by Dennis ‘Matt Varnish” Campbell

Editor’s note: Dennis and Jon played this game over two months ago. But we’ve had enough FOW and TY news (books, tourneys, etc) happen that we left this report in the stack for a while. Or, we’ll blame the courier pigeons that took the lazy route from the front, and stopped off for a nosh, then a holiday enroute to NDNG HQ

By Patrick S. Baker

The first phase of the Close Combat game franchise came to an end in 2000 with the fifth game in the series, Close Combat V: Invasion: Normandy. Business and management issues left the franchise’s future in doubt, with only three developers still at Atomic still working on it.

Then came the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to the rescue. Militaries worldwide have used “serious games” as training tools ever since the early 19^th Century when Kriegsspiel (wargame in German) was created for the Prussian Army. The American Military was impressed by the Close Combat games, especially the realistic physiological modeling. So, in 2003 the USMC reached out to Atomic to see about building a Close Combat game as a training aid.

In 2004 the USMC and Atomic partnership produced Close Combat: Marines: “A tactical decision-making simulation of modern warfare”, the game was released in the September 2004 issue of the Marine Corps Gazette. It was used as a tactical instructional tool for junior leaders. A civilian version of the game was released in 2004 as Road to Baghdad. This was the first post-World War Two entry in the franchise and the only one without Close Combat in the title.

Our dedicated Battlefront podcast is back for episode 17.

By David Garvin

There is a perception among gamers that (ASL) is for old people. There is some truth to that, given that the game has been around since 1985. Almost 36 years since it was released, a young adult who played it since the beginning would be in their mid to late 50s. And if they started with when it came out in 1977, then they would be in their 60s!

The surprising thing is that there is a significant population of ASL players who are younger than the game itself. I am talking Millennials and Zoomers, or those born after 1981, who are avid ASL players. These generations, Generation Y and Z, were the first to grow up in an information age. These generations have always lived in the age of the home computer. Their members were also the first to experience the internet at a young age. Gen Xers like myself learned to adapt to the internet, but for Gens Y and Z, it’s always been there.

I first noted the younger generation playing ASL when I was at in 2018. Two friends, both named Will, were playing. Both are Gen Y Millennials and both are avid ASL players. I decided to find out what motivated them to play ASL. I know for people like me, board games were all we had growing up and as such we were easily exposed to war games, such as , and of course Squad Leader.

But I did not know what would motivate a child of the Internet to play a board-based game. I reached out to the greater ASL community, seeking people who were born after the release of ASL. I was surprised by the results and found a few commonalities among almost every respondent.

By Howard West

Creative Pursuit Games (CPG) located in Leesburg; VA hosted the PGH vs VA Team Yankee Team Challenge. The Team Challenge event was held on April 17th and 18th, 2021. CPG has been hosting small gaming tournaments during COVID based on the state of Virginia’s COVID-19 guidelines that are in place at the time of the event. Dane and his wife Kaitlin are great hosts and have a very nice and welcoming store.

The concept of the PGH vs VA challenge was developed shortly after the Team Yankee RED BLIZZARD tournament  that was held in January 2021.

The question that Dane had after RED BLIZZARD, was what can we do to have a different kind of tournament? We kicked around the idea of a RED vs BLUE tournament but realized you might end up limiting the number of players due to the Armies or Army that they own locally. Besides RED BLIZZARD was a RED vs BLUE tournament. We came up with the idea of having a team from Pittsburgh, PA, travel to CPG and take on a team from Virginia.

By Kreighton Long

Survivors from the mornings spoiling attack march back into town under the watchful eyes of their fellow defenders. The spoiling attack succeeded in delaying the advance of the British paratroopers and more importantly, their vehicle support.

The German soldiers have a short time to rest and refit for they know the British are close behind them. Ammo pouches are restocked and a few bites of food are swallowed just in time for the officers and NCOs to rouse their men to their battle position.

The church, which is located in the center of town just as God and religion was the center of life when the town of Colline de L’église was built so many centuries ago, must be held. A German sniper in the church’s bell tower reports sighting British infantry nearing the town and the engine of a nearby assault gun roars to life.

I had a chance to chat with Barry Doyle the designer of Valor and Victory and Lance Craner of Yobo Wargames and we talk about the new digital version of Valor and Victory.

By Mitch Reed

Last week the wargame community was saddened by the news that John Tiller passed away after his fight with cancer. I started to realize how much of an impact he had on our community and how much his games meant to me over the last 26 years. I want to go over the many titles John has brought us and how he really transformed PC wargaming.

By Mitch Reed

For those of you who back with me to the WWPD days you should be aware that my first NATO army for was the West German forces from the Leopard book. I dove into building a West German list for a few reasons, I thought it would be a force with a low model count, the Leo 2 was a baller tank and they looked fun to play. Since I collected this force, I have built a lot of other NATO forces and my FRG troops did not get the table time they once did. I wonder if the new units in the new WWIII West German book will change this trend.

By Patrick S. Baker

1996’s Close Combat was a roaring commercial and critical success. Based on that accomplishment, in 1997, Atomic and Microsoft released a direct sequel: Close Combat II: A Bridge Too Far. This follow-on game was set during 1944’s Operation: Market Garden. Close Combat II (CC II) featured not just American and German army units, but also British, Polish and Waffen-SS units.

The game had the same mechanics and modeling as the first Close Combat game, but with better graphics. CC II was as well received as the original game. The two Close Combat titles outsold Atomic Games previous releases by a factor of ten and CC II was Atomic’s most successful game by far, to date.

The game was also favorably reviewed with one reviewer saying that A Bridge Too Far was “improved in every way over Atomic’s original Close Combat.” The game was voted seventh in GameSpy’s “Top Ten Real-Time Strategy Games of All Time”. It was an Editor’s Choice and runner-up as the Best Wargame of the Year from PC Gamer Magazine. It was also a runner-up for Computer Gaming World’s 1997 “Wargame Game of the Year” award. The Computer Game Developers Conference nominated CC II for its “Best Strategy/Wargame Spotlight Award.”