Unity of Command II – Ardennes 44’s meta plays smart on multiple counts
Right back into the Ardennes.
Since I very recently did an article on the Ardennes, I had so much information for that game that I skipped a couple of things I should have put in. Namely, this battle is also known as “The Battle of the Bulge” and/or “Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein”. So, it’s time to try out Unity of Command II’s take on this very same situation. (Technically, it’s Unity of Command II – Ardennes 44.)
You play as the depleted and surrounded Germans, hoping to divide the American troops… from Belgium to Luxembourg to the Eastern Front. Now, I have to say up-front: one of the main concerns of the first version was that is was more of a puzzle trapped inside a wargame. This one is still pretty close. What makes them this way? Timed scenarios, even within campaigns. However, Unity of Command II is a lot more about the wargame than the “puzzle”. However, your orders are concise and right to the point.
Unity of Command II – Ardennes 44’s meta plays smart on multiple counts
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There are also cards involved that allow you to do various things across a wide spectrum… from getting more trucks to aerial bombings. Obviously, those are Random Number Generator (RNG), but the cards you pull can sway the battle one way of the other. (I’ve never had the best of luck, but I did get a couple of cool (no spoilers!) draws).
I’m not going to do a whole spiel about Supply. Both wargames and wargamers generally know the ins and outs of supply. Your unit’s in supply, it behaves normally… out of supply, it’s generally in trouble.
However, in Unity of Command II, “Prestige” is an often overlooked, but extremely important part of your war effort. Prestige is used in various of ways to strengthen your armies (during a campaign) and can help you with a victory which other wise could’ve been a loss. A lot of Prestige is for, but not limited to, your Headquarters’ improvements and upgrades.
Obviously, then, the more you increase the value of your headquarters, the more important it becomes to your overall well-being of your entire Order of Battle. Any kind of victory adds to your Prestige and Power… which is only a start. There are too many to list, for additions and subtractions to your Prestige, period. There are way too many things to spend Prestige on for me to rattle off. It’s not that they’re difficult; it just takes some experience. Basically, it boils down to: do well, increase Prestige… do badly or poorly, miss out. Although a plethora of different dynamics, it’s really rather simple/common sense.
Although I should play it out as is, there’s an alternate-history campaign that sounds really good. I’ll let you know what I decide. It’s still the Ardennes, but it’s altered somehow. For this review, though, it’s straight-up Ardennes, right out of the box (as it were or used to be) 🙂 The Overlays for Unity of Command II are more important than many other wargames I’ve played:
Overlays
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Finally, one thing that’s very cool for me (and it might sound really cornball-ey) is that they have access to the game’s saves right on the starting page! As many games as I have played, I’ve gotten sick of going to the ‘net or the discussion threads trying to find out where the savegames are stashed.
Unity of Command II (luckily for me) is a pretty hardcore game. Low-ish learning curve, (how many times have you read that?), then add in the cards and timers, and although it’s not an RTS (thank the gods), you still have to plan your moves very carefully to acquire all of your objectives before time runs out. It’s a thinker, a time-seeker, and a brain-shrinker.
Note: I never made it to the alt-history campaign, but that’s my next move.
Unity of Command II – Ardennes 44 is available now for PC.
