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Distant Guns: The Russo-Japanese War

	Author: Oleg Mastruko Article Type: PC Game Preview Publication Date: 12/12/2005 Developer: Norm Koger, Jim Rose Publisher: Storm Eagle Studios Related Categories: Real-time, Tactical, Simulation

Steel, Coal, and Smoke 

Well, we finally have the opportunity of previewing Norm Koger's new game – Distant Guns: The Russian-Japanese War at Sea, published and distributed by Storm Eagle Studios, the company Norm Koger formed with former Talonsoft executive Jim Rose.

I assume readers of this article fall in two groups: a) those that never heard of Norm Koger, and b) those who know Norm through his very popular – for wargaming standards at least – The Operational Art of War series. 

If you belong to category a), some explanations are in order: The Operational Art of War debuted in 1998 and went through several updates, iterations, and scenario packs. It finally culminated two years later in the best, biggest, and meanest game of them all – The Operational Art of War: A Century of Warfare. A Century of Warfare consolidated all the scenarios from each of the previous versions of The Operational Art of War and their battlepacks, and is usually considered the standard by which all other hex-based operational level wargames are measured. Norm Koger had some very good, and reasonably popular games before The Operational Art of War: Age of Rifles, Red Lightning, and Tanks! among others. But let's not go too far back now...The Operational Art of War overshadowed them all in terms of both popularity and comprehensiveness, with hundreds of scenarios, half a dozen versions, and number of copies sold.

If you belong to category b), then you know all about The Operational Art of War, and I guess you have been eagerly awaiting the next game from Norm. Let me tell you right away, this game is nothing like The Operational Art of War. In fact, it is almost as far removed from The Operational Art of War as possible, while still keeping to a historical and war theme. OK? Disappointed? You may be, but I suggest you to read on... 

The first thing to keep in mind is never, never judge this game by The Operational Art of War. This is just a totally different game. Now, I promise this is the last time I mention The Operational Art of War in this article. Enough background; let's get to the game.

I love naval games and simulations, and I love 3D as much as I enjoy pushing unit counters across hex-based maps. From the first moment Norm made his future plans clear a couple of years ago, I began watching the development of Distant Guns with anticipation.

In fact, part of my immense personal respect for Norm Koger stems out not just from the mundane fact he produces great games. He is also incredibly brave in a business sense, always doing something radically new: The Russo-Japanese War, can it get any more obscure than that from the point of view of your average US or Western European buyer (the driving force of the industry)? Whatever we might think of all the other aspects of the game – and we'll get to that soon enough – just this fact deserves the utmost respect.

This is how contemporary Japanese artist saw death of Russian Admiral Makarov – commander they had lots of respect for. This incident is desribed in the article, and forms basis for one of the scenarios.

3D naval tactical Sim

Distant Guns is a 3D tactical naval simulator, the first in a planned series of similar games. The game deals with the naval battles of the Russo-Japanese war, which took place in 1904-05. These battles are long forgotten by many, but are historically significant and tactically are very interesting. I have also heard this conflict has also been Koger's private obsession for some time.

The original idea was for this game to cover land battles, in some abstract way, so that they would have an impact on the naval campaign(s). But in the end, the game does not have even a naval campaign – yet, at least it wasn't present in my preview copy. A campaign button is present but is "greyed out", in Windows parlance. So far, the pre-release preview copy is a collection of naval scenarios which are rendered in a very realistic 3D tactical naval engine. Personally I, along with most of my wargaming friends, have absolutely no problem with games being just collection of scenarios, but there is a segment of the gaming public which wants campaigns in order to bring more immersion.

Storm Eagle Studios said they plan to work on Koger's original plans for a naval campaign and abstract land model later, perhaps in some patch or add on. Deep inside the game manual there is a discussion about a "Campaign set" being released at the later date, and scenarios actually packed with the game are called "Battle set 1", giving out hint that there will be "Battle set 2" in the future.

Again, readers should keep in mind that I was given a preview version, which will not be 100% same as the final release, but it is my impression it's pretty close.

I will take the opportunity to quote Norm Koger directly, from his introductory document to Distant Guns.

"Welcome to Distant Guns: The Russo-Japanese War at Sea. This is the first of a series of 3d, realtime, naval combat games. Other games in the series may eventually include topics ranging from the Spanish-American War to World War II. We chose the Russo-Japanese War as the setting for the first game in the series for three reasons. First, all of the major elements of 20th century naval warfare are present. Second, many of the secondary elements that featured so prominently in World Wars I and II could be ignored during the initial development of the game engine. Finally, I have a real affection for this historical period, and I am very happy that the previous two arguments could be used to justify a focus on the Russo-Japanese War."

Hey, I find his last argument truly funny. Another quote:

"I am particularly pleased that we managed to focus on the 1904-1905 period. All too frequently, game designers are forced by market pressures to concentrate on topics outside their area of interest. I do have a serious interest in World Wars I and II, and I look forward to tackling the rich entertainment opportunities of these periods. But it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to have an excuse to slip obscure Russian gunboats into the art budget. The next few years promise to be a lot of fun as we add the campaign game, deal with other campaigns, and extend the game engine. Your suggestions for improvements and extensions will help with this. As with my previous title, The Operational Art of War, I have designed the game on this topic that I want to play. For my part, I believe I have succeeded. I find the game tremendously fun to play, and I hope you do as well."

Wishing Norm sincere good wishes with all his future plans, I turn my attention to the installation and actual gameplay of the game and scenarios we have at hand...

Beautiful screenshot showing IJN cruiser squadron circling around wounded Russian cruiser to finish it off...	Level of 3D detail is fascinating, and never before seen in the world of serious realistic wargames – check out little guys manning the guns on Japanese armored cruiser.