Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The last time I used ‘innovative’ or ‘refreshing’ to describe a hex wargame, Good Queen Bess was on the throne and bear-burning and witch-baiting were legal. While HPS explore some unusual themes now and again and Matrix flirt with modernity occasionally, on the whole six-sided PC strategy seems firmly wedged in the past. Three cheers for Hours of War then. This Finnish-made WW2 operational wargame currently in open beta, blends the unorthodox and the familiar in a most enticing way. Read the rest of this entry »

The makers of my favourite simulation of 2008 may, fingers-crossed, be about to unleash my favourite wargame of 2009. The demo of ЛИНИЯ ФРОНТА: БИТВА ЗА ХАРЬКОВ is disappointingly nocturnal and only available in Russian right now, but I reckon there’s enough Close Combat-calibre tactical action and Combat Mission: Campaigns-style meta-game discernible, to warrant incautious optimism. Read the rest of this entry »

That Syrian skirmish I AARed a few weeks ago is now available to all and sundry as part of the recently unleashed CMSF: British Forces demo. If you are either all or sundry, and thought my tank tactics timid, my employment of artillery artless, and my use of infantry infuriatingly infrugal, now is your chance to do better. Grind out glorious low-cost victories, then strut and brag via the comments section.

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As the night sky pales over a dusty plateau near Damascus, two Wolf Land Rovers and two Jackal patrol vehicles parked in the lee of a ruined wall, start their engines and move off in search of the enemy. My first Combat Mission Shock Force: British Forces battle is underway. Wish me luck.

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The bloke that cut-me-up on the A303 yesterday is a STENCH WEASEL, the librarian that never returns my smile is a RAVEN STARVER, and the person that regularly fly-tips at the end of my road is a STINKING TURD. Thank you midden-mouthed web wargame 1066, a week in your company has enriched my abuse lexicon no end.

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The best way to learn about Paradox’s rapidly approaching grand-strategy leviathan Hearts of Iron 3? Sit down with a gallon mug of tea and a family-size packet of custard creams and plough through the fascinating 30-part developer diary. If you’ve already done that, or don’t have the patience/dunkable biscuitry to take on such a task, try the following Q&A in which Lead Designer and Man of History Johan Andersson fields questions on subjects as diverse as HoI3, gulags, and HoI3.

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Great – it looks like I’m going to get to use my ‘The smell of the greasepaint, the roar of the Krauts.’ strapline again. Theatre of War, one of the more wargamerly WW2 RTSs of recent years, is about to spawn a sequel. Going by this hot-off-the-compiler Russian-language demo, that sequel will please a lot more grogs than its parent did.

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Battle of the Bulge wargames aren’t exactly novel, but it’s been ages since anyone recreated the last major German offensive of the War without using hexes or turns. Spanish studio Games GI are the people behind – deep breath – World War 2: General Commander: Watch On The Rhine. Going by the surprisingly hefty demo they seem to know what they’re doing. Though the swarmy AI and simplistic logistics won’t impress Airborne Assault aficionados (who, incidentally, are waiting patiently for their own Bulge game) the trim UI and understated 3D visuals possibly will.

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Anyone wondering whether troubled contemporary wargame Combat Mission: Shock Force is now fit for duty should definitely give the new 1.11 ‘Marines’ demo a spin. Battlefront have lashed together a bland training scenario, a dreadfully imbalanced armour clash (’Smashing Metal’ – play as the Syrians if you want any sort of challenge), and – thank God – two variants of a quality FIBUA engagement, to showcase a year’s worth of improvements. I still have a few issues with the full game, but nervously hunting Syrian airborne troops through the streets of Tadmur (’USMC – Going To Town’), it’s impossible not to admire what CMSF has finally become.

Read on for a few beginner’s tips.

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For those of us that like our strategic entertainment martial and historical 2008 wasn’t exactly a stellar year. AGEOD kept their end up well enough, Matrix Games produced the odd semi-precious gem, and Combat Mission: Shock Force finally started looked like the game thousands of CMx1 fans hoped it would be, but overall it was a stale, depressing twelve months. The famine may explain why I’m moderately excited about War Plan Pacific, a pared-down WW2 wargame from new outfit KE Studios.

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