I am new, therefore I militarily suck

[Kevlarsoul1]

I am new to wargaming, I'm used to RPGs and Japanese style and First person shooter games so that makes playing war games (which to me seem more like war simulators) very, very, very difficult.

I was just wondering if real war strategy is anything or close to the strategy work you need to do in games like Steel Panthers WAW for example. How close does it come to be.
Do you need to have extensive military knowledge of tactics or something like that? Would I have an easier time in wargames after a long chat with Mr. Schwarzkopf or Mr. Rumsfeld?

[Supervisor]

No expertise required, in the manual in the root directory of the game are step by step instructions on how to use different forces in certain scenarios for the built in tutorials. After tooling with these for a while you'l be able to tackle forces with the best of them. Now each country has it's strength and weaknesses so you'll just have to learn by trying.

[Code Talker]

This also makes for interesting reading:


http://members01.chello.se/brickhouse/spstrategy.html

[AbsntMndedProf]

Don't sweat it! With the exception of the folks here with prior military experience, we all started out as newbies sometime or another with wargames. As GMenFan said, study the manual, do the practice scenarios, and don't be too hard on yourself if you don't get Vs on your first battles.

Remember the old joke, how do you get to Carnagy Hall?

Practice, practice, practice!

It's pretty much the same with wargames. (I've been playing them myself now since 1974, when I received Krieg Spiel as a Christmas present, and I still have a lot to learn!)

Eric Maietta

[RayM]

Welcome aboard!

If you spend some time here in the forums, you'll quickly learn that in addition to wargaming, many (most? / all?) of us also have a deep and long standing interest in military affairs, especially military history. No matter the period, country or forces involved (air, land, sea, or underwater), I think it is a fair generalization that the people involved with this forum are pretty well read.

Check out several threads regarding "Books."

Good luck and don't be reluctant to ask questions. We are a friendly bunch and willing to help.

Ray

[OKW-73]

heheh...you dont need to be expert, but it can help
personally i prefer playing pbem against a bit better opponent than yourself, but usually it means you lose a more than you win, but same time you learn more from him and his tactics than "same level" player...just try different tactical things and you learn how they work in different situations

[Belisarius]

Seeing as US Armored units use a modified version of Steel Panthers (not WAW, tho' ), there is indeed realism in wargaming.

It'll dawn on you. Welcome aboard.