Dipping my toes into Operational level games

DogWon · (This post was last modified: 05-17-2022, 12:28 AM by DogWon.)

As someone who has mostly enjoyed war games at the battalion level (and sometimes brigade), moving over to managing divisions or corps at the operational level is something I've been interested in, but put off since.. well forever.

I think my fascination dates back to the 80's as a little tyke who found one of the old boxed games that the previous tenants left behind. I pulled out all the contents, wondering what on Earth I was looking at; specifically the hundreds of tokens representing each unit (many were still connected to the cardboard and had to be broken off - the previous tenants brains obviously malfunctioned upon seeing the complexity of the game and abandoned it). Well at the age of 8 I wasn't exactly going to be doing much more than them, but still, I wanted to know what it was. The manuals seemed really interesting, and forcing my mother to try explain it to me most likely resulted in me falling asleep from boredom (what a great bed time story!).

Fast forward 30 years + and here I am, sitting with a copy of a few different operational level games to choose from. Admittedly I went with the most aesthetically pleasing one; Unity of Command (and number 2 is out now as well) through Steam. I've got Gary Grigsby's War in the East 2 plus one other waiting for me, but I figured with Unity of Command eliminating a fat bit of the learning curve by having actual graphics represent each unit that it would be a good place to start; heck, possibly even easy by comparison to the more hardcore grognard friendly games. Well, I was right about the aesthetics assisting with the learning curve, but I was dead wrong about the difficulty.

After putting some time in (and mostly failing but improving with each attempt) I went back to the reviews (and homepage) and discovered that the game may look great compared to some of the other operational level games out there, but it is just as challenging so there's no need to play this game in a shady corner where none of your grognard friends can point and laugh.

When the day comes I'm ready to move on, it'll most likely be Unity of Command #2 then as the game is getting its praises sung even more-so than its predecessor. Seriously, for anyone interested in getting into operational level games, this is a great introduction simply because it will allow you to get used to how they generally work, still be an insane challenge with the bonus of being able to mostly easily recognise everything being shown.

You might be wondering how the game accomplished this with a paltry 24 page rule book (well technically 48 pages) versus say Gary Grigsby's 500 page+ manual? Well okay, GG's represent the extreme in control and complexity for opertional level games, but still? What does have GG have that UoC doesn't?

After diving into the manual and the game (not to really play, just to see), from what I can tell, yeah, it's control and complexity. GG's campaigns/scenarios offer almost unparalleled freedom and realism. What UoC does is shed most of the fat in favour of a functional, easy to understand and yet complex under-the-hood game. Some of those features you may end up missing (if you're a Gary Grigsby fan or fan of similar, highly complex war games) but the core of UoC provides everything you need to really feel like a general making decisions that matter.

Hell, I was able to do some historical research and duplicate the tactics used by the Germans in one of the scenarios; that's crazy levels of historical accuracy and scenario design.

Anyways, enough gushing from my end. No doubt the majority of the player-base on Blitz after reading this are saying to themselves 'yeah dude, this is old news and I'm probably old enough to be your great grandfather.'. Well okay, fair enough; but for those, like me, who've never tried out an operational level war game before, want to, but are a bit intimidated by manuals that are heavy enough to kill someone with a single blow, then do yourself a favour and grab a copy of Unity of Command. Then when you're done, grab #2. You will not be disappointed by the game, I can almost guarantee that. At the end of the day you may find that operational level games are just not for you (fair enough), but it won't be because the game itself sucked, just that it doesn't match your taste/interest.

Here is a screenshot showing you why this game and its sequel are considered the best gateway games into operational level war games.

[Image: uoc_new_1.jpg]

For those who don't like Steam, you can ignore my previously shared link and head over to Matrix games instead.

EDIT: Okay never mind, Matrix has discontinued its sales. I imagine (really hope so for those who use Matrix as their shop of choice) that they at least still have the download available for those who have already purchased it from Matrix Games.