There aren't a ton of reviews for OCS games out there and, as you will notice, many of them address the OCS ruleset as a whole often using a game only to give context to those rules. Here are some of the reviews I felt would be helpful to those curious about getting into OCS.
Burma: Understanding Burma - An Introduction, Is this a wargame for the very heavy Eurogamer? I am a firm believer that playing the Japanese in Burma against an experienced OCS player is the best introduction to OCS. Colin's review only helps consolidate that view for me. This is an excellent review of OCS with an eye towards people unfamiliar with wargames in general.
DAK2:A non-grognard's first look at DAK2 and A non-grognard's second look at DAK2 These two make a nice matched set showing how daunting OCS can be to the outsider but also demonstrating that with a little determination (and willingness to use VASSAL) OCS is a very functional set of rules that allows for fun and engaging gaming. I also think the list of rules mistakes goes a long way towards showing that OCS games can be fun even if you don't understand every nuance of the rules. Indeed, part of the fun is learning how to better use the rules.
Case Blue: User Review Again, this one is more focused on OCS in general than the specific game. This is a bit more advanced and the wall of text makes it a little difficult to process but there is good information here if you take can take the time.
Tunisia: Some complaints. Another overview of OCS, this time with a more critical eye. Some of the complaints are a little nitpicky but overall it is pretty fair. As much as it pains me to say it, OCS isn't for everybody.
Sicily: Triumph and Folly: Small review of a small...ish game This was actually the inspiration for this post. I was surprised in my perusal of OCS games that there aren't more nice, tight game specific reviews like this. This review goes over very nicely what to expect in a campaign game as well as covering what makes Sicily distinctive in the OCS constellation of games.
I would like to extend a challenge to OCS players to put up a few more reviews like this that give some nice insight into a particular game. I found it useful and I'm sure many others will as well. With that in mind, I plan to try to put together something similar in regards to Burma.
As a special bonus, here is calandale's review of Burma:
Video is interesting because I think it becomes naturally more personal because the personality of the reviewer can't help but be right there. This is a nice casual review of the game with some insight into the versatility of OCS in general.
Here's the situation in our mega-monster Case Blue/Guderian's Blitzkrieg II game. We are ready to enter the November 5th 1941 turn. That is the eleventh turn of the game and we are all still really psyched and into this game. It is probably the coolest wargaming experience I've had in my 40+ years of wargaming. When Stavka (Uncle Joe Lawsinovich, Marshal Bruntonowski, and Marshal Schindlerenko) get togather online with skype and study the map on vassal its unbelieveable how much fun we are having. One of the ultimate gaming/simulation moments I've had! Here are pics showing the different sections of the Russian Front.
Far North , Demyansk area
The Russians are slowly pulling back.
The Rhzev , Borodino sector. Our main front directly outside Moscow
Battle rages outside Rhzev , the Russians are withdrawing to prepared defense lines at Borodino. Field Marshal von Paulmer appears ready to strike
The Kaluga-Tula sector
The main defences for Moscow to the south west. Fierce fighting going on for bridgeheads around Kaluga. Colonel General Heinz Stefano is relentless.
Kharkov, Izyum area
The Germans after pocketing Kharkov are pushing into the Steppe. Where are they heading?
The Stalino area down to the Coast of the Sea of Azov
The Germans are pursuing the Russians towards Stalino and Mariupol. Objective? Rostov?
The Crimea
Field Marshal von Walstien has broken into the Crimea and will presumably be driving for Sevastopol and Kerch.
The opening offensive The Chinese began the game by rolling up the South Koreans on the 8th Armys right flank. At the Chosin reservoir the 1st Marine division slowly reteats in good shape.
The high water mark for the Chicoms By the 3rd turn the Chinese appear to be driving everything in front of them on the 8th Armys flank. P'yongyang here we come!
The U.N. strikes back! On the Chinese flank the U.N. notices that they have left the road to there rear area and supply dumps wide open. The 3rd division roars in capturing a truck and dispersing 6 of the Chinese Porter units and capturing or destroying around 10 SPs.
The tide has turned The next turn starts and the U.N. gets initiative the 3rd division links up with the 1st Cav cutting off 5 Chinese divisions. In the Chinese turn they break most of the units out but they are all shattered.
Slowly pushing North The Chinese withdraw above the neck of Korea while the U.N. pursues!
The Battle continues. U.N. pushing North while the Chicoms try and regroup.
Ben and I have finished the second session of our ongoing Burma campaign game and have made it just over a quarter of the way through, finishing 11 of 41 turns. So far the weather has been fairly decent with just a couple of turns of light rain with restricted air operations, which other than not allowing some airdrops for the Chindits, has had no effect on the game. Read more »
Another game that Bill and I played over VASSAL a while back. As with the last AAR, this was originally posted elsewhere as more of an ongoing report than anything else. This is an awesome scenario, one that I'm looking forward to getting on a table sometime in the future during a long weekend.
26 July, 1942: The Germans have captured Rostov and are jumping off their drive to the oil fields in the south.
The following is a fairly detailed example of a Reaction Phase that includes Overruns, a Fighter Sweep, a couple of Hip Shoots, and some combat and fuel supply concerns. While plausible, the following situation is entirely contrived in order to allow me to cover areas of interest. Whether the following represents the best course of action during play is debatable, but every effort has been made to ensure that what is presented here is in accordance to the latest version of the OCS System rules (v4.0). Game specific rules, except where noted, are ignored.
THE SITUATION The Russians have just finished the Supply Phase of their Player Turn and are in control of the village of Krasnoarmeysk which sits along the rail line that the Germans are using to supply their advance. The Germans would like to clear the village to open up the rail line as soon as possible and decide to press the issue during the Reaction Phase.
The Russian Pe.2 is stacked underneath the airbase marker to signify that it is Inactive.
EDIT: I should have posted this originally but per Jim K's (skink) post please if you have player aids you think would be helpful add them to this entry.
I didn’t start playing OCS until a few years back, and even though my collection includes all of the games in the series, I have never played any of them using anything other than the current version of the system rules (hereafter referred to as “v4.0”). While I’ve never really had any issues playing older games with v4.0, there have been some discussions on CSW and BGG on how to make some of the older games work properly with them. It appears to be generally accepted that all of the games in the series can be retrofitted fairly easily with the exception of one: Guderian’s Blitzkrieg.
