J. Ferry wrote:
Are we, as middle-aged white men on the forum, permitted to say "OMG!!!"""???
OMG!!! Jim! I have such fond memories of SPI's Eastern Front! I have been tempted to get Grigsby's game, but I fear it would pull me in and I would never play anything else, ever.
Guys, consider your role in the Monster scenario like it was a time-share. You could sell it to someone else when you got tired--or died. Well, not sell it actually, but maybe give it away with some fanfare. What ever.
OMG! Eastern Front...
J Ferry aka Zhukov
2Lt 2/20th Guards Mechanized Korps
Grisby's version isn't up to the calibre of SPI's. Not really sure why but I played Eastern Front many times even if I had to do it solitare. Grisby's I tried. Against the computer which is a failure. AI not good enough to make it work unless you give it plenty of bonuses. Against my brother, just didn't do a good job of reproducing the feel of WW II in the East as SPI's did.
Had a friend that got SPI's War in the West. We laid out the maps and some of the at start units. And decided we wouldn't live long enough to finish a game. I am not sure he ever played a game of it. My brother had a friend who was with the military at the Penagon that also got War in the West. My brother defeated the Germans in Poland ending the war rather early. Don't think they ever played the game again either.
I was a little surprised Grisby's game wasn't better than it was. He did an excellent job in his "War in the Pacific" which I highly recommend to those without a life.

These type games aren't really suitable to PBEM. They either have to use a time period to long for reasonable tactical/operational simulation which I think was WiE problem or they have to use such a short period, one day in the case of WiP, that the game can't be finished if you can't do multiple turns at one sitting.