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rkr1958 -> RE: Sad, sad, sad....... (3/13/2015 1:44:07 AM)
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For any serious student of WW-2 this game is a must! For any serious student of WW-2 who is also a gamer this game is a double must!! For any serious student of WW-2 who is also a gamer but lacks the time and space to manage playing cardboard and paper wargames this game is a triple must!!!
I purchased and downloaded MWiF on February 16, 2014. I received my books and a copy of the installation disc just 5-days later on February 21, 2014. I installed MWiF immediately after my purchase (download) and began working my way through the tutorials to learn this game. I had no (0%) experience with WiF prior to my installation of MWiF over a year ago. MWiF was, and still remains, my only exposure to WiF.
I was immediately struck by the map and the ability to navigate the entire world as it was in WW-2 (1939 – 1945). I was also struck by the unit counters and the corresponding detailed writeups on each. I knew then that even if I didn’t play one turn (or impulse) of MWiF that this game was well worth the money just for the map and the sheer information alone on WW-2.
55-weeks ago I immersed myself in the (M)WiF experience, spending on average 15 hours/week (estimated). To date, this works out to a total of 825-hours. The price tag on this game, which also includes 3 wonderful hardbound volumes, is $99. This means I’ve got the cost of this game down to around 12-cents an hour. It won’t be long before I have it down to less than dime per hour and, by this time two years from now I will have the cost down to less than 5-cents per hour.
I count myself now as a “hardcore” fan of (M)WiF. I can honestly say though, without MWiF I would never have tackled WiF. Forget about the time and space required to setup and maintain the game, things which on the computer are trivial, there’s the massive set of rules to learn, interpret and remember. I for one am more than willing to let the computer handle this. In fact, given the demands of work and family, I just don’t have the time and energy to learn the rules and play this game the old fashion way. I know from some of you hardcore WiF fans that it’s a deal breaker when MWiF gets, by your interpretation, a critical rule wrong. Or, when MWiF isn’t “fixed” to enforce a rule when a workaround exist because of priorities. I’ve often wondered how many rules are unintentionally broken or invalid moves are made by mistake by two well meaning veteran WiF players during a course of a game? So for me, I’m fine with how the rules are handled by MWiF. So maybe that moves me from a hardcore fan to just a fan? No matter, for me having the computer handle the rules is a must. I just can’t play these games any other way at this stage in my life.
I’m continued to be amazed by how the mechanics of MWiF produce results at the strategic level that happened, or could have happened, during WW-2. One can play the game along an historical outline and get a gaming narrative that is also fairly historical accurate. However, one can follow an almost infinite number of realistic, but alternate outlines that will produce an almost infinite number of gaming narratives. Hence, this game is repayable to the max!
In a solo game I just stopped, the Germans were pretty much following the historical outline. It was winter 1941 and they were working with the Italians to finish off Greece. However, their main focus since the fall of France during July/August 1940 was akicking May/June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. Their build up in the East had been serious, but apparently not focused enough. The Soviets who were serious about discouraging the Germans from going to war with them had successfully stuffed the border and prevented a May/June 1941 surprise invasion by the Germans. Then came July/August, and still the Germans were discouraged from launching their planned invasion. While serious about their buildup to support a summer 1941 Barbarossa the Germans got diverted by much less important sideshows (i.e., Greece, Norway) and missed breaking the pact by 7 points. The Soviets had gambled on stopping a German DOW and won. Now, if they had miscalculated then their entire army and airforce would have been caught at the border by the invading Germans. It was a high risk strategy that paid very high dividends in this game. The German player (that’s me) learned that a laser focus is required if they hope to break the pact in May/June 1941. No other strategic WW-2 game that I’ve ever played has had such a high-risk, high-reward option for discouraging a 1941 Barbarossa. This is just one of many such examples that I’ve learned the hard way. Don’t get me started on the folly of trying to run convoys through the Med when the Italians are in the war. Or, the foolishness of the Italian navy (Regina Marina) trying to take the RN head on or being too active while the French are still in the war. Then there’s Japan trying to gobble up resources and oil to feed their hungry war machine and hoping that the US stays neutral. Or that sleeping giant, the US, that finally wakes up and starts cranking out an amazing number of ships, planes and offensive chits.
In software development there’s an axiom that is so true and goes like this: “Fast, Cheap or Good; pick any two.” Because we’re in a niche hobby, and unless we’re willing to pay $10,000 per copy, then I think it’s safe to assume that cheap is one of the two. And, getting to know Steve and the die hard (M)WiF fans this past year through this forum I’d say it’s also safe to assume that the second of the two is good. Now, unlike “similar” computer wargames built from scratch, good not only means a balanced game that’s fun to play with a pleasing interface, it also means a faithful adaptation of its paper and cardboard counter-part, WiF. So unless we want this forum and MWiF to fade away, like old soldiers do, we all must demonstrate patience because it ain’t going to be fast. And more than that, we must somehow find a way to grow our niche hobby by attracting more folks to it. I do hope I’m not part of a dying breed. That would be depressing indeed!
And by the way, if you had focus enough to get through my long winded post please have a beer on me! [:)]
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