Monday 2 September 2013

More computer wargames

Oh yes, there are more.....


After my last rather self congratulatory post, Small General whipped me again. And that was only the Average Joe AI. Hey ho.

Following my adventures with Android I have now started looking at iOS games. This is because we now have an iPad in the family and if I am lucky I will get half a chance to use it, no doubt strictly limited to special occasions. In anticipation of this I have done a quick and very partial survey of available historical games and those upcoming (or at least promised) that appeal to me.

Available now

Battle of the Bulge: Shenandoah Studios launched this last year via Kickstarter. It looks good!



This was designed by John Butterfield and is a real turn-based traditional wargame. The "lite" version (one scenario) is free and the full version if £6.99. Its on my list!

Upcoming

Wars and Battles: This looks great. A multiplatform game system produced by a French company with plenty of French academic and military involvement in the design. This series will cover a range of operational battles including Normandy, Kharkov, Gettysburg etc. Although their Kickstarter project  recently failed, this still looks set to go ahead. At $10 a pop for each "game" and one battle being issued every two months starting in December 2013, this looks really promising. Also, if you check out the Press Area on the website you will find a free card model of a 1/72 Cromwell to build. http://warsandbattles.com/en/.



Tank on Tank: This is the Lock n Load game being converted to iOS by Playdek. Its in the works for this year so lets see what happens. LnL were recently bought out so I'm not sure what their plans will be.

Manoeuvre: The GMT introductory Napoleonic game which uses cards and squares. One of my favourite games. Even better as an iOS app. This is somewhere in the works with no timescale.

Commands and Colours: Another of my favourite game series. This is GMT in collaboration with Playdek so may cover one or both of Ancients and/or Napoleonics. Possibly not far off but no dates specified.

Games not yet on my list (but I remain to be converted)

I have been tempted by Slitherine's Battle Academy and also by Victory Point Games' Levee en Masse.

Looking over Slitherine's site, Battle Academy is 3D WWII, turn-based and has lots of combat noises. There are also lots of scenarios and campaigns. I may have been confusing this with a real time strategy game so I need to give this some further thought.. The full version is £13.99 but there is a "lite" version for free. Aaargh! I may have just convinced myself.

Levee en Masse is the French Revolution instalment in the VPG States of Siege system. I think SoS is quite interesting. However, one reviewer described this as a history game rather than a wargame so on that basis I may leave this one on the back burner for a while.

Human v AI update

I can't believe it, I've just lost again in 5 rounds to the AI....