Opinions

[kch]

Hi. I have never tried the DCS series but I must admit that especially the newest installment. However, what really interests me is this game. There are not many games focused on 1939-40 so I am really interested to know whether this game, being 5 years old, still plays well? Are people still playing it? Are the game mechanisms still up to date or has the game progressed to a much more advanced game with the Barbarossa version.

I play War in the East, Combat Mission, HOI 2/3, Command Ops so I am used to relatively complex games, and I am a bit turned off by games like Unity of Command that simplify / abstract a lot of things, even if the game plays well.

thanks in advance.

[DeriKuk]

Hi kch. I am an old board wargame grognard . . . from the SPI heydays. I've played backbreaking monsters - leaning over large tables with tweezers, before personal computers were even a thing. So, from that "authoritative" perspective, I can say that the DC series would have saved me a lot of back pain.

DC1 is a solid "board" wargame with hexes and "counters". If you have to be amused by little figurines or cutesy graphics, you should stick with "My Little Pony" or some other violent delirium-tremens-reaction FPS.

As the first in the DC series, "Warsaw to Paris" is a very good game. Even the AI will challenge you - but not nearly with the same satisfaction as a PBEM human opponent. This is operational command, but with enough micro-management to keep you very busy. DC1 has interesting scenarios, but you do not get the command flexibility/involvement of the later games. It is closer to a conventional board game, and an essential tool for learning the basics of the system. Sadly, it does not include Norway, but it does have a Sealion scenario (which I don't like much). Get it on sale. (I wish VR would do DC4 as a remake of DC1 with the later models of the series.)

DC2: Case Blue.

The campaign I am playing actually started in May 1942 ('Trappenjagd'), but the design is calibrated on Case Blue (June 28, 1942). Playing against the AI is an acceptable experience, but the game comes into its own against a devious human. The command control structure shines in this game. (As the Soviets - Zhukov - I am constantly playing HR department with the numbskulls who command my armies. Some of them are good, but are politically expensive to appoint because of previous "reactionary" connections. Some of them are Stalin's friends; so it is very expensive to fire them. Others are very competent . . . on the days that they've managed to stay away from the vodka.) We are playing from May 1942 through March 1943 at a scale or two days per turn. This is BIG!

DC3: Released this week. Save up your shekels for this one, It promises to be GREAT!

[kch]

So Warsaw to Paris is closer to a "normal" war game with a fairly standard setup whereas Case Blue (and Barbarossa) has much more command and control structure and a non traditional take on the genre?

I can see that they are on sale on Steam but maybe it would be better to save the money for Barbarossa..

Have you tried WITE and how does it compare?
Thanks for the info

[DeriKuk]

I have not tried WITE . . . not to be confused with the old paper and cardboard WITE/WIEu that SPI published in the 1970s. [;)]

. . . so I cannot compare. DC (as a series) is far more sophisticated than, for instance, the very solid and successful series of "Decisive Battles of WW2". I really enjoyed those games, but they cannot match the depth and historical modeling of DC. In DC, especially in DC2 and now DC3, you are far more immersed in the game as a commander . . . and not a mere button-pusher and bean-counter.

[kch]

So I ended up picking a bundle deal from Steam including both DC1 and DC2.. so far so good!
Now all I need is time!

[morvael]

ORIGINAL: kch
Now all I need is time!

Where do they sell it? I need it badly!