As we all know, the Play Station is a minicomputer designed to play games. The latest Play Station II also plays audio CD's and movie DVD's. It sells for $300. Although most games are designed for children, there are many opportunities for the wargamer using this device. Before I discuss wargames, I'll mention sports games. As a child I played sports games flipping a coin or throwing dice. I really enjoyed this. However, the console now gives us the opportunity to actually play the games with excellent facsimiles of the real players. In baseball, you can throw or hit each pitch. In football, you are the quarterback or running back and so forth. The players look just like the real ones and I'm including college. Games I recommend are John Malden Football, NCAA Football, and NHL all by the EA company for Basketball NBA 2 X 2 by Seger and FIFA by EA for Soccer. You can play a game or play and simulate an entire season. This article is prompted by the game PANZER FRONT. I'm an Eastern Front student who never met a book about WWII I didn't like. However, when I purchased this game, I thought it would be OK. I think it is splendid and basically supercedes the need to have my miniatures for WWII. This, of course, will never stop me from getting more WWII miniatures for more than thirty seconds! With the game you become a crewman in either an Allied, Russian, or German tank. Like most of us, I love to choose a German tank such as the Tiger because its fun to win. You learn the optics for the gun and if you are like me, you set the skill level to Easy. You choose a scenario - my favorite is a Kursk counterattack battle. You find yourself with a few other tanks defending against a Russian counterattack. They appear over the horizon a few at a time and then a lot at a time. Suddenly, you are firing at and being fired upon by a horde of T34's and KV's. If you're good, you and your comrades win the scenario - even when you are skillful, you can be knocked out by a hidden Marauder. The game draws you back again and again. There are many scenarios and a great deal of history in this excellent game which was not designed for children. I can't commend PANZER FRONT highly enough. Other good games are Kessen II and III about Samurai battles. The Battle of Sekigehance is highlighted. Another game Dynasty Wonnise involves sword fighting. There are also games that are about fighting robots like Ring of Red. If you are too lazy to set up a battle one day, grab one of these OVD's - toss it in the machine and have a battle. It's different than miniatures but it is complimentary and a lot of fun. Back to MWAN #116 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 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