War in Spain: engine choice makes sense — but I worry the theater choice may hurt the wrong conclusion

[bradfordkay]

I will echo the hope that this is a prelude to War In The Mediterranean. I may have confused him with someone else, but IIRC Alessandro attempted to create just such a game with the original WITP engine so many years ago.

I just wanted to mention that there are many hints in the game manual that a War in the Med game is at least in the planning stages, if not under development.

[Q-Ball]

I will echo the hope that this is a prelude to War In The Mediterranean. I may have confused him with someone else, but IIRC Alessandro attempted to create just such a game with the original WITP engine so many years ago.

I just wanted to mention that there are many hints in the game manual that a War in the Med game is at least in the planning stages, if not under development.

I think many of us old WITP-AE players would love to see it. We want to play with the Vittorio Veneto, MAS boats, and Sparvieros.

Have to acknowledge there are some significant challenges to making WITM.

Putting all the ships, planes, and troops in the Med is the "Easy" part. The hard part is making several really tough decisions, and shaping the theater in a meaningful way.

The actual War in the Med was largely fought to get supplies to Africa, and prevent the same. Secondarily Greece. That is why Malta is so critical, and would be a game focus, just like RL. If the Axis ever could take Malta in-game, it would likely break it.

Other Factors I can think of:

1. If it starts June 10, 1940 (Italy Declaration of War), when does it end? WIth the Torch Landings? Mid-1943, when Tunisia fell? What are the Allied objectives? Conquer all of Africa? That could happen regardless of Naval situation. There's just alot of balance/winning issues to consider.
2. What do you do with the French Navy? If they are active June 10, 1940, an Allied player, knowing you have 12 days only, would do a suicide run with the French Fleet, something the actual French Fleet would never do. And then, what is the role of Vichy, if any?
3. Does War in the Med include the Balkans? Or just Albania/Greece?

The setup is very complicated

WITP-AE from a Strategic standpoing was very simple: The Allied Objective is to Defeat Japan. The Japanese objective is to prevent/delay defeat. That's it. WITM would be much more complicated, because the game would not end at the end of WW2.

[theoracle44]

I will buy it tonight!

I would also suggest Russo-japanese war. And I happen to be an expert in it, writing articles on it, consulting several scale model companies, having my own scale model kits, and also knowing dozens of russian researchers on the topic. Drop me a message if it can help.

I'm glad that others want it too! Not only would I just generally love to see the Russo-Japanese War, but I feel that it could provide a smaller scale stepping stone to a possible WitP2, while also shining the light on another neglected conflict in wargaming.

[thek3mu]

... snip ...
If we are talking wars or theaters, my pie in the sky dream would be for this engine to be used for a Vietnam game.

Are you volunteering over there in the back of the room !!??

(I'm in the "dreaming of using this engine for a VN game" also. We're not 100% sure the engine can handle the air combat in the jets and missiles age, but I hope we give it a try ! )

oh, sweet! the whole conflict please and wagner and surfboards and a deck of cards ... i mean 'Charlie Don't Surf', yk?!

... sure, those jets and missiles would be nice, too.

[Tanaka]

My two pesetas.....I am an American, and so don't have a particular connection to the Spanish Civil War like many of our Spanish and European friends do. That being said, this area has always been a personal interest of mine (Civil Wars, by nature, are inherently interesting), and nobody before now has released a viable war game on this topic

This one is FINALLY the first on the Spanish Civil War.

So, bravo!

There is also this:

https://www.matrixgames.com/game/espana-1936

[coach3play4]

I think the spanish civil war is ideal for a game and study. There was an earlier game I played, and Im playing this with great enjoyment.