Underappreciated Games

[Nefaro]

I dunno.. I kinda liked being able to pick the target hex first, before allocating support in DCWtP.   Once I figured out how the extra selection boxes worked on that interface, which lists all the air/artillery in range and lets you (de)select them, I could peruse them all without having to move around on the map to find them.  Became quite handy.

[Ubercat]

My problem was that I might want to use those assets on something else. If I go ahead and blast the first good target, I may later discover something else that needs blasting even more.

IoW, I check a target and see that Artillery A, B, and C are all in range. I blast the target with A. Moving on, I check another target and discover that A was the only one in range, but I already used it. It would have been better to use B or C on the first target and save A for the second. It's difficult to make that determination now, without a lot of checking and rechecking. Does that make sense?

I'll try again at some point, but I just got back into PzC Smolensk '41.

[DV8]

For me it would be M1 Tank Platoon by Microprose.

[MIGMaster]

For me it would be M1 Tank Platoon by Microprose.

That's a damn good choice too !

[Staggerwing]

For me it would be M1 Tank Platoon by Microprose.

That's a damn good choice too !

A time when Brave Green polygons stood fast along the Fulda Gap and Sov armor was actually rendered in red. Oh, the memories... sometimes the OPFOR units would clip through the distant terrain accidentally and I'd see where they were grouping up. I decided on a house rule which stated that this was due to some old ex-Wehrmacht farmer passing on intel as the Sov or DDR armor rolled by.

[Greybriar]

For me it would be M1 Tank Platoon by Microprose.

Really? I can think of several MicroProse titles that were underappreciated but I would not have thought M1 Tank Platoon was one of them. I played that game for many, many hours.

[Greybriar]

In December of 1991 Patton Strikes Back was released. It was intended that it would attract new gamers to the wargaming genre. Unfortunately it failed to do so despite favorable reviews. Then in 1994, Panzer General was released and accomplished what Patton Strikes Back failed to do.

So I respectfully submit Patton Strikes Back as my nomination for an underappreciated game in this thread.

[Senex]

My favorite under-appreciated wargame was published by SSG, Russia - The Great War In The East.

You could assign roles, both high and low, to a competent AI.  Or you could micro-manage to your heart's content.

I was on the Apple II (and the Commodore 64 as well), and that's why you don't hear of it much any more.

[LongBlade]

Impossible Creatures. Great idea. Didn't quite live up to its potential, but still a fun game. Didn't get nearly as much attention as it deserved. Had it, it probably would have had patches or a sequel to make it truly awesome.

[JasonPratt]

For me it would be M1 Tank Platoon by Microprose.

That's a damn good choice too !

A time when Brave Green polygons stood fast along the Fulda Gap and Sov armor was actually rendered in red. Oh, the memories... sometimes the OPFOR units would clip through the distant terrain accidentally and I'd see where they were grouping up. I decided on a house rule which stated that this was due to some old ex-Wehrmacht farmer passing on intel as the Sov or DDR armor rolled by.

As with other longtime players I'm not sure I would count that as "underappreciated", but maybe it wasn't as popular as the Stealth Fighter and the Gunship games (all three of which I played the hell out of, both in their original C64 versions and in their PC semi-upgrades. Except M1TP wasn't ever for C64.)

Best M1 story (i.e. only one I recall all these years later): I'm defending with my platoon against an expected Sov advance, and so I enfilide my crew behind the ridge of a hill (all hills in this game are pyramids of various heights and base areas, btw) on the southwest side of the map, looking east out over the rest of the board for that mission. Massive visibility, with the M1 computer-adjusted aiming for the shells we literally cannot miss. Should be like shooting fish in a wide barrel. Total slaughter.

Whenever the Sovs get there anyway.

Whenever that is.

....waiting. Waiting. Dang, they're taking their time to form up and advance. Waiting.

...what the hell. Had I misread the intel or was it simply wrong this time? I'm scanning all over the place, shifting from tank to tank in case that makes any difference. Nothing at all on the map after 15 minutes.

Maybe I was the one who was supposed to attack?

Oh well. I back the northernmost tank off the edge of the hill, and crawl north to look over the northwestern ridge to plan my assault path, figuring since I'm already on the edge of the map I might as well exploit the safety of the map edge and work my

---MY GOD IT'S FULL OF TANKS!!!!

The Sovs had formed up, rolled to the western edge of the map under cover of some low rises to the north, and were slowly working their way up the hill. All 20 of them. Easily halfway up the hill by now. I hadn't had any infantry elements I could deploy as scouts, but honestly I had just neglected to even think about the possibility that the AI would be smart enough to do that.

Barely, BARELY got my boys rolled around in time, as the one tank who had discovered the encroaching threat blasted away heroically trying to slow down the advance.

Indeed an epic victory, but not the one I was expecting.

(Not quite as great as the day on C64 Gunship I was out tank hunting and got into a all-fire duel with a couple of Hinds, guns, hellfires, everything I had, they've knocked out my radar, I can't see the final Hind, can't find it, the thing pastes me point blank with its cannons, knocking off my rotor, and as I start to fall from the sky IT FLIES DIRECTLY UNDER ME!!! Which no doubt the pilot thought was excessively badass. The last few shells from my damaged 30mm cannon spacked it, and it hit the ground before I did.)

[bob48]

Take Command - 2nd Bull Run by Mad Minute Games - was a pretty nice game that did seem to pick up a cult following. I still play it now-and-again as good ACW games are as common as rocking horse poo!

[LongBlade]

Take Command - 2nd Bull Run by Mad Minute Games - was a pretty nice game that did seem to pick up a cult following. I still play it now-and-again as good ACW games are as common as rocking horse poo!

Within the wargaming community it was very well received. Unfortunately the great gamer public failed to catch on.

[TheCommandTent]

Take Command - 2nd Bull Run by Mad Minute Games - was a pretty nice game that did seem to pick up a cult following. I still play it now-and-again as good ACW games are as common as rocking horse poo!

Within the wargaming community it was very well received. Unfortunately the great gamer public failed to catch on.

It was unfortunate.  I already posted this on the first page of this thread but the successor to TC 2nd Bull Run, Scourge of War Gettysbrug, would also fall into this category.

[meadbelly]

S.P.A.Z. (Space Pirates and Zombies)

Hard to judge the quality or quantity of appreciation for this one, but I found it hit a sweet spot between satisfying top-down eye candy and actual space combat, exploration, and rpg elements (upgrading your ships). For a game I don't play more than 1/2hr to an hour at a time, it gets a lot of play.

[Toonces]

I thought Armageddon Empires was one game that came to mind when I started reading this thread.  It's a brilliant game that came and went far too fast, IMO.

The Take Command/SoW games are also excellent choices.  Heck I own both of those and completely forgot I even had them until I started reading this thread!  Now THAT is unappreciated!