Tag: Tactical

11/26/16

TANKSgiving! – Kursk: The Biggest Tank Battle

tanksgivingheaderRefighting Kursk, on-the-go! ~

Michael Eckenfels, 26 November 2016

The Conflict-Series of games on the Android device are great little hex- and turn-based wargames that cover a wide variety of battles from World War II. The developer of these games, Joni Nuutinen, is a solo programmer that creates these games in his free time, and he heavily supports them as well by constantly updating them and listing detailed reports of what he’s done to improve his games.

At 3.99 USD per game, they’re inexpensive and terrific time wasters. To date, I own 19 of them (yes, nineteen), which I’ve purchased here and there over a year and a half or so. As you can tell, I’m fairly addicted to them, and even went so far as to ask Joni several questions and create a Q&A article, which I am currently working on.

Check out his “Conflict-Series” in the Google Play store if you’re interested.

In the spirit of TANKSgiving, I decided to take a deep dive into the Conflict-Series title, Kursk: The Biggest Tank Battle. Can I lead the Germans to victory where they failed historically? Or will I get the German armies shredded even worse?

This game isn’t easy, but admittedly, I’ve played through it more than a few times. I’ve won only one time out of multiple attempts; the Soviets are damned difficult to defeat, especially as they have a lot of tank reserves. Since I control the German forces (and there’s no option to play the Soviet side; in every Conflict-Series game, you play one side only, though Joni has developed more than a few titles that look at a battle from both sides), I have several tough Panzer divisions at my disposal, but not nearly as many as I’d like.

You can find a plethora of information on the Battle of Kursk online, or in hundreds of books available out there. If you’re reading this site, chances are you’re already passingly familiar with the battle and what happened.

overviewmap

(This map was found at EmersonKent.com, which credits the United States Military Academy Department of History.)

Continue reading →

11/19/16

TANKSgiving! – The Great War “Tanks” expansion

tanksgivingheaderCyrano goes back to the trenches for the earliest days of tank warfare with a look at the “Tanks” expansion for The Great War ~

Jim Owczarski, 19 November 2016

Since the powers-that-be hereabout have imprudently given me another platform, I’ll make this particular teapot just a bit more tempestuous:  Memoir ’44 is a war game.

The best-selling installment of Richard Borg’s Command and Colors system — and one of the best-selling war games of all time — is criticized for its abstractions, its toy factor, its simplicity, its lack of tactical granularity, and, for all I know, the devaluation of the dollar against the yuan.  I for one, while acknowledging its limitations, love the toys, the card-play that creates uncertainty, the straight-forward rules, and the ability to fight the entirety of the D-Day landings in an afternoon.

It shouldn’t, then, be too great a surprise that I was looking forward to the Plastic Soldier Company’s release of The Great War, Mr. Borg’s take on World War I, and particularly the tank expansion. The bicentennial of the war is upon us and I wanted to see what tweaks would be brought to the system to make it more than just World War II with less elegant tanks.

box

Continue reading →

11/18/16

Car Wars – A Trip Down The Memory Fast Lane, Part 6

The long and winding retrospective on Car Wars continues ~

Michael Eckenfels, 18 November 2016

click most images to enlarge

THE BEST OF AUTODUEL QUARTERLY, VOLUME 1

 

adq1

Released in 1986, and packed with 48 pages of goodness, this little book republished the best articles as per the demands of Car Wars fans everywhere. The hard part, the editors state on the inside cover, is how to pare down the list and include the actual best stuff. So, they decided to not republish stuff that had already been released on its own, like Uncle Albert and the Convoy module. Instead, you have a book that is loaded with some good stuff that’s not easily found elsewhere, all in one place.

Continue reading →

11/13/16

Order of Battle Pacific: US Marines – AAR, Scenario 6 Part 2

Airboy’s Pacific campaign continues in the latest AAR episode ~

Avery Abernethy, 13 November 2016

click images to enlarge

Scenario 6 – Gilbert Islands (continued)

After seeing my 2nd wave at Tarawa stopped on the beach I moved my 2nd wave far to the East on Makin for several turns. Hopefully the Japanese defenders were flanked.

Tarawa Turn 8
Tarawa Turn 8

 

Tarawa 2nd Wave Barely Off the Beach
Tarawa 2nd Wave Barely Off the Beach

Continue reading →