WarPlan: Game or Simulation?

[DTomato]

My biggest problem with WarPlan is that its schizophrenic: Is it meant to be a light wargame, or a realistic simulation of World War II?

Some features are very gamey, notably the Axis & Allies-esque capturing of enemy flak guns, and the easy amphibious invasions under the noses of the enemy's navy and air force. Add in the lack of stacking, and you have a Strategic Command-like game rather a deep historical simulation.

There's nothing wrong with that, except that some features of the game resemble the fiddly mechanics found in more complex wargames. In particular, the logistics rules such as tracking how many units can be supplied by a port. Or, the need to constantly look over your forces to determine which units have winter or anti-tank bonuses, or whether to build your armor with a breakthrough vs heavy armor focus.

There's nothing wrong with those features, either. Except that WarPlan becomes a sometimes awkward juxtaposition of light wargame and complex simulation. The intent may have been to create a game more realistic than Axis & Allies but less complex than World in Flames. To that extent, I think Warplan succeeds. But as the design stands now, I think it suffers from a dual identity.

Michael

[Michael T]

Is it meant to be a light wargame, or a realistic simulation of World War II?

My own wish is that with time it becomes the later. But I think there are many around who want more a Axis and Allies game with little reference to the realities of WWII.

[Flaviusx]

The scale is such that some degree of abstraction is unavoidable.

But there are ways to abstract while remaining roughly historical. Given time, the game may get to the sweet spot. It just needs more development.

[AlvaroSousa]

All three of you are wrong. It's a role playing game with a horror under tone similar to Call of Cthulhu. No one has gone far enough to get the secret Deep Ones in their armies.

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa
All three of you are wrong. It's a role playing game with a horror under tone similar to Call of Cthulhu. No one has gone far enough to get the secret Deep Ones in their armies.

Well, you haven't shown anybody the secret hotkey for the InApp purchase to open that feature. [;)]

[hansondavid4]

ORIGINAL: Alvaro Sousa

All three of you are wrong. It's a role playing game with a horror under tone similar to Call of Cthulhu. No one has gone far enough to get the secret Deep Ones in their armies.

Awesome! I am CRAZY about Cthulhu... I suspect Azathoth will have some serious combat factors.