Long Lost Theater...

[WriterJWA]

Seems to me this is a long lost theater of war, hypothetical or otherwise. I remember boardgames like SPI's Firefight and West End's Tac Air ... or even the older computer game TacOps. TOAW gave it a treatment, but outside of that it seems to have been relegated to the what-if halls of history. Too bad, too, because it's probably one of the best studies of a war that never happened in the history of projected warfare.

I'm considering buying this game... ahead of buying WitP, which I think I'm going to wait on for when I get a new computer. How is it? Is the AI worth anything? Is it fairly detailed? How long is the game play? How about a library of user-created scenarios?

[Nebogipfel]

Hi WriterJWA,

I would consider the cold war aera as one of the most exciting time periods too, especially for "what if´s".

Back to your questions. The scale of the squares is 500m, so it´s much bigger as for example Steel Panthers
and doesn´t need as much micro-management.

On the other hand it´s far away from the scope of "operational" wargames. Although while playing, due to the radio range, order delay and the we-go system, you can get a bit  "operational" feeling.

There are many details like fatigue, trainings skill and so on, but it never goes into massive micro-managent. It´s more important to set up a well considered battle plan and doctrin. To be clear, it´s a tactical combat game. So you have to look for LOS check, elevation and very important is a well placed arty/airstrike timing too.

Above all it can be played very fast paced. It´s possible to conduct a battle in one evening, although the bigger ones need a bit longer. That doesn´t mean that the gameplay is braindead..........., I played different operational wargames and I can´t remember me planning as carefully an attack like I do in FG.

Is the AI good ? [8D]

Be sure that you have to restart some battles, because your plan didn´t work and the losses were too high.
The AI isn´t weak and isn´t capable of genious attacks. But due to the we-go system it isn´t so easy to exploit the system. Once you pressed the "Next Turn" button, the only thing you can do is pray, that your plot will work.
If you use your vehicles the wrong way ( for example long distant fights with T80 against M1 or Leo ), the desaster will be yours.

I like this game. Sometimes I get the feeling of playing a Tank-Sim (like M1 Tank-Platoon) on a bigger scale, without thinking of the whole micro management stuff and with a very well made UI.

The down-side is, there are only few maps to play. I don´t know if its possible to create new maps (perhaps with Photo-Shop). Due to this, there aren´t many custom scen´s made. The only one´s I know are the red/blue stars and one or two here in this forum. I did a little one last week. It´s quite simple to create new ones. There is a very smart editor.

If you´re gonna play every battle on both sides, you will have enough hours (100+ or so) of gameplay. And replay value is high, because there are allways different ways to approach and the AI isn´t doing the same things over and over again.

I hope this will help a bit.

Nebogipfel

[WriterJWA]

M-1 Tank Platoon....... wow! I forgot all about that one. I used to spend HOURS playing that game!

[Nebogipfel]

I have still my original disc and the big booklet [:)]

[WriterJWA]

Out of curiosity ... but do you remember an old SPI game NATO Division Commander?

[Nebogipfel]

Never heard about it.....but googled now.

Goes back to 80´s, if I get it right. Did you play it ?

[WriterJWA]

It's one of the very first war games I ever tried.... and was waaaaaay too complicated for me then. It dealt with a lot of potential command challenges, EW, intelligence, unit posture and supply levels, that sort of thing. I game that simulates the role of a brigade/division/corps commander in this time period is what I'm ultimately looking for (campaign preferred). I think I'm going to buy FPG this evening.... hopefully it makes muster.

[Dennistoun]

ORIGINAL: WriterJWA
I think I'm going to buy FPG this evening.... hopefully it makes muster.

Have you bought it yet, JWA?

[WriterJWA]

I did. I bought it Thursday and have been playing through the V Corps scnearios. It took a little getting used to at first, but it's not all that unlike other games I've played, only this is clearly period specific. I'm a big fan of the way AT platoons work and their abilities. I've also been seeing some great results with Minelets ... both a harrassment tool and a early warning device. So far, I'm impressed. If I can apply "real-world" tactical principles to units in a game, and the results are as expected, then I think the programmers have done their job.

[Nebogipfel]

Glad to hear. that you´re enjoying FG.    [:)]

Oh yeah the minelets................., very nice for defending and I assume, that some scen´s can´t be won without them.

Nebogipfel

[Dennistoun]

ORIGINAL: WriterJWA
I did. I bought it Thursday

That's great, JWA! I'm getting used to it again after buying it over a year ago and laying it aside so I'm kinda new to it but this time I'm gonna stick with it as it's a nice game and a very interesting era.

[WriterJWA]

Thanks! You'll find the Soviet AI is persistent and that West German forces are only about as useful as a narrow speedbump (at least in the one scenario I played with them involved .... Soviet Main Force Attack in the V Corps scenarios).

[MikeBrough]

ORIGINAL: WriterJWA

Out of curiosity ... but do you remember an old SPI game NATO Division Commander?

Yes, I remember it. Owned it, read the rules for a week beforehand, broke out the pieces, sat down to play it with my brother and gave up after a couple of hours. Too complicated for this human: needed computers.

The booklets that went with it were great fun, too. They were really detailed and an evening's perusal could fuel your militarty fantasies for days!

[WriterJWA]

If I knew I could pick one up for low cost, I might do it for a little nostalgia, but it seems everytime I look they're going for $100+. No way!