Once Upon a Time...

Kool Kat · (This post was last modified: 06-18-2023, 10:44 AM by Kool Kat.)

Gents:

I joined the Squad Battles ladder 5 years ago in 2018. I was advised by veteran players to purchase Red Victory first. The game had 97 scenarios, more than other SB games, was one of the most popular SB games, and was said to have many balanced scenarios. I played against legendary players like Ozgur Budak and Richie61. Literally, my "opponent wanted" posts would receive multiple responses - usually within hours of posting.

Fast forward to today. I still own Red Victory complete with the fantastic 4.01 update boasting improved graphics and functionality. It's been 3 days + since I posted an "opponent wanted" thread for Red Victory - still one of the most popular Squad Battles games. Not a single response. Just crickets. What's going on?

Lack of response can't be because I'm a feared SB player. I only have a .278 win ratio. Lack of response can't be Red Victory, the game itself. It's been GREATLY IMPROVED with stellar graphics, menu interface, and functionality. I guess something else is going on here.

Look, I did not purchase Red Victory or Pacific War to play against the AI. HAL will NEVER be even a mediocre substitute for a real person. The Blitz has always been the place to connect with fellow players to discuss our favorite hobby and yes, to find real life opponents to play games.

Finally, I'm not trying to "shame" anyone to respond and I'm not looking for pity either. I really want to get back into the SB Series, but the lack of player response and participation in the SB Forums is disappointing and discouraging. I may have made a mistake. I guess time will tell.

JasonHanLZ · 06-18-2023, 11:05 AM,

Hi Mike
I think things nowadays are quite different from 5 years ago. Fewer new players are entering this field and some old players stop looking for opponents on the forum because they have already found fixed opponents.

I am always happy to play more squad battles🙂you can still send me a mail if you really can’t find another opponent.

**Big Ivan** · 06-18-2023, 11:18 AM,

Hi Mike,

I'd like to help you but my book is filled with Campaign Series Vietnam and the new release for Campaign Series Middle East. Doing testing, bug hunting and scenario design.

Perhaps when things quiet down on my end a bit I would be up for an SB game. I have a lot of the titles like
Red Victory, Advance of the Reich, Pacific, Proud and Few, Korea, Eagles, Grenade, Tour of Duty, Vietnam, Modern War and Warhorses' SB WWII Mod plus his Korean Mod.

Kind regards,
John Wink

Embis · 06-18-2023, 02:26 PM,

Hi Mike,
Its sad to say that the Squad battle Boards here do seem rather dead. I was hoping that this would pick up with the new releases but that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe as we update the other titles things will improve, I hope so. There seems to be much more activity on the WDS forums when it comes to game hunting. I have been a member here for much longer than my profile reports, probably 15 years or more, I must have had a break and got kicked out at some point, but I have never known it this quiet. There might be something in what Jason says about people finding fixed opponents.

I think it might also coincide with WDS opening up their boards. That's now the first place everybody sees that they can find opponents, so new blood doesn't come through as often as it did.

Having said that in the 15 odd years I have been here I don't think the boards have ever been updated and the forum is starting to look quite dated, so newcomers aren't attracted to it. Appearances do matter, even if we might like to think we are above that sort of superficiality.

JasonHanLZ · 06-18-2023, 02:48 PM,

(06-18-2023, 02:26 PM)Embis Wrote: Hi Mike,
Its sad to say that the Squad battle Boards here do seem rather dead. I was hoping that this would pick up with the new releases but that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe as we update the other titles things will improve, I hope so. There seems to be much more activity on the WDS forums when it comes to game hunting. I have been a member here for much longer than my profile reports, probably 15 years or more, I must have had a break and got kicked out at some point, but I have never known it this quiet. There might be something in what Jason says about people finding fixed opponents.

I think it might also coincide with WDS opening up their boards. That's now the first place everybody sees that they can find opponents, so new blood doesn't come through as often as it did.

Having said that in the 15 odd years I have been here I don't think the boards have ever been updated and the forum is starting to look quite dated, so newcomers aren't attracted to it. Appearances do matter, even if we might like to think we are above that sort of superficiality.

I still think the Blitz club is much cooler than the WDS offical forum Smile

, especially with this reporting and ladder system, and wonderful scenario database. And I don't see many people looking for opponents in the squad battle section of WDS forum, I guess it's just not as popular as other series.

Embis · 06-18-2023, 04:46 PM,

(06-18-2023, 02:48 PM)JasonHanLZ Wrote: I still think the Blitz club is much cooler than the WDS offical forum , especially with this reporting and ladder system, and wonderful scenario database. And I don't see many people looking for opponents in the squad battle section of WDS forum, I guess it's just not as popular as other series.

I agree totally with you regarding the ladder and the scenario database they are great resources and having a ladder makes the game play much more fun.

I have never understood why SB has always been the least popular of the WDS series, I love it, but that difference in popularity has been made even more extreme since the advent of the Panzer Battle series. thats attractive to players of both the Panzer Campaign AND Squad battles series and I think has lured away a lot of the old SB veterans.

**Warhorse** · 06-18-2023, 08:19 PM,

Over at the Wargaming Club for Gentlemen, I just started a few days ago another team game, six of us, rounded up everyone in less than 2 days no problem?! We are playing a desert battle in my SBWW2 Mod, probably the last team game with my old version, am updating it to 4.01 standard, mostly, and splitting it up between a few titles instead of one mod.

zovs66 · 06-19-2023, 08:20 PM,

Well there is a lot of activity at WDS forums.

I also recommended TWS club.

I rather like being in TWS because your battle points and wins and losses help you move up in rank and get places in your army command. So its like another mini-game in a game.

rahamy · 06-19-2023, 11:29 PM,

There's a third party section on the official WDS forums and to date no one has posted about the Blitz there:

https://forum.wargameds.com/viewforum.php?f=66

Also, the URL for the Blitz changed a few years ago unexpectedly, so all old links were broken... people searching for it after having been away for a while were not able to easily find it.

We do have it listed on our website: https://wargameds.com/pages/resources-clubs

I think Facebook traffic has also distracted, as there's numerous FB groups catering to Wargaming these days. Most of these have popped up within the last 5 years.