Henri
Posts: 146
Joined: 4/26/2002 Status: offline
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The Tiller Games (at least all the ones following Smolensk) have been upgraded to the latest engine, with ijmproved AI and features. FWIW I finally relented today and bought AtD2, after having bought Kharkov 2 days ago, somewhat justifying the Matrix policy (but not everyone can afford to buy all the games I buy). I have bought Battles in Normandy and never played it (except maybe for looking at the setup), I bought Korsun and never played it (but I did play AtD a lot, which is probably why I bought Korsun), I bought Battles in Italy and never played it except for a few moves from Husky and the free Typhoon scenario. The same goes for most of the Tiller games - I bought them and except for Smolensk, never played them. Maybe I am not a typical wargamer, despite having been at it since the early sixties, but the reason I don't play most of those games much is mostly because I prefer battles of maneuver over slugfests with mostly fixed front lines or battles of attrition. So although Korsun Pocket is a battle of encirclement, it is mostly a slugfest which doesn't jibe well with my preferences. This is also why I liked Tiller's Smolensk and the original AtD so much. The fact that AH's The Russian Campaign was by far the all-time favorite board wargame of all wargamers indicates that I am not alone.And it may have something to do with my being a chess player, where "the threat is more dangerous than its realization". So it is unclear where Kharkov will fit in this scheme of things: it is a back-and-forth game where both sides are fighting against time, and there may be some amount of maneuvering, but on the other hand fixed areas of operation may reduce this freedom somewhat.We will see... Henri PS. There is a story about World Chess Champion Emmanuel Lasker, where he put an unlit cigar into his mouth during a tournament, and his opponent called the tournament director to complain, so Lasker put it away. A few minutes later, he took it out again and put it into his mouth, so his opponent called the tournament director again. "But the cigar is not lit", said the tournament director, "so he is not smoking". "No, replied the opponent, but he is THREATENING to light it, and in chess the threat is more dangerous than its realization!"
< Message edited by Henri -- 4/9/2010 6:31:43 PM >
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