marklavar

I think Fury Software should investigate the legalities of using the Swastika flag; there may be a way round it. My opinion is that if you are setting a game in WW2 then you need the genuine flags of the period - it's as simple as that. Using WW1 symbols like the Iron Cross is stupid and irrelevant. And as far as offending German, Israeli or any other nation's sensibilities is concerned, I couldn't give a monkey's fart! You can't wipe out history - it will always be there.

Hitler is an easy scapegoat because he is a figure of universal hatred, but the truth is that many German Generals and Field-Marshals made many strateguc blunders at various times which cannot be attributed to Hitler's meddling. What Germany needed was a 'Generalissimo' of the highest strategic insight, with dictatorial powers on all military matters, in the mold of Ludendorff in WW1. The best candidate for job would have been Manstein, but Hitler distrusted him and the chance was gone. The eastern front disasters of 1944 might never have happened with Manstein in charge.

The Swastika is definitely NOT illegal in the UK. And I understand that it is also not illegal in Italy and Spain. I do know that France, Germany and Austria have banned it, but I'm unsure about other EU nations. I still think the swastika should be there. It was Germany's flag between 1933 and 1945 so it is a historica symbol, and only a touchy fool could take offence at such a symbol. Why not ban the hammer and sickle? After all, Communism claimed millions of lives more than Nazism. Usual double standards......

This myth about the Germans conquering Russia if only they hadn't been delayed by the Balkans is as old as the war itself. And total garbage. The Germans never really had a realistic chance of defeating the USSR by themselves (the feeble Axis allies making no difference). The numerical superiority of the Russians was such that only a massive internal upheaval or revolution could have prevented the USSR from gaining the upper hand - eventually. The 'blitzkrieg' approach could never work with the USSR because of the huge distances involved and the consequent supply and logistics problems. Therefore this would bog down into a war of attrition, in which the Germans would be slowly worn down. The ONLY real hope of victory the Germans had was to persuade the bulk of the Soviet prisoners they took to join them in a war of Russian and Ukrainian liberation against Communism. This manpower boost of, say, an extra million or million and a half men, could have made the difference to several critical battles - who knows? But with the partisans fighting alongside the Germans, not against them, the morale of the Soviet troops would have suffered badly. As it happened, it was the support of the civilian population that helped the Red Army to maintain its impetus. If only the Germans had been less stupid.......

Can I ask a politically incorrect question: why no proper German WW2 flag?

BUMP!!!

The more I think about it, the more I hate the tiles layout. I hope Hubert will rethink this decision, because it will go directly counter to the majority of wargamers' wishes. Hexes work best - it's as simple as that. Why change something that works?

Will there be a way of managing economic and industrial production in SC2? Will this become more complex than it was in SC1? Could someone clarify?

Desert Dave, This is very GOOD news! I'll be opting out of the board counters.

I don't like the new tiles. Why not just stick with the hexes and introduce stacking? This would seem to me to be more historically realistic.

Another thing I hate with the 3D pictures is that stupid disc they seem to be all placed on. Is that disc supposed to be a platform of some kind, to imitate game board counters? If so, it's idiotic in the extreme! Get rid of the discs Hubert, please. Anyway, aside from our (justified) criticism, it's still very early days. Hubert needs to be thanked for all the effort he has put into this project; the big gaming companies steer well clear of strategic wargames, preferring to develop eye candy for 15 year olds and those with a mental age of 15. With 'World in Flames' and Grigsby's 'World at War' also coming up in the next six months to one year, it should be a very interesting time for wargamers!

Clash of Steel was a good game that could have become great. In design it was miles better than SC, but the AI was awful and naval warfare ridiculous. I was disappointed that SC wasn't a revamp of CoS, just an updated imitation. Hopefully SC2 will be the game SC (and CoS) should have been.

By the way, yes I also prefer 2D icons as a matter of fact!

In a way I agree with Craig in the sense that we really didn't need the pretty graphics etc. But Hubert has to sell this game on the open market, and therefore he needs a 'hook' to draw buyers in. This isn't some private club of wargamers, Hubert is running a business. I'm actually a lot more concerned with playability, features, etc than the graphics, hexes and so on. In fairness, SC1 was nothing but a crude, updated copy of 'Clash of Steel', the classic SSI game of the early 90s. SC2 looks to me like what SC1 should have been in the first place, so I welcome it.

It's still 'beer and pretzels', which is a shame because the game concept has HUGE potential. Hopefully, SC2 will be a much more 'serious' affair. What the game needs is a lot more detail, but without the lunatic micromanagement you see in 'Hearts of Iron'.