Nations At War Digital Core Game

I loved playing this game as a board game, though I mostly played solo. With no hidden units and relatively low-density scenarios, it lends itself well to playing solo. I was therefore very excited to get the computer version -- don't need to set up the board, don't need to fiddle with counters, don't need to worry about forgetting rules! First, I love how the game looks, I love the intuitive ease of the interface. Second, I have two major disappointments. The AI, as others have noted, is terrible. While defending, the AI puts up a fight. It does, sadly, sometimes move around units that were already in good position to resist the attack. Sometimes, it moves them out in the open where overwatch fire can lay waste to the unit. On offense, forget about it. I recently played a scenario in which the attacking German units (with 3mp) would move back one hex, then forward two. Why?!? Sometimes, units move in little circles during their turn. The other major disappointment is that you only have the choice of two game modes. Multiplayer -- but no hotseat. This is strictly online two player. It requires that you have an opponent on the internets. Given the small player base right now, that means you need to find an opponent somewhere (company's forums? boardgamegeek? consimworld?). You can play SOLO but... you have to choose one side to play and the AI gets the other. There's no option to play both sides. Why not? As someone who has enjoyed hours playing this game solo on a tabletop, and given the undeveloped AI, this would make the game instantly better for me. Vastly better! As a side note, the same developer has been working diligently on the Lock N' Load games, which I also own, and those DO have the option to play hotseat multiplayer or solo both sides. Why the different design decisions?) There have been very few updates on Nations at War -- especially when compared to the constant work being done to improve the Lock N' Load game which is also still in early access. Hopefully, this game is just backburnered and will soon get more attention. So, I'm torn. Thumbs up? Thumbs down? Right now, I am frustrated that simply allowing solo play of both sides would make me love this game while they worked on improving the AI. So, a thumb's down until they start fixing the AI and until they allow hotseat/solo play of both sides.

I want to like it, but it just isn't there yet. $5 for the base game seems reasonable, but White Star Rising is split into two $10 expansions to get all the missions and there's no multiplayer, you get some kind of "It's broken, but we'll be fixing it soon." message. Sorry that doesn't cut it. There are a lot of little user interface things that add up and become frustrating, like not displaying unit counter stats once the perform action button has been clicked, the HQ gets locked on top and if you've forgotten the main units stats and want to double check before you attack, you'll need to cancel the action and check. The “information box” which takes up the upper right of the screen is useless, at least use it for a history of actions and die rolls. When you open the options menu there’s only about four things you can adjust and volume might take up two of those. Hovering over a hex doesn’t display the terrain modifiers. Also, the rulebook is not at all new player friendly. Missing and annoying things like this are all over the place and leave me unable to recommend it to others until they fix it. Sadly I don't know if they will, because they seem to be focused more on LnL Tactical and just bringing out more stuff instead of fixing existing problems. I bought a print version of WSR 2nd edition with upgrade and it was missing two of the four counter sheets. The digital game makes me feel like the paper experience did, disappointed and frustrated by the lack of quality control and attention to user experience. March 2025 UPDATE: Following up on my prior review, nothing has changed with the game, but my disgust toward how the Lock N Load company has taken advantage of their digital consumers has passed the breaking point. I actually wrote a reply to what I thought was a question about Nations at War, but the OP's question was about "early access" to Lock N Load Tactical. Ha! just goes to show how this company is milking the teats of "early access" on any digital version of their games they can foist on consumers. So here is my reply cume review of Tactical and Nations at War. I really wanted this to be a legitimate digital version of the cardboard game, which I bought, but at this point it is just a money grab. Don't waste your hard earned money like I did. 5 years in "early access"? If Lock N Load is reading this and contemplating a reply, please save yourself, and us, responding about how the original developer...blah, blah, blah, and there is a new developer, blah, blah, blah. I put my money where your mouth is and now I want you to cough it back up. Take both games off of "early access" and refund everyone who bought them and any DLC which you've ridiculously continued to sell. At this point (March 2025) quit cash grabbing honest people and make your games free while you figure things out. You, and those of us who know better now, know that Lock N Load Tactical is all that your putting OUR money towards. Man, you've made me really dislike your company.

I picked up this digital version of the boardgame during Steam's summer sale. With the white star rising two DLC it cost me less than $5. The system itself feels fine, but there are some things I don't like about it. I've played 5 scenarios, both sides. I've had enough. All I can say is this about the AI. It's horrible. Really, really horrible. The time limit is more of a threat than the AI, as the strange chit-pull mechanic can mean that you don't even get an action in the turn. So, two German missions I only managed to capture the town and exit the map just in time on turn 3. But, as the AI is so stupid, it has zero chance of completing one of these time-limited scenarios on offense. So, on defensive scenarios, I have my own objective, kill everything! The game is also somewhat buggy. Do not try to load a save game, as it doesn't track objective progress correctly. Rating: Game system: 8 (Solid, quick tactical wargame) -1 for the chit pull system (Much prefer system in OCS) -1 for the bugs -2 for the stupid AI, which almost makes playing pointless. Final Score: 4/10 (solo). Could be worth playing 2-player though.

Very poor offering from Grigsby and crew. Pros: -Made by a company associated with Gary Grigsby -Pretty Graphics Cons: -Recycles sounds from assorted other games. Nothing seems new or original. -POOR gameplay! VERY RNG heavy even to include who gets to make their moves. -Unrealistic outcomes. -Minimal scenarios, which is to be expected for the cheap price, but all other scenarios cost. A never ending money suck. I've been a fan of Gary's for decades and even had a few (heated) conversations (disagreements) with him about wargame design (which I'm sure he doesn't remember considering he does this for a living and I'm one dude among many he has conversed with) so it pains me to say this game is UTTER GARBAGE. So much so that I doubt Gary had anything to do with it's design or gameplay. Its RNG from start to finish. While this could be a realistic feature, since much of warfare is very RNG (this coming from a combat vet with 13 years experience both at tactical and operational levels), it is not done well here. Entire games will hinge on good or bad RNG. I question the positive reviews. I feel they are either from the game company employees and designers or from people with very little concept of a good wargame. Graphics are pretty though.

Abandoned by the developers in a very poor state despite promises that they were working fixing it.

Your opponent always deploys first, gets first turn, gets the initiative four turns out of five, causes a casualty four shots out of five, and receives a morale recovery four times out of five. ♥♥♥♥ this one-sided nonsensical bollocks. It's no wonder that it's abandoned by the developers and players alike. It also comes as no surprise that the follow-on isn't popular because nobody is prepared to trust anything the studio has turned out.

Good game but please just give us the ability to play BOTH sides. The AI is incredibly inept. You either need to let us play both sides (the game is highly solitaire-friendly) or else do some work on scripting the AI moves.

Originally written as a reply to a forum post but I think it sums up the state of the game: Not sure if I would call this product abandonware quite yet. It could be more accurate to call it backburner-ware. The Publisher “Lock 'n Load Publishing” had to rescue the project from the original developer and since then things have been quite slow. LnL Publishing has a few of their own games in active development and is continually pumping out new DLC for their main products (LnL Digital Core Game now has a library of about 30 DLC in 4 years) as well they have launched the Grand-Strat-with-event-cards style civil war era “Victory & Glory”. So, what do you get? Well for the regular price equivalent of USD$5 you get a fully functional game that although labelled as EA (Early Access) actually works quite well in single or multi-player without stoppages to games or corrupted game saves. That in itself is quite a feat in today’s world of shovel-ware that fill the STEAM EA lists. The core game does only come with 4 scenarios including tutorial but for $5 …? That’s a pretty good price point to get a very competent game engine especially in a nice looking board game style, turn based WW2 tactical. If one wishes to purchase the 2 DLCs and the Core Game all together it comes out to about USD$25 full price no sale. So, the next question would be do you get $25 worth of game? IMO yes, the game runs smooth, the single player AI is competent and will challenge you if you don’t use real fire and movement tactics as this game at its’ core is a squad tactical game similar to LnL (Lock N Load series) or ASL (Advanced Squad Leader) but with nearly all of the annoying check the rules every 5 minutes busy work taken out. The game runs quick, the turn flow is smooth in a round-by-round comparison to LnL. However, if your used to LnL / ASL this game has a bit less detail and as is the main complaint you’ll see here; it does not have the 20-30 pieces of DLC and addons that a LnL or ASL game would have. The 2 x DLC you can purchase include 10 or so scenarios each bringing you up to 24 scenario for $25 when paying full price or about $1 per scenario – not too shabby. If you can live with the fact that it might be a long wait for the publisher to circle back to their adopted step-child and produce more DLC for this game you’ll still have a decent game engine and 24 scenarios to bide your time with. If you get the game on sale I’d argue that you are easily getting a bargain …but with no promise of future DLC. So, depending on your tastes I say this game is well-worth a purchase whether on sale or not.

システムは、チット引きのパンツァー・ブリッツ＋αという感じです。 好きなゲームスケールなので、本来ならおすすめしたいところですが、一番最初の開発会社（個人）が投げ出した後、引き継いだ社も2社連続で数か月で契約を放棄、販売を担当しているLｎLも新しい情報があると掲示板で言いながら続報なしの状態が続いています。 当然、長らくアップデートもありません。 早期アクセスゲームという点を割り引いても、かなりの惨状だと思います。 開発再開・製品版のリリースのめどが立つまで、販売を中止するべきだと思います。 〔2022/03/30追記〕 掲示板に告知ありましたが、新しいディベロッパーがLock'n Load Tacticalの開発元に決まったそうです。 新体制での成果が出るのは数か月先とのことなので、期待して待ちたいと思います。

This game is great and is really a solid WW2 wargaming experience. I'm excited for future theaters and content.