Old Gamers Never Die: Two Lessons I've Learned from Playing MicroProse's 'Regiments' (2022)

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

 

Two Lessons I Have Learned from Playing ‘Regiments’

 

Oh, look! A current blog post from me!

As you know, I purchased my first game from the “new” (Australian-based) version of MicroProse since the 1990s over a month ago. The game in question is called Regiments, and it was developed by a small European studio called Bird’s Eye Games.

Regiments is, like Eugen Systems’ Steel Division and Wargame series, a real-time tactics game that depicts 20^th Century warfare – especially land combat – in fast-paced, adrenaline-laced battles (Steel Division is set in World War II, while Wargames is Cold War-turns-hot and superpower conflict-oriented) on the ground and in the air.

It's so good to see this classic logo on brand-new games. 

I play all those games, and even though Regiments is its own thing, some of its features do resemble those in Wargame, especially when it comes to Objective Zones and how units are made available if you have enough deployment points.

Anyway, that’s not the main thrust of this post, nor is this a review of Regiments, which is set in an alternate version of 1989 in which glasnost and perestroika never took root in the Soviet Union, and instead of the Cold War ending peacefully, it went hot, and the Warsaw Pact invaded West Germany a la The Third World War duology or Red Storm Rising.

I bought Regiments on the day it was released on Steam (August 16), and even though I have yet to complete the Campaign, I have played the game in Skirmish mode enough times to have learned (or re-learned) some cold, hard facts about combat in 1980s Central Europe.

Lesson #1: Helicopters Are Deadly, But They’re Also Fragile

 

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

I love military helicopters. The Bell UH-1 “Huey” – that icon of the Vietnam War – is probably my favorite whirlybird of all time, followed closely by its deadly sibling, the AH-1 Cobra attack chopper, and its more powerful successor, the AH-64 Apache. I even have a morbid fascination with the Soviet Mi-24 Hind, aka “the Flying Tank,” mainly because it looks menacing and deadly.

Regiments does not include the Huey utility helicopter, but it does feature other NATO and Warsaw Pact choppers, including the three attack helicopters I mentioned above. There is also the West German PAH-1 attack chopper, which can be used as “eyes in the sky” as well as in the attack role.

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

No matter which side you choose to play as in Regiments, chances are that you’ll use helicopters when you select Task Forces that include them. They’re immensely useful, and if you’re using the attack helicopters either for attack or defense, they can be deadly, too.

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

That having been said, unless you have destroyed all the enemy’s anti-aircraft systems (Regiments gives both sides air defense capabilities that include surface-to-air missiles [SAMs] or anti-aircraft artillery [AAA or “triple A’] to give ground units some protection against fixed-wing jets or rotary-wing helicopters), helicopters are vulnerable on the modern battlefield, no matter how well-armed they are.

Last night, for instance, I played a Skirmish titled Der Sumpf, or “The Swamp” in German, as a West German brigade commander in the Bundeswehr.

This unit – I don’t remember its specific unit name now – was divided into several Task Forces, from which I could choose a maximum of three to augment the “core force” that the game allotted at the start of the scenario.

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

Although I needed to have Task Forces with enough armored or mechanized infantry platoons to seize and defend eight Objective Zones (OZs), I chose two that also allowed me to deploy PAH-1 attack helicopters. These are small "whirlybirds” that can bring to bear anti-tank and anti-personnel weapons against an enemy force, plus they can augment a ground unit’s reconnaissance assets because they can “see” farther than, say, a scout unit equipped with Luchts recce vehicles.

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

I try to not be overly aggressive whilst I use helicopters, no matter which army I am “serving” in during a specific Skirmish. They are sleek, dangerous-looking, and deadly, but if they stray too close to enemy units equipped with anti-aircraft weapons, whether they are mobile gun systems, vehicle-mounted SAM launchers, or man-portable air defense systems (MANPADs), they can be fired at, they can be hit, and they can be killed.

I know, because I lost 10 PAH-1s last night while playing an Attack mission in the Der Sumpf scenario. I won a Total Victory by capturing all eight of the enemy’s Objective Zones, and I lost fewer ground troops and vehicles than the AI-commanded Red Force. But man…. those helicopters sure suffered a lot of casualties.

War is hell, especially when you lose 10 helicopters in battle. © 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

 Lesson #2: Retreating is Nothing to Be Ashamed Of

 

West German combat engineers prepare to remove an obstacle on a roadway leading to the next objective. © 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

Because Regiments attempts to portray late 1980s conventional warfare as realistically as possible without showing too many gory Saving Private Ryan-like scenes of soldiers being maimed or killed onscreen, you, as a player in the role of a unit commander, must accept the reality that no matter how well you plan an attack or how “cool” your tanks, scout vehicles, infantry fighting vehicles, and other military hardware are, the AI-controlled enemy is not passive. You will be fired at from various locations as soon as the defenders spot you. You will be suppressed by automatic weapons (which means your troops will be too busy ducking enemy bullets that they won’t fire their weapons as fast as they otherwise would. Some of your vehicle crews or infantry might panic.

The effects of napalm are devastating. © 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

And, regrettably, if the enemy’s anti-tank guided missiles, artillery fire, automatic weapons, or tank cannon rounds are accurately aimed, or if your units are exposing their vulnerable sides or rear to incoming rounds, you will lose tanks, other armored fighting vehicles, and – sadly – some of your soldiers.

Sometimes, if the enemy uses cluster munitions (such as cluster bombs from ground attack aircraft or DPICM artillery rounds) that affect large areas, entire units will be destroyed in one blow.

© 2022 Bird's Eye Games & MicroProse 

More commonly, though, units – especially those equipped with armored vehicles that can move fast on the battlefield – lose vehicles one at a time. It sucks, especially if you’re like me and hate seeing your units being hit by enemy fire and the number of tanks or other vehicles being reduced by those incoming rounds or missiles.

“He who advances without seeking fame,
Who retreats without escaping blame,
He whose one aim is to protect his people and serve his lord,
The man is a jewel of the Realm” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Luckily, Regiments has two commands that you can issue to your units so they can “get the hell out of Dodge.”

The first option – Reverse – allows you to “pull back” a unit that is under enemy fire in reverse and place it in a safer location without removing the unit from the battlefield altogether. This is usually the preferable option because you don’t lose the unit’s firepower (even though its losses reduced its effectiveness) and it might survive – provided its new location is either out of range of the enemy’s weapons or is in heavy forests or urban terrain where shelter is available.

The downside to Reverse is that most vehicles move slower when they’re driven in reverse gear, so if the enemy can still see your tanks or infantry fighting vehicles scuttling backward like a crab and his weapons have the range, chances are good that you’ll probably lose one or more vehicles if you issue a Reverse order. (This is especially true if one of the enemy units is an attack helicopter, which has a higher-than-average line of sight – or LOS – and is often armed with long-range guided missiles.)

Retreat is more extreme, because once you issue it, the unit’s surviving vehicles will fire off a volley of smoke grenades to obscure their movement, and it is no longer available for any command from you, at least temporarily. In Regiments, the unit’s NATO symbol will “grey out” and you can no longer see its vehicles on the battlefield. (However, since Regiments tries to be realistic, this invisibility is not like a Romulan cloaking device that fools the enemy into thinking the unit vanished into thin air. Enemy cannon fire, anti-tank guided missiles, or artillery fire can still kill the retreating unit with lucky hits. Of course, this works both ways, and your side can also destroy retreating enemy units.)

“Certain battles were won by retreating.” ― Eoin Colfer, The Eternity Code

The advantage that the Retreat order gives you is that if a surviving unit reaches your Entry Zone/Supply Depot, it not only gets replacements of both men and equipment, but it retains battle experience and becomes a veteran unit. In contrast, destroyed units can be replaced with Deployment Points, but they will be green. Inexperienced, and less combat effective than units with high veterancy.

Of course, Regiments does not spawn replacements instantaneously; it usually takes several minutes of game time to place either a reconstituted veteran unit or a new “green” one on your “available units” queue. And you can’t deploy either type of replacement unless – naturally – you have enough Deployment Points in your “bank account.”

But, unlike units that you kept in the battle using the Reverse command, the units you sent to the rear with the Retreat order will be at full strength when they arrive. The best you can do with a Reversed platoon or section is to repair damaged vehicles, rearm, refuel, and get replacement soldiers, but no new vehicles will be added.

“To withdraw isn’t a sign of weakness… It is a sign that a man knows the limits of his capabilities and the most probable outcome of the future. One who retreats to fight another day isn’t running away but looking for another road towards the same destination.” ― Lionel Suggs

So, remember, in Regiments, as in real war, discretion is the better part of valor. Learning when to retreat – and when not to – are key concepts every commander must learn. If done properly, and if your efforts eventually pay off with a victory, there is no shame in a tactical retreat.