With the imminent release of Battlefront through Matrix Games, we felt it was necessary to sit down with Gregor Whiley and get the up-to-the-minute scoop on this release.

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ACG: Battlefront is a game of tactical WWII combat at the battalion level. The gameplay is traditional hex-map, turn based wargaming, and even uses virtual six-sided dice. Given all the possible ways to build a computer wargame, why did the design team stick to this traditional approach?

Gregor Whiley: I think it’s pretty much a given that wargame players are more interested in outcomes rather than just appearance. We use the design items you mention because we think they work best for the games that we are doing. Hexes give both the player and the AI an unambiguous idea of where the can maneuver their units. Turn based games allow meaningful email games and are popular with players. We could do combat calculations with a dice of any denomination, or using complicated, hidden equations. The six-sided dice gives the human player a clear and instantly comprehensible picture of the likely outcomes of his combat decisions. We see no point in shrouding this in mystery, quite the opposite, we want the player to know what happened and why.

ACG: Looking only at screenshots, Battlefront seems to be an enhancement of the Decisive Battles series (Ardennes, Korsun, Normandy and Italy). But the battalion level scale of Battlefront is much more tactical than DB, so it is really a different game. For those familiar with the DB series, how is Battlefront different?

GW: Many of the Battlefront concepts will be familiar to fans of the DB series. However, there are some important differences. You directly control artillery and airstrikes, picking targets and causing casualties. However, you can’t attack indiscriminately. Battlefront introduces the concept of Attack Supply, which regulates the tempo of combat operations. Only units within command range of their own HQs get the extra materiel necessary for attacks and this will often not be enough to allow attacks every turn. So as well as picking your targets you have to think about properly co-coordinating offensive operations. The new OMA scheme, outlined below, introduces greater flexibility for the player and the scenario designer. The more tactical scale introduces the concepts of Direct Fire and Line of Sight and special combat modes, such as Banzai attacks, give a significant edge to different countries when attacking.

ACG: Battlefront has a feature called the Off Map Area (OMA) system. What is this, and how will it be used in a typical scenario?

GW: Let’s look at the Market Garden scenario for an example. The Germans in the south have exit hexes on the map which link to OMAs. This means that German units can exit the map, rather than being corralled against the map edge and exterminated by XXX Corps. Once in the OMA system, these units can be moved to other OMA boxes and eventually back onto the map. Since the German player has a lot of choice on where they re-enter the map, the Allied player can never be certain where they will be redeployed. As well as that, German reinforcements don’t arrive directly on the map. Instead they arrive in OMAs where the German player can choose to send them to up to three on-map entry hexes or to move them to another OMA. Again, the Allied player simply can’t be certain where or when these units will turn up. The Allied player at Market Garden also gets reinforcements in OMAs, but as the Allied plan has only one entry point and one axis of advance, there’s no scope for fooling the German player. OMAs can also contain destroyed units which have been partially rebuilt and can be redeployed to the battlefield.

ACG: SSG stated on the Battlefront forums that the game has been fitted with the Warcard system for AI. What is Warcard? Why does it improve the quality of the computer opponent?

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