Since it’s Christmas Day, I decided to play a new turn-based tactical wargame that was gifted to me by Desert Rose, who co-hosts the Knight and Rose Show podcast with me. I really enjoy reading military history, and learning about strategy and tactics. And in order to learn from a different angle, I enjoy playing realistic (but not gory) military simulations. So today I’ll show you what it looks like.

First, here’s the description of the game itself, which was developed by Giant Flame, and published by PLA Studios, based in London, England:

On the morning of the 6th June 1944 the Western Allies began the largest seaborne invasion in the history of warfare. D-Day would mark the start of a vicious campaign to wrestle North West Europe from German control. The following months would see the ancient fields, farms and villages serve as a battleground for new, lethal weapons that would become legendary.

The Troop follows the campaign of British and Canadian forces as they face the German Heer and SS in Normandy. Take command of infantry, motorised and armoured units in desperate tactical turn-based combat against an AI opponent that is challenging and unpredictable, but fair and fallible. Play as British/Canadian or German forces across over 30 maps and 4 play modes.

Simple, complete control – The Troop embraces the best traditions of classic tabletop war gaming combined with the interactivity and excitement the digital format affords. You have complete control over your units’ actions; tanks will not expose their weak side armour with unexpected pathing, hidden guns will not reveal their positions by firing prematurely, infantry will not flee inexplicably when victory is a few heroic paces away. You are free to take your time… but any mistakes are yours and yours alone.

The Troop contains stylised depictions of casualties being sustained in combat including representations of injury and death. The Troop does NOT contain any depictions of gore, blood or wounds.

I am a huge fan of games like Combat Mission, Steel Panthers, and Close Combat, and I have been delighted to see that The Troop is an even better game than all of my previous favorites. It’s the perfect game for me to put the lessons I learned from reading military history into practice.

Regarding the game mechanics, it is an I-go, you-go turn-based system on a hex map. Infantry units can move up to 4 hexes, but if they move 2 only, then they can remain prone. If they move 4 then they cannot fire. The more they move, the less accurate their fire. Also, if they were shot at and suppressed by enemy fire in a previous turn, then they will be less accurate. If an armored unit fires it’s main gun, then it ends its turn and cannot move further. This game models terrain effects, line of sight, smoke, armor penetration, morale, opportunity fire, and other features of realistic warfare.

So, in the two gameplay videos below, I am playing as the British armed forces, just after the June 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, France. The first map is a beach landing, and the second map is a bocage / urban setting. In each case, my forces were pre-selected, but in other scenarios, you can purchase forces with points.

Here is the first scenario I recorded, “Per Mare, Per Terram”:

And here is the second scenario I recorded, “Crossroads”:

I posted these videos on my personal channel, to keep them separate from the Knight and Rose Show uploads. I want to thank Desert Rose again for gifting me this game. I hope that you all had a happy Christmas, got a great gift, and had as much fun as I did playing The Troop. If you have a Steam account, and want to get the game, it’s on sale for a few more days.

If you like these videos, let me know in the comments on YouTube, so I know to make more of them. It’s fun to play these scenarios, but it’s also fun to look at the maps and read them and think about them. It’s fun to be able to read terrain and make plans, and then make decisions, and see those decisions produce a result. I think it’s a very masculine behavior. It certainly appeals to my male nature to make plans, carry them out, and see the good result. I love it when a plan comes together.

By the way, I got myself a solitaire wargame for Christmas, as well: Carrier Battles: Philippine Sea, which you can read about on Boardgame Geek. It’s highly rated, and I am looking forward to doing the tutorial missions over the holidays, and then playing a real game.