I eat my words:
Berto wrote:
Why would anyone want to play these games on a porthole-view, tiny tablet display? Scrollfest?
I have purchased the six earlier titles in the CWB series (for Android), and just yesterday the latest release, CWB: Corinth. (I also picked up MC: Mideast '67, also for Android.)
Much to my surprise, these games shine on mobile.
Scrollfest? No, because the scenarios are suitably small, suitable to the small size of the tablet display. So, none of the full-scale marquee battles like full-day Antietam. Rather, smaller, limited battle episodes like (for CWB: Antietam) Slaughter in the Cornfield, Burnside Bridge, North Woods, etc. Also, smaller entire battles like (for CWB: Ozark) Battle of Wilson's Creek, Battle of Newtonia, etc.
About the biggest scenario I've seen so far is (for CWB: Chickamauga) Battle of Perryville (but excluding the main body of Buell's army, which sat out the battle just to the south).
I am about half way through the CWB: Peninsula Battle of Glendale scenario. Compared to the full-scale Glendale scenario in the Campaign Peninsula game, the map for the mobile version is much more narrowly circumscribed, omits most of the peripheral forces, and focuses sharply on Longstreet's & A.P. Hill's afternoon attack in the center. So in the mobile scenario, as with all the other mobile scenarios, there is little long-range marching and closing in on the battle. Rather, the mobile scenarios are set up at the verge of combat, else they are simply smaller battles to begin with. Such as (for CWB: Antietam) South Mountain, Turner's Gap, the other scenario I have played through to completion.
Each CWB game comes typically with a couple dozen scenarios, more or less. Contrast that to the, typically, 100+ scenarios in every ACW Campaign game.
In the CWB mobile games, you miss some of the "frills" of the full-fledged Campaign games, such as: phase-based play, 3D graphics, menu choices such as Melee > Clear Melee, and other stuff. No option to play one side or the other; the scenario assigns you your side (usually the attacker). No PBEM; strictly solitaire play vs. the AI, of course. But all of the essentials are there.
And for the most part, they all work, and work well. John Tiller games are clickfests, and I was skeptical whether they would translate well to the touch mobile platform. All in all, they do translate, and nicely. The mobile touch commands and gestures are intuitive and easy to learn.
You definitely need a stylus pen, though. Good luck relying on your fat fingers. And, this annoyance: From time to time, you select a hex, a stack, or a menu item (such as Highlight Org), and ... nothing happens. No matter how long you press. In such circumstances, one has to select some other hex (to clear the internal command processing routines?), then retry. At other times, the touch controls are glitchy or slow to take effect. These are aggravating, could be Android glitches (and might get better with newer, faster tablets and/or newer Android versions), might be actual coding bugs, but anyway happen seldom enough so as not to be showstoppers.
I have Real Life concerns and war gaming responsibilities (see my sig) that consume most of my game playing time. As a result, in the past year or two I've had essentially no free time left over to play the JT American Civil War games. I've been saddened by this, it being the 150th Anniversary of the War and all.
But, with these new CWB mobile apps, I can now fit in a turn or two, in my bed (and away from my desk!) just before lights out. And a turn now and then when I can't stand the near-constant 24/7 high-tech computer work (IT is my day job, my second job, my hobby, ...) and must step away from my desk (in my Man Cave, surrounded by computers and other tech gear).
So, with the new CWB mobile apps, I am playing the JT Civil War Battles again. Hooray!
In the CWB series, JTS has a winner. $2.99 apiece, so quite (ridiculously?) inexpensive. You can hardly go wrong. Give 'em a try!
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