The Immense Pleasure of Huge Wargames

[Mike Peck]

http://kotaku.com/5895917/the-immense-p ... -war-games

[Grfin Zeppelin]

A surprisingly good article.

[MaB1708]

Thank you Michael for sharing. It is oh so true, I have had almost no idea about the pacific war in general and I learned immensely from WiTP and all the helpfull and interesting books that came with the hobby, together with the incredible knowledge that the people on this forum are always willing to share. For me, the game opened a whole new world of interest, questions, answers, fun, micromanagers delight.
Cheers,
Martin

[Blacksheep]

Thanks Michael. Enjoyed the article. I used it in part as an explanation to my better half of why I am spending my retirement playing WITP!!!

[Commander Stormwolf]

hopefully matrix will recognized for their epic titles,
if WITP becomes a 10 million unit seller.. WITP 2 would be pretty awesome [;)]


*real-time 24 hour pacific war campaign .. *250xA6M2, 162xB5N2 approaching TF.. time to target 15 minutes.. tick tock. .tick tock.. [X(]* now you know what it's like to be yamamoto [X(]

[Empire101]

Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed the article!!

[Hanzberger]

Kool, Thanks for the post.

[mikkey]

Enjoyed the article. Thanks for sharing Mike.

[ny59giants]

Even in my younger days, I always liked the larger board games. I did have both "War in Europe" and "War in the Pacific" by SPI.

I was not happy with the historical battles that came with Talonsoft's "West Front" and "East Front." I used the editor to make mega-battles. [:D]

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Even in my younger days, I always liked the larger board games. I did have both "War in Europe" and "War in the Pacific" by SPI.

Was'nt lucky enough to play SPI's War in the Pacific, but I loved War in Europe!! Ahh, the halcyon days of my youth......[:(]

[crsutton]

I have been gaming for 40 years, and had bought a number of monster board games. However, in the end the time and space constraints just made them un-playable. The computer revolution has changed that. A game such as AE would have just been impossible to play on cardboard. I have said this before, 25 years ago I dreamed of a game like AE but I never thought it would have been possible. The computer does most of the mundane tasks, a lot of the thinking, picks up the pieces and puts them away for me after each session and my cat has yet to find a suitible spot to sleep on my flat screen monitor...I am in heaven and can't possibly imagine what we will be able to do in ten years.

Not a computer guy, but it have a deep appreciation for Gary Grigsy and all of the other fine minds that have worked on this game.

[Nikademus]

good article. However based on my experiences with WitP and later AE as a tester slash developer.....i'm hoping future wargames will take a step back from the urge to represent every gritty details down to the nth degree. Like the article pointed out......a Supreme Commander didn't have to fill in as a Junior officer in charge of logistics much less fill in for an Albert Speer type and manage an entire war economy. The mega-wargame can be fun, but i think most will agree that it is also virtually impossible to finish, esp if playing by PBEM.

I think the Grigsby type detail level in regards the combat resolution can be preserved without having to go further. I feel this more strongly than ever after playing around with the new War in the East. I actually find myself prefering Grigsby's earlier work on the subject.

[Terminus]

Ditto. It's getting very, very close to the point where the monster games are unplayable due to detail.

[Terminus]

Others, of course, will never be released for the same reason (MWiF).

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Others, of course, will never be released for the same reason (MWiF).

That is depressing. I played WiF for years and loved it, but time, space and girlfriends stopped me playing eventually.[:(]

I was really looking forward to MWiF being released.....

[Terminus]

Note: that was not an official statement, just a deduction based on available data.

[sandman455]

ORIGINAL: ny59giants

Even in my younger days, I always liked the larger board games. I did have both "War in Europe" and "War in the Pacific" by SPI.

My first wargame purchase was "War in the Pacific" by SPI. Up till then my parents usually paid for the Avalon Hills stuff for B-days and Xmas. They just refused to fork over $50+ on a game. I saved up and bought it my Jr year in high school. I would later buy "War in Europe" and that game was played fanatically during my summers in college. A very fun and well thought out game. WitP was just a little too unplayable but I certainly spent much time trying.

[gradenko2k]

ORIGINAL: Nikademus
good article. However based on my experiences with WitP and later AE as a tester slash developer.....i'm hoping future wargames will take a step back from the urge to represent every gritty details down to the nth degree. Like the article pointed out......a Supreme Commander didn't have to fill in as a Junior officer in charge of logistics much less fill in for an Albert Speer type and manage an entire war economy. The mega-wargame can be fun, but i think most will agree that it is also virtually impossible to finish, esp if playing by PBEM.

I think the Grigsby type detail level in regards the combat resolution can be preserved without having to go further. I feel this more strongly than ever after playing around with the new War in the East. I actually find myself prefering Grigsby's earlier work on the subject.

I would agree with this. I would daresay that wargame developers need to step back from the need to max out the growing power of the CPU and instead just use the computer as a rules-lawyer and an AI provider.

There are literally dozens of games out there that would probably sell like (relative) hotcakes even if they were to continue to use CRTs, so long as you can provide a single-player experience and a good user-interface. Something like a computer translation of Battle For Moscow (and its Leningrad/Smolensk derivatives) would probably sell briskly as a 5-10 dollar title on Steam.

[Empire101]

ORIGINAL: Terminus

Note: that was not an official statement, just a deduction based on available data.

I've got the horrible feeling that your deduction may be correct.

[Rkuzava_slith]

As an old school grognard, from the Panzer Blitz, and Squad Leader days...I just discovered Matrix games and could not resist picking up War in the East, and War in the Pacific. Takes me back to the halycon days when I had the time and space to play GRD's Fire in the East/Scorched Earth/Urals, and briefly the Victory Games version of WitP.

But man...the learning curve is steep on both those games for my aged brain.