Real and Simulated Wars Closes Doors

Well folks, it was will be a heck of a ride ...

I will leave the blog up a couple of months. Take whatever you want until that time expires. I will remove the blog completely afterwards.

Edit: I am deeply grateful for your support and sorry for this entry. See my explanation above.

Cheers,

John Tiller's New Self-Publishing Effort Doing Great

Kharkov 43 marked the start of a new era for John Tiller. He parted from HPS Simulations and went solo in a self-publishing effort. Future John Tiller games will be available directly from his store via download.

Kharkov 43 has a mild DRM scheme based in activations. In a thread at Wargamer.com, some war gamers vowed to never buy Kharkov 43 or any future Tiller game because of this. Apparently the "boycott" didn't work very well. This was posted at John Tiller's page a few days ago:

Before this endeavor started last Friday, we had no idea what to expect. I had established a sales goal for the end of the month that I felt would represent undisputable success. I am delighted to report that because of your enthusiastic response, our first month sales goal was achieved Tuesday.

Our second game, a Squad Battles game, is finished and ready for release in the near future. And we have a very aggressive publishing schedule established for the first half of 2011 to populate the store with a variety of games from many different areas.

Thank you for ensuring that my team and I will be able to continue our efforts well into the future.

John Tiller
08 Dec 2010

Tiller has sold a month's worth of games in 5 days. It doesn't surprise me at all. The games are great and the new download distribution venue is just too convenient. So here is to John Tiller for a continued success.

Side notes about Wargamer.com:

1) Wargamer.com news coverage team has either missed or ignored the release of Kharkov 43. I hope is just an omission. Even the most trivial previews of Matrix Games are being showcased with big fanfare (?!).

2) The thread at Wargamer.com about DRMs in Tiller's games is an embarrassment. These anti-DRM activists are convinced that taking a stance against a small guy like Tiller is as heroic as taking it against a corporation like Ubisoft or SEGA. Fortunately, they have absolutely no influence even in a market as small as this one.

Cheers,

Gary Grigsby's War in the East - Released

Just in case you haven't read the news elsewhere, 2by3 and Matrix Games have released today the massive War in the East war game.

I am sure I'm going to play this one. But given the pile of other stuff I have to do, the question is when ...

War gaming is dead, yeah right! :) Good times!

Cheers,

Red Pill's First Video! - Gameplay footage from the highly anticipated naval war game

This just in from Warfaresims.com. Check out the timeline at the original post there. For a better viewing, it is recommended to run the video in HD and at full screen.



Cheers,

Revolution Under Siege - Operational Blunder

I should be writing a review of this game ... Only if I could stop having fun with this thing.



Cheers,

EDIT: Corrected size for better viewing. Check it out at YouTube if you have issues.

Panzer Campaigns Goes Downloadable - Kharkov 43

Panzer Campaigns, the great series from John Tiller has gone the digital download route. The first title available is Kharkov 43 and its from John Tiller's website and store.

All other John Tiller titles are available from HPS Simulations at this time. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Has John Tiller parted from HPS?

Kharkov 43 has some minor differences from the other Panzer Campaigns titles but it is still Panzer Campaigns.

The new game has a moderate DRM device on it: you are given a serial number and with it you can activate it via the internet. Apparently you can only have one copy of the game installed at a time.

Some screenshots follow. Another fine study of the Eastern Front.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Operation Arrowhead Private Military Company - Ranks no more, we rely on payscale now

I got the Private Military Company (PMC) DLC today. 

It is an interesting module, but I am not as enthused as I am with the British Armed Forces one. I don't know, maybe because it is late at night.

Two contractors pulling security at a remote road in the new "Proving Grounds" map.

This contractor is armed with the good ole M16.

The new map (Proving Grounds) is a bit smaller than the one we got with the BAF DLC.

Despite the dull appearance of the 2D map above, the new Proving Grounds has plenty of very nice tactical landscapes.

Air support is taken care of by this Ka-60.

Thanks, dude. I think I will wait for the next IFV ...

Wait! This one will do. Can I man the gun ... please? :)

Cheers,

Harpoon 3 ANW - Fighting the Wrong Battle with the Wrong Warships - Part 1

On the night of June 18th, 1944 Admiral Raymond Ames Spruance decided to move Task Force 58 away from the Japanese fleet and back into a position near the main body of the US Fifth Fleet . Many have criticized Admiral Spruance for this decision (an entire Japanese fleet escaped unmolested), but few have recognized that he was committed to support and protect the amphibious operation at Saipan.

In the "Malvinas Part II" scenario (Malvinas is the Argentine name for Falklands Islands) I am sailing almost the same tactical waters as Spruance in the Pacific but I am a thousand miles short of his admiralship. "Malvinas Part II" is a fictional scenario with a backstory identical to the real war of 1982. I am in command of a British fleet with the mission of  placing a landing force and its supplies within reach of Port Stanley.

My fleet is organized as 3 task forces and a nuclear submarine. God help us, my entire force looks like more apt for escort duty than anything else. In a certain way this is good as we have many landing and logistics vessels to escort. But the rear of the fleet is holding back a good portion of the naval firepower we need in the van.

TF02, the ram that will crack the Argentine Navy's hull open and the arrow that will break the Argentine Air Force's wings for good, has a dozen Sea Harrier's flying off the HMS Invincible. Escorted by HMS Argyll, HMS Argyll, HMS Battleaxe (all purpose frigates) and HMS Gloucester (area air defense destroyer).

TF01 harbors men, guns, equipment and ammo of the land assault force within the guts of RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Bedivere. HMS Fearless will open its gates and deliver the tip of the spear of your Majesty's  finest Royal Marines onto the islands shores. Guarding this precious cargo, HMS Southhampton, HMS Glasgow (area air defense destroyers) and the general purpose frigates HMS Amazon and HMS Broadsword.

TF06 has the support and logistics needed for the war, both at sea and land within the store of RFA Regent and  RFA Fort Austin. These vessels are protected by the general purpose frigates HMS Active and HMS Arrow. Also in this force we have HMS Sirius, an anti-submarine (ASW) frigate beefed up for anti-air and anti-surface warfare.

Last but not least, the HMS Trafalgar nuclear submarine provides a much needed screen for the whole fleet.

The Armada Argentina (Argentine Navy's) main assets are the carrier Veinticinco de Mayo and the diesel submarine Santa Fe.

2140, May 15 1995. The green outlines of the Malvinas/Falklands and the continent are spectators to the naval battle to come. The red square icon is Port Stanley. The blue concentric circles are my task forces. From south to north TF02, TF01 and TF06. West of TF01 a Lynx helicopter (blue inverted semicircle with two small "ears") has detected some surface contacts (yellow squares) and considerable air activity (yellow inverted half-squares). One air contact (the one selected) is a fast mover (note its airspeed at 420 knots) and considering its location and bearing (far from land masses) it is possibly coming from the Veinticinco de Mayo. The two surface contacts northwest of TF01 are a bit worrying too, but so far we haven't observed any aircraft in their proximity. They may well be patrol boats. The HMS Trafalgar (blue inverted semi-circle) is west off Port Stanley.

To be continued. Stay tuned.

Cheers,

ArmA 2 Private Military Company

I woke up this morning at 4:00 AM to download this one and it is not ready yet. Just kidding. I woke up at 4:00 AM to get a stab at "the overdues" (work, family and off course, the blog).

So, no ArmA 2 PMC yet ... At least we have a release video.



Cheers,

Revolution Under Siege - New AGEOD/Paradox's Wargame

By this time AGEOD's engine is a known quantity. With more than seven titles that have received accolades at every hard core war gaming venue, the engine continues to deliver great war games. The new offer now is from French third party developer SEP Reds. The topic is the almost unexplored PC war gaming territory of the Russian Civil War.

Some screenshots follow as a preview of my review of the game.

The Polish-Soviet War heats up north of the Pinsk marshes.

Detailed battle report, showing an un-glorious defeat of my communist forces.

The 16th Army (red counter near the bottom of the map) is about to be outflanked by Polish troops aiming at Kiev.

The vast expanses of Russia need an strategic map to show all your troops. Red, Soviet troops; black, Polish troops.

Those icons in the map make me wonder how orthodox is our collections department, comrade Lenin.

Cheers,