pzgndr
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Joined: 3/18/2004
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quote:
ORIGINAL: David Hansen
Long time war gamer from the AH board game days of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich...
I would be interested in comments from others who have experience with both series...specifically from a grand campaign/strategy perspective...
Having been a playtester/supporter for both SC and WP, and having developed my Advanced Third Reich mod for SC War in Europe, I am a bit biased toward the simplicity of the old 3R/A3R boardgame and that was my motivation for my A3R mod. To quote what I already said recently regarding my v1.3 mod:
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I would also like to share a few thoughts about A3R, as a grand strategy WWII ETO wargame. Having playtested both Strategic Command WWII War in Europe and recently WarPlan, the notable difference is that A3R is much simpler and easier to play. Both WIE and WarPlan have large orders of battle and shorter turns, approaching a "grand operational" level with more detail and more complexity. While many players want and appreciate this, many other players simply do not have enough time or patience to play such games. Additionally, the increased complexity makes it difficult to provide a challenging computer opponent, something else that many players want for solitaire gaming. So, although A3R is more abstract, it is quite playable with both Axis and Allied AI providing a challenging computer opponent. The Third Reich Historical Notes from the original boardgame are timeless and are provided here and with the download files. My final comment is for players who may never have tried the Third Reich or Advanced Third Reich boardgames or my A3R adaptation mod, and/or may be overwhelmed by WIE and WarPlan. Please try my A3R mod and see what you think. Enjoy!
The additional detail and complexity in SC and WP, particularly with numerous air and naval units, tends too much toward micromanagement IMHO and detracts from "grand" strategy. Also just having fun with a replayable game without arguing about details down in the weeds. I know some players want that complexity stuff, but KISS is often more important to many other players. Just $0.02.
To Hubert's and Al's credit, they have produced some fine games. I think Al is on track to make his manpower and oil constraints work well as the game evolves with play balance adjustments. Which is good, and gives players more choices for games to play. Everybody has his own preferences.
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