John Tiller Campaign Series vs. Adavanced Tactics

[promethean]

I'm looking for a (relatively) casual game. Perhaps "game" is the operative word, where "simulations" is what I am not looking for.

Which would be better for this, JTCS or AT? (Or is neither appropriate? Or do you have a 3rd recommendation?)

Thanks!

[Josh]

Oh that's a tough one, I have both and they are both in my opinion must haves. JTCS has every gun/weapon/tank/you-name-it, ever made in the database, a huge scenario base and countless hours of playing. But no production. AT, or to be more precise AT Gold is different in that it has no "divisions" or "brigades" but units/counters, in those counters you can place every piece of equipment you want... specifically tailored for a certain terrain of operations. So Inf for woods and cities, tanks for open terrain, planes for bombing and interdiction. The huge bonus ATG has is the production factor, you decide what to produce and what to do with it. ATG lacks the huge weapon database JTCS has, or Gary Grigsby War in the East, for that matter. There are no Shermans, Valentines, T-34's, only light-medium-heavy-superheavy tanks level 1 to 4. Though that is not a bad thing in my book, it sometimes feels as if you're missing a bit gameflavour, no PzKpfw III when you're playing the German side feels a bit... dunno, on the other hand, medium tank II is equal to PzKpfw III if you know what I mean.
 
Also ATG feels more like Civ wargaming, small or very large maps (shrouded or not) with cities everywhere and you can conquer it all! More strategic, whereas JTCS is more on conquering certain objectives, say a hill, or a town.
I enjoyed both tremendously, countless hours of gaming.
Oh, one reason I don't buy Battlefront Strategic Command series anymore is; no stacking allowed. Also it's almost impossible to do encirclements in the SC series, whereas ATG shines in things like that, sweeping fast manoeuvres; a left blow and a right hook, that's ATG in my opinion.
Oh well, both are great. But ATG is newer and Vic provides updates very very frequently.

[Jason Petho]

JTCS truly shines when playing against a Human Opponent.
 
You can find many active players at "The Blitz"  ... http://www.theblitz.org
 
Jason Petho
 

[Wolfe1759]

The most basic difference between the two is the scale of the game, JTCS is tactical/operational whereas AT is grand operational/strategic.

Of the two my choice would be JTCS as although it has a lot of detail it feels a lot less "fiddly" than AT and for me was easier to get into.

You may also want to consider Combat Command (the newly released Matrix edition) which is a very nice game towards the lighter end of the complexity scale.

[promethean]

Hello All, thanks for the replies

From the sound of it, I'll have to check out both at some point, though I'm not sure that my decision on which to try first has been made any easier [;)] Here's where the lack of a demo makes it difficult for a consumer, though I understand the problems developers & publishers face on this front too.

I've found a few tutorial videos on JTCS, which give some insight, but none for AT or ATG. Can anyone point out a link to some?

Josh-- I know what you mean on the SC series. Bottlenecks there are ridiculous. Their newest WWI game has a unit-swap feature, and the potential of much larger maps, that may mitigate this a little, but I haven't taken the plunge on even the demo yet to say for sure.

[htuna]

Battlefield Academy is very casual.. and very easy to get into.. yet can be pretty addictive...

[sabre1]

BA or JTCS, with ATG a distant third in terms of casual. (so don't jump on my guys) [;)]

[Lützow]

Gameplay in JTCS is remotely comparable to Steel Panthers.

For AT there is a demo of the predecessor game, but I forgot the name. Peoples tactics or so.

[Josh]

Yes the predecessor of AT is called Peoples Tactics, it's for free (I think)... but there's no comparison between P-Tactics and ATGold, the latter is much better.
I forgot to mention that Jason Petho is working hard on a Modern Wars for the JTCS series, I posted my response just before hitting the bunk and then when I almost fell asleep it suddenly hit me; " oh my, I forgot to mention Jason is putting much work on his add on "Modern Wars". Sorry for that mr. Petho. Anyways, with that addon included JTCS covers a vast timeperiod, and has a huge scenario base.
Me, I wouldn't know which one too chose... [&:] Both I'd say. [:D]

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: cmurphy625

Battlefield Academy is very casual.. and very easy to get into.. yet can be pretty addictive...

Agreed. BA is a much better choice than either given your stated requirements.