Getting in the mood for some World War 2 (WW2) scale model kit projects

 Hello, my name is FourEyedMonster and I am a 'modelholic'. There, I said it. No, no ... not the kind that is addicted to ogling at Victoria Secret runway models. More the type that has collected (which sounds better than unnecessarily splurged money on) way too many scale model kits. And as much as I hate to admit it, possibly more model kits than I can finish in one lifetime. Weirdly enough, this personal admission is truer for 1/35 scale WW2 armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) than any other model kits from different genres. More to the point, I need to start working on an AFV soon.

German soldiers advance outside Stalingrad late in 1942 (source: The Atlantic)

Soviet soldiers in the rubble of Stalingrad, autumn 1942 (source: The Atlantic)

 And the oddity that's me translates this situation into a need to first get psyched for the genre before any AFV project even gets off the ground. Usually this would involve reading historical books as well as watching shows and documentaries about WW2. But with the year-end being my traditional PC gaming binge period, I am instead building up excitement about WW2 AFV model kit projects via turn-based wargaming of the digital kind. And to me, nothing epitomizes WW2 digital wargaming like the Gary Grigsby series i.e. War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-45 and War in the West.

Gary Grigsby's War in the East: The German-Soviet War 1941-45

Screenshot of the complex computer wargame that is War in the East

 Both Gary Grigsby games sport manuals with lengthy page counts: 382 pages for War in the East and 311 pages for War in the West. Being the type who meticulously pours over every inch of a manual before play begins, I have a ways to go before I get to truly enjoy these wargames as they are meant to be played. As a side note, my OCD tendencies has also caused me to complement my digital wargaming experience with two, even thicker, historically accurate books namely Atlas of the Eastern Front: 1941-45 by Robert Kirchubel and Atlas of the European Campaign: 1944-45 by Steven J. Zaloga. If you are into military history, you'll love both books. More on them in a future post.   

Gary Grigsby's War in the West

Screenshot of the equally complex computer wargame that is War in the West

 Still complicated yet less so than the Gary Grigsby's wargames are the Hearts of Iron turn-based strategy series. The third version is arguably more intricate than the latest iteration, with the former focused on micromanaging tactical warfare of military units while the latter leans more towards the management of a nations strategy during wartime. In this way both play differently which makes for a richer experience for digital wargaming enthusiasts who are already spoilt for choice as it is.    

Hearts of Iron III Collection with all the DLCs, a turn-based strategy game

Screenshot of Hearts of Iron III showing Germany prior to the start of WW2

 While both still at its core still involve battles between opposing armies at the division level, Hearts of Iron III requires micromanagment from the Brigade to Division to Corps to Army to Group then all the way to Army HQ level. In comparison, Hearts of Iron IV deals with military units at the Battalion level (bypassing Brigade) to Division and to Group (the latter two are levels a player can directly affect). But Heart of Iron IV makes up for this 'lack of detail in unit warfare' by having more fleshed out components in other areas ranging from politics, espionage, resistance, etc.

Hearts of Iron IV (shown here with the Waking the Tiger DLC)

Screenshot of Hearts of Iron IV with the player in control of prewar China

 Then there are those couple of digital wargames that I own, yet remain uninstalled due to lack of hard disk space as well as the graphical limitations of my personal laptop. Hybrid turn-based/real-time strategy games such as Graviteam Tactics: Operation Star, Graviteam Tactics: Mius Front and Steel Division: Normandy 44 are complicated wargames with fairly heavy graphic requirements. As such, these wargames would ideally necessitate a hardware upgrade on my part before I can run them at optimal graphic settings. Ironically, these are just the sort of games with a detailed enough graphical rendition of WW2 AFVs that would inspire me to work on a 1/35 scale version.     

Graviteam Tactics: Operation Star, a real-time/turn-based strategy hybrid set in Russia 

A battle in Operation Star during what I believe is in the early hours of the morning

Graviteam Tactics: Mius Front, another real-time/turn-based strategy hybrid

Mius Front depicts the incongruity of war in its graphical improvement from Operation Star

Steel Division: Normandy 44, a tactical real time strategy game

As its name implies, the first iteration of Steel Division focuses on the Western Front

 For times when I don't want to put too much thought into micromanaging, I turn to Panzercrops. Of all the wargames I have, this one is would be the easiest for a digital wargaming newbie to start with. This is not at all a slight to the creators. In fact I love this game, but it is undeniably a simplified turn-based strategy game that isn't as detailed and realistic as most of the titles mentioned above. Yet with that being said, Panzercorps is still way more complicated than your average real-time strategy game. Moreover its fun and in its own way contributes to getting me into the mood for AFV projects.

Panzer Corps Gold Edition includes all DLCs released for the base game

Screenshot of Panzer Corps, arguably the least complex of all the wargames on show here

 Even with all these games in hand, the -holic in me can't help but take center stage again, this time as a 'gamerholic' with seemingly more games than I have time for. Granted that I got most of them at huge discounts of ranging from 40% up to 90% off, I still have too many. Worse still, I have even more on my wishlist e.g. Steel Division II (which focuses on the Eastern Front), Panzercorps 2 (which has better graphics than the first iteration) and Tank Warfare: Tunisia 1943 (from the team that brought you the Garviteam Tactics series). Admittedly this is consumerism at its worst.    

Steel Division II by Paradox Interactive

In its second iteration, Steel Division focuses on the Eastern Front 

Panzer Corps 2, more turn-based goodness from the folks at Flashback Games

Panzer Corps 2 clearly has superior graphics compared with the first version 

Tank Warfare: Tunisia 1943, the latest real-time/turn-based hybrid by Graviteam

In-game shot of Tank Warfare showing Tiger tanks prowling in the desert night

 So I guess the -holic cycle has come full circle. It would be an even bigger irony now if this vicious circle requires me to complete some AFV scale model kit projects in order to get psyched up for digital wargaming. Hah! Now that's irony. Speaking or ironies, here's an apt quote about war in general to round off this post ... “It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.” - Voltaire