I bought some games....

Yep. After thinking about it and writing about it, I went out and purchased legitimate copies of John Tiller's Campaign Series and The Operational Art of War 3. Wow! Years more of gaming here I tell you!

Haven't really played either game yet, but spent quite a few hours poking around in their innards. Here's some of what I've found...

East Front has probably changed the least. There are a few new scenarios and unit types, but basically unchanged in its dimensions.

West Front has expanded to include the Spanish Civil War and, I think, the Greek Civil War. Particularly with the first, you can imagine how excited I am. I am already thinking of writing a whole suite of scenarios at Battalion and Brigade level, with everything from Assultos and Civil Guardia units to Dinamiteros and Moors, French F17 WWI tanks blasting away at armoured trucks, Hs 123s battling it out with Chatos. The included SCW scenarios are limited to 3, one being complexity level 5 and the other two, 10. So a bit of variety is called for! I also notice that there are Brazilian units, so the game is expanding into the numerous 'small wars' of the Carribbean and South America.

Rising Sun now incorporates the Chinese Civil War from around 1933 until 1950, complete with Nationalist and Red opposing forces, as well as Japanese. The expansion of the game to now include armoured trains, controllable warships, etc will have perhaps its greatest impact on this set of scenarios.

Apparently the whole mechanism has been tweaked as well. Very Impressed.

The Operational Art of War 3 contains a whole 20th century of warfare at operational level, including those conflicts of the balkans and middle east prior to WWI, WWI itself, WWII (of course), and the more famous international conflicts since. So now I can land at Gallipoli or invade the Grenadas or fight over taiwan, using the same game system. And a damn good system it is too!

They haven't got a SCW or Falklands scenario included. Their absence is a bit of a surprise to me, as both of these conflicts seem ideally suited to adaption to this system. Something for the designer bug in me to work on, no doubt...