A new John Tiller Software title is available: Campaign Leipzig. You can find the game at the JTS site here:

http://johntillersoftware.com/NapoleonicBattles/CampaignLeipzig.html

Over 2 years and 9 months of solid work went into this game. My team of 14 playtesters did a fine job of helping us out.

The graphics set is incredible. Specific graphics were created for units like the von Lutzow Freicorps, Prussian Guard Light Cavalry regiment, and just about every Frewilige Jager unit is represented. We had to draw the line on some units so your favorite may not be present but the v.Hellwig Freicorps are present at Größbeeren in all their colorful splendor!

I will let the website promotion tell the rest. This game covers the entire 1813 Fall Campaign and includes some of the more obscure actions of the campaign such as the action at Gohrde, Plagwitz (Lowenstein) and so on.

The new graphics look amazing. With plenty of scenarios and 5 Campaigns this is a must buy. Damnit, I promised myself I wouldn't give in to tiller's DRM. Will power.... fading.... quick....I knew this would happen once he released something I want. 

A new American Civil War or Musket & Pike release I probably couldn't resist.

But due to the DRM policy (and a tight budget), this new title (and all other new JTS releases) I can definitely resist.

Despite that, congratulations just the same.  And, yes, the Leipzig graphics do indeed look better.

DRM..shmeeRM (since buying SB MW and Tunisia I have changed PC's, reinstalled, etc. with 0 problems or effort other than pasting in an activation key...once each reinstall or PC change), I am not even that interested in Nappy titles (though my recent enjoyment of Tillers Matrix Battleground title is changing that) and I am going to get this one on pay day.   Where the @*$^@$!& is Panzer Battles...the wait is becoming cruel...I am not above throwing a one man riot!

Originally Posted By Sgt_Rock

A new John Tiller Software title is available: Campaign Leipzig. You can find the game at the JTS site here:

 

http://johntillersoftware.com/NapoleonicBattles/CampaignLeipzig.html

 

Over 2 years and 9 months of solid work went into this game. My team of 14 playtesters did a fine job of helping us out.

 

The graphics set is incredible. Specific graphics were created for units like the von Lutzow Freicorps, Prussian Guard Light Cavalry regiment, and just about every Frewilige Jager unit is represented. We had to draw the line on some units so your favorite may not be present but the v.Hellwig Freicorps are present at Größbeeren in all their colorful splendor!

 

I will let the website promotion tell the rest. This game covers the entire 1813 Fall Campaign and includes some of the more obscure actions of the campaign such as the action at Gohrde, Plagwitz (Lowenstein) and so on.

Was hoping for this campaign next in the nappy series ... congrats - this looks like one hell of a piece of work. I have gone mad in the sales but this one I definitley will get.

Ah...to be in Leipzig now that autumn is here.

The amount of work -- research, development, testing, &c. -- that goes into these things is always remarkable. 

I'd buy it just to support the migration of the scroll wheel zoom function to ALL of the Napoleonic games

Great news!

Best,

Jim

"Cyrano"

:/7)

I am LOVING the new look of the 3D units! Can't wait to get my hot little hands on this one!

Looks good. Wish he would spend some of his budget on an AI.

Originally Posted By gabeeg

DRM..shmeeRM (since buying SB MW and Tunisia I have changed PC's, reinstalled, etc. with 0 problems or effort other than pasting in an activation key...once each reinstall or PC change), I am not even that interested in Nappy titles (though my recent enjoyment of Tillers Matrix Battleground title is changing that) and I am going to get this one on pay day.   Where the @*$^@$!& is Panzer Battles...the wait is becoming cruel...I am not above throwing a one man riot!

 

It's not nesscarily the CD key that is the problem. It's the online activation. That's Ubisoft-type bull$hit and I thought John Tiller was better than that. I don't like the fact that I have to be online to install the game, and the fact I limited installs at a time. It inconviences me, the honest customer who has bought 20+ Tiller titles, yet the pirated hacker gets to install whenever he wants, where he wants, without online activation. The simple fact that even popular and major mainstreams titles are toning down on the DRM considerably shows that even the high budget/profit developers are starting to "get it" that DRM doesn't work.

I still have plenty of other Tiller titles at HPS I would like to get still so I will put off JTS for awhile.

Didn't mean to go off on a tangent. I don't want this to turn into a DRM thread!

I agree about Panzer Battles - I'm anxious to see exactly what this game is. 

V22,  I actually agree with you on the DRM...I am just past it now and my stand against DRM is weak and hypocritical when it comes to JTS...after only a couple complaining posts here on Wargamer and an email to JTS, I got past it and purchased Modern Wars...I think my principles lasted all of a day or two. 

Back to not making this a DRM thread...I am impressed with the amount of research, work and time that goes into the JTS/HPS titles.   I love it when the release is accompanied with designer notes.  For me the designer notes have swayed more than one purchase I was not anticipating making (it was an influence with this title also). 

Someone has had to have tried a scenario by now....cannot wait for the first impression posts.

(quiet background chant in inappropriate forum...."Panzer Battles...Panzer Battles...Panzer Battles...Panzer Battles")

1:  Bought, downloaded, installed, activated...all without hassle.

2:  YES!! Zooming on the mouse wheel...as the world should be.

3:  No background music, eh?  I usually listen to YouTube music anyway...

4:  The 3D units are fun...I spent a bit of time just changing them from line into column and back again.  For me, though, it will always be about 2D anyway.

5:  There are a HOJILLION scenarios.  Fine, many are variations, but even still.

6:  The maps remain one of the coolest parts of this series...ALL, and I do mean ALL, of Leipzig is in there.

7:  Leipzig with infantry BATTALIONS and cavalry SQUADRONS...that sort of thing is a lifestyle not a pasttime.  Now, mind you, it's MY kind of lifestyle, but the less stout of heart will want to stick to smaller engagements, of which there are many.  I would note that many of the largest scenarios as flagged H2H only and some even suggest what amount to "house rules" to prevent gamey behavior.  I respect this.

7a.: This is why computer games have surpassed chit board games and even miniature games for me.  Just TRY, as a happily-married father of a rogue three-year-old to play Leipzig at this level.

Now to avenge a certain defeat for my little corporal.

Best,

Jim

"Cyrano"

:/7)

A little thing, maybe is time to change or at least add an option to change objetive colour in the minimap, with armies using yellow counters (Sweeden and when release Peninsula campaign Spain) maybe is now more important.

I suggest use white because no armies use this and nothing more in the minimap is displayed in this colour, add the option in settings like in PzC with alternative highlighting.

What a great job, the most complete game in the serie.

PD: i wait to PzB, the small screenshoot is not a great deal but looks like first title cover West front... maybe for me the interest in PzB is more in the potencial that serie has to cover other things like Pacific, minor conflicts (maybe pre WW2 conflicts) and of course, modern period, i think that at this scale NATO VS WP has a great value.

The sure number of scenarios is simply amazing.  Thanks for the time and effort put into making the game to all involved.

From what I saw, there are 200+ scenarios in this game.  Judging on all of the extra documentation that comes included with this game, it sounds like it it may be right up there with France '14. 

As for the art work...Judging on the screen shots, I am really impressed! 

There are 309 scenarios in the main folder. Some of these are view only - you just open up the scenario in the Scenario Editor to view the icons for instance in this one:

Icons_Review-By3D#.scn

In the Fall folder there are a further 146 scenarios.

In the Grossbeeren folder (GB) there are 45 scenarios.

In the Dennewitz folder (DC) there are 36 scenarios.

In the Leipzig folder there are 9 scenarios.

In the Silesia folder there are 12 scenarios.

The OB_View scenarios are just for viewing so I will not count them.

Altogether the full count is about 557 scenarios. Again three in the main folder are just for viewing. 554 to play.

I want to note right away that many of these were duplicates - about half in the main folder are just conversions to a 15 min. turn. Some are for cavalry regiments, etc.

All of my campaigns have their own folder so that there is less bulk (LOL) in the main folder. I even thought of putting the 15 min. conversions into their own folder as well.

You can decide what to do with the .scn files. If you do not like your main folder cluttered you can create your own folder if you like. Just remember to put the files back when you go to update your game in the future.

For instance: maybe you like the 10 min. format - you could create a "15_Min" folder and put all of the "z" series scenarios in that folder. Or maybe you do not like 10 min. scenario format. Again just create a "10-Min" folder and put the first 140 or so scenarios in that one. Just so you remember to move them back when you update. And if you are the memory loss kind of person ... well just leave them where they are!

Scenarios can be played from any level in the main folder so moving them will NOT stop you from starting one up. But probably it is best to just leave them where they are. All a matter of personal preference and please, do not respond with "this is a dumb idea." We are all built differently. Some folks do not like to go through a list of 309 scenarios in the Scenario Selection Dialog window.

And remember - the Scenario Strategy Guide was designed to help you SEE what the setup looks like. Right off you can tell if the scenario is either Small, Medium, Large or Super Large in size.

Originally Posted By Cyrano

...

 

3:  No background music, eh?  I usually listen to YouTube music anyway...

 

...

To have background music in Campaign Leipzig, just copy the Music folder from any of the other Nap games and paste it into the Leipzig folder. Voilá! Music!

Thanks Atle for alerting us to this. Mark Nelms said the same thing to me in an email.

Is it not WAD?

You have backgroound sounds now instead of background music. 

Is the 3D new in this game? Any pictures of them changing formations? 

The game sure looks great, maybe my first turn based nap game...

Austrian unit in column:

Same unit after changing into line:

The 3D units are JTS plain vanilla and have been redone from earlier versions of the series. 

[The grass that you see in the screenshots is a mod, as is the unitbox (which needs some work).   The original game has very nice flag graphics for each of the major nationalities, but doesn't break out the minor nations ( hence the mod).]

Thanks Philippe,

Does the 3D unit graphic in any way represent how many men are left in the unit? I.e. the one shown is 907 men and when they are around 400 its half the size in 3D...?

And does the play like the PzC games or the Anciet ones? I haven't tried any of them but read that the ancient uses som kind of command system...

Tiller games in their various incarnations (Talonsoft, HPS, JTS) are tabletop/paper and cardboard counter boardgames ported to the computer and evolved with emphasis on what computers can do that a boardgame can't.  To understand what his Napoleonic series is you'd best go take a look at something like the Clash of Arms website's Napoleonic tactical games, then think about what would happen if you ported one of them to the computer.  There's even one set of options (that very few use at this point) that allows you to exactly replicate the sequence of different kinds of phases in a batallion-level tactical wargame.  This gets to be kind of a problem when dealing with big battles (or even part of big battles) at this scale, so a system has been developed which squoonches all the phases together.  Not WEGO, but you and your opponent don't have to play out six or seven alternating phases to find out what happens in the course of a single turn.

You'll hear a lot of screaming and yelling about AI.  These games tend to have a lot of moving pieces and millions of options for exactly how to do it.  Yes, there's AI, and no, it won't clean your clock unless you don't know what you're doing.  But the AI is there so you can learn the game system and then move on to playing a human opponent by email (or yourself, solitaire, by hotseat).  And god help you if you think you can get away using the tactics with a human that you used against the AI. 

Some games, with relatively few tactical choices, will appear to have better AI than ones with ten times as many pieces and hundreds of different things to do with them or ways in which to do it.  What people are really talking about is the difference between writing AI for checkers and for chess.  Anybody can write it for checkers, and the checkers AI will probably bag you unless you play a perfect game.  Writing AI for a game with millions of possible combinations is on a whole different order, even if your computer almost has the number crunching power to examine each of those millions of moves by brute force.  At least with chess, which has been around for centuries, you can script the AI with a gadzillion openings that have been under intense study for over a hundred years. 

Now circling back to your original questions, if you think about what I've been saying you'll realize that, no matter how neat the 3D looks, the majority of people tend to do their playing on the different scaled 2D maps, because that's where the serious thinking takes place.  I have never actually tested to see if the graphic of a unit gets smaller if it gets shot up.  You will get blobs of bloody corpses lying around wherever a unit took casualties, which can serve as a useful reminder for where the fighting actually took place.  But these games aren't about eye candy.

Now, as for the command system, you have a bunch of battalions which can detach companies of skirmishers, and this has various strength and morale effects on the parent unit.  The battalions tend to be organized into brigades, each with a commanding officer, the brigades into divisions with division commanders, and so on up the line.  Depending on what morale rule options you're using, if the various components aren't under tight command control and in communication within in a chain of command, an attack or defense can suddenly fall apart (as in melt away, with troops running to the rear), sometimes quite dramatically.  And at that point you'll have generals running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to rally panicking stragglers.  I think the command system found in the Panzer Campaigns games is a bit more evolved from the paper boardgame origins, but what you'll find in the Napoleonic games will discourage you from just shoving pieces around that aren't formed up into coherent units.

I'm in the middle of modding the game so I can't post any screenshots of what plain vanilla looks like, but if I get a chance I'll put up some screenshots of the diferent 2D maps so you can see what I'm talking about. 

Here are some screenshots of the last day of Leipzig using different screens.

  [ see below for newer versions]

These are screenshots of my Leipzig game with a mod in progress.  The plain vanilla JTS game doesn't look exactly like this, and the finished mod won't even look like this either.  But the difference between what you get from JTS and what you see here is one of style -- you can visit the JTS website if you want to see what the plain vanilla version looks like.

Additional screenshots can be found here. As I get time I will keep on adding to these so remember to come back in a month or so can check out the link again.

http://myweb.cableone.net/williampeters/lpzg/ad-screens.html

So I took the plunge and bought the game. You guys were right. It was very easy to activate and wasn't intrusive at all. HOWEVER, as a long time and  loyal JT fan, this DRM better be taken out in the future. Hopefully they get enough revenue so that they realize the DRM isn't needed.

So far so good, though there appears to be a conflict with this new engine  and my GPU(AMD Radeon HD 6450 1GB Overclocked) The game starts out fast then quickly goes very slow and sluggish. 

Any word when the previous titles will be updated? I love Campaign Austerlitz but it's hard to go back to those old graphics after playing Leipzig.