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Strategy games which include ancient civilization?

Agesilaus

Antiquity Studio
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Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex USB, 2014 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I played a good amount of the original FOG. It was a very face paced, very simple, multiplayer-only experience. It was quite enjoyable because the community was large and active.

If FOG 2 can capture that spirit and offer a campaign mode, improved interface, and a little more complexity, then it will be fantastic.
 

Lacrymas

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Pathfinder: Wrath
I can't believe nobody's mentioned Empire Earth yet. The first age is literally beating each other with clubs and stones, you don't get more ancient than that.
 

Beastro

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I think the strike against it is how generic that part is oppose to trying to add some authentic bits of style and weapon design from that era, but we don't have much if any of that, so all they could do was generic.

That is ultimately why so much ancient history is cut off as Rome and Greece. We all know their styles and we also have more than enough material to draw from from their culture, both militarily and non-militarily. The further you go back and less of that is around alongside the added worry that many modern audiences simply won't know enough to know what Mesopotamian or Egyptian weapons looked like.

Think about making a neolithic city state game where you could play Jericho or any of the rest of the ancient Levantine city states that borrows from the spirit of The Settlers where conflict is a rare end game thing where you need to keep you population intact because even a Pyrrhic victory will cripple you for generations. I've often thought that would be a neat idea for a game, but so much of what would make that interesting would be the different styles of the cities architecture, weapons and the differences in their cultures, but we simply don't know enough about them to do that, and given the way the Neolithic era was there might not have been all that much differences to being with.

That is what makes Ancient Egypt so damn interesting. It's in the air if their weapons were effective, but they certainly did have a wide variety of different clubs, axes and swords that are ripe to give modern game developers plenty of room to work with.
 

Agesilaus

Antiquity Studio
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Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex USB, 2014 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
New screenshots released for Field of Glory 2:

FoG2_Screen_00000009.jpg



http://www.matrixgames.com/news/2278/Field.of.Glory.2.Reveals.new.Screenshots!
 

Jazz_

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That's porn for my eyes. I wish there were more strategic games set in ancient Rome and ancient Greece (this is such a neglected era).
 

Don Peste

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||☆||
Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War

Units actually on ships, not just "icons" like in Age of Empires
screenshot_pc_rise__fall_civilizations_at_war010.jpg


Stop shooting arrows at walls, just climb them
rise-fall-civilizations-at-war_18.jpg


Directly control your hero
rise-fall-civilizations-at-war_14.jpg
 

Lacrymas

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Pathfinder: Wrath
We need a "cool" button. Is the game good or simply looks that way?
 

Agesilaus

Antiquity Studio
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http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=477&t=78154

New developer journal for FOG 2!

As the developing process is marching quickly along the beta testing phase, it’s time to dig a bit more into the main differences and improvements players will find from the original game released in 2009.

“Field of Glory II is a complete reboot of the franchise, based on the original tabletop Field of Glory rules as a starting point, rather than on Field of Glory I” says Richard Bodley Scott, the main designer of Field of Glory 2. “There are therefore many differences from FOG1 – which we hope are all improvements. Being co-author of the original tabletop game, I am in a unique position to create a fresh take on the system”.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

New graphics!
The game has vastly improved graphics. All of the terrain and unit models are true 3D. They are all fully animated – firing bows, throwing javelins, charging with lance, meleeing with sword or spear and so forth. Arrows and javelins fly. Men fall mortally wounded to the ground and die. The battlefield is littered with their corpses. Rear ranks shuffle up to replace the lost men.
Formations become disordered, and men turn to face their opponents when a unit is fighting in multiple directions. Pikes visibly form square. Each unit type has up to 4 variants within the unit, but also has multiple variant texture sheets, allowing the units of each side to be easily distinguished even in civil war battles.



New AI!
The game has vastly improved AI, drawing on the experience of developing the (generally praised) AI for Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai. There are six levels of difficulty, allowing all players from novices to experts to enjoy challenging games against the AI.

New Campaign System!
In addition to the expected historical scenarios and skirmish mode, the game has a brand new campaign system that concentrates on battles, but allows real strategic decisions without time spent moving armies around a strategic map. The player’s core troops continue from one battle to the next, gaining experience and elan from each victory.
There is a sandbox campaign that allows the player to lead any nation (and their historical allies) against any other nation (and their allies) – giving many thousands of permutations.
There are also four campaigns allowing the player to follow the careers of some of the most famous historical leaders of the era: Pyrrhos of Epeiros, Hannibal, Mithridates of Pontus and Julius Caesar.
The game allows custom battles (skirmishes) ranging in size from 600 to 2000 points. (The points system is almost identical to that in FOG1).

New Army Lists!
The army list system has been greatly streamlined. Force selection is quick and easy, and takes place on the actual battlefield, making the pre-selection of “DAG” armies unnecessary. The initial release comes with 75 army lists, covering 48 nations and factions from Britain and Spain to India between 280 and 25 BC.

We have something interesting coming about the Army Lists! Stay tuned for further updates!



New Random Generated Maps!
Terrain maps for non-preset scenarios are freshly generated using a sophisticated random map generator – not picked from a library of preset maps. Every map is therefore unique. The map generator can generate realistic maps for all the usual territory types – including agricultural, wooded, hilly, mountains, steppes and desert in Mediterranean, North European, Middle Eastern and Tropical regions.
The battle is fought on a square grid rather than a hexagonal grid. This allows realistic looking battle lines, and 8 directions of movement instead of 6. The computer takes care of the issue of diagonal moves being further than orthogonal ones.

New Function for Army Movement!
Group moves allow whole commands to be moved with one order in the early stages of the battle. The units taking part in a group move all move simultaneously rather than one at a time.



Anarchy Charges
Anarchy charges (which players either loved or hated) no longer occur in FOG2.

Mathematical Algorithms
Unlike FOG1, FOG2 does not attempt to replicate the tabletop game’s dice, but uses mathemaMatical algorithms that avoid some of the extreme against-the-odds combat results that could occur in FOG1

POA System
The POA system has been modified to get more historical results. One FOG1 POA becomes 100 FOG2 POAs, allowing us to have fractional POAs. This allow finer gradations. For example, armour advantage is reduced in importance, so that standard common ancient troop types, such as “Protected” hoplites, are no longer ineffective.

Medium Foot
Medium Foot have been divided into Bowmen and Medium Foot – the latter representing close combat types such as thureophoroi, Thracians and Spanish scutarii. These are no longer as vulnerable to mounted troops in the open, allowing them to take their historical place in the battle line. This also makes medium foot armies viable.
Unit Role
All unit types now have an effective role. There are no really weak army types.

Multiplayer
Multiplayer uses the same PBEM system as FOG1. However, in addition, FOG2 will implement Slitherine’s automated tournament system.

Excited? We have more content to share in the coming days. Check out our official product page and the forums to be updated on the progress of Field of Glory 2!


Campaign mode is a huge announcement. It was sorely missed in the original, which had no meaningful single-player mode. I made a Cleomenes III scenario for the original, but if the campaigns are moddable then I can make something even better to honour that king.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Campaign mode is a huge announcement. It was sorely missed in the original, which had no meaningful single-player mode. I made a Cleomenes III scenario for the original, but if the campaigns are moddable then I can make something even better to honour that king.
They list "Mod friendly" as one of features.

Besides Pike & Shot, which FOG 2 shares engine with has player made campaigns available.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=477&t=78413
Field of Glory 2 Developers Diary - A.I.

by Daniele » Tue Jul 18, 2017 10:20 am

The AI for FOG2 has been developed by building on the knowledge gained from developing the generally praised AI for Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai.

Deployment
For non-preset scenarios, it is important that the AI can deploy its army in a sensible formation, taking account of the prevailing terrain.
Generally speaking, most ancient armies would deploy with an infantry centre in one or more lines. (Usually three for Romans, usually only one for Hellenistic armies). They would then have cavalry on both wings and perhaps in reserve, plus light troops both in the centre and on the wings.

Except for cavalry armies, the “autodeploy” routine therefore starts with the infantry centre, in one or more solid lines. If the army has a mixture of heavy and medium foot, it will deploy the heavy foot where the terrain is most open, and the medium foot where it is most uneven. This takes into account not just the deployment line but also the map in front of where the line will advance.

If it is possible to rest one flank of the infantry on a river or a coastline, it will do so.

Cavalry are then assigned to each wing depending on the amount of adverse terrain on each wing. More cavalry will be deployed on an open wing than on one with lots of rough or difficult terrain or a river. Some cavalry may be assigned to a reserve behind the infantry.

Light troops are then assigned in a similar way to the cavalry, but more light foot will be deployed on the wing with more terrain, and more light horse on the more open wing.

For cavalry armies, the cavalry is divided into centre and two wings, and the usually weak infantry deployed at the back in reserve.

High Level AI
This level of AI governs the actions of the main divisions of the army – the centre, the wings, the reserve, and the various groups of light troops. For pre-set scenarios, it is usually scripted specifically to fit the scenario, but for custom and campaign battles a generic but highly-detailed AI script is used to make a sensible initial plan and then react appropriately to subsequent enemy actions.

This “AI_Masterplan” script refreshes its plans every turn. It takes into account not only the initial divisions into which the enemy army is divided, but any changes to those divisions. Thus, if most of the enemy left wing cavalry rides across to reinforce its right wing, the AI will reassign those units to the enemy right wing before making its plans for the turn.

The first decision the AI makes is whether to advance from the outset. A primarily infantry army will not do so, for example, if its infantry are outmatched, taking into account any high ground the enemy army may occupy.

If the infantry are not advancing, the cavalry wings will also usually hang back, so that they cannot be defeated piecemeal by the enemy before the infantry engage. Even if the infantry are advancing, the cavalry will not forge ahead unless they outmatch the enemy cavalry on that wing and are not facing enemy non-light infantry.
Likewise the light troops will not advance too far ahead, unless they overmatch their counterparts on the enemy side.

Low Level AI
This is what governs the behaviour of the troops once they approach the enemy. Numerous things are taken into account. For example:
• Heavy troops will try to avoid terrain that would disorder them.
• Units won’t advance into situations where they could be charged in flank or rear. (Although non-lights will ignore lights for this purpose.) If they can’t avoid being flanked they will form square if pikes, otherwise will turn to leave their flank threatened by the least dangerous enemy unit.
• Units will actively seek out enemy flanks to attack.
• Units pick their chosen target enemy unit for the turn based on their threat to it and its threat to them.
• Units will usually avoid charging enemy who overmatch them in close combat. Such calculations are made using the actual combat resolution mechanisms, taking into account the actual situation (terrain etc.) in which the units will fight.
• Light troops and non-lancer cavalry will evade charges by troops that outmatch them in close combat, unless the enemy is so close that they are likely to be caught and charged in the rear.
• Units with longer range shooting will stop outside the range of enemy shooters.
• Light troops that are close to breaking will retreat out of range of the enemy.

AI development philosophy
From a development point of view, we believe that the AI is the most important part of a wargame, and development of the AI needs to start at the very beginning of the game development process. It also needs, where possible, to work off the actual combat mechanisms rather than using approximate pre-calculated estimates. This greatly improves the quality of its decisions.

Most importantly, the AI needs to be designed by someone who is a skilled wargamer themselves. It is hard enough to make the AI follow an effective plan even if you know what an effective plan is. If the writer of the AI is hazy about this, there is little chance that the AI will play very well.

We also don’t believe that easier difficulty levels should be achieved by nobbling the AI, nor harder ones by giving the AI unfair advantages in the combat or morale mechanisms. Our AI behaves the same at all difficulty levels, and both sides play to exactly the same rules at all difficulty levels without any hidden bonuses and random number tweaks to help the AI.

Instead, we achieve the different difficulty levels by adjusting the balance of the opposing forces – few if any historical battles were fought between exactly equal strength armies.

With six difficulty levels, we are confident that the AI in FOG2 will give players of all abilities an enjoyable challenge.
 
Unwanted

Janise

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AI development philosophy
From a development point of view, we believe that the AI is the most important part of a wargame, .
:lol: gooby pls
Wargames are riddles with the most basic idiotic AIs in existence. Doesnt stop the vidya from selling enough to sustain rehashing the same mechanics forever and ever and ever. Its not like grogies care.
Fucking Pillars of Eternity has better enemy AI then 90 percent of wargame titles.
And really, does anyone believe that a budget niche titles like that can pay a dedicated AI programmer? They slap a large if else tree on top of it in crunch time to be done with it.
 

Razzoriel

Genos Studios
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Aug 3, 2016
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Hi there. I'm making a turn-based strategy MMO based off 5th century history; no magic or supernatural elements, just politics, strategy and usual player vs player battles. Squads go up to about three dozen soldiers; large armies require multiple players for sieging and so forth. You can check it out in the website (it's WIP, so bear in mind it's a little clunky). www.riseofthefoederati.com
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Think about making a neolithic city state game where you could play Jericho or any of the rest of the ancient Levantine city states that borrows from the spirit of The Settlers where conflict is a rare end game thing where you need to keep you population intact because even a Pyrrhic victory will cripple you for generations. I've often thought that would be a neat idea for a game, but so much of what would make that interesting would be the different styles of the cities architecture, weapons and the differences in their cultures, but we simply don't know enough about them to do that, and given the way the Neolithic era was there might not have been all that much differences to being with.

That is what makes Ancient Egypt so damn interesting. It's in the air if their weapons were effective, but they certainly did have a wide variety of different clubs, axes and swords that are ripe to give modern game developers plenty of room to work with.

 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=477&t=79158

Field of Glory II AAR: Romans vs Macedonians at the Battle of Larissa

Greetings everyone!
Welcome to this AAR for Field of Glory 2, the upcoming sequel of the original Field of Glory and developed by the legendary game designer Richard Bodley Scott (Field of Glory Tabletop, Pike and Shot, Sengoku Jidai).
For this After Action Report, I decided on a Custom Battle, with the AI at the highest difficulty level: Deity (sounds intimidating)!

In Field of Glory II, Custom Battles allow players to build their favourite battle with a wide range of options at their disposal. You can choose between 78 army lists of the period (check here for the entire list!), you can set the force size, the map type, and many other settings. An interesting thing when you select your enemy is that you can restrict the selection to geographical and historical consistency (or you can just go ahead and make the Ancient British fight against the Sarmatians!).

I picked up the Roman Army (219 – 200 BC) and, for my opponent, I decided to face the Macedonians (260-148 BC).

01.jpg


Historically, the Roman Republic successfully expanded its influence over the Hellenistic kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean in a series of conflicts culminating in the division of the old Macedonian Kingdom into two Roman Provinces: Achaea and Epirus, in 148 BC.

Let’s see if I have been able to replicate their military successes!

Troop Selection and Deployment
Knowing that the enemy will probably fight in close formation with powerful but not so manoeuvrable units, I decided to rely more on agile infantry troops, with a good number of Velites (light troops with javelins and spear).

I have two lines of Triarii mixed with Hastati/Principes, which are well trained and equipped and would engage the bulk of the enemy army, while a third line composed mainly of my Italian allies will be used as a reserve. I put my only cavalry unit on the left.

02.jpg


As soon as the battle starts, I look at the enemy dispositions. It looks like the Macedonians will fight with a single and steady line of pike phalanxes. They appear to have more cavalry than me, and that could be dangerous, as I don’t have specific units to counter them.

The map has been randomly generated and the battlefield is practically flat, with a few wooded areas and a small river delimiting a part of the right side of the map. This means that I might have some chance of dragging the stronger enemy units into fragmented fights, preventing them from supporting one other.

03.jpg


I decided to approach the enemy centre with my Velites, with the rest of my infantry following at a short distance. My armoured cavalry fills the space between my Triarii and the Velites on the left, but it won't be able to fight for long. I dispatch two units behind for support.

As planned, the Velites start volleying the Phalanxes as soon as they come in range, but at this point, I realized I might have made a mistake in choosing so many javelin men. The Pike units are very stubborn and my attacks haven’t done too much damage. The only noticeable effect of my action seems a bit of confusion in the centre-right of the enemy line.

04.jpg


05.jpg


06.jpg


The phalanxes finally make contact with my first line. The impact is devastating! I didn’t realize immediately that the enemy general is using veteran pikes and the extension of the frontline is preventing me from riding to the aid of my extreme wings. The Macedonians fight very fiercely but my Hastati/Principes and Triarii are showing these barbarians the strength of the Army of the Roman Republic!

My unit dispositions seem to hold the line for the moment, but I fear that sooner or later I’ll have to divert some units from my rear to fill the gaps, and the Macedonians are more numerous than I expected, so I must play smart. Their intention is clearly to break through one of my wings, probably the left given that they have more mobile units there. I should push faster and harder, and luckily my last line has just arrived!

07.jpg


08.jpg


09.jpg


10.jpg


During the enemy turn, suddenly, a sound, like a horn, erupts from the left side of my line. This is not good. The enemy, only the gods know how, have managed to break the cohesion of one of my units and now I have to think carefully what to do next. On one hand, I can’t pull out troops too close to the rest of the fighting, as I will need to repel the pressure in every spot, but on the other hand, having some Macedonians left free to fight against my rear would be tremendously dangerous. I haven’t decided yet how to respond when a second horn reverberates: the centre is under attack and taking a lot of damage.

This is not good at all.

11.jpg


Fortuna adduces iuvat! Fortune favours the brave, and I don’t want to be remembered as the Roman general who lost against the ghosts of the once-great Macedonian Kingdom. Probably my fate would be worse than death if I lose!

The most dangerous threat is in the centre: if that collapses, I have literally no chance to recover. The enemy advance must be stopped by any means. I have just a couple of poorly equipped units to throw in and this is exactly what I do. In the meantime, the Velites who survived the first encounters have slipped behind the enemy. If I’m lucky enough, they will catch some attention from the enemy and will help to cripple their formation.

12.jpg


The battle rages on. The Macedonians add even more pressure committing their last reserve. Although if I left the tactical initiative to the enemy, I can at least count on my veteran units still fighting. My Velites have attacked some isolated light units but the bulk of the enemy army hasn’t been hampered too much. On the left, the Macedonians are embroiled in fragmented fights while my middle is too tiny. The right flank is on the verge of being dangerously enveloped but I can’t spare any units to support it. It is a matter of morale and cohesion. If some parts of my line break, the battle is lost. If I keep fighting, I can force some enemy units to retreat and manoeuvre to where I need more.

13.jpg


14.jpg


I knew the situation was desperate, but I really hoped I would be able to save the situation. But this didn’t happen. In fact, it was all to the contrary.

All of my soldiers have been in bitter fights, and the majority are fragmented or worse. I haven’t been able to manoeuvre as I wanted, so the result is that the enemy has been able to maximize his pike formations in frontal assaults all along the line. The last drops of morale and cohesion have vanished, and one after another, my brave warriors start losing ground.

15.jpg


Every hope is now gone, like tears in the rain. Defeat is clear, and honor is sullied.

May the gods have mercy on me because the Roman Senate will not for sure!

16.jpg
 

Uncle Skull

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We need a "cool" button. Is the game good or simply looks that way?

It is interesting and very much worth a shot, but I wouldn't really call it "good".
Why, I cannot remember for the life of me. Too much time has passed since I played it.
 

JarlFrank

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That's porn for my eyes. I wish there were more strategic games set in ancient Rome and ancient Greece (this is such a neglected era).

Try the Hegemony series of games. Most recent is set in bronze/iron age Italy back when Rome was still a small city-state and the Etruscans were the most powerful faction in the area.

Previous games in the series are about Caesar in Gaul, and about ancient Greece at the time of the poleis.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/10/06/the-flare-path-serried-ranks-and-buried-tanks/

The Flare Path: Serried Ranks and Buried Tanks

[If ever a game demanded a ‘II’ rather than a ‘2’ at the end of its name it’s the fast-approaching Field of Glory sequel. Packed with legionaries, triarii, hastati, and velites, FoGII takes the engine last seen in Sengoku Jidai and Pike and Shot – an engine Flare Path rates highly – rethinks campaigns, removes gunpowder, and adds a sprinkling of chariots, jumbos, camels and ballistae. What could possibly go wrong?

In theory, lots, so it’s nice to be able to report that I’ve been playing the beta contentedly all week. The repurposed code means battles have a familiar ‘Bodley Scott’ feel – more on automatic pursuits and ‘cowardice cascades’ in a moment – but a wealth of new factions and unit types ensures FoGII never feels tired.

I don’t use the term ‘wealth’ lightly. The list of included armies…

Ancient British 60 BC – 80 AD
Apulian 420-203 BC
Arab 312 BC – 476 AD
Armenian 331 BC – 252 AD
Armenian (Tigranes) 83-69 BC
Atropatene 320-145 BC
Atropatene 144 BC – 226 AD
Bithynian 297-74 BC
Bosporan 348-85 BC
Bosporan 84-11 BC
Bruttian or Lucanian 420-203 BC
Campanian 280-203 BC
Carthaginian 280-263 BC
Carthaginian 262-236 BC
Carthaginian 235-146BC
Carthaginian (Hannibal in Italy) 218-217 BC
Carthaginian (Hannibal in Italy) 216-203 BC
Carthaginian (Hannibal in Africa) 202 BC
Caucasian 320 BC – 476 AD
Dacian 50 BC – 106 AD
Galatian 280-63 BC
Galatian 63-25 BC
Gallic 300-101 BC
Gallic 100-50 BC
Germanic Foot Tribes 105 BC – 259 AD
Graeco-Bactrian 250-130 BC
Greek 280-228 BC
Greek 227-146 BC
Greek (Western) 280-49 BC
Iberian or Colchian 331 BC – 252 AD
Illyrian 350 BC – 25 AD
Indian 500 BC – 319 AD
Indo-Greek 175 BC – 10 AD
Indo-Parthian 60 BC – 130 AD
Indo-Skythian 95 BC – 50 AD
Italian Hill Tribes 490-275 BC
Jewish 167-64 BC
Jewish 64 BC – 6 AD
Kappadokian 260 BC – 17 AD
Kushan 130 BC – 476 AD
Libyan 220 BC – 70 AD
Ligurian 480-145 BC
Macedonian 320-261 BC
Macedonian 260-148 BC
Mountain Indian 492-170 BC
Nabataean 260 BC – 106 AD
Numidian or Moorish 220-56 BC
Numidian or Moorish 55 BC – 6 AD
Parthian 250 BC – 225 AD
Pergamene 262-191 BC
Pergamene 190-129 BC
Pontic 281-111 BC
Pontic 110-85 BC
Pontic 84-47 BC
Ptolemaic 320-167 BC
Ptolemaic 166-56 BC
Ptolemaic 55-30 BC
Pyrrhic 280-272 BC
Rhoxolani 350 BC – 24 AD
Roman 280-220 BC
Roman 219-200 BC
Roman 199-106 BC
Roman 105-25 BC
Saka 300 BC – 50 AD
Samnite 355-272 BC
Sarmatian 350 BC – 24 AD
Scots-Irish 50 BC – 476 AD
Seleucid 320-206 BC
Seleucid 205-167 BC
Seleucid 166-125 BC
Seleucid 124-63 BC
Skythian 300 BC – 50 AD
Slave Revolt 73-71 BC
Spanish 300-10 BC
Spanish (Sertorius) 80-70 BC
Syracusan 280-211 BC
Thracian 350 BC – 46 AD
Umbrian 490-260 BC


…is truly magnificent. The combinations possible in custom battles…

multiplayer, and ‘sandbox campaigns’ (sequences of up to seven randomly generated scraps involving two hand-picked factions) dizzy the mind. FoGII would be a game of substance even without its four scripted campaigns, twelve-strong historical battle selection, random maps and unit purchasing freedom.

Pike and Shot: Campaigns and Sengoku Jidai (pictured above) featured strat maps composed of conquerable provinces. The sword-and-sandal version comes without this form of long game which may disappoint some. Instead we get those linear ‘sandbox campaigns’ and four historical battle sequences inspired by the careers of Pyrrhus of Epirus, Mithridates VI of Pontus, Hannibal and Julius Caesar.

The latter blend scripted scenarios with thought-provoking inter-battle decisions. After successful scraps you find yourself contemplating choices like these:

You feel you need additional forces in order to progress the campaign:
1. Call in a force from your Bruttian allies.
2. Await reinforcements from home. These are not likely to be as numerous.


Your territory has been attacked from an unexpected direction by another enemy army:
1. Fight them with your rear echelon forces. (A new army chosen by the AI from your nation’s army list, weighted towards lower quality troops).
2. March to meet them with your field army. You will not have time to replace your losses from the last battle.


Though the new approach injects history at regular intervals, because defeats are terminal (true, there’s always the option to repeat a battle) it’s not as forgiving or flexible as the old Total War-style one. Perhaps Byzantine Games can be persuaded to patch in or DLC a patchwork map or two. A freeform Boudica-era British campaign would make at least one FoGII fan very happy indeed.

Never played one of the Pike & Shot family of titles? They appear conservative – dull even – with their IGOUGO turns and quaint square tiles, but ingenious rules, competitive AI, and randomly generated venues, mean they’re actually anything but. Bodley Scott simulates battlefield chaos masterfully. While cruel ‘activation’ dice rolls never leave portions of an army idle for the duration of a turn, units locked in melee or excitedly chasing routed foes, are temporarily uncommandable.

Morale failures and the linked auto-pursuit mechanism create some of Pike & Shot, Sengoku Jidai, and FoGII’s most exciting and resonant episodes. When a unit decides it has endured enough and takes to its heels, its flight can disconcert nearby comrades; fierce, hot-headed pursuers sometimes create cowardice cascades or run into trouble as they surge forward. One minute you’re looking at a neat log-jam of clashing warriors, the next a weak or overstressed section of the tussle matrix has given way, and new threats and/or opportunities are everywhere.

Like its forerunners, FoGII produces gripping battle after gripping battle. Even the three tutorial skirmishes are absorbing. The beta leaves me questioning Byzantine’s campaign thinking, but confident the PC is about to get something it’s been without for a very long time – an ancient wargame with popular appeal and historical heft.
/spoiler]
 
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