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  The Fate of All Strategikon Book I: Alexander's Campaign Against the Persian Empire, The First Diadochi War, and Other Deeds by Thin R...

The Fate of All by Thin Red Line Games The Fate of All by Thin Red Line Games

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Ancients




 The Fate of All


Strategikon Book I: Alexander's Campaign Against the Persian Empire, The First Diadochi War, and Other Deeds


by


Thin Red Line Games




 When I saw that a new Alexander game was coming out my eyes perked up. However, once I saw the part of the title that says 'The First Diadochi War' I started to drool. The Diadochi (Successors) Period is my favorite in all of history. I cannot pass up the chance to say Antigonus "the oldest and greatest of Alexander's Successors" (Plutarch).


 This is an interview with Fabrizio Vianello about him, his company, and the game.


Please tell us how you got into wargaming?


I think I was 14 years old, already reading anything I could find about the Punic Wars and the battles of World War Two, when I stumbled on a magazine article about “War Games”, played with miniatures or paper maps and counters. In a matter of weeks, I was the youngest member of an Italian wargaming club and I had bought AH’s “Panzer Leader”, costing me a fortune. They call it the golden age, but at the time to obtain most of the games in Italy you had to put together a group order and have someone going in the US.


What games did you play the most?


I was (and still am) primarily an SPI fan, so we played a lot of War Between the States, The Next War, Global War, Fulda Gap, Sniper! and so on. Later on, I spent at least a couple of years playing only Squad Leader. I’m also an avid player of role-playing games, with 30 or more years gamemastering Dungeons&Dragons, Traveller and Vampires 


Tell us about your 1985 series of World War III massive games.


The 1985 series started as an air and ground simulation with an abstract naval element, and developed during the years into a full naval, air and ground simulation taking into account strategic and logistical problems on a planetary scale.




The 15 maps cover central Europe from France to Poland, Scandinavia, Iran and the Persian Gulf. Moreover, a Lines Of Communication area map covers the whole globe and allows to organize (and fight for) the supply and reinforcement lines. The three combined modules include 1700 land units at battalion, brigade, regiment and division level, 1000 aircraft units at squadron level, 300 helicopter units at squadron and regiment level, 400 naval units at single ship and task force level, and 90 submarine units. Practically most of NATO, US and Warsaw Pact armed forces are represented, plus a number of other countries like Austria, Sweden, Iran, Iraq, and several Middle East countries.




Given the scope and complexity of the scenario, we tried our best to include every important aspect of a high intensity conflict set in the ‘80s, without an excessive level of micromanagement. In the end, every possible weapon system, problem, and option is on the table, with a particular attention to air warfare – probably the decisive battlefield in a full-scale war between NATO and Warsaw Pact.


So, your newest game takes a right turn and goes to ancient wargaming and Alexander the Great. Why the change from the Cold War to ancients?


Well, I’ve been busy with the Cold War Gone Hot for the last seven years, and I really needed a change, no matter how much I’m interested to the topic! As my other great passion has always been the Classical Period, Alexander the Great looked like an obvious choice. Also, there’s a lot of space for new ideas in one thousand years of history! In any case, Cold War warriors do not have to worry. We still have 2 modules of the C3 series to develop, In a Dark Wood and Bavarian Rhapsody, not to mention the insane 1985: Mutual Assured Destruction project, containing all the three 1985 modules and delivered in a nuclear-resistant box.


I am a big sucker for anything ancients. Please tell us everything you can about the new game.


I’ve also played a lot of ancient games to the consumption, and with a very few exceptions I’ve found that ancient warfare is represented in an excessively simplified way. The main culprits are area movement, making a march from Greece to Babylon a trivial matter, and logistics, usually limited to a single die roll and a generic “winter is bad” rule. The Fate of All tries to give back to ancient warfare its operational, realistic traits and problems.





The first step in this direction was the use of a traditional hex map, opening all the possibilities when planning a move. A march from the Aegean to Cilicia could use dozens of different routes, each one with its own advantages and problems. Having a detailed map (30 km per hex) also allowed to assign a distinct supply value to the different regions, and to have realistic and precise march rates, taking into account the size of the army and its baggage.

The second step was to analyze and reproduce the logistics problems of an ancient army. This has been the research part that surprised me more, as I’ve discovered aspects and tricks that I never suspected; a good example is the number of draft animals needed to carry provisions beyond a certain number of days…you may find all the details in the Designers’ Notes.

When the map and the logistic constraints are put to work together, you find yourself with the same problems faced by the Macedonian and Persian commanders 2400 years ago, and suddenly some previously inexplicable choices made by them start making sense. Even the apparently simple, 20-days march of Alexander from Therme to Abydos requires some planning in order to be completed without incidents and in the same number of days.

Of course, movement and logistic are only the tip of the iceberg. Players must face money problems, difficult sieges requiring a bit of creativity, army morale problems that could be solved or worsened by the military events, revolts of cities and whole regions, treasons, and of course naval and land battles.


Asia Minor in May 334, just after the Battle of the Granicus


The land battles deserve a more detailed explanation, as they can be decided by using a faster “strategic combat” method, or by physically deploying the two armies on the tactical map and using the Tactical Combat rules. Both systems take into account factors like combined arms, morale, leadership, and terrain, but the Tactical Combat is of course the ultimate tool for a decisive battle and offers a detailed but not overwhelming insight of the tactics, advantages and weaknesses of the various troop types.


The Macedonian right flank in the final phase of the Battle of the Granicus


Last but not least, defining the order of battle and the exact characteristics for each unit and troop type was a fascinating research work. Here too, there was a lot of surprises, as it was immediately clear how much uncertainty there is still today about the equipment, the tactics and the numbers of both sides – Much more than I’ve ever thought.

In conclusion, I hope that The Fate of All will help understand how incredible Alexander’s campaign was, and why he really deserves to be called the Great.


The four maps in very low resolution

 Thank you for taking the time to write this up for us. I hope your ancient game will become a series like your '1985' games. I will keep my fingers crossed that it happens, and the games go at least until Antiochus the Great's time.


Thin Red Line Games:

Thin Red Line Games - (trlgames.com)

The Fate of All:

The Fate of All - Thin Red Line Games (trlgames.com)




  ONUS TRAIANUS FROM DRACO IDEAS Back in September 2016, I reviewed Onus from Draco Ideas which, if you check via this  LINK , was a remark...

ONUS TRAIANUS ONUS TRAIANUS

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Ancients

 ONUS TRAIANUS

FROM

DRACO IDEAS


Back in September 2016, I reviewed Onus from Draco Ideas which, if you check via this LINK, was a remarkably small, but impressive game.  With this latest addition to the series. things have got a whole lot bigger and what a stunning package it is!  In my previous review I used the cliche "good things come in small packets": well even better things have just come in a much, much bigger packet.  The simple comparison below makes that very clear!
I also wasn't wholly sold on the rather cartoonish original box art and, as you can see, that too has taken a turn for the more serious.  The period has also shifted from the early days of the monumental clashes between Rome and Carthage to the glory days of the Emperor Trajan and an incredible range of cards to cover an amazing tranche of opponents - Celts, Dacians, the Germanic tribes, Parthians and Sarmatians, along with a massive deck of Mercenaries and to help out the Romans, a deck of auxiliaries.  The system remains the same, an admirable transformation of miniatures using cards for units instead of metal or plastic figures.  
Lifting the box lid and focusing purely on the cards, you can see just how many are stacked up.  There is ample storage not just for the cards, but also measuring rulers, dice and all the many markers. 

There are in total a magnificent 272 unit cards, 34 General cards, 98 action cards and 6 quick reference cards.  What I value even more in the storage facility is that all the compartments are designed to be large enough to hold the cards, if sleeved.  Usually, sleeving is my immediate choice, but in the case of Onus Traianus, I'm reluctant to sleeve the cards that represent the units, as I find them harder to manoeuvre over the battlefield.

Set out above are the five enemy nations, the Roman core units and below them the auxiliaries, the extra large stack of mercenaries, on the far right the stack of generals, with Trajan uppermost, and below them, the largest stack of all - the many action cards that determine your orders.
Even when you add in all the other components, the box remains delightfully spacious.  So much so that I'm intending to transfer my cards from the original Onus to this storage as well.

Impressive as all this is, it is the various books that add a distinctly luxurious feel to the game.  The original rule book was small, compact and did a very, very good job of setting out the rules.  For its small size, it included an amazing number of illustrations, but it was crammed to bursting with eye-straining text!  The new rule book is capacious and voluminous.  The print is still on the small side, but with double-spacing of all the text, plus frequent use of extra white space it is ease itself to read.  Combined with this are a steady flow of illustrative pictures to support the many examples of each clearly explained step in the sequence of play, a comprehensive 2-page Contents list at the front of the rules, a 2-page alphabetic Index at the back, a single page Important Rules Summary and finally on the back cover is a summary of all the Modifiers neatly headed according to each element of the game that they apply to.

Comprehensive  Summary of Modifiers
All this makes it a genuine pleasure to sit down to read, whether for the first time or simply to browse and refresh your memory.  An awesome accomplishment in rules presentation that deserves full praise as does the striking and handsome front cover illustration.


The rule book begins with a one page Introduction, which draws you in with a pictorial display of the card backs of all the nations included in the original game, its two expansions and now this stand-alone game. Then a page of new additions to the rules is followed by three pages explaining the three types of card in the game: Unit Cards,  General Cards and Action Cards.  Each page offers a compact illustration of a typical unit card with brief explanations of all the symbols they contain.
We quickly pass on to Setting Up which covers Historical Scenarios and creation of Scenarios by point count, Victory Conditions and Troop Deployment which details how to set out your card units on the gaming area.  The bulk of the book [32 pages] takes you through the Turn Sequence in order providing all-embracing, detailed, step by step rules. They provide an admirably clear explanation throughout which, as mentioned earlier, is significantly helped by the layout so that you never feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the level of detail.
In brief, the Turn has 7 Phases.
Activation
Movement
Ranged Attack
Skirmish
Melee
Flight
End of Turn
Among the many easy to understand rules, those explaining movement and melee stand out for me.  Especially the latter - melee rules - have so often with other sets of miniatures rules been a nightmare of complexity merely to understand, never mind actually carry out in a game.  Having watched in the past with other systems, ten or more minutes of number crunching, percentage calculations, modifier applications et. al. result in both sides suffering no effects, Onus' method is a gamer's blessing.
Many capitalised side headings, sequences of short simple statements, exemplification distinguished by its text being in italics and plentiful full-colour illustration all contribute to take the work and effort out of absorbing these rules.  I have two sets of very substantial miniatures rules for gaming battles in the ancient world which I thoroughly enjoy reading, but Onus Traianus covers so much in a straightforward way that leads to an ease of execution.
When you get down to play on your tabletop, this ease of understanding is augmented to a major extent by the fact that the units are cards not miniatures.  First of all, I always know immediately what a unit is simply because its nationality and type is written on the card.  I have a rather nicely painted set of 10mm ancients miniatures, but because of the scale I often strain to make out even such simple things as exactly what type of cavalry I'm seeing.
Typical set up for a basic game

Even more important is that all the key data needed for movement capability, ranged fire, melee strength in attack and defence, morale and health are also printed on the card.  




No need for reference to a multitude of extensive tables to extract this information.  The only limited reference needed is to the icons for special abilities and even here there are benefits, as colour coding on the cards quickly distinguishes those special abilities that are triggered automatically [orange and green circles] and those that need to be activated [blue circles] by placing a distinctive marker on the card.
Finally, the unit card serves as the base on which to place a range of markers, such as marching or fleeing, broken morale, number of wounds, the presence of a hero or loss  of an officer - all of which simplifies the organisation of your game in the course of play.
Romans v Celts

Whatever you're level of experience as a gamer, Onus Traianus provides a great range of qualities.   Perhaps the most important is that you're getting a satisfying depth of game play coupled with an ease of learning and a sand box of material with
 a very easy point system to design your own battles. Next it allows you to explore a wide range of conflicts from this period of the Roman Empire against so many different opponent nations.  This is not just because of the unit decks for these nations, but because of the impressively large Campaign Book - all in all, 95 pages and 38 battles organised into 4 Campaigns.  If the Rule Book looks superb, this Campaign Book is gorgeous and of a very substantial weight and thickness.  You really have got a book in your hands .


There are four campaigns covered and each one is prefaced by a simple map with the battles marked on and the order in which they occurred.  Each individual battle is illustrated with a full colour set up map, an historical outline, any special rules and victory conditions.  The one drawback is that only approximately half of the battles can be played easily with just Onus Traianus alone.  Frankly, if the Campaign Book had given you only those eighteen alone, you'd be getting huge value for money, but to play the others you will need the Terrain and Fortresses Expansion box, which will be explored in my follow-on review.  I defy you to withstand the lure and I must thank Draco Ideas for their generosity in providing the Expansion to review as well as the core game.
The last item in Onus Traianus is a very slim booklet for playing in Solo mode and here I did struggle to understand their workings because of the brevity of explanation, especially after the thoroughness and clarity of the Rule Book. In particular, I think the several tables used need much fuller explanation to make the system work smoothly. I have to admit that it is not something I would choose to support me in playing this game solitaire, but nor is it needed for me to enjoy playing the game solo rather than against a live opponent.  For those who absolutely insist on playing solo only by using a game system, it might not serve.  However, there are few miniature gamers I know who would consider this essential or even how they would play solitaire.
So, to sum up.
Excellent components throughout
Visually attractive 
Comprehensive rules well set out and clear to understand
Ease of play
Magnificent Campaign Book - extensive range of battles linked into four campaigns
Solo mode only weak point
I really hope that Draco Ideas will look at producing an Expansion for the Republican battles between Julius Caesar v Pompey the Great and/or the battles between Marius v Sulla.

Once again many thanks to Draco Ideas for providing the review copy for Onus Traianus and the Expansion Terrain and Fortresses which I shall be reviewing next.
  

What happens when you take a developer known for their deep, yet utterly arcane historical strategy games, and link them with a publishe...

Field of Glory: Empires Field of Glory: Empires

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Ancients



What happens when you take a developer known for their deep, yet utterly arcane historical strategy games, and link them with a publisher known for making wargaming accessible to the masses? You get Field of Glory Empires, a rich grand strategy title that carves out its own space in the genre. 

At a glance, one could quickly draw comparisons to the Total War or Paradox grand strategy games, but Empires sets itself apart with multiple mechanics that address some of the shortcomings of those series. One wholly unique feature of Empires is the way it integrates with a completely separate game, Field of Glory II, to allow you to play out the battles in that game. Though I must immediately point out that having Field of Glory II is by no means necessary to enjoy Empires. In fact, you probably won't want to command every battle personally, since that would add hours and hours to a campaign. However, if you already own Field of Glory II, and enjoy grand strategy games, it makes a whole lot of sense to get Empires. Suddenly, those fun tactical battles, the results of which were mostly inconsequential, take on significant weight. Now you are defending your capitol from an invading army, or fighting to claim a critical new province for your empire. Some may balk at the idea of needing two different games to get the "full" experience, but each can be had for much less than a typical $60 game, and both are worthwhile on their own, so I think it is reasonable enough.

Now, back to Empires itself. The basics of the grand strategy genre are mostly here. You begin the game by selecting one of dozens of different ancient tribes and civilizations. All your ancient favorites are here, from Rome and Carthage to the Greek city states and the "barbarian" tribes of Europe, and many more. The map spans all of Europe, North Africa, and stretches east to cover a portion of India. The standard campaign runs from 310 BCE to 190 CE. This is a lovely starting point just after the death of Alexander the Great and before the Punic Wars. Rome is on the rise, but many older civilizations are still lingering, their historical decline still a bit in the future. And that concept of rise and decline is a core theme of the game.



Unlike in many other similar games, simply painting the map your color will not lead to victory in Empires. As the Romans and many empires before and after them can attest, growing too large leads to many problems. In many cases, an empire that reaches a certain size will inevitably experience a rapid and sometimes total collapse. However, despite their complete collapse we still discuss and often think highly of the Romans today, almost 2000 years later. They left quite the legacy, didn't they? That is how victory is measure in Empires - how many "Legacy" points you are able to accumulate before the end of the game. Legacy points can be gained in many ways, and only lost in one or two ways. However, many of the ways you accumulate Legacy will also earn you "Decadence" points. This can be countered by focusing your resources on things that generate "Culture" points. Too much decadence leads to unrest, revolts, civil war. Countering those problems gets more difficult as your state grows larger and gets older. 


The Emerald Isle makes for a nice "Tutorial Island" to learn the basics.

It's a bit difficult for me to explain succinctly, but the long and short is this: Empires uses several core mechanics to capture a story that has played out so many times in history. Powerful states tend to rise out of obscurity, build themselves up to great heights, and then collapse more from internal rot than from outside aggression. I definitely recommend cracking open the player manual and reading through the relevant sections, as it's a bit obscure how it all works at first. The game does have in-game tutorials and a helpful glossary that will teach you everything else without much trouble. However, you will initially be at a loss as to the importance of progress/decline tokens, Culture-Decadence Ratios, Loyalty, and Legacy points if you don't at least skim through the manual. The manual also has a lengthy strategy guide section and designer's notes that explain the reasoning for the mechanics in the game, so it's well worth your time.



As an example, winning battles and raiding enemy provinces will sometimes net you slaves that you can distribute into your provinces. These slaves will naturally have a high level of unrest and always be a potential source of rebellion. Likewise, taking control of peoples who are ethnically different from you will lead to them being less than happy with their new rulers. The larger your population in a region, the greater their unrest will become as well. Much of this can be mitigated by building things like circuses and gladiator arenas, but these buildings grow your decadence score. As you slide from, let's say, a meritocratic republic built on duty and honor, into a bloated empire dependent on bread and circuses to keep people happy while slaves do all the work, the risk of revolt and civil war will grow despite your best efforts. It's a wonderful system that naturally responds to your actions and pushes your empire into the logical consequences.

As to the less abstract and more "day-to-day" mechanics of the game, any veteran grand strategy player will easily be able to hop in and get going with minimal fuss. The map is broken up into hundreds of provinces, and depending on who you are playing as, you will start with anywhere from one province to a couple dozen under your control. Within each province there is a population under your control. Population is represented by blocks of manpower that you can shift around to focus on food, infrastructure, money, or culture production. You can also construct buildings that will enhance production of those four resources. One interesting note in Empires is that you can only construct one building a time in a province, and you can only select what you want to build from an ever changing pool of options (one building per resource). If you don't like your current pool of options, you'll have to waste several turns rolling a new one. This creates an interesting strategic dilemma. I only have a very limited number of building slots in this province, and I really want to build XYZ, but it hasn't come up as an option yet. Do I spend several turns to see if it comes up next time, or do I go with Plan B right now? I'm not sure how historically accurate the concept is, but I found it refreshing to not use the same cookie cutter build order in every province like you would in other grand strategy games.


Each icon on the map indicates a special trade good in that province.
Many of the buildings require trade goods in order to function efficiently, or to give a bonus to their production. There are a ton of these trade goods, some examples being horses, iron, wine, fish, and many more. Some of these are available in certain provinces from the start, while others are produced by buildings. You can trade for these goods internally and with other states. Trade is another area where the game functions differently than you might expect. Unlike in say, Civilization, you don't make a direct agreement to import some good from another state and have it be available for your own use wherever. Rather, in Empires, trade goods are moved around in an organic way, with the buildings you construct creating a demand that can be met by any trade good containing province within range. If you control the source of the good, you'll make a little cash even when trading with yourself. If you have to import it from elsewhere you'll pay full price, and vice versa, you can make money by exporting your goods. This is all only indirectly under your control, and creates a neat living economy as demand for goods appears in regions depending on the buildings constructed there, and buildings are constructed depending on what goods are available.

The military side of things should be familiar enough to most strategy gamers. If you have ever played an AGEOD game before, you will immediately recognize the how all of this works, but be relieved to find that things are very simple this go around. Various unit types (skirmishers, infantry, and cavalry of all variety are available) are built in a region and then combined to create an army. Every unit has strengths and weaknesses, special perks like performing better in specific terrain, and each individual unit has an experience level that rises as they survive battles. On your turn you assign an army to move here and there, and give them a "stance" such as simply moving about, or immediately assaulting any forts they come across, or to go raiding neighboring provinces. Units don't actually move until you hit the end turn button, at which time ALL units from every state move at once. This means you could miss that enemy army you were targeting, or blunder into one you weren't aware of. 



When two armies meet, a battle commences. As I mentioned above, you can opt to take direct control if you own Field of Glory II, and play the battle out there. This is a mostly seamless process, as Empires closes, Field of Glory II opens, and you hit a button to import the battle. Then the reverse occurs and you are right back in Empires with the battle result. Otherwise, the battle plays out in Empires with no real direct input from you. Your input is in how you decide to compose your army, and where you send them to fight. Army composition is far more engaging than in something like Europa Universalis, as unit types are far more distinct, and your army will very much reflect the empire you have built. Most units require that you have access to particular trade goods or meet other requirements. Additionally, almost every province can produce some variety of unique unit, that is better than its standard counter-part and often has extra perks, but is also more expensive. I really liked this feature, as it gives historical flavor to an army raised in any particular region.



So that hits all the highlights, but don't be mistaken, there are plenty of additional nitty-gritty details that I didn't get into, but you can learn about as you play. I want to reiterate how genius the victory point system is in this game. Because your legacy points remain in place even if your once great empire collapses, it's entirely possible to win the game while NOT being the biggest blob of color on the map. You can play through the rise, the golden age, and then the decline and fall of an empire, and still win the game. A fall is not guaranteed, of course, but the mechanics of the game will push you further and further in that direction unless you prove yourself a very capable leader.

The deep and interesting designs of developer AGEOD have finally evolved into a game system that anyone can play (without an excessive amount of head scratching), and it is a great moment that bodes well for their future. Despite going up against some of the most popular grand strategy games out there, I think Field of Glory Empire really shines as a fresh take on the genre. The Culture and Decadence system fleshes out an idea that is usually relegated to a simple "happiness" score in other games, and makes it the core of the gameplay loop. This completely changes how you think about building and managing your empire, and makes the plausible scenario, that your empire eventually crumbles, still be a fun part of the game.  
I give a strong recommendation to Field of Glory Empires, and it's a real no-brainer if you already own Field of Glory II, as both games benefit from combining the two. 

Field of Glory Empires can be purchased directly from Slitherine, as well as on Steam and GoG. 

(As of this writing it's 10% off, go grab it if you are interested!)


- Joe Beard











The Vikings have landed on the shores of Field of Glory II from Byzantine Games and Slitherine. In this fifth DLC add-on for the tactica...

Field of Glory II - Wolves at the Gate DLC Field of Glory II - Wolves at the Gate DLC

For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

Ancients



The Vikings have landed on the shores of Field of Glory II from Byzantine Games and Slitherine. In this fifth DLC add-on for the tactical turn based ancient warfare sandbox, the timeline is extended much further into the future, all the way up to 1040 AD. The base game "only" covers 280 BC to 20 BC, for reference. You can read our original review here. Since it's release, other DLC have covered the highs and lows of the Roman Empire (both East and West), with other packs focusing on the earlier powers of the Mediterranean and Middle East like the Greeks and Persians. This pack moves us firmly into the so-called "Dark Ages" of history, when the lack of a civilizing influence from Rome led to barbarians and heathens running wild across Europe. As any history buff knows, this concept is rather passé these days, but it still makes for a pretty good theme for a wargame. 




If you're reading this, you probably have a pretty good idea of what Field of Glory II is like, so I'll get to exactly what's on the tin of this latest DLC. Wolves at the Gate expands FoG II by adding:


  • 19 new factions
  • 55 new units
  • 76 new army lists
  • 6 new Epic Battles
  • 74 new Quick Battles
  • Expanded Custom Battles module.
  • Expanded Sandbox Campaign module.
  • 6 new historically-based campaigns.
  • New Allies feature added in accompanying game update.



You can get the full list of factions and armies from the product page, but I'll list off a few that might get your attention. The Vikings are most definitely here, and I played a few battles with them. Huscarls and Berserkers give them quite an offensive punch, though their other infantry are a bit rubbish. Also, don't expect too much cavalry support. Some of the battles I played in this era were purely melee infantry affairs, with not an archer or mounted warrior in sight. This was quite different from the last DLC I played, Age of Belisarius, which featured the exact opposite, with mounted archers dominating the battlefield. There are many other armies representing northern Europe on hand as well. The Franks, Anglo-Saxons, Lombards, Scots, Irish, British, Visigoths and more have all come to play. There is also plenty of new content here for the east, with the Byzantine and Arab rosters being filled out with multiple armies. Going even further east, some Indian factions are represented and featured in a full campaign. Here's the full list of new campaigns so you can see some of the major historical figures who fit into this era:


  • Arab Conquest
  • Basil II (Byzantine Resurgence)
  • Charlemagne
  • Mahmud of Ghazni
  • Wolves from the Sea 1(Viking Age from Viking point of view)
  • Wolves from the Sea 2(Viking Age from enemy point of view)


  • I tried a sampling of the campaigns and found them all to offer some different flavors of combat. If you have played any of the previous campaigns in Field of Glory II, these work the same way. You go from battle to battle with some small choices in between that change the scenarios a bit. There is also, as always, a sandbox campaign mode that plays similarly but lets you take your nation of choice and go up against a variety of historical enemies in randomly generated battles.


    One new feature that was patched into the game alongside this DLC is the "Allies" feature. This lets you mix in units of historical allies with a given army roster in custom battles. This means even more variety as you can spice up your favorite faction or army with some new units. If you like ancients warfare games, this is really a one stop shop. I can only assume, based on Field of Glory I, that there is plenty more DLC coming that will add more and more factions to the game. Just about any match-up you can imagine is either in the game already or will be before long. 

    I thought I'd end the review with a little recap of how the Battle of Clontarf went for me. This is one of the epic battles included, and one that I had never heard of before. The battle featured a mix of Vikings and Irishmen fighting for control of the Emerald Isle. It was an infantry only battle, which was actually tactically interesting, as my standard strategies involving archers and cavalry were not options at all.



    The battle lines are drawn up. A roughly equal number of infantry on each side are facing off across mostly flat ground. I'll need to look for any advantage that could give me some leverage.



    I'm commanding the forces of Brian Boru, the man credited with breaking the hold of the Vikings over Ireland by decisively winning this battle. Hopefully I can match up to my historical counter-part!



    The fighting begins, but both sides have a large reserve of infantry not yet committed to the line. I try to position my men to take advantage of a couple of dips in the terrain. Units fighting uphill will always have a harder time of it. 



    Now the fighting is raging in earnest, units begin to waver and break all down the line. On my left flank I see an opportunity. A morale check cascade causes multiple enemy units to waver, and I have several strong infantry units on the far edge of the line. If I can hit the enemy just a couple more times they should go from bending to breaking.



    Success! The enemy's right flank flees the field and my strongest units are positioned to roll up the line. Although my center and right flank wavers off-camera, my forces manage to hold. Catching the entire enemy line in the flank as I'm about to do above is essentially game over. With no strong enemy reserve on hand to blunt my advance, my forces hack their way down the line, routing the enemy units one after another. The Vikings are driven from Ireland!

    Field of Glory II continues to entertain me even after a couple of years of playing off and on. I really wanted to enjoy the fist game in the series, but could never quite get into it. The sequel however gets me hooked every time I fire it up. I always want to take just one more turn, and see if this time I can finally crack the enemy line, or find out whether my flank can hold long enough for my overall strategy to come together. Wolves at the Gate doesn't fundamentally change anything about the game, but it does offer a new series of campaigns and scenarios to play around with. This game really is a massive sandbox, and more toys always makes the sandbox more fun!

    The DLC can be purchased directly from Slitherine/Matrix. It's also available on Steam and GoG.com. 

    - Joe Beard

    Age of Belisarius A DLC for Field of Glory II by Slitherine Games   Justinian was an emperor that did not deser...

    Age of Belisarius a DLC for Slitherine's Field of Glory II Age of Belisarius a DLC for Slitherine's Field of Glory II

    For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

    Ancients

    Age of Belisarius


    A DLC for Field of Glory II

    by

    Slitherine Games





     Justinian was an emperor that did not deserve his wife or his generals. This new DLC from Slitherine is for their smash hit Field of Glory II. The Roman empire had risen on their heavy infantry. After Byzantium, or Constantinople if you prefer, became the second and then the only capitol of the empire. Their new enemies required the Romans to rethink their reliance on infantry. Justinian dreamed of reconquering the lost provinces of the Western Roman Empire. This would have only been a pipe dream if he did not have the services of the generals Belisarius and Narses. Belisarius only lost one battle, and that was forced on him early in his career. 





     So let us look at what you get with this DLC:
    • 11 new named factions: Avars, Byzantines, Franks, Gepids, Lombards, Ostrogoths, Slavs, Turks, Vandals, Visigoths, Welsh.

    • 17 new units: Byzantine Lance/Bow cavalry, Veteran Byzantine Lance/Bow cavalry, Byzantine Flankers, Dismounted Armoured Noble Lancers, Dismounted Noble Lancers, Dismounted Armoured Horse Archers, Sabir Foot, Indian Light Horse (javelins), Indian Light Foot (javelins), Bedouin Cavalry (lancers), Bedouin Light Horse (lancers), Bedouin Foot, Pre-Islamic City Arab foot, Bulgar Cavalry, Bulgar Light Horse, Spearmen (Dark Age), Raw Spearmen (Dark Age).

    • 29 new army lists (which expands the total number of army lists to 166).

    • 6 new Epic Battles: Dara 530 AD, Tricamarum 533 AD, Taginae 552 AD, The Volturnus 554 AD, Bukhara 557 AD, Raith 596 AD (each playable from either side).

    • 37 new Quick Battles (each playable from either side).

    • Expanded Field of Glory II Custom Battles module now includes all 166 army lists from Immortal Fire, Rise of Rome, Legions Triumphant and Age of Belisarius. (Purchase of the appropriate DLCs is necessary to access them all).

    • Expanded Field of Glory II Sandbox Campaigns module now includes all 166 army lists from Immortal Fire, Rise of Rome, Legions Triumphant and Age of Belisarius. (Purchase of the appropriate DLCs is necessary to access them all).

    • 4 new historically-based campaigns:

    o   Belisarius

    o   Clovis I of the Franks

    o   King of Kings 2 (Sassanid Persia)

    o   Rise of the Avars





     The base game of FOG II has been updated continually since its release. One excellent choice that Slitherine has made is that all of the upgrades for the base game are available to the player even without buying all of the planned DLCs. So the only thing a person would miss out on would be the new troop types, battles, and campaigns from each DLC.





     As far as the DLC, there is not much to say. The game is the best game as yet released for the computer dealing with tactical ancient warefare. The DLCs just make the experience that much better and wider in scope. If you are interested in early Byzantine or later Roman Empire tactical battles, this is what you have been waiting for. If you haven't picked up the base game, why not! It is as good as everyone has said. The Age of Belisarius DLC is worth its price tag and much more.





     
    One of the big additions in this DLC to the game is cavalry units that can dismount and fight on foot. The sandbox feature has also had an upgrade. Now you are able to pit any of the armies that you have in your stable against any other one you own. This is not only in the Custom Battles, but also the Custom Campaigns. So join the fun and try to recreate the Roman Empire. This time you do not have to worry about Justinian becoming jealous and removing you from command. The next DLC that is coming for FOG II goes in the other direction in time; it is the Rise of Persia. I cannot wait to be able to command Assyrians.







    Robert

    Field of Glory II DLC Legions Triumphant by Slitherine Games  If you haven't been completely oblivious late...

    Field of Glory II DLC Legions Triumphant by Slitherine Games Field of Glory II DLC Legions Triumphant by Slitherine Games

    For your Wargamer, Toy soldier collector, MiniFig collector, military history nut. Reviews, interviews, Model Making, AARs and books!

    Ancients



    by








     If you haven't been completely oblivious lately, you will know that Slitherine Games has released the best PC game of ancient warfare to date, Field of Glory II. This was followed by its first DLC, Immortal Fire. FOG II has been updated on a regular basis to add even more features and to enhance this already great game. FOG I had a ton of DLCs released, from ancient to medieval warfare. 

     I will list here the new things that come with Legions Triumphant:

    • 10 new factions: Alans, Anglo-Saxons, Caledonians, Goths, Hephthalites, Huns, Palmyrans, Picts, Romano-British and Sassanid Persians.

    • 17 new units: Early Imperial Legionaries, Early Imperial Auxiliaries, Auxiliary Archers, Veteran auxiliary cavalry, Roman Lancers, Late Roman Lancers, Legio Palatina, Legio Comitatensis, Auxilia Palatina, Limitanei, Armoured Horse Archers, Expert Armoured Horse Archers, Fierce Nomad Horse Archers (Huns), Fierce Nomad Light Horse Archers (Huns), Irregular Foot (trousered), Pictish Spearmen and Jewish Zealots. Also the following that were available in the base game, but not used: Roman auxiliary cavalry, Sassanid levy spearmen.

    • 22 new army lists (which together with 2 in the free patch, expands the total number of army lists to 132).

    o   Alan 25-476 AD

    o   Anglo-Saxon 449-476 AD

    o   Armenian 253-476 AD

    o   Bosporan 11-375 AD

    o   Caledonian 50-225 AD

    o   Germanic/Gothic Foot Tribes 260-476 AD (Franks, Alamanni, Visigoths, early Vandals etc.)

    o   Germanic/Gothic Horse Tribes 260-476 AD (Ostrogoths, Gepids, later Vandals etc.)

    o   Hephthalite 350-476 AD

    o   Hunnic 250-375 AD

    o   Hunnic 376-476 AD

    o   Indian 320-476 AD

    o   Jewish Revolt 66-135 AD

    o   Palmyran 258-273 AD

    o   Pictish 210-476 AD

    o   Roman 24 BC – 196 AD

    o   Roman 197-284 AD

    o   Roman 285-378 AD

    o   Roman 379-424 AD

    o   Roman 425-476 AD

    o   Romano-British 407-476 AD

    o   Sarmatian 25-375 AD

    o   Sassanid Persian 224-476 AD

    • 10 new Epic Battles: Watling Street 61 AD, Adamclisi 102 AD, Hormozdgan 224 AD, Emesa 272 AD, Argentoratum 357 AD, Maranga 363 AD, Adrianople 378 AD, Frigidus 394 AD, Chalons 451 AD, Nedao 454 AD (each playable from either side).

    • 36 new Quick Battles (each playable from either side).

    • With Legions Triumphant (together with the base game and Immortal Fire) the Custom Battles and the Sandbox Campaigns modules now include 132 army lists.

    • 4 new historically-based campaigns:

    o   Third Century Crisis

    o   King of Kings (Sassanid Persia)

    o   Stilicho

    o   Empire of the Huns
    The free patch accompanying the release of Legions Triumphant includes major improvements to the campaign system.

    • Ability to fight on after a lost battle.
    • Ability to name your campaign units.
    • Maximum number of battles in sandbox campaigns increased, with more decision points and new possible decisions and events.
    • Additional enemies in sandbox campaigns. You will need to fend off attacks by other enemies as well as advancing the campaign against your primary opponent.
    • Units not only increase in quality following victories, but will upgrade to higher quality unit types when they reach the required quality. (e.g. Raw Pikemen > Pikemen > Veteran Pikemen).
    • Anachronistic what if campaigns – by turning off the date and geographical filters you can set up sandbox campaigns between any two nations covered by the game from 550 BC to 476 AD. Additional enemies in the campaign will fit the date of the main enemy – so that it will be as if your army had been transported in time to a new era.
    Other major changes in the free patch:

    o   Improved AI.

    o   Evaders may suffer casualties even if they escape their pursuers.

    o   Chargers will now follow normal pursuit rules if their opponents break on contact. i.e. Infantry (apart from warbands and raw troops) will not pursue.




     As I mentioned, one of the best things about this game is the fact that it is continually being upgraded, and you do not even have to buy DLCs to get the enhancements to the core game. 



     I do not like one thing about the new DLC, and that is the choice of the 'Epic Battles' that come with it. I am not a sandbox type player that likes to pit X against Y army in different circumstances. I like to play historical battles. I can deal with plausible 'what if' situations, but that is about it. The choice of battles to include is highly subjective so it is possible that many other gamers will like the included choices. The modding and scenario creating community for FOG II is amazing and very large. So I have no doubt that the battles that I want to re-fight will be along shortly.



     Speaking of the modding community, there are now mods for all of the following wars/eras to play:

    The American Revolution

    The Age of Reason

    Napoleonic Wars

     This is just a taste of the modding done for the game. These mods push the envelope for the game. There are also tons of mods of redone Epic Battles and completely new ones during ancient times. There are also many full campaigns that have been uploaded for ancient times.



     This is an AAR of my replay of the battle of Chalons that comes with the Legions triumphant DLC. The Roman general Aetius has collected what is left of the Western Roman Empire's Army. Added to this are Franks, Alans, and Visigoths to turn back a Hun invasion of Gaul by Attila. Historically the battle was a loss for the Huns, but the winning Allies did not try to destroy the Huns and their allies. So Attila lived to fight another day until dying of a nose bleed, of all things. I am playing the Huns and trying to change history. The Huns also have allies in this battle, among them the Ostrogoths, and Gepids. The Hunnish cavalry is the typical horse archer from the steppes of Eurasia, and fought in the same way the older Scythians did, and the Mongols in another 700 years. they will ride close and blot out the sun with arrows until you break formation and try to come to grips with them. Historically they were placed in the center of the Hunnish Army at Chalons. I wonder if a better placement would have been to put them on a flank of the Roman/Allied Army instead.



     The first two turns are more a a meet and greet between the enemies. I believe I am going to hold back my right from the Roman Army and try to crush their allies in the center and their right. On turn three my Hunnish cavalry has already disrupted some of the Alan units in the center. Unfortunately, my Gepid lancers on my right flank are not nearly a match to the Roman horse there. On my left flank, my Ostrogoths and the enemy's Visigoths seem to be equally matched.  On turn four my Hunnish archers are still taking a large toll of the Alans. Turn five is much the same, although I do have my archers on both flanks trying to envelop the enemy. I know that one enemy cavalry charge can disperse my archers to the winds, so I will not really rely on them too much. By turn six, it looks like I am fighting three separate battles. The Huns are decimating the Alans in the center, while the Romans are smashing up my Gepids on my right. The fight on my left could go either way. I have chased off some Visigoths, but my Ostrogoths are taking a beating in the center of the conflict. So it is turn eight, and my Hunnish archers have blown a hole through the middle of the Roman/Allied line. I have lost a lot of troops, but my Huns will now be able to sweep either right or left to destroy either the Romans themselves or the Visigoths. Fighting the battle from Roman side, it will be tough to come up with a strategy to keep the Huns at bay.









     This is an excellent game by Slitherine, and will only get better. This DLC Legions Triumphant is another great add on to the base game. I just wish they had asked me which Epic Battles to include; just kidding. 

    Robert

    hpssims.com