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wargamingscribe.bsky.social
Started as "all the computer strategy games in chronological order". Now a bit more. https://zeitgame.net/
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Avalon Hill's Ram! (1984) is the first computer game about ancient naval warfare. However, it is a terrible game with a fatal flaw: in a game about ramming, collision detection is awful! First AAR here: zeitgame.net/archives/17035

Unappreciated political-cultural diff: - When Euro democracies are at war, they postpone/fake elections and rule with broad coalitions (Union Sacrée, Burgfriedenspolitik, National Government, ...) - Meanwhile, when US was at war on its territory, elections carried on: 1814, 1862 and famously 1864.

Not a wargame, but I just covered Avalon Hill's Beast War (1985). By that point, Avalon Hill had failed to penetrate the computer market. However, they kept releasing third-party in auto-mode without any platform, genre or style cohesion, so Beast War is an Apple2 only action-arcade (1/2).

Up to 1984, the Pacific War genre is stale on computer, with the alternative being between tedious "realistic" game that asks you to micromanage everything and beer-and-pretzel games that were sometimes good, but not in anyway realistic. None of those games let you play the Japanese (1/3).

Sometimes I like to create memes rather than finish articles. @cedricmas.bsky.social

In September 1981, SSI released Paul Murray's Napoleon's Campaign, an incredibly ambitious game covering the battles of Leipzig and Waterloo at the Corps level. The game did everything that board games could not do: Fog of War, delayed ordered, Corps Commander acting on their Initiative, etc (1/3).

A bit out of brand, but not totally. I recently found a great [short] video on the Italian military doctrine and I loved it. The Italian army/navy is worth way more than its reputation, and generally its reputation is all people (me included) know about it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh4e...

The games I cover are obsolete, but sometimes they are fun to play. And sometimes, they were fun AND ignored at their release. Avalon Hill's Dreadnoughts (1984) is one of these. AH's second take on the Bismarck, it's fun & easy to pick-up. I loved destroying ASCII BCs! zeitgame.net/archives/16662

Company Commander (1984) is an ambitious tactical game for the Color Computer successful enough to receive 3 versions, 4 scenario modules and a scenario editor. Alas, it is a mess, unbalanced and frustrating - successful only because there was nothing else on the Coco. zeitgame.net/archives/16603

This week on The Digital Antiquarian: Railroad Tycoon II www.filfre.net/2025/01/rail...

The Japanese conquest of the Dutch East Indies (+Burma) is rarely covered in wargames. Like everyone, Carriers at War focused on the usual Pacific battles. at launch. In 1986, it backtracked on the topic for the first time in cwargaming. The Dutch never had a chance. zeitgame.net/archives/16547

I reached the first Spanish strategy game in my quest to play all Computer Wargames. I used the opportunity to cover the beginnings of Spanish gaming, from "nothing" in 1982 to, maybe, "second only to UK in Europe" by 1989. Oddly, this is thanks to the textile industry. zeitgame.net/archives/15599

@a37927.bsky.social ¿Don Antonio, está el enemigo? Que se ponga. zeitgame.net/archives/15582