Steel Panthers series

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Steel Panthers
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)	Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Designer(s)	Gary Grigsby and Keith Brors
Release date(s)	1995-1997
Genre(s)	Tactical wargame
Mode(s)	Single player / PBEM
Rating(s)	Mature
Platform(s)	MS-DOS
Input	Keyboard, mouse

Steel Panthers is a complex, tactical-level turn-based computerized wargame series for the PC with World War II and modern warfare settings. The original three-part Steel Panthers series was developed and released by Strategic Simulations, Inc. from 1995 to 1997, with design and programming by Gary Grigsby and Keith Brors. Later the series was supplemented with freeware remakes by two different parties.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Series history 3 Community 4 External links

[edit] Gameplay

All of the games in the series are quite similar in features and appearance. However, the third part in the original series is clearly distinct in that it offers platoon-size formations instead of the scale of individual tanks and squads of the other installments.

The games offer various modes of play: human vs. human, human vs. AI and PBEM (play by email). The players receive historical military units at the beginning of a scenario and have the option to buy reinforcements with points earned in different ways. The units are then moved on a hexagon grid map similar to a large number of board and computerized wargames. In addition to ready-made battles and campaigns, players can customize single scenarios or create their own campaigns.

The goal is usually to occupy several 'objective hexes' and hold them until the scenario is finished either by completely eliminating the opposing commanders forces or reaching the turn limit.

[edit] Series history

The game mechanics are basically a streamlined version of the system used by Grigsby's late-80s series of three strategy games for the Commodore 64 and Apple II: Panzer Strike, Typhoon of Steel and Overrun!. The original Steel Panthers series includes the following titles:

• Steel Panthers (1995)
• Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles (1996)
• Steel Panthers III: Brigade Command 1939-1999 (1997)

Rights to the game and source code were later acquired by Matrix Games who developed and released as freeware an improved remake based on the Steel Panthers III engine (but limited to the timespan of World War II):

• Steel Panthers: World at War!

There also exists concurrent development by The Camo Workshop based on the Steel Panthers II code:

• Steel Panthers: World War 2 (WinSPWW2)
• Steel Panthers: Main Battle Tank (WinSPMBT) (features battles from 1945 to 2020, with 90 different nations to allow for the simulation of a wide variety of different real and hypothetical conflicts)

In 2005 Shrapnel Games took over distribution of SPCAMO's output, handling the distribution of the Windows version of their games. WinSPMBT was released in June of that year as a free download. A CD version with added bonus features was also offered as a commercial product, the first time SPCAMO had charged for one of its games. WinSPWW2 was released on May 15, 2006.

[edit] Community

Despite the original Steel Panthers videogame being over a decade old, the game still has a fairly large following who play the freeware remakes. The largest forum other than the official forum for SP:WAW has over 2000 registered members[1]. Scenarios (standalone battles which plays like a single level in a videogame) and campaigns (series of linked scenarios) are still regularly prduced by fans. SP:WAW has roughly a thousand scenarios available for it[2]. Surprisingly, for such an old videogame, and one that was not initially released with any mod tools^{[citation needed]}, a small modding community has emerged.

This community is mostly concerned with improving historical accuracy and fixing OOB errors that came with the game. This modding takes place exclusively on the freeware remakes. One such example is the SPWAW Depot Enhanced mod which places special interest on Orders of Battle and Tables of Organization that are as historically accurate as available information allows. It's developers are especially pleased with the community involvement and open debate which gave birth to it. A number of enthusiast-designed scenarios and campaigns have been updated specifically to "show off" the new user-improved terrain and unit graphics.

[edit] External links

• The Steel Panthers Online website features a full download version (freeware) of Steel Panthers: World at War! ver8.2 as well as an upgrade to 8.4
• World at War international Steel Panthers community
• The Camo Workshop website Features info and links to full downloads (freeware) of WinSPWW2 and WinSPMBT.
• SP Wiki - The official Wiki for Steel Panthers: World at War!
• The SP:WaW DEPOT Features forums where "Steel Panthers: World at War" fans can meet and converse with other members of the community. New scenarios, online and Pbem opponents can also be found here along with many other game related items.
• [3]SP:Waw Depot Enhanced Mod
• Shrapnel Games Features download of WinSPMBT, WinSPWWII and purchase of the full version.
• Steel Panthers series series at MobyGames