Command Ops : Battles for the Bulge – Lets Play?

I’ve been enjoying some Lets Play Archives lately, particularly for War in the East. Though I’ve found a few really good ones for Command Ops too. The game really lends itself to a great Lets Play, there’s a ton of stuff going on, there’s a lot of variety, and an opportunity to wrap it into a great story. My Twitch stream is at http://www.twitch.tv/titaniumtrout

In case you don’t know what a Lets Play is, or what Twitch is, you basically read my reports, or watch me, play a game. It’s not like watching though, not exactly, you get the commentary that goes with it. Or you should, a boring Twitch stream is one without interaction. That’s the other fun part, you can interact with me while I do it and tell me how horrible I am. Or that I just let my Infantry Company die in a Panzer fire. Sometimes the written reports are even better, they read like a great AAR. Except it’s pseudo-real time.

More action centered games, like World of Tanks, work great on Twitch, but not so well on the Lets Play written format. Mainly because it happens so quick. But turn based games, or pausable ones really do. Some of the better Lets Plays get the reader involved and you can get the opportunity to direct a portion of the battle. In some cases saved games are passed around and one commander can try and fix (or change strategies) with what the others did.

So far I’ve played the St. Vith tutorial three times. I wish I’d recorded the first one as it turned out amazing. My Shermans put a walloping down and routed the Volksgrenadiers while the infantry worked perfect. We made such a quick push that I was able to bottle up the SS Tigers before they could even get into St. Vith. The second round didn’t go quite as well, and the Wehrmacht managed to hit my flanks and stunted my push. I’m experimenting on the third round and seeing how versatile the AI is (it’s very versatile).

Battle of St. Vith – Wikipedia Article

Game Map

 

 

 

 

Aerial photo of Saint Vith. (Notice the craters)

As you can see the maps are modeled pretty well to reflect St. Vith.

The game models the terrain very well. Your units don’t plop from hex to hex, but instead follow the best route they decide. I can micromanage, but the game is designed so that the commander issues orders to subordinates and they do their jobs. A far change from most games where you have to tell each individual soldier where, and when, to run. This can be awesome, but frustrating while you wonder why the Recon Platoon isn’t moving and your tanks just ran smack dab into those Panthers.

Keep an eye out while I work out a good format for showing St. Vith.