Recommendations for wargames on Steam

Started by Orcs, 07 September 2021, 06:12:47 PM

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Orcs

I know some of you ply games using the steam engine.

Can anybody recommend some historical single player wargame type games
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Ithoriel

I like the Total War series, Combat Mission, Company of Heroes (especially the community Eastern Front mod for the 1st edition), Close Combat (though i'm rubbish at it), Mare Nostrum (classical galleys).

I have both Steel Division II and Scourge of War: Waterloo in my wishlist.



 
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Westmarcher

I second Combat Mission by Battlefront. The bonus is you get to try it out for free because they allow you to download Demo versions of their games. For WW2, there's Normandy, Red Thunder (Russia), Fortress Italy and Final Blitzkrieg (Battle of the Bulge) - about 14 missions in total for all 4 theatres.  The Demos are available when you click on "the Base Game option" in the particular product section. For example ...

https://www.battlefront.com/battle-for-normandy/cmbn-base-game/
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Scorpio_Rocks

07 September 2021, 07:44:13 PM #3 Last Edit: 07 September 2021, 07:48:23 PM by Scorpio_Rocks
Pike and Shot: Campaigns - 16/17thC quite good (especially if you can pick it up on sale) - A "proper" wargame ie turn based not real time like the total war series

Order of battle = FREE (base game at least) WW2 simplified broad overview type turn based game

Battle Academy - WW2 skirmish nicely done if a little simple

ps PSA for ALL Steam users - if you are interested in something add it to your "Wishlist" as this influences what stuff is on sale for you
"Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake - we must not interrupt him too soon."
Horatio Nelson.

Heedless Horseman

Being an 80s type... What are 'wargames on Steam'? Saw Title and thought 'Trains'!  :o  ;D

Assume something online... doubt computer in use up to that. Did try discs, long time ago... 'Medieval Total War' was  'ok,' but on a previous computer... and used up a HUGE amount of memory.
Never 'got into' PC games... just felt 'impersonal'... no 'actual' figs to 'recruit, train and fight with'... just 'reset'. I can see the attraction, given 'modern graphics'... but never had an 'X Box' or similar... so all a bit 'alien'.
(40 Yrs ago. I should have been an Angry Young Man... but wasn't.
Now... I am an Old B******! )  ;)

Orcs

Thanks for your suggestions gents, I now have several on my Wishlist.

I have the Pike and Shot Campaigns, I have never got round to playing it as as soon as I bought it I lent it to forum member Albie Bach  so he could game when his cancer would not let him play conventional games.  I got it back when he sadly passed away.  Not felt the urge to play it since.
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

PeterRushton

Panzer Corps, WWII at a sort of operational battle level. Massive time sink if you get all the DLCs for the extra scenarios.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Stopped using Steam after my account was hacked and they asked for credit card details.
FOG IN CHANNEL - EUROPE CUT OFF
Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

Big Insect

Quote from: Heedless Horseman on 07 September 2021, 10:05:01 PM
Being an 80s type... What are 'wargames on Steam'? Saw Title and thought 'Trains'!  :o  ;D

Assume something online... doubt computer in use up to that. Did try discs, long time ago... 'Medieval Total War' was  'ok,' but on a previous computer... and used up a HUGE amount of memory.
Never 'got into' PC games... just felt 'impersonal'... no 'actual' figs to 'recruit, train and fight with'... just 'reset'. I can see the attraction, given 'modern graphics'... but never had an 'X Box' or similar... so all a bit 'alien'.

A few of us (from the Berkeley Wargames Club) have been playing on-line games using STEAM and the TTS games engine. We've set up a LaDG gaming board that replicates a table top game - units and terrain blocks etc. You have to virtually pick up and place the figures. It works pretty well - no real substitute for physical figures and actually table top gaming, but we've found it a great way to test armies and tactics.

You need a STEAM account to play TTS, and a Discord account to get the best communications. TTS has lots of other table-top games on it.
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide "out of the box" thinking.

DecemDave

My all time favourite which I still keep playing now is CivIII despite owning several of the later variants.  Needs strategic thinking on war goals/build priorities/resource availability but tactical battles are poor and the AI is sometimes irrational. Its conquests expansion also has some interesting and sometimes hilarious semi historical campaigns.  (get a few boatloads of Scaninavian Beserks and go around raiding for example)
I have one of the FOG games which is a fair representation of the table top game but if you dont like FOG,.....
I like anything in the Total War series but recommend Attila as a personal favourite.  If your PC is up to it, playing custom battles with a late Roman Army on full max units and graphics can be spectacular. 
For a quickie , Age of Empires II DE can be fun but repeating the early civ builds gets tiresome.
If you like command and colours there is a digital version but I tried it and have stuck to the boardgame since!
I would love to master the learning curve on the Europa Universalis engine which appears in multiple historical guises but the medieval one is more complex than real life! Maybe why I never made it past peasant in real life. 
If you like complexity anything by AGEOD will keep you occupied indefinitely.
If you want old style boardgame types, the John Tiller series has been remastered but seems pricey to me for what you get.

Big Insect

Quote from: Lord Kermit of Birkenhead on 08 September 2021, 06:35:53 AM
Stopped using Steam after my account was hacked and they asked for credit card details.

You dont have much luck do you Ian ... they appear to be picking on you !
'He could have lived a risk-free, moneyed life, but he preferred to whittle away his fortune on warfare.' Xenophon, The Anabasis

This communication has been written by a dyslexic person. If you have any trouble with the meaning of any of the sentences or words, please do not be afraid to ask for clarification. Remember that dyslexics are often high-level conceptualisers who provide "out of the box" thinking.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

FOG IN CHANNEL - EUROPE CUT OFF
Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021