War Plan vs. Strategic Command Series

[David Hansen]

Big fan of SC War in Europe/World at War.
Long time war gamer from the AH board game days of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
Been following the development WP with interest both here and other sources.
With the inclusion of the latest patch...thinking about purchasing.
There are obvious differences between the two...pros and cons alike.
I would be interested in comments from others who have experience with both series...specifically from a grand campaign/strategy perspective.

Thanks.

[KarlXII]

I have all games mentioned and love SC War in Europe and World at War.

Personally Warplan is currently not in a state to compete with Strategic Command. At least not regarding a single-player experience.
Perhaps in a year with more patches it will be a good substitute but today it is far behind in many aspects (A.I, Information and feedback, understanding of underlying mechanics etc)

Also this is a one mans game and it is unfair to compare it to the resources given to the Strategic Command series. But on the other hand the pricetag is not reflected by this. It is expensive.

[battlevonwar]

Played CEAW, SC1/2/3 and there was a game called Time of Fury. TOF lost it's support at some point or game interest. The Original Version of Strategic Command 1 was very crude and without a lot of player support would have disappeared and perhaps all of hexagon ETO Wargaming with it. It is the Daddy of the 2000s plus ...

I like this title and found it's own approaches unique. It's developing and will develop more. Strategic Command 3 is a uniquely different title, not representing things like manpower or oil as part of the game. Lots of historical events scripts.

AI in both are similar to me. You might disagree but they all become predictable.

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: David Hansen
Long time war gamer from the AH board game days of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich...
I would be interested in comments from others who have experience with both series...specifically from a grand campaign/strategy perspective...

Having been a playtester/supporter for both SC and WP, and having developed my Advanced Third Reich mod for SC War in Europe, I am a bit biased toward the simplicity of the old 3R/A3R boardgame and that was my motivation for my A3R mod. To quote what I already said recently regarding my v1.3 mod:

I would also like to share a few thoughts about A3R, as a grand strategy WWII ETO wargame. Having playtested both Strategic Command WWII War in Europe and recently WarPlan, the notable difference is that A3R is much simpler and easier to play. Both WIE and WarPlan have large orders of battle and shorter turns, approaching a "grand operational" level with more detail and more complexity. While many players want and appreciate this, many other players simply do not have enough time or patience to play such games. Additionally, the increased complexity makes it difficult to provide a challenging computer opponent, something else that many players want for solitaire gaming. So, although A3R is more abstract, it is quite playable with both Axis and Allied AI providing a challenging computer opponent. The Third Reich Historical Notes from the original boardgame are timeless and are provided here and with the download files. My final comment is for players who may never have tried the Third Reich or Advanced Third Reich boardgames or my A3R adaptation mod, and/or may be overwhelmed by WIE and WarPlan. Please try my A3R mod and see what you think. Enjoy!

The additional detail and complexity in SC and WP, particularly with numerous air and naval units, tends too much toward micromanagement IMHO and detracts from "grand" strategy. Also just having fun with a replayable game without arguing about details down in the weeds. I know some players want that complexity stuff, but KISS is often more important to many other players. Just $0.02.

To Hubert's and Al's credit, they have produced some fine games. I think Al is on track to make his manpower and oil constraints work well as the game evolves with play balance adjustments. Which is good, and gives players more choices for games to play. Everybody has his own preferences.

[nikolasjohn]

I've played SC1 through 3 and was aksing myself the same question.
Please refer to the thread I started here: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4737131&mpage=1

I've only played one single player campaign of War plan right now, but I certainly do not regret buying the game. Alvaro certainly knew SC very well and he had some very good ideas to improve on it. AS one example: the enormous importance of oil as strategic ressource in WW2 is represented much better in War plan and actually being able to use multiple units in a combined attack is a killer feature also.
Also, I'm impressed by the speed at which Alvaro has been updating the game with fixes/improvements and has been present here in the forum.

[Dario Stolfa]

... reading about the "AH board game days of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" ...
... i'im getting nostalgic ... !!!

... and now , sometimes i think to start with vassal a new game at 3R , but it's no easy to find someone who likes to play with ...

... anyway i think SC and WarPlan are great games ... !!! bought both of them ... and playing both of them ...
... and losing a lot with both of them in HvH ...

... both quite complex but fast to play ... in less of half an hour your turn is done ...

[Vonrich]

Do you have a write up of what your changes are in the A3R mod?

[pzgndr]

ORIGINAL: Vonrich
Do you have a write up of what your changes are in the A3R mod?

Sure do! PM sent.

[FrankGallagher]

I'm also interested in your A3R mod. I don't currently have SC, but I might get it just for that. Could you send me that list?