Can someone recommend a good wargame?

I'm looking for a good strategy wargame that I can play off my laptop ( Dual Core 2.2 MHZ, 2 GB Ram, GeForce 8600GT 258 MB).

Can anyone recommend a good one that might be a little more cerebral and about strategy, and maybe less about just pointing and clicking quickly?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

crysis is a good war game lollanceja

World in conflict

Company of heroes

I'm looking for a good strategy wargame that I can play off my laptop ( Dual Core 2.2 MHZ, 2 GB Ram, GeForce 8600GT 258 MB).

Can anyone recommend a good one that might be a little more cerebral and about strategy, and maybe less about just pointing and clicking quickly?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Major_9000

Ignore all the above responses as it's clear that none of them know what a wargame is.

Can you tell us a little more about what you're interested in? What time period/theatre? Tactical, strategic, operational, or abstract level? IGO-UGO, WEGO, continuous time, or real time?

Anyway, just some suggestions that run the gamut:

Modern Day/Hypothetical:

-Harpoon: Commander's Edition

-Air Assault Task Force

-Supreme Ruler 2020

-7.62mm

WWII:

-Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord

-Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

-Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

-Uncommon Valour

-War in the Pacific

-Strategic Command

-Commander: Europe At War

-Conquest of the Aegean

-Gary Grigbsy's World at War

-Hearts of Iron II

-Making History: The Calm and The Storm

-Panzer Command: Kharkov

WWI:

-Guns of August

-War Plan Orange (actually a "what if" game set in the 1920's)

-Distant Guns (actually Naval War between Russia-Japan 1905)

American Civil War:

-Take Command: 2nd Manassass

-AGEOD's The Blue and the Grey: American Civil War

-Forge of Freedom

Napoleonic Wars:

-AGEOD's Napoleon's Campaigns

-Age of Sail II: Privateer's Bounty

-Empires in Arms

-Crown of Glory

Victorian Era: (excluding ACW)

-Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun + Revolutions

-1848 (free!)

Ancients:

-Punic Wars

-Europa Universalis: Rome + Vae Victus

-Tin Soldiers: Alexander the Great

-Tin Soldiers: Julius Caesar

Fantasy/Sci-Fi:

-Fantasy Wars

-Galactic Assault

-Galactic Civilizations II

-Armageddon Empires

lol..as you can see, TC, manner and humility isn't a hardcore war gamer's forte.

you don't seem to be very familiar with war strategy games ( correct me if i'm wrong ), so this is my side of the story -- most of the games bogaty recommended are highly inaccessible for a beginner, no matter how cerebral he wants his games to be. i would go as far as saying you can't even find many of these titles in major retail stores and would have to purchase through digital means. is it worth the trouble AND the money? you decide. :)

Some of them are quite accessable. The Combat Mission series is very intuitive and you can fire it up and be playing in minutes. Same holds true for 2nd Manassass and World at War.

As for humility, would you prefer that I point out the fact that none of the games listed by other posters are wargames in a more oblique way? What would be the point in that? If someone came on and asked for recommendations for a good adventure game and people started suggesting COD4 or Team Fortress, wouldn't you point on the discrepency?

Bogaty,

I really love all time periods and I'm open to anything, as long as it's a smart game. I'm trying to avoid a fast real-time, since I want something I can examine and think about rather than just fast-clicking.

Of the games you've listed I have Hearts of Iron, Age of Sail and Galactic Civilizations II.

WWII:

-Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord

-Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

-Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

-Uncommon Valour

-War in the Pacific

-Strategic Command

-Commander: Europe At War

-Conquest of the Aegean

-Gary Grigbsy's World at War

-Hearts of Iron II

-Making History: The Calm and The Storm

-Panzer Command: Kharkov

bogaty

How dare you forget the Hearts of Iron Series...

[QUOTE="bogaty"]

WWII:

-Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord

-Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin

-Combat Mission: Afrika Korps

-Uncommon Valour

-War in the Pacific

-Strategic Command

-Commander: Europe At War

-Conquest of the Aegean

-Gary Grigbsy's World at War

-Hearts of Iron II

-Making History: The Calm and The Storm

-Panzer Command: Kharkov

simardbrad

How dare you forget the Hearts of Iron Series...

Bogaty,

I really love all time periods and I'm open to anything, as long as it's a smart game. I'm trying to avoid a fast real-time, since I want something I can examine and think about rather than just fast-clicking.

Of the games you've listed I have Hearts of Iron, Age of Sail and Galactic Civilizations II.

Major_9000

How important are graphics and sound to you? A lot of the games I listed (and wargames in general) have pretty spartan sounds and minimalist graphics. It's a real turn off for a lot of people.

Also, if you liked Hearts of Iron, you should give Victoria a look. It's the same basic engine as Hearts of Iron and Europa Universalis II, but the level of complexity is much higher. The game just offers so much more in the way of depth and choice. Having said that, it can be overwhelming. Should you decide to play it, I recommend starting with a small country like Belgium or an isolated country like Japan as it'll give you a chance to get used to the game concepts without getting overwhelmed or overrun. It's priced at $19.99 on Gamersgate, but if you scour your local gamestore for the Strategy 6-pack from Paradox, you'll likely get it for $8-9.

If you're looking for an indepth game that will reward thinking, look at War in the Pacific. It has a steep learning curve and some of the interface is counter intuitive (especially loading transports), but once you get the hang of it, it's an amazingly immersive operational level wargame. It covers almost the entire Pacific Theatre and most major combatants (no Canadians unfortunately). Even so, it's incredibly detailed, right down to individual pilot stats and ammo stores for each gun on your ships.

Europa Universalis III has the illusion of complexity, but it's really quite a simple game, to be honest. It's not as detailed as HoA II (which in turn, is less detailed than Victoria). I found that after a few playthroughs, there really wasn't a lot of variety to the game. One country really didn't play that much differently than another with similar geographic traits. That is to say, a country with a coastline and only one bordering nation would play the same as any other. A landlocked country would feel the same as any other. The game AI is kind of wonky. It seems as though the AI behaviour of each nation is randomly assigned at the beginning of each game and nothing you do will influence it. If a nation is going to come after you, they'll do it no matter what incentives you give them. If a nation decides to be peaceful, they won't ever counter attack should you attack them. Also, they removed nation-specific historical events in favour of generic events that affect you no matter which country you decide to play. I personally think this decision robs the game of much of the historical flavour and removes the feeling of uniqueness that each nation had in EUII.

I've read that the Napoleon expansion adds more depth to the game and that it re-introduces nation-specific historical events but I've not tried it myself so I can't say.

Have you tried CIV IV and expansions? There's some mods like Road To War that make for interesting wargames, plus you might like some of the delivered scenarios too. it sounds like turned-based is more to your liking...i like it too.

I bought EUIII but didn't have the patience to get far into it. I may pick it up again eventually. It was a bit overwhelming to me at first.

Not a wargame, but a great tbs wwii game is Silent Storm

Go for europa universalis III + expansions, but make sure to get the magna mundi mod. It's a massive mod that adds both complexity, random and region/nation specific events, and makes the game more unique and increases the difficulty.

I wouldn't get EU3:rome. It's a boring game, at least it was back when i bought it.

While the total war games are certainly enjoyable, they are lacking in strategic elements. It also doesn't help that the AI is a baffoon.

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]Oh just buy Company of Heroes and be done with it. bogaty

Not a wargame. Go away.

OP: Buy Company of Heroes. Its your safest bet. Just make sure you can run it.

[QUOTE="bogaty"]

[QUOTE="biggest_loser"]Oh just buy Company of Heroes and be done with it. biggest_loser

Not a wargame. Go away.

OP: Buy Company of Heroes. Its your safest bet. Just make sure you can run it.

Yes, beacuse Company of Heroes is a perfect fit for the OP's request for a game "...cerebral and about strategy, and maybe less about just pointing and clicking quickly...". Oh wait, no it's not. It's completely about pointing and clicking quickly.

I'll let you get back to writing erotic fan fiction about the Thief series.

Anything with Total War in its title will keep u happy Lordloveflaps

Sure will. Im playing a Roman Campaign on RTW with SPQR mod. Amazing.

I recommend M2TW. Should run the game well (I have a desktop with similar stats... only a dualcore 2.8 ) that runs it very smooth on a high resolution and most things on high. It has tons of mods that makes the replayability high and the games well polished with a reasonably active modding community.

Company of Heroes is a good game, but to me its more a RTS with micro as opposed to a true strategy game. M2TW doesn't require any of that, as the game can be paused at any time and you can issue orders. Its a game about economy, diplomacy, tactics and features amazingly epic battles.