Second Front

Strategy 1990 Dos Dosbox SSI World Wars

From the wargaming crafty hands of Gary Grigsby

Wargaming in the 90s and even later on was dominated by the mind and by the flair for computed simulations of tabletop wargaming of Gary Grigsby. In fact, his legacy was so important that he had a whole series of games produced and marketed exclusively on the power of his name, and so many more others that were just his brainchildren. At any rate, Second Front: Germany Turns East is a very detailed simulation of the portion of the first world war, which saw the conflict between Germany and Russia escalate. The level of the wargame is the division level, thus you'll be controlling larger, higher hierarchical troop groupings and you will have the entire Russian and the Stalingrad region covered by the maps in full. There are more than 200 divisions to command and the level of information for each one is very explicit, so you always know whom you are pitting against whom. Thus, this is a nicely executed, detailed and yet simple to control simulation and you will find it pretty good looking also, for a game released in 1990. So, wargamers out there, this one goes for you.

Good idea, poor AI

Second Front was a good, not great, game for its day, but the AI was poor. With the maximum advantage to the computer (Soviet), the worst I ever did was a decisive victory in February 1942. The computer was NOT up to handling a blitzkrieg, so don't even try to let the computer handle the Germans. Tactically, forget the south. Stalingrad is a trap, avoid it for the more northerly objectives. Drive north and est to Leningrad and cut those rail lines. Be sure to occupy the hexes that can supply the city over the lakes, too. Get east of Moscow and again, cut the rail lines. You'll be gasping by then... but so will the Soviets. Due east of Moscow, if you have handled things properly, lies the fifth objective hex. You'll likely be out of supply when you occupy it, but who cares? The Soviets shouldn't have anything left to hit you with...

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