Wargame of the Year 2007 election

In article <2865ed6e-e5c4-4b8a-984c-70de452f7809
@z11g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, eddysterckx.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com says...

> My vote - entirely based on how much fun I had with them :

I'm going with:

(1) CARRIERS AT WAR
(2) ADVANCED TACTICS
(3) AGEOD ACW

--
Giftzwerg
***
"Are you impressed with a drop in home values of 6.6% over a year? It
doesn't seem like such a big correction, given the dramatic run-up in
prices over the last decade or so. ... And don't declining prices make
housing more ... what's the word? ... affordable?"
- Mickey Kaus

1st place : Guns of August 1914-1918 - An elegant design on a rarely
covered period.
2nd place : Commander : Europe at War - Flawed and shallow, but
immense fun.
3rd place : Battlefront - Sophisticated and varied, altough it feels
soulless compared to BII/BIN.


Regards,

- von Schmidt

In article <2865ed6e-e5c4-4b8a-984c-70de452f7809
@z11g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, eddysterckx.RemoveThis@hotmail.com says...
>
> Hi,
>
> Yup, it's that time of the year again and this time there's again a
> Grand Prize for you to win : Pat Proctor & Shrapnel have graciously
> offered a copy of the Air Assault Task Force wargame to one lucky
> participant. If you already have the game, Shrapnel will let you pick
> any game of your choice from their current catalogue. And to make it
> absolutely clear : voting for AATF will *not* increase your chances of
> winning it (*).
>
> The Rules :
>
> 1) 1 (wo)man, 1 post - all votes in the open, no emails.
> 2) The game must have been published in 2007 or late 2006 - in other
> words : if you think a game published late in 2006 didn't get a fair
> chance last year, feel free to add it. AATF got added per default as
> it caused this rule change to begin with.
> 3) Post your 1st, 2nd and 3rd place choices - 1st place gets 5 points,
> 2nd gets 3 points, 3rd gets 1 point.
> 4) Votes must be in before January 15th, 2008
> 5) In case of a tie, the award is shared.
> 6) Developers are strongly encouraged to vote as well - there's no
> shame in believing your baby is the best looking.
>
> This is what's at stake for the developers - again created by Daniel :
>
> http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4124492&a=32625734&f=
>
> My vote - entirely based on how much fun I had with them :
>
> 1st place : Commander : Europe at War
> 2nd place : AGEod's Napoleon's Campaigns
> 3rd place : Punic Wars
>
> To refresh your memory on what games got published this year :
>
> Air Assault Task Force
> Thermopylae
> Down in Flames WWII - Bombers
> Ancient Warfare : Punic Wars
> Battlefront
> Close Combat : Cross of Iron
> Making History - The Calm & The Storm 2.0
> Silent Hunter 4
> Panzer Campaigns - Budapest '45
> Civil War Campaigns - Atlanta
> AGEOD'S American Civil War - The Blue and the Gray
> Theatre of War
> Civil War Battles: Campaign Chickamauga
> Squad Battles - Soviet-Afghan War
> John Tiller's Campaign Series : Matrix edition
> Carriers at War
> Commander : Europe at War
> Ta.La.Co.Si (Tactical Land Combat Simulator)
> Guns of August 1914-1918
> Combat Mission : Shock Force
> Hornet Leader
> Advanced Tactics (People's Tactics 2)
> Napoleon in Italy
> Strategic Command 2 : Blitzkrieg - Weapons and Warfare
> John Tiller's Battleground Civil War
> John Tiller's Battleground Napoleonic Wars + Age of Sail
> AGEod's Napoleon's Campaigns
> Cose Combat : Modern Tactics
> Panzer Tactics (DS)
> Great Battles of Rome
> Larry Bond's Harpoon Commander's Edition
> Modern Campaigns - Danube Front '85
> Empires in Arms - The Napoleonic Wars of 1805-1815
>
>
> If you think I missed one (or several) feel free to add them - this is
> not a list of nominees.
>
> Greetz,
>
> Eddy Sterckx
>
> (*) This is how the winner of Air Assault Task Force will be
> decided :
>
> 1) Every entry/voter is given a random number by me
> 2) When the election is over I zip this list, password protect it and
> send it to Mr. Beretta and everyone else asking for it - without the
> password.
> 3) I'll ask Mr. Giftzwerg to pick and post a number between 1 and ...
> 4) I release the password so Mr. Beretta and everyone else can check
> who won the game.

My choices be:

1. AGEOD's American Civil War
2. Carrier's at War
3. Napoleon's Campaigns

--
Song of the moment: "Flightless Bird, American Mouth."
By Iron & Wine, from the album The Shepherd's Dog.
----
Slick:
http://www.aktuellekamera.de/archive.php/393/OEZ/2007_12_21_21:58:25
----
http://www.curlesneck.com
----
Epi

1. AGEOD's American Civil War
2. Napoleon's Campaigns
3. Advanced Tactics

Tough job, as I didn't buy any of them this year (shame on me). But I
had to opportunity to test three of them and if I may, I'll vote for
one I didn't even touched.

1) AGEOD's Napoleon's Campaigns
2) SSG's Battlefront
3) Air Assault Task Force

Happy New Year every one !

JeF.

Eddy,

Please consider my suggestion from last year that in the future, you
do this voting in February at the earliest to give December releases a
chance to be properly played and evaluated (and patched, which is
something releases earlier in the year get as an advantage). Either
that, or put releases from December on next year's list as well.
Starting the voting on December 31st is IMHO too early for wargames
that often take weeks or months to really enjoy and explore.

Regards,

- Erik

On 31 dec, 15:11, ERutins <er....RemoveThis@matrixgames.com> wrote:
> Eddy,
>
> Please consider my suggestion from last year that in the future, you
> do this voting in February at the earliest to give December releases a
> chance to be properly played and evaluated (and patched, which is
> something releases earlier in the year get as an advantage).  Either
> that, or put releases from December on next year's list as well.
> Starting the voting on December 31st is IMHO too early for wargames
> that often take weeks or months to really enjoy and explore.

Well, I did consider going for April - like The Wargamer - but then
games released in January of the year before can claim they seem "old"
by then and that the newer games which are fresher in the minds of
gamers have an advantage etc. Can of worms.

In the end I decided that the "tradition" of doing this at the close
of the year has an inherent value too and doing this later in the year
makes it old news.

Greetz,

Eddy Sterckx

I looked at the list carefully, and found that I own the following
entries:

CC:COI
CC:MT
CaW
Empires in Arms
CMSF
SH4

I own yet another game that I believe probably ought to be on the
list, M2TW:Kingdoms. While many of our readers likely believe that
this is a "kiddy-game," I've found the strategy component to be
anything but. In particular, the new campaigns that come with
"Kingdoms," like that for "Britannia" are really excellent. In my last
game, I found myself using diplomacy a lot more, playing Ireland and
undermining England (by propping up first Wales with troops and then
Norway with money) until I was strong enough to go after what had
become the real menace in the scenario, Scotland. Anyway, it was a lot
of fun, and the best experience that I'd ever had with the TW series.

But, I digress...

My vote for game of the year?

1) Close Combat: Modern Tactics - The game has a lot of problems, the
most glaring of which, the one that'll really disappoint old CC-hands,
is its lack of a campaign. It's also graphically challenged in that
the maps are HUGE compared to the older games in the series, but the
developer didn't bother to do anything with the ZOOM function.
Basically, players have the jump-map and a single zoom level, one
that's too far-in to give them any decent perspective of the larger
battlefield, and too far-out to provide an effective view of the
fighting.

While CCMT is underdeveloped in terms of my criticisms above, it does
stray into territory that's previously uncharted in tactical land-
combat games. It allows for five players per side, effectively
eliminating my biggest gripe with tactical gaming, the borg-like
ability of desktop commanders to control the movement and fire of
dozens (or hundreds) of individual vehicles and squads and,
conversely, to call the enterprise "realistic." By virtue of its
command and control opportunities and limitations, CC:MT is in a
league of its own. Now, if someone will just mod it for WW2, I'll
(almost) be a happy man.

2) Empires in Arms - In what appears to be a straight, port-over of a
board-game to PC, EIA has finally emerged. If you liked the original,
you'll like this one as well. While the brand-spanking-new game needs
a bug patch or two, nothing has evidenced itself that appears to
undermine the strengths of the original concept. What else can I say?

3) Combat Mission: Shock Force - This is almost an "honorable-mention"
vote. I hate the setting and have little or no desire to blow-up
Middle-Eastern neighborhoods. In terms of shear audacity, however, I
think that BF deserves a lot of credit for attempting to take CM to
real time, something which is no mean feat, and one that it would
appear they have yet to achieve. In particular, having watched CMSF
evolve through its patches, it may be that our PCs are as yet
incapable of crunching all the data that Steve wants processed with
his games, at least in RT. Still, if he can take me back to WW2, or at
least the Arab-Israeli Wars, I'll keep buying.

r4e

In article <3f09c3a1-3a29-4266-a73a-
6c107c51e65e RemoveThis @v32g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>, erikr RemoveThis @matrixgames.com
says...

> Please consider my suggestion from last year that in the future, you
> do this voting in February at the earliest to give December releases a
> chance to be properly played and evaluated (and patched, which is
> something releases earlier in the year get as an advantage). Either
> that, or put releases from December on next year's list as well.
> Starting the voting on December 31st is IMHO too early for wargames
> that often take weeks or months to really enjoy and explore.

It's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Sure, one gamer might give
short-shrift to a December release because it's too new to be properly
appreciated ... but the very next gamer might confer additional favor on
a December title precisely because it's so new and fresh in his mind.



--
Giftzwerg
***
"Are you impressed with a drop in home values of 6.6% over a year? It
doesn't seem like such a big correction, given the dramatic run-up in
prices over the last decade or so. ... And don't declining prices make
housing more ... what's the word? ... affordable?"
- Mickey Kaus

eddysterckx.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com wrote:

>
> 1) 1 (wo)man, 1 post - all votes in the open, no emails.

1. AGEOD American Civil War

2. Silent Hunter IV

3. Carriers at War

My choices are:

1. TALACOSI - Lacks an AI, but in big multiplayer platoon level battles it
can't be touched.
2. CAW - Would of come higher, but I find this game too 'lightweight'. I
seem to get much more fun from UV or WitP.
3. CM:SF - Yes beat me with a big stick, but for me, it now actually seems
to be working quite well and is starting to deliver on some of its promises!

If I was to compile a list of 'new' games I had bought this year (though not
necessarily released this year), my list would be different and would look
like:

1. HPS Normandy '44 Panzer Campaigns
2. Uncommon Valour/WitP
3. Birth of America

Regards
RobP

1) Advanced Tactics
2) Guns of August
3) Harpoon Commanders Edition

On 31 Dez, 15:07, Oleg Mastruko <o....TakeThisOut@bug.hr> wrote:
>
> In Europe we have this funny-trashy-kitschy thing called
> Eurovision Song Contest (usually some time in May).

For all our non-European friends out there...
If you're feeling curious about what Oleg is talking about, you can
have a glimpse off the wackiness and the "singing" on youtube.
It's something quite unique, the Yankees have a "American Idol"
contest, but that's a lot more "tame" and sane, I believe.

Here's the winner for 2007 (Serbia) and the runner-up (Ukraine):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy-Ms4ytzkY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX_rNEPIgc8

And the UK's entry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dlv2USQ9qw