The Vikings have landed on the shores of Field of Glory II from Byzantine Games and Slitherine. In this fifth DLC add-on for the tactical turn based ancient warfare sandbox, the timeline is extended much further into the future, all the way up to 1040 AD. The base game "only" covers 280 BC to 20 BC, for reference. You can read our original review here. Since it's release, other DLC have covered the highs and lows of the Roman Empire (both East and West), with other packs focusing on the earlier powers of the Mediterranean and Middle East like the Greeks and Persians. This pack moves us firmly into the so-called "Dark Ages" of history, when the lack of a civilizing influence from Rome led to barbarians and heathens running wild across Europe. As any history buff knows, this concept is rather passé these days, but it still makes for a pretty good theme for a wargame. 

If you're reading this, you probably have a pretty good idea of what Field of Glory II is like, so I'll get to exactly what's on the tin of this latest DLC. Wolves at the Gate expands FoG II by adding:

• 19 new factions
• 55 new units
• 76 new army lists
• 6 new Epic Battles
• 74 new Quick Battles
• Expanded Custom Battles module.
• Expanded Sandbox Campaign module.
• 6 new historically-based campaigns.
• New Allies feature added in accompanying game update.

You can get the full list of factions and armies from the product page, but I'll list off a few that might get your attention. The Vikings are most definitely here, and I played a few battles with them. Huscarls and Berserkers give them quite an offensive punch, though their other infantry are a bit rubbish. Also, don't expect too much cavalry support. Some of the battles I played in this era were purely melee infantry affairs, with not an archer or mounted warrior in sight. This was quite different from the last DLC I played, Age of Belisarius, which featured the exact opposite, with mounted archers dominating the battlefield. There are many other armies representing northern Europe on hand as well. The Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Lombards, Scots, Irish, British, Visigoths and more have all come to play. There is also plenty of new content here for the east, with the Byzantine and Arab rosters being filled out with multiple armies. Going even further east, some Indian factions are represented and featured in a full campaign. Here's the full list of new campaigns so you can see some of the major historical figures who fit into this era:

Arab Conquest

Basil II (Byzantine Resurgence)

Charlemagne

Mahmud of Ghazni

Wolves from the Sea 1(Viking Age from Viking point of view)

Wolves from the Sea 2(Viking Age from enemy point of view)

I tried a sampling of the campaigns and found them all to offer some different flavors of combat. If you have played any of the previous campaigns in Field of Glory II, these work the same way. You go from battle to battle with some small choices in between that change the scenarios a bit. There is also, as always, a sandbox campaign mode that plays similarly but lets you take your nation of choice and go up against a variety of historical enemies in randomly generated battles.

One new feature that was patched into the game alongside this DLC is the "Allies" feature. This lets you mix in units of historical allies with a given army roster in custom battles. This means even more variety as you can spice up your favorite faction or army with some new units. If you like ancients warfare games, this is really a one stop shop. I can only assume, based on Field of Glory I, that there is plenty more DLC coming that will add more and more factions to the game. Just about any match-up you can imagine is either in the game already or will be before long. 

I thought I'd end the review with a little recap of how the Battle of Clontarf went for me. This is one of the epic battles included, and one that I had never heard of before. The battle featured a mix of Vikings and Irishmen fighting for control of the Emerald Isle. It was an infantry only battle, which was actually tactically interesting, as my standard strategies involving archers and cavalry were not options at all.

The battle lines are drawn up. A roughly equal number of infantry on each side are facing off across mostly flat ground. I'll need to look for any advantage that could give me some leverage.

I'm commanding the forces of Brian Boru, the man credited with breaking the hold of the Vikings over Ireland by decisively winning this battle. Hopefully I can match up to my historical counter-part!

The fighting begins, but both sides have a large reserve of infantry not yet committed to the line. I try to position my men to take advantage of a couple of dips in the terrain. Units fighting uphill will always have a harder time of it. 

Now the fighting is raging in earnest, units begin to waver and break all down the line. On my left flank I see an opportunity. A morale check cascade causes multiple enemy units to waver, and I have several strong infantry units on the far edge of the line. If I can hit the enemy just a couple more times they should go from bending to breaking.

Success! The enemy's right flank flees the field and my strongest units are positioned to roll up the line. Although my center and right flank wavers off-camera, my forces manage to hold. Catching the entire enemy line in the flank as I'm about to do above is essentially game over. With no strong enemy reserve on hand to blunt my advance, my forces hack their way down the line, routing the enemy units one after another. The Vikings are driven from Ireland!

Field of Glory II continues to entertain me even after a couple of years of playing off and on. I really wanted to enjoy the fist game in the series, but could never quite get into it. The sequel however gets me hooked every time I fire it up. I always want to take just one more turn, and see if this time I can finally crack the enemy line, or find out whether my flank can hold long enough for my overall strategy to come together. Wolves at the Gate doesn't fundamentally change anything about the game, but it does offer a new series of campaigns and scenarios to play around with. This game really is a massive sandbox, and more toys always makes the sandbox more fun!

The DLC can be purchased directly from Slitherine/Matrix. It's also available on Steam and GoG.com. 

- Joe Beard

Strategic Command WWII:World at War

by

Fury Software

Matrix/Slitherine

 Hear Ye, Hear Ye! Calling all would be strategists; there is a new sheriff in town. You can now play with Takagi, Yamashita, Balbo, Graziani, Kleist, Busch, Alexander, Dempsey, Clark, Hodges, Vatutin, Rokossovsky etc. The units are armored trains, battleships, tanks, planes, rockets, any armament that played a role in World War II. I didn't mention the big names because you are in charge of your nation's destiny. The scenarios go back to 1939. Hopefully we get a DLC or a mod that allows players to go further back in time to build up their nation as they want. With these scenarios only Japan really has enough time to alter their force make up. So let us look at what scenarios come with the game:

1939: World At War

1942: Axis High Tide

1943: Allies Turn The Tide

1942-45 Race To Victory

1943-45 Race To Victory

 Without rewriting the entire list of the sales pitch, here it is:

• New Features! From limited naval repairs to Kamikazes.

• Take command of the Axis or Allies, and re-fight the whole of WWII!

• Let the computer take control of some of your allies so you can concentrate on your favorite theaters.

• Play on a top-down hex based map spanning the entire globe.

• In addition to the Grand Campaign starting in 1939, Strategic Command WWII: World At War also includes shorter scenarios.

• A realistic Fog of War simulates the historical atmosphere where you have to make decisions with only partial knowledge of your opponent's intentions and dispositions.

• Play with a choice of 3-D unit graphics, or NATO counters if you prefer a more traditional wargaming experience

• Research and upgrade your units with a unique level of choices! Infantry Weapons, Rockets, Anti-Submarine Warfare, Amphibious Warfare, and more!

• Use Diplomacy to win over new allies and use your intelligence to undermine the enemy!

• Contains a large number of strategic level Decision Events for you to choose your path to victory.

• Very easy to use Editor to make your own “what-if” scenarios or create new maps and campaigns from scratch. Modders will be glad to know that this game can have 10 Major powers.

• Very active modding community eager to share their developments with other players, whether it be changing the look of the map or designing new campaigns, even covering conflicts in other time periods, there is a lot there!

This is the first release in the SCWWII: World at War series (hopefully). So there are not many scenarios to choose from. It is my hope that we will see DLCs that encompass some larger maps and separate campaigns like Fury Software did with their earlier games. As I mentioned, I would like an early pre-war scenario to guide your nation or nations.

 At the start of the game you can choose to play the Allied or Axis nations. However, you can also turn over the nations that you do not wish to play during that game to the AI. This leads to a more sandbox approach to the game. The AI is competent, but might throw you a curve ball on occasion. Speaking of the AI, the Strategic Command series has, since its inception, been beleaguered by some players about the Naval aspect of the game. Submarines and other naval units with zero supply has been one of the major gripes. This has been looked at by Fury Software, and the game has had these improvements:

"While not a complete overhaul, there have been quite a few changes, listed below, which have been reported as nice improvements to the overall game during testing.

- supply rule changes:
- subs can no longer dive at 0 supply.
- all raiders can no longer raid at 0 supply.
- defending units at 0 supply will receive 50% more damage from a successful attack against them.
- fighters and carriers cannot intercept/escort when at 0 supply.
- maximum reinforcement points is now 5 strength points per turn for all naval units except Motor Torpedo Boats.
- naval units positioned top of a small island sea enemy hex will no longer be fully revealed under FoW.
- neutral majors can no longer load units onto Amphibious Transports.
- defending subs at zero supply, or defending land units defending from ground attack at zero supply, will now have their morale fully recalculated after any defending strength losses are applied.
- subs will now have a 25% chance of receiving at least a single strength point loss when diving from attack.

We've also added a change to Special Forces, i.e. US Marines and Japanese SNLF which especially help with island hopping in the Pacific. A few other island hopping related changes are listed below here as well:

- Special Forces units, after amphibiously unloading, now maintain supply for up to 5 turns with a drop of 2 supply points per turn.
- minor nation Capitals, Fortresses with 3 or more adjacent enemy units will now have their supply reduced by one strength point per turn.
- Ports no longer provide supply to land units if there is an enemy land unit adjacent to the port.
- abandoned Ports adjacent an enemy City/Town will now switch to enemy control."

 So, as you can see, the game has been worked on. For those of us who own the older versions we do notice the difference. According to Fury Software these changes will also appear in their last game, Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe.

 For those of you who did not buy SCWWII: WIE, the biggest change in these new games is a return to hexes (Please flash the applause sign). I could never get used to the diamond shaped pseudo-hexes in the other games. The scale of the game opens up the modder community to use the entire world or make their own scenarios as they wish. 

Closest Zoom

 Besides being larger in scope than the last game, there are other things to induce a new player. The scripts that pop-up during the game for each country can be turned off and on in the advanced options screen. So, if you do not agree with the historical or non-historical actions, just remove that script. 

Farthest Out Zoom

 The game play is easy to pick up and the user interface is very intuitive, as it should be. The scale of the game is mostly corps and fleets. As in all the games of the series MPPs (Military Production Points) are at its core. You need these to do reinforcement, diplomacy, or research, you name it, you need them. Each country  has a set number of them at the start of scenarios, but you can increase a country's amount each turn by conquest. All of your units in play use APs (Action Points). These are used to move, fight, or do what the player wants. Each nation starts each scenario with some pluses and minuses in the make up of the armed forces. Germany begins with some better numbers in ground warfare, where Japan starts out with naval ones. If playing just Italy, it might behoove you to stay out of the war for as long as possible to build up your might. The Allied nations, as they did historically, have tremendous production capability, as long as they can stay in the war long enough for it to count. You can try Operation Sea Lion, attack Spain (as either side), or go for Churchill's Balkan gambit. If it happened in World War II it can happen here, or even if it was only thought of during the war.

 

 As I have stated, the game has a very long pedigree, and it shows. The game just has a very polished feeling to it. I can easily recommend this to anyone who wants to fight WWII globally on the computer. The very large modding community and the fact that Fury Software is always working on DLCs, paid and otherwise, is just an added plus. Thank you Matrix Games for the chance to review this newest iteration of the series.

Robert

Armored Brigade

By

Matrix/Slitherine

  

 
 Armored Brigade is out and wargamers around the world are thankful during this season of thanks. It is an adult sized toy chest filled with wargaming goodness for those of us who enjoy gaming a fictional World War III. The forces that you have at your fingertips never really fought each other. A lot of the actual weapons did fight each other, but mostly they were in the hands of different troops. Many of the Middle East conflicts had these same weapons in use. The sheer scope of this game is pretty amazing. I will have quite a few links at the end of the review because this game has had more buzz about it than any game for a good long time.

 The first thing you need to know about the game is that it comes with fifteen scenarios. This game is the ultimate sandbox for wargaming the last years of the 20th century in parts of Europe. The player has a tremendous amount of variables to use in making his various scenarios. From what I have read there will be DLCs with more player ready scenarios and possibly campaigns. The second thing you need to know is that this was a free download game for a long time. What you need to know about this is that this game in its core resembles the free game. In reality the game has come a long way since then. You can see by the list below what is actually included for the player to use in their scenarios. Below that you will see the seven nations that are included with the game.

 

  

 This will be my take on the AI. Yes, it may make mistakes that some (remember that word some) human players might not make. However, the idea that is floated about is that all human players will play better than any game's AI is completely wrong. A human player can sometimes be a terrible player of a game, be it chess, wargames, or poker. The only things that a human player does sometimes that an AI almost never does are these:

1. A human player sometimes makes some incredibly foolish, or if you will stupid, moves that take you by surprise. If an AI is not done right it will make stupid moves, but they will be logical stupid moves not illogical.

2. A human player will sometimes game the system by using bad or incomplete rules to win a game by completely non-historical or insane means. What I mean by this is games that allow a regiment of AA to take a city the size of Moscow. 

 The AI in Armored Brigade is done well enough to keep the average wargamer on his toes. It will not (no AI will) be competitive to a gamer who plays one game sixteen hours a day for a month or two. I will say if that is your life, you are not a wargamer, just a person in need of a new hobby or something. Most of us have only limited time to play our wargames. If we are lucky we might get in up to four or five straight hours in a week. I also suspect that many are like myself and play different games pretty much each gaming session we can cram in, meaning that most of us do not play enough of one game to find the AI's pattern in them. Are there games out there with bad AIs, yes. Is this one of them, no. The defense rests.

 So, the salient parts of the game are this. It is single player only (gasp from the audience). On the other hand, I have seen it posted in articles that as low as 10% of all gamers play multiplayer. It comes with only fifteen preset scenarios. I would have liked to see more, and maybe at least one campaign added. I am not a fan of the DLC model that computer games are heading in. I do understand the higher costs companies are dealing with and why the DLC model is probably necessary. However, that does not mean I have to like it.

Farthest Out Zoom

 On the plus side you have a robust AI. The mission generator is one of the best as far as ease and amount of variables a player can use for his scenarios. I do believe by all the buzz that we will be able to choose from a large amount of player made scenarios. Matrix/Slitherine has developed or been involved with a lot of videos to explain most of the game's rules etc. With these, any player who has any questions can get playing in no time, although I did find the game to be intuitive and started playing right away. The scope of the weaponry and troops goes from 1965-1991. With this game you have a very large sandbox for battles in the late 20th century in a lot of Europe. The maps can vary from extremely large to very small to represent any size combat that you want. As a player, you can send orders to different parts of your own force to help with micromanagement. As for the AI on your side please see above. If you are a micromanager, the game allows you to play that way also. It is an RTS, but I wish we would come up with a different moniker. RTS always leaves a bad taste in my mouth and brings visions of Command and Conquer to mind. Maybe we can call these games wargames played in realtime, WPIR instead. Visually the game is a wargame sort of in the mold of the Close Combat series of games. You can zoom in very far, but you will not see tanks done in 3D. You will see very well done top down views of tanks etc. One great addition is that of dummy objectives. This is a neat addition to the game.

Closest Zoom

 My esteemed colleague on the blog would like to see the following added:
Snipers
Engineers
Paratroopers

 So in wrapping up I am happy to endorse the game to anyone who wants my opinion. The only thing I can really knock the game for is not coming with enough scenarios or a campaign.

Game Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWONTj0P_JU

How to move units:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvccWnk0T6o&feature=youtu.be

AB developer interview:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4268634

This is a link to the manual:

http://www.matrixgames.com/amazon/PDF/Armored%20Brigade%20manual%20EBOOK.pdf

DDR faction video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfX7YUxJRxs

Here is a write up about night time operations:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4538198

Robert

Gettysburg: The Tide Turns

by 

Slitherine Games 

Shenandoah Studios

 This is the first time I wrote a review and had to chuck it all and start over again. In the beginning I didn't like this game. As a matter of a fact, I was looking to get out of writing the review. Some of it might have been snobbishness. After all, this is a game that started out as an IPAD game. I have never liked any IPAD/Android game that I have tried. They all seemed to be missing something. So when I started to play GTTT, I was looking at it through less than rose colored glasses. Even parts of it that should have felt good to me I disliked. Chit pulling for a game has been used for a long time to represent the vagaries and 'friction' of war. You have all these troops, but cannot use any of them this turn due to luck, and sometimes useless commanders. At first, when playing this game, it seemed maddening. I couldn't come up with a coherent plan, or at times save some of my forces from certain destruction. I was just about to give up on it when I started it up for one more try. I had just had a very good day at an Air museum and was in a unusually good mood. So I thought, what the heck let's give it one more try. I think I have mentioned before that sometimes it takes a while for a game to 'click' with me. I will go through the motions, but never really get absorbed in it, and just daydream between, and sometimes during, turns. So now I am happy to report that GTTT does have a method to its madness. It just took a much longer time than I am used to for me to 'get' this game.

 These are the main good to great points about the game:

The Map

Plenty of Fog Of War

AI

 As you can see the game comes with five scenarios, and a campaign game that can be played from either side North or South.

 The game does not actually have Fog Of War implemented as we are used to. You can see all of your opponents forces just like with a boardgame. In this case I am using the term Fog Of War to represent the fact that due to the chit pulling you have absolutely no say in what your forces can or cannot do for this turn. At times this a bit nerve racking and destroys all of your well made plans you made last turn. Because of this mechanic it is almost like every turn is a completely new game, and in some ways it is. 

 The map has to be one of the best looking Gettysburg maps I have ever seen on a computer. The terrain is well marked, and that helps immensely with planning your moves. With the chit draw process the game uses you will never know what, if anything, you can do on your next turn. So, as far as Fog Of War there is plenty to go around. The AI is brutal, simply brutal. It will attack and find your weaknesses. It might be too offensively minded for someone who is used to a Union computer side that plays like Meade.
 

 Some games' AIs are programmed to do one thing every game, or at least if the opponent does 'X', the AI does 'Y'. This is not the case with GTTT. The AI seems to react well to your different moves and strategies.

 The game has three different levels of difficulty. From reading on the forum from the developers the higher the level of difficulty just means how strong your opponents forces will be.

 GTTT comes across as a very simple game on a battle that has been gamed to death. However, under the hood there is a lot going on. To show you some of the rules that make this game better than your average one, let's take a look at the manual:

"11.2. Healing demoralized SPS
If a Unit spends a turn stationary and not engaged with the enemy,
then it will Heal a single demoralised SP at the end of the turn.
11.3. Rallying Units
During the full campaign game, there are a number of Night Turns.
During these turns, when a Formation is activated, any shattered
units with 2 or more demoralised SP make a test against their
Quality rating.
If the unit passes this test, then it will return to the map under the
player’s control with a number of SP’s healed. A higher Quality unit
is more likely to return from being Shattered and will also return
with more SP healed.
This is to simulate units fleeing the battle but being Rallied by their
commanders during the night hours."

 These rules, among others, along with the amount of scenarios, and the low price ($9.99) make it a easy for me to endorse the game now. Just take my advice, and before you hit the uninstall or refund button, give this game one more play through. I think you will be glad you did.

 

Robert

GGWITW on Steam NOW

 

 

 

LINK TO GAME ON STEAM

 

 

 

GGWITW coming to Steam 3rd August!!

 

We are pleased to announce that one of the most acclaimed wargames on the Western Front of World War II, Gary Grigsby's War in the West, is going to be released on Steam on August the 3rd!

Starting with the Summer 1943 invasions of Sicily and Italy and proceeding through the invasion of France and the drive into Germany, War in the West brings you all the Allied campaigns in Western Europe and the capability to re-fight the Western Front according to your plan.

On August the 3rd you will also be able to purchase the expansion "Operation Torch", that introduces 10 new challenging scenarios, including both historical and what-if operations like the "Battle for Tunisia", the "Operation Dragoon" and the "Breach of the Gothic Line".

Wavre a Scourge of Waterloo DLC

by

 Slitherine/Matrix and NorbSoftDev

 This battle fought on the same day as Waterloo, June 18th 1815, sealed the fate of Napoleon and the First Empire. After beating the the Prussians at Ligny, Napoleon ordered Grouchy, the last man Napoleon would make as a marshal of France, to take the III and IV corps along with the 21st infantry and 4th cavalry division and make sure the Prussians could not interfere with Napoleon's battle against the English. Hearing the sounds of battle from Waterloo, Grouchy refused his subordinates' requests to 'march to the sound of the guns'. The Prussian III corps under Thielmann had only 17,000 men, but he kept Grouchy's 33,000 men occupied for the day. By not trying to attack the rear of the Prussians marching to Waterloo, Grouchy allowed those Prussians to tip the scales in the battle of Waterloo against Napoleon. Historians have had a field day from that day on as to whether Grouchy should have followed his orders or used his own initiative. I think this quote sums up the correct answer "After the battle the King can do what he likes with my head, but during the battle will he please allow me to use it"? (Friedrich Wilhelm Von Seydlitz answer to orders from Frederick The Great during the battle of Zorndorf).

 This new DLC finishes up the four battle set of Napoleon's campaign in Belgium in 1815. The main game is 'The Scourge of War Waterloo', and the other two DLCs are Ligny and Quatre Bras.

At this time there is no linked campaign between the main game and the DLCs. You fight each battle and its scenarios separately. Both 'Scourge of War Gettysburg' and 'Scourge of War Waterloo' have a large and very active modding community. So I am sure that is being worked on at the moment.

 There are five scenarios that come with the Wavre DLC. These are: 

 4:00PM French Army

 4:30PM Prussian Division

 4:00PM Prussian Army

 7:00PM French Brigade

 8:30 AM French Corps 

 One point in particular needs to be addressed right at the beginning. This is a command simulation, and sometimes the 3D representation in the game does not match the actual situation that is being portrayed on the map. Some people are nonplussed at the fact that they cannot seem to move and position their troops 'just so' on the battlefield. At times, there are also some strange movements of both sides of troops during a firefight or charge. These do not reflect the actual 'under the hood' calculations of the actual combat taking place. Once a budding computer general understands this point, the game becomes much more understandable and enjoyable.

 The game can be played in several different ways. You can play from a 'Gods point of view' meaning that you can travel with your mouse over the entire battlefield to see everything that is going on. The other way to play is in 'HITS' mode. This acronym stands for 'headquarters in the saddle' (do not get confused with John Pope here). What this means is that you can only see exactly what your computer general can see at any moment of time on the battlefield. While using this mode and the courier system that the game has, it is a very good representation of 19th century battle. While you might be driving the enemy before you from where you are positioned at the moment, both your flanks could be crushed and your troops fleeing on other parts of the battlefield.

 The AI in the game has always been one of the franchise's best selling points. It is tough, not only as an opponent, but also as an ally or subordinate. 

 The other great thing about the games is the visual representation. I am an old hex gamer, so to be able to see the sweep and sheer size of a Napoleonic battlefield in action is pretty amazing. NorbSoftDev has always made it a point to be as historically accurate with the actual battlefields and the OOBs, along with the actual troops' uniforms. 

 Victory conditions are based on geographical points captured or defended and also the casualties suffered by both sides.

 I want to reiterate that there is a brilliant group of modders that work on these games, and they have made a ton of scenarios for other battles and eras. Naturally, the mods cannot be as well done as NorbSoftDev's official DLCs, but some come very close.

 There is also a very large group of active people who play multiplayer with all of the games of the series. 

 So kudos to NorbSoftDev for finishing up the games needed to represent the Waterloo campaign. Now, get to work on my Eylau. A Napoleonic battlefield in a snow storm with a grand cavalry charge is in my dreams. Please see my other reviews of the main game and DLCs:

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2016/05/waterloo-scourge-of-war-review.html

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2016/11/scourge-of-war-waterloo-dlc-ligny.html

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.uk/2016/07/scourge-of-war-waterloo-add-on-quatre.html

Robert

Game: Scourge of War Waterloo, Wavre DLC

Designer: NorbsoftDev

Distributor: Slitherine/Matrix

Campaign Series Middle East 1945-1985

by

 Matrix/Slitherine 

 This time around we have another Matrix/Slitherine game to review, and once again it is based on a John Tiller game. It seems you could throw the proverbial cat and hit one. Just a caveat - I do not endorse cat throwing. Some of the proverbs that have been handed down to us really make me wonder about our ancestors.

 Campaign ME is a tactical game on the squad or platoon level. It is based upon the Talonsoft game Battleground 10, and it was released in 1997. Campaign ME gives us scenarios from 1948 to 1982. The majority of the scenarios involve Israeli forces versus the various Arabic speaking countries around Israel.


General Features:

• Numerous different platoon types; infantry, machine guns, mortars, artillery, trucks, halftracks, APC's, tanks, helicopters, landing craft, etc.

• 3D art, 2D art and 2D NATO icons for all platoons.

• Sound files for movement and weapons.

• Armour facing of armoured vehicles.

• Classification of hard and soft targets.

• Classification of infantry combat capabilities.

• Night vision for certain tank types.

• Hidden Fire for certain unit types.

• Clear and lay minefields.

• Build Improved positions and trenches.

• Lay light and medium bridges.

• Day and Night transitions during the course of a scenario.

• Ability to set Opportunity Fire against Hard, Soft, Other and Anti-aircraft platoons.

• On-map thermometers for Action Points, Morale and Strength for all platoons in all map views.

• Three Fog of War levels.

• Desert and Mediterranean terrain classifications within the map editors.

• Civilians.

• Comprehensive manual.

• Numerous display options allowing the customer to set up the game to their requirements/preferences

 The middle east during the cold war was a testing ground for various weapons systems of Nato and Warsaw Pact countries. The game allows you to go from WWII weaponry to almost state of the art. To be honest, I have always liked the campaign series of games and have bought every iteration of them. The work that Matrix/Slitherine, and The Campaign Series Legion has done on the various games has only sweetened the deal.

 The conflicts the game covers are as follows:

First Arab-Israeli War in 1948
Suez Crisis of 1956
Six Day War of 1967
War of Attrition
October War of 1973
Invasion of Lebanon in 1982
Algerian War of Independence
Egypt in Yemen
United Kingdom in Aden
Libyan - Egyptian Border War 1977

 There are over 130 historical and hypothetical scenarios. There are also four simplified 'boot camp' scenarios to help get the player up to speed.The game also comes with three linked campaigns. 

 The countries' armed forces that you are allowed to play are:

  France, United Kingdom, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, Libya, Generic Pro-West and Generic Pro-East. Each of these countries have a fully functional Order of Battles, based on historical TO&E's, from Company to Corps level. Combined, there are well over a thousand unique platoons available.

Let us first take a look at the game's graphics. For us older Grogs who still or did at one time own the Talonsoft games, they are a sight for sore eyes. I always liked the game play on the older Talonsoft games, but the graphics were never to my taste, and I always had difficulty just looking at the map and distinguishing what each unit depicted really was. You could click on any unit you wanted to check, but this was time consuming, and not something the player should have to do. The game now comes with seven view modes. There are three 3D, and four 2D levels of zoom.

 As a solo wargamer I always liked the AI in the Campaign Series games. The Campaign Series Legion has worked hard to enhance the AI even more. They have tried to match the AI behavior to the year, nation, and scenario itself. As is the case with most wargame AIs, they do better at defense than in attack. That is not to say that I haven't been caught with my pants down by the AI. The AI's use of artillery in the game was also a strong point for me. Attacking or defending many times left me with a "what do I do now" look after my silicon troops were scattered after a bombardment.

 Because of the nature of modern warfare the game has four levels of height for helicopters:

Ground

Nap of the Earth

Low

High

 For those of you who like to tinker there are map, battle, and scenario editors. The map editor has forty-nine levels of elevation and no size limit, as long as your computer hardware is up to it.

 This game shows itself to be a keeper by its vast scale in time and conflicts. Instead of being a game with ten to twenty scenarios of the same battle, you get warfare from WWII to almost modern tanks and weaponry. you have even more to conjure up by using all of the editors. With their use you can match up pretty much any combination of East versus West.

 There is a 207 page manual (PDF) that comes with the game. It is very inclusive of whatever the player would need to know.

 The user interface for the Campaign series has been described as  clunky or non-user friendly. The series was, after all, coded twenty years ago. The newer game's user interface has been streamlined from the older versions.To sum it up Campaign Series Middle East is a good tactical game of the years of warfare it portrays. If you are interested in the progression of warfare from WWII to modern, or are just in a WWII rut then take a look at Campaign Series Middle East 1945-1985. I have been in touch with Jason Petho of the Campaign Series Legion, the developers of the game. In 2017 you can expect a Campaign Middle East 2.0 version.

 This was a review of the 1.02 version, the following is a rundown of the update:


FIXES
• Revised Linked Campaign Game Strength Point carry-over issue
• Revisions to the Unit Viewer (F3)
• Fixed several issues involving airstrikes
• Fixed another off board artillery bug
• Fixed occasional edmap launch crash bug
• Adjusted vertical positioning of 2D bridges and ford for engine, edit and edmap

ENHANCEMENTS
• Implemented Options  Mouse Wheel Zoom
• Implemented Options  Hex Contour Widths  1/2/3
• Implemented Options  Cursor  Small/Standard/Large for varying cursor sizes
• Implemented Options  Cursor  Enhanced for a frosted cursor
• Implemented Options  Details  Persistent, a toggle that indicates whether the Damage Report persists until click (or the Esc key is pressed), or vanishes after a delay automatically
• Added terrain feature: Ditches (hexside anti-tank ditches)
• Added terrain feature: Crests (hexside)
• Added terrain feature: Water Block (hexside)
• Added terrain feature: Industrial (hex, for desert terrain)
• Substituted a new engine toolbar, with new OP FIRE button, revised Climb/Descend buttons
• Revised Top of Stack/Bottom of Stack buttons
• Substituted BoxArt style command and results dialogs
• Substituted square nation flags for roundels in the Organization Editor
• Improved diagnostic logging
• For terrain and counter draws, set compiler option to optimize for speed
• Implemented ON_CYCLE as hot key (TAB) for faying hex’s terrain about available alternatives
• Elevation Delta now saved between sessions for engine, edit and edmap)
• All airborne helicopters flying in the Low or High flight zones now have a spotting capability, even if unarmed reconnaissance or transport

GRAPHICS
• Revised a few 3D terrain and vegetation tiles
• Revised 2D terrain and vegetation tiles
• Revised Iraqi 3D graphics
• Revised United Kingdom 3D graphics
• Special graphics and units that are amphibious have been given appropriate graphics
• Revised all 3D graphics with a muted look, allowing 3D units to stand out clearly against the terrain

DATA
• Updated Weapon.pdt file, revising existing information and adding new information for new units
• Updated 09,14,22,23,24,30 platoon.oob files with additions and corrections

SCENARIOS
o New Scenarios by Jason Petho:
o No Match for the 100 (Bir Gifgafa 1967)
o Tourney - Set A01 - High Noon
o Tourney - Set C01 - Hack and Slash
o Tourney - Set C02 - The Villages
o Tourney - Set D01 - Dancing in the Desert
o New Scenario by Jim Mays:
o Tourney - Set B02 - A Furious Charge
o New Scenarios by Alan R. Arvold (available in the mods folder):
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #1
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #2
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #3
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #4
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #5
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #6
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #7
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #8
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #9
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #10
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #11
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #12
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #13
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #14
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #15
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #16
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #17
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #18
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #19
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #20
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #21
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #22
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #23
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #24
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #25
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #26
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #27
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #28
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #29
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #30
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #31
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #32
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #33
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #34
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #35
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #36
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #37
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #38
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #39
o Arab-Israeli Wars Scenario #40
o Revised Suez Linked Campaign
o Revised all affected scenario/campaign maps with new Industrial terrain hex
o Scenario Modifications to:
o The Crossroads
o Off to Giddi
o Bootcamp 3
o Battlefields of Old
o Raid Into Libya
o Into the Ring
o A Taste of Sa’iqa
o Into Africa!
o The End in the Sahara
o Hot Knife Through Butter

MODS
We have included a number of user made modifications that may enhance your gaming experience. It is recommended to use the JSGME Modification Enabler Software that is included as part of the installation. See Section 16.3 for instructions.

• Alan R. Arvold Ode To Arab-Israeli Wars – This is a scenario set based on the Arab-Israeli Wars created by Alan R. Arvold.
• Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars – This is a 2D graphics modification by Petri Nieminen (aka Crossroads) to provide the players of the Ode to Arab-Israeli Wars scenarios an authentic look and feel when playing the scenarios.
• Alternate 3D Bases – This is a 3D graphics modification that simplifies the roundels in the 3D view, making them easier to distinguish against the terrain.
• Black 2D Unit Profiles – This is a 2D graphics modification that converts the coloured unit graphics to black silhouettes.
• Black Unit Info Box – This is a UI graphics modification that removes the background information when using the Unit List, making the unit information easier to read.
• MausMan 3D Graphics – This is a massive 3D graphics modification that converts all 3D terrain graphics to a smaller scale.
• NATO Icons w. Transp. Background – This is a 2D graphics modification for NATO symbols that removes all colour coding and just displays the black outlines.
• NATO Icons w. White Background – This is a 2D graphics modification for NATO symbols that replaces all colour coding with a white background.

MANUAL
The manual has been revised to 1.02 UPDATE standards. It has also been combed through; revising graphics and grammatical errors, in addition to incorporating comments from users (inclusion of 2D and 3D screenshots, for example).

Robert

Game: Campaigns Middle East 1945-1985

Developer: The Campaign Series Legion
Publisher: Matrix/Slitherine

Date of Review: 1/15/2017