There are always charitable reasons for Strategy and Wargaming News to skip one weekly entry. Last week, this spot was solely occupied by the invading forces of Decisive Action Games‘ single venture, Maneuver Warfare.
Developer Interview – Maciej Jonasz
Maciej was courteous enough to digitally sat down with me to talk about its first wargame, after years of daydreaming about its creation. Powered by a profound love for the topic and community feedback, Maneuver Warfare is shaping up to be a great entry in every collection worth its salt. After half a dozen hours of playing with it, it sure is innovative and cheap enough to warrant a scouting party for the curious onlooker. A small appetizer:
“What do you think sets Maneuver Warfare apart from other games in the genre?
I think mainly five things. First – the AI fights according to tactically sound battle plans. This is especially evident when it is in the defense – the enemy has dedicated counterattack forces and fights from a series of subsequent battle positions. I am an officer in the army reserves and I developed the AI plans to mimic what would be made in real life. Two – the way you can organize your units into combined-arms battle groups. Again, I tried to mirror the way you would organize combat forces in reality. Three – no hexes so you are free to maneuver your units in any way you want. Four – the lack of a turn structure means that combat takes place continuously whenever units are in range. Five – the way the game simulates your unit’s leadership structure. Your commanders gain experience in combat which gives their units bonuses in battle, they get killed and wounded, and they get promoted within their units to replace those who died. I loved the way Close Combat showed your soldiers’ histories and I improved on that by adding the promotions aspect”.
Strategic Command: American Civil War Available On Steam
Fury Software’s latest chronological migration could have gone better, and by abstracting the tactical layer of the American Civil War, which is arguably the most interesting aspect of it, it failed to capture many a Scourge of War: Gettysburg and Grand Tactician fans. But if the series World War II success managed to capture your interest, Strategic Command: American Civil War is now available on Steam for 33,99€.
The Daemons Arrive On Mars
It’s now clearer than ever that Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector was a commercial and critical success. So much so that Black Lab is pumping new Daemonic life into it absolutely free of charge for both PC and consoles. What can we expect from it, then? Well, here are the most relevant features, also free, courtesy of yours truly:
- A new minor faction to Planetary Supremacy: The Daemons of Khorne, composed by a force of Khornate Daemons composed by Bloodmasters, Bloodletters, Flesh Hounds, and the “mighty” Skill Cannon.
- A New objective type called Siege: where “the attacker must capture four strategic points, whilst the defender works to eliminate the attacker’s army”.
- Three new maps called Fortress of Redemption, Feeding Grounds, and Blackstone, each based on the game’s three other factions, the Blood Angels, Tyranids, and Necrons, respectively.
Unfortunately, the bad news is that there’s no way to play as the Daemons of Khorne, so if you’ve played the campaign and won a single match of Planetary Supremacy, there’s no reason to go back and boot Battlesector again. While all of this is going on, the team is hard at work on their future DLC: Sisters of Battle. Not a lot is known about that, but the Adepta Sororitas already made a small, but impressive appearance in the main campaign with a couple of their units. When it comes to personal expectations, I wished Black Lab would focus on delivering another excellent campaign, even if it costs a bit more, rather than just keep on pumping out new content for the Planetary Supremacy game mode.
A Glimpse Into The Future
After a shaky start- if I remember correctly, the developing team behind Men of War II is located in Ukraine and was highly affected when the war first started- the team behind the next iteration of the much-beloved series has released their first Dev Diary and it confirms what we suspected the most: Men of War II is still Men of War.
Wargame Design Studio Update Round-Up
May marked the release of Kriegsmarine and WDS wanted to have all its things up to snuff. Soon Wolfpack was wolf-packed with updates that brought the title up to the same standard as Kriegsmarine and now, Wargame Design Studio “will be updating all six released titles to version 4.02”.
Up next, the Napoleonic Battles got a new alternative outline color, new high-resolution 2D Symbols files for the standard images, and a new “adjusted highlight organization”, showing players the selected unit and its chain of command. The possibility for leader casualty has been doubled, to better reflect “some period accounts”. There’s a new range check tool to help virtual napoleons to identify better positions prior to moving their units. Skirmishers will get a 3 hex “leash”, the LOS calculation for the units has been adjusted, and a new Movement By Command function “enables an entire brigade, deployed in line, to be moved with a single set of commands”.
British Army To Arrive In WARNO
Remember when WARNO was released in January and got slammed by the Wargame community for lacking content? Eugen is probably laughing their asses right now, after gaining a steam review rating of “Very Positive”, so congrats on them for that one, it’s always a steep climb to leave the ditch of bad reviews, the Battlefield developer DICE is quite familiar with that by now. The content updates will keep on coming, and this time around, it’s going to be the Chieftains and their 120mm guns making a surprise appearance on the battlefields of central Europe.
The full veil is yet to be lifted but Tornado and Harriers are confirmed, the Lynx and Gazelles too. The British infantry will move fast when transported by the FV432 armored personnel carriers and supported by the Warrior IFV. The controversial bull pop, the SA80 will equip your average infantry, with some squads carrying an L86A1 SAW variant for increased firepower.
In August, Eugen System is going to close its doors for some well-deserved vacation time, so don’t go expecting weekly updates this month.
MicroProse Regiments Out On August
Earlier this year, my assessment of Regiments was highly criticized for being extremely harsh on what’s supposed to be a one-man effort for daring to point out some obvious flaws in its systems. Most of which, I expect to have been ironed out by now. When pitted against its direct competitor at the time, Wargame: Red Dragon (WARNO was still MIA back then) I praised it for embracing a more minimalist approach to the unit count- “Wargame lacks any restraint and totally embraces and indulges in being an exercise in magnitude and sheer numbers. If the philosophy of “The more the better” can be praised, the same can be said for a game that says “hell to that, too much is too much” and tries to be more concise, more linear, and gives the players less room to go astray and lose themselves on sheer numbers instead of focusing on the tactical realities of the field”- and for having a more robust and forgiving Field of View system, all the while, while looking stellar.
Eye Strain No More
Company of Heroes 3 overtly-generous lighting and bloom got called out by those that engaged with its Mission Alpha a couple of weeks ago. Company of Heroes and Company of Heroes 2 were, for lack of a better expression, rather brown titles, whose aesthetic was heavily inspired by films and series en-vogue back then, Saving Private Ryan, Enemy At The Gates, and HBO’s excellent mini Series Band of Brothers. Company of Heroes 3 was going over the top with its clarity, so after some feedback, the materials and lighting of the game were adjusted to prevent early blindness from its player base. Here’s one glaring (pun intended) example:
Make Your Own Game Box
Is there anyone reading this that doesn’t love little novelties like this? While Fire Commander might be struggling with its lukewarm reception, the developing team sure has great ideas! If you’re one of those nostalgic and geriatric folk that lived in an age where big, weighty boxes were a thing that screamed quality title, then Fire Commander is providing the footprint for your very own box. Just print, assemble, and you are good to go. As for the games’ problems, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for a fix. But hey, you can have an empty (but very cool) box to look at!
Fleet Commander Pacific Out
I can’t really understand what Fleet Commander is actually about, and to be completely honest with you, nor do I care that much about it to try and figure it out either. Also, if the team behind it doesn’t update their Youtube Channel for 8 months, I’m assuming they don’t care either. Let’s wrap this one up because I want to go play Battles of Normandy. If interested, click the link that’s on the title’s name on the article to be taken away from here and into its Steam Page.
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