I have to admit that for the initial couple of hours on the first day of E3 I was totally awe struck by the lavish exhibits that some of the major software publishers put on. Simply amazing.

   Sadly I have to say that the quantity of true wargames at E3 was disappointingly small. First, the let-downs: My hopes for getting a glimpse of iMagic’s upcoming Road to Moscow was to be unfulfilled. According to iMagic, "Road to Moscow wasn't in a state ready for the mass media." The other let-down was Avalon Hill's no show. Hopefully, they plan on showing off their new software titles at their upcoming Avaloncon this August.

Talonsoft

   Talonsoft showed an early beta of West Front, their recently released Tribal Rage, and Norm Koger’s much awaited The Operational Art of War. After seeing a quick run down of Tribal Rage and The Operational Art of War (expect to see full length reviews on both of these games at The Wargamer soon) I cornered Jim Rose and Matt Henning. They promptly spilled the goods and gave me the scoop on the planned improvements to the East Front game system in its upcoming sequel, West Front.

   In a nutshell, West Front will include an impressive array of countries, with the addition of 600 new units from France, the United Kingdom and her allies, as well as the United States. The action will occur in Western Europe and North Africa. Cosmetic improvements to West Front include the removal of the jagged edges that currently represent changes in elevations. Players will also be able to choose between different camouflage color schemes for units. Expect to see more animation in aircraft bombing runs along with the addition of more airplane types.

   After gamers bombarded Talonsoft with requests for the addition of linked scenarios in their campaign game of East Front, Talonsoft has added this feature to West Front. The random campaign generator will still be included, allowing the player the flexibility of both linked preset scenarios and random, on-the-fly campaigns. If that’s not enough, West Front’s scenario editor will allow players to create their own linked campaigns. An entirely new mission type has also been added --- commando raids. Players can now conduct commando raids where the main objective might be to blow up a bridge or building. Unfortunately, if you select commando raid as your mission type to start a campaign, you won’t be able to change back to the traditional mission types later in the campaign.

   During initial development, problems arose with adapting East Front’s AI to effectively handle units in the drastically different battle conditions of North Africa. Jim Rose likened the action here to a sea battle, with little elevation changes, requiring the AI to make different tactical decisions that involved a better threat assessment. "Can the unit sit back and trade punches with the enemy or will it need to close in due to an inferiority in weapon systems," is how Jim explained the thought process. The AI now has now been beefed up to include eleven sub levels of logic for each mission type. Overall control of units and unit groupings is also going to be improved in West Front. Units given a formation order will now retain their current formation spacing rather than stacking up in the group’s final destination hex, as what currently occurs in East Front.

   Multi-player support has been expanded in West Front, now capable of handling 16 players simultaneously. Players will be able to split up their forces to simulate each player taking command of different units within a given side’s forces. An interesting twist to this is that players will only be able to see enemy units spotted by units under their immediate command. Hopefully, some communications will be allowed between players, but the present implementation may be an accurate illustration of the confusion that occurs on the real battlefield. Expect to see East Front’s multi-player capability increased to eight players with the upcoming version 1.08 patch.

   Looks like Talonsoft has again lived up to their reputation of listening to their customers and adding many requested improvements into West Front. For more information about West Front keep an eye on Talonsoft's Coming Soon page.

SSI

   With the large number of recent SSI releases that pre-dated E3, the closest thing to a true wargame shown by SSI at E3 was a late alpha version of People's General. People's General takes the Panzer General II system into the 21^st Century, with Russia destabilized and China the aggressor. As expected, the United States comes to the rescue of humanity. People’s General will include two campaigns, each with 19 scenarios.

   Since People's General involves weapons of the 21^st Century, SSI has tried to stick to weapons currently in use or being considered for use by U.S., Russian, and Chinese forces (i.e., there will be no ray guns). Expect a fast-paced game, since these weapon systems are extremely deadly at even long ranges. Already gorgeous in Panzer General II, maps in People’s General will be improved to take advantage of 16 bit color at a 800 by 600 resolution (compared to the 640 by 480 resolution found in Panzer General II).

   Players will be able to customize units be adding special skill or support abilities to them between battles. Examples of these abilities include adding helicopters, anti-tank, combat engineering, or bridging capabilities, to name a few, with each unit limited to two such abilities. This is very similar to the various leader abilities found in Panzer General II except that in People’s General, the player will be able to choose which special abilities his units obtain. In an attempt to maintain play balance, prestige limits will be forced on players and the opposing forces will be scaled to the player’s force strength.

   Planes will no longer be under direct control of the players as was the case in prior "General" series games. Instead, at the start of a scenario, a player can spend prestige to guarantee air superiority and purchase air strikes. This level of air superiority will then have a direct effect on the quantity of air strikes a player can purchase. Air strikes can then be called in during the following battle. This method claims to better emulate a general officer in the field, requesting close air support.

   Plans are to wring out the scenario editor, cleaning up some of the bugs and limitations found in Panzer General II. Hopefully players, will now be able to set fortification and experience levels, add leaders, and overstrength units, to just name a few.

   I, of course, couldn't pass up the opportunity to complain about the down-side of the new map system, with players unable to create their own maps. I also asked whether SSI plans to release add-on map disks. Unfortunately, the cost of creating additional custom maps makes it totally unrealistic for SSI to create such an add-on. On the bight side, SSI appeared open to my suggestion of converting the Panzer General II maps for use in People's General.

   Expect to see People's General released in September. For more information checkout SSI's People's General Web Site.

Microsoft

   With the success of Close Combat and Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far, you can bet that Atomic Games and Microsoft are working on Close Combat III. What a pleasant surprise it was to actually get to play two games of Close Combat III at E3. The game was still in alpha so there were still a few bugs in the version I played.

    Close Combat III takes the player to the Eastern Front and covers the entire war there. The campaigns are set up in linear format and the battles are fought on larger maps with each scenario having players advance across the map. This is similar to the system found in the original Close Combat. Although you won’t be able to change the outcome of the war, the game will include a Moscow battle. Should you win this as German commander, you’ll be able to surrender to the Western Allies instead of the Russians.

   Some of the new features added to the game are the ability to set multiple way points, designated defend and attack zones, spreading fires, and off-board artillery. Both minefields and units able to deal with minefields will also be added. Speaking of artillery, the largest artillery piece has been increased to 120mm and mobile artillery is also being introduced. Players will also be able to purchase formations that are tank intensive, unlike the nearly armor-less Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far (at least for the Allies). Command and Control will be more important than ever, as the proximity of your units to the new Commander units will directly affect your troop’s morale and willingness to stick around during battle.

   Tanks can get stuck in the mud or in a forest area and this appeared to happen much more frequently than I believe it should. In order to get them unstuck, the player has to back up the unit and go around the obstacle. Hopefully, this will be toned down in the final version, as it seems reasonable that most competent tank drivers could avoid a tree. Of course, terrain will realistically impact movement of units crossing mud, snow, or traversing steep grades or terrain elevation changes. The battlemaker will also be included. Unfortunately, as with prior versions of the game, players will not be able to create their own maps. However, they will be able to create their own operations by linking several scenarios together.

    For more information drop by Microsoft's Close Combat 3 Web Site

Hasbro

   Okay, surprise here! Hasbro Interactive is finally porting Axis and Allies to the PC. Along with Risk and Stratego, Axis and Allies can certainly be cited as the top game for introducing many of us to the military gaming and hooking many us for life.

   Expect to see a direct port with all of the normal bells and whistles like multimedia and multi-player (via Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone). Axis and Allies is expected to be released in September 1998. We are eagerly awaiting to see if Hasbro can capture the essence and "fun factor" that we all enjoyed with the original classic board game. For more information visit Hasbro's E3 Axis and Allies page.