Modern

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06Jun08

Combat Mission: Shock Force – Marines Announced

Posted by tanker under Computer Wargames, Modern, News and Updates
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Battlefront announced a new add-on for Combat Mission: Shock Force.

We are proud to officially announce Combat Mission Shock Force – Marines, the first expansion to Combat Mission Shock Force, one of the most detailed and sophisticated tactical ground combat simulations available. Shock Force – Marines is the first of several planned expansions of the Combat Mission contemporary warfare setting.

This first Module, adds a significant number of new formations, units, weapons, equipment and vehicles for both the US and Syrian sides, as well as brand new missions, maps and an all new campaign. General game engine improvements (such as Tactical Artificial Intelligence improvements, tweaking cover values and so on) are included as well, although they will also be made available to all existing Shock Force customers. This ensures that everybody plays by the same rules and experiences the same basic gameplay.

 

12May08

Line of Fire #2 — Review

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, Publications, Reviews, WW2
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Line of Fire #2Lock ‘N Load Games just released the latest edition of their house PDF-magazine, Line of Fire #2. They did not quite make the quarterly deadline but close enough. LNL is selling Line of Fire #2 for a couple dollars cheaper ($14.99) than Line of Fire #1 but the issue is a bit shorter than the first. (more…)

 

18Apr08

World at War: Blood and Bridges Announced

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, News and Updates, World at War
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Blood and BridgesLock ‘n Load Publishing announced another new title. This one is not just an expansion but a complete game in its new Cold War-era World at War board wargame series.

World at War: Blood and Bridges on P500.
The war is raging on and now it is up to the British and their formidable array of weapons systems to blunt the Soviet spearhead. Chieftain and Challenger tanks, Striker ATGM vehicles, FV-432 APCs, Lynx attack helicopters, Tornado fighter-bombers and others clash headlong into first rate Soviet Guards units outfitted with T-80 and T-64 tanks, BMP-2 APCs, MTU-55 Bridgelayers, SA-13s, Hind E attack helicopters, Su-25 ground attack aircraft and many more. There is only one mission here. Hold the bridges or see Soviet armour on Channel coast. Are you up to the task?

 

02Mar08

World at War: Gamer’s Guide — Review

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, Publications, Reviews, World at War
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Gamer’s GuideLock ‘n Load Publishing released a Gamer’s Guide for its World at War Cold War-era tactical combat board wargame. It is a 37 page 8 1/2″ x 11″ softbound, black and white magazine. The cover is of heavy glossy stock. The Guide is attractively laid out with plenty of shots of the game in play and a few stock photos sprinkled in. The layout template takes up a lot of space and the guide could probably have been published in only 18 pages but would have seemed a bit more crowded. The lack of color is disappointing especially for the shots of the game in action but everything is clear and readable. (more…)

 

10Feb08

World at War: Gamer’s Guide on Pre-order

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, News and Updates, Publications
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Lock ‘n Load Publishing has a Gamer’s Guide for their excellent World at War game system available for pre-publication orders.

You asked for it (didn’t you?), and now it’s here (well, almost). Packing with forty professionally printed, and glaringly-glossy pages (including cover) and filled with World at War wisdom, the World at War: Gamer’s Guide is on pre-order. You’ll find a preview of the upcoming World at War boxed game, World at War: Blood and Bridges. Two new scenarios, Clearing Hell’s Highway, and Poor Bloody Infantry. Two battle reports with semi-fictionized accounts recounts of WaW scenarios (Some of you call these after action reports). A ten page article examining strategy in the World at War series and the specific tactics needed to win all six Eisenbach Gap scenarios. Even variants for night fighting, and a design your own scenarios “how to” article. And much more… including a unit-by-unit analysis of the platoons of Eisenbach Gap… even better, you’ll find it before the end of February.

[Update 22FEB08: This is now shipping.]

[Update 2MAR08: See our review.]

 

07Feb08

World at War: Death of the 1st Panzer — Review

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, Reviews, World at War
[3] Comments 

Death of the 1st PanzerWorld at War: Death of the 1st Panzer is the first expansion to Lock ‘n Load’s Cold War era World at War: Eisenbach Gap wargame. The expansion ships in a ziplock and introduces new forces, scenarios, and a map to the game.

Death of the 1st Panzer is a straightforward expansion and provides the units for West German panzer units. In this case the 1st Panzer is essentially two mechanized infantry companies and two panzer companies with some attachments. Other new units included are the Soviet T-12 ATG and the ASU-85. The counters are of the same design as WaW:EG but are printed on thicker stock. They are still on the thin side but not unusually so. (more…)

 

03Feb08

World at War: Eisenbach Gap — Review

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, Reviews, World at War
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Eisenbach GapWorld at War: Eisenbach Gap is Lock ‘n Load Publishing’s latest game. It is a Cold War era platoon-level board wargame. The unit scale is platoon and each hex represents 150m. While the game depicts fictional scenarios, Eisenbach Germany was a real point of possible contention during the Cold War. In addition, Eisenbach Gap is the first game in the World at War series so we will see additional titles using the same system in the future.

The game ships in a full-size game box with 128 die-cut 5/8″ counters, mounted 17″ x 22″ map, two players’ aid cards, 4 dice, and a 16-page rulebook. Probably the first thing you will notice is the counters. They are very attractive and have an almost bewildering array of numbers on them. Unfortunately they are also some of the thinest cardboard counters you will find in any wargame. They are essentially the thickness of two pieces of card stock. The biggest issue with the thinness is that it makes the counters rather difficult to pick up even with tweezers. Hopefully Lock ‘n Load will produce thicker counters for future WaW titles. [Note: Oddly, an extra set of counters I ordered direct from LnL were on thicker stock.] The map is nice and similar in thickness to the ASL Starter Kit maps or roughly the thickness of your average wargame counter. The map is very attractive in an antiseptic sort of way — Like the time period being portrayed, it has a sort of retro feel to it. The rulebook is well laid out and a fairly useful reference during play. The player aid cards are handy but leave a lot of information out. You will need to make your own notes to ease play. (more…)

 

22Dec07

Line of Fire — Review

Posted by tanker under Board Wargames, Modern, Publications, Reviews, WW2
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Line of FireLock ‘N Load Games just released a new house magazine, Line of Fire. What is interesting is that it is a PDF only publication. Unlike Mongoose Publishings’ Signs & Portents online magazine, Rackham’s recently announced electronic conversion of Cry Havoc, the fan produced Firebase, or even Games Workshop’s Black Gobbo, LNL is selling Line of Fire for $16.99. Whether gamers think what they get is worth the money remains to be seen, but it is nice to have some support for LNL’s games. LNL says it hopes to produce the publication quarterly. (more…)

 

28Aug07

Combat Mission: Shock Force — First Look

Posted by tanker under Computer Wargames, First Looks, Modern, Wargames
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Battlefront released its new modern-era, tactical combat game Combat Mission: Shock Force. The game is the successor to the excellent Combat Mission World War Two titles. It improves upon those games in almost every way and if you have played any of the earlier titles you will feel right at home with CM:Shock Force. You will need to spend some time with the manual even if you are a veteran of the earlier titles because there are a number of new elements to the game that are not readily apparent.

The game includes a new real-time option as well as the traditional turn-based system. I still do not like the real-time option because no matter how good the AI is it still does dumb things. In addition, even with pause, you cannot be everywhere at once. This is not just an issue with command but simply in seeing the action unfold. With the turn-based system you can always see what happens. In real-time mode you often miss things while you are occupied elsewhere. Moreover, the highest realism setting, annoyingly, removes your ability to issue orders while the game is paused. Real-time does not equal more realistic for a tactical wargame.

Minor issues aside, if you like the subject matter you will enjoy the game and CM:SF does introduce some seldom seen concepts in wargaming such as unit specific spotting. Hopefully they will redo the WW2 titles with the new engine soon.

The Wargamer has a nice After Action Report and review of the game.

The v1.03 update is available.

 

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