But I personally think Battle Academy (which will always be Battlefield Academy whenever I see the name, piss off EA), is the best wargame ever made for the computer.
It has what I want in a wargame, and it was done so utterly perfectly too.
The game board is no so damned large you need a massive screen. Because while it is possible to play something like this on a large board, it doesn't make the game better just to make it bigger. I come from Squad Leader, and I consider anything more than 3 boards to be ruining the point of the game. It's called Squad Leader for a reason, not battalion commander. I got suckered into buying the HASL models, and would likely sell them in a heart beat if sorting out the counters was an easy task
The unit quantity is perfect, because playing wargames with 10s of thousands of units doesn't make a game better. Just because we can make game that way, doesn't make them better, it just makes the turn longer. And being able to play a full game in one sitting will ALWAYS trump any design that can't.
The controls are superb. The fact that the controls in BA are so utterly simple is a plus. The fact they can be controlled easily from a touch screen will mean we are playing them for a long time. Get used to it, PCs are the past. No one really cares if a few stubborn grogs are desperately in need of desktops. Tomorrow's youths will be playing their games on the latest devices, and in time, a PC will be as sell-able as a VCR or a cathode ray tube TV.
Slitherine has as I see it, produced the only method of multi gamer option worth mention for games that simply never get beyond meh until the game is human vs human.
Before the gamer match up with BA, the chances of a fair and honest game in any wargame worth mention were about the same as winning the lottery. A nice dream, but not worth the time to wait for generally, even if a few still wanted to. During the beginning of BA, I was playing countless games, and with total strangers and with no effort at all, and never for a moment concerned about verification. Only my own circumstances have made me inactive. If I had to pick any game to be playing, BA is always in the #1 slot. And there are no ties here, BA is by itself in owning that spot.
I see comments about 'cartoony' and they go right out the window as comments not worth my time. The remarks have no merit. BA is no more 'gamey' than a game of chess as well. Either you study the game, or you get trashed. And that is how I prefer games ostensibly about mental challenge.
Slitherine can produce as many expansions for BA as they like. I will be ready to check them out as often as they make them.
Next up is of course Panzer Corps. And the only reason it is at #2, is because I like tactical more. It's not a reflection of the game itself.
I have bought all of it so far. If I was told I could only have two games, any games, even games outside of wargaming, I would have no problem picking BA and Panzer Corps.
The DLC approach has been a good idea. I like that the creators have been able to provide us a solid game, and also managed to make it profitable for them as well. I don't have a beef with a company benefiting from a job well done. It would be as silly as being annoyed with Tamiya for always expecting me to pay for more models.
I am not generally into being a consumer slave though. There is a limit to how many ways I need to be provided with something that works.
There ARE lots of good wargames that have appeared over this century. But in some cases they have been redundant when sat on a shelf beside others.
Several grand strategy designs, all doing the same old schtick. Several designs all featuring real time but at differing graphics styles. More than one monster game, and having more appeal than any of the board games that got us to coin the term 'monster game' in the first place.
You can only play with one toy at a time though.
In retrospect, I have suffered a great deal of lack of capacity to be happy with what I had.
The grass is not greener on the other side, and the next guy's design is rarely better, merely different.
There is a limit to how often I need a new way to simulate the same thing.
Given a chance, to my way of thinking, if you have BA and Panzer Corps, odds are you don't have time for anything else, and why go with anything from 3rd place and below eh?
The ASL crowd have an expression "there are other wargames?'.
I wish the wargame developing community well in 2013. But I have all I need
My next personal goal, find a way to be holding on to a Windows 8 tablet able to run my Windows based wargames, and not need to rob a bank to pay for it
I like my Android using tablet a lot, but the moment I can play BA on a tablet, and not need a specifically Android version, my son can have the Android one.
Bit offtopic all of this is. But you did ask if there is something else to play. Also check Codename: Panzers Phase one and two