The History of WeGo games.

[Kuderian]

Which game first implemented the concept which has been so central to the Combat Mission series and it's success?

Off the top of my head, the board game 'Diplomacy' is a contender.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Kuderian
drunnk...

[JoMac]

There were a couple WWII Miniature Gaming Rules that I remembered using WEGO...However, must rules used an Initiative System with, Player 1 Move, Player 2 Opp Fire, Player 2 Move, Player 1 Opp Fire, with Arty somewhere in the middle.

Anyways, nice to meet another MIC :-)..Thou, I live in the U.S.

Joe

Edited November 24, 2017 by JoMc67

[Mord]

Computer Ambush. I can remember my brother raving about and playing it on a Commodore 64, I believe. I'd say it's close to the start of WEGO.

 

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/06/26/the-flare-path-computer-ambush/#more-297731

 

Mord.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Mord

[Michael Emrys]

In the late '70s Ace of Aces had a simultaneous movement system that worked just fine. Of course this was still long after Diplomacy came out.

Michael

[A Canadian Cat]

3 hours ago, Michael Emrys said:

In the late '70s Ace of Aces had a simultaneous movement system that worked just fine. Of course this was still long after Diplomacy came out.

Oh that is a great game! And that is truly a WEGO system to. Both players picked their actions and then you saw how it turned out.

[JonS]

In the 1990s Atomic Games released the "V for Victory" series of games (Velikiye Luki, Utah Beach, Market Garden, Gold-Juno-Sword), later sequeled in the "World at War" series (D Day: America Invades, Operation Crusader, Stalingrad). They were set in WWII, and used the same WEGO system that CM uses (simultaneous planning phase, followed by simultaneous execution with no player interference), albeit in 2D and at the grand-tactical/operational level rather than 3D in the minor-tac realm.

I loved and played the hell out of those games, and have been deeply disappointed that no one has yet picked up the 2D/Operational/WeGo mantle. HPS' Panzer Campaigns was a poor and pale imitation.

Edited December 1, 2017 by JonS

[danfrodo]

wow, Computer Ambush -- that is bringing back some memories.  And Mech Brigade was another I used to love, had a great manual showing all the vehicles.  I want to get the new Operational Art of War but I think I still have a couple years of Combat Mission campaigns to finish.

[Erwin]

I remember playing those Atomic Games published by 360 which released some of the first good computer wargames.  But as we know they are all gone and BF is still here.

[BletchleyGeek]

On 02/12/2017 at 6:58 AM, JonS said:

In the 1990s Atomic Games released the "V for Victory" series of games (Velikiye Luki, Utah Beach, Market Garden, Gold-Juno-Sword), later sequeled in the "World at War" series (D Day: America Invades, Operation Crusader, Stalingrad). They were set in WWII, and used the same WEGO system that CM uses (simultaneous planning phase, followed by simultaneous execution with no player interference), albeit in 2D and at the grand-tactical/operational level rather than 3D in the minor-tac realm.

I loved and played the hell out of those games, and have been deeply disappointed that no one has yet picked up the 2D/Operational/WeGo mantle. HPS' Panzer Campaigns was a poor and pale imitation.

Great games, I still play them from time to time on DOSBOX. That way the memory doesn't fade away.

For a number of years Erik Rutins and Ludovic Coval were pushing a game called Battlefields!/Combined Arms. It went quite far but the AI was totally out in the weeds and development kind of collapsed. I read recently that they were trying to restart development... that was over a year ago.

There are some green shoots @JonS - it's not all doom and gloom.

In the tubes we have Desert War 1940-42 which is currently under closed beta

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/676/details/Desert.War.1940-1942

It was slated for release after summer, but seems development hit a snag too.

Last, there's also Armor Brigade

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/685/details/Armored.Brigade

Which is pausable real time, with a User Interface that aims at minimising "mandatory" micro. If it comes with PBEM over impulses we then would have a high fidelity, WEGO, grand tactical sim. A true successor to TacOps and Command Ops.

 

 

[Mord]

3 hours ago, BletchleyGeek said:

there's also Armor Brigade

That game looks pretty cool. I have one nit pick with it though, and after reading and watching some stuff I am surprised the guy left it out of the design seeing how detail oriented it all looks. The units don't have "people" names. Sounds stupid, but man when I play a wargame, especially at that level, it makes such a difference when Barker, the valiant Sherman TC gets blown up, as opposed to B2/Sherman.

I am gonna keep my eye on it regardless.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

Mord.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Mord

[BletchleyGeek]

 No worries, @Mord.

It is true, that's a curious oversight. You may want to go and make the suggestion on their forums.

[Mord]

I thought about it, but I am not sure I want to join yet another forum that I'll probably never post at after the first time. I am a member of about 8 now, and I only post here.

 

Mord.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Mord

[StieliAlpha]

Probably not the beginning, but „Wooden Ships & Iron Men“ is at least a classic old WeGo. The first AH version dating back to 1976, I think I remember there was a version from a smaller publisher before that.

[Michael Emrys]

7 hours ago, StieliAlpha said:

...I think I remember there was a version from a smaller publisher before that.

Battleline Publications, 1974.

Michael

[wadepm]

On 12/2/2017 at 3:52 PM, BletchleyGeek said:

For a number of years Erik Rutins and Ludovic Coval were pushing a game called Battlefields!/Combined Arms. It went quite far but the AI was totally out in the weeds and development kind of collapsed. I read recently that they were trying to restart development... that was over a year ago.

I had almost forgotten about Battlefields!  I followed the development of the this game for about 10 years before finally I gave up checking on it.  Seemed like a worthy successor to the V for Victory family...    

[Mord]

8 hours ago, wadepm said:

I followed the development of the this game for about 10 years before finally I gave up checking on it.

10 years? Bah. Child's play! 82nd Airborne is going on 18 since it was announced and the webpage is still up!

 

Mord.

[Battlefront.com]

1982 - Cosmic Balance, by SSI.  One of the best games ever made IMHO.  Probably the first WeGo game I ever played.

1991 - RoboSport, by Maxis.  That game, more than probably most listed so far, has the most similar mechanics to CM in terms of detailed orders and simultaneous resolution.  Plus, it was a ton of fun!

Steve