Burmese days: Firefight’s juicy jungle scraps

The Close Combat-esque Firefight has matured splendidly during the past twelve months. Dipping into its cache of seventy-two South-East Asian/Pacific Theatre engagements this week, I’ve been struck by the way sage improvements such as new order types and infantry formation options have enriched the game’s tense top-down tactical tussles without compromising one of PC wargaming’s most elegant command systems. If developer Sean O’Connor could fix the occasional crashes and furnish some minor play tweaks, I’d have no problem describing his creation as the finest WW2 Burma wargame money could buy.

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Friday Foxer #191

Every Friday, Tally-Ho Corner’s cleverest clogs come together to solve a ‘foxer’ handcrafted by my sadistic chum and colleague, Roman. A complete ‘defoxing’ sometimes takes several days and usually involves the little grey cells of many readers. All are welcome to participate.

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Bus sim bargain

Isla, THC’s accountant, can’t grumble about my game expenditure this week. Assuming I don’t purchase anything tomorrow, I’ll have spent a piffling £1.79 on interactive entertainment over the past seven days. Although I already own Bus Driver Simulator – one of the few bus sims that can hold a candle to the venerable OMSI – buying the on-sale GOG version was a no-brainer as it comes with four vehicular add-ons no longer available through Steam.

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Combat Mission devs eaten by giant lizard

Battlefront, the studio that gave the world plausible 3D WeGo WW2 combat, is no more. After licking its lips with a darting bifurcated tongue, and letting out a thunderous belch, the massive Surrey reptile that consumed BFC yesterday, said this: “We are thrilled to welcome the Battlefront team into the Slitherine family. Their expertise and passion for wargaming are unparalleled, and together, we will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in this genre. Our goal is to not only preserve the legacy of Combat Mission but to elevate it to new heights.”

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Gaping Gettysburg gap

Although Steam’s gaping Gettysburg gap narrowed considerably on Saturday, until my favourite Battle of Gettysburg title joins the rather dear Scourge of War: Gettysburg in this line-up, Steam’s selection of wargames dedicated to the pivotal Pennsylvanian scrap, will remain glaringly incomplete. As I argued many years ago, Sid Meier, Jeffery Briggs, and Bruce Reynolds achieved truly great things back in 1997.

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Friday Foxer #190

Every Friday, Tally-Ho Corner’s cleverest clogs come together to solve a ‘foxer’ handcrafted by my sadistic chum and colleague, Roman. A complete ‘defoxing’ sometimes takes several days and usually involves the little grey cells of many readers. All are welcome to participate.

Read MoreFriday Foxer #190