Favorite War Games
 

The only way to win, is to not play. That being said, what are some of your favorite war games? I would have to say that my favorite game is SPWAW...

SPWAW? Care to ellaborate on that?

I was quite addicted to the Talonsoft East/West Front series a couple years back, East Front II being my favorite.

A long, long time ago I was interested in some post-apocalyptic game called "Twilight 2000". I never did get much of a chance to play it, as my beloved 286 at the time lacked the necessary hard disk space install.
Or maybe it was memory issues. Or the lack of a math-coprocessor.

Eh, either way - I wasn't able to run it!

HB: Steel Panthers: World at War

The Combat Mission series of games.

Combat Mission and the Total War series from Shogun on up to Rome are my personal favorites.

My favorite War Games were the ones where the Four Horsemen were involved. Bloody stuff. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Gotta go with The Operational Art of War and all of its kindred.

Missile Command, YEAH!!!!

Ditto.

Steel Panthers: World at War is definitely the one I play the most. Great game, and free!

Thanks! Heard of that one.

Tactically I loved The Close Combat Series. CCII Being my favorite.

I am also partial to TOAW.

I'm not saying it's the best but my favorite was Kingmaker by Avalon Hill. Not the computer version but the actual game. It was wargamish enough to not be boring and was easy to convince non wargamers to play. I had loads of fun with that one.

Lets see, OGRE, D-Day, Blitzkrieg, 3rd Reich, Afrika Corps, and Arab Israeli Wars were among my favorites as well.

My favorite computer wargames would have to be Conquered Kingdoms and it's spiritual brother Fantasy General. Close to these would be Second Front which is my favorite computer wargame based in reality.

I love and play other wargames but somehow the fire has died somewhat over the years ( mostly because I moved away from all my wargaming friends and haven't met any lately that I'd game with )so I wouldn't say that these computer games could touch some of what's out there now in quality, ease of play, graphics or realism but fact is, I enjoyed them more.

One series of games that I always thought got overlooked and didn't last but was fun was the V for Victory games. They were cutting edge, comprehensive and not overly difficult to learn how to play. I really miss them and wish the series had lasted.

Fantasy General was definitely a great game, good design, some very tough battles, etc. It had the failings of all its series (lots of reloading, heavy punishments if you lost too many units, etc) but might be my favorite of all the Five Star games.

"Battle for Wesnoth" is worth a look if you don't mind a fantasy background.

Its got its flaws, but its free and very professionally implemented imho ..... I've been following its progress with interest for a while now and while there are a fair few things which I'd change (ie. modifacations for battles where you surround an opponent, adding in personalities to people in the game etc.) its a cool game imho.

Combat Mission series is great, also enjoy HPS Sims squad battles series, and Korsun Pocket!

Thanks for the head's up on this one, Marc. Just downloaded it on the old work laptop. Can't wait to give it a spin.

I never really saw this game on the store shelves. I guess I misseds out on this one.

Its a cool game - I caught it on budget a while ago ... very challenging (at least for me ;) ).

I loved that game as well. When I went to college I tried to install my the game from the disks, but alas, one of the disks wasn't working. I've searched for it on abandonware, but no luck. I used to play that game for hours. The best weapon was the grenade launcher...I like watching guys trying to move after their leg was blown off.

I also had a softspot for the Ancient Art of War and Ancient Art of War at Sea. I got countless hours of fun from those games. Back when games were simpler and I didn't have to have lightning reflexes to fight real-time battles.

Favorite of all time would probably be the V For Victory D-Day game. I love that series. Currently I am playing the hell out of War in the Pacific, and loving every second of it.

Global Thermal Nuclear War.

Or Tic Tac Toe.

Har.

A & A on tables, War In The Pacific, Strategic Command, Steel Panthers 1 & Panzer General 1 on PC. I don't care for any the SP series after SP2.

I saw someone play Command and Conquer the other day on the train. It looked pretty interesting. I know it's one of the "biggies" out there, but I know next to nothing about it. Is it any good and worth buying?

Not trying to be a grognard wargaming snob or anything, but I do find it interesting what some people consider "wargames" in this thread.

global thermonuclear war.

*cough* ;)

how about a nice game of chess?

me snoozing a bit there. ;)

Hey Chemical Soldier,

Are there any games out there right now that play similar to the Close Combat Series? I loved that game.

Ahh, Fritz, you're more of a grognard than I'll ever be but I'd love to play a wargame against you sometime. :)

I really want to consider WitP but it's a bit pricey and I remember how much work went into learning how to play Pacific War at all much less well, I'm not sure if I have the time to learn it. I have enjoyed reading your dynasty though.

In the interest of discussion I'd like to know which ones are interesting. I was expecting to think the same thing you are but I'm just not seeing a lot of non wargame games. Maybe I'm missing something or basically don't understand the definition of wargame but in any case it'd make an interesting discussion.

I think he's just being snobby about the beer-and-pretzels games like A&A. ;)

Myself, I like a lot of wargames, but with a 10-month old and lack of space in the house, I haven't been able to play one either on paper or on-screen in a long time.

As for favorites: Great Campaigns series is my favorite on paper, also liked TOAW. I've tried to like the more tactical games like East Front or Steel Panthers, but having to worry about little details like morale and ammo levels always seemed to make it less fun. I'm more a "big picture" player, I think. Also, since time progresses over a longer period in operational or strategic games, I do get a sense of history being written (or re-written as the case may be), which isn't something I get dealing on the tactical level, since the battles last only a couple of days in game terms with very short intervals of time per turn.

This corn is raw!

I get to that point whenever this discussion comes up. RTS and FPS games are NOT war games in my book. They are war themed.

WitP is an investment, and even with a large manual there is much to learned in game. The price spooked me a bit as well, but gameplay will be much more than double what a standard $40 shooter will provide.

The biggest thing I worry about is replay. Will I be willing to play the game again after I (if) I finish this one? Maybe as Japan, but then I don't know. A pity really, because starting at different points gives the game a new twist.

I loved the Close Combat games, don't have the patience to play most huge turn based sims, but the CC series was fun. On a much smaller scale than most of the other games mentioned here, but that introduces a more personal feel and it was also quite difficult without having a really steep learning curve.

Played the hell out of CC3: Russian Front and CC4: Normandy my first year in college.

Yeah, that about covers it for me, too. Command & Conquer was the one that spurred my comment, but it's no big deal. Like I said, just an interesting difference in perspective. :cool:

I know.. Can't you just taste the vitamins and enjoy the crispness of it.

Well I'd probably say Dominions 2, but that might anger the grognard crowd. ;)

Although it is mostly a wargame, I don't really consider it one..same with the Total War games...dunno, just opinion I guess.

There's too many to choose from...I love the Combat Mission games, loved Steel Panthers 2 back in the day, have recently began to really enjoy some of the Squad Battles games, really enjoyed the East Front/West Front/Rising Sun trilogy.

Oh, I really enjoyed Achtung Spitfire and whatever the other one was called.. going braindead. Over the Reich I'm thinking? Fun little games that I wish would be redone, as they were rather frustrating as well and I think would make a great game.

I don't think I can give one answer.

If you want to wait a bit, Matrix Games is coming out with Empires in Arms for the computer. That will be a sweet game!

Talonsoft's Battleground:Antietam and Battleground:Gettysburg. I enjoyed many hours playing both, even several PBEM games with Antietam.

Good call, Warhammer. I've been watching this one like a hawk, waiting...always waiting... :D

Ever since picking up the "Thrones and Patriots" expansion pack ("thanks guys" said with his best Bud & Kelly voice), I've been playing "Rise of Nations" pretty non-stop for a while now. What's interesting are the twists that "Thrones and Patriots" throws in to the RTS genre. While I'm still winning nearly every battle, I now feel like I'm actually working to win them without having to play over and over to figure out each mission's trick. And some of the campaigns have pretty intersting rules sets; the Cold War and New World campaigns in particular were fun and different.

Highly recommended.