Battleground: Waterloo - Initial Impressions --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From John Menichelli Newsgroups comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I received Battleground: Waterloo in the mail yesterday (5-25) and I've been playing it for about 6 hours now. Here are my initial impressions: 1. Graphically, BGW is better than BGG, with more detail on the 3D map. The various buildings are especially well done. 2. An additional zoom level has been added to the 3D display (Extreme Zoom Out). This lets you get a wider view of the battlefield in 3D mode. 3. BGW comes with 22 (!) scenarios, covering various historical and what-if situations (such as what-if Blucher didn't show up, what-if Grouchy *did*, etc). The full Battle of Waterloo is 44 turns. 4. The scale is 100 meters per hex; 15 minutes per turn during dawn/ dusk/daylight turns; 1 hours per turn during night turns. 5. BGG has been compared the Richard Berg's Terrible Swift Sword; I would compare BGW to SPI's Wellington's Victory. It's been a while since I last played WV, but I believe BGW uses WV's turn sequence. In fact, WV is listed in BGW's bibliography. 6. IMHO, BGW captures the feel of the Napoleonic period quite well. As compared to BGG, BGW adds skirmishers, heavy cavalry, lancers, British 2-rank infantry, infantry squares and extended lines, to name a few things. 7. Infantry and cavalry strength is shown by the actual number of men in the unit (rounded to the nearest 25). Artillery strength is the number of guns in the unit. 8. All losses are recorded in 25 man/1 gun increments. 9. The turn sequence is different from BGG's; I like it a lot. The turn sequence is as follows: Movement Phase Defensive Phase Offensive Fire Phase Cavalry Charge Phase Melee Phase 10. During the Movement Phase, the only allowed formation change is for infantry units in line to form column. All other formation changes occur during the Defensive Phase. This forces the non-phasing player to remain alert - if a cavalry unit moves within charge range during the Movement Phase, it might be wise to form square with your infantry. (But then again, maybe not...depends on the proximity of enemy artillery) 11. Formation changes are not always successful. Each unit projects a threat zone to its front. The program calculates the threat value for each hex based on the strength of each unit projecting a threat zone. When a formation change is attempted, the total of all enemy threat zones is calculated. This, along with the unit's Quality Level, determines if the formation change is successful. If the formation change is not successful, the unit becomes Disordered. 12. The AI selection menu now allows you to give one side or the other an advantage on a sliding scale of 0 to 100. The side with the advantage will cause greater casualties and suffer fewer. 13. In addition to play against the computer and over a modem, BGW adds PBeM capabilities. The CD also has demos of BGA and BGG, plus upgrades for BGG to version 1.02 and BGA to version 1.2. 14. On the down side, the manual has a few typos, but the read.me file contains the corrections. All in all, I heartily recommend BGW to anyone interested in the period or the battle. John menichel@pixi.com From: Russ Subject: Battleground Waterloo AI Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 09:50:28 -0400 I have been playing BGW for about three days off and on, in the first scenario on the battle list. I have several observations about the AI and gameplay: 1. The AI, is, IMO better than Battleground Gettysburg. As the French, I have made assaults with infantry and had them turned back by combined artillery and infantry fire. The AI also sets up a defensive line to stop advances, and reinforces it as needed. You literally have to look for a hole to take advantage of. I have manage to charge into the English rear area using cavalry and smashed artillery units, only to be surrounded and picked apart by infantry and cavalry. Additionally, the AI is very observant where your cavalry is concerned, it seldom make the mistake of not adopting a defensive square when your cavalry is in close proximity. Good stuff. 2. The lone unprotected general manuever is still present unfortunately. In my next move, I am about to capture British major general who for some unknown reason remained in his hex long after his men had pulled back from the front line. Fortunately this occurance seems pretty rare next to battleground Gettysburg. 3. The AI does not appear to recognize when artillery and supply wagons are in jeopardy. I have been successful at taking both with a steady infantry advance. This should not happen. A human player would normally pull back and regroup at some point to avoid being overrun and losing assets. 4. I have noticed that the artillery AI seldom returns fire against human batteries firing against it. I have knocked out 39 artillery pieces using my artillery pieces. Just setup and shoot. They almost mever shoot back. In fact, I have not lost a single artillery piece to enemy artillery. However, the artillery AI is deadly on infantry and cavalry units so beware. Overall, I think that BGW is a very big improvement over BGG in the AI category, despite some of the above comments. I realize that some in this group will need more details, so after a little more play I will try to post more detailed observations. Anybody else have any thoughts? Russ From: Mike Elliott Subject: COMP: BG:Waterloo Here's a quick overview of some of the major changes to Talonsoft's Battleground engine implemented in Waterloo (comparisons are to Gettysburg and not Ardennes): -Strength points are now 25 men instead of 100, and the actual number of men is shown on the icon instead of the number of SPs. -Scale is now 100 meters per hex. -Odds based melee table replaces the old differential one. -Only the units in the front ranks can take losses, except when fired on by artillery which can affect any or all of the units in the target hex. -Only a certain number of SPs (less than the stacking limit) can fire from a hex, but larger units can now form extended lines to alleviate this effect (yes it works very much like The Gamers CWB extended lines). -Units now face a hex vertex instead of a hexside, and field of fire extends out from the two frontal hexsides. -Skirmishers! Units can detach 10% of their strength as skirmishers - light units can deploy as many skirmishers as desired up to the entire battalion. Cavalry can also detach squadrons in the same manner as light units. Skirmishers have no facing and are more effective in buildings and woods. Cavalry has a chance to overrun them, though. They are deployed and recalled much like extended lines. -The addition of the square formation of course. Big news though is that most formation changes must now be done in the defensive fire phase instead of the movement phase. Only infantry changing to column and artillery limbering is allowed in the move phase. All others must take place during def fire and a unit cannot fire and change formation during the same phase. This has some subtle effects on strategy! -All units now exert a 'threat zone'. The range and intensity of this zone vary with unit type. Whenever a unit tries to change formation, its 'threat status' is calculated which is the sum of all enemies currently exerting threat zones on it. Depending on the quality of the unit attempting the formation change and the value of the threat status, the unit may fail to change formation and become disordered instead. A nifty addition - no more marching right up to the enemy in column and then changing to line before he can fire. -a true PBEM module including a replay feature which actually works! No more scurrying across open terrain and then ducking back into cover to stay hidden from your opponent. Now you can actually see the enemy's units dash across that field and dissapear again into the cover! You can also tell where he is concentrating fire, perhaps prepping for an attack. - An improved, but still not perfect, AI. I agree with most of the comments in the other post forwarded to the list. I just use the AI to learn the system anyway and then its time for some great PBEM action! All the neat tactical interactions are there for inantry cavalry and artillery. Lots of small and what-if scenarios in addition to the big battle. This is a BIG game! A must have for Napoleon computer wargame fans. Shiloh is just entering beta-testing this week. Can't wait to see this one! This is all off the top of my head - hope I didnt miss anything major. No affiliation with Tsoft except as a playtester. Mike E. elliotro@pdc02.sch.ge.com