- Orig HPS Press Release
- Planning Maps
- Reading List
- Game Documents & Misc
John Tiller turns to Northwest Europe for another Squad Battles title. Eagles Strike sports over 50 scenarios, including three campaigns, covering the GI’s battles from Normandy to the end of the Reich. Unlike earlier games in this series, this one serves up lots of armor, from halftracks to heavy tanks, and an equally mind-boggling array of anti-tank weaponry. The focus is still on the ground pounders, but you’ll have to be able to handle the iron monsters on offense and defense if you want to succeed. Play the Allies or the Germans, and fight against the savvy computer or friends via email or the Internet. If that’s not enough, you can use the included maps and expanded maps for your own scenarios too.
Click to Enlarge Units represent individual leaders, weapons teams, and squads of up to a dozen men. Each weapon is accounted for, and squads can pick up and drop items as a result of combat or your decisions. An elegant and sophisticated mechanism simulates both wear and tear and ammunition depletion, and the game accounts for range, visibility, armor protection, and terrain effects in a way that is historically accurate and which encourages historical tactics. The turn-based system with opportunity fire and optional full fog of war balances realism with playability and preserves play by email utility.
Unlike some simulations, you won’t need to devote a good chunk of your life to mastering the game mechanics. Nearly everything is mouse driven, with an extensive system of hotkeys and menus for all game commands. You can customize your experience with four different map views, including a new 3D mode that shows the tactical relief of the battlefield for more effective planning. You won’t need a monster machine to run the game, either. Its attractive 2D graphics and superb maps run well even on laptops and older machines, as long as you can run Windows XP or later; Windows 95 or Windows 98 are not supported due to DirectX concerns.
Click to Enlarge What makes Eagles Strikes so compelling is the way it neatly captures the ebb and flow of a WWII tactical battle, without overwhelming you with minutia. Armored vehicles are easier to kill from the sides and rear, assault guns have to pivot to bring their guns to bear, and infantry needs to pass morale checks before assaulting tanks, so you get the full spectrum of essential detail. Your enemy is not the game system; the mechanics are simple (not simplistic), and easy to learn. It’s the effective employment of those mechanics that is the challenge. There’s plenty of chrome, too, though. You get all the different small arms, heavy weapons, indirect fire support, air strikes, naval gunfire support, and armor you could hope for, plus parachute and glider landings, several types of mines and obstacles, smoke, illumination, and radios. It’s all easy to employ, too, thanks to the ultra-clear maps and visually striking “counter” style unit markers.
Central to the Squad Battles game system is the idea of leadership. Your NCOs and junior officers are critical parts of your force. The most heavily armed squads are useless without someone to rally and inspire them. You’ll learn the true value of individual heroism as you watch your sergeants and lieutenants rally a pinned squad and assault the last enemy pillbox, or inspire a machine gun team to hold off an enemy attack. Leaders also are necessary to call in support; learning when and how to use artillery and air strikes that can easily smash your own forces as well as the enemy is key to success. Few games teach the value of leadership as well as Eagles Strike; if you ever wanted to see how useless a bunch of leaderless troops are, just lose all your platoon leaders early in a battle!
The game also has the standard scenario, OOB, parameter, database & sub-map editors included with the game. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.
Click to Enlarge Credits
- Project Coordinator: Bill Wilder
- Additional Research: Wig Graves and Greg Smith
- Cover Graphics: Mark Adams
- Scenario Designers: Neil Stalker, Louie Marsh, Bryan Melvin, James Rapkins, Wig Graves, and Bill Wilder
- Campaign Maps: Mike Avanzini
- Playtesters: Tom Ciampa, Randy Casebier, Massimo Rocca, Alexandra Collins, James Rapkins, Bryan Melvin, Louie Marsh, Neil Stalker, and Bill Wilder
System Requirements
Windows XP, Vista, or 7
Processor: 1 GHz
Disk Space: 1 GB
Memory: 1 GB
Planning Maps (click for full-sized images)
Baraque de Fraiture: 4.19 mb gif Bastogne South: 26.8 mb gif Benicourt: 3.01 mb gif
Cambernon: 4.02 mb gif Celles: 17.7 mb gif Cerisy la Salle: 4.12 mb gif
Chateauneuf: 4.48 mb gif Chef du Pont: 1.09 mb gif Clervaux: 7.26 mb gif
Gavray: 8 mb gif Groesbeek: 3.96 mb gif Hosingen: 7.21 mb gif
Irsch: 6.42 mb gif La Poterie: 3.98 mb gif Le Muy: 2.48 mb gif
Lucherberg: 6.51 mb gif Margaret: 8.70 mb gif Montelimar N: 2.88 mb gif
Montelimar ENE: 2.75 mb gif Montelimar NE: 2.97 mb gif Mortain: 10.8 mb gif
Moselle: 9.60 mb gif Noville: 8.61 mb gif Omaha Beach: 15 mb gif
Pointe du Hoc: 1.79 mb gif Prum: 3.85 mb gif Rocherath:5.45 mb gif
Saarburg: 3.86 mb gif Schmidt: 10.1 mb gif Ste. Marie Eglise: 8.82 mb gif
Stoumont: 13.4 mb gif Tettingen: 4.40 mb gif Trier: 1.58 mb gif
Utah Beach: 5.84 mb gif Wiltz: 4.12 mb gif
Click here for larger sized thumbs
Reading List
Game Documents & Misc
Getting Started Designer's Notes Scenario List Map Overview
; Dell, 2000
; Dell, 2001
; Dell, 2002
; Dell, 1993
; Dell, 2002
; Simon & Schuster, 1998
; Simon & Schuster, 2001
; Simon & Schuster, 1995
; Simon & Schuster, 1999
; Presidio Press, 2003
; Presidio Press, 2004
; Burford Books, 1999
; University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002
; William Morrow Paperbacks, 1997
; Da Capo Press, 1995
; Bison Books, 1999
; Stackpole Books, 2006
; Stackpole Books, 2006
, 2008
; Stackpole Books, 2008
; NAL Hardcover, 2011
; Penquin, 2011
; Presidio Press, 2005
