Was thinking about this the other day- what are some wargames involving the use of nuclear weapons? I'm not thinking games at the strategic level like Civilization or more arcadey games like World in Conflict or Defcon, but slightly more grog-y games but those where you actually have some vaguely quasi-realistic tactical/battlefield type use.
Here is everything I'm aware of like that:
CMANO/CMO
Flashpoint Campaigns (though their use is pretty limited there)
The recently released Nuclear War Simulator (though that isn't really a wargame or anything close to it)
A few John Tiller games
... I think that's kind of it! Am I missing anything?
Bravo Romeo Delta is the king. I've written about it at length here. You can also check out these upcoming titles here:
We discussed Nuclear War Simulator here...I did not realize it had been released.
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=24519.msg670542#msg670542 (http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=24519.msg670542#msg670542)
http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=23873.msg658499#msg658499 (http://www.grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=23873.msg658499#msg658499)
Bravo Romeo Delta is available as abandonware and can even be played in your browser.
I think you can use nukes in both TOAW IV and HOI IV.
I still have my copy of Nuclear War from the early 1980s. Great beer & pretzels game.
The picture has the happy Zippy - the supergerm.
^ This. I spent may hours playing this with friends. Bought the expansion as well. Great fun. :)
All versions of Harpoon had a nuclear option IIRC. (Yeah, I know...CMO/CMANO is the current spiritual successor to Harpoon.......but for the sake of completeness :))
Hearts of Iron and its remakes/expansions, all have nuclear options (going back at least as far as HOI2, that I personally can vouch for, but surely also HOI1.) But they count more as a strategic game series, or at the operational level, not the tactical/battlefield level, of course. It's certainly very groggy, though!
I found this title limiting in terms of delivery systems and technology represented, but still worth a look.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218310/Bombergeddon/ (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218310/Bombergeddon/)
Lots of great board games let you throw nukes around:
Central Front series from SPI back in the day:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/4255/series-central-front-spi
Tactical nuking goodness.
Red Menace more recently:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/136215/red-menace
Fun solo strategic nuking Ruskies.
I can only think of a few strategic level games at the moment. Abandonware games like Shadow President and Balance of Power (nukes mean game over). On Steam there's, Power and Revolution, Precipice, Super Power 2, Supreme Ruler, Command H.Q. Mostly game over in those, too, but CHQ has an interesting take on using nukes. The side that uses them first suffers a greater diplomatic penalty. One side can not launch more than 3 nuke attacks beyond what the other side has launched. There is chance that all out nuclear war ends the game. Nukes are only present in the WW III and WW IV scenarios in CHQ.
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I think Superpower 2 had an excellent nuclear war game, it's always available on GOG.
Quote from: Wburn on June 29, 2020, 04:12:48 PM
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I think Superpower 2 had an excellent nuclear war game, it's always available on GOG.
Yes, but everything else about it sucked!
That's sort of what the GOG reviews said...........................
I still liked it more than the CIV games but for the real nuke war game it was this.
https://www.abandonwaredos.com/abandonware-game.php?abandonware=Red+sky+at+morning&gid=578
A text driven game that I really liked and still have the 5 and some change floppy.
And let's not forget two games that two friends and I designed for Avalon Hill back around 1980:
Quote from: Geezer on June 29, 2020, 05:14:57 PM
And let's not forget two games that two friends and I designed for Avalon Hill back around 1980:
Cool! I played B-1 Bomber to death. Then started to mod the code and have even more fun.
Thanks for hours of gaming on my C64.
Quote from: Wburn on June 29, 2020, 05:08:47 PM
I still liked it more than the CIV games but for the real nuke war game it was this.
A text driven game that I really liked and still have the 5 and some change floppy.
Totally off topic, and I can't even include what I am quoting, but, Wburn, I love your avatar! It reminds me of my grandfather who used that saying all my life, "People in Hell want ice water." Made me laugh and made my day thinking about him. O0
Totally off topic, and I can't even include what I am quoting, but, Wburn, I love your avatar! It reminds me of my grandfather who used that saying all my life, "People in Hell want ice water." Made me laugh and made my day thinking about him. O0
Thank you Metal dog, glad it brings fond memories of your Grandfather. O0
Quote from: Barthheart on June 29, 2020, 05:19:08 PM
Cool! I played B-1 Bomber to death. Then started to mod the code and have even more fun.
Thanks for hours of gaming on my C64.
Very happy to hear you liked the game. :bd: