Matrix Games Forums

Welcome to the cult.. err.. club. [8D]

Finally bit the bullet & bought the game after all the positive feedback. Had to promise the wifey no Starbucks for me for the next two weeks to keep within the house budget. Will have to skip my morning coffee or grab the office one!

Great game so far although I'm just working thru the tutorial scenarios. Although I like CoH, this game seems to be easier to understand. Maybe it's the presence of all the rolling dice & explanations. Like someone commented in another post, I also predate the PC & got into wargames via Avalon Hill's boardgames. This game gives me that same feel.

Great job to everyone on this. [&o] I know you guys took a lot of flak for the time to develop this.

Now on to an iPad version & the expansion packs!

Wow, so happy to hear you are enjoying this. CoH is a great game. Uwe is a friend of mine, and we have shared vendor booths at numerous conventions. LnL is just different than CoH.

OK I can report after all my whining and numerous failures (6+) on first scenario of German Campaign I succeeded at normal level. On the last turn. Definitely improved on tactics on the other hand very skeptical could ever have pulled off first go as in "real life" one would have to.
But we'll see.

I have made it thru the tutorials and dabbled a bit so far on one of the scenarios. I'm pretty impressed how close this is to the old AH boardgame Squad Leader. That game was one of the first wargames I played back in the late 70's and has always been one of my favorite.

I like the idea of an editor too, I can see a multitude of scenarios being created with this.

This is a pretty easy game to learn and understand. Thanks to all of those that made this happen.

First Impressions from someone who has never played a game in the LnL series before:

Absolutely outstanding artwork! I've never played anything from the series before, but have always been very impressed with the hand-drawn boards, cards, and artwork. I'm glad I finally got to experience it!

The UI is smooth, and easy to manage. My only criticism is that some of the text display is kind of ugly (with the low-opacity black background) and it takes away from the beautiful map art. I would suggest removing the black boxes, making the font bold, with heavy black outlines to reduce the amount of UI. The map zoom is smooth, and while it's not a 'true' 3-d zoom, it does well with the blur effects to simulate different 4 different levels.

The sounds are good, and seem to fit the artwork very well. Nothing is too abrasive and the volumes are all matching. My only issue is that I've noticed my sounds start cutting out after I've had the game open a while.

Game rules are easy to learn and understand. This is my first time playing the series, and I was able to pick it up. It took me a second to figure out the impulse system and the passes. I'm accustomed to something like Panzer Corps or Battle Academy - I move/fire my units, complete my turn, then the enemy begins. LnL is more detailed in that every action allows the enemy to react, all within the same turn. I like it.

Overally I'm pleased with this purchase. I think this game sets the bar high for other Matrix/Slitherine releases. I'm really glad we have this series on PC, and I can only imagine what lies ahead...hopefully something modern/cold war.

Mike, Sabre21,

Thanks. Glad you are enjoying it.

Definitely enjoying it here, Mark. I too hope for some expansions in the future.

Okay, first impressions from an old gamer. I have to say it evokes very fond memories of ASL. But it is not ASL. I just played through the A Partisan Defense scenario using the Quickstart guide in the manual as my reference. The Germans have to attack and take objective hexes held by the partisans. I lost. I had great fun losing. I made one really bad mistake that cost me the game but then nearly pulled out a win on the last turn. I was on the objective with an officer and a shaken squad. A partisan stack was on one objective hex. The officer attacked to melee the two partisan units and killed them both. I had all the objective hexes under my control. But the shaken squad was killed in melee by another partisan unit on one of the last impulses of the game after my halftrack missed it with opportunity fire. Another interesting moment. I read the part of the Quickstart about indirect fire and was getting ready to put my mortar team into action. It was like the AI read my mind. The impulse before I was going to fire my mortars for the first time, a sniper appeared and killed my mortar team. Just like that. Don't have time to play any more this afternoon, but am looking forward to getting back to it.

Oh JW that was a wonderful AAR. Reminded me of an old game called "Computer Ambush" by SSI back in the 80's. I can remember several times things happened on the last impulse or turn that turned the tide in favor of the ai. Loved that game but of course terrible graphics. But, for its time they sufficed for the type of game that it was. I wrote lil AAR's for it after some skirmishes I had.

BTW, Sniper's TM is doubled against direct fire, but not mortars (Remember the Band of Heroes episode where Speir ordered the mortar to fire on the sniper till they collapsed the roof?). Hence, the two best ways to take out snipers is with Melee or mortar fire.

To me, this feels more like a cross between Combat Commander and Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles than ASL. Elegant mechanics with a focus on gameplay vs fiddliness. A strong narrative emerges from the gameplay, which is excellent.

Took the plunge and bought it.  Played one scenario and was enjoyable.  The game works well.  No download problems, free link to downloader if you need one.  I like the setup - multi-player,AI or Solo.  Will take alittle time to learn the editor.  I would recommend if you have't bought the game yet, I wouldn't wait. [&o]

ORIGINAL: markhwalker

Mike, Sabre21,

Thanks. Glad you are enjoying it.

I sure am and I'm spreading the word around here where I live. I have a couple friends that will pick it up before long.

I tried Partisan's like everyone else, and failed twice. Then I read some of the tactical advice here. Once I sorted out spotting and leaders and such, I tried again.

It took some work getting my mortar team out of harm's way; I had to send a leader in to rally them after an attack, then he got hit and the medic had to run out and help. But I was able to get the mortar team to safety.

I attacked with the other leader and his stack, with another squad for support, on the flank. That went well; I was able to damage some partisans while advancing, then I melee'd a large stack into oblivion. (Love the flammenwerfer...) A few cats and dogs were taken down, then the partisans decided to assault my line. They lost two squads moving in the open street, but the third melee'd one of my squads to death, and also died in the process.

Eventually, I flanked the main partisan position, pulled some fire with a squad crossing the street and rolled them up from the flank with both leader's stacks. Finished up on the last turn.

This was on Hard. So once you get used to the system, it's a good, fun challenge, with lots of little stories in each turn. (I know the above is a bit vague for an AAR, but I'm trying not to spoil anything...) Definitely fun and I'm ready to move on to another scenario, or maybe this one from the Russian side.

ORIGINAL: comsolut

Reminds me of Squad Leader. (Which I loved, but hard to find opponents. So AI is for me the biggest advantage)

Artwork is great.

Played the ambush scenario and the AI was decent.

Went to BoardGame Geek and downloaded some quick reference guides, and that really helped me get into the mechanics of the game fast.

Very intuitive, and less eye strain than COH (from the constant board movement).

I agree with this, reminds me very much of squad leader which i played so long ago i almost forget[:D]
Awesome design and very easy to pick up the game play but it will be hard to get good at this i can see already

To me, this feels more like a cross between Combat Commander and Band of Brothers: Screaming Eagles

Lock 'n Load predates both of those systems by several years. [:)]

mortar team out of harm's way; I had to send a leader in to rally them after an attack,

All Weapon Teams (the counter size between squads and tanks, such as the mortar) can self rally. No leader required.

Isn't it easier to rally them with a leader? IE, two chances? The damn sniper was making their life miserable and that was the best way I found to get them out of that situation.

I like a lot of things about this game, but I'm playing the first German campaign scenario (the one with the child) for the 10th time on Easy and I still can't manage to save the child AND take all the VPS in the time allotted. Honestly, if the Nazi's had actually put this much effort into saving Russian children, I would have voted them back in years ago!

I really do think that war games need to stick to educating players on the ugly reality of war, in which civilians who get in the way are simply shot, and their demise does not trigger an automatic defeat.

I guess there's an AAR somewhere that explains the gaming ploy needed to win this one. I would prefer to win it using a reasonable facsimile of military tactics...

There is Option B: eliminate all enemy units and do the rescue offscreen. Most scenarios will be an auto victory if you kill every single enemy unit.