Favorite Gary Grigsby Game

[matt.buttsworth]

Now that we have all time to play Wite, and with luck tried the new beta patch, I am asking people for their favorite Gary Grigsby games either the best, or by ranking.

Gary Grigsby games I have played include, War in Russia (and earlier War in the East and Second Front Versions), Pacwar, War in the Pacific, War in the Pacific Admiral's Edition and War in the East.
I have not played World at War or the Civil War games.

I think Gary Grisby is by far the best World War Campaign creator. My favorites due to the first winter wipe out of the Axis I have commented on are:

WITP AE
WITP
WITE
WIR
Pacwar.

WITP AE is a classic with numorous possible strategies, chance for Japan to enjoy good early victories and establish superiority for up to a Year and a Half and wonderful complexity. For the Allies, there has to be great care with carriers, careful planning of an attack, and then a successful strategy. After mid-1943 it is a walk over.

WITE is a great game with wonderful turn play and very good simulation of tank attacks but so far in my experience it leaves Axis too weak after 1941-1942 blizzards to ever seriously attack again weakening enjoyment for both sides.

What do other players think?

Dr Matthew Buttsworth
Germany

[NinetyNine]

WiTE for me, due to it being a Eastern Front game.

WiTP AE is fun, I like it, but I find the Pacific campaign confusing in general(I never really know why I should be taking a particular island beyond the fact that the U.S. did so historically)... It all seems very haphazzard. I "get" land warfare, but not naval warfare.

[Tarhunnas]

I must confess I like Steel Panthers a lot (that is a Gary Grigsby game isn't it?)!

I never played WITP but I did play Uncommon Valor, which I understand is a kind of forerunner. I thought that was fun but a bit too much micromanagement for my taste, and it took an awful time.

[TulliusDetritus]

WITP AE all the way [8D]

[Blind Sniper]

WitP AE, very detailed, more room for micromanagement, the best game for pc that I ever played so far.
WitE, another masterpiece, simply it needs time, for us to understand how it works and for programmers to tuning it.

[khyberbill]

WITP AE is number one. I too loved the Steel Panthers series. And then there was Kampfgruppe and Mech Brigade but I cant recall who developed those two great DOS games.

[Mynok]

2x3 didn't develop Witp AE. [;)] They developed Witp upon which AE was based.

[Oleg Mastruko]

Game that should not be overlooked and that really puts GG and his team on the pedestal of wargame design is..... wait for it..... GG World at War.

I mean WITP and WITE are monsters, and I appreciate the valor and courage to undertake developing something as complex as that (knowing they will never sell boatloads of those games).

GG WAW was something completely different, by design. Very abstracted and some would say simplified game. It was a true test of GG team's flexibility when it comes to the game design. We know they can make complex monsters, but how will they deal with abstracted wargame "for the unwashed masses"?

That was a challenge and in my opinion GG team passed it with flying colors. Many years after it's release I still recomment GG WAW to players wishing phenomenally abstracted, less time consuming game, with lots of realism and historic flavor.

[FJeff]

I have WITP and am daunted by the required micro-management, but I see so many positive comments about WITP AE. However, I can't find how it differs from WITP. Can someone tell me why it's so much better?

[PaulWRoberts]

ORIGINAL: FJeff

I have WITP and am daunted by the required micro-management, but I see so many positive comments about WITP AE. However, I can't find how it differs from WITP. Can someone tell me why it's so much better?

Here's a recent review of WITP:AE that focuses on the changes from WITP.

[cookie monster]

Its WITP on steroids, even more micromanagement such as pilot training and different ship repair types available.

Its the same essentially, with a few add-ons, its a micromanagement game though

As soon as you are setup as the Allies then it runs smoothly

[Alfred]

ORIGINAL: FJeff

I have WITP and am daunted by the required micro-management, but I see so many positive comments about WITP AE. However, I can't find how it differs from WITP. Can someone tell me why it's so much better?

Compared to classical WITP, AE has some features which reduce micromanagement, and some which increase it.

Some of the difference are that AE has:

* waypoints for naval task forces
* ability to set up patrol zones for task forces
* mid ocean intercepts
* capacity to set air search sectors
* map is divided into 40 nm wide hexes rather than 60 nm - many more developed or potential bases
* very detailed pilot training (micromanagement hell for some players)
* much more detailed logistics
* emergency Allied reinforcements released upon a Japanese invasion of SE Australia, New Zealand, NW India
* off map Allied bases imune from Japanese attack
* improved industrial production abstraction
* handles land combat better
* restrictions on viable size of atoll garrisons
* some easing on limits placed on deployment of restricted units

Alfred
[*]
[/ul]

[FJeff]

So I might have to determine whether or not Lt JG Schmidt misses a training session because of an attack of the clap that he caught on shore leave in Panama on the way through and estimate its effect on the battle of Tiny Atoll two years later?

[jomni]

PacWar.  Hope we get a new version and not another WITP.

Agree with WAW too. Though I have not played the new version to vote for it.
WAW is the opposite of the rest, it is not a game full of details but it is still has the historic feel of any Grigsby game.
At that level, it lets players focus on the strategy and not the micromanagement hell.

[Wild]

My favorite is WIR. I love that game,and still play it. Although i expect WitE to surpass it when i have more time to seriously play it.
I like WitP AE as well, but time constraints make it very hard to play as i am a compulsive micro manager. Meaning that my turns take forever. Time constraints basically make it impossible to play for me. When i need my pacific fix i generally just read an AAR now instead. I would recommend Canoerebels AAR in his game vs. Q-Ball.

[Angelo]

Steel Panthers! [8D] Specifically Steel Panthers III.

[vsek]

I have been an avid wargamer since avalon hill board games. This War in the East is by far the best game ever. Its so good I would love for them to come up with a North African campagin version of tihjs game with the same supplie princibles with supply ZOC's etc.

[jomni]

ORIGINAL: khyberbill
I too loved the Steel Panthers series. And then there was Kampfgruppe and Mech Brigade but I cant recall who developed those two great DOS games.

They are all GG games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Grigsby

Gone are the days when games can be attributed to designers like produces of a movie.

Now there are so few mainstream games that can be attributed to a single person.
I can think of Metal Gear (Hideo Kojima), Civilization (Sid Meier).
But like our fave wargames, these are old franchises which started when development teams were small (even one-man-shows).

[Tarhunnas]

ORIGINAL: Angelo

Steel Panthers! [8D] Specifically Steel Panthers III.

I think Steel Panthers WaW was the best of them. Great to play human vs human, but the online play was very sensitive to interruptions, and hard to restart if it went out of synch. I would love to see a modernisation of this one!

[Angelo]

ORIGINAL: Tarhunnas

ORIGINAL: Angelo

Steel Panthers! [8D] Specifically Steel Panthers III.

I think Steel Panthers WaW was the best of them. Great to play human vs human, but the online play was very sensitive to interruptions, and hard to restart if it went out of synch. I would love to see a modernisation of this one!

It will take a long time before I clock as many hours in WitE as I did with Steel Panthers! [:D]