Steel Panthers is a series of computer wargames, developed and published by several different companies, with various games covering battles from 1930 to 2020. The first game was released in 1995, and the most recent was released in 2006 and is still updated regularly.

Players control individual tanks and vehicles from a top-down perspective, on a map with a hexagonal overlay. Infantry are mostly in squad/section (8-12 men) sized units, but some units, like snipers, can be controlled individually. The whole force under a players control would typically be Battalion sized, but may be as small as a Platoon or Company, or as large as a Regiment/Brigade.

The games are turn-based

Turn-based strategy

A turn-based strategy game is a strategy game where players take turns when playing...

 and are played against the AI or other humans via email or hotseat.

Gameplay

As with other tactical turn-based wargames, the game features realistic military control,with the smallest common units being squads, up to a brigade sized force. The player takes control of nearly every aspects of warfare around his soldiers, from simple ammunition usage, to the morale, disposition, and command-chain of his troops.

The game features: packed single-battle scenarios and campaigns (either branched or linear), single battle generator, campaign generator, and long campaign generator.

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

Platoon

A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

-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 (hotseat or online), human vs. AI

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 and PBEM

Play-by-mail game

Play-by-mail games, sometimes known as "Play-by-post", are games, of any type, played through postal mail or e-mail. One example, chess, has been played by mail for centuries . Another example, Diplomacy, has been played by mail since the 1960s, starting with a printed newsletter written by John...

 (play by email

Email

Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...

). 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.

Series history

The Steel Panthers series includes the following titles:

• 1995 Steel Panthers (1939-1945) by Strategic Simulations Inc
• 1996 Steel Panthers II: Modern Battles (1950-1999) by Strategic Simulations Inc
• 1997 Steel Panthers III: Brigade Command (1939-1999) by Strategic Simulations Inc
• 1998 SPWW2 (1930-1949) by Camo Workshop
• 1999 SPMBT (Main Battle Tank)(1946-2020) by Camo Workshop
• 2000 SPWaW (World at War)(1930-1949) by Matrix Games
• 2005 WinSPWW2 (1930-1946) by Camo Workshop, Distributed by Shrapnel Games
• 2006 WinSPMBT (1946-2020) by Camo Workshop, Distributed by Shrapnel Games

Rights to the game and source code were acquired by Matrix Games

Matrix Games

Matrix Games is a publisher of computer games, specifically strategy games and wargames. They are based out of Staten Island, New York.Their focus is primarily but not exclusively on war games and turn-based strategy...

 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!
The latest available patch version is 8.403. No further development is planned.

There also exists ongoing development by The Camo Workshop based on the Steel Panthers II code. The Camo Workshop have introduced many new and innovative features to their two Windows based versions of Steel Panthers. Steel Panthers: World War 2 (WinSPWW2) features battles from 1930 through 1946, with an extreme vast array of OOB (Order of battle

Order of battle

In modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...

). 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.
Those versions are still maintained and improved.

In 2005 Shrapnel Games

Shrapnel Games

Shrapnel Games is an independent American video game publisher that specializes in the strategy and role playing genres, particularly turn-based strategy games. It was founded in 1999 by Tim Brooks in Cary, North Carolina...

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 (though the free version of the game itself is a full wargame already), the first time SPCAMO had charged for one of its games. WinSPWW2 was released on May 15, 2006.

Music

The soundtrack to Steel Panthers featured tracks composed by Rick Rhodes and Danny Pelfrey.

Community

Despite dating to the 1990s, the game still has a large fan base community. Most of the players gathered at specific forums intended for the game's development and improvement, as well as the game's tournament (PBeM play).

The official support forum for SP:WAW has over 2000 registered membershttp://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/memberlist.php. Scenarios (standalone battles which plays like a single level in a videogame) and campaigns (series of linked scenarios) are still regularly produced by fans. SP:WAW has roughly a thousand scenarios available for ithttp://www.spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=5677&highlight=campaignlist.

External links

• For a full download on WinSPWW2 and its latest patch
• For a full download on WinSPMBT and its latest patch
• 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
• The SP:WaW Depot Official support site