Computer Gaming

by David Garvin

Sometime back in the mid 1980s, I went to my friend Stephen’s house for the weekend. He was one of the first people who had a personal computer. On it he had a game called War in Russia. It covered the Eastern Front in its entirety, and between the two of us, we spent hours on it, using its now quite-dated graphics. We were not strangers to games on this level; however, the designer, Gary Grigsby, found a way to have the battles resolved down to the lowest levels.

By Mitch Reed

When I first heard about this game being ported to a digital format, I was excited and also worried on how some ports from board games turn out. After bugging Dave Thompson for a preview copy, I got the chance to check it out, and it is amazing and will make you salivate to play over and over again.

By Mitch Reed

I have long been a fan of John Tiller and the newest release from covers one of the forgotten campaigns of World War Two, the campaign to open the port of Antwerp that took place in October and November 1944. The took place right after the failure of Operation Market Garden and before the Battle of the Bulge, so it does not get the rightful attention it should. In their new title Scheldt 44, the designers change that with yet another great addition to the Panzer Campaigns Series.

It has been years since I consistently picked up a Real Time Strategy title but those days are definitely over. Combat Mission Shock Force 2 fills a perfect gaming niche for these pandemic days, with challenging scenarios and replayability. I was able to play through the tutorial and jump into battle feeling about as prepared as any fresh trainee does. There were some learning curves in the first battles outside training and overall I think those reflect more on my skills as a commander than the game. After a few battles, it was gratifying to see a well-orchestrated maneuver sweep an objective.

Like many of you I am under lockdown and I am itching for some gaming relief, well the good people at have finally released a PC port of their iconic board war game Lock and Load called . This project is one I was following for a while since it seems to been in development for a long time and now it is in early-release and has been giving me hours of fun while at home.

The Great War games keep rolling out and for junkies of the conflict are in gaming heaven. The next big release is coming to your PC and it is a remake of one of my favorite games; Strategic Command Great War. For those of you who have not played any games in the series (WW2 came out exactly a year ago) they cover conflicts at the strategic level, so you not only control vast armies but also control the means of production, diplomacy and technological improvements of the nation you play.

When PC gaming first became available, I like many of you, played the many games of the Close Combat series. is now releasing the seventeenth title in the series, Close Combat: The Bloody First which takes the classic series to a new level and uses a completely new game engine to make this new edition an instant classic.

By Bill White

Sometimes at NDNG we like to hear from our readers and today Bill White has provided us with his review of Armored Brigade, and new release by the folks at Slitherine/Matrix Games. Armored Brigade is a PC game that puts you in the role of a NATO or Warsaw Pact commander whose mission is to reach the Rhine in 7 days or blunt the WP forces from rolling over West Germany. The game has multiple nations in which you can play and even includes the forces of the non-aligned Finns. You can find the game and check out the special offer we have at the end of this article.

For those of you that have followed my posts over the years know that I am also a die hard PC gamer. One of the publishers that has always captured my attention (and Dollars) are the guys from Games who have been hard at work putting out some great games over the last few months that you should not miss.

I have been talking with Paolo Paglianti, who is the public relations manager for Slitherine/Matrix Games [editor: and is now contributing to NDNG in Table-Top wargaming, mainly on FOW and TY coverage].

He has given me a few preview codes for some of the hot new releases they have published in 2018, and some of these games were way to fun and addictive to stop playing and tell you about them. What I have always liked about this publisher is how the games they produce cover the gamut of war gaming, historical to fantasy, strategic to tactical and ancients to a future conflict, these guys have everything you can think of and I am sure they have something that will also suck you into your computer for a few hours.