Total War in Europe...thoughts

[Hoyt Burrass]

I'm just curious about other folks thoughts on the Total War in Europe Games (The First Blitzkrieg & War on the Southern Front).  I have them both, but they never really clicked for me...I like the idea of going up an organizational notch from Panzer Campaigns...but the series hasn't really gotten much developer love...who loves these games..and why?  Who hates 'em and why?  are there any future games planned?

[Aolain]

I played the 1st Blitzkrieg one. From what I remember, the AI was quite good, but the game didn't hook me.

[larsonney]

I bought the first one but never really played it much. I was excited for it when I first got it, but when I played it I struggled learning how to be effective and then lost interest. 

For me, I guess it was two things. First, it looked like the panzer campaigns series, but you needed different tactics and I couldn't get a quick feel for them. Second, I had trouble with the strength factors and movement and effectiveness factors...I was so used to panzer campaigns.

In short, it looked like panzer campaigns but played differently and I couldn't get past my love for panzer campaigns and my gaming habits. Panzer campaigns is such a remarkable system-both easy to learn yet so complex, that I have trouble playing anything else!

[Mr Grumpy]

I have to agree with your comments, I too was super excited about the scale and subject matter but found the somewhat bizarre combat system totally mystifying, IMO it was even worse in the WoSF Med title as the lack of ZOC in a "you go, I go" game meant in the North African desert scenarios it was simplicity itself to surround whole armies.

I think if the designer had been available on forums to field questions and coach players on the more complex aspects it might have had a chance, but the fact that player interest waned very quickly suggests that most players were having the same frustrating experience.