5 – Graviteam Tactics: Mius-Front
This is the ultimate World War II tactical experience with a 1:1 scale. No game does it better, not even Combat Mission. It’s hard to get into and it’s going to require some tutorial watching and manual reading but there’s nothing quite like it. Before playing this better learn how units will spend some time laying wires on the field, which squads are in shouting range, and which ones need radio contact to do their job. No line of communication? How will your artillery commander know when and where to fire? It’s that kind of game. And it’s better to go in with some understanding of WWII tactics and unit organization. Graviteam Tactics: Mius Front pulls no punches but it’s marvelous.
The reasons this game isn’t first will be apparently obvious when you reach number one, but as of right now here is an abbreviated version: Its sole focus is the Eastern Front (and I love the Western Front), and its UI in both tactical battles and the operational maps is just downright indecipherable.
If you’re looking for a tactical wargame set in the Eastern Front, look no further, there isn’t any better, more gritty and more realistic game, and this might be the best wargame of all time for you.
4 – Gary Grigsby’s War In The East 2
The all-encompassing operational simulator of the second world war is a game that amazes and scares in the same measure. An absolute masterpiece of a game, War in the East 2 takes the concept of operational-level wargaming to a sickening degree of complexity and detail.
It’s absolutely mesmerizing the work done in this title, but War in the East is a harsh mistress if you lack the patience needed to get up to speed with its mechanics and the knowledge necessary to understand the nuances of the war and on how to conduct military operations in the Eastern Front.
Turns can last for days and full theatre tussles are real-life months-wide affairs. It’s a wargamer’s game for the wargamiest of wargamers. If Gary Grigsby and his team submitted their latest addition to their long-standing franchise I wouldn’t be surprised if a collective Ph.D. in Historical Studies was granted to them.
3 – Armored Brigade
One of my favourite games that I never wrote about is Armored Brigade. A real-time tactical wargame set in the hypothetical Cold War Gone Hot scenario that went under the radar for a lot of folks, so hopefully this list will convince you to check it out.
As the game implies, you’ll be commanding a brigade-sized force from either NATO or Warsaw Pact forces, clashing across central Europe with materiel that ranges from the late 50s to the early 90s. Units perform somewhat realistic, and combined arms tactics are the key to success, as you’ll need to coordinate infantry, tanks, artillery and air support to overwhelm your opponent. All the while you’ll still have to manage order delays and units acting of their own volition. Its top-down perspective might put off some people, and rest assured there’s a solution for that, as Armored Brigade 2 is currently in development and will bring the 3rd dimension back into the fray.
What I mostly love about the game is the number of what-if scenarios you can create by picking a location on one of the maps and just armies go at it. Add to this some robust mods that add a lot of units and new factions and there’s a massive tool-and-sandbox waiting to be discovered. If you can only afford one Cold War game, I would highly recommend Armored Brigade.
2 – Wargame Design Studios – Battles of Normandy
Wargame Design Studio’s Battles of Normandy was the first title I have ever bought from the Wargame Design Studio store, way back in 2020 or 2021, if my memory serves. Sceptical of its complexity and overwhelming UI, I wanted to give a more hardcore wargame a real go. After skimming through its concise tutorial, I came to the realization that while the UI might look intimidating, it’s rather simple, and it wasn’t long until I was ordering the 101st Airborne around its massive maps.
Battles of Normandy is jam-packed with content, and it features 93 scenarios covering the air and seaborne invasions of northern France. Its master map is around 398.000 hexes and it has an Order of Battle comprised of over 21.200 units from both Allied and German army groups.
Any discussion around WDS titles will inevitably boil down to personal preference. Their prodigious library has something for everyone. Enamoured by the tactical considerations of tactical-level decisions? Can’t go wrong with JTS Squad Battles. Maybe your military career took you a bit further than expected and now you would much rather prefer to be commanding units at the platoon level? Panzer Battles will get you fixed. Or maybe, just maybe, what you really want is to command an entire portion of the front, scrambling dozens of divisions across hundreds of hexes? Panzer Campaigns. The Normandy campaigns are some of my favourites of the war, so, naturally, I go with this one.
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