Strategic Series

[Steel God]

I was torn between Second Front and FWWC France.  It seems the Strategic Series needs work.  Is FWWC really good or a niche type of thing?

When I came back to gaming in 2020 I picked up F14 and thought I'd give it a try.......and I absolutely hated it.  Then I read the Designers Notes and realized it's not PzC without tanks and there was real nuance in design there, which frankly shouldn't have shocked anyone who knows anything about Volcano Man's work.  I am now firmly of the belief that not only is FWWC a good series, it is, in my opinion, the best designed, best thought out, and best explained series that WDS puts out.  Best designed because within the limits of a game it does the best job of creating a period environment that realistically portrays the combat;  best thought out because the scenarios are the best balanced and conceived of any series; and best explained because the Designer Notes don't just give up a recap of the history they go into the details of why units are the way they are, what the strengths and weaknesses of the armies are, and how to play to those.  PzC, because of its success, has many people that work on it and titles can vary in consistency and quality from designer to designer, and FWWC benefits from being Ed's and Ed's alone, and since he is (again in my opinion) without equal in his ability to design scenarios that make sense, provide options and choices, and are not just "here's the objectives, take em and you win"; FWWC is consistent and high quality.  I could go on and on about why and how, but just go to the WDS website and download the Design Notes for F14 versus any recent game in the PzC series and see what I mean (and see if the Notes themselves don't make you want to own the game).

Now all of that said, I will say this, if the subject matter of WW1 is just of zero interest to you, you're still not going to enjoy the titles.  And having jumped in with F14 and nearly drowned, I usually recommend people start with the 2nd title (EP14) as the lower unit counts and generally more fluid nature of combat in East Prussia in 1914 makes coming in from PzC a little easier to digest.