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Feature: Sim and wargaming wordage
The mighty Tirpitz spent most of her short life skulking in Norwegian fjords. Fuel shortages and Kriegsmarine caution meant she never braved the Denmark Strait or traded shells with a truly worthy opponent. To get a feel for what the Bismarck's sister ship might have achieved had she been employed more aggressively, you need a game like Command of the Sea.
Feature: Caught between a rock salmon and a hard plaice
Not an easy week to be a wargame and simulation correspondent. If I bite my lip and try really hard I think I'll be able to rattle off today's column without mentioning the lovely DUSK, but I know I won't be able to get through without acknowledging that cetacean in the room, Nantucket. Released yesterday, Picaresque's piquant and pacy whaling RPG is far too close to…
Feature: Room to manoeuvre
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time. Migrating, as many PC wargamers did at the turn of the century, from the Close Combat series to Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord, was like clambering out of a Carden Loyd Tankette after a long cross-country drive. The revolutionary 3D battlefields felt vast, the…
Feature: Simulation & wargame blather
The labyrinthine Steam department store now stocks mind-blowingly rich historical strategy epics, military-grade battle sims, and flight sim add-ons so dense they can punch through Chobham armour like it was damp loo roll. Is there any chance My Wargame of 2014 will be appearing on its shelves any time soon?
Feature: Simulation & wargame blather
Demos are a digital wargamer's Predator drones and PR Spitfires. They allow us to scout new battlefields safely and smartly. They furnish us with the information reviews, AARs and Let's Plays can't provide. I wouldn't be without them, yet, these days, often am thanks to the questionable policies of sector-dominating militaria-mongers Slitherine/Matrix Games.
Soldier! Get a move on! Assault that Communism now! Quickly, it's getting away! It'll spill pinko juice everywhere if you don't catch it on time. COMMUNISM MUST BE ASSAULTED OR WE SHALL ALL PERISH. I'm pretty sure that's an exact recreation of what playing the demo of Battlefront's latest Strategic Command, WWII Assault on Communism plays like. Didn't I do well?
John has barely stopped playing Strategic Command World War I since he drew the attention of the world to the demo. Occasionally Alec will try to distract him from the giant, glamorous maps that have become his life by dangling a copy of Super Mega Picross Puzzle Evolved in front of him but, while his catlike reflexes will cause him to swat at the intruding…
The Flare Path has the full debrief on Combat Mission: Fortress Italy, which contains three campaigns covering the battle for Sicily. A clever waypoint system and strong choice of maps and missions led to the game being deemed a "grand old time". If the notion of Sicilian skirmishes appeals but you like to take your tanks for a test drive before exchanging currency and driving…
Feature: Simulation & wargame news
People of Argentina, people of Britain, for the past week The Flare Path Strategic Studies Institute has been conducting detailed simulations of a possible Second Falklands War. Using Custer II - an engine built with the assistance of Bohemia Interactive, Battlefront.com, Turbo Tape Games and PopCap - we've run over 1000 separate conflict scenarios. Of these, 54% ended in stalemate, 19% were won by the…
If you know Rock, Paper, Shotgun, then you'll know about my love for strategy games. If I can't find a bit of time for playing a strategy game in day, I quite lose my mind. Whether it's a campaign in Men Of Battles, a quick squirmish in Company Of Men In Conflict, or some multiplayer co-op at lunchtime in Total Men: War Of Men At…
In June 2000 a metaphorical Tiger Tank burst from a metaphorical Norman wood and proceeded to blow the turrets off 14 metaphorical Shermans. I was those 14 metaphorical Shermans. Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord was the Tiger. Nobody is quite sure about the Norman wood.
War-gaming supremos Battlefront have released some footage of Akella's naval simulator, PT Boats: Knights Of The Sea, and I've post it below for your inspection. The game is supposedly a strategy-action hybrid in which you can control warboats from German, Russian and Allied forces in World War II at both strategic and tactical levels. It certain looks intriguing. We first spotted this on the horizon…
'Tis the season to be inundated with World War II real-time strategy games. The most recent is this: the dusty North African sequel to the original Theatre of War, and what the creators claim is the "most realistic WWII game ever". So realistic it'll leave sand in your tea, or something. The 786mb demo features a tutorial level and what is apparently a single level…
