Sagger
Despite exposure to Charles Games’ and iNK Stories’ fine creations I still recoil slightly when I see the word ‘edutainment’ in the blurb for a game. I recoil because I know – or think I know – what’s coming. 1.…
Tag review
The Armchair General
Harvest time is power outage time here in rural Wessex. In August it’s not uncommon for Bramley End to have its electricity supply interrupted by combusting or carelessly driven farm machinery. Knowing this, I’m careful to have at least one…
Attack at Dawn: North Africa review
Steam tells me I’ve played Panzer Division Games’ debut for twelve hours and would like to know if I’d recommend it to other players. When, shunning the proffered ‘yes’ and ‘no’ options, I reply “That depends”, the Great One’s speech…
The Troop
I was hoping to persuade Keith Douglas, the writer of some my favourite WW2 poems, to review Early Access The Troop for me (Douglas, a Sherman commander, was killed by a mortar blast near Tilly-sur-Seulles on D-Day+3) but as THC’s…
Campaign Series: Vietnam considered
Dungeon Keeper, Diablo, Carmageddon, MDK, Sid Meier’s Gettysburg!.. some of the chart-toppers that went gold the same year as East Front, the first instalment of the Campaign Series. If, in 1997, anyone had suggested that EF’s vitals would still be…
Ultimately Admirable
It looks like I need to add another entry to the THC Wargames Top 50. While lumping together the Ultimate Generals (Gettysburg and Civil War) for voting purposes doesn’t offend my sense of taxonomic propriety unduly, putting Ultimate Admiral: Dreadnoughts…
Sprocket
While it’s technically possible to create an exact replica of a Tiger tank in angry house architect sim, Sprocket, the chance that you’ll actually produce one is Panzer roadkill slim. Recreate that distinctive, perfectly perpendicular hull front within this ingenious…
Svoboda 1945: Liberation
All nations need a ‘Charles Games’ – a game studio staffed by open-minded truthseekers, dedicated to exploring difficult historical subjects from multiple angles. Although your first playthrough of Svoboda 1945: Liberation is unlikely to last longer than three hours, chances…
Lock ‘n Load Tactical Digital
The fact that, outside of mods, Close Combat and Combat Mission never made it to the Pacific, has to rank as one of digital wargaming’s biggest disappointments. Anyone who argues that PTO warfare lacked tactical colour or wouldn’t have suited…
Professional Farmer: Cattle and Crops
Although “Professional Farmer: Cattle and Crops is the DCS World of farming games” isn’t a perfect analogy, it contains more grains of truth than chaff of fallacy. Both sims offer realism unavailable elsewhere, both come with cosy clickable cockpits and…
Diesel Railcar Simulator
How much of my affection for Diesel Railcar Simulator is fondness for a transport sim that puts substance before surface, and how much is nuanced nostalgia for the vanished Britain it artfully evokes, I really can’t say. Because DRS is…
Cauldrons of War – Stalingrad
Any room on the list of classic WW2 what-ifs for another noodle warmer? To old favourites like “What if America’s carriers had been present at Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941?”, “What if Goering had kept pounding British airfields in…