the best operational wargame

[nokhor]

i am really itching to play a great operational wargame. something where you control regiments and up, not individuals or squads. where its possible to play different scenarios, but i don't want missions.

i don't want a tactical ' leading my squad on a covert mission to infiltrate the enemy base', and i don't want a grand strategic 'should i spend my more of my resources on curbing civilian dissent or more on industrial research'. i just want 'here's the theatre of war, you can get a, b, c types of troops, the game ends when you flag is flying over the enemy capital. go.' i'm looking for a game with multiple fronts, where you don't quite know whether the casualties piling up on your southeast front is because the enemy is really coming up that axis or whether it is a feint to distract you from the concentration of troop strength along your northeast front your scouting troops keep reporting back about.

i just wanna know what people though the best games of that caliber are, and if there are any promising ones of that ilk on the horizon.

i've played the original panzer general games, europa universalis games, john tiller games and some crappy bugfests that i will just continue to r.i.p.

[Magraev]

some years ago I had a lot of fun with TOAW (The Operational Art of War).

It's set in the 20th century, and one particular campaign depicted the entire eastern front of WW2 - a turn took over an hour - doh.

Not the most stable game unfortunately, but one of the best operational strategy-games out there.

[discovery1]

Hearts of Iron 2 will have some smaller scale clashes, like just the invasion of Italy or the battle of the buldge. Don't have command or individual regiments, although there was talk of a plug in in the works that allows this.

[nokhor]

hey Magraev,

i decided to give TOAW a try. I couldn't find a new copy anywhere online, so i purchased a used 'just like new' one from some guy through amazon. the package arrives and its really flat. and from the reviews i had read it was supposed to have a hefty manual. so i opened the package and it was just the cd, with a little note beside it. note basically says with some smattering of legal-eze that manual is on the cd with this version. i tried just clicking through a scenario, and as i'm sure you realize, failed miserably.

so now, i gotta go to 'help topics' read a little then go back to the game, then go back to 'help topics'. no wonder that blankety blank blank was so willing to offload it on someone else. but i shall persevere, its just gonna take me longer to get past the learning curve than i anticipated.

[Mount Suribachi]

I would have said the Panzer/Allied General series, but you've already played them

[khelvan]

War in the Pacific. Though, I think this game might be a little beyond the scope of what you are looking for.

Still, it is by far the best wargame of its kind I have ever played, bar none. Warning, it will suck you in for days, weeks at a time.

http://www.warinthepacific.net/

http://www.matrixgames.com/