Theatre of War 2
Battlefront.com / 1C Company. $45 (download & hardcopy).

Passed Inspection: Loving attention to detail. Living battle environments. Wargamers have been waiting for this.

Failed Basic: Replay value hurt by too few scenarios.

The true test of historical accuracy for any tactical game, is how well real-life tactics work on the game map. In terms of tactical fidelity, TOW2 gets an “A.”

In early 1943, the Germans were in a desperate struggle to stay in North Africa. Caught between Montgomery’s Eighth Army and the Anglo-US forces of Operation Torch, a fierce campaign raged for control of Tunisia. Rommel’s bold Valentine’s Day offensive, centering on Kasserine Pass, gave the Americans a bloody and embarrassing defeat. But the Allies recovered quickly and within months, the Germans had been pushed out of Africa forever.

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These final phases of the North African Campaign are the subject of Theatre of War 2. The game is published by Battlefront, and developed by 1C Company. In a nutshell, TOW2 is a tactical level war game that represents company task-force sized battles down to the individual vehicle, gun and soldier. The system plays real time, and uses some real-time strategy game conventions for camera movement and unit selection. But there should be no confusion, TOW2 is a highly detailed tactical war game, and is not an RTS.

TOW2 is based heavily on its predecessor, Theatre of War. But it’s clear that 1C has listened to the gaming audience and addressed many of the shortcomings of the older game. TOW2’s improvements include buildings that can be entered and fought over, better morale modeling, and a somewhat streamlined interface.

Like it’s predecessor, the detail in TOW2 is fantastic. A typical battle has five to ten vehicles, several guns and thirty or forty troops on each side. During the fight, each tank shot, bullet, grenade toss, and artillery shell has telling effect on the 3D map. Each soldier and vehicle is fully modeled for weapons, ammunition, and grenades they are carrying. Troops can even pick up better weapons from casualties on the field.

Graphically, the game is a real feast. The 3D maps are alive, and they look and feel like real places. Tanks are modeled down to the rivet. Soldiers, gun and tank crews all move like real people. When gun crews fire, the commander spots the target, the loader slams a shell into the breach, and the gunner cranks the barrel as he takes aim. When tank crews bail out, they open the hatches and jump out while black smoke billows from their dead vehicle. The attention to detail in TOW2 is wonderfully immersive and historically accurate.

The game offers a broad set of tanks, vehicles, and guns from the Tunisian campaign. The Germans have all of the varieties of Pzkw III and IVs, quad 20mm AA guns mounted on half-tracks, the dreaded 88s, and even the Tiger I. The Americans have an early Sherman, the Stuart, the Lee, and 105mm howitzers that can ruin a panzer’s day if it hits the right spot. The British have the Daimler armored car, the six-pounder AT gun, and only one tank, the under-gunned Valentine. There are easily another dozen armored vehicles, and the game is bursting at the seams with trucks, motorcycles, machine guns, aircraft and every type of infantry weapon.

The combat engine in TOW2 is deliciously ambitious, and for the most part succeeds. Every shot fired, from massive 105mm howitzer rounds, to .303 caliber rifle bullets are modeled for flight path, penetration and damage. Many weapon systems can also choose their type of round, like high explosive, armored piercing, or even smoke.

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