My idea of a WWI trench warfare game

[Willi Von Klugerman]

Theres a heap of WWII games and absolutely NONE about the ground fighting of WWI!!But heres my idea for one...

It would be a career mode and you can choose any nation and the particular part of the war (ex.Verdun/winter 1916).You can take part in tasks at random times or be going over-the-top at a historical moment (ex.Somme Day 1).The tasks could be trench raiding,wire repair,sentry,ect.During a historical attack,the player can try and reach or destroy an objective without being killed.One could also be called up to be in a tunnel to keep guard incase of an event of digging into the opponents tunnel.Also the game must force the player to remember the sound of a bell when a gas attack starts.

Also artillery strikes at random moments would force the player to lay low to prevent getting hit by shrapnel.Also players can choose different classes (like in BF1942) such as Stormtruppen,sniper,medic,ect.Also enemy attacks can start at any random moment and the player must either fire at them via rifle or man a machine gun.

So do you think such a game would ever happen?

[EricGoedkoop]

I certainly hope not!

Opening a proverbial can of worms here, but why on earth would anyone want to pretend they were in the trenches? It wasn't called The War to End All Wars for nothing.

How perfectly horrifying.

[Chock]

There is apparently a WW1 first person shooter game due out very soon, i.e you can pre-order it from Amazon and places like that. It's called 'To End All Wars'.

Sounds really grim to me if you want the truth, since the very notion of trench warfare was that it was static, and pretty much consisted of either hiding from artillery barrages and gas attacks, whilst suffering from shellshock rat infestations and trenchfoot, or making desperately doomed charges across no man's land whilst machine guns cut you to pieces, none of which sounds like fun to me, even in a virtual sense.

If they called it Lions Led By Donkeys, rather than To End All Wars, you can imagine that putting people off, but that was the reality of it for many at the front.

It's probably worth pointing out that Von Richthofen started the war in the Cavalry, and soon became disillusioned with it, since there were to be no bold cavalry charges in WW1, which eventually prompted him to apply for a transfer into the air force by stating that he did not sign up to sit in a bunker and do nothing. I think that probably sums up why the idea of WW1 trench computer game in an FPS fashion has not taken off like aerial combat games in that era have, if you'll pardon the pun.

As a strategic operation game, WW1 could have plenty of mileage though, since most battles tended to be months or years in the planning, requiring tunneling operations for mines, aerial reconnaissance, barrages on rear supplies, building narrow gauge railways to move ammunition up to the front and all that sort of thing, and if done well, that could be quite educational, if a little 'slow burning', but games which end up educating us in such historical matters do have quite some merit.

A tank game in WW1 might conceivably make a good concept, although it would perhaps step a bit beyond the reality.

There is a WW1 German submarine simulation game (Die Schalen Des Zorns - aka The Shells of Fury), and that's not too bad, since it too, is quite educational and involves a fair bit of tactics because German submarines in WW1 were pretty slow, so it requires a lot of tactical planning to get into a decent firing position.

Al

[Old Man]

Originally Posted by Chock

As a strategic operation game, WW1 could have plenty of mileage though, since most battles tended to be months or years in the planning, requiring tunneling operations for mines, aerial reconnaissance, barrages on rear supplies, building narrow gauge railways to move ammunition up to the front and all that sort of thing, and if done well, that could be quite educational, if a little 'slow burning', but games which end up educating us in such historical matters do have quite some merit.

Al

Indeed, Sir. I very much enjoyed the old Avalon Hill 1914 game years ago.

Something of the sort you describe here, focusing on the build-up to an offensive, and counter-measures for the other side, could be quite interesting.

I agree a small unit or individual scale game for trench war-fare would provide a dubious enjoyment. Games on that scale work for WWII because there was movement and fluidity in the typical engagement on company scale.

[mossie]

There are a few Trench games around:
Battlefield1918 - A Battlefield1942 Mod based on the Battlefield 1942 game

Verdun Online - Official page, not released yet, but progressing.

[Kirk]

Avalanche Press, the makers of the Great WWII Panzer Grenadier series, will soon be publishing a platoon/company level WWI series of games called Infantry Attacks.

Avalanche Press

The first two games in the series are called August 1914 and Fall of Empires and deal with the German/Russian war and the Austro-Hungarian/Russian war respectively. Both took place prior to trench fighting becoming the norm. I'm an avid Panzer Grenadier player and am really looking forward to this new series.

[sightreader]

Originally Posted by Willi Von Klugerman

So do you think such a game would ever happen?

The only possibility I could see here for a small scale tactical computer game is either a tank sim or, for an arcade shooter, isolated situations, such as being the last survivor of a bombardment trying to get to a machine gun and hold off a charge.

If you were going to create a longer term, career oriented game, then I think you'd have to go to a more innovative structure than simply a tactical simulation.

If you were thinking board or card games, there may be some possibilities if you focus on interactions between soldiers in a trench. You could use the "racing game" mechanic (such as in Mille Bornes) and see which soldier or squad survives the longest, with each player throwing as many awful challenges at their competitors as they can.

You might also find some interesting interpersonal dynamic to model. Interpersonal dynamics have been modeled in Murder Mysteries and hidden identity games such as Mafia.

[Romani]

On the subject of roleplaying games, since Call of Cthulhu is set in the 1920s, there has been at least one official scenario and some unofficial ones set in the Great War.

I never understood the point, why one would want to bring the cosmic horrors of Lovecraft's Mythos into the trenches? History was horrible enough

Critical Miss, the magazine for dysfunctional gamers (like me ) published a gritty scenario as a reality check. Here's the link:

Critical Miss: Issue 5 (The Big Push)

[stevedrew]

Originally Posted by Chock

It's probably worth pointing out that Von Richthofen started the war in the Cavalry, and soon became disillusioned with it, since there were to be no bold cavalry charges in WW1, which eventually prompted him to apply for a transfer into the air force by stating that he did not sign up to sit in a bunker and do nothing.

Ever heard of a place called Beersheba? The last cavalry charge of that war, and there haven't been any more, nor is it likely. But to say there were no bold cavalry charges is unfair to the brave Australians that risked all to take the town and its wells.

Sure, the German cavalry might have been forced to sit in bunkers and to become storemen, but the Australian Light Horse did quite well indeed.

[Zif]

You can try to obtain Microsoft Close Combat III - Russian Front. It was maybe the best in the series, with lots of mods made by fan. It's a real-time tactical infantry game, very well done.

Some years ago, I downloaded the WWI-mod. It was well done, but truly horrifying. No matter how I tried to cover my infantry, crawl toward the enemy trenches from hole to hole, run the last 30-40 metres.

They were slaughtered by machine gun cross-fire, shells, snipers. Some of the artillery barrage caliber was impressive. It was well done, but not funny to play, unless you want to get why WWI was such an infantry massacre. I had most of the platoon literally destroyed without even engaging the enemy.