Old Gamers Never Die: MicroProse's 'Regiments' - Clash of Armor in a 1989 Where Glasnost, Perestroika Failed and Cold War Turned Hot

West German Leopard 2As in action during Reaction, one of several Operations in MicroProse's new real-time tactics wargame Regiments. ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games

 On August 16, MicroProse released a new real-time tactics game titled Regiments.

Developed by a small European game design studio called Bird's Eye Games, Regiments depicts ground warfare in central Europe in an alternate version of 1989 in which Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union failed, the Berlin Wall never fell, and a failed anti-Communist rebellion is the catalyst for armed conflict between the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact and the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Taking its cue from several wargames that involve deployment points, victory points, and the defense or capture of Objective Zones (think Wargame: AirLand Battle or Steel Division), Regiments puts you in command of a battalion, regiment, or brigade-sized unit on either side of the Iron Curtain and tests your ability to outfight, outsmart, and outlast the enemy in both East and West Germany. 

This is not a promotional image from Regiments; it's an actual screengrab from one of my (many) attempts to fight and win a Skirmish against a competent and all too remorseless AI enemy. ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games

I have only owned Regiments for 11 days (Day One purchase for me, gang!), so I can't say that I am proficient as a commander yet. I've won (I think, cos I don't keep track of the W-L stats) one Skirmish (which is Regiment's term for Single Battle) playing as the Americans. I am learning — albeit slowly, oh, so slowly — the basic principles of maneuvering, using tactical aids (TacAids), and scouting, but even though I did do well in one of the game's campaign-of-sorts series of Operations, I'm a better submariner (Cold Waters rocks!) than I am a commander of armor and mechanized infantry in Regiments. 

Here's proof that I actually won one Skirmish in Regiments. ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games

You can zoom your camera in to see fine details on the battlefield. ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Studio

ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games

ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games

Here, West German forces have destroyed a Soviet ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" anti-aircraft vehicle. ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games

Regiments is a fun game to play if you're into military-themed computer games. It's not the easiest game to play, at least not at first, but at least it is not so complicated to learn that you need to attend a few courses of Military Science in college, or join the armed forces, to learn how to even use your units. 

Regiments allows you to command a combined arms unit with supporting units such as ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, and several types of artillery to accomplish your missions. 

And, as you can see from the screengrabs, the game has awesome graphics, as well. 

I am not ready to write a detailed review of Regiments: I have only owned it for less than two weeks, and I would like to be a bit more proficient at the game before I do a more in-depth write-up. And if I do write a review, more than likely I will only write it for our sister blog on WordPress, A Certain Point of View, Too. 

(Here's one of my WordPress posts about Regiments to give you a better idea of what I've learned so far over the past 11 days. Click here to read it.)

So far, though, I think that Regiments is a good omen as far as the return of MicroProse to the world of producing and publishing new games after many years of being in limbo. I might not be great at it, yet, but it is a fun,and exciting Cold War-turns-hot game that reminds us of MicroProse's reputation as one of the leaders in wargames and simulations back in the Eighties and Nineties. 

 ⓒ 2022 MicroProse & Bird's Eye Games