Tag: Matrix

09/5/14

GrogHeads Reviews Hannibal: Terror of Rome

“I swear that so soon as age will permit . . . I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome.” Hannibal’s promise to his father, Hamilcar Barca (attrib.)

A Review by Boggit, 5 September 2014

Developed and published by AGEOD/Slitherine

I first saw Hannibal Terror of Rome at Slitherine’s Home of Wargamers 2014 presentation, and was immediately excited by the crucial last real attempt by Carthage to halt the expansion of the of early Roman Empire. The inability of Carthage to strategically defeat Rome left Rome the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean. Over the next 100 years Rome was able to exploit that situation to expand into and dominate the rest of the Mediterranean world. But what if Hannibal had fully exploited his dramatic early victories, and defeated Rome? Could the Carthaginians have arrested the advance of the Roman Empire, or even have subjugated Rome?

Hannibal Terror of Rome is the latest standalone expansion to AGEOD/Slitherine’s game Alea Jacta Est. It continues the development of the franchise most notably with Birth of Rome, and the Parthian Wars scenario pack. There is more to come. Philippe Malacher and Philippe Thibaut, both of AGEOD/Slitherine told me at Home of Wargamers 2014 that further expansions to the game will be arriving on average twice a year, with the game franchise ending after the Wars of Charlemagne! The next couple of DLC packs planned are likely to be Rome in the third century AD, focusing on the Palmyran Wars between Aurelian and Zenobia, with another focusing on Rome in Britain (as well as a hypothetical Hibernian campaign [set in Ireland]). Anyway, let’s get back to Hannibal…

For those unfamiliar with the game system used in Hannibal, I refer you to my earlier article on Alea Jacta Est  since Hannibal uses exactly the same game engine. If you already have one or more games in the franchise, then there is no problem with duplicate files on your hard drive. Taking Philippe Malacher’s advice I simply installed Hannibal, copied over the content of the scenario folder from my other games (Alea Jacta Est, and/or Birth of Rome) into the Hannibal scenario folder, and uninstalled the other games. Simple.

The start screen where you can access not just the Hannibal scenarios, but other scenarios from the Alea Jacta Est family of games.
The start screen where you can access not just the Hannibal scenarios, but other scenarios from the Alea Jacta Est family of games.

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08/6/14

Interview with Tim van der Moer of the Lordz Game Studio

Boggit interviews Tim van der Moer of the Lordz Game Studios at the Home of Wargamers 2014 Conference

click image to enlarge; go on – you know you want to!

Aside from being a popular Grogheads forum member, Tim van der Moer (aka Lord Zimoa on the forum) first gained his reputation as modder before moving into games design. Here he gets the opportunity to say how he got involved in games design and about his plans for the future.

Tim van der Moer (right) and Alex Shargin (Flashback Games) demonstrate Warhammer 40K Armageddon at HOW 2014
Tim van der Moer (right) and Alex Shargin (Flashback Games) demonstrate Warhammer 40K Armageddon at HOW 2014

Tim, tell us a little bit about yourself. I know you come from a modding background. Tell us how you moved from modding into game design.

I think back in 2000, or 2001 when I got a phone call from an old chap called Iain McNeil who was on the phone from the UK and asked if I was Lordz’ Tim Moer. For years we were running a modding community, and we got some attention in the international press with our mods, especially our Napoleonic mods, our Lotus fantasy mods, and basically he wanted to ask who I was and what I was doing. I gave some of my personal background, but basically I was totally not into the industry.

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07/11/14

GrogHeads Reviews Piercing Fortress Europa

A Flash Review by Boggit

Developed by Adanac Command Studios and Published by Matrix/Slitherine

Click images to enlarge

When I saw this operational level game I was very motivated to look at it, as it claimed to emphasise logistics as a key element. I like this dimension, since in reality operations are usually dictated by the ability to supply. Many operational games deal with this only at a very simple level to avoid bogging the game down, so it is interesting to see whether Piercing Fortress Europa gets the balance right between reality and playability. I looked at the game under release version v1.2. The update improves things over the initial release, and adds sound which the release version lacked. In terms of scale each hex represents roughly 12 km across, each turn four days in the summer, up to six days in the winter, and three days for the Sicily Campaign. Units are divisions, brigades, or commando units.

The game menu gives a choice of 6 campaigns, handicap settings, game type (for example single player for either side, hot-seat, or play by electronic mail (PBEM)), and screen resolution. The game screen is windowed, and doesn’t support a full screen mode, which is a bit odd for a game released these days but is not a big deal. I have Guns of August from the same developer, which has been out for a while now, and that game displays similarly, so I’m not expecting any further screen mode changes from the developer.

The menu screen is functional
The menu screen is functional

The PBEM option is pretty basic, and it is a pity it doesn’t take advantage of Matrix/Slitherine’s multiplayer lobby, which is user friendly and a good source for finding opponents. Instead it’s a question of entering a password, saving the game, and sending it by email as an attachment, or by a memory stick. To be honest I wasn’t very impressed, especially since most recent Matrix/Slitherine releases use the excellent Matrix/Slitherine multiplayer lobby. I’m hoping this feature will change in a future update.

Pre-landing planning in Sicily. I have a free choice as to where to land, but pre-invasion recon has been a disaster!
Pre-landing planning in Sicily. I have a free choice as to where to land, but pre-invasion recon has been a disaster!

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06/1/14

Home of Wargamers Report: An Unexpected Journey, part 2 of 2

A Boggit’s tale

Day 2 of Home of Wargamers 2014

Part 2 of a Boggit’s Tale concludes the story with the Day 2 presentations, and concludes on Day 3 with the Saracen Warrior Trophy competition. Let’s get back to the games presented…

Peacock Hall

Here we saw

  • To End All Wars

To End All Wars is a classic AGEOD style game addressing the First World War. Why on earth did AGEOD produce this when First World War Gold is ostensibly an AGEOD game? Doesn’t it compete? The fact is that it’s nowhere near the same as the other game save for the link with AGEOD. It is not set at the Army level as First World War Gold is, but at the corps level with divisions, brigades, and regiments putting in appearances. Also the learning curve doesn’t leave you fighting the game.

 

Philippe Malacher – ‘Pocus’ on the forums - takes us to the border of East Prussia in To End all Wars
Philippe Malacher – ‘Pocus’ on the forums – takes us to the border of East Prussia in To End all Wars

If you are a player of AGEOD games, you will ease relatively comfortably into this. As I mentioned earlier, this is classic AGEOD with all the depth, attention to detail, decisions, and political events. This is definitely on my review list! It’s a solid looking, but nonetheless a starter base game – as with other recent AGEOD titles, it will be fleshed out over time with DLC to extend the range of campaigns, and scenarios. There are two 1914 Campaign games, the standard one in August, and a ‘what if’ campaign as a preparation for war starting in July where players can try out differing deployments to test the various national war plans.

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05/30/14

Home of Wargamers Report: An Unexpected Journey, part 1 of 2

A Boggit’s tale

The Prologue

Living a quiet, unadventurous life as a Review Scribe, Boggit almost missed the opportunity to go to this annual event simply by not paying attention on the scrying screen, sometimes known as the forums! Far to the East in the distant land of Italy strange things were happening. Brant – the great wizard of Grog had heard news of great treasures, and was determined to send a scout to learn the truth. The first to answer the call was the Bard – Undercovergeek – but he was sidetracked by nubile Norwegian elves. The Paladin – Jarhead – having slain so many dragons, had problems finding a tame silver dragon to cross the Great Sea. At the last moment, when all seemed lost, Boggit from the Shire of Dorset piped up. “I’ll go!” And a great adventure began.

 

Boggit crosses the Alps. Hannibal did it the hard way!
Boggit crosses the Alps. Hannibal did it the hard way!

Leaving the Shire of Dorset, Boggit travelled the Great Road to a place where tame silver dragons could be found. Stopping overnight at an Inn he fell in with another adventurer -Fraser Brown a proud Northern Scribe – with whom he shared a few beers, and learnt of Fraser’s intrepid journeys to places of learning where clever warlocks display their magic arts. The next day the two adventurers left for the Cave of Dragons, finding a friendly one, and rode it to the mysterious land of Italy.

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