How is Warplan?

[Huw the Poo]

(...or "help me find my perfect second world war game")

I'm in the market for a grand strategy game set during the second world war. I think the last one I played was The Operational Art of War 3. I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on Warplan and was surprised not to find a thread on it here. So, how is it?

I'll hear about alternatives too. Although....this will make many of you roll your eyes I'm sure but....I need some degree of quality of presentation. Ideally not something that looks like it was designed in Windows 3.1, and also ideally something with some good background sounds/music. If I'm going to be sitting bleary-eyed looking at some NATO counters until 2 in the morning I need my senses to be massaged a bit, I don't think that's too much to ask?

It's harder to find these games than it seems, because any Youtube videos invariably feature the player talking incessantly about what's going on and I can't see for myself what it's like when you're just playing.

[Barthheart]

I have Warplan. I don't have Warplan Pacific.

Warplan is just strat level WWII in Europe. The map it comes with is pretty plain and the counters are too. There are some nice mods though.
Music I usually turn off so have no opinion on that.

It's an OK game. Not sure where it is now but the developer was very good with coming up with patches to fix it's short comings... or perceived short comings. After a short while it appeared that the game was becoming a design by (the loudest) committee... and not necessarily the right one.
It has some really cool ideas and plays well. But for me still came up short for some reason. One problem was no real cooperation with your allies unless you played all the factions yourself. No way to do combine operations etc.
Oh and no stacking, at least no stacking of the same kind of unit. So a hex could contain a land unit, an air unit, and a naval unit but only one of each.
So better than Strategic Command: WWII in Europe/ World at war, the other well known ones, but not much.

I too am still looking for a good strat level WWII game...sigh....

[Huw the Poo]

Thanks mate, I appreciate your thoughts. I'm probably not going to be as discerning as you since I was never a hardcore wargamer (despite wanting to be) so your opinion plus others' I've read actually makes Warplan sound like an ideal gateway into the genre. I'm thinking I'll probably pick it up.

[Undercovergeek]

Does unity of command qualify?

[Huw the Poo]

Ha, nope - it's a puzzle game disguised as a wargame. :p

[Barthheart]

Thanks mate, I appreciate your thoughts. I'm probably not going to be as discerning as you since I was never a hardcore wargamer (despite wanting to be) so your opinion plus others' I've read actually makes Warplan sound like an ideal gateway into the genre. I'm thinking I'll probably pick it up.

 

It will make a good gateway game. It's well done and well supported. But do get some of the map and counter mods from the Matrix forums.

[Steelie]

Ha, nope - it's a puzzle game disguised as a wargame. :p

Could not possibly agree more!!! 

[Huw the Poo]

It will make a good gateway game. It's well done and well supported. But do get some of the map and counter mods from the Matrix forums.

Will do - thanks again! Planning to pull the trigger after work this evening.

Ha, nope - it's a puzzle game disguised as a wargame. :p

Could not possibly agree more!!! 

I was disgusted with it, especially after so many reviewers gushed over it saying "this is what will get you into wargaming!"

No. No, it won't. I'm a wargaming neophyte, so if even I can see through the facade, it's bad.

[bbmike]

Everyone knows that playing Hanseatic Wheat Orgy is what will get you into wargaming.

[Steelie]

It will make a good gateway game. It's well done and well supported. But do get some of the map and counter mods from the Matrix forums.

Will do - thanks again! Planning to pull the trigger after work this evening.

Ha, nope - it's a puzzle game disguised as a wargame. :p

Could not possibly agree more!!! 

I was disgusted with it, especially after so many reviewers gushed over it saying "this is what will get you into wargaming!"

No. No, it won't. I'm a wargaming neophyte, so if even I can see through the facade, it's bad.

A good game, especially wargames, should allow creativity in problem solving. I found both the original Unity of Command and the sequel disappointing in that regard. Honestly I purchased Unity 2 because of the hype and inflated reviews. I thought maybe I had just missed something with the original. My bad.

On the other hand, Hanseatic Wheat Orgy is my early favorite for Game of the Year!!! A clear classic in the making.

[Boyerwulf]

 It's decent all around. The AI is not half bad as well. Not good, but OK. The biggest frustration is figuring out sea logistics, and naval operations. Both made a tad too complex in my opinion. Sea warfare was so bad that it made  me not even want to play Warplan Pacific. But once you get your head around what is kind of going on as far the naval and sea logistics aspects, the rest of the game is pretty solid. 

[Huw the Poo]

I've had a little tinker with it but not much yet. I'm going to have to get the manual read before I start a game in earnest. Still, what little I've seen is very promising indeed; just the right level of prettiness I could reasonably hope for a serious wargame, and it seems to do exactly what I want in terms of the level of conflict and control too. I don't know how soon I'll play it properly, but I sure am looking forward to it.

[Staggerwing]

Re: Hanseatic Wheat Orgy, has anyone tried the Barbarian Stacks of Doom DLC?