A little OT: Good strategy/tactical or RTS games?

[Bustoff]

Hey all,

I was talking with some old time friends that I managed to see over Christmas and we began to reminice about our board game days. Back before girls would actually talk to us we were the original "geek squad". We would get together in this one guy's basement during summer break and play tactical board games. We started out with the usual, Risk then Axis and Allies but after a while those seemed like kids games. Then we graduated to the mother of all counter based tactical board games, "The Longest Day".

The game centered on the assault and breakout of the Normandy invasion. This goliath took hours to set up and if played from D-Day to the breakout took weeks to complete. There were over 1500 counters representing allied and axis units from infantry to aircraft to be placed on an hexagon grid map which was so large it had to be layed out on the floor. I remember we used sticks to move the counters just like the map room of the Supreme Alllied Command (Yes, we were super-dorks!).

Here is a link so that you can fully appreicate all this: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/5651

Now that we are all married our wives would never tolerate losing so much floor space! I was wondering if anyone here could recommend a good PC based tactical, stragtegy or even real time strategy game. I am kind of nostalgic for my Supreme Allied Commander days!

[Crash Dive]

[Nedlam]

Many PC games have tried, few have succeeded to capture that supreme commander feeling without a lot of "Command and Conquer" style play which (IMHO) gets old rather quickly.

Medieval Total War is an excellent game. Years ago I played a few other Medieval style warfare games that were very good. But not too many modern war strategy games that I have played hit the mark.

Civilization IV looks good but I was a little disappointed with Civilization III so I am hesitant to buy it.

That's why I stick to games like SHIII, Warbirds 2005, and WWII online. being a pawn is more exciting (and dangerous) than being a general!

[Dowly]

I like the Airborne Assault: Highway to the Reich game.

It´s pure strategy game.

[Gizzmoe]

Hi! You really should try "Steel Panthers - World at War". It´s IMO the best turn-based WW2 tactical game and it´s free! You can also play multiplayer.

http://www.matrixgames.com/

The "Combat Mission" series is also great, the gameplay is quite unique.

http://www.battlefront.com

The best real-time tactical WW2 game is the "Close Combat" series.

http://www.closecombat.com/about_cc/about.html

By the way, I will move this topic to "Other Games" in a few hours. This is, as you know, not the right place to discuss strategy and tactical games.

[Nedlam]

Ooops!! Forgot about Combat Mission (I, II, and III)!!

Now those are great games.

Years ago someone did a "meta campaign" kind of like W@W where a bunch of people took on online personas as Battalion Commanders (American and German) and they picked a large section of France to fight in. It was quite involved. I got as far as the training battle but never got assigned a battalion (either I got lost in the shuffle or they didn't want me ) I didn't press the issue because after reading over the pages and pages of rules it was a little too invoved for me. Sounds like it might have been right up Bustoff's alley!!

[Type941]

Total War series, no doubt. my favourite all time RTS. The Rome and Barbarians editions are stunning games, they are the SH3 of RTS - in terms of graphicly being head and shoulders above competition. Get the MTW or RTW / RTW Barbarians expansions; hours or play, and excellent online games.

MTW was my first 'proper' multiplayer and I enjoyed it so much it's hard to explain. You'd have your tactics, use the landscape and with moral in play, it was always a cliff hanger, especially 3 vs 3 armies.

[CCIP]

For Rome: Total War, I highly recommend playing the Rome: Total Realism mod. The game isn't really the greatest strategy game per se, but it has an addictive brew of a grand strategy game on one hand, and the within it - a tactical wargame (which, really, is THE ONLY kind of game game that does what the Total War series has done for pre-modern tactical war games)

RTR can be deadly, for me. I try to just play a campaign out in a space of a week or two, and then drop the game for months. Because if I play it any more often, it just sucks the life out of me :rotfl:

Otherwise, I second the recommendations on Combat Mission games - although they're not strategy games, but tactical wargames, technically speaking. (or is that little campaign add-on out for it already?) Very involving and realistic gameplay, very refreshing concept of "we go"

I'm gonna try out Civilization IV one day, we'll see how that one is. I've been a fan of the series before, so it may well be worth it.

[Gizzmoe]

Topic moved to "Other Games".

[Bustoff]

Hey thanks guys. Great suggestions.

Oh and sorry about posting in the wrong forum.

[PeriscopeDepth]

For strategy games, I highly reccomend War Plan Orange:
http://matrixgames.com/games/game.asp?gid=326

Very complex, but worth it. To give you an idea of what it is the AAR forum is here:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=243

I'm currently playing the 1926 scenario against the Japanese AI to figure everything out before I start a PBEM. I'm a week and a half into the war and there's no way I can hold the Phillippine Islands. I'll be evacuating to Camranh Bay soon, but only have enough sealift to take HQ units with me. Which leaves three US infantry divisions and a Phillipino division to put up what defense they can. My modern BBs are just arriving at Pearl from the West Coast, along with a ton of supplies...

War in the Pacific, which WPO is basically a mod of is also very good. It covers WWII in the Pacific. I haven't played it (yet), but it's probably just as good as WPO.

[Tinfish]

Give Axis and Allies a shot, great game, it's the only strategy game I have played and enjoyed for a while now.

[SmokinTep]

RTW and RTW BI are the way ro go.

[Hellcat]

Any of the HPS Panzer Campaigns are excellent tactical games that play a lot like the old boardgames. (at least from what I can gather) Been playing Moscow '41 off and on for a few months now and am having a blast.

Actually any of the HPS sims are great for that boardgame like approach :d (in the process of learning Campaign Waterloo right now)

[Skybird]

Steel Panthers Main Battle Tank. Ressources for download in the tank-forum (sticky at top). Still a superior strategy game, imo. Very complex game mechanisms. Hexfield, round-based.