So after my disastrous start with Wargame: Airland Battle, I took a step back and went to the earlier game Wargame: European Escalation. While not as graphically fancy as W:AB, the older game has a really nice, slow going campaign introduction that doesn't overwhelm the new player (yet!).

The premise of the first campaign is basically a what-if scenario back when Werner Weinhold defected from East Germany to West Germany after killing two East German border guards. The incident sparks a cross border fight that becomes the trigger for an invasion. (I think I got the gist of the backstory right..)

Unfortunately, W:EE doesn't allow for playing back of single player missions, only multiplayer, which is a bummer, so you have to see all the overlays. Why there isn't a overlay hide key - I don't know...

The mission is limited in scope, just what I was looking for. I'm given command of four Leopard tanks (a platoon I believe?), a Luchs scout vehicle, and access to support vehicles for refueling/rearming/repairing.



I'm starting in sector Hotel with initial instructions to eliminate the enemy in sector Charlie near the bridge crossing...



I move my platoon of tanks up to a row of trees to provide some cover. I'll eventually split the formation into two elements (?) to allow for some flanking maneuvers...



As we approach the bridge I send the scout forward and he spies enemy forces on the bridge. I creep the tanks up to allow them to fire from a still position at maximum range, hoping to preserve my little fighting force..



The initial campaign mission has a whole bunch of pop-up suggestions, tips, and helpful notes to get the new user into the game..



The Luchs scout is quick, agile, but lacks real firepower. Later I learn to turn the gun off so as to make him more stealthy and prevent him from provoking anyone..



After destroying the enemy on the bridge I move the tanks up in bounding moves to assure I can counter any attacks that might come down parallel to the river..



The scout finds a small force moving south and I back him out of the area and set up an ambush that turns out to work pretty well although I lose one tank to return fire and a second is damaged.



I order a convoy of refueling trucks to meet us at a crossroads while I keep my scout positioned forward to warn us of anything rolling our way. The convoy can be ordered to use paved roads (faster) or go overland. Once they are within a certain radius of your units they will transfer fuel, weapons, and make repairs until their inventory is depleted...



Approaching the second bridge crossing there is a larger town with enemy units spread thinly throughout. I use the scout carefully to find them, then back him out while I maneuver my tanks to take advantage of the terrain and structures. Here I'm using a building to provide cover while I maneuver north to take shots at the rear of a pair of enemy tanks. The green line is showing I still don't have line of sight and the red X means I don't have the range yet either...



The scout vehicle uses fuel quickly with all of the maneuvering and must be refueled regularly. I use the resupply trucks steadily to keep all units in good order...



In some cases backing the scout out after identifying a target causes you to lose sight of them. In that case, since you know approximately where the target is, you can use indirect fire to blast away at the site. Here my scout found some infantry but when I backed away they disappeared. Since they weren't on the move though, I knew where to lob some shells to good effect. (No artillery yet in this scenario..)







Entering the town is a nervous affair, but only a few light units are within and it only takes a few minutes to clear them out...





Once the town is clear, the mission is accomplished. I could have also crossed the first bridge to pick up points for a secondary objective, but chose to bypass that and work toward the primary objective...



The mission took 90 minutes (all in real time) and it was fantastic. Slower paced, methodical, and not a mad rush or overwhelming at all. I hope the campaign continues to hold my hand as I continue...



BeachAV8R

Great AAR Beach.

It's not necessarily a limitation of the games themselves, it's the same for all RTS simulations.

The pretty graphics do well in scenarios with a few actors, but in large scenarios, the player spends more time trying to manage all the units and therefore spends more time zoomed further zoomed out at the higher levels to admire the graphics.

And WW3 should be insane- the density of vehicles and individual actors would be something no one has ever seen before- and in real life, no single person manages it all.

So, it's the limit of human interface with these style of games, multi-player coop is really the more practical and realistic way to simulate the command chain and division of labor.

Minor nit pick ... that wasn't a Luchs but, as the unit label in the screenshots also revealed, the HS-30 based "SPz kurz" (in the reconnaissance role). The Luchs would be built a decade later, in the early 1970s. Well, actually the scenario must be set in 1972 or later, as the shown Leopards are the A1A1 model which were introduced that year.


Some trivia, to make up for the annoyance:

The HS-30 vehicle program actually was a military procurement disaster with all the ingredients - incompetence both in the army and with the manufacturer, bribery, underperformance, costs spiralling out of control, ludicrous smoke & mirror product presentations, ... and a handful of politicians and higher ranking bureaucrats who died in a series of mysterious accidents.
The responsible minister ... remained in office, only to be forced to resign later over an affair on a level with Watergate, just confined to Germany (including perjury, unlawful arrests of journalists, seizing the whole newspaper, and more). Wonderful times.

Ah..yes! I see now my error - the first screen shows that the recon detachment had two vehicles (I apparently never used the other one) and indeed the first one was the SPz kurz..

Interesting about the HS-30 procurement process. I read an interesting drama book about the Abrams procurement process and it was quite interesting as well. Can't remember the title offhand..but it was a good read (not sure how factual it was, but it sounded pretty in line with typical Washington defense politics..)

BeachAV8R

Are they Green or Blue in color? Many scenarios start with units that are on your side, but are green initially, until a specifc objective is met and then they fall under your control. Also note that some scenarios may initially have some units under your control, but after meeting or failing a certain objective, they resort back to AI control and turn green.

I liked the AAR, thanks for sharing it with us!

Nothing, these units are under AI control (green tag) for the whole scenario.

One of the things the smaller screenies does not show is how poor the graphics are compared to Wargame ALB.... however, the tutorial on that game is a joke so I am trying EE for now and then "step up" to ALB later on. Nice AAR!