Squad Battles series?

[Wodin]

Does anyone on here play any of these games?

Ive been mulling it over whether to buy Advance of the Reich but just havent made up my mind.

Im worried it might be a stale experience when Im really after an immersive gameplay element.

[Ivan Rapkinov]

hmm, well, I was on the development team for 5 of the games, so I might be able to help in some regards.

AotR was developed by John (Tiller) outside of the usual SqB crew (Wild Bill and the rest of the crew specifically) which was surprising, but his prerogative :)

as such, I found the scns "dry", in comparison to say a Bill Wilder or Louie Marsh designed scn. That's just my personal opinion, and pelnty of people liked it. Lots of user-scns for it too.

perhaps if you post which games you have played I can offer more useful info (ie Steel Panthers, CM, Campaign Series etc)

[Wodin]

OK Ive played SPWAW,East Front/West Front,Korsun Pocket and CMBO/CMBB I have TOAW COW on order.

I read the AAR on the team echo site which was superb.

Its the immersion factor I want clarifying. Do you feel the strain whilst playing is there enough detail within the game to get your imagination fired up. I read a post over at Blitz about the intensity of the Stalingrad battles. That to me says there could be a lot of immersion but I need this confirmed.

Ive also read that AoTR was rushed and a skeleton of a game. However Ive seen alot of scenarios over at Team Echo so with these would the game be more filled out and a finished product?

Thanks

[Ivan Rapkinov]

AoTR wasn't so much rushed, as it was developed solely by John - nothing against John's scns, but they always feel more like a class room exercise than they do a scn. Frank's Team Echo's scns will give you the "fleshing out".

As for the immersion factor - yeah, you do get sucked in, especially in the desperate fights (like Betio in P&F). It dpends on the scn author, and ofc what era you;e interested in.

[Wodin]

Well this is going to be my nex buy.

Infact I wish I'd purchased it instead of HTTR.

I wasnt thinking straight at the time.

[Ivan Rapkinov]

HTTR is a brilliant game - however it's at a different level to Squad Battles. If you like Operational, go HTTR - if tactical, go SB.

[Wodin]

Dont get me wrong HTTR is a great game, but I prefer squad based to company based.

Ive put my HTTR up for trade for AoTR.