Price aside...

[JudgeDredd]

Whilst the debate on price goes on (and it's a shame that this great systems launch is scarred by that debate), can someone who has it post impressions? Maybe an AAR? I'd love to whet my appetite and look forward to what I have in store in May!

thx

[ComradeP]

I'll post an AAR of my current game of ATD2 as the Soviets and will post an AAR of an already finished game testing Konrad with the designer. I intended to have the Konrad AAR finished by now, but have been busy with other things.

[JudgeDredd]

thx - look forward to it.

[TheWombat_matrixforum]

I haven't had time to sit down and play the game seriously, but it sure seems to offer a lot of scope for decision-making. Of course, my way of learning to play an SSG game is pretty basic. I take a turn as the attacker, watch how the AI utterly destroys me, restart, repeat, and keep doing that first turn until I finally get to the point where I'm not humiliated to watch the enemy's turn. Then I save, and go to the next turn, wash, rinse, repeat.

In short, I suck.

Given that, AotD has some great challenges, involving closing rapidly with the enemy, destroying their counter-attack forces, and navigating a battlefield split by a major river. That, and the sheer distance you have to go, and inability of the attacker to really be strong everywhere.

I suspect it will take quite a while for me to even be remotely competent, much less master this battlefield.

[mariovalleemtl]

I start a game tow day ago with my old enemy Carl Myers and it is very fun. The German have 2 railroad big gun and it's very cool. I also love the 3 NKVD ''no retreat'' basters. Many strategy posible because of the size of the map. The Map is beautiful like usual.  
 
Husky is one of my favorites battle ever. Small and balance. Love it.
 

[jjdenver]

One thing that really stands out to me with ATD2 is that there is a lot more detail put into the OOB. For example I think in the original ATD (if i recall correctly) each pz div was basically the same - had 4 units total (1 recon, 1 inf, 2 pz). In the current ATD each pz division has between about 7 and 11 units. Some have 1 pz gr reg w/ halftracks, some 1 mot reg, some 2 mot reg. Some have 1 or 2 pz bns, some have 3 pz bns. Various units have different numbers of max steps. For example some pz bns have 2 steps, some 3. And of course their equipment is different (pz II, III, etc). All have a recon (Aufklarung) bn. They also have some sort of artillery unit(s) as part of the pz division, etc. And the various divisions are quite different in terms of quality, equipment, and overall OOB.

For example 20 pz div has 11 units including 2 pz gr regiments (1 is 2 steps, 1 is 3 steps) neither is half-tracks, 3 pz bns (2x pz II, 1x pz III), 2 mot AA bns, 1 pz jgr bn, 1 aufklarung bn, 1 pioneer bn, 1 half-track towed artillery bn - 150mm. That's a big division.

The 18 mot div is much smaller with 6 units: 2 trucked mot inf reg, 1 aufklarung bn, 1 pz jgr bn, 1 towed 150mm howitzer bn, 1 pioneer bn. Most mot divs have a pz bn though.

A typical Wermacht infantry division is 7 units organized similar to the 18 mot div, but with 3 infantry regiments.

It adds a lot of historical flavor to have such closely researched OOBs. I haven't studied the Soviet OOB in detail yet but it looks quite improved also, less generic.

For example I had a look at the 24 infantry division, part of 13th Army. This is one of the few elite Soviet units and has 8 units to compose the full division. It's a very strong division. Other Soviet divisions are much smaller in terms of TO&E (4 units) and start at reduced strength.

[oldspec4]

Good info here...the game is definitely on my short list of future game purchases.

[Lützow]

Price aside it's a pretty good game. With a larger scenario than Kharkov and also more interesting to be played as Axis. Just finished first turn. Took Vitebsk and there doesn't seem to be much defense in Orsha, but Sovjets are heavily entrenched in Mogilev now.

To sum it up: everybody wo enjoyed Kharkov should like AtD II as well. It's a safe buy.

[Gregor_SSG]

On the OB question, Ian says that OB research gets easier every year because of the amount of OB material that you can now find on the net. Of course he still has thousands of books, but net resources do make life much easier for the scenario creator.

Gregor

[Lützow]

I'm currently at turn 6 and there is one thing I'd like to add, as constructive criticism and for future reference: AtD II has a well thought-out engine, pretty graphics and the amount of units (regarding OOB there are about 545 counters for Axis and 622 for Sovjets) justifies it to call this expansion a game of it's own. However, ATD II could have been further improved by decreasing turn duration (24/12h), to make it 28 or even 56 turns altogether - and in return adjusting hex range and unit OP's.

A large game in terms of units, area and amount of turns probably had dispel quite some disbelief in the forefront among fence sitters, still considering if it's worth to take the plunge and spend 40 bucks for something, which looks at first glance rather as 'just another scenario' than the massive game it actually has become. Don't get me wrong, even with 20 turns AtD II is well worth the price, but one has to jump the fence for figuring this out.

That being said, I'm looking forward to your next East Front visit. Admittedly I didn't play SSG games prior to BiN but for what I know, AtD II is the best one so far and I will purchase every further title, considering it's about Axis advancement and no retreat scenario.

[jjdenver]

NNTO