I'm re-reading "The War the Infantry Knew" by J C Dunn (great read by the way) and was struck by the potential for an interesting company-level game. Whilst the strategic picture was one of attrition and sheer-brute-force frontal assaults, at a tactical level patrols and raids were undertaken which I think would be good gaming material. Does such a game exist, does anybody know?
Squad Battles WWI:
http://www.johntillersoftware.com/SquadBattles/FirstWorldWar.html
Thanks Gus - this seems to be just what I was looking for!
A must own book for anyone into WW1. O0
Quote from: Gusington on September 07, 2014, 01:28:27 PM
Squad Battles WWI:
http://www.johntillersoftware.com/SquadBattles/FirstWorldWar.html
Very good title for those into WWI small tactics.
If you want to throw some Cthulhu into the mix, there's The Wasted Land for PC and smartphones. Tactical combat game against eldritch horrors in the trenches of WWI.
http://redwaspdesign.wordpress.com/call-of-cthulhu/ (http://redwaspdesign.wordpress.com/call-of-cthulhu/)
You're welcome, Father. For some reason I always forget about the Squad Battles games too.
SDR - have you played The Wasted Land?
Yes, I played it on my phone. It's pretty fun but very challenging. It reminds me a bit of Silent Storm, but with Shoggoths instead of Panzerkleins.
Someone said it was too simple, when it first came out.
Being a phone/tablet game, I took it for truth.
Quote from: Father Ted on September 07, 2014, 04:01:07 PM
Thanks Gus - this seems to be just what I was looking for!
If it helps here is my review of it...
http://grogheads.com/?p=2081#more-2081
Oops sorry, forgot to include that.
Quote from: Boggit on September 08, 2014, 11:57:21 AM
Quote from: Father Ted on September 07, 2014, 04:01:07 PM
Thanks Gus - this seems to be just what I was looking for!
If it helps here is my review of it...
http://grogheads.com/?p=2081#more-2081
Thanks Boggit - I did find my way to your reviewm and very useful it was too!
Glad it helped. What I really liked about the game is how the tactical combat changes between 1914-18. By 1918 it's very similar to WW2. casualties in 1914 while armies are learning to fight with modern weapons are frightful. :o It's designed by Ed Williams, someone who is IMO quite an authority on WW1. :)
^ I have to agree with that, he also designed the 2 ww1 panzer campaigns engine games, France 14 and Prussia. He is also part of the dev team at esim for steel beasts and he's pretty active in their mp community.
One unique feature of the game that's not present in other SB titles is that the machine gun can do indirect fire. Must be an era-specific tactic.
Quote from: jomni on September 08, 2014, 07:38:04 PM
Must be an era-specific tactic.
Certainly was..a huge amount of casualties on the first day of the Somme was down to this..
Quote from: Skoop on September 08, 2014, 06:18:15 PM
^ I have to agree with that, he also designed the 2 ww1 panzer campaigns engine games, France 14 and Prussia. He is also part of the dev team at esim for steel beasts and he's pretty active in their mp community.
I think at this point I would buy just about anything Ed Williams is the designer on, just to get his designer's notes. I learned more about WWI warfare from reading his notes in France '14 and EP '14 than almost anything else I've read.
SB WW1 suffers due to the engine limitations sadly. It's a problem I see often when developers use one engine for games covering totally different eras and wars. The games are usually best if it closely resembles the first games focus.
Another problem is the shear size of alot of the scenarios.. real monsters they are. I found a fair few battles not covered in the game and some would have been especially suited to a smaller scenario.
Saying all this though no one else has had the balls to do a WW1 tactical wargame and on the whole it just about succeeds.
Quote from: TacticalWargames on September 10, 2014, 08:55:27 PM
SB WW1 suffers due to the engine limitations sadly. It's a problem I see often when developers use one engine for games covering totally different eras and wars. The games are usually best if it closely resembles the first games focus.
Another problem is the shear size of alot of the scenarios.. real monsters they are. I found a fair few battles not covered in the game and some would have been especially suited to a smaller scenario.
Saying all this though no one else has had the balls to do a WW1 tactical wargame and on the whole it just about succeeds.
What limitation in particular?
Quote from: panzerde on September 10, 2014, 08:21:45 PM
Quote from: Skoop on September 08, 2014, 06:18:15 PM
^ I have to agree with that, he also designed the 2 ww1 panzer campaigns engine games, France 14 and Prussia. He is also part of the dev team at esim for steel beasts and he's pretty active in their mp community.
I think at this point I would buy just about anything Ed Williams is the designer on, just to get his designer's notes. I learned more about WWI warfare from reading his notes in France '14 and EP '14 than almost anything else I've read.
Pretty much agree with you. The quality of his research, and his written expression of the same is outstanding. :coolsmiley:
Quote from: panzerde on September 10, 2014, 08:21:45 PM
Quote from: Skoop on September 08, 2014, 06:18:15 PM
^ I have to agree with that, he also designed the 2 ww1 panzer campaigns engine games, France 14 and Prussia. He is also part of the dev team at esim for steel beasts and he's pretty active in their mp community.
I think at this point I would buy just about anything Ed Williams is the designer on, just to get his designer's notes. I learned more about WWI warfare from reading his notes in France '14 and EP '14 than almost anything else I've read.
+1