noxnoctum Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 I stumbled on this game a few days ago and man is it good. It's a fantasy turn based wargame on a hex map. Don't let the fantasy bit scare you off though, this game has some serious depth and it definitely qualifies as a pretty hardcore "wargame" even if it's with elves and orcs. To give a comparison, I find it much deeper than a game like Panzer General. On the surface it looks like something similar to Panzer General but I find that there are many small things that make the gameplay far more varied and interesting. It's got multiplayer--with a lobby too-- (which I haven't touched yet as I don't feel ready) and a load of singleplayer content. It comes with about 11-12 campaigns of varying length. All told probably ~120 scenarios. To my surprise the singleplayer is VERY challenging too. I started off on one of the so-called "novice" campaigns and after doing fairly well in the first few scenarios got completely stomped on one that took me about 15 tries before I finally beat it. What really appeals to me about this game is the way the combat works and the variety in the scenarios. For example, one scenario had me first defending a river crossing from a nearby forest, and then after repelling the enemy attack, having to rush all my men across and storming the enemy fort (situated on an island) while sending some units to stall a much larger enemy force coming from the north, delaying them while I secured the island. I had to sacrifice a lot of my elite units to be able to secure the objective in time before my delaying group got wiped out. Basically it feels very much like a wargame, even with the fantasy setting. A defined "frontline" often appears in battle, and flanking, cutting off, isolating and destroying enemy units is often a key part of gameplay. Anyways, it's free (open source), and has been in development for over a decade so it's pretty well refined by this point. It's got a big community behind it too. Check it out. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger33 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Agreed, it's an excellent game, I found it a few months ago. The amount and variety of content is very impressive and like you said the gameplay is much deeper than it first appears, especially as your units level up and get special attacks and abilities. And there are SO MANY different units, and most have multiple attacks and special traits, and then often have branching paths for leveling up. My only gripe with the game is that all but the easiest campaigns are balanced in such a way that losing too many units early on will doom you to failure within a few scenarios, since you won't have enough leveled up units to survive. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noxnoctum Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Yes I had to restart the campaign because I wasn't aware that it was such a factor. Now that I understand it though, I enjoy the added complexity. You cannot afford (most of the time) to be careless with your units and get a phyrric victory. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 I tried this on your suggestion and found it to be good light entertainment. Which is just thing I've been looking for for months. Thanks. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesnoth looks very good 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce90 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Good this. Thanks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Okay, so I have been playing around with this game for a few days and here are a few of my thoughts (opinions). While I found the game initially attractive, I am quickly losing interest in it. For my money, it doesn't have a lot of depth. For another, I am bored by the prevalence of the Undead in this game. I am aware that zombie movies and that sort of thing have been a hot part of popular culture for a while now, but that is an enthusiasm I do not share. So that is an aspect of the game that leaves me totally cold. And since it seems to be a large part...well, you can see where this is going, can't you? Another thing is that a lot of the campaigns are very long, 20 or more scenarios. By about the fourth one, I find myself wanting just to get the damn thing over with. I would greatly prefer a selection of not-too-long scenarios rather than campaigns. I could gripe about some other things, but I think that will do. Of course YMMV and I am not out to spoil the fun of anybody who honestly enjoys the game. It really does come down to a matter of personal taste. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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