Tag: European Theater

05/28/14

Home of the Wargamers Report: “Clear and Present Gaming!”

Distant Worlds Universe and Other Imminent Matrix/Slitherine Releases meet Grogheads

An overview by Boggit

Following on from Home of Wargamers 2014, there has been a flurry of activity from Matrix/Slitherine regarding their new releases. Distant Worlds has only just released on 27th May, and is to be closely followed by Pandora First Contact: Return of the Messeri Expansion, Close Combat: Road to Caen, and Qvadriga on Steam.

 

Distant Worlds Universe

 

You can start straight away with a pre-set human campaign, or mix things up with a custom game
You can start straight away with a pre-set human campaign, or mix things up with a custom game

For those players who haven’t got Distant Worlds, it is a massively scoped game that conventionally focuses on making broad policy decisions to guide your race to success. Essentially, you represent “the state”, but much of the game is heavily reliant on your private citizens. These private citizens trade, colonise, and exploit much of the universe’s resource potential. Distant Worlds Universe can be an incredibly deep 4X game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) – if you want it to be. You can micromanage as much, or as little as you wish, although micromanaging carries the risk of your head exploding given the multitude of activities you can engage in! Continue reading →

03/23/14

Review of Combat Mission Battle for Normandy – Market Garden, part 2

How does Battlefront’s latest Combat Mission game stack up? Boggit continues to fill us in.

Developed and Published by Battlefront Inc.

Reviewed by Boggit, 23 March, 2014

Click images to enlarge

Read part 1 of this review here

Formations and Weapons (cont’d)

As with Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy, and the Commonwealth expansion, combat formations remain well researched reflecting historical unit organisation during the Market Garden Operations. In game terms Market Garden specifically adds:

  • Nine new US formations including the Glider Infantry Battalion and the more esoteric Parachute Demolition Platoon.
  • 31 new, and updated German formations from across the following ground forces: Heer, Waffen SS, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, and some common force formations. These include new formations that vary widely in quality from the fragile Sicherungs (Heer), Fliegerhorst (Luftwaffe), and Schiffstamm (Kriegsmarine) battalions to the definitely more punchy Tiger Battalion (Henschel) (Heer, and SS), Panzergrenadier Kampfgruppe (SS), Fallschirmjäger Battalion (Luftwaffe), and Panzer Brigade Panzer Battalion (Heer). Common formations are all flak units, but they are not boring. The Armored Flak Platoon (37mm and Quad 20mm) in particular can be a total swine for infantry suppression. Just make sure 30 Corps arrives quickly with its tanks!
  • Three new Polish formations, the Parachute Battalion, Parachute Engineer Squadron, and the Air Landing Antitank Battery. It doesn’t sound much, but they’re good troops.
  • 21 new, or revised British formations including the renowned Glider Pilot Company (the glider pilots having landed formed their own elite unit), and the Airborne Recce Squadron – so now, unlike the real event (many of their gliders crashed, and the rest mainly got shot up in an ambush) – you have another chance to rush to the Arnhem Bridge, as was part of the historic plan.
An MG42 opens up on a British patrol advancing to an Oosterbeek crossroads. Note the rather neat looking signpost.
An MG42 opens up on a British patrol advancing to an Oosterbeek crossroads. Note the rather neat looking signpost.

 

In addition to new formations, Market Garden also adds much more to the Battle for Normandy weapon and vehicle mix. Taking inspiration from their Fortress Italy Gustav Line expansion, both sides now have antiaircraft weapons in both towed and vehicle mounted configurations. But it’s not just new flak units, as there are plenty of other goodies too:

  • One new small arm type, namely the FG-42 rifle.
  • 12 new heavy weapon types ranging from the Bofors 40mm AA gun to the LeGrW 36 50mm mortar.
  • Four new US vehicles ranging from the agile M18 Hellcat to the awesome firepower of the M16 MGMC quad 50.cal AA halftrack.
  • 27 new German vehicles, including a ton of halftrack variants. At the heavy end they include the King Tiger tank with the Henschel turretand the Jagdpanzer IV/70 tank hunter. At the lighter end there are vehicles like the Protze 70 light truck, the Wirbelwind AA vehicle, and its less successful cousin the Möbelwagen AA vehicle.
  • Seven new British vehicles ranging from the agile and hard hitting Challenger Mk VIII tank, to Major Gough’s pet project – the Jeep with a mounted Vickers K machine gun. (He actually wanted twin K guns similar to what the SAS had in the desert, but was refused on the basis that it would be impossible to supply their ammo needs during an airborne operation.) If a player only owns the Combat Mission Battle for Normandy core game then they’ll get the additional benefit of a further 21 vehicles, and variations thereof from the Commonwealth module.

Continue reading →

03/21/14

Review of Combat Mission Battle for Normandy – Market Garden, part 1

How does Battlefront’s latest Combat Mission game stack up?  Boggit starts to fill us in in his two-part review.

Developed and Published by Battlefront Inc.

Reviewed by Boggit, 21 March, 2014

Click images to enlarge

Dedicated to Jim Zabek for his friendship, and mentoring

Historical Overview

On September 17th, 1944 German forces were routing from the Battle for France through Belgium and into Holland.  It was a situation that had to be exploited to maintain the momentum of the Allied advance and to end the war before the Germans reorganised to halt the Allied pursuit. The problem for the Allies was maintaining their drive to Germany having had so successful a pursuit. Lines of communication were now overextended and in the absence of a convenient and functional deep water port – like Antwerp – supplies were still had to be brought from the Normandy beachhead. With supplies running low Eisenhower had to ask himself who should be given priority for logistical support.

 

US paratroopers from 505th PIR return fire after making contact on the first turn of this scenario.
US paratroopers from 505th PIR return fire after making contact on the first turn of this scenario.

 

Of the three main army groups in northern France, Bradley’s First Army was approaching Aachen, and the Huertgen Forest, Patton’s Third was in Lorraine about to take on the Metz Fortified Area, with the West Wall next – all difficult terrain favouring the defence. On the other hand Montgomery’s 21st Army group was on the northern flank, closer to the sources of supply, potential supply ports, and seemingly relatively open terrain. It was a logical choice for maintaining an effective pursuit on a serious supply budget.

Operation Market Garden

A daring plan to bypass the West Wall and drive into Germany’s industrial powerhouse – the Ruhr area – was set in motion. What would follow would be a massive airborne operation – similar in size to the D-Day operation – to grab key Dutch bridges, whilst the British 30th Corps linked up with the air drops and exploited their success. What happened was that the Allies overstretched themselves, and were let down by a series of intelligence and operational planning errors that, taken together, contributed to the ultimate failure of the main objective of the operation.

By 26th September, Operation Market Garden was over. The Allies had failed to take Arnhem – the jump off point for exploitation to the Ruhr – and the British 1st Parachute Division had also been destroyed as a fighting unit, losing all its heavy equipment, and approximately 70% of its strength. As the commander of the 1st Allied Airborne Corps (General Browning) put it: The operation was “a bridge too far”.

Although the operation failed to achieve its purpose, it was not an unmitigated disaster. The Allies had seriously damaged many German formations. They also gained a salient running through Holland to the Lower Rhine, and the German border. Whilst at first glance it might appear that all they had gained was a road leading nowhere, the Allies cut off substantial German garrisons in Western Holland, which would ultimately be reduced, predominantly by the Canadian Army. They also extended the front lines committing Germany to find additional troops to defend it, so weakening resistance on the Eastern Front. It was a failed operation, but not a disaster in the greater scheme of things.

 

Thirty Corps advance up Hell’s Highway – apparently this is the wide bit!!
Thirty Corps advance up Hell’s Highway – apparently this is the wide bit!!

Continue reading →

03/9/14

Lock’n’Load Heroes of Stalingrad – The Grogheads Interview

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 →

03/7/14

GrogHeads Reviews World at War: America Conquered

Unleash your inner Wolverine with the latest addition to the World at War family.

Reviewed by Scott R. Krol, 7 March 2014

Click images to enlarge

The World at War series from Mark H. Walker and his LNL Publishing is a series of tactical wargames set in a hypothetical mid-80’s World War III between the forces of  NATO and the Warsaw Pact.  Earlier titles focused on this cold war gone hot on the European continent, but now the war comes to North America with World At War: America Conquered (henceforth, WAW: AC).

Upon picking up the box for WAW: AC the first thing one will notice is that for a relatively thin box it feels like its made of depleted uranium.  LNL Publishing has filled the box with gaming goodness:  four 11” x 17” mounted maps, with European folds and no American valleys, over seven hundred counters, a couple of full color player aid charts and of course a rules book.  Unfortunately while all this fits snugly into the box prior to punching the counters, once the counters are punched there is no room in the box for the pieces because of the mounted maps.

Many dead trees contributed to your gaming pleasure.
Many dead trees contributed to your gaming pleasure.

 

The maps themselves, representing terrain in both Texas and Florida, are nice. The visuals may not be breathtaking but are simple and clean, with no confusion over what is represented.  Counters are of high quality, with an almost linen like finish.  Vehicles have full color side views while infantry and support weapons are NATO icons.

While many of the World at War titles have been expansions, WAW: AC is a complete, stand alone game.  Ownership of earlier titles is not required to enjoy WAW: AC . Continue reading →