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Old 10-19-18, 06:04 AM   #1
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Default After many years of development, the Armored Brigade starts rolling

Due to the age and original location of this thread, this link:


http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/show...08#post2573208
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Old 11-16-18, 11:58 AM   #2
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The game is out. Wargamer has this review:

https://www.wargamer.com/reviews/armored-brigade/

Quote:
Armored Brigade is a triumph of real-time tactics in the Cold War. Easy to learn, but hard to master, this is easily GOTY material...
I asked the developer some weeks ago about Steam. He said that chances are realistic that it will be coming to Steam as well - but at an unknown time in the future. At least that is what he aims at. Matrix-bought copies than will be linkable to Steam accounts, he says.

The product page, for screenshots:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/product.asp?gid=685

I wait for incoming reports about the AI, which was a bit weak years ago. If that now is working better and more challenging (the developer claims it does), I buy myself in. The game has no MP.
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Old 10-31-19, 06:54 PM   #3
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The title has just been released on Steam, also two DLCs for Yugoslavian, Italian, French and Belgian units. If getting them alltogether, you get another additonal -15% on the current sale for opening.



I will go after it tomorrow
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Old 11-07-19, 12:03 PM   #4
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I have done a couple of battles now, and I started to like this more than I expected. I know that the reviews one year ago tended to point out that the AI is not as sophistiacted as one would desire from a wargame like this and that it sometimes tends to move in a rushed massive assault and as a result of that gets slaughtered, but i have not had that so far. Maybe it is also my playing style, i don't know. The gameplay reminds of a combination of Steel Panthers, Close Combat, Operation Flashpoint, Combat Mission Shock Force, and the map view of Steel Beasts Pro. The interface is quite intuitive in that you find what you are looking for, maybe not the utmost ergonomic, but functional enough and sufficient to get the job done without making the player curse. Could be more elegant at times, but hey, most of what you need is there, and is easy to reach. What more can you ask for?

The game presents a nice compromise between realism and playability, easy accessability. The experience of setting up your forces and then running the battle, is pleasant. The AI has surprised me repeatedly with unexpected force setups of its own, resulting in suprises for me, and at my cost. Quite some details are considered, and the developer is actively talking with the community, and listens. Like in Steal Beatss Pro, reading the terrian and udnerstanding the basics of your plan takes quite a lot fo time beforte battlke, and that this time isx needed in this game likm ei8n SBP, is a statement for its tactical and strategic quality. Mission and unit editors are included. And a manual. Holy cow, a manual, am i dreaming? This is so much wnated but so rare these days that it deserves extra praise and recognition. Even better, the manual comes in two forms, a graphically designed one which works also well on ebook reader displays (e-ink), and a printer friendly one.

Learning is pretty much by playing, and you do not get overburdened with stuff, nor are you being bored to death. This balance the game gets very right, I think. Its fun to handle this game, you are not beign frustrated by too much attention to detail, still there is enough detail that you stay immersed in the experience.

Worth the asking price, I say. If you are interested in the matter and the scaling of this system, go for it. If you have played the early versions for free years ago, here is your chance to give back a bit to the author now. Replayability is very high. The game currently seems to fly a bit below the radar, which is not deserved, but probably is owed to the fact that it has been in developement and early versions have been around since this long time already. Such long development times always is a problem for a game. The developer is a very small studio only, I know, but this does not change reality.

The interface has psoitvely evolved from the one I knew from many years ago. Not totally new, but positvely building on that and then going beyond it a bit. Good evolution there, not dramatic, but natural.

Steam avoids you the hassle you had reason to fear when buying from Matrix directly in the past.

In school notes: "2" ("B"): good.
Customer review ratings at Steam are very positive: at the time of writing this, 46 positive and 1 negative.
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Old 11-09-19, 03:45 AM   #5
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It seems subsim's CCIP is an active modder for AB and has released a very detailed Chechnya mod/map.

https://www.wargamer.com/articles/ar...-chechnya-mod/


https://www.matrixgames.com/news/arm...e-chechnya-mod


Also available via Steam Workshop (free).



---


I spend more and more time in this game, and ike it jore and more. The compromises and abstractions it includes (on handling of air sorties and CAS, artillery, and so forth, I can live, since the thing shos to be a still round and pleasant package. very battle teaches a few new details and ways to handle things. I find handling easier than in the free versions that was around until some years ago. That you may know the free version should not stop you from buying this game, it really is a huge lap beyond those years. This is not a micro-management simulator overburdened with details, which really helps to form a pleasant, smooth experience. Still, there is enough detail to keep you in supply with huge tactical variety and possibilities. The more virtously the severla LOS-tools get ahndled, the easier the plaxer finds it to form a mental image of the 3D terrain and anticipate visibility and hiding, poujnts of interests for overview and so forth.


This starts to give me more than I expected!
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Old 11-09-19, 03:50 AM   #6
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Reviews of the two DLCs so far:

https://www.wargamer.com/reviews/arm...rance-belgium/

https://www.wargamer.com/reviews/arm...ly-yugoslavia/

And some remarks on the tactics and the characteristics of the various nations' force sin the game, and how they translate in term of game mechanics.

https://www.wargamer.com/articles/armored-brigade-tips/
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Old 11-09-19, 04:23 AM   #7
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And here is something nice on the various possible philosophies and on the art - and difficulty - of map making in cosims like this:


https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4435056


The maps in Armored Brigade represent real world regions, and are made of 30x30m squares. These maps include the North germal plains, the Fulda Gap, the Ardennes, the NTC, the Italian-Yugoslav battleground, a Finish-Russian war arena, and two or three more. Plus CCIP's detailed Grozny and Chechnya map mods. For every scenario, the battlegorund gets choosen form one of these very huge regional maps, and it cna vary in size, from small to quite big sectors, like the size of battles also can vary from company level to brigade(s) level.
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Old 01-31-23, 10:56 AM   #8
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I am bumping this thread up since I am in kind of an effort to bring some good hexfield cosims to recognition or awareness again.

Armoured Brigade has done well in recent years, it got not only two DLCs, but also quite some mods, for example to bring it back into the era of WW2. The following mission replay is from such a mod, WW2 in snowy-white winter.
The developer is working on Armoured Brigade 2.

I still play the game occasionally, though I think its a bit weak in realistically modelling infantry units on their legs. Note that it uses not hexfield, but square fields. I hope AB2 changes that to hexfield - or pure vector-based movement without any fields. I think this title really yells and calls for and demands it.


Edit. The old wargamer-links in above posts are all dead now, the site seems to have moved completely to tabletop and warhammer games .

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