Wars and Battles: Normandy

Wars and Battles is a game system developed by French indie game studio Battle Factory, originally released in November 2014 for iOS and Android with the first campaign, 1944 Normandy. The plan was to follow up with more campaigns in the same system, titles like 1973 October War, 1943 Kharkov, 1944 Market Garden, 1950 Korean War, 1863 Gettysburg, etc., to be released in 2015-16. But somewhere along the way Battle Factory went under, leaving a website (warsandbattles.com) whose forums have now been over-run by spammers. Recently, British game publisher HexWar took over the game, re-releasing the first campaign as Wars and Battles: Normandy for Windows and macOS. But you won't find it on their website (www.hexwar.com). So this game was developed by a now-defunct French company, and is now distributed by a small British company, without either company stepping forward to advertise or host the new release on their website. Very strange. The game itself has both single and multiplaye...

I bought this game because I'm really interested in World War II. Do I recommend Wars and Battles: Normandy to buy? Yes and no. The game is divided into three parts. You have the Campaign Scenarios part, the Advanced Scenarios part, and the Full Battle Scenarios. You decide from the main menu in the game which scenarios you want to play and proceed from there. You can play has either the Allies or the Axis military forces in the game. Yes I do like how the game is very detailed on the Normandy battles during World War II and you have battle lines that divide opposing armies on the map and the AI is quite good at playing against you in the game. But I can't recommend the game based on three things that bother me about the game. The first thing that bothers me is there is no zoom feature in the game. You can not zoom in and out on your units. The units are suppose to be very detailed but I can't really tell because I can not zoom in and out to take a close look at my units. ...

I really like this game. It is obviously made by a real wargamer. Beneath the hood, there are a lot of stats percolating to give you an accurate accounting of a battle just finished. The only reason I can see that someone would not like this game is the graphics. They are not "wargamy"--boot it up and Grognards will know what I mean. Give it a chance without "filters" and I think you'll like it.

Got this on 50% sale. Well worth the money although the game is not supported anymore. The game has just the right balance of easy to get into without being too simplistic. You have reinforcements, artillery, bombers, naval support and simple but effective supply rules when playing the grande campaign. Terrain modifiers and replenishment and also a limited amout of action points so you have to prioritize which troops to move and fight with. Every turn summarises the victory points achieved by capturing or holding objectives and destroying enemy units. All units have their right historical units with some history as well as description for the unit types themselves. Since the game is not supported anymore it is not possible to save different save games slots. Only when you exit to the menu you are allowed an automatic save. I had some crashes when starting the game or returning to the main menu but nothing that corrupted my grand campaign autosave. While the game lacks certain feature...

One of my favorite games on ipad now on pc! You can zoom, right mouse button then use scroll wheel. Rotate screen with left mouse button. Amazing looking 3d map, good AI and plays much faster on my pc then my ipad. Looks better on a large screen as well. Simple clean rules, lets you see the odds with all the combat factors applied before you attack so you get a sense of the importance of the units different abilities, really important if you try the german side. After the enemy turn there is an after battle phase where if you click on the hex the battle took place you can see what units fought what modifiers everyone had and the dice role that let to the battle result, ie why your unit disappeared retreated etc. There is a manual that comes with this game but most stuff can be figured out by playing. I always play the full campaign which i like the best. Highly recommend this game!

Brought this game some time ago, but only played the smaller scenarios. Frankly, they are a bit of a slugfest. OK to learn the game system, which is hardly complex for a Wargame, but you'd not play them more than a couple of times. Over Xmas I had time to delve deeper into a few games I own, but had hardly played, of which this was one. I jumped into the full campaign, as the Allies, and I am so glad I did. For a fairly simple game system, this is a very enjoyable game. The action point system means you will never have enough resources to attack along the whole front, and this is where the game shines for me. Should I favour a US breakout attempt over a British one, or vice versa? Perhaps try to maintain a steady pressure along the whole line? Which ever you choose, try to cut off enemy units from supply for the best results. Not played from the Axis side yet, but anticipate a dilemma over where to spend my even more limited resources. This is a fairly simple, but very enjoyable, g...

I decided to give this game a thumbs down, not because it is bad, but because it is too expensive for what you get. What you get is a map representing Normandy and the surrounding areas. It is big enough to play out the landings, the subsequent expansion of the beachheads, the capture of Cherbourg, the bocage battles, the breakout, the liberation of Caen, and the Falaise pocket. You can fight a campaign on the whole map or in small battles on parts of that same map. That is it. The entire system is too basic. The units have no hierarchy or relation; you can mix them up regardless of what division, corps, or army they belong to. Lines of communication and logistics do not exist. Bocage has little impact. You can't dig in or cut off supplies. The widespread interdiction campaign and strategic bombardment lacks representation. Allied airpower is a shot in the dark. Artillery is supreme(and perhaps rightly so). You can't regulate the behavior of your troops(like a retreat or standin...

It is a compex/realistic game. Very surprise for its value