I think it's Friday and I like it a lot.

[MetalDog]

"...banged up."  Neat way to slip that one in.

[Sir Slash]

Banged-up, slip-it-in. If I didn't know better I would swear you two have Freud issues. Could be linked to inadequacy or performance problems. Just saying. But my Daddy always told me, "Any Bang is a good one. And any slip is worth it, except for slip-out". My Father the Barber-Poet.

[Gusington]

Now down to 9.00. Final offer, he says.

[Sir Slash]

Hold out. He'll go to $7.

[Nefaro]

Fih Dollah.   

[Gusington]

He's staying firm at 9.00 while the item itself grows flaccid and wrinkled in the hot sun. Better act soon.

[panzerde]

Gonna need about three fiddy...

[Sir Slash]

Turns out that one is not mine. My wife just showed me. She keeps mine in the Glove Box of her car. In case of a flat tire, she uses it to jack-up the car to put the spare on. Who knew? ^-^

[Staggerwing]

The Sam Kinison is strong in this thread...

[Gusington]

AHHH!! AHHHHHHH!!!!

[Sir Slash]

Must be his on the table at St. Marks then. Leaning strongly toward picking up the entire Unity of Command series for $4.50. I'm afraid it's too light for my tastes though. How deep is it UOC Vets? I understand the AI is a devious Mother.

[panzerde]

Must be his on the table at St. Marks then. Leaning strongly toward picking up the entire Unity of Command series for $4.50. I'm afraid it's too light for my tastes though. How deep is it UOC Vets? I understand the AI is a devious Mother.

The AI is devious as hell. It tends to feel more like a puzzle game to me, though. Not bad for an evening where you don't feel like pushing around a ton of units. Games can be very short - Kursk is something like four turns, for example.

[JasonPratt]

Slash,

Well, "ton" is relative. Some Panzer-generalish games, you get fourteen or so units per mission; this one you're probably going to get a few dozen, easily 30+, maybe 50+. But it isn't like a monster wargame, and because of the way the missions are designed (as very large-scale frontal battles of the sort that were really only ever found on the East Front anyway) it's pretty easy to find all your units and work through them.

As with many (all?) games roughly based on Panzer General, the missions do feel puzzle-like; and that's especially true in this game because the turn constraints are ridiculous. But the game is generally fair; as crazy as the turn goals may seem at first, they are doable, and that leads to a lot of satisfaction in making the cut.

I say "generally fair" because the if you leave weather on -- and I'm not sure you can turn it off -- the weather effects can combine with the extreme limited number of turns to kill your chances of winning the mission from the outset or on any given turn. I haven't had that happen often, but I've seen it happen occasionally. Come to think of it, maybe the weather can't ruin a mission from the beginning -- but it does affect offense negatively and you're usually going to be on offense (or counter-offense as the campaign story may go; again much like any Panzer General game). And it obviously affects movement (maybe also supply, I can't recall) and in a game where movement (and supply) are absolutely critical, that can be deadly.

Unlike most Panzer General games, you won't get a lot of spending money between missions either, and much of that tends to go to repairing and buffing corps (or divisions if you're playing as Russia), rather than buying new and/or elite units. Consequently, it's easy to make a hard but ultimately wrong choice early in a campaign which would have been the right choice had things gone differently, and end up hurting for points to spend refreshing your troops later.

On the other hand, there isn't much really to 'buy' in this game (unlike most PG-based games -- this one's about the simplest such adaptation of the rules that I've seen, though it has some subtle details to it). That could be good or bad depending on how much you like or want that sort of thing.

Personally, I think the series is worth it at full price, and at a deep discount sale like this the value jumps even higher. But it is what it is, and it isn't what it isn't, so... I dunno, check some YouTube reviews/LPs maybe?

[JasonPratt]

Specifically to the question of how deep it is? On average, less deep than Panzer General, I'd say. But deeper than PG in some regards.

[Sir Slash]

Thanks guys. Still on the fence. BTW I hate those Bobble-Head unit icons. But at least I can play UOC without getting a brain aneurysm like in DC Case Blue.