Wargame includes a 22-mission campaign, divided into four smaller sub-campaigns (which you have to play in sequence). Stars are abundant enough for me to have lots of cool toys to play with, but not so abundant that I have every cool toy to play with, which forces me to make interesting decisions even before I begin a match. Most are situational, and this is the beauty of the unlock system. Some are clearly over- or under-powered for their cost, but Eugen’s balance patches are chipping away at this list. Even accounting for duplicates and units that occupy the same niche, that is a lot of choices. So, how many units are there in all? According to Eugen, the answer is over 350: light tanks, heavy tanks, old tanks, new tanks, jeeps, scout cars, mortars, artillery, rocket artillery, recon helicopters, attack helicopters, infantry in personnel carriers, infantry in transport helicopters… These vary across a range of dimensions: weapons, armour, accuracy, speed, fuel/ammo capacity, and cost in deployment points. Normally I would not be a fan of this however, earning stars is quick enough for me not to mind. Completing campaign objectives or playing multiplayer (not skirmish!) matches will earn stars, and different units have a varying cost in stars to unlock. Real-world tactics demand real-world units, and Wargame’s metagame revolves around unlocking these. The tip of the iceberg: some of the game's tanks What happens if I aim my best artillery not at the other guy’s tanks, but at his AA? Supply trucks and helicopters are unglamorous, but resupplying fuel and ammunition is vital. Helicopters are target practice if you have good anti-aircraft units, and murder if you don’t. Artillery is horribly inaccurate when fired blindly, but when someone – such as those guys with binoculars! – has a line of sight on their target, an artillery barrage can stun, panic, or disorient defenders, and kill the lightly armoured ones outright… such as, say, those anti-tank crews. Anti-tank missile teams can make short work of even the most expensive tanks, but tend to carry little ammo and can’t shoot on the move. Recon units, the ones with the binoculars next to their names, are vital to spotting ambushes and keeping an eye on the enemy’s movements – and in this game, if you can see a unit, you can probably kill it. Just as important are the other supporting units.
![psp panzer general psp panzer general](https://www.lukiegames.com/assets/images/PS1/ps1_panzer_general-120314.jpg)
Note the enemy tanks in the hedgerow at the upper middle of the picture – a frontal assault may very well have led to me being the one taking fire from the sides. This was a huge risk, because I’d have been unable to see anyone hidden in the middle of the forest – and tanks are horribly vulnerable to point-blank ambushes – but it paid off! If I’d simply charged up the road in the middle, things would have gone much less well. Tanks have much weaker armour on their sides than on their fronts, so this works just as well as it does in Total War. My attack is occurring along three prongs: I have tanks pushing up from the left and the centre, but on the right, hidden by the forest, I have another mixed force of tanks and infantry ready to move up and hit the enemy in the flank. My units are blue the computer’s, in brown. Think a deeper version of the tactical battles in Total War, one that also allowed you to call on reinforcements in mid-battle.įor example, take the above screenshot, from the second level of the campaign. Terrain matters: driving along a highway is faster, but leaves you vulnerable to anyone lurking nearby, while forests can provide shelter for special forces raids. Specifically, it’s a beer-and-pretzels wargame, a title that combines real-world principles such as morale, logistics, visibility, and flanking with a sleek, approachable RTS veneer. Just as Panzer General did for the mid-nineties, Wargame: European Escalation does for 2012. I’m still climbing its learning curve, but I’ve played enough to get a decent taste of its campaign, multiplayer, and to a lesser extent, skirmish modes.
![psp panzer general psp panzer general](https://www.impulsegamer.com/psp/militaryhistorycommander03.jpg)
It took a lot to drag me away from Crusader Kings 2 “ a lot” came in the form of Wargame: European Escalation, the Cold-War-gone-hot RTS from RUSE developer Eugen Systems.