• War in the East

    From codman@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 20 14:45:48 2016
    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game and
    rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod
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  • From Peter Symonds@21:1/5 to mandschase@gmail.com on Wed Dec 21 06:48:27 2016
    On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:45:48 -0800 (PST), codman
    <mandschase@gmail.com> wrote:

    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game and
    rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod


    I hope someone comes along to answer your question but this group has
    been pretty dead lately. I don't own WitE but you might want to take a
    look at "decisive campaigns barbarossa".

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/454530/

    It's a traditional hex and counter east front game with an overlay of
    the need to manage your relations with Hitler, the high command and
    your fellow generals. It gets very good reviews and is on my round
    tuit list.
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  • From smr@21:1/5 to Peter Symonds on Wed Dec 21 16:53:03 2016
    On 2016-12-21, Peter Symonds <this@isfalse.com> wrote:
    On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:45:48 -0800 (PST), codman
    <mandschase@gmail.com> wrote:

    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game
    and rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod


    I hope someone comes along to answer your question but this group has
    been pretty dead lately. I don't own WitE but you might want to take a
    look at "decisive campaigns barbarossa".

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/454530/

    It's a traditional hex and counter east front game with an overlay of
    the need to manage your relations with Hitler, the high command and
    your fellow generals. It gets very good reviews and is on my round
    tuit list.

    WitE is a committment on par with a marriage. As much as I appreciate
    the raw ambition of the design, I can't recommend it as a game. It's
    just not fun.

    DC:B, mentioned by Pete above, is probably what I'd recommend as the
    current state of the art in PC gaming on the subject. Quite fun, and
    I'm hoping they expand that game to cover more of the Eastern War than
    the opening.

    Outside pitch: the new Strategic Command III does the WHOLE European
    Theater but does it quite well. I'm enjoying it; it's a traditional hexes'n'counters affair.

    --
    smr
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  • From DirkG@21:1/5 to Peter Symonds on Wed Dec 21 20:06:59 2016
    On 12/21/2016 1:48 AM, Peter Symonds wrote:
    On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 14:45:48 -0800 (PST), codman
    <mandschase@gmail.com> wrote:

    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game
    and rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod


    I hope someone comes along to answer your question but this group has
    been pretty dead lately. I don't own WitE but you might want to take a
    look at "decisive campaigns barbarossa".

    http://store.steampowered.com/app/454530/

    It's a traditional hex and counter east front game with an overlay of
    the need to manage your relations with Hitler, the high command and
    your fellow generals. It gets very good reviews and is on my round
    tuit list.


    Tha Matrix games Christmas sale through Jan 8 has DCB marked down to $32.99. --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From hermanhum@hotmail.com@21:1/5 to codman on Fri Dec 23 09:23:28 2016
    On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 3:45:51 PM UTC-7, codman wrote:
    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game
    and rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod

    WitE is, like many games from Gary Grigsby, enjoyable (but only after fighting through the interface.) The game-play can be entertaining, but only after suffering through most convoluted and least user-friendly interfaces in the known wargame universe.

    For example, you might want to know Fact A in order to employ Unit X. To find Fact A, you need to click 10-15 times to locate the information, 5 more clicks to return to your previous location, and then wonder, "Why did I need the info in the first place?
    " from all the distraction.

    If you are amenable to that level of user interface obtuseness, then Grigsby games are for you.
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  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to hermanhum@hotmail.com on Fri Dec 23 11:24:27 2016
    On 12/23/2016 9:23 AM, hermanhum@hotmail.com wrote:
    On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 3:45:51 PM UTC-7, codman wrote:
    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game
    and rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod

    WitE is, like many games from Gary Grigsby, enjoyable (but only after fighting through the interface.) The game-play can be entertaining, but only after suffering through most convoluted and least user-friendly interfaces in the known wargame universe.

    For example, you might want to know Fact A in order to employ Unit X. To find Fact A, you need to click 10-15 times to locate the information, 5 more clicks to return to your previous location, and then wonder, "Why did I need the info in the first
    place?" from all the distraction.

    If you are amenable to that level of user interface obtuseness, then Grigsby games are for you.

    And in some Grigsby games Fact A will be unavailable at all and there
    will be no clues or feedback whether or not Fact A actually has any
    effect in the game at all because the player, as the staff to the actual commander, is supposed to "learn by experience".

    --
    Running the rec.arts.TV Channels Watched Survey.
    Winter 2016 survey began Dec 01 and will end Feb 28
    (Still accepting responses for Fall 2016)
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  • From vincenzo.beretta@fastwebnet.it@21:1/5 to codman on Mon Jan 23 07:33:07 2017
    On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 11:45:51 PM UTC+1, codman wrote:
    Any thoughts on War in the East? I'm looking for a WW2 operational game and this one caught my eye. I've seen where the publisher has released some add-ons with more scenarios that are smaller than some of the the ones that come with the main game
    and rumor has it that they can be more appealing to play.

    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Cod

    I like the fact that - unlike WitP: AE, the game + expansions give you a good number of small-to-medium sized scenarios. I played those and I had fun, but I never really dug the big ones.

    For the same scale, Scwerpunkt's WWII in Europe is much better. Not only it covers the whole war in Europe (land air and sea), with scenarios ranging to the conquest of Denmark to the War in the Desert 1940-43, but also (after you accept some strange UI
    choices) it is the kind of game based on a clean "Attack vs. Defense ratio, modified by TEC, then a roll on the CRT". Sometimes the "use the power of the computers" idea can lead to aberrations: if you decide that your scale will be one-week turns at
    Division/Brigade level, on a map with hexes, then a classic "GDW Europa" approach can save both yours and the player's sanity.

    True, as of patch 1.08 about 25% of the scenarios/campaigns (notably the biggest campaigns) is still missing. But Ron Dockal is filling up the holes with every new patch. And if you consider that the final tally will be 102 (!) scenarios/campaigns, and
    that it took me more than 10 hours to win France '40 (not even the biggest one among those available), then the longevity-to-expense ratio is already unbelievably favourable.

    I still have to try "Decisive Campaigns: Barbarossa", but I liked very much the former two titles ("The Last Blitzkrieg" and "Case Blue") so I'll give it a whirl.

    Grigsby is the "True Grognard" designer, and I know of people who spent 600+ hours on WitE alone, and counting. However, it is a bit like with "Advanced Squad Leader": devoting your life to one game which requires it is no reason to turn your nose up -
    only a choice.
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