Dan Verssen Games (DVG) has announced Hornet Leader – Carrier Air Operations and the reprint of Field Commander Alexander will arrive from their printer during the first week of December! Here’s the latest from the DVG press release:
Hornet Leader – Carrier Air Operations spans all aspects of US naval aviation throughout the service life of the F/A-18 Hornet from 1983 to the present day. The game places you in command of the pilots and aircraft of a squadron of U.S. Navy strike aircraft in hostile campaigns around the world. The aircraft and weapons available for each campaign are historically accurate. A major part of the game is mission planning. You decide how to arm your aircraft and which pilots are best for the mission. Pilots are rated for skill level. Deciding which pilots to fly each mission is a major consideration. Your pilots will become fatigued with every mission. If you fly a pilot too often, his skills will degrade. Your pilots also gain experience with every mission flown. This makes for some great decision-making. Should you keep flying the top pilots and further fatigue them to get the job done, or fly the new guys to prep them for the tough missions
ahead?
Missions are quickly resolved using an area movement system to display tactical combat over the target. Priority is placed on speed and realism. You get to resolve every missile launched at enemy bandits, and every air to ground attack against the enemy target. You also get to resolve the enemy SAM, AAA, and Bandit attacks against your aircraft. While performing each mission, you get to decide how your pilots engage the enemy Bandits, SAMs, and AAA Sites. This makes for some tough choices. The more suppression munitions you haul to the target, the safer your pilots will be, but you will be able to load fewer munitions to destroy the target.
In Field Commander Alexander, you take on the role of Alexander the Great in his world-conquering quest to extend the Macedonian empire and achieve personal glory. When playing the game, you are placed in Alexander’s footsteps when he comes of age in 338 BC, just before the battle of Chaeronea. From that point on, you get to decide where to travel, when to battle, when to negotiate, and when to seek out divine prophesies to guide your actions.
You are supplied with soldiers and advisors to help you navigate the dangers of the battlefield and the negotiating table. These include Infantry, Archers, Phalanxes, Cavalry, Advisors, Scholars, Courtisans, and Spies. You will craftily combine these resources with your own plans to achieve victory, and glorification. And if you do well, you will be remembered as one of the greatest leaders ever to walk the earth. The life of Alexander is divided into several campaigns, each spanning several years. During each campaign, you are given goals, but how you achieve those goals is up to you. Do you enter into battle? Or negotiate? How strong are you? How strong are they? What can you gain? These are all decisions you get to make, and must make well, if you are to live up to the immortal standards set before you.
Founder/Editor-in-chief of The Gaming Gang website and host of The Gaming Gang Dispatch and other TGG media, Jeff tackles any and all sorts of games but has a special fondness for strategy, conflict sims, and roleplaying games. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion...
