Do yourself a favor and get an HPS squad battles game while you wait

[JFalk68]

This game has been on my radar for a long time, then my interest in the game faded as I read forum posts or lack of. Last week I took the plunge on an HPS Squad Battles game, Red Victory and I am glad I did.

If your looking to control squads of men, their leaders and crew served weapons like AT guns and vehicles all played out on a map then Red Victory is your game. I play in 2D mode, and while the graphics are not as crisp as the board game look of Lock'n Load's game I have to admit I am pleasantly surprised with the 2D counters in Red Victory. Overall the 2D graphics are good to very good. The 3D mode in my opinion leaves something to be desired but my good fried who plays the game enjoys 3D over 2D, so go figure.

Anyways, if you need your fix of tactical combat, I highly recommend Red Victory by HPS. HPS also has a great community and supportive developers, a must in this era of multiple gaming companies all competing for it's share of the market!

[noname]

Where did you get the game? HPS website has little info and no way to order it. I am talking about Red Victory of course. thanks

[tide1527]

noname go to this page and scroll down to the bottom. You'll see the buy now button. http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/products/S ... ctory.html

Or you can go here. http://yhst-12000246778232.stores.yahoo ... ttles.html

All The Best and Good Luck

Tide

[noname]

Thanks much, I was looking for user reviews but could only f ind one comment that the game leans toward micromanagement and that there is no printed manuel. Is this true? Too much micromanagement can take the fun out of the game and I really prefer a printed manuel. Looks good otherwise !!!

[Skanvak]

The @roblem with HPS is that they do ugly games. And for tactical battle that is sad.

[JFalk68]

noname, as tide1527 pointed you can buy the game here http://yhst-12000246778232.stores.yahoo.net/ , it's about 10 dollars cheaper then directly from HPS.

As Skanvak pointed out, the game does not have state of the art graphics or even flashy graphics but I feel they are adequate. On a 22 inch widescreen monitor at 1680x1050 the counters and maps are crisp and clear. I used to be a player on the fence with HPS because of older looking graphics but after playing Squad battles I am sold. To date this has been my best gaming purchase year to date.

Check out these forums here http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/ ... php?fid=13 , there is a whole dedicated crew here that plays Squad Battles. They even have a ladder set up for PBEM, which is really simple to do.

Here is a link for a graphic and scenario mod by IronX for the Vietnam Squad Battles game http://ironxmods.wordpress.com/

There is a large and active community to support this game and quite a few nuances to it, easy to play but difficult to master. Red Victory does not have a printed manual but there is a first starter scenario that you play with the help of a PDF file included with the game that walks you through the functions.

Just some of the features I like in the game
-hits against armor take into account the facing of the vehicle, rear hits are best, next sides and last is attacking front on
-You can command your troops to hold fire, not revealing themselves so you can set up an ambush
-using your mortar team to call in smoke to obscure your advance
-the ability to hit a target it takes into account range, not just the killing power of the weapon.

It really is that good, don't judge a book by its cover

[wodin]

ORIGINAL: JFalk68

This game has been on my radar for a long time, then my interest in the game faded as I read forum posts or lack of. Last week I took the plunge on an HPS Squad Battles game, Red Victory and I am glad I did.

If your looking to control squads of men, their leaders and crew served weapons like AT guns and vehicles all played out on a map then Red Victory is your game. I play in 2D mode, and while the graphics are not as crisp as the board game look of Lock'n Load's game I have to admit I am pleasantly surprised with the 2D counters in Red Victory. Overall the 2D graphics are good to very good. The 3D mode in my opinion leaves something to be desired but my good fried who plays the game enjoys 3D over 2D, so go figure.

Anyways, if you need your fix of tactical combat, I highly recommend Red Victory by HPS. HPS also has a great community and supportive developers, a must in this era of multiple gaming companies all competing for it's share of the market!

I agree....top notch game series....lots of new titles on the way aswell...

[jomni]

ORIGINAL: noname

Thanks much, I was looking for user reviews but could only f ind one comment that the game leans toward micromanagement and that there is no printed manuel. Is this true? Too much micromanagement can take the fun out of the game and I really prefer a printed manuel. Looks good otherwise !!!

Nope. Micromanagement is lighter than XCom. Hehe. It's just the same as any counter-pushing squad game (with the additional option of detailed weapons management, and ducking for cover).
And the number of counters per scenario isn't too many and very manageable.

The manual gets updated for each release. New features in the new titles will eventually get implemented to older titles via patch.
So the manual is dynamic. But the engine at it's current state doesn't change much.

[noname]

Thanks to all, Now all I have to do is figure out why my computer won't open pdf files. New computer too, but I am not very pc literate. Then get the game. With only 2 people working on LnL I think we will have plenty of time to play many other games.

[Josh]

@ Noname, sorry for going off topic here, but your new pc doesn't open PDF files? Maybe you need to download Adobe's Reader? http://www.adobe.com/products/ (get Adobe' Reader).
Oh, it's free [;)]

[noname]

Thanks Josh, I downloaded it and now to find some pdf files to open. Hope it works. Thanks again.

[ham17]

How about AI?
Is it tough to beat?

[JFalk68]

I consider the AI to be good. The AI does an acceptable job and does pretty much everything right. I have found scenarios that where extremely tough to beat and other scenarios that where on the easy side but I do not attribute this to AI but more to design of the scenario and victory condition parameters.

The AI does not make any glaring mistakes, on the defense I give the AI a grade of "B+" and on the offense I give the AI a grade of "B or B-" . I have yet to see the AI do something remarkable but it gives a good account of itself. On the defense the AI can be extremely tough if your not careful and have not learned the nuaces of the game.

The best way to play is ofcourse through PBEM or if you have an hour or 2 free is Direct Play, that is where you look up your IP address and host a game and both players play at once.

This forum here has plenty of players, new and old looking to play all titles of Squad Battles games http://www.theblitz.org/message_boards/ ... php?fid=13

[ham17]

Thanks.
You've got me interested in the game.[:)]

[Sgt.Fury25]

I just ordered red victory and advance of the reich myself.I had both Pacific war and The proud and few liked them.