Best ancient time battle wargame?

[invernomuto]

Hi to all,
which is the best wargame on the market for ancient time battles? I remember an old title that I played when I had an Amiga (ages ago!!!), Universal Military Simulator, with battle of Hastings, Gaugamela ecc. Something like that. Good graphic is a plus but not really necessary.
Thanks for suggestions

[Lützow]

Still Rome Total War for me.

[Hertston]

Both the Matrix 'Tin Soldiers' games and the HPS 'Ancient Warfare' games are excellent, although very different. TS is almost a simulation of tabletop miniatures games while AW is more 'historical'. I can't take RTW seriously in a 'wargame' context, although it's a decent enough strategy game.

[sullafelix]

I have the new HPS titles Gallic and Punic wars. They are very detailed and very good. The only problem is it is very slow going until you actually have the armies in contact. The Great Battles series from Interactive magic 1998? are still the best for me. There are tons on downloaded battles and they are much more more fast paced than the above mentioned. The only thing some people might not like is that it is based on command control, just like GMT's Great battles boardgames where they came from. You do not have control over which pices can be moved when. If your commander on one side of the field does not pass the chance to give orders segment than those troops are not moving.
 
I have both of the Tin Soldiers games from Matrix and they are not bad. I for one could never really get into command cards to be used when needed. The only real knock against them for me is the inability to play the armies against Caesar and Alexander. I wish that a mod had been released to play either side.
 
For middle ages I really like XIII century. All it is is battles from that time period. The battles are very much like the Total War series, although the AI and historical feel is to me much greater.

[mllange]

The Great Battles Collector's Edition is 4 games in one- The Great Battles of Alexander (the Great), The Great Battles of Hannibal, The Great Battles of Caesar, and a Scenario Designer/Player Utility. This collection is one of the best wargame compilations ever made, as all 3 games are outstanding, highly underrated miniature wargames that deserve much more acclaim that it received. Here is a synopsis of basic gameplay mechanics from Edward Hayes' excellent review for Wargamer.com:

"All the games run on the same engine, with a few additions and improvements in the Caesar and Hannibal versions. Play is by turns, but who starts first each turn is determined by the quality of the leaders on each side, with the better ones getting additional phases within each turn. Each phase, a leader has a given number of orders, which varies according to that leader's quality, to allocate among those units in his Group that are within his command range, to rally, restore cohesion (repair), or move and fight. Leaders can order units that aren't part of the Group he commands, but at double the order cost. They can also issue Group orders for movements, attacks or repairs that ignore the command range and are much more economical, covering as many as 25 units in one phase. Group attacks are particularly impressive to watch, but of course the final placement is not as precise, with units seeking out the nearest foe.

All this means that a more realistic, flexible strategy must be adopted. You cannot be sure when your turn will start or how many phases you might have, and not all your units can receive orders every phase, unless of course you use the Group option. It also creates a lot of decision dilemmas and notable anguish waiting to see how your opponent will respond."

The game uses unit positioning and manoeuvres as the key to tactical success. Sheer size will not win you all battles. It is strategy that comes first and formost. How can you manage your force and make it conduct a complicated flank attack or piercing arrow movement is most important in this reviewer's experience. The interface of the games are smooth and the AI is extremely challenging.

Great Battles of Alexander follows the major battles in the life of Alexander the Great. To me, these are the most fun, (not most difficult of the 3) but most fun, simply because of the variety of terrain and opponents that Alexander fought on his conquests from East of Macedonia to the border of India. Great Battles of Hannibal follows Hannibal's battles against the Romans during the Second Punic War. Watch out for those Elephants! Hannibal's battles are very large and time consuming but more rewarding if you are victorious. Great Battles of Caesar deals mainly with the civil war between the forces of Pompey the Great and those of Julius Caesar. The battles contained in this sub game are the most complex and intriguing of the 3 collections. It is here that you must outwit the Ai and use your military brains to secure defeat, more than in the other sub games. As a student of Roman history, this collection will bring rewarding recreations of an important era in history. Finally, the Scenario Designer/Utility lets you recreate battles from ancient Egyptian times to the time of the Roman Empire. Many scenarios can be found online at The Wargamer.com archive, among others. Some of the excellent user-made scenarios include the great Thermoplyae battle from the Persian War between Greece and Persia. I've had much fun trying to defend that narrow mountain pass with a much smaller amount of men from the oncoming hosts of Persia.

Overall, The Great Battles: Collector's Edition is a must-play for every wargamer. The collection will delight wargamers and also fans of ancient history who don't get to see much on the market anymore of games covering this fabulous era. For those fans, this game is highly recommended-- expect to see many hours of challenge.
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You can still pick up a copy from various sites and re-sellers, but it is no longer published - runs fine under Vista too!

That said, I also own and love the Tin Soldiers and HPS series already mentioned.

[Brigz]

I'd have to agree that "The Great Battles" series is the best ancients computer game available. There are lots of user made battles available too. Anyone who's looking for a fairly simple but challenging game of ancient warfare would enjoy this game. This link will give more information:
http://www.ianm1.plus.com/index.html

The "Tin Soldiers" series of two titles from Matrix are great but are limited to just two titles and no ability to create new battles. I also have "Chariots of War" by Matrix and it is also a good game but not a tactical game simulating actual battles.

I also have "Punic Wars" and "Gallic Wars" from HPS. They are probably the best games as far as detail and historical accuracy go, but they require much time to play. I like them lots but rarely have the time to play them. Although I hope they continue the series. It's worth owning these just to look at the armies arrayed on the battlefield.

I have "Rome Total War" but, even though it is a beautiful game, I just couldn't get into it. Never really felt like I had control of the game. 3D graphics are cool to look at but I'm just not an eye candy kind of guy.

"The Great Battles" series would be the one I'd keep if I had to choose.

[killroyishere]

There is an ancient game that uses cards called 'Hoplite' (googled it http://digilander.libero.it/zak965/main.htm) and it has over 40+ different leaders you can play against or be. It's fast, definitely a beer & chips sort of game and it's fun to see how far you can get with the different leaders. Of course Alexander is one of the better ones and you can win a lot of battles with his army, but, I prefer Spartacus and I've beaten Alexander with it....once.[:D]

[GShock]

I cant understand how the Total War engine can still be considered worthy at all.

Strategically, the AI sucks so much the modders have to give handicaps to the player and this heavy scripting takes ages to load between turns. Tactically, the AI uses always the same tactic and it's very easy to beat because all you have to do is kill the reckless enemy general or lure the whole army on advantageous terrain for you...and that's at the hardest difficulty levels, neh!

Solution would be the multiplayer but of course after 10 years Creative Assembly has yet to build a MP campaign...no no, forget it...it's just a fancy graphics game, for the rest it looks good on the shelf.

[Erik Rutins]

I have to admit I'm getting tired of the Total War series, though I recognize they are still great games, but they no longer really scratch my wargaming itch, they're more "general gaming". To me what would completely revitalize it is making the strategic layer truly multiplayer. I've been hoping for that since Shogun.

[NefariousKoel]

I've got the Great Battles Collector's Edition and it was great. 

Unfortunately, it was made for Win95 IIRC, and there was a setting or two you had to turn off for WinXP but it still worked just fine.  I wonder if it'll run on Vista?

I wish they'd make another one and update the graphics & such a bit.  Same for the Flight Commander 2 and those other MadMinute games.  I want an updated dogfight strategy game like those again, too.


I had debated trying out the Tin Soldiers stuff, but didn't think it had much of a campaign strategy layer to it.

[sullafelix]

Actually I forgot that the best one ever was from 1988 and was called I believe Ancient Battles. You had the ability to fight from 1300BC until something like 1000AD. There was a bunch of stock battles but you could fight any era army against each other. It had tons of armies in the database. It had something like 6-10 different armies just for the Diadochi.

[mllange]

There's always the Vassal version of Commands & Colors: Ancients (now 4 expansions!) if you want online multiplayer only.

[Grell]

I'd have to echo the sentiment and go with the Great Battles series of games.


Regards,


Grell

[PDiFolco]

Yep, Great Battles series and Hoplites are the only one worth stg imho.
Too bad there's been nothing new for ages...

[KG Erwin]

Here's another vote for the Great Battles Collection -- best package deal I ever got (think I paid $20 for it several years ago). I still play it once in awhile.

[mikul82]

A vote for the Great Battles series from me as well.

[Sarge]

Punic wars would top my list

[Hertston]

Sorry, guys.. but I think there's an awful lot of nostalgia going on here. I HAVE the Great Battles series and, frankly, both Tin Soldiers and the HPS games (for different reasons, although both have much better AI) are vastly superior. Have you actually played them? Not to mention that Alex in particular was a pig to get to run on XP, let alone Vista.

[Tanaka]

http://www.europabarbarorum.com/

[Krasny]

I have to admit I'm getting tired of the Total War series, though I recognize they are still great games, but they no longer really scratch my wargaming itch, they're more "general gaming". To me what would completely revitalize it is making the strategic layer truly multiplayer. I've been hoping for that since Shogun.

Didn't the Mongol expansion to Shogun add a multiplayer campaign game?