Now that's what i'm talking about! The Conflict of Heroes system has officially made its bid for 2nd best tactical game ever. Two more or less core COH games now have the horsepower to go the distance and fast.
Now i know that many of you feel that wargaming is a social thing and to go it alone is going about it all wrong. Not that i disagree with you, but i do feel differently. Yes there is the age old excuse of, "i can't find an oppenent" which gets weaker and weaker with things like Vassal etc. Yet the real reason/s for me are more selfish. I prefer to play what i want to play when i want to play it for however long or short i care to play. Sound like a big baby? Well WAH! I've nearly always wargamed solo and over the years have had the rare opportunity of playing a game that actually caters to my kind. These days aren't much different. Solo wargaming is still a rather peculiarly perceived past time for us hermetic odd balls who scramble to pick up the table scraps of designers who via a kind of "i can relate to that" kind of vibe, throw us a bone. The latest thrown bone (since the last thrown bone The Hunters) is the COH solo expansion. For years we have waited and for some, the wait continues still, but i am no longer a waiter. You see my copy finally arrived and yes it lives up to the hype. Add to this the Firefight Generator and it all adds up to one hell of an example of what can be done with a single game system. ASL did it, Combat Commander tried to do it, and now COH has done it. The game has been programmed to not only be the opponent, but has ultimately been allowed to open up and reveal a kind of toolbox from which we can "create" our own games. So why don't other games do this? Why the one and done? I'll let you come to the myriad conclusions but it seems the future of wargaming is in allowing the player to not only game "with or without you" but to be able to come up with a game of one's own. Why, after spending our hard earned cash should we be relegated to a game that may be a paragon of design and development but falls flat in re-playability? With the COH Solo and Firefight expansions, the COH system has taken the lead in the right direction. I can only hope that other wargames go and do likewise.
