Tigers on the hunt

[Weasel]

Reading through the discussions makes me wonder why people just don't play Steel Panthers...which is free and still actively updated on a yearly bases (a new patch coming out shortly).  It is squad based with individual tanks/guns/planes/ etc, and the computer does all the book work.  No counters but very realistic looking top down vehicles and such.  It has PBEM and H2H internet play too.

Just wondering is all.

BTW - TotH is a clear copy of ASL and I agree, I owned SL+Hearts of Iron+Crescendo of Doom and loved it, but ASL was too rule heavy. But those black SS counters...AWESOME.

[Compass Rose]

Unless things recently changed, I could never get into Steel Panthers because I had a very hard time looking at the map and struggled to make out where my units were located.

I really wanted to get into it as SP offered so much for free however, after two different attempts, I gave up.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

What I would rather see is a random generator where with x amount of points, you choose the actual unit like CCA 4th AD or if using enough points, you choose 1SS Pz Div and your opp wants Guards AD. You get the actual units for the battle, not picking through different units like in SPs. The thing about what unit you choose, that is all you get, but nothing says you have to use the whole division. Choose a year, unit size and terrain type like in CS, but the unit is an actual unit from that year, not a generic one. I think that would be interesting, but would take a lot of work for that OOB.

[Weasel]

Unless things recently changed, I could never get into Steel Panthers because I had a very hard time looking at the map and struggled to make out where my units were located.

I really wanted to get into it as SP offered so much for free however, after two different attempts, I gave up.

I am partially colour blind and on some maps I have trouble, but you can fix that by turning on unit flags which puts a country flag on each unit in the corner so you can see them.

@OJW: That is how Combat Mission 2 is, you pick the type of force you want (armoured, infantry etc) and it presents a list and assigns a rarity to the units for it. That part of the game is nice, but game play itself...not for me. I agree without house rules you face the very elite of a country in SP, espcially facing German players. Never see horse drawn units in 43, always mechanized, but then who wants to move a horse around the map?

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Several things I liked about SPs, especially in the post ww2 version was all the different countries. Me and another took turns picking each scenario of what country to use so there would be so many different fights. I think we had Israel vs Poland once, you get the gist.

[Compass Rose]

For any of you who have been sitting on the fence about getting this title, Matrix is currently offering this title and several other WWII titles in their D-Day Sale with 30% off.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/578/...n.the.Hunt

http://www.matrixgames.com/news/1957/D-D...ont.games!

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

I bought it and played it a little bit and haven't played in awhile now. The main problem I have is the wasted space. So much space to the right and the bottom is for game stuff leaving very little for the battlefield itself. Then of course, the phased play and no pbem and if it was instilled in the game, one email per phase just from your side would make it so many emails for just one turn would make it annoying as hell. If you are going to take a board game and make it into a computer game, you simply cannot make it exactly like the board game.

[Weasel]

For any of you who have been sitting on the fence about getting this title, Matrix is currently offering this title and several other WWII titles in their D-Day Sale with 30% off.

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/578/...n.the.Hunt

http://www.matrixgames.com/news/1957/D-D...ont.games!

I have been looking at the Matrix games and I am surprised the costs of them.  Last night I found the old SSI Shiloh game for sale at Hexgames for $20 and a rebuild of it at Matrix for $60.  Even cleaned up that is a steep price and all their games are that price (Cdn).  They are selling the old Steel Panthers SSI versions for $60 which limit you to 20 units on the map while you can get the windows version with 200 units for free.

That Tigers game is a complete steal of Squad Leader which has been done before computerized before.

[Wodin]

Reading through the discussions makes me wonder why people just don't play Steel Panthers...which is free and still actively updated on a yearly bases (a new patch coming out shortly).  It is squad based with individual tanks/guns/planes/ etc, and the computer does all the book work.  No counters but very realistic looking top down vehicles and such.  It has PBEM and H2H internet play too.

Just wondering is all.

BTW - TotH is a clear copy of ASL and I agree, I owned SL+Hearts of Iron+Crescendo of Doom and loved it, but ASL was too rule heavy.  But those black SS counters...AWESOME.

Feel similar to you except I think Squad Battles does a far superior job than TotH does. Yet I bet TotH has sold far more than a SB title.

SB has more depth in allround compared to TotH. More extensive terrain and obstacle set. More player control over soldiers. More depth and detail in combat mechanics to the point where SB is modelled at the individual soldier where as TotH is abstracted at Squad and half sqaud level. SB even looks better than TotH.

To be honest I'm very surprised at how well received TotH was. I thought it was going to get panned left right and center.

I cna see though in time TotH will be a detailed tactical wargame, just at the moment to much is missing. Also what makes ASL ASL is the extensive depth and detail. Something TotH doesn't have yet.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

A game with individual soldiers would be cool. Lots of things could come out of that.