Eastern Front

Computer Game Review

Review by Kenn Hart

from Talonsoft

I have not had so much fun with tanks since I sold all my 1/300th scale armies many years ago. Really a great game built on the lessons obviously learnt by the development team during their excellent Battleground series of games.

In the scenario, Checking the Blitzkrieg when done by the A/I, as the Germans, was more of an 'advance to contact' rather than a planned rush forward mopping up strongpoints afterwards. The infantry de-bussed too far back and the armour got bogged down in taking on small strongpoints rather than ignoring them and taking and holding the bridges. Now I don't know if this was a deliberate ploy on the part of the developers but it certainly got me fired up to swop sides and have a go as the Germans and do better than the computer. Which I did and had a great deal of enjoyment doing it, until the Russian T34's and KV1's started to slowly rumble forward, then it became one eye on the enemy and the other on the turn monitor.

Indirect fire. Plot it at the end of your move and it comes down the beginning of your next move. This means the target you are aiming at may well have moved on, so you must gauge where they are likely to be located in one moves time - tricky. By using indirect fire I found that at times I could 'herd' the enemy in the direction I wanted them to go and on occasions by laying a barrier of Indirect Fire in front of a position could stop an enemy advance. A word of warning here in that there is such a thing as 'Drift' and so be very carefully about calling in a barrage too close to your own troops, because they don't like it!

Air Attacks. These are done on the same lines as Indirect Fire and I recommend you also do them at the end of your move. I found that in the majority of cases if I plotted an air strike against a target that could move, it did! Used historically they work very well. A Stuka attack against a fortified position, combined with an artillery barrage, supported by armour and infantry assault usually did the job for me.

Types of troops. When you highlight, for example, a Russian KV1 tank by pressing F2 one gets all the information you could possibly want on that vehicle. Supporting the game and very useful to wargamers is basically an encyclopedia of the troops and weapons used on the Eastern Front, which is an excellent research source for those wishing to transfer the game to the tabletop. This is a hidden bonus to serious gamers and a boon to those like me who are a bit rusty on the various weapon types.

User Guide. Is very good with the screen grabs/icons being quite legible and therefore useful.

There are 34 scenarios available plus 8 (!) campaigns you can play along with 'Designing Your Own Scenarios' plus Multiplayer modes via Internet, Null Modem, PBEM and the Two Player Hot Seat, where the opponents share the use of the same computer. From our, the Solo Wargamers Association, point of view it really is a dream of a game for the soloist interested in this period.

The one thing that I really didn't enjoy is the way when it is the computer's turn it jumps from location to location and gives the impression of being in a plane doing a spinning nose dive! I tend to move away from the screen at that point, which of course adds to the Fog of War. Just a minor gripe.

A basic idea of tank and infantry tactics would definitely make your games more factual and enjoyable. This games gives you every thing you need to play and enjoy it, apart from the Time! I would suggest that there is not sufficient time to work your way through all the scenarios and campaigns available to you before The Western Front is begging to be played! On a value for money basis I have to give this 9/10. [Mark Allan, a member who lives locally, as now got his own copy of EF after hearing me rave about it. Be interesting to see his views on this game, which is his favorites period and location].

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