Squad Battles - Is it for me?

[Jeff Conner]

Hey Mike

Good to see you over here. I agree with all of the comments above. Red Victory is probably the best title, both in terms of scenarios and opponents. Anything that Ozgur did the scenario work on is going to be good. He also did Winter War (Russo - Finnish 1940 conflict mostly) and Soviet-Afghan War.

Squad Battles is a pretty good infantry simulator. It is not overly complex, making numerous compromises between accuracy and playablity. Consequently, it is very fast to play and to learn. Campaign Series is a better armored combat simulator, Squad Battles is a better infantry and leadership simulator (leaders are crucial in Squad Battles). Squad Battles is easier to learn the basics of that CS, but probably just as hard to get good at. It has a very similar interface to all of the Tiller products that came after Talonsoft, so if you are familiar with those, Squad Battles will look much the same.

If you want someone to walk you through a scenario, let me know. I'd be happy to show you the ropes and give you some pointers. Only the last two titles (Falklands and Modern War) are available at John Tiller Software by download. I have heard that HPS has started to offer downloaded games also, but I don't know which ones or if they are any cheaper. If you shop around a bit, you can usually find a better price that is available at HPS.

Jeff Conner