What Operational-Level System Do You Like Best?

ericmwalters

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I've started other threads that asked what the best strategic-level and tactical-scaled games were and why. This thread doesn't ask about a particular operational-scale game but instead enquires about a system. I phrase it this way because I think most wargamers buy operational-level scale games primarily because of the battle or period covered. But there are often several games done on different battles using a similar system. While this happened in tactical games in the mid-to-late 1970s, it didn't really balloon until SQUAD LEADER/ASL happened.
But this had been a feature of operational games from the very beginning. Compare early Avalon Hill games on the African Campaign with the Stalingrad Campaign--they were pretty similar. SPI's early efforts on Kursk, Stalingrad, Moscow, France '40, and the so-called "Destruction of Army Group Center" all used the same system. Many of us still think in these terms--the "Panzergruppe Guderian system," the "Wacht Am Rhein" system, etc...game rules and structures that were used for many titles that started with one memorable game employing the system that bears its name.

So what is your favorite operational system and why? Here are mine:

-- GMT'S EASTERN FRONT series system: I started with their OPERATION TYPHOON game and was floored by the relative elegance of the asymmetric sequence of play in portraying how differently the Soviet and German armies fought. It's still one of my favorites. Of course, the detailed Order of Battle and incredible map treatments helped make the game experience enjoyable as well!

-- AH's TURNING POINT: STALINGRAD series system. While the system actually started under a tactical flavor with STORM OVER ARNHEM and migrated into THUNDER ON CASSINO, nobody seems to talk about those two titles anymore. This system seemed to hit its stride with this title and ended up spawing BREAKOUT: NORMANDY, MONTY'S GAMBLE, and other games by other companies such as Moments in History and Spearhead Games. What I loved about the system was its unpredictability--you weren't sure when the turn was going to end--and the high degree of player interaction during the game turn...no waiting for the other guy to finish his turn--the game kept rolling along at a brisk clip with both players fully engaged at all times.

-- Columbia's Block Games. I started with Avalon Hill's NAPOLEON and went on to Columbia's ROMMEL IN THE DESERT. This company has games using blocks for strategic situations as well as some tactical ones, but I liked the operational/campaign treatments the best. Very high interaction and excitement levels, especially given the fog of war the blocks introduced. I'm still amazed that this idea never seemed to catch on outside of this company, but this may have changed with GMT's publication of EUROPE ENGULFED, a strategic block game on WW II in Europe. Give me EAST FRONT, ROMMEL IN THE DESERT, BOBBY LEE and/or SAM GRANT instead any day.

-- SPI's OPERATION TYPHOON series. In that monstergame, units had numerical ratings that corresponded to general levels of combat effectiveness. To resolve combat, you ended up randomly/blindly picking chits to figure out what the combat strength actually was--and the chits were separated by those numerical ratings. It was an elegant way to eliminate the "factor counting" and "optimization" math drills that befell most games and most players. SPI carried this system forward into their S&T magazine games OPERATION GRENADE, PATTON'S THIRD ARMY, and SICILY, but for some reason it didn't catch on in the late 1970s/early 1980s. It's enjoying something of a rennaissance now as we see it back in games like Pacific Rim's IRON TIDE (on the Battle of the Bulge) and New England Simulation's KILLING GROUND (the Normandy campaign).

-- OPERATIONAL COMBAT SERIES (OCS) from MMP/The Gamers. This one is for the grognards only--it is the most hardcore operational-level series I know. There are others that are even more difficult (SPI's CAMPAIGN FOR NORTH AFRICA and Vanguard's/Clash Of Arms WINTER STORM series), but those systems feel so cumbersome when compared to this one. This system seems to cover the important bases and yet has great flexibility--campaigns in this series run the gamut from WW II North Africa and Russia to WW II Burma and even Korea in 1950-51.

What are your favorite ones? Note that my list is overwhelmingly 20th Century/WW II focused...there are systems out there for the Civil War, Napoleonic War, etc., that I've not touched.
 

Tom DeFranco

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I like the OCS

for the reasons you give. I am by no means the master of this series that I am in the CWB or RSS (and I'm not quite a master at those either). I really like the supply rules that Dean came up with. Like all of his series, something has to drive movement - in the more tactical series it's orders, in the operational series it's supply. I really like the way Dean forces friction upon the players in all his series.

For ease of use, I like the Gamers' SCS and the system used in MacArthur's Return by Avalanche Press, too.
 

DHolte

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I consider GMT's EFB series the best operational system around. The way it recreates the actual operational decision making processes is amazing. It also illustrates very well the difference in running the Soviet and German forces. Supply via trace is handled simply though realistically and the game plays very quickly and is solo-friendly.

OCS - I find the system is fantastic in the desert (DAK), but tedious and unrealistic for the East Front. I tried and tried but finally got rid of all the East Front ones I had; Guderian's Blitzkrieg, Enemy at the Gates, Hube's Pocket. The system pretty much forces one side to leave the room to hide your supply. I recall a particularly fatal 1st move by the Sovs in EatG to take-out a good chunk of the German supply immediately. (On the contrary, I own and play almost all of the TCS & SCS titles...) Solitaire OCS - forget it. Even the smallest scenarios are pretty cumbersome to play solo. But again, I think the system works outstanding in D.A.K.
 

ericmwalters

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Pre-20th Century Systems

Okay, just to open things up a bit I thought I'd tackle the pre-20th Century crowd. There's not quite as much here as you find for WWII, for example, but that doesn't mean there aren't some good systems out there to simulate campaigning. A few examples:

-- For Civil War operational scale wargaming, which is best: (1) Helena Rubenstein's KILLER ANGELS system for West End (one of the most dense operational systems around for the period); (2) John Prados' CAMPAIGNS OF ROBERT E. LEE/ARMIES OF THE HEARTLAND for Clash of Arms; (3) Joe Balkoski et. al., STONEWALL JACKSON'S WAY system for Avalon Hill/MMP (HERE COME THE REBELS, ON TO RICHMOND, etc); or (4) Columbia's block games BOBBY LEE/SAM GRANT? I didn't mention some other old SPI games (LEE MOVES NORTH, for example)...feel free to have at it.

-- Napoleonic operational gaming--is there anything else other than the Kevin Zucker designs for Operational Studies Group? Okay, there have been one or two designs here and there, but they never caught on....

-- Pre-Napoleonic Games--there's not much here, either. Clash of Arms 1777: THE YEAR OF THE HANGMAN does come to mind. I love the SPI/AH FREDERICK THE GREAT, too. Haven't played but have admired CAMPAIGNS OF MARLBOROUGH (The Wargamer).

-- Did I mention ancients? There's always IMPERIUM ROMANUM II and the old CAESAR game by Avalon Hill (in it's earlier version known as EAGLES!).

Had to open this up a little.

--emw
 

Tom DeFranco

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Re: Pre-20th Century Systems

Originally posted by ericmwalters
Okay, just to open things up a bit I thought I'd tackle the pre-20th Century crowd. There's not quite as much here as you find for WWII, for example, but that doesn't mean there aren't some good systems out there to simulate campaigning. A few examples:

-- For Civil War operational scale wargaming, which is best: (1) Helena Rubenstein's KILLER ANGELS system for West End (one of the most dense operational systems around for the period); (2) John Prados' CAMPAIGNS OF ROBERT E. LEE/ARMIES OF THE HEARTLAND for Clash of Arms; (3) Joe Balkoski et. al., STONEWALL JACKSON'S WAY system for Avalon Hill/MMP (HERE COME THE REBELS, ON TO RICHMOND, etc); or (4) Columbia's block games BOBBY LEE/SAM GRANT? I didn't mention some other old SPI games (LEE MOVES NORTH, for example)...feel free to have at it.

-- Napoleonic operational gaming--is there anything else other than the Kevin Zucker designs for Operational Studies Group? Okay, there have been one or two designs here and there, but they never caught on....

-- Pre-Napoleonic Games--there's not much here, either. Clash of Arms 1777: THE YEAR OF THE HANGMAN does come to mind. I love the SPI/AH FREDERICK THE GREAT, too. Haven't played but have admired CAMPAIGNS OF MARLBOROUGH (The Wargamer).

-- Did I mention ancients? There's always IMPERIUM ROMANUM II and the old CAESAR game by Avalon Hill (in it's earlier version known as EAGLES!).

Had to open this up a little.

--emw
There is another series of op level ACW games by COAG which includes, Lee Takes Command, Mississippi Fortress, Autumn of Glory and Marching Through Georgia. I get a real feel for cav usage in that series. I do think that combat mechanics are a tad overly abstracted, though.

Another game I liked which was a forerunner of Zucker's OSG stuff is his old The Emperor Returns.
 

trauth116

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I haven't ever had time to do more than read the rules for the East Front series by GMT -- although from what I read, I am probably betting it would top off my list....

However, since I haven't... Back in the day, when I had a lot more free time (and before the air rules were revamped), hands down it was the Europa system by (then) GDW. I liked the variety of games available -and bought into the fantasy that was --- the combined game -- which I doubt I will ever see.

Another system that seems to have potential is die Weltkrieg system - although the only title I actually own is Schlieffen Plan.
 

Gepard

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Grand Europa

Ah, to have the entire Europa series set up in one location. 20 dedicated gamers attempting to re-create the entire war. That was always my dream for retirement.
 

Tom DeFranco

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Originally posted by hogdriver
Not sure if this is what you're asking, but I prefer something on the order of company/battalion level
Battalion level units would be the low end of operational level games, I would say.
 
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