Piercing Fortress Europe Released - Frank Hunter game

spelk · February 25, 2014, 11:57:23 AM

Out now
http://www.matrixgames.com/products/467/details/PiercingFortressEuropa

magnus · February 25, 2014, 12:26:45 PM

It is a damn fine wargame of the WWII Italian campaign.

Slick Wilhelm · February 25, 2014, 01:24:21 PM

So that's what Frank has been up to. I had no idea what he was working on.

I've never played a wargame on the Italian Front in WWII yet. This might be the one to try.

Theodotus · February 25, 2014, 01:34:58 PM

Any first impressions? (As a board wargamer from way back in the 70's, the screen shots appeal to me, and I'm currently reading the PDF that's free on the Matrix product page, and the game overall looks good to me, but I wonder about how the AI is and how many bugs there are.)

Rayfer · February 25, 2014, 01:46:29 PM

Just my subjective opinion but we are in wargame golden age.....ACW2, Flashpoint Campaigns, Heroes of Stalingrad and others from Matrix, and now this, all fairly recent. I just can't afford this new one right now.

SgtRock · February 25, 2014, 03:28:47 PM

Here's a link to the manual you can download

ftp://ftp.matrixgames.com/pub/PiercingFortressEuropa/Piercing_Fortress_Europa_Manual.pdf

spelk · February 25, 2014, 05:05:44 PM

Had a quick go at the first starter scenario, 16 turns, as the Axis and its basically a retreat back to Messina - trying to protect what you can with what you can eek out of the German and Italian forces.

The Allies landed at the Beach and near Gela, along with a sneaky drop between Syracuse and Catania. It was this last one that caused quite a bit of Supply issues leading out from Messina. So I decided to move my troops down to South coastal road and protect what I could from there.

The Allies overrun my troops in the South, and took Gela and Syracuse at one point - but by channelling units from the North and dropping purchased Fortifications I managed to hold the road - killing off the offending amphibious landing and opening the supply up a bit to Syracuse.

Finally managed to hold off pushes Eastwards on the road to Catania, and pushed back just enough to re-take Syracuse very late in the game (turn 16, I think).

Air was set to mainly Interdiction during the landings and then 50/50 with ground support, until towards the end, all on ground support. Not really sure what I was doing with it to be honest. But it felt like it was helping :) I reinforced where I could. Pulled back those who started to get >50% disruption.

Considering I wasn't really sure what I was doing at parts of it, and the movement/supply mechanic is purely planning, the resolution happens simultaneously, I thought it went better than hoped :)

Here's the map at the end of the scenario.

Axis Victory

It's quite a bare bones experience, no audio, limited animations (moving mainly). I've no idea how good/bad AI is, only to say that the starter scenario seems well equipped as a tutorial mess about for a complete novice. I liked the idea of only one true action per turn, and you're quite limited, so your decisions need to be guided/planned out a little. Still without much of a clue what I was doing, I pulled off a decisive victory - so I'm contented. Will be interesting to see how it plays out with some of the more involved scenarios.

jomni · February 25, 2014, 05:27:18 PM

Any game which needs a lot of thought on planning is worth a try. Description says it focuses on supply. How is that implemented in the game?

spelk · February 25, 2014, 06:02:19 PM

Quote from: jomni on February 25, 2014, 05:27:18 PM
Any game which needs a lot of thought on planning is worth a try. Description says it focuses on supply. How is that implemented in the game?

It flows out of occupied cities along roads - you turn on an overlay and it gives you a coloured indication as to the spread of supply. Each unit will have a % supply value attached to it, based on its placement on the map.

-budd- · February 25, 2014, 06:49:02 PM

no audio...at all...really.

spelk · February 26, 2014, 08:44:38 AM

Quote from: -budd- on February 25, 2014, 06:49:02 PM
no audio...at all...really.

yeah but, it has hexes and chits! :)

Tinkershuffle · February 26, 2014, 10:02:40 AM

My main concern is the scale and "epicness" (or the lack of it) of the game. Does it feel like you're in command of major combat operations when Italy is only 5-15 hexes wide?

JudgeDredd · February 27, 2014, 06:26:08 PM

Some people are saying no sound isn't a deal breaker for them...I have to disagree because it certainly is for me.

I don't think I've ever played a game with absolutely no sound and I'm not going to stump up £30+ on a game which may be totally ruined for me because of that.

Frank Hunters response on Matrix is "I didn't think it added anything". Well guess what Frank...it would've added £30 to the coffers.

If you didn't think it added anything why not switch it off by default but have an option?

What a ridiculous response.

-budd- · February 27, 2014, 06:37:35 PM

I kinda like sound in my games and think it is under developed in most wargames, almost an after thought. Doesn't Matrix have a library of sounds from other games they could of just thrown in.

Nefaro · February 27, 2014, 06:39:47 PM

Same. Sounds is a must. Even if it's just various interface sounds and the occasional combat sound.

May as well buy a tabletop wargame if you're not getting some of these extra advantages of digital gaming.