Let me introduce myself. I am a 62 year old oral surgeon with 36 years experience in my profession and almost as much wargaming. I have been playing wargames for more years than some of you have been alive. I started to play Avalon Hill's Afrika Korps in 1965 with friends and enjoyed it immensely. We continued with the Avalon Hill games which were great for their time (e.g. Stalingrad, my next favorite, Anzio, D-Day, Panzer Blitz, Panzer Leader, Battle of Britain, Gaudalcanal, Origins of WWII etc.)! Then we had the huge output from Strategy and Tactics with a game in each issue and it almost got out of control! Too many games, most of them fair to poor but again I had some favorites. Kursk was my introduction to this unbelievable armored conflict in Russia July 4, 1943 and I started to study the Russo-German war. The major problem with board games was the setup and take down time which could take one hour or more at each end! Not to mention the IJUGF games such as WWII and the Bulge that took several days and many peoples to play. Did anyone actually ever play and finish one of these monsters? David Pentland,(an excellent WW2 combat painter from Scotland whose works you may have seen in magazines) informed me that he actually got much pleasure from playing Wacht on Rhein. Fear not my friends! We now have better games on the computer that eliminate the setup and take down Problem. Keep in mind however, that the computer cannot yet match the magnificent display of wonderfully painted miniatures on a great terrain table. I was Lucky when I moved to Saginaw Michigan to meet Pete Wasmiller and his Saginaw Valley Wargamers group of guys. I still miss Dave Nunamaker, God rest his soul. Dave got us into a local school to use a huge floor carpeted in green that they used for assemblies. We played on Sundays using Pete's homemade rules which were very good and put squad leader to shame, at least I thought so! But Death, Time etc. take their toll and we drifted apart. We had beautifully painted troops, tanks, artillery etc. in HO scale (remember minitanks?). We also had American Civil War games. Pete had done all the figures and rules. They were awesome not to mention Napoleonics where I managed to surprise him once by concentration of force. Pete still managed to kick my butt most of the time but we always had fun! Some of the computer games are getting close to the detail of the 15 mm and smaller scale troops but lack the 3D scope of the table (they are on the way). Have you tried a game with a 3D video card e.g. Panzer General 3 Assault or Panzer Elite ( thanks to David Pentland for tipping me off to this game). However they still require some scrolling but the zoom in and out will solve this once you get the hang of it. I doubt that we will ever replace the 25 mm and larger miniatures but who knows? I now have lots of figs and tanks etc. in 1:48 scale that are wonderful for squad and platoon level WW2 games. Despite my last statement, this game (Panzer General 2) is terrific. It is an operational level game with the Units being essentially regiments. The units include armor, infantry (including specialty types such as engineers, paratrooper's etc.), artillery, anti-tank, antiaircraft, reconnaissance, fighter aircraft and bombers. There are some minor problems with this but they are manageable (e.g. recon units were usually battalion size but are more regimental in the game ) but other than that, the game seems a very good simulation and the unit designations are surprisingly accurate for the most part! There are also some minor problems with the German Panzer and other units on all sides. These regiments were usually mixed types of panzers but the game doesn't allow for this nor did the board games unless you played tactical games. However, the same fault exists with the other nations and units so it evens out. The historical purist may find this slightly disturbing but there is no other way to depict these units at this level with any sense of playability! PG2 starts you off with many choices. You can choose from many scenarios plus campaigns, email, head to head and design your own. Some are quite good and a few are terrible. The Cauldron scenario seems unwinnable for the British at any advantage level. If you can win with the UK, please let me know how you did it! However, the campaign games are the most fun for me and I recommend them highly. Solo play is excellent and with experience you should be able to beat the computer most of the time. Head to head play restricts you to the scenarios but there are some good ones available if you like this style. I highly recommend the Zitadelle scenario because it is winnable with either side albeit the German side is much more difficult. Malta is another good one which includes sea battle as well as the usual ground and air combat. I am sure there are others but I have little experience with this head to head or email type of game but would love to learn. Contact me if you wish to try this and maybe we can work it out. The Campaign games are fun and can be very difficult especially at the 0 degree advantage level! Start with the Blitzkeig campaign and give your self the maximum advantage until you learn how to play. The campaigns at less advantage are more difficult and require a campaign with almost 0 losses and a bit of luck on the weather (especially in Russia) assuming you have control of the air which is a necessity. This campaign (Blitzkieg) starts in the Spanish Civil War which is the tutorial which seems unwinnable from the Republican side and then takes you through Poland, Finland, Norway and Sealion. No matter how well you do in the Blitz campaign you should settle for a minor victory at Dunkirk because I think you need the extra units you get from the North African campaign to build your army before taking on the Russians who are very tough and very aggressive (being shot if you retreat tends to do that)! If you want to gut ball it, invade the U.K. in 1940 and attempt Barbarrossa next. Good Luck! There are four other campaigns which are shorter. They include American and British campaigns starting with the invasion of Italy at Salerno through France and Germany to the end. The other two are Eastern front games and very tough, one German and one Russian which reflect the fierce fighting in Russia from winter 1942-43 to the end. The first scenario (Manstein's attempt to break through to relieve Stalingrad Operation Winterstorm) is very difficult to obtain a major victory for either side even at maximum advantage and is followed by the Southern part of Operation Zitadelle (Kursk) which is also rough from either side without a major victory in the first scenario! All in all, a very fine game that can give you many, many hours of pleasure. 5 * out of 5. Enjoy! Back to MWAN #105 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com