The Wargamer

Over two years in the making, Advanced Tactics: World War II is the successor to Vic Reijkersz’s People’s Tactics, a turn-based (IGOUGO) wargame, which combined research, production and the ability to command air, land and sea units. Available as a free download, People’s Tactics offered a fresh and highly customizable approach to hex-based wargaming. Advanced Tactics draws on many of the key concepts found in its predecessor, placing emphasis on production, supply, and the chain of command in order to successfully prosecute operational and theater-sized campaigns. This review is based on a late build of the game, which is mostly complete except for some final tweaking of sound and graphics. It covers the game’s core concepts and provides some early thoughts on where the game excels and where it may fall short.

As the name implies, Advanced Tactics: World War II focuses on the Second World War. All the units in the game, their images and sounds, the political boundaries featured on the map and many of the scenarios are representative of that period. That being said, however, the game boasts a versatile engine that enables gamers to recreate any battle, past, present, or future. Indeed, the game ships with scenarios not only recreating key World War II campaigns but also several hypothetical conflicts, giving gamers a taste of what can be achieved with Advanced Tactics’ built-in scenario editor.

The ability to create user-made scenarios is likely to be welcomed by many, particularly as the game ships with only a small handful of World War II scenarios. There are others included with the game, although these are fictional with many designed to be played on symmetrical maps. Most scenarios are designed for single-player games, although some of the larger scenarios such as the Pacific Campaign are designed for more than one human player. Similar to People’s Tactics, up to nine players, whether human or AI, are able to participate in certain scenarios, making this game stand out further from many of its contemporaries. Adding to Advanced Tactics’ replay value is the inclusion of a “Random Scenario” option. Here, the player can determine the size and general makeup of the map, which is then generated by the computer. The opposing sides are generic and non-historical, although the units themselves are drawn from game’s World War II database.

When I first received the game I had to dive into it somewhat blind as the manual was still being drafted and not immediately available. Fortunately the game has a nicely presented and mostly intuitive interface, which allowed me to get a game up and running with little effort. For me, a well-designed interface is often as important as good gameplay and challenging AI. Too often this aspect of a game is neglected or at least does not receive the attention it deserves to deliver an enjoyable gaming experience. This is generally not the case with Advanced Tactics, although I believe that there is still some room for improvement. Like its predecessor, the game suffers somewhat from too many screens and the layout of those screens is at times inconsistent. The manual I eventually received, although still in draft form, did help me to quickly understand the game’s core concepts and underlying mechanics. Reading this, along with the accompanying tutorial, is highly recommended to get the most out of the game.

As can be seen in the screenshots, the majority of the main screen is consumed with the map, over which a hexagonal outline can be displayed. Beneath it are details about the currently selected unit and an array of buttons that allow the player to perform a range of actions relating to the unit. Depending on the unit type, these can include transferring sub-formations between units, transporting the selected unit by air or sea, creating a new unit, performing an aerial reconnaissance mission, and undertaking engineering tasks such as bridge building. These buttons change when an enemy unit is selected, allowing the player to perform various types of direct and indirect attacks against it. When the mouse hovers over these buttons, their actions are also displayed on a text bar, which removes the need for guesswork as to what the icons represent. Additional buttons allow the player to apply a color-coded supply filter, show the map without units on it, access a large overview map, review the previous turn and other important information and to end the current turn. One button that is not present, and should be, is an Undo button. Unfortunately, once the player has moved a unit this action cannot be undone.