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Battles In Italy is the fourth game in the award-winning Decisive Battles of WWII game series from Strategic Studies Group. Battles in Italy recreates all aspects of the Italy campaign, from the landings on Sicily to Salerno, Anzio and Rome. Strategic Studies Group has again updated the Decisive Battles game engine for Battles in Italy with campaign specific features and other enhancements.

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Cavalry Corp
Posts: 4070
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 5:28 pm
Location: Sampford Spiney Devon UK

Is this interesting?

Post by Cavalry Corp »

Hi,

I am pretty much only playing PZC at the moment , I have them all ( and WITP ) . I enjoy the longer campaigns but PZC takes a long time to play on two hour turns .

This series sounds more and more intersting , can someone tell me how detailed and realistic it all is ?

Is there one game system for all games ?

How will it compare to PZC ?

Can I get a demo ?

Regards
Michael
JSS
Posts: 780
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2003 3:24 pm

RE: Is this interesting?

Post by JSS »

ORIGINAL: cavalry

Hi,

I am pretty much only playing PZC at the moment , I have them all ( and WITP ) . I enjoy the longer campaigns but PZC takes a long time to play on two hour turns .

This series sounds more and more intersting , can someone tell me how detailed and realistic it all is ?

Is there one game system for all games ?

How will it compare to PZC ?

Can I get a demo ?

Regards
Michael

Hi Michael,

IMHO this is the most realistic operational wargame available. It provides a tremendous experience for seeing how an operation worked out (game progress vs. historical results). You really feel the frustration of exhausted forces not being able to move out smartly. You also get a true command perspective of what was possible (i.e. could Patton have attacked at the base of the Bulge???)

I find this game much more fun to play than PzC. Turns can last from 30 minutes to 90 minutes (depending on how much you fret over specific attacks).

As far as detail goes it depends on what you're looking for... the game primarily uses regiments and separate battalions. Each has detailed combat power, combat experience, and specific capabilities. The combat power is available (and lost) in discreet steps. You will not see reports of tactical information such as 3 M4s destroyed. Each step generally represents the combat power of a battalion (regimental units) or a company (battalion units).

BII is the current game engine. Its a significant improvement on BIN... which in turn was a significant improvement on KP. The Ardennes Offensive (TAO) is the only battle directly available in all three games. If you had the interest the game's editor allows you to modify the previous games to work on the newer version. Not too hard to do actually.

There is a BIN version demo of TAO. Its in the BIN download section on the Matrix website.

There are also a number of very good user scenarios available for free on the Run5 website.

Hope you give it a try!

JSS
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U2
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Location: Västerås,Sweden
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RE: Is this interesting?

Post by U2 »

Michael,

I'm a fan of both systems and I really recommend you to try this system too! You won't regret it.

At this moment I think you should buy BII first because you can get so many fantastic user made scenarios. Including a Typhoon scenario which is better than any of the Decisive Battle games released by SSG and it's free!!! That just shows the kind of service and support you get from SSG (though SSG's lack of wanting to earn money and giving things away for free has me started thinking they are all hardcore socialist wargamers [:D] )

So for the latest engine, and best user made scenarios, try BII. But my favorite is Battles in Normandy (though it's not the latest version of the engine and you don't get Typhoon for free). Typhoon is on such a high level of excellence I would have bought it for 50 bucks!

Give it a try!

Cheers
Dan
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sol_invictus
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Location: Kentucky

RE: Is this interesting?

Post by sol_invictus »

BII is a really good operational wargame engine. The scenarios that come with the game and the many user made scenarios; most of which are very good; make this a great value.
"The fruit of too much liberty is slavery", Cicero
Cavalry Corp
Posts: 4070
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 5:28 pm
Location: Sampford Spiney Devon UK

RE: Is this interesting?

Post by Cavalry Corp »

OK OK

You guys seem pretty happy I am downloading it now .

Regards
Michael
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U2
Posts: 2009
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2001 8:00 am
Location: Västerås,Sweden
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RE: Is this interesting?

Post by U2 »

ORIGINAL: cavalry

OK OK

You guys seem pretty happy I am downloading it now .

Regards
Michael

You made the right choice [8D]
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