$6.99Command HQ
Command HQ is a fast, simple 1990 wargame of global conquest across World Wars I through V. You run a whole superpower, grab cities for income and oil fields for supply, and push infantry, tanks, planes and ships across a zoomable world map. It is dated and beepy, and still hard to put down.
Is Command HQ worth it?
Command HQ is worth it if…
- you like slow, careful planning in short real-time games
- you like old-school wargames with few units and clear trade-offs
- you like rewriting history from World War I to a post-apocalyptic future
- you like pausing and changing speed while you think
Screenshots
Run a superpower on a world map
You command land, sea and air forces for an entire side, not one country. Infantry holds ground when dug in, tanks hit harder on the move, planes strike far and then need time to recover, and at sea destroyers, hidden submarines and carriers play a sharp game of who shoots first.
Later wars add spy satellites that lift the fog of war, killer satellites, diplomacy to pull neutrals to your side, and nuclear weapons that can ruin cities, poison ground and end the game in nuclear winter. Speed controls and pause let you think while the clock runs.
Five wars, one simple ruleset
The five scenarios move from World War I with no planes, through World War II with carriers and aircraft, to a NATO versus Warsaw Pact World War III, a shuffled near-future World War IV, and a post-apocalyptic World War V where both sides start from a single city with the map unknown.
That simplicity is a highlight. A full game against the AI often lasts one to two hours, which makes it a fine companion to half-watching television. The blocky graphics and bleepy sounds show its age.
How does it play today?
What do nuclear weapons actually do?
They delete a whole area, permanently destroy cities there, leave ground that damages units passing through, and can anger allies into leaving or joining the enemy. Use too many and the game ends in nuclear winter with no winner. It is the rare game where the big red button comes with paperwork.
Which scenario should you start with?
World War V. Both sides begin with one capital, little money and no knowledge of each other, so it plays like a clean build-up war without satellites or tangled alliances. Then try World War II for carriers and air power, and save the oil, diplomacy and satellite politics of the later Cold War scenarios for when you know the basics.
