Unity of Command

K. Fields
2024-06-25T18:32:05-04:00
Video Games

My computer game of the month for June 2024 has been Unity of Command, a World War II operational-level wargame. I loved Panzer General and Panzer Corps so I expected to enjoy UoC. It took me a little while but eventually I really liked it. Whereas Panzer Corps played almost identically to Panzer General, that wasn't the case here. In UoC, supply lines are everything. You need to constantly protect them, ensuring they are unbroken. It was also imperative to know how far supply reached from your supply sources. Enemies love to flank, surround, or encircle your units to cut them off from supply rather than engage them directly. This isn't always the case, of course, but they will do it when the opportunity strikes if you aren't careful.

I played three campaigns—Stalingrad 1942-43 (Axis) and Stalingrad 1942-43 (Soviet) in the base game and Black Turn: Operation Barbarossa 1941, a DLC expansion campaign. These were massive land battles so the emphasis was on infantry and tanks. There were no naval units. Air power played a part but much differently than in Panzer General and Panzer Corps. You don't control individual air units in this game. Instead, some scenarios provide theater assets. Air attacks are one such asset, which may be called upon typically twice per turn. Another interesting difference from Panzer General and Panzer Corps is what's called specialist steps. They are enhancements on top of a base unit. For example, an infantry unit might have armor, artillery, anti-air, anti-tank, engineers, or recon attached to it.

I did ok but not great in the two Stalingrad campaigns. By the time I played the Black Turn campaign, however, I felt comfortable with the game mechanics and did much better. I was victorious in 11 out of 12 Black Turn scenarios. My only failure was in Donbas Nip, the final scenario of the campaign. As the Axis, you faced an overwhelming number of Soviet infantry. I had some early success but once I lost my few panzer units, defeat was all but certain.