ericmwalters
Member
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.
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.