Developer: Eugen Systems

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Author: Jim Zabek

The closed beta has been released for Wargame: AirLand Battle and I’m having a blast with it. The sequel to Wargame: European Escalation, it builds upon the strength of the land units and adds a robust air power component. Gameplay resembles a tactical RTS, but the units are modeled after historical NATO and Warsaw Pact units. This provides a great mix of real-time tactical action with hard-hitting Cold War units. The beta has only released the multiplayer part of the game, and in this one I jump into a six-player game in the last available slot as the Warsaw Pact. I select an East German force just to see how it plays. While I did play Wargame: European Escalation I didn’t spend much time with the multiplayer game and this aspect is new to me.

The game begins with us holding two areas. At the top left I have 800 points to spend on my starting force. I begin by selecting a couple of squads of T-34-85s, a recon helo Mi-2, and a logistics squad. I then move my recon forward to Objective Anna to start looking for the approach of the opfor.

We quickly seize Anna and I then move to the northeast to grab Objective Dmitri.

However, it quickly becomes apparently that it to Dimitri’s left, in Objective Fedor, that the action is getting heavy. My teammate seems to be handling it. With Objective Dmitri secured I see the opfor is moving into Objective Center with some airborne troops. I quickly move to try and catch them off guard, only to find I’m ambushed by an Cobra squadron which has been waiting for a nice juicy tank squad to wander in front of it!

My troops are quickly destroyed. This is my second game and I clearly have much more to learn.

But then something catches my eye – A battalion of airborne troops is attempting to flank us on the left and take over an FOB in our rear. I dispatch my Mig-21s to intercept and they do some damage. It’s not enough. The lightly defended FOB falls to the strong, well planned attack. I quickly buy two more squads of tanks and send them to blast the opfor’s FOB that they’ve created in our rear. I also bring on more air power for strikes and order my ground units on the right to redeploy to retake Objective Gregory.

As my ground troops and Migs pound the troops in Gregory, the opfor quickly retreats with his remaining forces. We move forward and destroy the FOB.

And as quick as that, the game ends. We have a decisive victory! While I can’t claim to have done much heaving lifting in terms of points, I do believe that my quick reaction to drive back the opfor from their tenuous hold in our rear took them by surprise and put us over the top in terms of points. I still have much more to learn about this game, but I’m pleased to see I’m starting to figure it out.

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