MapMod for First World War Campaigns

[bdtj1815]

I have been wargaming for over thirty-five years, back to the days of SPI and GDW, and own all the Pzc titles and some MC titles. I do, however, have considerable sympathy with "Sch"s comments. Whilst the hard core of HPS gamers know about the mods and sites like this and Campaign France I am sure there are many who buy a game, maybe because a particular campaign interests them for personal, family or educational reasons, who take one look at the undeniably poor graphics and would never consider buying a second. Similarly I am sure many newcomers, particularly if younger and more aware of modern computer graphics etc., might never get beyond looking at the screenshots on the HPS website and wonder if they are actually visiting a site dedicated to games of the '90s. I think I would struggle to want to play one of the titles without the brilliant art mods that are available.

I am not suggesting we need "Puffs of smoke when the artillery fires? Explosions in the hex where you assault? but some half decent unit art and a more attractive map might actually attract some new players. I would be interested to hear from someone at HPS if there is any evidence of "new recruits" or just "the usual suspects" purchasing their games.

I have a very similar issue in the only other computer gaming field I enjoy, simracing. The number of times on racing game forums I have read comments such as "the new 1.6 patch" or the new so and so physics mod make this game so much better forgetting that many people do not even know about patches or mods but try and struggle on with the basic game and probably never buy a second.