Month: May 2018

05/12/18

Kriegsspiel That Would Never End™ – An AAR, part 1

What happens when you cram 10 days of battle into 18 months of forum posts? ~

Jim Owczarski, 12 May 2018

It took nine game days rather than the postulated six.

It took a tiny bit over a year and a half of real time.

It resulted in 568 forum posts and 33,553 forum views (as I write this).

The umpire sent out 825 dispatches.

And it is over.

Jokes to the contrary notwithstanding, the Kriegsspiel That Would Never End™ actually ended on 5 May 2018.

But that would be to begin at the ending, and no one wants that.

In the beginning, I was planning a trip to the Jena-Auerstedt battlefields and I had always had a love of Dr. Didier Rouy’s “The Flight of the Eagle” Napooleonic campaign system.  I also enjoy the company of the crew from the GrogHeads forums and was delighted when a fair number of them responded to the idea of playing one of these Kriegsspiels with something other than derisive laughter or knowing dismissal. Continue reading →

05/7/18

What’s Gus Playing? Field of Glory 2 – Part 2

Our red-blooded rugrat regales royally regarding the Romans ~

Lloyd Sabin, 7 May 2018

Yes I am still in love. And yes it is still with Field of Glory 2.

And if you can pilot your army properly, understand tactics and deployment rules, you can change history.

I am finding it hard to express why I find it so addicting, but addicted I am still…probably more so with each epic battle and campaign I play. The game has opened doors to Greek history, hoplite warfare, Alexander the Great and the Successor Wars that I didn’t know needed opening. I am hooked.

One attribute that is easier for me to understand enjoying is the variety here. Factions and eras are varied enough that there has to be something for anyone even remotely a fan of ancients. A good case in point this week is the Battle of Magnesia (190 BC) between the Seleucids and the upstart Romans.

The Seleucids field an exotic army with a very strong Greek influence (armored hoplites) but with dashes of heavily armored cataphracts, camel cavalry (called ‘camelry’ in game but that sounds bizarre to me) and a very capable collection of forces all around, more than able to smack down the cunning Romans.

And if you can pilot your army properly, understand tactics and deployment rules, you can change history. That is definitely one of the main draws among the other, more intangible reasons why I love Field of Glory 2 as much as I do.

See the below shots for more detail.

Continue reading →

05/5/18

The Art of War & Field of Glory II

Boggit takes a look at Field of Glory 2’s units on parade ~

Boggit, 5 May 2018

One of my favourite games is Slitherine’s Field of Glory, which in Field of Glory 2 has seen a facelift in its graphics and a whole new game engine developed by Byzantine Games. Field of Glory 2 continues to use the Pike and Shot game system introduced a couple of years ago in Pike and Shot Campaigns, and subsequently Sengoku Jidai  – Shadow of the Shogun. It is not an exact clone of Pike and Shot, as several new rules and features have been added. Where it is truly different from Pike and Shot, and Sengoku Jidaiis in the map and unit graphics, which are totally different, and in my opinion very attractive.

Developed by Byzantine Games
Published by Matrix/Slitherine

Field of Glory 2as I mentioned is an upgraded version of the Pike and Shotgame system, and is in many ways very different from the older Field of Glory, which has different game mechanics, and a lot more units on the map. Field of Glory 2does come with a slight drawback on older machines compared to the original Field of Glory, and Pike and Shot/Sengoku Jidaiin that panning around the map and the speed of reaction to mouse commands is noticeably slower – most likely because of the vastly improved map and unit graphics, however, more modern graphics cards should cope easily with this issue.

I still enjoy playing the original Field of Glory as it has a very different feel to the gameplay of Field of Glory 2, which is something noticed by quite a few of my on-line opponents. This takes nothing away from Field of Glory 2, being just a matter of “apples and oranges”, as both are good in their own ways. Continue reading →