Hi fellas. Sorry I haven't posted for ages but like Paul and Rich and a few others, life and health issues get in the way of hobbies and so things have to go on the back burner whilst more important priorities get addressed. Anyway, just to show I haven't given up the bug/itch just yet, I've been raking through me Speccy software and hadn't realised just how many war sim titles I have for this little machine. A couple of pics then of games I want to have a dive into and possibly review my experiences of classic wargaming software on our beloved 8bits. There's software here from some old familiar names (PSS, Durell, Lothlorien to name but 3) and maybe some that are new to you too - CCS perhaps - do let me know if there is any interest at all out there in this kind of gaming. I do believe that Dave/Daz aka Alex Drito also enjoys the odd game of strategy, esp chess, so anyone else also with some memories of playing this kind of simulation (perhaps Microprose titles on the ST or Atari classic?) do drop me a line... Apologies in advance if the sheer number hurts your eyes - I know - I'm a very sad collector of cassettes!! Stacks of software covering all periods of history but it's WWII I'm particularly interested in and I sometimes like to read up on a particular battle and then look at how the 80s software sims tried to cover it. First one to be covered in the next week, BISMARCK by Personal Software Services (PSS) - the classic 1941 sea battle engagement between HMS Hood in the blue corner from the Royal Navy versus the new huge German Kriegsmarine challenger, in the red corner, Bismarck. How did it all unfold and how good is the sim? We are soon to find out... Very soon.
You have some nice pieces there Andy. Some are fairly rare too in that condition. I picked up Desert Rats a couple of weeks ago myself. I already had Combat Lynx and Stonkers as well but Desert Rats is my first real wargame. Last time I owned one was Johnny Reb by Lothlorien.
Thanks, Richie. Ah, I'd forgotten about Stonkers! Stonk used to be my nickname about 40yrs ago when I 1st started work at a local newspaper - don't ask!! Yeah, some of these I've picked up for pennies over the years and others have cost £10-15 each etc (rarely pay more unless it's ultra meaningful to me). I've not tried Desert Rats yet, did you get the CPC version? Please let me know how you get on with it and I loved Johnny Reb on both the Oric and Beeb - never played it on the Speccy so I'll see how it compares. Hope to speak/see you on Sunday on the link-up, mate. AL - what time's kick off, pal - we won't be back til at least mid afternoon - and please invite Paul via Whatsapp if you aint already - you probably have - we need to stay in touch.
Johhny Reb on the Speccy is the same as the Oric version mainly. It uses UDG graphics and is a bit slow. I do love Stonkers it's a simplified wargame, but it can be quite entertaining. Desert Rats is for the Speccy, I had thought it had picked up the enhanced 128K version on side B but it turned out to be the plain 48K version. It does have the manual so that makes using the 128K version on Spectaculator a lot easier. I am trying to find a copy of Stalingrad by CCS as I am fascinated by that battle and it's implications for World War 2.
Didn't realise there was such a wide range of Speccy war sims. Only ones I played back on the A8 were Eastern Front(?) and a couple of the war flight sims, which I was hopeless at. Nice to see some love for the old stuff though. And that's a mighty impressive bulge you have there Andy!!
Shame about no 128K version for Desert Rats but funny you should mention that one as well as Stalingrad, mate. As you'll know, once the Nazis had been defeated at both El Alamein and Stalingrad, then it was the beginning of the end of them in 1942. There's some famous quote about never having won a battle before these two and then never really losing one afterwards so definitely a turning-point and as you say the implications were massive both for the Axis & Allies in World War 2. See you soon, fellas.
Bev disagrees with you on both points, Al. She sez you need to bring a skip and a microscope in order to take out any so-called bulges here... See you later, mate.
OK, I've finally taken a look at the PSS Bismarck Speccy sim and the bits I've seen don't grab me which is a shame as it probably needs more time to explore all the variants (eg you don't just get a chance to play Bismarck and Prinz Eugen vs Hood and Prince of Wales - you can take on/play the side of the other British battleships (KGV, Rodney etc), the other British cruisers (Sheffield Norfolk, Dorsetshire etc), have air attacks from Brit Swordfish biplanes and even attack a convoy). The major problem for me was in any surface battle you cannot withdraw if the action is taking place within 41K yards - ie. if yer massively outgunned you can't RUN AWAY! Try as you might, whichever way you turn, the enemy seems to cling on always within this range so if you've a weak force up against a superior force... you get pummelled whereas in the real battle the weaker Brit cruisers kept shadowing Bismarck and weaving/zig zagging to and fro to keep her in radar range. I also found the encounters to be confusing so you didn't always know who you were up against. If you're the British then it's obviously going to be the 2 German raiders you meet but if you play the German side you could run into any of about 5-6 diff Royal Naval units and the binoculars icon at the bottom just seemed to scroll through every unit in the game... it just didn't fill me with a lot of positive vibes this one, guys, but if you want a 2nd opinion then of course you can look up game mechanics here: Bismarck (ZX Spectrum) and there are other reviews out there such as... and... and finally... I was going to review another PSS Wargamers title next on the Speccy, namely Theatre Europe. Unfortunately the only joystick option is for Kempston which I'm not getting my Speccy Plus 2 to cooperate with and I'm damned if I fancy the using the keyboard options to move the cursor around the European map battlefield so I'll bypass that one and see what next PSS title takes my fancy... it's likely to be a more up to date, historically speaking, option - Falklands 82. Join me on a yomp soon, fellas!
Are you gonna try some of the CCS games like Arnhem? I think they are a lot better than the PSS games like Bismark
Good suggestion, Richie. There's Easter coming up, mate, and we're not shooting off anywhere so I'll have some time at home to try out both PSS's Falklands 82 and a couple of CCS titles such as Arnhem - great call, fella! Let us know how you get on with some of the sims you have too. ...and I MUST remember to PLAY ATARI over the hols too - good call, Graham!
