I have seen somebody selling PC wargames at various wargames shows. These seem to be aimed at wargamers.
Has anybody tried them and does anyone know who makes them
Thanks
Orcs
The best known maker would be Matrix games
http://www.matrixgames.co.uk/
and also Slitherine
http://www.slitherine.com/
THanks Fenton - they are the ones I had seen
Cheers
Mark
Don't have the cash at the moment for "Close Combat: Gateway to Caen" but had immense fun with the previous incarnations of the Close combat series.
I like the look of the Battle Academy series but again don't have the cash at the moment.
I had a brief go at "Scourge of War: Gettysburg" on a friend's PC - it looks beautiful and was fun to play, even if I wasn't much good at it!
I use Steam for most of my games these days. It can be clunky, intrusive and flaky but is still the best option if you want to play multiplayer and/ or keep things updated, IMHO.
I played Battle Academy quite a bit, but ultimately felt it became quite gamey, especially around the way visibility works between turns.
Back in the day I played Close Combat loads, but I think I will stay away from a new version - otherwise painting may be negatively impacted.
Combat Mission Beyond Overlord - currently $10 (approx £6.50) on GOG.com
Its the WW2 Company Level tabletop game you want to play-Its IABSM with lots of data tracking.
Units are sections, weapon teams, individual vehicles.
Battles are as big as you want.
Basically you spend the planning phase telling your men what to do, then hit GO.
You get to watch 60 seconds of playback - you can't affect this, its the results of your orders. You can zoom 8 levels, from too damn high, to riding on a tank (hit tab to lock your camera to a unit at zoom level 1 or 2), or standing with the infantry, so you can hear them shouting
Then back to planning. If you alter orders then there is a delay while your men work this through.
Although you give orders your men will ignore them to react to what they see as a greater threat (hitting the dirt if under fire, changing target priority etc)
The game tracks EVERYTHING, HMG ammo, morale, time until artillery arrives (hint allow at least 4 minutes - the clock lies!). Enemy units are on a multi stage blind- everything from 'Something, through vehicle sounds, rough indication, type "Tank?", to putting the model on the table
Each weapon has its own stats - infantry weapons have 5 range bands. As the unit takes casualties the number of rifles, thus fire power, drops, and yes, the NCO's SMG is separately accounted for.
There are pre made scenarios, a full scenario designer, and a random quick battle generator. Just about every unit you can think of is in there.
PLUS
The skins are all .bmp, to allow you to make your own, and the sounds .wav (so you can put your house and you swearing in) (hint - make back ups of the originals first!)
Only down side is that it is an old game reformatted for Windows, so the interface is a bit clunky, and some of the Faces are a bit odd. Plus a full section is shown by 3 men, going down to 1 for 3-4 people.
Always preferred Combat Mission 2 - the Russian Front variant.
Still the best recreation of WW2 combat I've come across.
Best played two player by email in my experience! AI is passable but, like most AI, not brilliant.
Company of Heroes is a bit cartoonish, though again I like the Eastern Front mod. CoH2 just didn't grab me. Too pricey for what it was imho.
Combat Mission is pretty much tabletop wargaming with the calculation done for you, though I did find larger scenarios a bit overwhelming. Played the latest version a few months ago, it was pretty good, an improvement in the looks department (over the Playmobil soldiers of the first game)
Close Combat games are fun, the latest one looks good, but at 30 quid its too pricey for now.
I'd recommend Gettysburg Ultimate General for ACW fans, its a sort of civil war close combat, fast moving, not completely accurate, but the AI seems better than normal. Its still a work in progress, but you can get early access on Steam
http://youtu.be/AbdGhq3d_a8
Any recommendations for the medieval/renaissance periods?
Ian
I enjoy playing this but it seems to have shot up in price since I downloaded it... I think you download the game and then if you wanted the full version you paid for it ( well it was like that when I paid for it)
http://www.jlssg.com/medieval.html
All,
thanks for your help, Obviously any further reviews will be avidly read.
Currently back playing Allied General on a new PC.
Do you mean the old Allied General?...I cant get it to run on my machine at all sadly
Quote from: Sandinista on 29 July 2014, 09:00:17 AM
Any recommendations for the medieval/renaissance periods?
Ian
"Medieval II: Total War" is my favourite for for that period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_II:_Total_War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_II:_Total_War)
Quote from: Fenton on 29 July 2014, 09:58:45 AM
Do you mean the old Allied General?...I cant get it to run on my machine at all sadly
Yes I do.
I replaced my old XP PC after about 10 years. I went to a local PC supplier and requested a dual boot PC. They had a think and have put an XP emulator on the Windows 7 PC. They did this free of charge. I will look it up tonight and post what its called.
My other half thought I was mad to ask
I have to run the emulator and install the software . In Allied generals case I set up the compatability to run as windows 95 and in 256 colours. It runs really well. I have now been looking for Fantasy General , but they are at stupid prices for an old game.
Thats got me looking for more modern equivalents. - Hence this post
Check out HPS Simulations.
http://www.hpssims.com/default.asp
They cover a wide range of eras.
Does anyone know anything about this one - looks like Xcom meets Weird War 2
https://secure.gog.com/game/silent_storm_gold (https://secure.gog.com/game/silent_storm_gold)