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The second phase on Palau combines a very narrow road to the north of the island and the remaining victory hexes. The high hills cannot be entered by armor. The road over the hills cannot be used by either heavy artillery or armor.
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The Palau campaign was one of the most controversial in the Pacific. The US Marines took heavy casualties. The strategic need for capturing Palau has been questioned. The Japanese changed their tactics on Palau and did not use wild Banzai charges. Palau also has a very high set of hills which allowed observation of US troops on the island. The Japanese also have quite a bit of armor although they lack air support.
Tank on Tank: Digital Edition is Lock ‘n Load Publishing’s computer adaptation of designer Peter Bogdasarian’s Tank on Tank board games covering the East and Western Fronts of World War II. The Digital Edition offers a combined version of both games though each theater can be purchased separately.
Tank on Tank, as described in the game manual, is “a low-complexity, Second War World War armored combat game.” The statement accurately captures the nature and flavor of both the tabletop game and the Digital Edition.
The game offers a simple, clean interface. On the start screen, there is an option to “Fight!” This jumps you into a randomly generated quick battle if you don’t want to fiddle with choosing a scenario or campaign.
The other game options deal mainly with the volume sound settings. There are no difficulty settings or anything else along those lines to fuss with. As far as I could tell, the “Arch Height” slider is only for adjusting a visual effect with no impact on game play.
Looked like a Eurogame before anyone knew what a Eurogame was…
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The first computer adaptation of the Dungeons and Dragons game was Pool of Radiance released in 1988. The success of Pool of Radiance led SSI to release a series of D&D games often referred to as the “Gold Box” games. Almost thirty years has passed since their release, but they are still sold by www.gog.com in a package containing an additional six titles for $9.99. But are these games worth playing today on a modern computer?
Both Pool of Radiance (Pool) and Curse of the Azure Bonds (Curse) use the first edition D&D rules. These have some confusing conventions for gamers unfamiliar with the system. Armor class starts at 10 for someone with average dexterity wearing normal clothing. Plate Mail and Shield will get most characters to Armor Class 2. But add in magic items and your characters can have negative armor classes, up to -10. When you toss a fireball in this game you need to be able to assess the radius of effect, there is no convenient shadowed outline of the blast radius. Make a mistake and your front line fighters get singed. This will take a bit of refresher reading for someone who played D&D back in the 1980s. Players who never played tabletop D&D or the computer games based off that system will have to study the manual. Continue reading