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Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:13 pm
by jkBluesman
There are not that many ancient games out there, some Roman wargames but even less games covering Greek history. Would you be interested in a game dealing with the Peloponnesian War or do you know one that is out there? If not which other period from the ancient world would interest you?

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:33 pm
by Grell
HPS has a game called Punic Wars, that's about all I know of.

Regards,

Grell

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:22 pm
by IainMcNeil
What about Spartan ;) It has a Peloponnesian War scenario.

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 2:51 pm
by Grell
Hi Iain,

You're absolutely right I completely forgot about your games (I have Spartan, Chariots at War and Legion) all are excellent games.

How could I have forgotten that! [:)]

Regards,

Grell

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:45 pm
by Toby42
Unfortunately, most Ancient Games tend to be "Empire" building games. I'm not interested in growing crops and training troops!!! There was one called "The Great Battles" series, I think. I can't remember who made it/them???

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:47 pm
by Grell
ORIGINAL: Treale

Unfortunately, most Ancient Games tend to be "Empire" building games. I'm not interested in growing crops and training troops!!! There was one called "The Great Battles" series, I think. I can't remember who made it/them???

I remember those games, in fact I own them, but they are so old now that I'd never play them again.

Regards,

Grell

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:30 pm
by JAMiAM
ORIGINAL: Grell

ORIGINAL: Treale

Unfortunately, most Ancient Games tend to be "Empire" building games. I'm not interested in growing crops and training troops!!! There was one called "The Great Battles" series, I think. I can't remember who made it/them???

I remember those games, in fact I own them, but they are so old now that I'd never play them again.

Regards,

Grell
I guess then, that truly makes them ancient games...[:D]

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:45 pm
by sullafelix
 The Great Battles series came straight from the GMT games of the same name. They are all excellent and if you get the Caesar one or the compilation it has an editor also. There are tons of scenarios on the web for the series. I do believe you need the editor to play the user made scenarios but I could be wrong on that.
 
I was able to play them on XP with no problem. I haven't tried as of yet to see if they run on Vista. Te Punic Wars from HPS is also good, as long as you add the patches. Without them it is slow as molasses. The 3d artwork isn't that much better than the Great Battles games. But, the game play is very good and has an ancient feel to it. Another great game, at least for it's time was Ancient Battles circa 1989. It had all the armies and troops from early Egypt to I believe 500AD. You could do any fantasy matchup you wanted. I always wished that someone would revamp it and release it.

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 8:29 pm
by KG Erwin
I own the entire Great Battles series, and a gamer did make a mod that allows you to play the game without the CD. I still have "Caesar" on my PC. However, this mod won't work unless you already own the game, so don't ask me for it, OK? [;)]

Yes, it is "ancient", but it's still fun to revisit now and again. The accent on leadership, unit cohesion and the ability to move legions (group move, group attack etc) is a big help in the larger battles (Munda, for example).

The campaign aspect is weak, but it's a good beer & pretzels game. Here's a screenshot (close-up view):





Image

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:26 pm
by ravinhood
Lol I bought the series the entire series of the Great Battles series for $4 bucks a couple of years ago and still have not played them. I might have to break them out and try them on XP. I had heard they didn't work on XP and now someone says they do. Must be another one of those works for me not for you type games we keep getting an abundance of each year now. ;)

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:01 am
by KG Erwin
Well, ravinhood, I use XP, and the game runs fine on my system. Not sure if the Caesar mod has anything to do with it. Perhaps it does.

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:24 am
by mllange
I've got the HPS Punic Wars, Tin Soldiers Series, all of the Slitherine games and Great Battle Collectors Edition installed on the 'evil' OS - Vista and they work like a charm. I don't have the No CD mod however, sure wish I knew where it could be found... (hint, hint) [8|]

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:56 am
by Kevin E. Duguay
Still like RTW, great game!

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:22 am
by sullafelix
I wouldn't call Great battles a beer and pretzel game. As far as I know it is the same system that GMT used in the boardgame Great battles, just the computer takes care of all the manual aspects instead of you doing it. The GMT games won many awards, when they were first introduced. With ancient games once you are setup for battle the way you hopefully want to be, there's not much else to do, except fire and forget. Besides rallying troops and using your reserves, in ancient warfare there was not to much else for a commander to do. So great battles and Punic wars are pretty true to life.
 
It's a love them or leave them situation. You either enjoy ancient warfare with it's command control or you don't like being a passive participant in the battles. Invariably in ancient warfare the strategic or more so the operational aspect of warfare was king. You maneuvered your army to get the best advantage before the battles even started. Strangely alot like Napoleon's art of war, have your enemy beaten even before you come to grips. I realize that all generals want to do this. The maneuvering to battle in ancient wars was much like the 16th and 17th century warfare. Which is where Napoleon thought you had to study to learn the art of war.

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 2:48 am
by ravinhood
ORIGINAL: Kevin E. Duguay

Still like RTW, great game!

ROFLMAO HAHAHAHA <snicker, snortal cough> LMAO

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 4:57 pm
by jkBluesman
These Great Battles sound like good tactical games (I might even have had a Civil War game from the series), but what about strategical ancient games?

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:48 pm
by Hertston
ORIGINAL: jkBluesman
If not which other period from the ancient world would interest you?

I've wanted to see a 'Battles of the Bible' game since I read Herzog and Gichon's book on the subject. Failing that I await further installments in the HPS ancients series (if there are any) with interest. Alexander would be good.

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:33 pm
by ravinhood
I've wanted to see a 'Battles of the Bible' game
&nbsp;
Yeah me too always wanted to play Samson and beat down 1000 philistines with the jawbone of an as$. ;)

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:01 pm
by cuthbo2001

RE: Ancient Games

Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:37 pm
by sullafelix
Just so you know Cuthbo matrix and Most of the forum users take a very dim view of abandonware. I'm not going to go down that road again, but I suggest you edit your post and remove the link.