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Strategic Command: European Theatre

by Peter D. Pawelek

Article Type: Preview
Article Date: June 06, 2002

Product Info

Product Name: Strategic Command: European Theatre
Category: Turn-based Strategy / Wargame
Developer: Fury Software
Publisher: Battlefront Games
Release Date: Released
Sys. Specs: Click Here
Files & Links: Click Here

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Conquer France on 3 Hexes a Day!



'Strategic Command' Splash Screen

Six years. That’s how long the Second World War lasted. That's also how long we wargamers have had to wait for a half-decent grand strategic wargame of the 1939-1945 conflict. Well, I’m relieved to say that the long wait is over. Battlefront Games is soon to release Strategic Command, a Grand Strategic computer wargame developed by Fury Software covering the European Theatre of the Second World War. From what I’ve seen, it looks like it will have no contest in becoming the reigning king of this venerable genre.

The history of Grand Strategic computer wargames of the Second World War is spotty at best. Back in 1996, Avalon Hill released an incredibly faithful port of its classic board wargame Rise and Decline of the Third Reich. Although Computer Third Reich resembled its paper counterpart in every detail, it was plagued with bugs and a half-baked AI that rendered it unplayable. Prior to this, there had been only two notable attempts at designing a grand-strategy WWII computer wargame: High Command, originally released in 1991, and Clash of Steel, released in 1993.

Of these three games, Clash of Steel was the most successful example of the genre. It was a fast-paced “beer 'n' pretzels” type of wargame that masterfully captured the scope of the European theatre. It too had its problems, however. Although not as buggy as Computer Third Reich, its game mechanics often resulted in bizarre events that detracted from the credibility of the game engine’s ability to render historically believable situations (these usually had to do with naval transport and naval combat for some reason). As well, its only concession to multiplayer was the ability to play a hot-seat game with a buddy.

Fury Software has obviously done their homework while developing Strategic Command. They’ve taken the best aspects of Computer Third Reich and Clash of Steel and welded them to a rock-stable game system complete with robust multiplayer options (the game will ship with PBEM capabilities and Battlefront promises a forthcoming patch to allow for direct TCP/IP connectivity). A demo of the beta version is now available. It includes the “Fall Gelb” Campaign (the Axis invasion of France), one of the six that will be shipped with the full game.



Show Me the MPP's!

The game interface is simple, clean and very functional. In fact, it’s so intuitive that you can easily jump into the game and start knocking off countries with a minimum of effort. If you’re at all familiar with Computer Third Reich or Clash of Steel, you’ll feel right at home and will truly appreciate how Fury Software got everything right.

Fall Gelb, Turn One

The game scale is about is broad as you can get. Individual ground units armies, corps, tank groups, and even rocket artillery. Air units are either fighter or strategic bomber airfleets. Naval units represent individual ships (battleships, cruisers, carriers, and subs). The game is turn-based with each turn varying from one week to one month depending on the season. The map is hex-based with each hex spanning 50 miles. This map scale makes things a bit cozy; in fact, only a very narrow strip of North Africa is present on the map which unfortunately limits possibilities for the type of sweeping maneuver warfare that occurred in that region.

Fitting for the genre, Strategic Command has a very simple yet effective production system that allows you to purchase units over the course of the game. Each power gets a base number of MPP’s (Military Production Points) per turn, and this allowance can be augmented through the occupation of strategic resource hexes (industrial areas, cities, and ports) and the conquest of enemy nations. In addition to purchasing new units, MPP’s can be used to reinforce existing units which have lost strength due to combat, to research new technologies, or to shuttle units across vast distances through “operational movement” between cities that you control.

Unit Purchase Screen

Hang a Right Just Past the Ardennes and Keep Driving Till You See the Water…

This all makes for a very interesting dynamic, especially when on the offense. As the Axis, you’ll have to weigh pushing your Panzer groups deeper into enemy territory at the cost of diminished strength against having them rest and refit at the cost of lost momentum. In the “Fall Gelb” campaign this is crucial; if you rest your Panzers too early, the French and BEF units will reinforce and position themselves to make any further breakthrough impossible.

The game system really rewards historically correct play. To capture Paris, you must push through and maintain the element of strategic surprise while relying heavily on your air power to soften up opposition that would otherwise blunt your armored spearheads. You then must move in your infantry to exploit your armored breakthroughs and hold that precious corridor to Paris.

Given the scale of the map and the inability to stack ground units, proper planning of an offensive is critical. Units can move and attack in the same turn, but once you deselect a unit it’s impossible to go back and re-select it for an attack if you change your mind. This is a bit annoying, but at least there’s an undo move feature that you’ll find yourself using frequently.

Report screen

Effective use of your airpower requires good decision making as well. How long do you keep your air units based in a particular location before moving them up to the front? If you move them, they’re unavailable for attacks that turn. Should you reinforce a battered Luftflotte that’s vulnerable to RAF attacks? Once again, to do so means to lose their offensive capabilities for an entire turn. With respect to airpower, there’s a lot of stuff that happens automatically (e.g., escorts and interceptions). In fact, in one game my Luftwaffe fought a successful “Battle of Britain” and wiped out the computer-controlled RAF with minimal input on my part! All I had to do was position them within range and they mostly did the rest.

As you gain MPP’s you can start buying strategic bombers, which attack cities, ports and industrial areas resulting in a diminished MPP allowance for the enemy. Naval units can also be used to bombard strategic resource hexes along coastlines. Over time, these bombed facilities will repair themselves if not constantly attacked.



I Shall Crush You with My Spiffy New Jet Fighter Technology!

Over the course of the game you can also invest MPP’s into researching new technologies. You allocate MPP’s to a particular research track and then sit back and wait for the technology to become available to you (this appears to be after a random period of time). As I played the demo as Axis, I found myself using most of my MPP’s not for research but for either purchasing fresh tank groups, Luftflottes and ground armies, or for reinforcing existing units back to maximum strength in order to maintain the tempo of my offensive. This favorably echoes history in that the Allies were the ones who put much of their strategic resources into researching innovative technologies that turned the course of the war. In typical Axis fashion, the only time I put MPP’s into research was to get gizmos like jet fighters that didn’t help me much anyway. The Allies would do well to adopt a more rational and systematic research plan since they’ve got time and MPP’s on their side.

Research Allocation Screen

Invade Spain? But What Would the Portuguese Say?

I thoroughly enjoyed the “Fall Gelb” scenario included in the beta demo. As the Axis, I followed the historical example and invaded France through the Low Countries. By August, 1940 I managed to smash the French and BEF forces and occupy Paris. This resulted in France being partitioned into Vichy France and the Occupied Territories to the north. By conquering the Low Countries and France, I managed to swell my coffers to about 1500 MPP’s, and that suddenly gave me a lot of strategic leverage.

War Declaration Screen

At this point I had to stop and really think about what I wanted to do next. Britain still had strong naval and air units, so if I wanted to launch my own Operation Sealion, I’d have to whittle down these units before launching an amphibious invasion along the coast of England. Not being one for convention, I decided to try something different.

I decided to mount a joint German-Italian operation to capture Gibraltar, completely cutting off the Allied forces in North Africa. I loaded up my troops in Italy and Occupied France into transports and declared war on Spain in order to have some room to maneuver. My battleships proceeded to bombard Gibraltar while I launched amphibious assaults along the southwest coast of Spain. Simultaneously, I used my other German armies and air units to invade Spain from southwest France.

Italo-German Invasion of Spain

Within two turns I had Gibraltar on the ropes but didn’t managed to destroy the garrison completely. This was my only window of opportunity since in the next turn (April, 1941) there was a pro-Allied coup in Yugoslavia while at the same time the Gibraltar garrison reinforced itself back to full strength. Italy was then invaded by Yugoslavian troops while the bulk of my Italian forces were stuck in Spain! Mercifully, the demo ended at this point. With my luck, the Russians would have been encouraged by this Yugoslavian adventure and decided to invade Poland.



Whatever You Do…Just Get It!

Strategic Command looks like it’s going to succeed on just about every level. The demo looks great, plays great and leaves you hankering for more. The AI is effective and will give you a nice single-player challenge, and the ability to play with multiple players over TCP/IP will make this an instant wargaming classic. Just don’t blame me when you start going to work bleary-eyed because you had to invade France just one more time before going to bed!



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The following links will take you to some "abandoned" wargames you can download. Thanks to "Underdogs".




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