Just musing to myself

[Strela]

John Tillers West Front and East Front where big and popular sellers back when released. Now Panzer Battles is the same scale and developed by the same man yet it seems to me anyway not to be as popular as those older games. Infact those wargamers who love and still play them have stuck with them and seem to prefer them over PB. Do you think it's due to the actual battle chosen (which can feel abit of a slog), or does it going deeper than that? I'm sure those wargamers have prayed for a new updated game using that scale..and yet it seems they haven't really taken to it, when I feel they should be raving about it.

Hi Wodin,

It's hard to do a direct comparison between West Front/East Front as there are many more scenarios etc for that series than the current Panzer Battles.

With only one game in the Panzer Battles series it will always be a polarising topic. People will either love the subject matter or hate it. It will be interesting to see the response to the next title which has a lot more variety than the Kursk title.

There are some fundamental changes beyond just scale for both series also. Much of what John has learned in the last 20 years went into Panzer Battles. There is that amount of time (approx) since these different titles were released. There are some very subtle mechanics in Panzer Battles that take a while to master and that has impacted players perceptions also I think.

Finally, though maybe not known, Panzer Battles Kursk was John's biggest selling game since he started publishing with HPS. The game system did hit a chord, at least initially and the ongoing community here is proof it hasn't died.

I'm hopeful that Panzer Battles 2 will be out this year and that will spur the series on and continue to grow interest.

David