4 – Total Victory: World Conflict 1939-1945
The Warplan series of games was one of the first I have covered in depth for Strategy and Wargaming. Now, the same developer is creating its magnum opus, Total Victory! I recently interviewed its developer, and he himself let me know what makes Total Victory so special: The scale and customization: “WarPlan looks at the war through a corps-level lens, but Total Victory brings you down to the division level. Every nation has its unique unit types, from historic division sizes to individual ship models and aircraft”. The game is set up to be the perfect mix between complexity and accessibility, sitting comfortably between the low complexity of something like Strategic Command and the overwhelming amount of mechanics that something like Hearts of Iron IV brings to the table.
3 – Battleplan
What would happen if you took the Hearts of Iron IV frontline planning tool and built a game around it? Well, you would have Battleplan: sleek, responsive, and deceptively deep. Battleplan cuts straight to the core of operational art. You’ll be commanding several divisions at once, leading your forces to victory in some of the most iconic battles of the Normandy Campaign. The most recent demo of Battleplan showcased a game that’s sound in concept, is being executed in a way that provides realistic historical outcomes, and has one of the cleanest UIs wargamers have ever seen. The AI also appears to be challenging, spotting overextended spearheads and neglected flanks, and turning any sloppy deployment into a textbook encirclement.
2 – Battlespace Command
This one is Microprose’s game I’m most excited about when looking into the future of wargaming, because I don’t think I have ever seen a wargame be as unapologetically ambitious as this one. Set in the modern day, Battlespace Command wants to give players the control of all forces across land, air, and sea, in a real-time strategy sandbox that looks like a mix between Command: Modern Operations and Sea Power, alongside the tactical complexity of games like Armored Brigade 2 and Combat Mission. It remains to be seen if this will be any good, but from the announcement trailer and the first dev diary, things are shaping up to be the modern warfare wargame.
Leave a Reply