Now to the heart of the matter. After reviewing the 50+ factions presently available, I chose Pontus, mostly because they are a faction I have never played with in any similar strategy game, but have always had an interest in, and also because Field of Glory: Empires (“FogE”) rates them a ‘3’ on difficulty and interest. To me, that is a good fit for my first campaign.

Lloyd Sabin,

I have played several turns, and admittedly there is a ton of math going on underneath the hood here. Even the main map screen has a dozen different views: political, diplomatic, etc. It is a bit overwhelming, but I found if I putter around the main map screen, explore my options, and just play, I can tread through the numbers. I built a few buildings, like a market, upgraded some infrastructure, and recruited some troops. So far, FogE appears to play best when you let your guard down and just let the game pour over you.

Pontus

More importantly, especially for readers here who are looking forward to the military components of FogE, I was led into my first battle. FogE’s in-game advisor, after berating me for being too ambitious and leading Pontus in to regression, then recommended that I take my army and beat up on the neighboring eastern Hellenic province of Chalybdia.

Regression looks fun!

This was after I opened up some of the military options screen and built my faction’s first trireme as well as some light cavalry and regular infantry.

Recruiting troops

There were more troop options available, but I did not have enough money or the proper infrastructure in place yet to purchase them. These are still the very early turns of the campaign.

In the beginning

The die is cast

Once I took my advisor’s advice and invaded Chalybdia (which I had never heard of before this game – it also gave me the option of invading part of Crimea, which seemed too far away at this point in my campaign) an option screen popped up asking if I wanted to auto-resolve or play out the battle in Field of Glory 2 (Fog2). I selected “HELL YES”, and jumped into the promised land of Fog2!

Cover me, I’m going in

It took a few moments and the transition wasn’t silky smooth, but there were no crashes or delays, and I was soon playing out the invasion of Chalybdia in the FoG2 tactical mode, Pontus vs. Independent Greeks. Other than switching between the two games, the computer does almost everything else for the player; no searching around for files or anything like that. It was all rather intuitive.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it

Facing off

After about 15 turns I gave those Greeks a good thrashing. My infantry, archers, light cavalry and chariots, under the command of my general, Theophraste, and a couple of others, decimated the Greeks.

Contact

Their General is dead

The battle itself took about a half hour in real time, so I can see some players not having enough time to play this way often. However, I personally will try to whenever I can, mainly because FogE gives me the background campaign and context I have always wanted to flesh out my Fog2 games. Fog2 campaigns are fun and well made, but most are linear. That disappears with the addition of FogE, and that is an exciting and fun benefit that breathes new life into an already beloved game series.

The enemy begins to rout

The Greeks surrender the field

Winning the battle also boosted my standing in the FogE campaign, minimizing the decadence beginning to creep into my Pontic empire, and boosted my all around standings when compared to every other faction in the game.

Glorious Victory

Battle results

Our military skill is without equal!

Decadence also sounds fun

Check out the screens below for additional campaign details. FogE is definitely complex, but at a minimum, it adds some welcome context to the battles of Fog2 and is a fun, complex, deep system in its own right.

Pirates!

City details

Slaves!

Rankings galore

FogE ran well on my four year old rig, and with some time invested in the myriad game systems, I can see FogE becoming a go-to ancients game. If it expands in to other eras (Fall of Rome, Dark Ages, Medieval, Renaissance)…it could be incredible!

Although my impressions are still early, FogE appears to be a labor of love and is deserving of players who are willing to reciprocate and pour some time back in to it. Historical gamers who prefer ancients, as well as the subsequent eras of world history might be on the verge of getting their hands on a new epic gaming system.

FogE will be released by Slitherine and Ageod on July 11!

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