So I was cleaning out my hard drive and I stumbled across a strategy game I've had a lot of fun with over the years and which, curiously enough, hardly got any publicity beyond a small community of aficionados. It is a freeware game, somewhat crudely made, but with a simple and flexible turn-based system that makes it compelling enough to be fun while being highly adaptable to a large number of historical settings.
This light, simple but surprisingly deep game was, at one time, installed on every single device I owned, and it was the perfect antidote for boredom during trips, conferences, dead hours, etc. as it rewarded thinking things over and making moves with an understated, almost chess-like elegance, so that every moment spent crafting and redrafting plans before clicking the next turn button is a moment well-spent.
The game in question is Field of Strategy II, a game designed and developed by Tristan Pannerec, a French developer with a number of papers published on the subject of strategy and problem-solving who sought to create a flexible, semi-abstract system that could be adapted to all kinds of historical settings. You can download the latest build here: http://tpgames.free.fr/FoS/index2.html (the game hasn't been updated for the last few years, and it seems that there won't be any further work on it). The game itself is mostly in French, with some bad UI translations in broken English, but it is nevertheless quite playable.
Periods covered include Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Early Modern age, the Napoleonic period, the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, World War II, and post-WWII. The battles are often re-created in one of two scales, the regiment/battallion level and the corps/division and even army level, with an increased tendency towards the larger formations in later periods.
The battle mechanics are straightforward but quite compelling. During your turn, your goal is to manoeuver your troops so that they may engage the enemy in optimal circumstances, attempting to use the terrain, attaining local superiority, creating breakthroughs or envelopments to tilt the result of the engagement in your favor. The goal in these battles is usually to secure and hold a number of strategic victory points, which have a considerable effect on the battle, as the overall proportion of victory points held has an effect on the global effectiveness and morale of an army.
To achieve these goals, depending on the different time periods, the player usually has a historical assortment light infantry, heavy infantry, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, light artillery, armor and external air and artillery support in modern scenarios. These units, as well as their attachable commanders, have an effectiveness level of 1 to 3, which determines their resilience and effect in combat. Being successfully attacked, repulsed, moving through disruptive terrain, being subjected to intense small arms or artillery fire or an airstrike can disorganize a unit. Disorganized units are less effective, and are prone to lose strength points on bad rolls -- this could mean a rout for a weak, 1-strength unit, or for a 3-strength unit to become a 2-strength unit. The presence of a commander can help restore the cohesion of a unit at the end of a turn. The mechanics change subtly but significantly between time periods, and you will find that tried and true tactics that worked in one period will often require a degree of adaptation in another. Fog of war and terrain also play a decisive role in the course of the battle, with certain types of terrain impeding or preventing movement, providing cover or acting as chokepoints, and elevation playing a role. The regiment/battallion level, furthermore, is far more micro-intensive than the corps/division level, requiring you to juggle a number of formations and stances including march columns, attack columns, lines and squares.
Detailed resolutions for every move and conflict are available at the end of the turn, with the added bonus of all the "hidden" mathematics that intervened being revealed in full detail. Calculating the probability of success of a given move is a key element when making a potentially game-winning gamble.
The scenarios themselves, if not the most detailed or accurate historical reconstructions, are often quite well-made, and they are often based on scenarios provided in wargaming mazagines, providing them with a classic tabletop feel. Though most of them are historical, the game includes several more speculative scenarios, such as the ones set in late antiquity, or some hypothetical Cold War-era confrontations that could have taken place. The game shines at its best when played against a human opponent, but the AI, refreshingly enough, puts up a valiant effort and will surprise you with occasional sparks of brilliance.
Although the game shines the most at the tactical and grand tactical level, it also includes strategic-level campaigns with battles that are then resolved at the tactical level as in the historical scenarios. While it adds another dimension to the game, I found that implementation was somewhat iffy, and that it could have done with more work to make it interesting.
Furthermore, the game includes a flexible and relatively intuitive scenario editor that allows you to create your own historical battles, armies, orders of battle, etc. for any of the supported periods.
It is said that people are either lumpers or splitters. As a refreshing change from obsessive speculations on how thick the door to the Hougoumont farmhouse was, or how many soldiers in the 1st Hanoverian Brigade were down with the flu on the fateful morning of Waterloo, here is a simple and unpretentious game that seeks to highlight the essential and universal common elements in human confrontations throughout history.
This light, simple but surprisingly deep game was, at one time, installed on every single device I owned, and it was the perfect antidote for boredom during trips, conferences, dead hours, etc. as it rewarded thinking things over and making moves with an understated, almost chess-like elegance, so that every moment spent crafting and redrafting plans before clicking the next turn button is a moment well-spent.
The game in question is Field of Strategy II, a game designed and developed by Tristan Pannerec, a French developer with a number of papers published on the subject of strategy and problem-solving who sought to create a flexible, semi-abstract system that could be adapted to all kinds of historical settings. You can download the latest build here: http://tpgames.free.fr/FoS/index2.html (the game hasn't been updated for the last few years, and it seems that there won't be any further work on it). The game itself is mostly in French, with some bad UI translations in broken English, but it is nevertheless quite playable.
Periods covered include Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Early Modern age, the Napoleonic period, the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, World War I, World War II, and post-WWII. The battles are often re-created in one of two scales, the regiment/battallion level and the corps/division and even army level, with an increased tendency towards the larger formations in later periods.
The battle mechanics are straightforward but quite compelling. During your turn, your goal is to manoeuver your troops so that they may engage the enemy in optimal circumstances, attempting to use the terrain, attaining local superiority, creating breakthroughs or envelopments to tilt the result of the engagement in your favor. The goal in these battles is usually to secure and hold a number of strategic victory points, which have a considerable effect on the battle, as the overall proportion of victory points held has an effect on the global effectiveness and morale of an army.
To achieve these goals, depending on the different time periods, the player usually has a historical assortment light infantry, heavy infantry, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, light artillery, armor and external air and artillery support in modern scenarios. These units, as well as their attachable commanders, have an effectiveness level of 1 to 3, which determines their resilience and effect in combat. Being successfully attacked, repulsed, moving through disruptive terrain, being subjected to intense small arms or artillery fire or an airstrike can disorganize a unit. Disorganized units are less effective, and are prone to lose strength points on bad rolls -- this could mean a rout for a weak, 1-strength unit, or for a 3-strength unit to become a 2-strength unit. The presence of a commander can help restore the cohesion of a unit at the end of a turn. The mechanics change subtly but significantly between time periods, and you will find that tried and true tactics that worked in one period will often require a degree of adaptation in another. Fog of war and terrain also play a decisive role in the course of the battle, with certain types of terrain impeding or preventing movement, providing cover or acting as chokepoints, and elevation playing a role. The regiment/battallion level, furthermore, is far more micro-intensive than the corps/division level, requiring you to juggle a number of formations and stances including march columns, attack columns, lines and squares.
Detailed resolutions for every move and conflict are available at the end of the turn, with the added bonus of all the "hidden" mathematics that intervened being revealed in full detail. Calculating the probability of success of a given move is a key element when making a potentially game-winning gamble.
The scenarios themselves, if not the most detailed or accurate historical reconstructions, are often quite well-made, and they are often based on scenarios provided in wargaming mazagines, providing them with a classic tabletop feel. Though most of them are historical, the game includes several more speculative scenarios, such as the ones set in late antiquity, or some hypothetical Cold War-era confrontations that could have taken place. The game shines at its best when played against a human opponent, but the AI, refreshingly enough, puts up a valiant effort and will surprise you with occasional sparks of brilliance.
Although the game shines the most at the tactical and grand tactical level, it also includes strategic-level campaigns with battles that are then resolved at the tactical level as in the historical scenarios. While it adds another dimension to the game, I found that implementation was somewhat iffy, and that it could have done with more work to make it interesting.
Furthermore, the game includes a flexible and relatively intuitive scenario editor that allows you to create your own historical battles, armies, orders of battle, etc. for any of the supported periods.
It is said that people are either lumpers or splitters. As a refreshing change from obsessive speculations on how thick the door to the Hougoumont farmhouse was, or how many soldiers in the 1st Hanoverian Brigade were down with the flu on the fateful morning of Waterloo, here is a simple and unpretentious game that seeks to highlight the essential and universal common elements in human confrontations throughout history.
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