'The Great Don Bend' - WEGO and John Tiller

[Rosseau]

It's interesting how our WEGO game here and the older John Tiller's Stalingrad '42 Gold simulation, masterfully updated by Wargame Design Studio, is so different in approach regarding this battle. At least interesting to me, at least.

WEGO may be considered broad-brush in comparison, as the JT game can be mind-bogglingly detailed with a huge map (although not very huge by PzC game standards). Both games feature powerful scenario editors, but the recent WEGO game wins out in this category.

While the size of the WEGO map may be more manageable, there's still tons of chrome that imho surpasses the detail level of JT's offering, especially when it comes to combat resolution.

The JT game deserves great respect, though, especially when considering how long ago the original iteration was released. And the fact that the new WEGO game is WEGO gives wargamers a whole new perspective on the battle.

We are fortunate to have both!

[Saint Ruth]

Indeed, I love the Tiller games ever since I bought the first one (Smolensk 41 (??)) way back when!

[AP514]

Too bad the AI in JTS games are so BAD...One of the main reasons I stopped purchasing his games.
I was playing one of his NAPPY games when an ARTY unit pulled up to my lines and unlimbered..and faced the wrong direction
AI in his games are DUMBER than abox of ROCKs....
Also did not care for the Fatigue rules..1-2 attacks and your units were done for the whole scenario.

[bcgames]

I had alot of fun playing Tobruk ‘41 with my brother.

[blond_knight_new]

Too bad the AI in JTS games are so BAD...One of the main reasons I stopped purchasing his games.
I was playing one of his NAPPY games when an ARTY unit pulled up to my lines and unlimbered..and faced the wrong direction
AI in his games are DUMBER than abox of ROCKs....
Also did not care for the Fatigue rules..1-2 attacks and your units were done for the whole scenario.

His games get a bad name for the AI, and I dont know how well the AI carries over from one game to another. But I played the free Waterloo demo about a year ago, the first scenario as the French. And I was actually impressed that as I tried to break the Anglo line, that the AI actually refused the flank!

[Rosseau]

I'm been doing this for about 40 years, and find there's a good amount of "role-playing" when gaming against the typical wargame AI. Meaning for me, I am not trying to analyze every move and beat the pants off of the enemy.

However, in games like Chess and player vs player, it's a different story. Now you've got real competition, which is why I tend to avoid them.

And with the more complex games like WitE, you gotta be doing some thinking, but most of it is just "work" managing the game systems.