The Wargamer’s Guide to… The Best WW2 Strategy and War Games

[EICJoe]

WarPlan should be on that top list.

Meh, debateable.

[Mig_Hospitalier]

Company of Heroes 2 is mentioned but a Graviteam tactics masterpiece is not. Really?

[Mig_Hospitalier]

Company of Heroes 2 is mentioned but a Graviteam tactics masterpiece is not. Really?

[EICJoe]

Graviteam tactics masterpiece

Is it tho?

[McHugh]

For grand strategy games, War Plan should be on list. It is one of the more original game designs that I have played. Just completed my first PBEM game and now on to my second.

[ralfy]

Meier's Crusade in Europe from the Command Series is not mentioned, but it's a very good game because it has the ff. qualities:

1. real-time rather than turn-based, with pausing to give commands;

2. historical units, e.g., 1st Infantry Division, and the use of divisions, brigades, regiments, etc., rather than units broken down into tanks, air defense, artillery, infantry, recon, etc., with names of historical commanders in charge;

3. air units attack and return to base;

4. instructions are easy to follow: attack, move, defend (leading to entrenchment and fortification), transport, with local command (AI) for units that are not given instructions;

etc. The AI wasn't that good, I think, because the game was stored in only one (I think) floppy disk and required a lot less computing power than modern ones.

Imagine a game like Panzer General turned into real-time and historical units involving combined forces (e.g., divisions with infantry and some tanks), and probably with better AI developed to exploit greater computing power in home machines. And make more campaigns: the series had only three, i.e., the one mentioned above (from D-Day to the Battle of Bulge), Decision in the Desert (the North African campaign, from Sidi Barrani to El Alamein), and Conflict in Vietnam (from Dien Bien Phu to Khe Sanh), plus "what if" scenarios (e.g., Hitler's dream for the Battle of the Bulge, elite ground unit and more U.S. air support for Dien Bien Phu).