Achtung Battlefront!

Elsewhere I am reading comments from very smart people saying that Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943 (APK43, by Graviteam) is a breakthrough war game. Although I reckon APK43 as the best 3-D tactical war game experience I had since Combat Mission Beyond Overlord/Barbarossa to Berlin/Afrika Korps (by Battlefront), in my agenda APK43 scored just two inches short of becoming a classic. One inch for the lack of multiplayer. Another inch for the lack of a map editor. But Graviteam fired this shot from a mile away, so let's keep things in perspective.

Graviteam came out of nowhere and kicked down the chits and board of a game that Battlefront has been playing solo since the year 2000. And did so in such a humble, un-assuming and polished way that will double the shock to Battlefront. Pay attention to the words "will" (is Battlefront aware of the new competition? Will Battlefront admit it publicly?), "humble"/"un-assuming" (compare to Battlefront's relationship with their old guard fans) and "polished" (do you remember the sorry state and horrible review scores Combat Mission Shock Force got upon release?).

And speaking of the old guard Combat Mission fans, I'm sure they will tear APK43 into pieces. And I'm not saying this with a negative connotation. Their analytical talents and knowledge have no apparent limits.  Also, keep in mind that even after all this years, they continue to do so with the very Combat Mission itself! Sometimes these fellows are like an old elementary school nurse I had back in Argentina: she would shake you like hell to make you spit that marble choking you. I take it like though love. Unfortunately, Battlefront takes it like sexual abuse.  

Competition propels progress. So here is hope that Graviteam's success will continue to release  more tactical goodies. And that Battlefront will reckon there is serious competition out there, and do what needs to be done with their upcoming Normandy war game. Because this time around, a Combat Mission Shock Force painted with WWII lacquer may not be enough.

Cheers,

Rise of Prussia Screenshots

All screenshots below are from Paradox Interactive, used here with their permission.
Click on each image for an expanded view.

Rise of Prussia to be Released on March 9

Paradox is already taking pre-orders for Rise of Prussia, a war game developed by AGEOD. According to Paradox's website, the title will be available on March 9.

Rise of Prussia Features:

-Over 100 new leaders with individual portraits, and 300 types of units
-10 Scenarios:
-1 Battle Scenario Saxony 1756 to enter the game
-6 Annual Campaigns Scenarios, for each year between 1757 and 1763
-1 Grand Campaign Scenario 1756-1763
-2 Tutorial Scenarios
-Map covering all of Germany and surrounding vicinity, with over 1,000 different regions offering plenty of room for manoeuvering
-New events and a wide set of options for you to customize your strategy
-Streamlined command system based on the hierarchy system seen in American Civil War and Napoleon’s -Campaigns, allowing for historical army command, organization, and structure
-Brand new system for recruiting units, allowing players to choose and purchase forces during the annual and grand campaigns
-New system of historical events, allowing multiple-choice events and answers, enhancing flexibility and increasing replayability
-Additional interface helpers introduced to ease player interaction with the game, like the new Army Outliner system
-New functionalities to find your armies and see your supplies and assets
-Advanced AI
-Widely extended manual and player aid

See the complete announcement here.

Cheers,

Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943: German Half Tracks are APCs, IFVs or both?

Damn it! For the whole weekend I couldn't keep my computer's cursor off the shortcut of this fantastic new war game. When it rains, it pours.

Several 3-D battles in Achtung Panzer Kharkov 1943 (APK43) got me commanding a lone German Panzergrenadier (Panzergrenadiere, PzrGren) platoon against (luckily, so far) Russian infantry. The PzGren  were a specialized branch of infantry specially trained and equipped for combined arms operations along with tanks. According to WWII German Army war fighting philosophy, the PzGren's were to be employed keeping the mission and objectives of the tanks in mind. It was the PzGren's supporting the tanks and not the tanks supporting the PzGren's. It is a subtle difference that's hard to keep in mind when dealing with the nitty-gritty of the tactical challenges in the game, but at least let's know why we are putting these PzGren's in harms way.

The staple of the PzGren formations are the widely popular half tracks. Each half track could transport a whole German PzGren squad. Were half tracks used as armored personnel carriers (APC), or infantry fighting vehicles (IFV)?

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,