Unexpected First Impression

[Adam Parker]

Here's the story:

I was in the market to buy 2 board games this weekend, GMT's Serpents of the Seas and Flying Colors for a bit of tactical ship of the line sailing fun - hence my previous reference in an earlier thread to being stuck in Trafalgar. I've been reading up on the genre for a week now and have a big fat book opened on Nelson's exploits against the evil Villenueve...

So I visit Matrix the other day, and lo and behold I see a new release with a name I wasn't expecting "Command Ops"? I did know a Bulge game was in the works with Panther and it was due sometime before 2012 but had never heard of this name. Whoa! The Panther game had been released! I wasn't expecting that either.

Time, money, brain cells are all becoming questionable right now in the midst of a busy life but I did recall saying years ago that when this game came out I would be interested enough to buy it. I think I even repeated that comment earlier this year when pondering whether BFtB would be old hat by the time it ever saw release! But come on. This is the Bulge we're talking about! The most memorable scenes from Band of Brothers within and a geography that most war gamers would know like the back of their hands. Hmmm - a new wrinkle.

So then I check the threads and like many have noticed, this game has been unusual to the extreme regarding the number of people looking and posting as opposed to buying - because of a fairly high price tag. Yes, I was one of the fortunate ones who bought Highway to the Reich from a bargain bin with manual. And to date the most expensive PC game I've ever bought was another Matrix title - War in the Pacific v1, that I didn't really like.

But I also came across some very interesting threads and posts. The demo videos by the designer with thick Aussie accent (when I'm in the States I scare myself with mine), some logical pointers and perceptions from James Sterrett, a great mini AAR by SolinvUctus there [;)] and the pieces started to gel together.

1. Was this a game of micromanagement? - No unless you wanted it to be so.
2. Was this a game of clicking and forgetting? - Yes and No - to win you'll need some finesse.
3. Was this a game with a confusing UI? - According to the videos things looked relatively easy to learn but a printed rulebook or at least a UI chart would be nice too.
4. What about the AI? Apparently it rocks.

And you guessed it. I succumbed and bought the download.

****************

Here's my experiences so far:

1. Digital River Experience - Excellent. No frills, quick order processing.

2. Downloading - This game is a big 860+ megs of programming. Using the free Star Downloader download manager and cable internet, it took less than 15 minutes to drop onto my PC.

3. Installation - Here I experienced a number of hiccups.

a) First up Norton Internet Security saw the file as a threat! Easy to resolve I just excluded it.
b) Now in the pic below, you'll see an information screen that pops up telling you that you may need to let the game install Dx9c, the .Net Framework and C++ Libraries. I followed the advice given and let the game do what it wished by clicking next with all options ticked. Then silence befell me, followed by lot's of hard drive crunching but no more pops ups. What was going on? Had my PC frozen? I checked the Task Manager - the "game" was running. So I waited. And waited. Had I done something wrong? Finally after 5 minutes I received a Dx installation message, followed by a Visual C Runtime pop up. Then an "Installation Successful" Window greeted me. Phew! Matrix, I'd really suggest that gamers me given an installation progress bar here.

4. Firing Up the Game - A relatively small welcome Window appeared as with nearly all Matrix games in which players can run the game, enter an editor, update etc. I clicked "Play" and a screen resolution Window overlayed in which I was given the option of running with my native resolution or going all the way up to 1600 x 1200 which I chose. The game then loaded extremely quickly but I'm unsure if this is a result of my running lots of RAM?

5. Scenarios - Players are offered 27 scenarios including a St Vith tutorial. For those unfamiliar with the campaign or not academically enshrined in its machinations, these scenarios are listed in alphabetical order for selection which makes it impossible to see what action occured when or in what order without clicking further. Panther/Matrix, please forgive me if I'm wrong here - but it would be a great idea to let gamers sort scenarios by date, size, length etc. If this facility is already there I hope I can come across it intuitively next time around.

6. Game play - I quickly chose a scenario with the title "Road Blocks" simulating a German thrust along an east-west Road net. I'm still finding my feet here so I wasn't paying full attention to what the scenario was! So recalling some instructions from the marketing video and remembering some game play from Highway to the Reich, I located a German mechanised btn HQ and sent its companies forth on an all out attack into a road juncture defended by a rag-tag group of US engineers. Click, point, set a myriad of parameters if you want and watch. I got creamed - my PzIV's just ran away [:D]. So yeah, I'm pretty confident about this AI. Map scrolling is smooth, the graphics are very engrossing. The map label fonts are a bit small so I might try a different resolution. But yes, it didn't take me long to lose. Cowards!

Yet, what a great moment it was to scan the map and see the names of Noville, Foy and Bastogne on a playing area like no other I've expreienced.


Summary:

So I bought the game and I'm plenty scared of my wife's reaction when she finds out.

At first glance, for aficionados of the Bulge or those who want to explore a PC command laboratory in familiar grounds, this game at first glance is meaty enough in its scenario count to fill weeks and months with play. There is certainly a heavy learning curve inside to play fully and I may give it a good try.

But is it worth paying $91 AUD (the 2 board games I was going to buy would have cost combined, $130). For the history inside, I'm wagering yes. The closest game coverage to this would be HPS's "Panzer Campaigns Bulge '44". But it is also a totally different experience.

I've been very wrong with my preliminary gaming reviews before. Very wrong. But I feel ok to say that if one has the budget and the interest in this campaign, then BFtB is a mature title worth exploring at the price of a premium publisher, current day board war game.

Happy gaming,
Adam.

[goodwoodrw]

Crikey your a bit fast aren't you? I haven't got past the vids, manual or just poking around stage yet. You'll get heart burn swallowing things that quickly. hasn't your mother ever told you that! [:D][:D][:D]
Ron 

[Shadrach]

You should write reviews for PC games magazines mate [:D]

[elmo3]

Thanks for the impressions Adam.

[GBS]

Adam, thanks a lot for this well written post. I am certainly not rich but I am fortunate enough to be able to afford it and did not hesitate to purchase it. About the price, I just now read the interview with Arjuna on Wargamer and it occured to me that The Panther team thinks of this as an engine to create many new scenarios in almost any WWII theatre. Most of the interview is about community created scenarios and Panthers intention to provide data and advice toward that happening. I now don't think they see this as a War game with just scenarios to play but more than that.
Second point....I have a bout six hours of play in and I have just barely scrastched the surface. When I look at the lenghty scenario list and the anticipation of additional community created ones I see what could be potentially 1000 hours or so of entertainment which spreads out the $80.00+ price tag quite a bit. Just my two cents worth.

[thewood1]

My main concern is with the resistance to the price, is the community going to be too restricted and not many scenarios will come out.  I think I found at most a total of 10 scenarios for COTA.
 
Are any of the scenarios or maps compatible from COTA?

[FredSanford3]

ORIGINAL: thewood1

My main concern is with the resistance to the price, is the community going to be too restricted and not many scenarios will come out.  I think I found at most a total of 10 scenarios for COTA.

Are any of the scenarios or maps compatible from COTA?

I think the maps will load into the scenario editor, but all the estabs will have to be re-worked from scratch in the estab editor. edit: apparently the maps are a problem too.

[thewood1]

I assume you mean completely reworked.  I am  not sure if there is any kind of export function for the OOBs to ease that burden.

[Rosseau]

Thanks for the post, Adam. I had been playing HttR before downloading this. I hate use Erik's analogy of a Ferrari from another post. But that's the best way to describe the feeling I had playing the tutorial scenario of BftB. Very much slicker and more polished than HttR. And even that older game continues to give me pleasure!

[axisandallies]

The only thing that is stoping me from buying this game is you are limited to just the west, and units only in 1944. I want the eastern front!!

[Bamilus]

ORIGINAL: axisandallies

The only thing that is stoping me from buying this game is you are limited to just the west, and units only in 1944. I want the eastern front!!

Yes, I enjoy the Eastern Front also. However, with the powerful editor there will hopefully be many more scenario's added.

[Adam Parker]

Thanks guys, you're a crack up BASB [:D]

Inspired by Hell Patrol in his "ode" to the printed manual thread, I headed off to my local Office Works and came home with the 100 sheet display folder below.

I'm printing the manual now but thought I'd post something interesting - in that though the manual is 213 pages long, you can actually start printing at p27 as everything before smiply talks about loading a scenario and running multiplay.

The appendices then start at page 188 and a scenario/historical discussion at page 199. A multipage glossary starts at page 204, followed by a bibliography and credits at page 209 till the end.

So in effect we're really talking about a heavily illustrated game manual of 160 pages. I'm halfway through the lot now and a quater of a color cartidge has been used.

So with folder, paper and ink were talking a full color print cost of approximately $40AUD. Better than Kinkos!

[Adam Parker]

The Impressions keep coming and they are growing in their positivity.

Having installed the game and seeing it fire up with ease on a 3GHz, Dual Core, with 4Gb Ram and an nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX, then printing a very well organized rule book and binding it like a military ops manual, I've turned to looking at the tutorials that came with the game.

And I am just blown away with the professionalism, shine, approach and care taken with them.

1. These are video tutorials - meaning they're not like traditional tutorial scenarios that a gamer must fire up, read pop up boxes and follow along on screen. No! Instead, players fire up a hypothetical scenario called Return to St Vith, in which 3 tank-heavy battalions of the US CCA, 4th Armored Division are tasked to break through a heavy bridge on the Our River and secure St Vith within 5 days. Both the Allies and Germans anticipate reinforcements and the player is given an empty slate with which to plan. In this environment, the player is then invited to sit back in comfort as a series of movies explain the game from its theoretical conceptualization to getting the job of beating the Germans done.

2. These videos are accessed from the BFtB game Menu and are shown below. However - and here's the kicker - whilst being videos, they are also interactive. What do I mean by this? They're pausable, real time beauties! In that a player can either watch the video all the way through, then follow its instructions at leisure in-scenario later (with full rewind abilities to jog the memory) - or as Panther suggests, ALT+TAB between the video and the scenario and emulate the instructions as they unfold. Pause the videos if you want as you do so - or let the narration continue instead. It's all up to the player. By the way, is this Alt Tabbing safe? It's been rock solid so far.

3. The first video, the Welcome gives us Dave "Arjuna" himself, full head shot and beckoning viewers into the game. Combined with the second video on Concepts, players are left with no doubt as to what BFtB is, who the gamer is meant to be and how to approach it as a different style of war gaming that grognards may not be attuned. As the videos proceed and players are asked to conduct actions and are shown aspects of the User Interface, pats on the back and encouragement are meted out once each achievement is made. Two points here are important: a) The role of the player - I've read so many board wargame rules that don't even explain what a game's objectives are let alone what role the player is meant fill and this can be utterly frustrating when coming to grips with a new design - not here and b) Encouragement is such a powerful motivator in learning - Dave's words are offered with sincerity and help build the anticipation of taking over the game for real.


In summary - and though I'm only half way through the fun I have to say:

1. I've never felt so "involved" with a game as I am as a result of this personal training approach.

2. Dave's professionalism just blows me away. His knowledge and discussion of strategy, tactics and doctrine make me feel that I'm part of a paid seminar at a military symposium and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

3. This video approach has to be the way of the future. It's value has to be factored into the cost of the game and its return on investment in teaching rewarded. This is not the lazy way to give players the rules and UI of a game. It's as if Panther wants players to enjoy themselves immediately rather than be mired in a rule book. Any Getting Started manual that I've ever written pales into insignificance compared to this masterpiece of user-friendly, andragogy.

4. I can't wait to see how it all ends and how competent I feel in jumping into the game feet first. Already I know, I'm going to want Dave to run a monthly video segment that discusses his take on warfare and gaming in general [:D]. I have just never come across a game that furnishes its own personal trainer before. Does Zumba count?

Once again, well done Panther on a great effort and imo, a paradigm changing addition to our hobby.

[TheWombat_matrixforum]

Yeah, the tutorials are great. Very very nicely done.

[Adam Parker]

Finished all the tutes. I'd have to say, set a good three hours or so aside to: absorb them, pause them, take control of the scenario for a while and re-activate the video from time to time.

Couple of interesting points:


1. From tutorial 5 onwards, what the player sees in his scenario and what the video shows of its scenario's action becomes totally divergent, as evidence that this AI is not scripted but totally reactive and proactive.

2. By scenario 6 it was a delight to even hear Dave become surprised by some of the action on the video's screen - particularly when seeing some of his units rout away from a perfectly laid plan!

3. About perfectly laid plans - as in life they rarely exist! Tutorial 6 talks about coordinating an offense with a preparatory artillery barrage. Pay close attention to the math here as it teaches how to calculate the time in movement of forces to H-Hour in coordination with the end of a barrage. I have to watch that one again. How cool it was to see road bottlenecks and units conducting their own self declared missions to totally throw this timing off!

This degree of involvement with one's forces is totally optional as Dave points out. But it is amazing to see how even when commanding forces at the regimental level by giving orders to only 3 battalion HQ's, that there can be a myriad of staff work still to do all in the guise of MACRO-management.

I once declared Highway to the Reich a "click and forget" game. That's because I never waded into its rules or sat a scenario all the way through to its end. I also didn't have the benefit of the videos of BFtB to show me how it looks when done. How wrong I was!

Sure, you can still click a regimental HQ and set a global move objective for it. Your AI will still do its best to get there. But this series needs more to win. The videos of BFtB teach that that a strategy backed up by a tactical mind are essential to success in this game.

One must pay attention to the enemy amidst a glorious fog of war intelligence system. One must consider line of sight and weapon ranges - all provided by the toggle of some buttons or hot keys. One must consider terrain, timing, type of march, overwatch, facing, level of aggression, ammo supply, fatigue, cohesion, rate of fire and more - all amidst trying to work out what exactly the enemy AI will do and how well your own AI will follow your plan. It is indeed very cool to have your own AI (aka subordinate HQ's) designated to prove your mettle as your side's senior commander.

**********************

So that's it for the first impressions. Now its time to peruse the rules and battle the Bulge.

I'm very glad to have bought this game because for fun factor and innovation alone imho, it has already pushed aside many board wargames I had queued to play. But most importantly, I'm very surprised to say, that whilst promising fun, it's going to teach me a lot too.

Happy gaming,
Adam.

PS: Oh and btw did our hobby need one more Bulge game? Darn right, it seems. [;)]

[htuna]

Wish the tutorial videos were available online.. might've been easier to do quickly than Demo which isn't ready either..

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

.. a paradigm changing addition to our hobby.

Curse you Adam... how is a man supposed to resist "a paradigm changing addition to our hobby"?!! [X(]

Downloading now.... Never did have any willpower [;)]

[Grim.Reaper]

With all these positive initial reactions, I also caved and made the purchase today. I'm looking forward to diving into it later tonight.

[thewood1]

As much crabbing as I did over the price and purchasing situation, I have to say this is one of the best, yet detailed, yet easy to approach, yet realistic, yet etc., I have ever owned.  Still not sure it was worth $85, but as long as I have it, I really like it.

[hlhudson]

I'll post here as Adam's posts pretty much echo my sentiments about the game in a manner beyond my meager skills in conveying thoughts in written words.

Henry