Real-time multiplayer online Kriegsspiels

Just thought I should place here a cross-reference to the News section of the Forum – at http://forum.kriegsspiel.org.uk/f8-news - where important breakthroughs in playing Kriegsspiel remotely are taking place as at January 2012.

The new developments take the form firstly of Norbsoft Developments’ superb SCOURGE OF WAR series, presently confined to the ACW, and secondly of [French company?] Histwar’s LES GROGNARDS Napoleonic game. SOW permits very realistic 3D armies of 100,000 or more to take the field, on very large virtual battlefields, while Histwar reportedly permits the same.

Some excellent games of SOW have already been played online, using the most restrictive fog of war and view-from-the-saddle settings, and communication between officers restricted to courier messages, but Les Grognards is yet to be fully investigated and reported on this forum.

Forum users should note that there are two different forum topics covering computer Kriegsspiel – these are COMPUTER PROGRAMS under the Resources heading and COMPUTER MODERATED KRIEGSSPIEL under the Practical Kriegsspiel heading.

HPS Simulations (link below) produce a range of 2D computer wargames. They have added fog of war – HITS type features to at least two of their games and these are both playable online

"Tigers Unleashed" is set in 1939 – 42 (as David C points out, actually before Tiger tanks appeared in September 42!). From the blurb: "What makes this different from other wargames is its focus. It provides a historically accurate portrayal of tactical combat, with special emphasis on the experience of command. It puts you squarely in the leader's role, simulating conditions as he would actually experience them. Here, information and communications are all-important. Your orders take time to process and implement. Fog of war is pervasive - often leaving you with incomplete and/or outdated information"

I note that FOW of itself is a not a new feature for computer games – the Total War strategy side has it, and even Civ had it. No doubt things like Silent Hunter have it for naval games as well. But the other KS type features, plus the new period, may make "Tigers Unleashed" worth checking out. Unfortunately online play appears limited as yet to no more than two players.

Another HPSS game appears to have both online multiplayer AND fog of war, this time a naval simulation of Jutland, for which the blurb reads “When playing on-line, players are assigned separate forces and their knowledge of what other forces on their side are doing is limited by the visibility of their own ships. In this enhanced Fog-of-War feature, two players commanding the Main Fleet and Battlecruiser Fleet for example, would be unaware of the exact location of each others' forces”.

Given the superior look of Gettysburg and Les Grognards, and the possible absence of multiplayer from Tigers, these games will perhaps be of relatively limited interest, but may be worth the wealthier amongst us taking a peek, or at least scouring the net for reviews.

HPS Simulations

Rufus