Boggit hit the road to join Slitherine and Matrix at their unveiling of this year’s upcoming hits. This is the first of his reports from adventure.
Developed by “88mm” Games and Published by Matrix/Slitherine Screenshots by Boggit
as always, click images to enlarge
The Blitzkrieg thunders East! Upcoming DLC will unlock with new time periods
Just released, I first saw this game just a few days ago over at Home of Wargamers 2014 in Italy. Whilst I haven’t had the opportunity to play it, I had the game presented to me, and had the opportunity to ask developer Ionut Georgescu about his debut game with Slitherine.
Lots of units add to the variety, which in turn affects gameplay
Our own Undercovergeek marches into Stalingrad, and comes out with this review of the action.
Lucky 13 April, 2014
I’m a terrible German officer, but that’s ok, I’m a terrible Russian officer as well.
It’s a testimony to Lock & Load’s Heroes of Stalingrad that it has been able to teach me that. As my numerous attempts at claiming or defending small patches of land surrounding Stalingrad mounted up, it occurred to me that neither Stalin or Hitler had made the right choice in putting me in charge. Either that or this game has a much more devious AI than I bargained for, or I’m just crap at throwing digital dice.
Pavlov and his team unwisely leave the safety of their house to assault a flamethrower unit
Heroes of Stalingrad first appeared on my radar after getting lost in a Matrix Games forum a long time ago. I should be honest at this point and say I have never played a Lock & Load board game, never played Advanced Squad Leader, and never actually played a WWII themed board game at all. But I have played Blood Royale with a tricorn hat on, because I thought it was the same as Napoleons.
However, I was there at Bastogne commanding the Commodore 64’s finest in Battle of the Bulge, I was there on the fields of Gettyburg in North and South, all the way through to the first Combat Mission and up to and including Market Garden, where it’s safe to say that Frost and Urquhart are also probably thinking about removing my commission. When it comes to losing my men of the digital variety, I’m confident in my CV. So when I first saw the screen shots of small, squad based battles in and around the familiar railway yards and factory buildings, and extra immersion created by having my own set of officers and heroes, I was delighted to have found my next set of pixeltruppen to throw hopelessly into the mincer of battle.
For me personally Heroes bears a great amount of responsibility. It is my great hope of board game to PC game crossover. I see them in there, through their game’s club windows, laughing and joking, throwing their dice and clapping each other on the back with their ‘board game players’ camaraderie, telling stories of great triumphs and tragedies. Then they turn and point at the lonely, sad faced PC wargamer outside who can never know what it feels like to hold the counters, set up the board, smell the cards and feel the rattle of dice, and rub their victim’s face in the agony of a successful ambush. I want all these things dammit, and it’s maybe not fair to expect this of Heroes, but it does not falter under the weight of my expectation.
Heroes of Stalingrad focuses on small, personal skirmishes encountered during the Battle of Stalingrad. The intimate settings necessitate a good deal of finesse in ordering units and squads around that the tactical player will revel in. The map could be a simple village or an important crossroads or other close quarter environment consisting of three or four infantry sections with some leaders and support teams, sometimes backed by tanks or other AFVs Continuity is provided by the persistence of a core of soldiers. These units gain points by surviving campaign scenarios and destroying enemies, points are reinvested in various improvements such as increased range, strength, or leadership , hardening armour, extra offense opportunities and adding a weapon or special skill.
The infamous girl, your success relies on her safety
Mark H Walker takes a few minutes to talk with us about the new Heroes of Stalingrad game – the first digital entry in the Lock’n’Load line.
9 March 2014
Grogheads: OK, first things first: It’s been, what? – 6 years! What’s taken so long to get this game out?
Mark H Walker. First off, making a computer game is difficult. Damn difficult. I’ve written novels, designed board games, and raised three daughters. Creating Heroes of Stalingrad ranks right up there. If both Tom (the programmer) and I had been full time on the game, it might have been easier. However, I work full weeks designing board games as well as keeping the company that publishes them moving forward. By the same token, Tom also has several other irons in the fire. Hence the game took longer than we would have liked.
Secondly, nothing beats experience. I consider myself video and computer game fluent. I wrote full time in the industry for ten years before I founded Lock ‘n Load Publishing, but nothing prepares you for creating a computer game better than creating a computer game. We were lucky to have Matrix’s Erik Rutens join the team as producer, and bring the game home. His experience was invaluable.
GH: As computer games go, this one is clearly “playing a board game on the computer”. How hard was it to maintain the feel of the board game as you worked on the computer game? What were some of the particular challenges of keeping the soul of the game as you digitized it?
W. Not hard at all. Basically the design document centered on making this a PC board game.
GH: For someone who has never seen the board games, what’s the pitch for picking up this game over a comparable-scale WWII computer game?
W. It’s much better. LOL. Taking into consideration that this is a hex and counter game and no threat to the Titanfall crowd… it’s pretty, it’s immersive, it’s easy to get into, it doesn’t take itself seriously, and it has a cute Russian nurse.
GH: For the boardgamers out there, why should this be the game that causes them to boot up the computer instead of cracking a beer and taking over the dining room table with a map and counters?
W. They shouldn’t. If you have a chance to down a Parkway Get Bent IPA with friends as you play a great board game you should always do it. If you don’t have that chance HoS is a great substitute. The AI is pretty sharp, and the clean up is easy. Continue reading →
The Grumpy Grog says “This is a new line of attack on an old campaigning favourite.”
Developed by Lock n Load Publishing and published by Matrix/Slitherine
First Impressions by Boggit, 23 February 2014
Click images to enlarge
I’ve never played any of the Lock’n’Load games before, so this is a truly fresh look at this game. I am looking at this game with the beta update v1.04. The game is tactical in scope, and each hex represents about fifty meters across, each turn represents 2-4 minutes, and each counter is a single vehicle, an individual, or a group of soldiers: for example, a half squad, or a weapons team.
Starting the game for the first time, the player is set up at the introductory level. This is a particularly forgiving mode that can be changed in the main menu. I immediately changed it to “hard”, which runs the game under unmodified rules. “Normal” gives a dice bonus. Rash perhaps, but you’ll see no signs of weakness from me!
The options screen gives a good choice of items to customise your game.
The main menu gives the usual options. Essentially it is the place to start a new game, load an old one, create missions and scenarioswith the editor, and to play multiplayer. In multiplayer, the user needs to set up a Matrix/Slitherine account and you’re then taken to the Multiplayer lobby. From there you can create a new game for someone to play with you, go onto the forum, and can check-in on your own games. I’d seen this before with Field of Glory, and it is a very user friendly multiplayer system. I’m glad they didn’t reinvent the wheel on this one, as it works, and works well. The only downside was a very empty multiplayer lobby, but to be fair, the game’s just come out, so that should change with time. Continue reading →
