I really have a problem with Computer Nerd Wargame Designers and their games. When you get a game right OR even excellent , why can't you let it alone for a while and make more great games? I don't understand how they can be so stupid!!! It is so rare to find a game today that plays smoothly and well without patches, updates and multiple problems. I really wish that when they have a good one, let us enjoy it for a while! Talonsoft finally got their Battleground series right and were smart enough to run off a bunch of games using this system. By the way, these games are still solid and worth playing. Some good games for Windows 95 or 98 and less fancy computers are Gettysburg (better than others I've played so far- the only flaw is no campaign game for continuing when you win day 1), Bulge, Antietam, Shiloh, Prelude to Waterloo (Ligny and Quatre Bras), Waterloo and Bull Run. Let me know if you have problems, God forbid they are not compatible with the latest drivers! I loved Panzer General II and Peoples General -- Great games -- great game system BUT NO we have to upgrade and improve these really good games and ultimately screw them up! Thus again we have to put up with the designers perception that we must move on to a really new and important NEW game! More Direct X more Acrobat etc, none of which are compatible with previous versions, I'm sick to death of this crap!!! Of course, your local computer dealer loves it! Time to update or buy a new computer! Another good game really screwed up is the latest product (Panzer General III Scorched Earth) from SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc). SSI has now been bought up by MATTEL. Are we really seriously to think that a good wargame company has been successfully swallowed up by a kids toy company or is Mattel better than that, maybe we should all start to buy their stock. I also loved Panzer General 3 Assault and enjoyed it immensely, asked for the Russian front version and it's out and looks good. BUT, I can't get it to work on my computer! Be Careful what you wish for as you may Get It! As usual the folks who are supposed to help don't or take forever and then tell you to try every thing you've already tried! I'm really pissed off!! I was willing to forgive abandoning the PGII system as PGIII Assault was good and 3 D but still not up to PGII for content and now PGIII Scorched Earth ( Eastern front ) appears to be unplayable on the same computer I upgraded for PGIII Assault and no real help from Mattel despite phone calls and email over the last several weeks. It's a pity as it looks like a good game if I can ever get it to run without it locking up all the time. I can't even get into the tutorial or the campaigns but can only play single scenarios and even these lock up too often. Still no word from Mattel, guess the kiddies are more important. Finally did hear from Mattel, followed the very detailed and long instructions including scandisk and defrag and now my computer is totally screwed up and I am ready to kill! Not really but you sense my frustration as I can't play anything this weekend. Might not be too bad, maybe I can get to know my wife again. She always puts out a notice to friends that this marriage (40 years) is interrupted for the football season, and I'm loath to admit it but she is right! This reminds me of Talonsoft when they got away from the Battleground series and came out with Age of Sail and East Front, both of which were very flawed. Age of Sail could at least be played despite the lockup and continual restarts of your computer, East Front was a nightmare and I never did get it straightened out which is why we now have East Front II which looks promising with Age of Sail If soon to come. I'll let you know about these titles in future issues. So, this issue's game system and another example of idiocy, is Combat Command. This game system has so many fathers, it's hard to tell where it came from! There is the Close Combat Trilogy from Microsoft and Atomic games and now Close Combat Battle of the Bulge from SSI but credits Microsoft and Atomic and we already know that SSI has been swallowed up by Mattel so who knows who, with what and to whom as said the man from Kartuom! Those of you who are limerick fiends might remember the reference. The credits are getting as bad as the movies, eh" Close Combat The Close Combat Trilogy which is available at your local Media Play or some such or online at SSI.com is an interesting example of the evolution of a wargame system. There are 3 CDRom discs in this package. The first is Close Combat which is a WWII game set in Normandy starting just after the D-Day landings. It is a rather poor effort to simulate small unit actions in the Normandy theater. The graphics are poor, the scrolling is difficult at least for me (I'm not a great or even good scroller so take that into account) and I really found it boring to try to spend the time to master this game, I think I am not alone as they have recently come out with Close Combat 5 - Normandy! Enough said, more on CC5 in the future. The second disc is a Bridge Too Far which covers Operation Market Garden This is an interesting game, especially if you like infantry actions on a platoon or team basis. You must be a good scroller for this one as the zoom out is not very good! I did not like it much but others might it if they like this campaign and are good scrollers. You get the Airborne Divisions ( 10 1 Screaming Eagles, 82 All America and British Airborne) Elite troops with light support units (e.g. mortars, bazookas, BARs) as the allies or ad hoc German units if you play that side. An improvement over the first disc but still not recommended unless you are into small unit action in Market Garden with squad, team or individual vehicle units with a max of about a dozen or slightly more units. The third disc is the Eastern Front. This is the Jewel of the collection of CC 1-4 so far. This is not a great game but it's fun. The format is the same as I and 11 (don't we love the Roman Numerals). They solved the zoom out graphic problem and I can actually follow this game on the battlefield without total confusion. The zoom out graphics are excellent which allows me to follow the battle in its entirety. Be aware that I am an old time Board Garner so I love the zoom out as the units look like the die-cut counters I am used to seeing on the cardboard mapboard. The history is pretty good. However, your combat group is so small that they really have no effect on overall operations. This is a FUN game, short scenarios, perhaps the computer equivalent of a beer and pretzels game. Most of these battles can be played in 30 minutes or less with a little experience! You have multiple choices of battles (one), operations (more than one battle) or campaigns of multiple operations. You can choose either side, degrees of difficulty (I found little difference between recruit and veteran) and options especially see all enemy units which is a tremendous help. The Grand Campaign (1941-1945) covers 16 operations of 2-4 battles each. This is fun to play. We start with a commander who is a Master Sergeant who cannot be deleted which I would like to do or placed in a vehicle which I would also like to do as far as I can tell. This makes him valuable only with infantry and support units. Your first commander is the only commander who can be promoted which is also silly and sad but I digress, You must then choose 9 or less units to start the game with a point system which determines which units you can select. Choosing the proper units is crucial. Unit placement in cover and defending is also crucial as well as line of fire considerations for all units except indirect fire troops! The Units or Teams fall into 3 categories infantry, armor and support. Team morale falls into another 3 categories: conscript, regular and elite. These teams represent single vehicles, single infantry squads (8 German-12 Russian men) and support teams (an Anti-tank gun, Machine gun or other support team is usually 3-5 men with one main weapon). You get an increase in the number of teams as you get promoted to 10 with first Sergeant, 11 with second Lieutenant, 12 with first Lieutenant, 13 with Captain and 14 with Major, You need a secondary commander in an armored vehicle as your force improves to handle and improve the performance of the mobile troops. But if you play the Grand Campaign, there are no promotions beyond major because the program runs out of slots. Maybe this fun game could benefit from the upgrades in all the computer technology but I doubt they will try as East front games aren't too popular. I have briefly looked at Close Combat IV and it looks like a poorer version of Close Combat III but this may be my ever present computer update problem! More next issue, any comments or help would be appreciated, email me at docwren@aol.com) Best regards to all.  Back to MWAN #109 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 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