Stalingrad: Nightmare on The Volga

[Piteas]

ORIGINAL: wodin

I believe Stalingrad will sell more than Desert War.

Yes, I´m an example. "Desert War" didn´t interest me enough, but Stalingrad is a magnet stone for the wargamers and I see that the new game has many improvements.
I´ll buy it.

[wodin]

ORIGINAL: bcgames

The plan for the ALPHA is multi-scale. 2500m outside the city; 500m inside the city. We'll see how it plays.

Excellent! 500m still in! Just with you mentioning 10k hex and then about scaling back the scope of the game I started to wonder what may be getting cut.

[wodin]

Knew I wouldn't be the only one.
Lots more I hope too.

ORIGINAL: Piteas

ORIGINAL: wodin

I believe Stalingrad will sell more than Desert War.

Yes, I´m an example. "Desert War" didn´t interest me enough, but Stalingrad is a magnet stone for the wargamers and I see that the new game has many improvements.
I´ll buy it.

[bcgames]

ORIGINAL: wodin

ORIGINAL: bcgames

The plan for the ALPHA is multi-scale. 2500m outside the city; 500m inside the city. We'll see how it plays.

Excellent! 500m still in! Just with you mentioning 10k hex and then about scaling back the scope of the game I started to wonder what may be getting cut.

It's not about scales; it's about the quality of the content. Getting scenarios researched, designed, play-tested, and balanced is and will always be a challenge. Full Metal Stalingrad is a huge endeavor. Like Armored Brigade, it's going to take a base game and a whole lot of DLC to cover the scope of the Stalingrad Campaign at the scales we need to do justice to the subject.

[bcgames]

ORIGINAL: wodin

Knew I wouldn't be the only one.
Lots more I hope too.

ORIGINAL: Piteas

ORIGINAL: wodin

I believe Stalingrad will sell more than Desert War.

Yes, I´m an example. "Desert War" didn´t interest me enough, but Stalingrad is a magnet stone for the wargamers and I see that the new game has many improvements.
I´ll buy it.

Thank-you for your continued support of this game topic!

[bcgames]

Am currently working on the 500 meter per hex Stalingrad City map. First up? The tile map. The editor allows you to use either a tile map or a user created game map for your user-created scenarios. In all cases, you will start by creating a tile-based map. You can import a map image to use as a guide.

[bcgames]

Use the editor to identify the type of terrain in each hex...

[bcgames]

...and so on and so forth...

[bcgames]

Not sure what happened to the images above. Strange.

Anyhow, I've wrapped up the Salerno scenario adventure/side-show and submitted it to St. Ruth. Now it's back to Stalingrad. Today I sent out the latest build to our ALPHA testers. This will be their first crack at the new game. We are looking forward to their feedback on the new capabilities.

[bcgames]

Something new...The Command Button:

[bcgames]

So...here I am with a fully developed map of Stalingrad @500meters per hex--and I have a WWI piece of crap battlefield that no WWII gamer would want to play on. A generic nothing of infantry and armor battalions attacking time-after-time against the same hex hoping for the BIG ADVANCE of one hex. Not fun. The diversity of Desert War unit capabilities must return else the result is generic blah, blah, blah. And stacking is required to keep the game fun.

More development ahead...

[bcgames]

I don't think there will be a 500m per hex map...it's half way between anything that is interesting to me.

[Deathtreader]

ORIGINAL: bcgames

I don't think there will be a 500m per hex map...it's half way between anything that is interesting to me.

Your call of course, but I think it would be a shame. Could be an opportunity for the small unique units to shine. Engineers, maybe commando on map units, infiltration capable units etc.

Rob.

[bcgames]

I think 200 meters per hex might be the sweet spot. Long range weapon systems will exit the battlefield as units and re-appear as ground assets. We'll see...

[wodin]

200? Even better!

[wodin]

ORIGINAL: Deathtreader

ORIGINAL: bcgames

I don't think there will be a 500m per hex map...it's half way between anything that is interesting to me.

Your call of course, but I think it would be a shame. Could be an opportunity for the small unique units to shine. Engineers, maybe commando on map units, infiltration capable units etc.

Rob.

Rob, exactly what I'm thinking! Special commands\abilities tailored for urban combat. Special defensive units that replicate a platoon in a fortified house (Pavlov). Sewers so enemy can suddenly appear from behind. Maybe you have to sacrifice part of your force to help combat rear area and logistic attacks due to Sewer infiltration. so your adding more player decisions as both sides try to manage and juggle finite resources. There are ways to do this and make itfun by innovation and thinking outside the box even if the combat is heavily confined and slow going,I've always been of the opinion to make a wargame on the city fighting the smaller the scale the more options open up. As you said 500 isn't giving enough detail and will seem stagnant and dull. I'd say 200 is the highest scale that should be considered. Personally I'd go for 80 to 100m.

[wodin]

Another idea is abstract sniper teams. You position them in areas you think the enemy will be passing throug, if they do to represent officer casualties negative modifier are applied to units. To counter snipers you are able to give them an anti sniper role, the anti sniper snipers would patrol a radius of hexes and if any enemy sniper positioned there they are killed. So now you are giving players another layer and new decisions to make deciding how many teams to do anti sniper then where to set up all your sniper teams maybe able to say how many turns they stay out until come in for new orders.

So this along with the security infiltration decisions are adding new interesting gameplay making the actual bread and butter of move and attack hexes as just a part of a bigger gaming experience

[Okayrun3254]

ORIGINAL: bcgames

I think 200 meters per hex might be the sweet spot. Long range weapon systems will exit the battlefield as units and re-appear as ground assets. We'll see...

I like the scale you are proposing for this battle.

This is a slugfest, but makes the Stalingrad battle compelling to me is the various terrain types, town, city, Mamayev Hill, factories, and wide gullies. I also like the variety of units; panzer, infantry, engineers, NKVD, all in a mix of guards, elite, regular, and militia types. The ability to capture the docks and stop Soviet reinforcements The player gets to decide where to put these units at critical points in the battle. In a smaller sized scale like this one, I would think the leaders would have more of an effect on units and the battle itself. I think this is the only city battle in history that I would like to play as a historical wargame.

[bcgames]

Will give 200-meters per hex a go. There won't be any additional capabilities added to the game at this point; that door is closed. The engine in its current state has the capability to represent some of your ideas in a compelling game environment. Finding the best ground scale for the city fight is what I am about at this point.

[bcgames]

Stalingrad ALPHA has demonstrated success with the 2500 meter ground scale. The 500 meter per hex version of the Stalingrad city fight is unsatisfactory...a dumb slog. We're going to try a 200 meter ground scale. This will allow the stacking of a battalion and three platoons (tanks, assault guns, engineers, whatever...). Artillery & NKVD will be represented as a ground asset. Snipers, sewer movement, etc. will be represented by special operations assets. We'll see how that goes.