Mech Brigade

Mech Brigade
Developer(s)Strategic Simulations
Publisher(s)Strategic Simulations
Designer(s)Gary Grigsby
Platform(s)Apple II, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, MS-DOS
Release1985
Genre(s)Computer wargame
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Mech Brigade is a computer wargame published by Strategic Simulations in 1985. It was designed by Gary Grigsby, and is a follow-up to his earlier Kampfgruppe.

Gameplay

Mech Brigade is a computer wargame that simulates a hypothetical conflict between NATO and the nations of the Warsaw Pact.[1]

Development

Mech Brigade was designed by Gary Grigsby.[2] It serves as a follow-up to his title Kampfgruppe, a World War II simulation. Mech Brigade was designed to bring the system into a modern warfare context.[3][2] He launched both games in 1985, the same year he debuted U.S.A.A.F. - United States Army Air Force.[4]

Reception

Author Rusel DeMaria later reported that Mech Brigade was "superior in design but inferior in sales" to Kampfgruppe.[2]

Jay Selover reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "The addition of anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM's), combat helicopters, and all the other trappings of modern combat make Mech Brigade a much more dangerous place to take a Sunday stroll."[1] In Antic, Dr. John Stanoch opined that Mech Brigade is "certainly not a game for beginners".[5]

In his 1989 computer wargame survey, J. L. Miller of Computer Play offered Mech Brigade a generally positive score but found that the "weapons systems seem to lack the lethality that they in fact possess".[3]

As it had with Kampfgruppe, Computer Gaming World inducted Mech Brigade into its Hall of Fame.[6] The magazine's Alan Emrich later said that Mech Brigade was "the pre-eminent tank game until the arrival of M-1 Tank Platoon."[4]

Reviews

References

  1. ^ a b Selover, Jay (June–July 1986). "Battlegroup & Mech Brigade". Computer Gaming World. Vol. 1, no. 29. pp. 10–11, 43.
  2. ^ a b c DeMaria, Rusel (December 2018). "Opportunity Knocks: The Story of SSI". High Score! Expanded: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (3rd ed.). CRC Press. pp. 166–171. ISBN 978-0-429-77139-2.
  3. ^ a b c Miller, J. L. (January 1989). "The Wargamer's Desk Reference". Computer Play: 34, 36, 37, 39, 40, 42.
  4. ^ a b Emrich, Alan (September 1995). "The Pioneering Spirit of a Wargame Guru". Computer Gaming World. No. 134. pp. 201, 202, 204.
  5. ^ Moore, Rich; Stanoch, John (March 1988). "Call to Wargames". Antic. 6 (11): 10, 14.
  6. ^ Staff (March 1988). "The CGW Hall of Fame". Computer Gaming World. No. 45. p. 44.