacements. These are all static objects that can be positioned via the scenario editor.

You can read more about the new assets as well as some words from the dev team in the official blog post.

And now for something completely different…

Stumbled across this project during the week. You can download a demo for what we’re guessing is a new game called ‘Op&Tac Normandy 44’. Feature list is here, and there’s a demo download link on the same website. We haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, but if you do take it for a spin let us know what it’s like.

That's all for this week's update, enjoy your weekends and happy wargaming!