Pinch me. Almost nine years after I first got wind of it, Burden of Command is finally trickling onto my PC. As I’m not permitted to share opinions until the day of release (April 8th) and feel a game this long-awaited and this groundbreaking deserves a bit of prep on my part, I don’t plan to start playing the moment that button up there changes colour. Before diving in I’d like to play a few of the hex wargames that BoC most closely resembles, and read and watch my way into a frame of mind appropriate for computer wargaming’s first serious ‘leadership RPG’.
Inevitably, that’s going to mean watching Band of Brothers again, an activity that will probably result in me recounting My Band of Brothers Anecdote* to a very bored Roman for the umpteenth time.
* Because the Currahee Mountain segments of the miniseries were filmed in an English wood I thinned during my forestry days, I can honestly say I’ve expended more sweat on BoB’s Currahee Mountain, than any of Easy Company did. You can’t move in Bourne Wood nowadays without tripping over a cinematographer.
As I don’t recall ever watching it before, and it sounds both unusual and pertinent, A Walk in the Sun may also form part of my pre-play regime. Like most war films of the period, its action sequences have undoubtedly aged badly, but with a director like Lewis Milestone calling the shots and a Battle of Kasserine Pass veteran providing technical advice, I’m hoping there will be a few relevant/resonant moments.
Annoyingly, the tome that partners BoC most naturally isn’t currently on my book shelf, and is unlikely to appear there any time soon. Unless I stumble upon a cheap secondhand copy of John McManus’ American Courage, American Carnage in a local bookshop, I may never read “the book that inspired” Green Tree’s opus.
Scanning my library for possible substitutes, Robert Leckie’s Helmet for My Pillow and Tim O’Brien’s If I Die in A Combat Zone both take one step forward. The theatres/conflicts may not match, but if BoC impacts me in way these brutally honest accounts of warfare did, then it’s guaranteed an enthusiastic reception on the Corner.
Game-wise, in terms of scale and combat mechanics, BoC’s nearest neighbours are the likes of Squad Battles, Lock n’ Load Tactical Digital, Second Front, and The Troop. I plan to reacquaint myself with all three games before assuming the Burden of Command.
I found the demo of BoC very slow and cumbersome, so I hope the full game will be more streamlined.
Have you watched the Pacific band of Brothers new series, is that any good?
The closest I have got so far to a battle is doing some metal detecting around our Italian house and finding a WW2 Italian bullet in the ground, made in Bologna in 1938. Apparently the allies came through here with an Indian division and the Germans had a major artillery position on a nearby mountain top.
Only my opinion, but I found The Pacific left me somewhat cold, though that may have been in part due to it following Band of Brothers, which is probably my favourite piece of cinematography – film or TV.
The more recent Masters of the Air was also good, but not in the same league as BoB. From the same people that made BoB and The Pacific. I’d probably say I preferred that to The Pacific to be honest.
Oh yeah, i meant Air, i have seen the Pacific years ago… Ok cool, thanks!
FYI, “American Courage, American Carnage” is being republished this April so it should be much easier to obtain a good copy at a decent price:
https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826223357/american-courage-american-carnage/
Am embarrassed to admit I’d never heard of it before. Looks fantastic. Plan on picking up a copy for myself. (Along with Burden of Command) 🙂
I am happy it is not close to my game Second Front 😉
Sorry, Jo. Yes, Second Front deserves a mention in that sentence too. Edit incoming.
thank you Tom