State of the Squad Battles series

Dazooz · 11-12-2016, 11:53 AM,

Hey Gentlemen,

Old Squad Battles player here...it has been a few years since I've made my way through a SB scenario.
Opened up Winter War the other day and had some fun moving my squads around. Brought back a lot of good memories as I used to play quite a bit.

So is the series still played? Anything new on the horizon?

Jason (Dazooz) Lewandowski

Stejones82 · 11-13-2016, 09:48 AM,

Still played!

Perhaps not quite as many active players as in the 'hey-day' but still played. Others are better versed than I, but i'd estimate at least 20 fairly active players. Go to the leaderboard for this current year and that will give you a pretty good idea.

Unofficial and totally personal opinion is that nothing is on the horizon. There are many title suggestions as to campaigns, but I believe JT has 'moved on' from this series. But, hopefully, I could be wrong!

fastphil · 11-13-2016, 10:24 AM,

Still played if you want a game fire away.

Richie61 · 11-13-2016, 10:50 AM,

I still LOVE the Squad Battles series a lot! I have a sickness going on right now, but I still play a few games a week.

Laza · 11-13-2016, 03:06 PM,

Hi Jason
Nice to see you back

Still very fond of this game but sadly have to concur Stejones82 assessment that powers to be have moved on .

Damn shame really wished we had got a blitzkreig/North Africa in lieu of some of more obscure modern titles but that also personal taste

That being said sqb still has wide variety of titles and scenarios to keep a player active

Landser34 · 11-14-2016, 10:34 AM,

I still play also but not as much as I used to still love the game will have to play more in the future should have some more time
to get some more of these games in.

TheBigRedOne · 11-16-2016, 03:53 AM,

With the success of Panzer Battles, it's pretty certain that JTS is no longer going to develop new SB games. It's unfortunate, but in looking at the folks around here, most of the guys involved on the design team have moved on from either the series or wargaming in general. Life changes. I miss playing, I miss my old friends, but I just don't have the time any longer, not with two young kids.

I do know that the final round of updates are planned and are being assembled, but not sure when those are going to start to trickle out.

SB had a great run, and with continued support from the community, could easily continue on for many, many more years of fun gaming. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in to the battle once in a while. I'm working on it.

Wodin · 12-17-2016, 07:58 AM,

(11-16-2016, 03:53 AM)TheBigRedOne Wrote: With the success of Panzer Battles, it's pretty certain that JTS is no longer going to develop new SB games. It's unfortunate, but in looking at the folks around here, most of the guys involved on the design team have moved on from either the series or wargaming in general. Life changes. I miss playing, I miss my old friends, but I just don't have the time any longer, not with two young kids.

I do know that the final round of updates are planned and are being assembled, but not sure when those are going to start to trickle out.

SB had a great run, and with continued support from the community, could easily continue on for many, many more years of fun gaming. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in to the battle once in a while. I'm working on it.

If JT isn't going to develop SB anymore then i think the source code should be given to WDS (Panzer battles crew). Thye can then add things like multi level buildings, improve armour modelling and maybe even bring in proper ammo counts and rof settings!

With just a couple of new features SB would easy take the crown for the best tactical wargame on the PC. To not even give the code to soemone to continue development would be a crying shame.

I'm certain with a total overhaul and some new features added SB would get a whole host of new players and another new lease of life! It could become the tactical wargame that has all thos efeatures many of them are currently missing (like multi level buildings)

Richie61 · 12-17-2016, 12:40 PM,

I agree with Wodin!

Richie61 · (This post was last modified: 12-18-2016, 03:28 AM by Richie61.)

A few things I think SB needs for the future:

"Fix the replay mode"
Leader slots on the bmp's files (first slot)
Address the ammo/ weapon de-grading.
Would be nice to have a global hold fire button.
Fire arc's of bunkers. Shouldn't be able to fire 360 degrees.
Move smaller ATG one hex per turn.
Address armor values to real data and not the % of the front armor for sides/ rear.
Ammo loads - aka like in a flame thrower ;)
Loading and reloading off boats
Address vehicle movement based on real data
Have broken units move away from the enemy as like in Steel Panthers.

Ed