Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War

This game was something that appeared on my steam recommendations page and I could not believe I am just now getting into wargames as as subgenre of strategy games. The game looked intimidating to me as a new player, and as a new fan of the wargame subgenre. The provided manuals (found via the launcher) helped me grasp just how vast this game can get. The level of detail in unit compostion, order customization, and even the missions themselves gave me a unique feeling of being taken seriously. Too many strategy games hand-hold the player to streamline the gameplay (nothing wrong with that for certain games but sometimes you want more) or hide information through a lack of documentation or ingame explanations. This game gives you everything you need to succeed and in a way that demonstrates the developers understand that the fans of these kinds of games want to be taken seriously. I found myself thinking about the game during random times of the day, often figuring out plans to missions I had been struggling to beat for a while. A game that has me doing that is a good game.

It's all fun and games until the crappiest Warsaw Pact helicopter flies over and deletes your mechanized infantry while dodging everything you throw at it Matrix style. And even if you manage to score a hit, don't you worry there are 5 more on the way while you desperately try to find new surface-to-air missiles before they arrive. Anyway, this is a seriously good wargame for anyone who's interested in the genre, even if you're not exactly a Cold War era fanatic. I know I'm not. Pretty much all the bells and whistles you'd expect to find - are found - and it plays out great. The combat is actually surprisingly satisfying despite being abstracted to square counters with silhouettes and NATO symbols on top.

I do Knowledge Management as part of my day job. The quality of the manuals of this game is telling of just how much passion and earnest work went into it. You rarely see this much quality even in corporate documentation. I got into this game because I wanted to see what hex and counter wargames are about and I think this is an excellent entry if one is willing to put in the work that it expects from you to make the most out of it. I love mechanically deep and complex games like this, and I can expect all its moving parts to deliver engaging and emerging gameplay time and time again. While the theme tends to draw a divide between huge segments of potential players, I can see those coming from dense strategic games and roguelikes finding a lot to like here.

Cold War is the 3rd iteration of the Flashpoint Campaign series. It's a turn-based, hex-based wargame with a few innovative twists. It uses a WeGo system, which means you plan out your turn and the AI plans out theirs, and all the units move/fight at the same time. That road is clear, and you decide to use the quick-but-weak road formation move your units to a spot well inside your visual range. As the turn progresses, the AI has also moved units down the road but in a more protected manner. Your units are destroyed on what used to be a clear and safe road. The other innovation is command delay. Your orders take time to process through the units, and the time is based on a myriad of factors. For example, if your unit is heavily dug in, ordering them to move will take longer than another unit that is screening and not dug in at all. Each scenario also has an Electronic Warfare metric that can increase or decrease the time it takes to process orders. On top of all that, the length of your turn is based on multiple factors, and can be different compared to the enemy. At the start of the scenario each turn might last for 20 minutes of run time before you can issue new orders. But if you start losing HQ units, the time can increase to 30 minutes, or even longer. In addition, each sides' turns are asynchronous. That means destroying enemy HQs allows you more opportunities to issue orders compared to the enemy (or vice versa if your HQ units are destroyed). You might get to issue orders every 20 minutes while the enemy has to wait 35 minutes of game time. I recently bought and played the original (2015-ish) version and thoroughly enjoyed it. Picked up Cold War and was genuinely impressed by the amount of improvements, especially the UI. It's still a lot of clicking to get things just the way you want them, but the process is so much smoother. Information is easily accessible, and windows are scalable and can be moved to wherever you want them. The maps are great at displaying information, and there are plenty of overlays so that you can see the exact metric you want (elevation, movement speed, etc.). I never played the 2nd iteration of the game, so I can't say if it's worth upgrading from Southern Storm to Cold War. But if this is your first time playing this series, and you like wargames in general, this game is well worth the purchase.

FC: Cold War is one of those games where you sit ... relax and just enjoy the process of thinking and planning your next turn until you hit the play button and everything can go horribly wrong(sometimes ;-) ). When I first started with the WEGO-Game-System I was just confused by the game - but one's you start to understand the mechanics that work behind it - it becomes so much fun. The game offers so much detail in terms of information and background to the scenarios and campaign. Look to all overlays and tutorials the game offers. Take your time and look through the manual - their is always something new to encounter. Bottom line ... on the surface this game looks simple and easy but one's you start a game you realize that this game offers so much more! Enjoy every minute since I startet the FC-Series.

This is the best hex and counter game I've ever played. Super clean and polished with everything accessible and easy to read. I've been glued to the computer screen all Christmas thanks to this game.

A very sober and serious wargame. Compared to the previous titles in the series, the AI seems to be much better. The UI might look overwhelming at first, but if you can work with other traditional Windows apps then you will get the hang of it after a few hours. Tutorial scenarios and guides/manuals are provided to ensure an enjoyable learning experience. It might look dry, but the game is full of meaningful tactical decisions, tense moments and lots of data on all the Cold War weapons, systems and sensors.

I had over 70 vehicles get destroyed by 8 abrams because the weather deteriorated and visibility went down to 500 meters. Grognard game confirmed. 10/10

A solid hex-based war game that has enough players that I can actually engage with a thinking human. I still haven't figured out the password/private match thing. This game gives you the combat-focused land war with semi-modern units/kit and clearly way more complexity than I am currently taking advantage of.

The WEGO style is so much fun! The level of detail in this game is amazing. IF you enjoy high intensity battles with modern weaponry and appalling losses on both sides, then this game is for you. Also, the AI is very good to include multiple battle plans they can employ per scenario. PBEM++ system is slick for battling human opponents. Anyone who enjoys WW3 / modern warfare needs to have this in their collection! Have fun!