Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943 Review

Popular imagination has a long standing love affair with blockbuster WWII battles and operations (El Alamein, Normandy, the Bulge, Montecassino, Operation Market Garden, [put your favorite here], etc.). The Eastern Front has its own share of very popular battles and operations (Stalingrad, Operation Barbarossa, Moscow and Kursk, just to mention a few). The Third Battle of Kharkov has been more or less in the realms of hardcore WWII history discussion and war gaming. A collosal struggle of men and heavy metal as any other battle in the Eastern Front, The Third Battle of Kharkov ended with the Germans capturing the city from the north and getting some morale back after the horrendous defeat and surrender of the German Sixth Army at ... (gah! blockbuster battle incoming) ... Stalingrad. Well, I hope you see my point that big stories about big battles are difficult to not love if you suck at military history as much as I do. To my defense, let me point out that even boutique war games developers who cater the most hard core and knowledgeable grognards out there are thinking it twice before meandering onto less popular WWII battles. That's why a while ago I was mildly surprised to read about this tactical game "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943", that puts you in command of small units (company and below) in the less sexy, kind of distant southern flank of the city during March of 1943. I always thought that I would be able to find something interesting in any combat story of any unit, of any country, at any front and at any time during WWII. After playing "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943" I can say I am still right. But the full credit goes to the way the story is presented in this game. 

Exclusive Interview with The Red Pill's Dimitris Dranidis

The Red Pill (working title) is a naval/air simulation/war game being developed by a team of independent developers. As judged by the screenshots and after action reports posted at WarfareSims.com, The Red Pill  will be packed with realism and playability. This is an interview with one of the team members, Dimitris V. Dranidis. 

JCOVE Lite: Reaction to Enemy Fire Drill

This four step drill and its variants are almost universal among armies of the world. It may come in handy at your next online coop match.
The other three steps (also presented as images) available when you click "read more"

TacNuggets #1: Overwatching and Overlooking Battle Spaces

The official line: TacNuggets is an experimental series of short entries about tactics. This series will  focus in simple tactical problems and their solution, using several simulators and games. Not intended to provide a full tactical meal, TacNuggets is just a snack to get your warrior spirit going through dull periods of time at work, the downloading/installation of your favorite game, your significant other's nagging, the music on  your credit card's customer support line or the loading time of your next DCS Black Shark mission.

The fine print: TacNuggets is mostly about: (i) blunders that consistently get me killed and prevent me to complete scenarios and write a decent after action report; (ii) over analyzing tactical axioms that most people can practice in their sleep; (iii) fattening your warrior spirit with an unhealthy snack that will leave you unfit even to command a pack of sheeps and  (iv), camouflaging the diminishing lenght and quality of the blog's entries with new names or word tricks.    

Without further addo, let's go straight into this first entry.

Simulator: Steel Beasts ProPE
Topic: Bounding Overwatch

"Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943", Tactical Combat Delivered in Manageable Chunks

The demo of "Achtung Panzer: Kharkov 1943" was released this week.

I'll spare you the generic and repetitive babble that you can read about this game in the mainstream media: a tactical World War II game  ... it has an "strategic" layer (that "strategic" bit always makes me chuckle) ... the battles play in real time ... it looks really pretty ... blah, blah, blah.

The question that I had when I loaded the demo: is there anything for incorrigible old farts like me who are beyond eye candy?

HistWar Les Grognards, Say Hello to my Little Voltigeur!

I just finished all the tutorials in HistWar Les Grognards (HWLG). The slow pace that I'm taking with this game is not for a lack of liking. Au contraire, I'm very excited about this game. I just  want to make sure that I get it right before venturing into battle. Also, there is some reading involved (got some books about Napoleonic warfare).

This short entry to let you know that HWLG really shines when you are in command of two or more Corps. This becomes evident in the last tutorial. With two or more Corps at your command, you have more tactical options (off course) and you have to think it twice before putting your units in action.

Cheers,

JCOVE Lite and the Urban Patrol Script

How much spoiled I became with ARMA 2 and its place-and-forget AI OPFOR units!

ARMA 2's AI OPFOR units that search, flank and swarm you from all over the map with vicious ferocity are just a click away in the editor. Now regarding this new JCOVE Lite drug I'm already addicted to, be advised that the AI is some sort of entity that lies between ARMA and ARMA 2. The question is: is it possible to give the AI OPFOR in JCOVE Lite some of the smarties mentioned above?

Red Pill: New Screenshots

WarfareSims.com has a new batch of screenshots of the "Cans Only" scenario. This naval/air war game looks absolutely fantastic and judging by the screenshots where info windows are open there appears to be an excellent engine under the hood. Read the full story and see all the screenshots here.

Cheers,

JCOVE Lite: The British Army Infantry Fire Team

Gentlemen, I am going to go on a limb when it comes to formations and TTPs in JCOVE-Lite. The UK Ministry of Defense considers all Army doctrinal publications secret, so it's going to be hard to be true to life. Any pointers and suggestions are (as always) very welcome.

Tank-Infantry Teams in ARMA 2: Securing a Foothold in an Urban Area (Part 3)

This is a continuation of past Tuesday's entry. Again, I pasted the birds eye view of the area of operations (image above) for an easier following of the action.