Wargame of the Year 2011

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

Hi,

Yup, it's that time of the year again.

For the 8th time we all get a chance to pick our top 3 games of the
past year.

This year there are no prizes for participating in the election.

The Rules :

1) 1 (wo)man, 1 post - all votes in the open, no emails.
2) The game must have been published in 2011 or late 2010 - in other
words : if you think a game published late in 2010 didn’t get a fair
chance last year, feel free to add it.
3) Post your 1st, 2nd and 3rd place choices - 1st place gets 5 points,
2nd gets 3 points, 3rd gets 1 point.
4) Votes must be in before midnight (GMT) January 15th, 2012
5) In case of a tie, the award is shared.
6) I've temporarily unplonked a couple of posters so that I see
everyone's votes.

This is what's at stake for the developers - again lovingly created by
Daniel Lamb :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25663989@N07/sets/72157628399882161/

To refresh your memory on what games got published this year :

September 1939 - The Invasion of Poland
Hegemony - Philip of Macedon - Gold
Strategic Command - world War 1
Panzer Campaigns - Tunisia '43
Shogun 2 : Total War
Combat Command : Matrix Edition
Theatre of War 3 : Korea
Great Battles Medieval
Jutland Ship Pack #2 - Dogger Bank
Darkest Hour
Advanced Tactics Gold
Team Assault
Panzer Command : Ostfront
Combat Mission : Battle for Normandy
Pride of Nations
Gettysburg
Panzer Corps
Future Force
WarTactical
Battle of the Bulge
Supreme Ruler : Cold War
Squad Battles : Falklands
Field of Glory - Eternal Empire
Battle Academy - Operation Market-Garden
Battle of Moscow
Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39
Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '40
Assault Commander (iPad)
Achtung Panzer - Operation Star
Unity of Command
Campaign Leipzig
Time of Fury
Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '41
Tigers Unleashed
Ancient Warfare : Roman Civil Wars
Field of Glory - Decline and Fall
A Few Acres of Snow
Napoleonics : Quattre Bras (Android)
Populus Romanus (Android)
Modern Conflict 2 (iPad)
Scourge of War - Antietam
Pocket World at War (iPad)
Small General (Android)

If you think I missed one (or several) feel free to add them - this is
not a list of nominees.

My vote :

1st place : A Few Acres of Snow
2nd place : Unity of Command
3rd place : Panzer Corps

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Hulk...@xxx.com]

Isn't Team Assault still in closed beta? Does this count as a 2011
release?

My 3 are:-

1. Panzer Command : Ostfront
2. Time Of Fury
3. Panzer Corps

Hulker

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 30 dec, 11:25, Hulke...@xxx.com wrote:
>
> Isn't Team Assault still in closed beta?

Oops - I just double-checked and you're correct.

> Does this count as a 2011
> release?

No.

>
> My 3 are:-
>
> 1. Panzer Command : Ostfront
> 2. Time Of Fury
> 3. Panzer Corps
>
> Hulker

Noted

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Vincenzo Beretta]

What an anemic year :^(

Looking at the list I noticed how my 2011 wargaming came straight to the
'90s. I resurrected Great Naval Battles North Atlantic + expansions,
ToP2/PitS and even TF1942. And one could even make a case for Panzer Corps.

Here are my votes.

1st place : Panzer Corps
2nd place : Pride of Nations
3rd place : Shogun 2 : Total War

[Pawel Kurek]

My picks:

1st - Combat Mission : Battle for Normandy
2nd - Unity of Command
3rd - no choice

Greetings
PAK

[smr]

On 12/30/2011 3:41 AM, eddys...@hotmail.com wrote:

Put me down for:

1. Panzer Corps
2. Time of Fury
3. Combat Mission Normandy

--
smr

[Miquel Ramírez]

1. Combat Mission: Normandy
2. Hegemony - Philip of Macedon - GOLD
3. [deserted]

I wasn't sure about #2. Great blend of RTS and board game mechanics. And I love that setting.

Cheers,

Miquel.

[Graham Thurlwell]

On the 30 Dec 2011, "eddys...@hotmail.com"

<eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,

> Yup, it's that time of the year again.

> For the 8th time we all get a chance to pick our top 3 games of the
> past year.

1. Panzer Corps.

The only other game I got this year, Universal Boxing Manager, was
released in or before 2010 so doesn't count - even with the
justification that some of the fights my boys were in made WW2 look
pretty.

--
Jades' First Encounters Site - http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm
The best Frontier: First Encounters site on the Web.

nos...@jades.org /is/ a real email address!

[Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:41:51 -0800 (PST), "eddys...@hotmail.com" <eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote:

1 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39 (I have GC 1940 and '41 but I'll GET there as time passes)
2 - Time of Fury
3 - No selection

I got Pride of Nations, but I dislike their system and didn't play past the tutorial. BoA is on the shelf for the same
reason.
.
.
User Error:
Replace User and Press any Key to Continue
:-})>

[Graham Thurlwell]

On the 30 Dec 2011, "Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)" <n...@thistime.net>
wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:41:51 -0800 (PST), "eddys...@hotmail.com"
> <eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> 1 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39 (I have GC 1940 and '41 but I'll
> GET there as time passes)
> 2 - Time of Fury
> 3 - No selection

You've not voted for the core Panzer Corps game itself? Interesting.

I'm thinking of getting the GCs at some point in the future but am
leaving it until I've finished the stock campaign first so will
probably not have them in time for the deadline for WOTY 2011. There's
a good chance that I'll be picking them up sometime next year,
however, so the presumably forthcoming '42, '43, '44 and '45 GCs could
be in contention.

[HR]

On Dec 30, 4:41 am, "eddyster...@hotmail.com"

<eddyster...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Yup, it's that time of the year again.
>
> For the 8th time we all get a chance to pick our top 3 games of the
> past year.
>

> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx

Sheez didn't we jsut do this. Ouch the year went fast.

Btw..I wouldn't put the panzer corps DLCs as separate..

Me.

1. Combat Mission Normandy (just a good game and cool graphics)
2. Panzer Corps (eh..not really a hardcore wargame but it is
addicting)
3. Time of Fury (only up to start of France3 but seems pretty good)

[DirkG]

My votes:

1st: Combat Mission : Battle for Normandy
2nd: Shogun 2 : Total War
3rd: Panzer Campaigns - Tunisia '43

[PeterX]

> To refresh your memory on what games got published this year :

........

Please say you didn't actually type up all these titles, Eddy.

1- CMBN

[Mark Garnett]

On Dec 30, 8:41 pm, "eddyster...@hotmail.com"

My votes are:

1. Unity of Command
2. Panzer Corps
3. Time of Fury

Cheers

Mark

[BasKa]

1. Panzer Corps
2. CM: BfN
3. Pocket World at War (iPad)

Bas

[Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)]

On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:58:16 GMT, Graham Thurlwell <nos...@jades.org> wrote:

>You've not voted for the core Panzer Corps game itself? Interesting.

Haven't played past the point where I recognised the UI and scenario as (basicall) identical to the original Panzer
General. Then loaded the first GC '39 scenario and REALLY had to work against the AI.

Haven't gone back to the vanilla game so I don't feel competent to judge..
------------------------------------------------------------------
.
.
Everybody is entitled to my opinion
------------------------------------------------------------------

[FM]

My vote :

1 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '40
2 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39
3 - Panzer Corps

Cheers
FM

[PeterX]

Panzer Corps? Unless the core game has radically changed since the
90s, we're talking about a variation of chess with variables.
Challenging in it own way, to be sure, but a Wargame? The 2011 release
still features rivers running the down the middle of hexes, with all
the concomitant distortions. This retro-production is going to follow
Battles from the Bulge (iirc) as WOTY?

[Giftzwerg]

In article <1bebcd09-f8bb-4eb0-971c-673cd43d4661
@f33g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, petero...@gmail.com says...

> > 1 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '40
> > 2 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39
> > 3 - Panzer Corps

> Panzer Corps? Unless the core game has radically changed since the
> 90s, we're talking about a variation of chess with variables.
> Challenging in it own way, to be sure, but a Wargame? The 2011 release
> still features rivers running the down the middle of hexes, with all
> the concomitant distortions. This retro-production is going to follow
> Battles from the Bulge (iirc) as WOTY?

PANZER CORPS isn't a wargame? Whaaaaaaat?

What's the disqualifying factor? I don't buy your characterization as
"a variation of chess with variables." I doubt anyone else will,
either.

--
Giftzwerg
***
"In short, the myth of Obama?s brilliance was based on his teleprompted
eloquence, the sort of fable that says we should listen to a clueless
Sean Penn or Matt Damon on politics because they can sometimes act
well."
- Victor Davis Hanson

[Bostonmyk]

On Jan 2, 6:54 pm, Giftzwerg <giftzwerg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> In article <1bebcd09-f8bb-4eb0-971c-673cd43d4661

> @f33g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, peteroxfor...@gmail.com says...

1.Panzer Corps
2. Korean War by DK Simulations for Android

Didn't buy anything else made this year.

Thanks!

Mike

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

I had to because those damn' leprechauns got unionized and now refuse
to do any work :)

(it's a copy & paste from a document I maintain throughout the year
containing all past releases, new games and future projects)

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 31 dec 2011, 08:35, Peter Symonds <t...@isfalse.com> wrote:

> Is  A Few Acres of Snow out for pc or have boardgames always been
> included ?

It's the digital version of the boardgame - you can play it for free
here :

http://www.yucata.de/en/GameInfo/FewAcresOfSnow

A Few Acres of Snow is simply the best board wargame of the year 2011
- it's just so totally different - it has taken the deck building
concept from Dominion and applied it to a real wargame - just read the
10 pages of the rules and you'll see why it has shot up in the wargame
rankings and is the highest ranked 2011 wargame at BGG at (currently)
11th place.

I just played it once, but have another game lined up for this
Thursday and this is the wargame of the year for me, so I voted for
the digital implementation of it though I have yet to play the digital
version which people tell me is identical to the boardgame version.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 3 jan, 00:54, Giftzwerg <giftzwerg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> In article <1bebcd09-f8bb-4eb0-971c-673cd43d4661

> @f33g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, peteroxfor...@gmail.com says...

>
> > > 1 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '40
> > > 2 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39
> > > 3 - Panzer Corps
> > Panzer Corps? Unless the core game has radically changed since the
> > 90s, we're talking about a variation of chess with variables.
> > Challenging in it own way, to be sure, but a Wargame? The 2011 release
> > still features rivers running the down the middle of hexes, with all
> > the concomitant  distortions. This retro-production is going to follow
> > Battles from the Bulge (iirc) as WOTY?
>
> PANZER CORPS isn't a wargame?  Whaaaaaaat?
>
> What's the disqualifying factor?  I don't buy your characterization as
> "a variation of chess with variables."  I doubt anyone else will,
> either.

... and so your vote is ? :)

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[KG_Jag]

My winners are:

1. Shogun II

2. Panzer Corps

3. Battle Academy - Operation Market-Garden

[Mike Kreuzer]

Not everyone agrees with its BGG status as #1 wargame, a lot of non
wargamers vote for wargames, yada yada. Unofficial re-voting there is
currently underway. I haven't played it so have no idea whether it's
any good or a wargame or not, but FYI.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/97897/the-best-wargame-of-2011-take-two

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

[Mike Kreuzer]

On 3/01/2012 10:54 AM, Giftzwerg wrote:
> In article<1bebcd09-f8bb-4eb0-971c-673cd43d4661
> @f33g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, petero...@gmail.com says...
>
>>> 1 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '40
>>> 2 - Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39
>>> 3 - Panzer Corps
>
>> Panzer Corps? Unless the core game has radically changed since the
>> 90s, we're talking about a variation of chess with variables.
>> Challenging in it own way, to be sure, but a Wargame? The 2011 release
>> still features rivers running the down the middle of hexes, with all
>> the concomitant distortions. This retro-production is going to follow
>> Battles from the Bulge (iirc) as WOTY?
>
> PANZER CORPS isn't a wargame? Whaaaaaaat?
>
> What's the disqualifying factor? I don't buy your characterization as
> "a variation of chess with variables." I doubt anyone else will,
> either.
>

LOL - I imagine there are a lot of reasons it not be wargame of the
year, but not being a wargame is kinda out of left field.

OK... if I were to plunk my hard earned down & get Unity of Command,
am I going to have a stroke, yes or no? The bust icons are risible,
and there's no FOW I know I know, but is it really any good? Any good
at all?

I want to salvage some small something from a crapulous year in PC
wargaming. 2011, the year that gave me Tigers Unleashed and took Ian
Trout away. Bleh.

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

[Giftzwerg]

In article <4f02bec6$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, mi...@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
says...

> OK... if I were to plunk my hard earned down & get Unity of Command,
> am I going to have a stroke, yes or no? The bust icons are risible,
> and there's no FOW I know I know, but is it really any good? Any good
> at all?

Well, I can only speak for myself, of course, but:

1 - The interface is sheer joy. Clean and effortless. No "phases" or
any such nonsense. The displays show you the information you need
crisply and usefully. Absolutely everything on the screen has a tooltip
associated with it. Forget what some bar or value means? Just hover.

Best interface since ... I'm flailing about for a past one that was this
good.

Example: A scenario assigns you theater engineer support. You click on
the "Engineer" icon, and the map lights up with blue spots where a
bridge can be built, and enemy bridges which you can try to blow glow
red. No fussing about with "engineer points" or any such hoo-haa.

2 - There's surprising depth to gameplay. You have corps / army assets
- IE, a battalion of 88mm towed guns, or regiment of T-34 tanks - which
can be doled out to individual divisions and regiments for specific
purposes. You can requisition additional units from higher HQ - but, as
we imagine, needing *Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler* to help you out might
dull the luster of any victory.

3 - With respect to the "busts" ... I, too, thought them awful. But
after awhile, they grew on me. If you can get past that, the graphics
are great.

4 - It's a bargain - 29 bucks.

5 - There's a decent pile of scenarios - small, medium, and large - and
the grand campaign from both sides.

6 - The AI is not bad. Pretty good at attacking, retreats well, seems
to understand the objectives - and surprisingly good at penetrating my
lines to ruin my supply picture. Also annoyingly good at "twitching a
last-minute chair in front of me."

Yeah, there's no FOW, and I certainly knocked it for that ... but this
is Slitherine, and they're known for catering to gamers who like a more
chess-like experience. I finally went with, "OK, it is what it is."

All in all, the best I can say is that I'm still playing it.

[Giftzwerg]

In article <2cf27041-b875-4ddc-a22c-ee2a213db2c3
@a17g2000yqj.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...

> > PANZER CORPS isn't a wargame?  Whaaaaaaat?
> >
> > What's the disqualifying factor?  I don't buy your characterization as
> > "a variation of chess with variables."  I doubt anyone else will,
> > either.
>
> ... and so your vote is ? :)

Already voted:

"Not that I need a list:

(1) UNITY OF COMMAND
(2) PANZER COMMAND: OSTFRONT
(3) PANZER CORPS

Actually, to be serious, these are three pretty good games. UOC I'm
still playing the shit out of."

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 3 jan, 11:15, Giftzwerg <giftzwerg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Already voted:

Sorry, but I really can't keep track of what people call their
favourite game(s) throughout the year.

@everyone : if you want your vote counted, it has to be done in this
thread.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Miquel Ramírez]

> 2 - There's surprising depth to gameplay. You have corps / army assets
> - IE, a battalion of 88mm towed guns, or regiment of T-34 tanks - which
> can be doled out to individual divisions and regiments for specific
> purposes. You can requisition additional units from higher HQ - but, as
> we imagine, needing *Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler* to help you out might
> dull the luster of any victory.
>

Just a slightly pedantic but humorous remark. It's Leibstandarte, not Liebstandarte. The former translates roughly to the term "Life Guards" while the latter is more like "Love Guards".

I mean, there were quite a few "warm brothers" in the Waffen SS, but I doubt all of them where concentrated on AH's Life Guards Regiment ;-)

Cheers,

Miquel.

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 3 jan, 11:44, Miquel Ramírez <miquel.rami...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > 2 - There's surprising depth to gameplay.  You have corps / army assets
> > - IE, a battalion of 88mm towed guns, or regiment of T-34 tanks - which
> > can be doled out to individual divisions and regiments for specific
> > purposes.  You can requisition additional units from higher HQ - but, as
> > we imagine, needing *Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler* to help you out might
> > dull the luster of any victory.
>
> Just a slightly pedantic but humorous remark. It's Leibstandarte, not Liebstandarte. The former translates roughly to the term "Life Guards" while the latter is more like "Love Guards".

Blitzkreig : 2 million hits in Google - I gave up a long time ago :)

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Giftzwerg]

In article <557511a2-5061-462a-b4cb-1c09c4e0fbc1
@z25g2000vbs.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...

> > > 2 - There's surprising depth to gameplay. ï¿œYou have corps / army assets

> > > - IE, a battalion of 88mm towed guns, or regiment of T-34 tanks - which
> > > can be doled out to individual divisions and regiments for specific

> > > purposes. ï¿œYou can requisition additional units from higher HQ - but, as

> > > we imagine, needing *Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler* to help you out might
> > > dull the luster of any victory.
> >
> > Just a slightly pedantic but humorous remark. It's Leibstandarte, not Liebstandarte. The former translates roughly to the term "Life Guards" while the latter is more like "Love Guards".
>
> Blitzkreig : 2 million hits in Google - I gave up a long time ago :)

Then, there was that Leuwarden - Leuwaarden - Ljouwert - Liwwadden thing
you got embroiled in with some long-forgotten pedant.

Americans go easy about this kind of thing. We've got a town in Vermont
named "Barre," and we give the appropriate directions to folks
regardless of whether they say they want to go to "Bar" or "Bare-ee."
The latter is correct, but we let it go.

Similarly, our town of "Calais" is properly pronounced here as "Kal-
ass," but we understand people who want to call it "Kal-ai."

[Graham Thurlwell]

On the 31 Dec 2011, "Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)" <n...@thistime.net>
wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:58:16 GMT, Graham Thurlwell <nos...@jades.org> wrote:

>>You've not voted for the core Panzer Corps game itself? Interesting.

> Haven't played past the point where I recognised the UI and scenario
> as (basicall) identical to the original Panzer General.

Fair enough, I recall a number of people saying that on this group. I
myself never played Panzer General so didn't have the sense of deja vu
others did.

[Giftzwerg]

In article <MPG.296c9e057...@news-east.giganews.com>,
giftzw...@hotmail.com says...

> Yeah, there's no FOW, and I certainly knocked it for that ... but this
> is Slitherine, and they're known for catering to gamers who like a more
> chess-like experience. I finally went with, "OK, it is what it is."

Addendum:

One other criticism of UNITY OF COMMAND - and one that afflicts a great
many other games - can be described as, "I surround you and put you out
of supply ... uhm, er, but that puts my guys who surrounded you out of
supply ... cuz you're behind me."

And the two groups of out-of-supply units - who cannot attack - just
impotently see-saw back and forth.

Patton and Rommel, both, would have flung this game across the room.

But it's still fun.

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 3 jan, 17:02, Giftzwerg <giftzwerg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> In article <557511a2-5061-462a-b4cb-1c09c4e0fbc1

> @z25g2000vbs.googlegroups.com>, eddyster...@hotmail.com says...
>
> > > > 2 - There's surprising depth to gameplay. You have corps / army assets

> > > > - IE, a battalion of 88mm towed guns, or regiment of T-34 tanks - which
> > > > can be doled out to individual divisions and regiments for specific

> > > > purposes. You can requisition additional units from higher HQ - but, as

> > > > we imagine, needing *Liebstandarte Adolf Hitler* to help you out might
> > > > dull the luster of any victory.
>
> > > Just a slightly pedantic but humorous remark. It's Leibstandarte, not Liebstandarte. The former translates roughly to the term "Life Guards" while the latter is more like "Love Guards".
>
> > Blitzkreig : 2 million hits in Google - I gave up a long time ago :)
>
> Then, there was that Leuwarden - Leuwaarden - Ljouwert - Liwwadden thing
> you got embroiled in with some long-forgotten pedant.

<flashback> - Oh, I particularly liked the fact he created a sock-
puppet to help him out, but forgot that the header of his post pointed
to the same 17 employee company he worked for :)

> Americans go easy about this kind of thing.  We've got a town in Vermont
> named "Barre," and we give the appropriate directions to folks
> regardless of whether they say they want to go to "Bar" or "Bare-ee."
> The latter is correct, but we let it go.

Happens everywhere, but the "ie" vs "ei" thing is like scratching your
fingernails across a blackboard for native German/Dutch speakers
because the sounds are completely different. An "e" after a vowel
simply means the sound of that vowel is extended so the "ie" in
"krieg" sounds like you would extend the "i" sound in "blitz" whereas
"ei" sounds a bit like "bye".

> Similarly, our town of "Calais" is properly pronounced here as "Kal-
> ass," but we understand people who want to call it "Kal-ai."

Amazingly enough the latter would probably sound more correct to the
founders of that town :)

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 4 jan, 09:31, Peter Symonds <t...@isfalse.com> wrote:
>
> I haven't played a board wargame for twenty five years or so, ( I've
> still got some up in the loft, I'll have to get rid of them
> somewhere.)

For many games the BGG market is a better alternative than eBay. eBay
fetches better prices for shrinkwrapped & rare games, BGG is better
for regular played copies.

> and I'm not really into H2H over the net, but I'll
> definitely give the rules a read.

http://www.treefroggames.com/wp-content/uploads/rules/few-acres-snow-eng.pdf

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Mike Kreuzer]

On 4/01/2012 1:38 PM, Giftzwerg wrote:
> In article<MPG.296c9e057...@news-east.giganews.com>,
> giftzw...@hotmail.com says...
>
>
>> Yeah, there's no FOW, and I certainly knocked it for that ... but this
>> is Slitherine, and they're known for catering to gamers who like a more
>> chess-like experience. I finally went with, "OK, it is what it is."
>
> Addendum:
>
> One other criticism of UNITY OF COMMAND - and one that afflicts a great
> many other games - can be described as, "I surround you and put you out
> of supply ... uhm, er, but that puts my guys who surrounded you out of
> supply ... cuz you're behind me."
>
> And the two groups of out-of-supply units - who cannot attack - just
> impotently see-saw back and forth.
>
> Patton and Rommel, both, would have flung this game across the room.
>
> But it's still fun.
>

Ah screw it, thirty bucks, a ten minute download, Matrix has my credit
card on file apparently (at long last!)... so I got it.

First impressions: The busts are worse than risible, they're retarded,
which I hesitate to mention considering how thin skinned Slitherine
have been about criticisms of their graphic arteestry in the past <g>
but that aside the game looks fun after a mere half an hour of playing.

I'm not sure about rotating units in & out of the line, and no FOW,
and "missions" with time limits, and units levelling up, and any game
where Stalingrad'd be filled to capacity with just the one division
from one side (sigh), so there are a few things that'll rankle, but
yeah, I can see the fun too. Will play on. If I'm still playing on the
weekend I'll photoshop up some alternative counters.

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

[Giftzwerg]

In article <2896c60c-614d-4243-ba23-095e62888966
@z1g2000vbx.googlegroups.com>, eddys...@hotmail.com says...

> > Then, there was that Leuwarden - Leuwaarden - Ljouwert - Liwwadden thing
> > you got embroiled in with some long-forgotten pedant.
>
> <flashback> - Oh, I particularly liked the fact he created a sock-
> puppet to help him out, but forgot that the header of his post pointed
> to the same 17 employee company he worked for :)

And then there was that terrible day this ex-cop stuck the "i" in
ordnance (like he'd typed 87 bazillion times...) and some long-forgotten
douchebag trampolined right past municipal law and started squeaking
about "the Eucharist."

[Giftzwerg]

In article <4f042283$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, mi...@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
says...

> Ah screw it, thirty bucks, a ten minute download, Matrix has my credit
> card on file apparently (at long last!)... so I got it.

That was me, at first; an impulse buy.

> First impressions: The busts are worse than risible, they're retarded,
> which I hesitate to mention considering how thin skinned Slitherine
> have been about criticisms of their graphic arteestry in the past <g>
> but that aside the game looks fun after a mere half an hour of playing.

Like I say, the busts grew on my after a while. Now I don't even see
them.

> I'm not sure about rotating units in & out of the line, and no FOW,
> and "missions" with time limits, and units levelling up, and any game
> where Stalingrad'd be filled to capacity with just the one division
> from one side (sigh), so there are a few things that'll rankle, but
> yeah, I can see the fun too. Will play on. If I'm still playing on the
> weekend I'll photoshop up some alternative counters.

Yeah, it's beer & pretzels ... but I was ready for that.

[Miquel Ramírez]

> > Americans go easy about this kind of thing.  We've got a town in Vermont
> > named "Barre," and we give the appropriate directions to folks
> > regardless of whether they say they want to go to "Bar" or "Bare-ee."
> > The latter is correct, but we let it go.
>
> Happens everywhere, but the "ie" vs "ei" thing is like scratching your
> fingernails across a blackboard for native German/Dutch speakers
> because the sounds are completely different. An "e" after a vowel
> simply means the sound of that vowel is extended so the "ie" in
> "krieg" sounds like you would extend the "i" sound in "blitz" whereas
> "ei" sounds a bit like "bye".

Not to mention the U-turn in meaning :)

Cheers,

Miquel.

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

Das Riech does also smells funny - extra points if you get that
joke :)

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Miquel Ramírez]

>
> Das Riech does also smells funny - extra points if you get that
> joke :)
>

Hahahaha, "The Smell" :) One with a distinct nuance of cabbage, I guess...

Cheers,

Miquel.

[ftw]

1
2 Decision games Napoleon's Last Battles
3

Charlie

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ne...@netfront.net ---

[codman]

My vote:

1. Unity of Command
2. Panzer Command
3. ????


My addiction to UoC is complete as the "carrot" of unlocking 2 more
scenarios in both the Soviet and Axis campaigns continues to elude me
although I haven't tried either the "smells funny" unit or the "warm
brothers" one but when one is desperate...

Can't figure out which specialist step I like the most when playing as
the Axis as an elite German panzer unit with an engineer packs a nice
punch but the recon step has those extra hexes that come with it.

As for the Soviets, I'm in lust with the cavalry(mechanized or not)
and the tank specialist. Get one of those deep in the Axis rear areas
and the AI get very unhappy.

Off to Terek...

Steve

[Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)]

Well, shoot me shitty!

[Ramble]

On Jan 4, 10:32 pm, "eddyster...@hotmail.com"

With "spoken" english, it can be a pain in the arse, as well.

You can imagine how annoying it can be when various english-speaking
groups stuff up the local lingo along local lines, no matter how big
local may be. Vase instead of vase, Basil instead of Basil, aluminum
instead of aluminium (at least the spelling was changed for that
one). People's names (where the pronunciation of a simple name is
transformed into a part of the digestive system).

I tend to focus on spoken language and how it is writ :) and why it is
different according to who is doing it. This is made worse by the
fact that I did a little Pitman's Shorthand in secondary school which
reinforced the way I see the english language. In Pitman's shorthand,
words are written according to their sounds, not their spelling.

We are bordered by people who interchange the e, the u and the i
sound. You have to use context to be sure of whether you're getting
six of them or have sex with someone (sucks flights a day). If you
watch English film, the many local dialects use all these different
ways of speaking, so it IS english/scottish. As I understand it, the
poms quietly laugh at each other's dialects without letting each other
know.

I worked with a European a long time ago and his english was good but
he interchanged the v and the w sounds. On a couple of occasions over
a long period, I suggested to him to choose the v instead of the w
sound. He took werry little notice of this. It's like the Monty
Python sketch about the "silly bunt".

Eddy, your english is fabulous but there is one word which I've seen a
few times, where for were. Oh where oh where has my little dog gone
VS They (plural) were here but now I don't know where they are.

Apologies for putting this gaff on this newsgroup. Killfile away.

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 5 jan, 00:24, Ramble <mitet...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I worked with a European a long time ago and his english was good but
> he interchanged the v and the w sounds.

That's an Eastern Europe thing :)

People tell me my spoken English has German traces which I find a bit
odd as I would have expected it would be Dutch traces. Must be because
I work with a lot of Germans, so must have picked up their accent when
speaking English as well. Anyway, a German accent is preferable over
my hillbilly accent when speaking French :)

> Eddy, your english is fabulous but there is one word which I've seen a
> few times, where for were.  Oh where oh where has my little dog gone
> VS They (plural) were here but now I don't know where they are.

Oh, sure, I make a lot of mistakes with it's/its and then/than as well
- I do know the spelling rules, it's just a matter of applying them
correctly :)

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 4 jan, 18:22, ftw <f...@aol.com> wrote:
> 1
> 2 Decision games Napoleon's Last Battles
> 3

Interesting.

I know Decision Games was supposed to be working on some computerized
versions of their classic boardgames, but hadn't heard a peep about it
since it got announced.

Turns out they actually released the computer game mentioned above :

http://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=2103

In fact they've released more than one :

Operation Olympic
http://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=2102

and

Patton's First Victory : Tunisia
http://shop.decisiongames.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=4200

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Ramble]

I'm replying to myself because I just remembered a story he told me.
He was from Yugoslavia (one of them, I know which one). He had a bung
knee when I was working with him. As a small boy during WW2, he
worked in the salt mines (pretty sure it was salt mines, it was some
sort of mine, and his knee was damaged.)

He said that one day, a German soldier happened by. This soldier
apparently decided he didn't like him and aimed his rifle at him but
another soldier called from further away and he survived.

I never really realised that a big war had happened as I was growing
up. I knew there'd been one but it meant nothing to me. Another time
at a different work, a 50ish fellow worker told me that he'd worked as
a mechanic on the bombers in England. He had really big hands and
huge fingers, ie, at least twice the girth of mine. Made me later
wish I'd said something like "Oh yeah? Where was that?"

A couple of years ago, an obituary in the local paper of my home town
described a resident and said that he'd been an occupant of one of the
midget submaries that had gone to the Tirpitz. I'd been friends with
people a long time ago and am 90% sure that he used to go to a church
that they went to, and which I had gone to a couple of times. I'm
talking about who did what and how they were all around.

And then I think about how many of the old, but not very old residents
had gone to WW1 when I was young.

[Mike Kreuzer]

On 4/01/2012 10:52 PM, Giftzwerg wrote:
> In article<4f042283$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, mi...@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
> says...
>
>> Ah screw it, thirty bucks, a ten minute download, Matrix has my credit
>> card on file apparently (at long last!)... so I got it.
>
> That was me, at first; an impulse buy.
>
>> First impressions: The busts are worse than risible, they're retarded,
>> which I hesitate to mention considering how thin skinned Slitherine
>> have been about criticisms of their graphic arteestry in the past<g>
>> but that aside the game looks fun after a mere half an hour of playing.
>
> Like I say, the busts grew on my after a while. Now I don't even see
> them.
>

>> I'm not sure about rotating units in& out of the line, and no FOW,

>> and "missions" with time limits, and units levelling up, and any game
>> where Stalingrad'd be filled to capacity with just the one division
>> from one side (sigh), so there are a few things that'll rankle, but
>> yeah, I can see the fun too. Will play on. If I'm still playing on the
>> weekend I'll photoshop up some alternative counters.
>

> Yeah, it's beer& pretzels ... but I was ready for that.
>

It's too infuriating for me.

I can see how it might almost be fun, but the scenario I played where
I'd encircled the entire enemy force but lost because I hadn't "taken"
an objective in the soon to collapse pocket, or the scenario where a
cut off Rumanian armoured division raced half way across the board to
put all my units out of supply, or where Russian divisions evaporated
under Rumanian guns and the Germans launched an offensive out of a cut
off Stalingrad, or... etc, etc.

It's almost fun, but isn't. For me. I can see how others might enjoy
it. For me it's more puzzle than game. And more WW2-like than WW2. Too
much beer, not enough pretzels. Of course YMMV!

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

[Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)]

On Wed, 4 Jan 2012 23:19:21 -0800 (PST), "eddys...@hotmail.com" <eddys...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>On 5 jan, 00:24, Ramble <mitet...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I worked with a European a long time ago and his english was good but
>> he interchanged the v and the w sounds.
>
>That's an Eastern Europe thing :)

And, oddly enough, Southern Indian, too.

[Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)]

On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 02:50:20 -0800 (PST), Ramble <mite...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>And then I think about how many of the old, but not very old residents
>had gone to WW1 when I was young.

I recall the ANZAC Day marches I've seen.
When I started taking notice, there was still a sizeable contingent from 1914-18 marching, and the Boer War vets were in
the Landrovers.
Now the Boer War & WWI men are all dead, the last of the WWII men are about the same stage as the WWI men I first recall
and the Vietnam War men are starting to use walking sticks and wheelchairs.

When I was a small kid, our family used to know a family where the oldest man was a former Light Horseman (Allenby,
Palestine 17-18, Beersheba) but I had no interest in those days at that time.

[Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)]

Thank you Eddy. That "Operation Olympic" piqued my interest, the only other game that I knew of on the topic being the
S&T-included one, then I looked around the site more and Lo and Behold! "Wolfpack" the OTHER old S&T solitaire game and
"Escape from Colditz" that I've also played in the past..

[Giftzwerg]

In article <4f0590a5$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au>, mi...@FIRSTNAMEkreuzer.com
says...

> > Yeah, it's beer& pretzels ... but I was ready for that.
> >
>
> It's too infuriating for me.
>
> I can see how it might almost be fun, but the scenario I played where
> I'd encircled the entire enemy force but lost because I hadn't "taken"
> an objective in the soon to collapse pocket, or the scenario where a
> cut off Rumanian armoured division raced half way across the board to
> put all my units out of supply,

This is a *huge* problem with the game, and could be rectified by simple
code that said, "you must in *in supply* to put anyone else *out of
supply*.

But even that wouldn't work.

or where Russian divisions evaporated
> under Rumanian guns and the Germans launched an offensive out of a cut
> off Stalingrad, or... etc, etc.

No argument from me, especially because these are all criticisms I've
voiced. Perfectly valid.

I particularly hate the "DING! Game Over!" aspect where I lose because
the doomed objective was not taken by the appointed four-day turn.

Just yesterday, or so, I pointed out the "Oh, no! I encircled you! Now
*I'm* outta supply too!!!" factor.

> It's almost fun, but isn't. For me. I can see how others might enjoy
> it. For me it's more puzzle than game. And more WW2-like than WW2. Too
> much beer, not enough pretzels. Of course YMMV!

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 5 jan, 19:45, "Miowarra Tomokatu (aka Tomo)" <n...@thistime.net>
wrote:

> then I looked around the site more and Lo and Behold! "Wolfpack" the    OTHER old S&T solitaire game

Decision Games is the heir to S&T, the affiliated Excalibur Games
picked up the old 3W magazine line. Together they've got most non-AH
old magazine games covered.

> and
> "Escape from Colditz" that I've also played in the past..

That game needs a serious make-over in mechanics (roll & move - bah
humbug) because a German player who knows what he's doing will
generally win all the time by sending everyone to the brig every
chance he gets. There are some ideas floating in my mind about making
this an area game with a German team vs an Allied one, special player
powers, the works.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Mike Kreuzer]

For me the difference between a great beer & pretzels game (eg War
Plan Pacific) and a crap one (eg this game) is that no matter how
abstract or simple the game totally unrealistic things don't happen.
At least not every single turn. It should be simple, but still
recognizable as whichever war it is, but a Stalingrad where the
Russians don't have enough units for an intact line to keep the
rampaging Romanians at bay is just not recognizable to me.

How to fix it? Maybe just radically reduce the number of MP an out of
supply unit gets. Halve the strength of the Axis minors. Have more
suppression and less kill results, and only suppressions from air
attacks... get rid of the Russian air strikes, probably a few other
things, I don't know, it may not take much. That doesn't sound like
it'd take much to try.

There are parts of this game that are first rate - the UI (apart from
the busts) is great. The much fantasised about Russian front at
corps/army level game could easily benefit from this UI (but with
proper counters!).

Regards,
Mike Kreuzer
www.mikekreuzer.com

[RobP]

On Dec 30 2011, 9:41 am, "eddyster...@hotmail.com"
<eddyster...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Yup, it's that time of the year again.
>
> For the 8th time we all get a chance to pick our top 3 games of the
> past year.
>
> This year there are no prizes for participating in the election.
>
> The Rules :
>
> 1) 1 (wo)man, 1 post - all votes in the open, no emails.
> 2) The game must have been published in 2011 or late 2010 - in other
> words : if you think a game published late in 2010 didn’t get a fair
> chance last year, feel free to add it.
> 3) Post your 1st, 2nd and 3rd place choices - 1st place gets 5 points,
> 2nd gets 3 points, 3rd gets 1 point.
> 4) Votes must be in before midnight (GMT) January 15th, 2012
> 5) In case of a tie, the award is shared.
> 6) I've temporarily unplonked a couple of posters so that I see
> everyone's votes.
>
> This is what's at stake for the developers - again lovingly created by
> Daniel Lamb :
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/25663989@N07/sets/72157628399882161/
>
> To refresh your memory on what games got published this year :
>
> September 1939 - The Invasion of Poland
> Hegemony - Philip of Macedon - Gold
> Strategic Command - world War 1
> Panzer Campaigns - Tunisia '43
> Shogun 2 : Total War
> Combat Command : Matrix Edition
> Theatre of War 3 : Korea
> Great Battles Medieval
> Jutland Ship Pack #2 - Dogger Bank
> Darkest Hour
> Advanced Tactics Gold
> Team Assault
> Panzer Command : Ostfront
> Combat Mission : Battle for Normandy
> Pride of Nations
> Gettysburg
> Panzer Corps
> Future Force
> WarTactical
> Battle of the Bulge
> Supreme Ruler : Cold War
> Squad Battles : Falklands
> Field of Glory - Eternal Empire
> Battle Academy - Operation Market-Garden
> Battle of Moscow
> Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '39
> Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '40
> Assault Commander (iPad)
> Achtung Panzer - Operation Star
> Unity of Command
> Campaign Leipzig
> Time of Fury
> Panzer Corps - Grand Campaign '41
> Tigers Unleashed
> Ancient Warfare : Roman Civil Wars
> Field of Glory - Decline and Fall
> A Few Acres of Snow
> Napoleonics : Quattre Bras (Android)
> Populus Romanus (Android)
> Modern Conflict 2 (iPad)
> Scourge of War - Antietam
> Pocket World at War (iPad)
> Small General (Android)
>
> If you think I missed one (or several) feel free to add them - this is
> not a list of nominees.
>
> My vote :
>
> 1st place : A Few Acres of Snow
> 2nd place : Unity of Command
> 3rd place : Panzer Corps
>
> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx

Here's my late vote:
1. Combat Mission : Battle for Normandy
2. Panzer Corps (is this legit as I only own the base game?)
3. <*tumbleweeds*>

Again, another year where I bought and played more boardgames than
computer based wargames - with Up Front! being especially difficult to
put down :)

RobP
http://AncientArmies.co.uk

[Paulo Vicente]

Ok, here goes...

1st place : Achtung Panzer - Operation Star
2nd place : Shogun 2 : Total War
3rd place : Pride of Nations

[eddys...@hotmail.com]

On 7 jan, 14:20, RobP <robapoll...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Again, another year where I bought and played more boardgames than
> computer based wargames - with Up Front! being especially difficult to
> put down :)

2011 board wargames : Lancaster, Strike of the Eagle, Nordwind 1945,
Alamo 1836, and Operation Husky - Sicily 1943. And about a dozen non-
wargame boardgames.

I didn't buy more boardgames this year, I just bought less computer
wargames - actually computer games in general really, didn't buy a
single mainstream computer title in 2011.

My tally of games played so far this year : 5 regular boardgames, 1
board wargame, 0 computer wargames.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

[Miguel Ramirez]

On Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:02:55 -0800, Paulo Vicente wrote:

>
> Ok, here goes...
>
> 1st place : Achtung Panzer - Operation Star

If that one had got the manual and patches it got just after New Year, it
would have got one of my votes. I'm actually enjoying it, and I even made
a short on-hands during action review on Gamesquad:

http://forums.gamesquad.com/showthread.php?97052-Achtung-Panzer-
Kharkov-1943&p=1464467&viewfull=1#post1464467

Let's see if it gets some more visibility, the devs seem to know their
business and have been *surprisingly* proactive patching.

> 3rd place : Pride of Nations

These guys have also been very proactive patching, but for me has been
one of the biggest 2011 disappointments. I guess they'll have it working
well by version 1.05 or so (that is, in one year or so).

Cheers,

Miquel.