Anyone play Strategic Command by battlefront?

[Ironclad]

These comments relate to the recently released Strategic Command WWII: War in Europe

Its a great game, turn based, currently single player against a very good AI (which really can do amphibious invasions) and is due to have multiplayer added in the near future which will use the Matrix servers. I have never played Hearts of Iron but from a brief look at HoI 3 a while back I would think its less complicated. Its comparable to CEAW-Grand Strategy although the latter is essentaillly multiplayer so a true comparison will have to await its multiplayer release. Unlike the latter it's not a dated design reliant on expert enthusiasts for updating so no problems with screen size and it has dedicated developers who have been with the franchise for many years and are highly responsive to community feedback. The game is being marketed through Matrix so the active forum can be accessed there.

One feature I particularly like is dynamic movement which allows units to attack at any point during their movement phase and if you so chose to partly move and complete a unit's movement allotment after other units have moved/attacked thereby allowing exploitation or fighting retreats and the concentration of several units against the same enemy. A neat way of getting around the single stacking. Its highly playable and another enjoyable aspect are numerous decision events which pose optiions for the player - often involving a price in MPPs (resorce income) to be paid over future turns. Another clever mechanism is the ability to assign other major countries on your side to the AIi so for example you could choose just to play Germany when playing the Axis with the AI handling your major ally Italy and likewise on the Allied side.

There are some excellent videos on You Tube which encompass full campaigns as well as introductory sessions and I found those from Paradogs Gamer and Night Phoenix (using the earlier beta version) particularly enlightening when I was deciding whether to get the game. Highly recommended.