Command: Modern Air Naval Operations is one of the most decorated wargames of 2013, including a hard-fought Usenet award, and both of its categories here at Grogheads.  It’s also been one of our most-talked-about games of the past year in our forums.  The guys behind the game took some time to chat with us about where Command came from and where they’re headed next.

So guys, let’s start at the beginning – what was the impetus behind Command, and why did you want to build your own game instead of continuing to build on existing proven platforms?

Command is a culmination of all our hobby experiences. Our interest was born reading & watching the great techno-thrillers of our youth (Forsyth, Clancy, Ludlum, Coyle, Brown etc.), absorbing all the political & military history and facets of the Cold War (which at that day seemed far from over) and playing some really great amazing games of the era (F-19, RSR, M1TP, SPI’s CentFront series, the Fleet series, Gunship, Steel Panthers, Fleet Defender, Tornado, Harpoon and loads more). Our involvement with Harpoon and AGSI helped cultivate it as we met each other through the Harpoon community and really started learning about modern warfare, talking with professionals and thinking about simulations. We started out as avid modders for Harpoon 2 and then 3 and had great success helping to grow the Harpoon community and helping AGSI develop their game (including doing the grunt work for their first pro deal).  All of this played a part in our own development and helped us build  a strong and skilled team that had a vision of the game they wanted to build and the energy and motivation to do it. So we reached a point where we really wanted to do our own thing  and as is now self evident we went ahead and did just that.

When you have to describe Command to someone who doesn’t know wargaming, what’s the “elevator pitch” for the game?  How do you hook a potential player with just 1-2 sentences?

If the guy is getting off at the next floor and I have only 5 seconds:

“Command is the ultimate modern air and naval wargamer’s sandbox.”

If we’re both heading for the loft and he’s stuck with me for just a bit more:

“Breakfast – you trade machine gun fire & rocket salvos with pirates & smugglers in the littoral.

Lunch – you plan and execute an Alpha Strike from a carrier.

Dinner – you launch a strategic nuclear attack over the North Pole.

Midnight snack – you spin your own historical or what-if anywhere on the globe, with practically any war machine in existence post-WW2.

All with high realism & accuracy. All in one game. Command.”

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