Is Slitherine Leaving Wargamers?

[ringoblood]

Well I pose this Question as a debate due to the announcement of recent games and pull back on game genres like Civil war games and French Civil war and American Civil war Games, which has not been Developed for many years now and more and more game in the Scifi area now. I understand its a business and they need to go where the money is but there leaving a big chuck of there customer base out now, i feel like i need to go away and live with John Tiller now bc only he is producing Civil war games now have not seen a Civil War game come out of Slitherine since Tide, in 2015.

Any thought or comments?

[Franciscus]

As for me, the only announced Matrix game that I am interested in is Field of Glory: Empires...

[Capitaine]

I'll just state my opinion on this thesis, which may not be accurate but is my perception. Essentially, none of the ACW, Napoleonic or other "horse and musket" era games have been very good. There's always been some kind of annoyance or deficiency. No one has ever, it seems, taken a grand stab at the sine qua non of this era which are turn based battalion battles with very good interface, realistic maps, crisp fluid functioning, and crisp, clear evocative graphics. People ask for an "Age of Rifles II" all the time but the pleas fall on deaf ears.

For my part, I have pretty much limited my interest in Slitherine/Matrix games to designers I trust to make awesome products: Gary Grigsby with the War in the East series games; also his forthcoming "Steel Tigers" (if we ever get some pix of that one); and the Lordz Studio doing Panzer Corps (Korps?) II. I really don't see anything else on the horizon right now.

[ringoblood]

To be honest i agree. There are only three gaming series that i have a favor too and one of that is developed by John Tiller that was published by Matrix that's, Civil War Battlegrounds.

The other two i love is the Strategic Command series and Close Combat.

Other then that i agree, the design and workmanship is poor, especially in the classics.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: ringoblood
Well I pose this Question as a debate due to the announcement of recent games and pull back on game genres like Civil war games and French Civil war

Just curious, what civil war is that? [&:] The Wars of Religion in the 1500s?

[ringoblood]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

ORIGINAL: ringoblood
Well I pose this Question as a debate due to the announcement of recent games and pull back on game genres like Civil war games and French Civil war

Just curious, what civil war is that? [&:] The Wars of Religion in the 1500s?

Very funny, no i made a mistake let me clarify, the English Civil War, more commonly found in the middle ages. I apologize for my mistake.

[TulliusDetritus]

No worries. I was intrigued. Either a 1871 game about La Commune (too short scenario: few months so unlikely) or the long and bloody conflict in the 1500s. I thought AGEOD might be planning such a game.

Regards

[PipFromSlitherine]

ORIGINAL: Capitaine

I'll just state my opinion on this thesis, which may not be accurate but is my perception. Essentially, none of the ACW, Napoleonic or other "horse and musket" era games have been very good. There's always been some kind of annoyance or deficiency. No one has ever, it seems, taken a grand stab at the sine qua non of this era which are turn based battalion battles with very good interface, realistic maps, crisp fluid functioning, and crisp, clear evocative graphics. People ask for an "Age of Rifles II" all the time but the pleas fall on deaf ears.

For my part, I have pretty much limited my interest in Slitherine/Matrix games to designers I trust to make awesome products: Gary Grigsby with the War in the East series games; also his forthcoming "Steel Tigers" (if we ever get some pix of that one); and the Lordz Studio doing Panzer Corps (Korps?) II. I really don't see anything else on the horizon right now.

Just a correction - Panzer Corps was developed by Flashback Games. The Lordz provided graphics and other assets for it. They are not involved in Panzer Corps 2.

Cheers

Pip

[Capitaine]

ORIGINAL: PipFromSlitherine

ORIGINAL: Capitaine

I'll just state my opinion on this thesis, which may not be accurate but is my perception. Essentially, none of the ACW, Napoleonic or other "horse and musket" era games have been very good. There's always been some kind of annoyance or deficiency. No one has ever, it seems, taken a grand stab at the sine qua non of this era which are turn based battalion battles with very good interface, realistic maps, crisp fluid functioning, and crisp, clear evocative graphics. People ask for an "Age of Rifles II" all the time but the pleas fall on deaf ears.

For my part, I have pretty much limited my interest in Slitherine/Matrix games to designers I trust to make awesome products: Gary Grigsby with the War in the East series games; also his forthcoming "Steel Tigers" (if we ever get some pix of that one); and the Lordz Studio doing Panzer Corps (Korps?) II. I really don't see anything else on the horizon right now.

Just a correction - Panzer Corps was developed by Flashback Games. The Lordz provided graphics and other assets for it. They are not involved in Panzer Corps 2.

Cheers

Pip

Thanks, that's good to know. They're doing a great job from the looks of things.

[operating]

ORIGINAL: TulliusDetritus

No worries. I was intrigued. Either a 1871 game about La Commune (too short scenario: few months so unlikely) or the long and bloody conflict in the 1500s. I thought AGEOD might be planning such a game.

Regards

Could not help myself to find out about La Commune https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune a brief chapter in French history following the Franco-Prussian War.

[Gilmer]

ORIGINAL: Franciscus

As for me, the only announced Matrix game that I am interested in is Field of Glory: Empires...

I'd like for them to do a American Civil War game using Pike and Shot as the way to go resolve tactical battles.

[Lobster]

ORIGINAL: ringoblood

Well I pose this Question as a debate due to the announcement of recent games and pull back on game genres like Civil war games and French Civil war and American Civil war Games, which has not been Developed for many years now and more and more game in the Scifi area now. I understand its a business and they need to go where the money is but there leaving a big chuck of there customer base out now, i feel like i need to go away and live with John Tiller now bc only he is producing Civil war games now have not seen a Civil War game come out of Slitherine since Tide, in 2015.

Any thought or comments?

Are some of these scifi games war games or some other type of game? Or are they just not the kind of war game you would want to play? Just curious. [;)]

[Rosseau]

Whether the OP's observation is a trend here or not, I have found myself buying more titles off Steam to feed my addiction, which is not always a good thing. As mentioned, we do have FoG2, which imo is a work of the highest standards. Aggressors is good, and Armored Brigade not the Steel Panthers I hoped, but still good and I hope will never be abandoned.

Tiller's Panzer Battles series shows a real effort, especially with all the extras. So in my desperation, I'm buying Barbarroja on Steam with no AI until I get up the guts to finally battle with WitW. Nor have I made the time commitment to TOAW IV. Keep in mind, I'm getting old. [;)]

[Lobster]

I think it's difficult to cover the same subject matter over and over again and still make any money at all. That might be why war games have become more arcade like and less realistic. Gotta do something to draw in the short attention span crowd and the fps people. There's only so much you can do to add new ideas to old subjects. I'd like to see more war games that follow the Command Ops model.

[rico21]

I propose to see the problem in reverse, and if it was us who gave up.
We are more and more demanding because of our experience (all seen everything played) but especially our average age is high, young designers make apps for smartphones and do not even know that we exist.
In short the wargamers that we are are a species in danger of extinction.

[ringoblood]

ORIGINAL: Lobster

ORIGINAL: ringoblood

Well I pose this Question as a debate due to the announcement of recent games and pull back on game genres like Civil war games and French Civil war and American Civil war Games, which has not been Developed for many years now and more and more game in the Scifi area now. I understand its a business and they need to go where the money is but there leaving a big chuck of there customer base out now, i feel like i need to go away and live with John Tiller now bc only he is producing Civil war games now have not seen a Civil War game come out of Slitherine since Tide, in 2015.

Any thought or comments?

Are some of these scifi games war games or some other type of game? Or are they just not the kind of war game you would want to play? Just curious. [;)]

I see your point for instance yes WARHAMMER 40K is war games, but this new NEVERDARK game they just announce is not a war game, its a survival game. They are moving away.

[budd]

If selling other game types helps keep them making wargames I'm all for it. Only so many times you can cover the main battle areas and the lesser known or not as popular battles/wars probably don't pay the rent. Which ever way it goes I've got enough wargames already to last a couple of lifetimes.

[IainMcNeil]

We are developing the following wargames internally :

Close Combat
Steel Tigers
Field of Glory Empires
Helping with Field of Glory

There are also a number of big wargames in development but they take an awfully long time to do. E.g. War in the East 2.

The rest of the games are designed and developed by external teams. We never go out and ask developers to make a game about X (except in a rare situation where we acquire a license such as Battlestar Galactica and then we look for someone with a suitable engine to fit the required genre). The developer has to have a passion and vision for the game or it doesn't work so we can only pick from what is out there to publish. If you think we're missing some good wargames we'd be very happy to find out about them so we can contact the developers. We would love to publish a good new Civil War game is anyone wants to make one

Neverdark was not commissioned by us, we just saw it and liked it so signed it up. It does not in any way indicate a move away from wargames. If we see any interesting wargame projects you can be sure we'll try and sign them up too!

[USSAmerica]

Thanks for the feedback, Iain!

[ringoblood]

ORIGINAL: IainMcNeil

We are developing the following wargames internally :

Close Combat
Steel Tigers
Field of Glory Empires
Helping with Field of Glory

There are also a number of big wargames in development but they take an awfully long time to do. E.g. War in the East 2.

The rest of the games are designed and developed by external teams. We never go out and ask developers to make a game about X (except in a rare situation where we acquire a license such as Battlestar Galactica and then we look for someone with a suitable engine to fit the required genre). The developer has to have a passion and vision for the game or it doesn't work so we can only pick from what is out there to publish. If you think we're missing some good wargames we'd be very happy to find out about them so we can contact the developers. We would love to publish a good new Civil War game is anyone wants to make one

Neverdark was not commissioned by us, we just saw it and liked it so signed it up. It does not in any way indicate a move away from wargames. If we see any interesting wargame projects you can be sure we'll try and sign them up too!

Thank you for taking your time to clarify the position Ian.