Have you tried Eugen System's WARNO yet? You really should if you are into Cold War-era wargames. It was precisely this genre that got me hooked on computer gaming, this being back in the actual Cold War days of the 1980s with my Atari 800XL. Back then we had access to such great WWIII titles as SSI's Reforger '88, Microprose's NATO Commander (by Sid Meier!), and DataSoft's Theater Europe, to name just a few.Sadly, with the end of the Cold War, such titles became few and far between. With the exception of some more hardcore indie efforts, true NATO vs. Pact games with AAA polish were scarcer than quality Soviet automobiles.
The only company that was still burning a torch for the time period was Eugen System's RTS games, Wargame:European Escalation, Wargame: AirLand Battle, and the late Cold War / early Rise of China title, Wargame: Red Dragon. I guess this is why I was not surprised that after a brief hiatus where the studio dabbled in other settings, Eugen announced they were returning to the Cold-War-Gone-Hot setting once again with WARNO, and not just returning but improving the formula by making it less a traditional RTS click-fest title as it was in the Wargame days and instead moving in a more tactical, proper wargame direction.
Truth be told, I was not thrilled with this title until this year. Last year when I took a chance on WARNO - it was and remains a Steam Early Access title - I found it strangely boring. The combat felt very deterministic, like chess but not in a good way. That is, whenever two units came to blows, one would always be destroyed; that was the only possible outcome, hence why it felt like chess to me. While such a deterministic combat model works for the abstracted combat of The Royal Game, it doesn't work so well in a wargame. Fortunately, Eugen had reached the same conclusion internally and decided to rework the combat to make it less deterministic (again, this is an Early Access title, and a real one where Eugen is routinely reworking entire systems). Now, units have a morale system that forces them to fall back or even rout when they come under too much pressure, a change that has made for all the difference in the world. Finally, the combat in WARNO feels as dynamic as it should, making for a wargame that I can't stop playing, even if we are currently limited to skirmishes against other players or the AI (I am happy to report the AI is noticeably improved from the Wargame days - no more Conga lines of strike aircraft!). I can only imagine how addictive this game will be when the "Army General" dynamic campaign is implemented!
That looks so much better than the dull campaigns from the Wargame days.
WARNO remains in early access, but it is already a gaming boiling over with so much potential. I just hope that Eugen doesn't release WARNO and the rush off to a different time period (this seems to happen a lot with other NATO vs Pact wargames). The fun thing about a hypothetical World War Three is that you can take the conflict all over the globe, from Central Europe to Norway, England, America (Red Dawn!), the Middle East, heck, even Africa. I always wanted to see a developer take take their World War Three title to as many fronts as we often get with WW II titles. Here's hoping!
The following is an AAR of my recent skirmish against an AI. When you have a wargame that looks as good as WARNO it's hard not to write one of these up!
As has been shown in previous chapters, NATO was suffering grievous losses against the Pact global advance. It was soon obvious that French forces, which to this point had been held in reserve, needed to be unleashed on the battlefield. Their first taste of battle would come at the confluence of two rivers where a combined push by the Pact 79-YA GV. Tank Division and the 4. Mot. Schutzen-Divison.
French forces quickly deployed to the battle area with a capable combined armed force comprised of units from the 5E Division Blindee. PACT forces weren't detected until a unit of French infantry came under fire from a force of East German dismounted infantry with accompanying BMPs.
A warehouse fortified by French troops comes under fire
Vivien Basile, who commanded the infantry squad, in a post-war interview recalled how the warehouse suddenly found itself under intense fire. "It was crazy. Somehow they had managed to creep up a nearby side road and unload on us. It was a clever move, admittedly. All I could do was call for help as we were quickly pinned down!"
Help first arrived in the form of a French gunship that used it's ATGMs to take out the Pact BMPs.
While this eliminated the Pact vehicles, there was still the enemy infantry to deal with. "I was never so happy as when I saw our flyers appear and drop some heavy ordinance on the bastards!"
A French Jagua drops a SAMP T200 400kg unguided bomb on Pact infantry
"That did it," recalled Basile with a smile. We had no more problems after that!"
This photo, believe to be taken by an embedded East German journalist, shows burning Pact vehicles destroyed by gunship-launched ATGMs and the subsequent air strike
But French forces did have problems in other areas. Pact forces were clearly on the move, leading with a wave of gunships that were tasked with scouting French positions. Once again, the French air force dealt crippling blows.
A Jagua downs a enemy gunship that was scouting French positions
By mid-morning, the battle had been joined in force. Armored and mechanized forces were clashing across the battlefield.
AMX-30 B2s engage T-55s at range (photo courtesy of Bertram Oswald)
A 79th Guards Soviet T-55 tank firing on French armor (photo courtesy of Lt. Kesha Adrian, 79th Guards Tank Div.)
The battle ebbed and flowed for hours, with the Pact forces achieving the upper hand by 5 pm when specialized anti-tank hunters, such as SPW-40P2 Konkurs, began to deploy.
A SPW-40P2 Konkurs engages the enemy from the tilled field of a local farm
"Those Soviet ATGMs were crazy accurate," recalled Noam Théo, who serves as a gunner on a French tank. "We didn't fear Soviet armor as much as Soviet missiles!"
An AMX-30 deploys a smokescreen to protect against Pact ATGMs
Pact fighter jets were starting to make their presence felt, often contesting the skies as well as striking at French armored vehicles.
An East German MiG-23MF hits a French tank (photo from the West German Institute of Conflict archives)
As the day progressed, the intensity of battle increased across the combat zone. At one point, East German infantry was caught attempting to occupy a West German hamlet. The French commander, Gen. Amour Christian, quickly recognized the danger of having Pact infantry digging in on his flanks, and mustered all available forces.
French mobile mortars unleash on East German infantry
Unfortunately for the residents of the hamlet that were caught in the crossfire, the incoming fire caused many casualties as residents attempted to flee.
Mathias Hubertus, resident of the German hamlet attacked by enemy infantry, took this photo during the midst of the fighting. A mortar round can be seen detonating in the distance, while his abandoned car and luggage can be seen in the foreground. In a post-war interview, he recounted how the only thing he had presence of mind to grab was his b&w 35mm camera, which he used to document this attack.
Hubertus caught this incredible image as he fled his house of what appears to be an East German BMP firing at a target. "It really brought the war home to see this enemy vehicle firing its weapon right on mainstreet," he recalled after the war. "I just had to capture it on film."
Mathias Hubertus captured this photo of smoke rising above his hamlet as the fighting intensified. Hubertus was on foot outside town at this point in the battle.
The Pact forces also rushed in reinforcements, including tanks to support their infantry from French counterattacks.
A T-55 engages French infantry (photo courtesy of the East German War Archives)
Infantry from the 4. Mot. Schutzen-Divison engage their French counterparts near a burning Pact vehicle (photo courtesy of the East German War Archives)
As dusk approached, both sides had exhausted themselves, both in terms of men and material. However, the close of the first day of battle for the 5E was one that left them in control of the field.
A French logistics vehicle shelters in some trees while its crew resupplies an armored vehicle. If you look closely, you can see some damage to the supply vehicle.
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