Matrix Games Forums

Hello everyone,

I am really wanting to dive into a more in depth ww2 game but am really struggling on figuring where to start. I have played a ton of games like Panzer Corps (1 and 2), Strategic Command (WW1-WW2 all 3 titles) and Strategic Mind... etc. Though I find myself really wanting to play a deeper more involved war game. I have been watching a ton of Youtube videos for Gary Gigsby games but am a little intimidated with just how steep the learning curve is (and the cost is pretty high so I dont want to spend over 100$ to find out its not for me). I guess my question is... where would you recommend someone like me start? I am interested in any theatre and timeline (War in the Pacific looks really neat but the age and complexity worry me)... Im leaning more into War in the East 2 mostly because its the newest but figured I would ask here to see if Ive overlooked any gems out there and to see what this amazing war gaming community suggests.

Thanks in advance everyone

[Deleted by Admins]

Hex of Steel at Steam would be a good start. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1240 ... _of_Steel/

For tactical wargames my suggestion is John Tiller's Campaign Series. Easy to learn but rich in content. It covers all of WWII at platoon level/unit (scenarios range from commanding a battalion to a division or more) has a nice chain of command structure and it comes with a metric ton of scenarios (plus the additional ones you can find on the web).

https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=226

Edit: I forgot, for each and every unit you can bring up a short description - thus turning the game into a learning experience if you wish.

Second the Campaign Series suggestion. And there is a big multiplayer group at THE BLITZ.

I love HOI 4, but a lot do not. It is a high quality, well supported game with a great GUI and it has a crap ton of legit mods that the developer (Paradox) supports in many ways.

OAOW 4 is undocumented, you have to live on the forum to get it - skip it.

War in the East 2 does seem to be a must have.., I never invested the time in the prior series and I am concerned I would get frustrated.., but yeah, that seems to be a 5 star.

ORIGINAL: Grognerd_INC

The Operational Art of War 4 could be a consideration also. It is a 10 impulse per side, per turn IGOYOU game. It boasts a varies of scales from 2.5 kilometers per hex to 50 kilometers per hex. You can play from battalion level through army level games. There are scenarios made for most wars since the late 1800.

Huh, seriously? I have TOAW3, and it comes with scenarios from early 1800's (Napoleon and stuff).

[Deleted by Admins]

Command Ops 2 - base engine is free, try it out. I think it comes with 3 scenarios.

After that, scenario packs cover a wide variety of scenarios, some not often covered elsewhere like Greece and Crete.

Each scenario is time driven, but the time can be paused or sped up. You assume the role of the on map boss and give orders to subordinate commands, I find giving orders at battalion level with company sized units under command works the best.

Highly recommended.

Cheers

ORIGINAL: Eambar

Command Ops 2 - base engine is free, try it out. I think it comes with 3 scenarios.

Highly recommended.

I fully agree. I love this game. Best thing about it: you can learn it at your own pace. The first times is fun to tell your units "Go there and do your stuff" and then see the units organise themselves and act in an intelligent way (generally speaking, it is always nice to tell someone to do something and then watch him work [:D]).

Of course you will almost always lose, but, by then, you have learned enough of the game to "go deeper" and organise your plans.

Best way to learn: follow the tutorial in .PDF A whole world will open in front of your eyes.

Thank you so much gang... currently waiting on hip surgery so these are great! I will definitely be taking a look at them!

ORIGINAL: balto

OAOW 4 is undocumented, you have to live on the forum to get it - skip it.

What do you mean with "undocumented"?

ORIGINAL: GooberCat9

Thank you so much gang... currently waiting on hip surgery so these are great! I will definitely be taking a look at them!

I recommend you to start with free games (Command Ops 2, The Operational Art of War demo), manuals (Steam has the links), and game play videos.

I second TOAW 4 and Command Ops 2. Both excellent games.

Check out Matrix World in Flames. It's a work in progress and the AI is only being developed now but it's the best strategic WW2 game by a long way.

It's quite complex but you can work into it through the Barbarossa scenario to learn land and air combat and then Guadalcanal for naval stuff. It has excellent tutorials and a supportive user community. Basically anything you can think of is modeled, like resource transportation, production, politics, strategy and operations. There are convoy battles, strategic bombing, partisans, amphibious invasions, paratroops, V-weapons and the atomic bomb.

This is the actual size of the global map (from which I made my avatar)

Actual size? I guess any size is possible, even bigger ones. Just make the hexes bigger.

Does WiF have an AI now?

ORIGINAL: ernieschwitz

Actual size? I guess any size is possible, even bigger ones. Just make the hexes bigger.

Actual if you use hexes as big as the map of the original. You could actually buy that paper map as an optional [:)]

ORIGINAL: Kuokkanen

Does WiF have an AI now?

Much preliminary work on it has been done and Steve is beginning implementing the AI for Barbarossa now, starting with one for the Soviets. I'm guessing one for Germany will follow and probably ones for Guadalcanal after that.

ORIGINAL: ernieschwitz

Actual size? I guess any size is possible, even bigger ones. Just make the hexes bigger.

Yes

The unified global map has hexes at the scale of the European map in the paper and dice game. That means 70,200 hexes and a significant change to the Pacific Theatre, where hexes represented much more area in the physical game.

I would also recommend John Tiller's campaign series. For a more tactical game, the Campaign Series Middle East (right here on Matrix) is a great game, and they are about to come out with a Vietnam game.

I would NOT recommend WiF for someone looking to move to slightly more complex wargames--it is very complex (the manual is three volumes) and in my view, not especially intuitive.

WitE2 could be OK; it is fairly complex but the real issue is its size and length. But you can just dive in and start playing around without too much hassle, although to really max out results you'd have to dive into the nuts and bolts.

ORIGINAL: 76mm

I would also recommend John Tiller's campaign series. For a more tactical game, the Campaign Series Middle East (right here on Matrix) is a great game, and they are about to come out with a Vietnam game.

I would NOT recommend WiF for someone looking to move to slightly more complex wargames--it is very complex (the manual is three volumes) and in my view, not especially intuitive.

I have hopes for the "Ten Years Anniversary Edition!" - when they will finally reach beta status! [&o]

Back to the usual France'14 and Tunisia'43 then. I don't have patience to read the manual in these times. [:)] Campaign Series Middle East I've, Vietnam looks interesting.