Few historical miniatures wargamers would give up the convention experience for a few hours in front of the computer. But on those idle afternoons when no one has scheduled a game, or conflicts prevent friends from getting together, or space is limited, when it would be really nice to do a little wargaming, the computer can be just what you need. Complementing the historical miniatures wargames hobby is a growing number of computerized horse and musket era wargames that mimic the tabletop battlefield in appearance and game mechanics, but without the problems of space, time, dice and markers cluttering the table.
HPS Simulations (www.hpssims.com) currently offers a quartet of new black powder era games from veteran designer John Tiller: Campaign Eckmuhl, Campaign 1776, Campaign Corinth, and The War of 1812: The Conquest of Canada. Talonsoft (www.talonsoft.com) still offers a number of titles in its older, Tiller-designed Battleground Series: Waterloo, Prelude to Waterloo, Napoleon in Russia, Gettysburg, Antietam, Bull Run, Chicamauga, Shilo, and a Gettysburg Collector's Edition with "special collectors material for history buffs and novices alike."
From Firaxis Games (www.firaxis.com) comes Sid Meier's Gettysburg, while Breakaway Games (www.breakawaygames.com) has developed Sid Meier's Antietam and Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Battle using "the award-winning Sid Meier's Gettysburg engine." In addition Breakaway has pre-announced another Napoleonic expansion of the Sid Meier's game engine, Austerlitz: Napoleon's Greatest Victory. Gettysburg and Antietam, plus South Mountain scenarios, are available in one box as Sid Meier's Civil War Collection.
Finally, from Shrapnel Games (www.shrapnelgames.com) comes Horse & Musket: Great Battles of the Eighteenth Century, with three scenario packs to add to the basic game.
You're not likely to find many of these games in the computer store, but you can order them directly from the publisher's website using a credit card and a secure server. Some offer a pay-by-check mail-in option. Prices are reasonable, usually from $20 to $40.
All of the games offer a three-dimensional view of the battlefield called "3D isometric" that looks a lot like the miniatures wargames table, with terrain and troops (cavalry, infantry, leaders, and cannon) in appropriate uniforms. Tiller's inspiration for the 3D view came from a source that will be familiar to many wargamers. "Certainly a wargame designer who is looking to do a 3D isometric view can find motivation in wargame miniatures, but in my case, as well as others that I am aware of, many people were originally motivated by illustrations they found in books and other publications of historical battles. In particular, the American Heritage series of Civil War battle illustrations has motivated many to try and capture that view." The 3D view is indeed reminiscent of those beautiful American Heritage aerial battlefield paintings. But in the midst of a game, when the battlefield becomes congested with troops and casualties, orienting yourself can be a challenge, so Tiller's games also offer a 2D or board game view of the battlefield. "I think the miniature view in wargames definitely adds to the gaming experience. I still find that I am drawn back to the 2D view for reasons of understanding distance and relative positions better while in the game, but the 3D view is invaluable in understanding 'lay of the land' issues that otherwise might be lost."
As with all of the games reviewed here, the computer does all of the record keeping, makes all of the calculations, and rolls the dice. This speeds up play greatly and leaves the player in the role of commander. Top it all off with sound effects, music, and smoke, and you have an enjoyable substitute for tabletop wargaming.
The games come with a long list of scenarios. Campaign 1776, for example, covers all the major battles of the American Revolution, with several scenarios for each battle, each scenario offering a slightly different order of battle or strategy for the computer's Artificial Intelligence (AI) to follow. If controlling the entire army piece by piece is too much, you can select command control, which lets you play the role of a division or brigade commander and set objectives for your troops, while the computer does the maneuvering and firing of individual units. The AI options can be changed during the battle.
Tiller's Campaign series offers an additional feature: the campaign game. When you elect to play a campaign, you control the movements of your army while the computer controls the enemy forces. You follow a narrative of the campaign, and at crucial junctures, you are prompted to make critical strategic decisions: to attack or withdraw, to move north or south, and so on. The enemy then reacts to your moves. When you reach a battle situation, you can fight the battle tactically or you can opt to let the computer resolve the battle so that the campaign can move on. Finally, a scenario editor and a campaign editor allow you to create your own scenarios and campaigns.
Look for new releases from HPS Simulations in Tiller's Early American War series, as well as a new series in both Napoleonics and the Civil War, in the coming years. Tiller said, "It's important to realize that a good product depends on the efforts of many people and in particular, a multidimensional product like a computer wargame is absolutely dependent on different people providing different skills. I've been particularly lucky to have people working with me like Joe Amoral, who is an artist and wargamer, and can do graphics very efficiently, as well as researchers such as Rich Hamilton, who did the scenario design on The War of 1812, and graphics researchers like Mark Adams, who did the uniform research for all of my horse and musket games. When you have the right team working under the right conditions, then it's possible to develop some great games."
Talonsoft still publishes games in Tiller's original Battleground series. While the games lack many of the features of the newer HPS games, they bear the mark of Tiller's creativity. Several of the titles cover battles and campaigns not covered elsewhere, making them valuable additions to anyone's library of computerized pre-20th century games.
An important website to visit in connection with Tiller's games (both HPS Simulations and Talonsoft) is Richard Hamilton's (www.hist-sdc.com). Hamilton offers an assortment of custom scenarios and add-ons and a valuable tutorial center, as well as patches and downloads. A word about patches: almost all of these games require patches and upgrades, fixes to the basic program. They take a little time to download but are easy to install, and are often essential to making the games run right. All of these publishers offer email support for their products.
In addition Hamilton suggests three clubs that may be of interest to the computer wargamer: the Colonial Campaigns Club (www.wargame.ch/1776/index.html), the Napoleonic Wargame Club (http://www.wargame.ch/wc/nwc/Napann1.htm) and the American Civil War Game Club (http://www.wargame.ch/wc/acw/ACWmain
page.htm).
Another website Napoleonic gamers will want to visit is The Napoleonic Wargame Pages (http://napoleon.musketwars.com) where you will find a link to Greg Gorsuch's Battlefield Eylau. Gorsuch is a U. S. Naval officer and physicist with an interest in military uniforms that led him to suggest changes in Tiller's Battleground games. Gorsuch said, "I was painting miniatures myself long before computers became common place. I started 'redoing' Tiller/Talonsoft uniforms when I noticed quite a few glaring errors." You can download Eylau and two other battles, Pultusk and Golymin, from Gorsuch's site. The scenarios are not a separate game but are adaptations for use with Talonsoft's Napoleon in Russia (NIR). Gorsuch has plans to recreate all the battles of the campaign, from late 1806 to the Treaty of Tilsit. Gorsuch was drawn to the hobby by film: "I started Eylau when I saw a French movie based on a novel by Victor Hugo about a general who survived the battle. This led to a consuming passion to find out more and the more I read the more I became fascinated with the battle and the campaign."
In Sid Meier's Gettysburg, Meier, whose non-wargame credits include the popular Civilization series, produced a "real time" battle game that has you making command decisions, while leaving the fighting to the troops. Charles Kibler, a designer for Breakaway Games, explained the design philosophy behind the games. "The designers tried to create a game that immersed the gamer in the battlefield experience. They wanted the units to move fluidly about the battlefield in a 'real time' manner. Probably in an attempt to appeal to non-hard-core gamers, they did not want a player to be 'bogged down' with having to worry about game phases and what actions a unit could or could not be done in each phase. They wanted the combat units do have enough 'sense' (A/I) to know when to shoot, and at whom, on their own. They player would mainly be concerned with moving his units into position intelligently. The units, once in position, would then attack on their own, not unlike what a real-life battlefield commander would need to concern himself with. All of these things were, I think, successfully accomplished."
Several designers share the credits for Breakaway's "Sid Meier's" expansion games. "Joe Balkoski was the lead designer both for the Antietam and Waterloo games, and Craig Taylor was lead designer for Austerlitz. Craig was hired as a full time consultant during the project. Craig and Bob Coggins (both of whose names should be familiar to any serious miniature gamer) cooperated to design most of the new scenarios and to provide creative direction for the engine. Bob Coggins organized & ran several Historicons and was president of HMGS. Craig Taylor is a BIG miniatures gamer. Well, OK, besides being a big guy, he's also into miniature gaming in a big way, especially Napoleonics. As some of your readers may know, Craig (and Bob were - ED) responsible for Napoleon's Battles, a miniature gaming system released by Avalon Hill over 10 years ago," Kibler said.
The 3D battlefield view of the original Gettysburg game has been preserved in the expansions. Terrain is smooth and seamless, with hills and rises clearly indicated by the swell of the land. To move a unit, you select it by clicking on it, and then drag an arrow to the position you want to occupy. The troops will march to that location as the clock runs. If attacked in the flank the unit will attempt to change front and bring fire to bear on the attacker. You can change a unit's formation from line to column with a click, give it movement orders, and order it to go back into line when it reaches its destination. Then watch the men go through their evolutions. "When Joe Balkoski designed the first Napoleonic title for the game (Waterloo: NLB) various Napoleonic tactics and formations had to be added since they were not present in the previous ACW releases. Cavalry could now charge enemy units, and as a counter infantry units could go into Square formation. French infantry could choose to attack in Mixed Order and Mass Column, and Allied infantry could stand in 4-Rank Line (a unit in 4-Rank Line can form Square quicker than one in the typical 2-Rank Line)" Kibler explained.
Many historical miniatures rule sets have attempted to simulate real time fighting and simultaneous movement by using a deck of cards or by randomizing the sequence of brigade activation. Miniatures wargamers are used to seeing troops move by leaps and bounds, and then remain stationary for long periods of time. These games let you see battle in fluid motion.
The designers at Breakaway have directly addressed the issue of scale in their latest game. Kibler explained: "Certainly in the really big, 'full size' battles the number of units can get overwhelming. To solve this problem, the next game in the series (Austerlitz: NGV) allows the player to turn over any portion of his command to the game's AI. If he wishes he can still give general orders to such a command (such as 'Assault village X,' or 'Defend village Y') or, if preferred, let the game's AI figure it all out for itself. Basically, we allow the player to play on whatever command level he desires, from commanding a single brigade of a few units, to taking control of an entire corps or the entire army. Again, as a corps commander, you can give overall orders to, say, each of your divisional commanders, or you can attempt to direct the movement of each and every brigade and its individual units."
Horse & Musket, which won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Pre-20th Century Computer Wargame in 2000, by all reports comes closest of all the game engines to duplicating the historical miniatures wargame experience on the computer. The game's designer, David Erickson, said, "While I didn't use any specific historical miniatures conventions as my model, I believe I must have stumbled upon them. A letter writer put it this way of Horse & Musket: 'Your rules for the game are how my ideal miniature rules would work.' I've always been amazed at the number of notes I get from miniatures gamers. Horse & Musket seems to have struck a chord with them."
Horse & Musket and its three scenario packs cover virtually all of the 18th Century. If you are looking for the opportunity to refight a battle as Marshal Saxe, Frederick the Great, or George Washington, you will probably find it on one of the four Horse & Musket disks. If you are interested in what-if battles, a full scenario editor allows you to create your own maps and orders of battle.
Erickson came to Horse & Musket through boardgaming, but his game design shows that he has a clear understanding of what historical miniatures gamers will find familiar. What distinguishes Horse & Musket is its emphasis on command and control. Erickson described the game: "Horse & Musket especially showcases the role of leaders in a way I think miniature gamers are going to love. We're talking Initiative and Command Checks. These result in an exciting flow to the game not found in any other computer wargame, at least none I know of. Horse & Musket doesn't play in a strict IGO-UGO turn sequence, but rather shifts from leader to leader, from side to side, depending on who has the Initiative. You can defer leaders until later in a turn, you can have higher echelon leaders assume command of subordinates' units." The result is a more leisurely paced game with more phases than the HPS and Talonsoft games and more hands-on control of the details than the Firaxis and Breakaway games.
Erickson added, "Other goodies include pre- and post-assault (and cavalry charge) morale checks, which will oftentimes result in units routing away prior to combat, and an interesting rally system that has your leaders expending Rally Points to return routed and shaken units to battle. These Rally Points are reduced throughout the game by the casualties a leader's command has incurred up to that point in the game. As the casualties mount, the ability of a leader to rally his troops diminishes."
Erickson's plans for the future include a revised game engine and scenarios covering the English Civil War and Napoleonics. He said, "We're going to cover the entire 1650-Napleonic period, with specialized rules to handle the variety of combat that occurred during this era, including the smaller actions of the War of 1812 and the French & Indian War."
Of all the qualities historical miniatures wargamers desire from the hobby - the aesthetics of accurately painted troops and realistic terrain, historical insight, a solid set of rules, and social interaction with other players - social interaction seems the most unlikely factor in a computer wargame. Indeed, your first experience of computer wargaming will be against the game's AI. Playing against the computer can be challenging, fun and a great way to learn how to handle your troops in battle, but at some point you will want to play against a human opponent, a real intelligence on the other side and not just a set of automated moves.
Tiller's games can be played in several modes. In Two-Player Hot Seat mode, two people can play a game on the same computer with each playing under the Fog of War option, which conceals the activities of units that are not visible to the other player but replays for him the movements that are within his line of sight at the beginning of his turn. The Play By Email (PBEM) option allows you to email your moves to the other player (either zipped or as an attachment) with limited ability to view the other player's move before making your own move. Network Play options allow one-on-one or multi-player games with divided command structure. The most useful of them, Direct Internet Play, allows a group of wargamers to connect directly over the Internet and permits messages among players. One caution: to host a game using Direct Internet Play you will need to know your computer's IP address and to communicate this address to the other players. The IP address changes every time you sign on to the Internet. You can find it by signing on, then going to Start, then selecting Run, and then typing WINIPCFG.EXE. Your IP address will look something like 172.164.219.95.
Horse & Musket gives you the same options. You can play face to face at the same computer, by email, or by direct internet connection. Erickson said, "Where Horse & Musket really shines is in Internet play. Two players, each with a copy of the game and an Internet connection, can go head-to-head and use the game's built-in chat function to send messages back and forth as you are playing. It's a lot of fun, and the good-natured ribbing that inevitably occurs is a big part of that."
The real time games from Breakaway and Firaxis don't provide for easy play with two players at the same computer, something that only turn-based games can do really well. Nor do they offer email play. Multi-player network or Internet play is the only way to go if you want to refight the entire battle or just a short scenario against a real opponent.
GameSpy Arcade is a website that allows you to play a variety of games on the Internet. Of the black powder wargames I've reviewed, only those from Breakaway and Firaxis are supported by GameSpy at this time. I tried several times to join a game, but ran into technical difficulties and quirky personalities each time. Conversations in the chat rooms ranged from "What's the size of your microprocessor" to "I should have charged with my cuirassiers." These gamers seem to spend a lot of time on-line and all know the special shorthand of the chat room. A word to the wise: never give your email address to someone in a chat room, because you will be spammed; and be aware that many players on sights such as GameSpy cheat by modifying their copy of the game. If you are uncomfortable with talking in chat rooms and meeting people over the Internet, you won't be really comfortable here.
Another option is to sign up with Microsoft.net and open a Hotmail email account. Under "Actions" on the MSN Messenger screen, you will find some of your computer wargames listed, specifically those by HPS, Breakaway and Firaxis. You will be able to play these games over the Internet with the people on your Contacts List, who also must register with Microsoft.net and have a Hotmail account. For many wargamers who are used to playing with friends and club members, this is preferable to GameSpy Arcade, where you have no control over who you're going to meet except to leave the room if they don't seem "right" to you.
Tiller believes that historical miniatures gamers and readers of magazines like The Courier need a website where they can join a computer wargame without a hassle and without having to sign on with Microsoft or open another email account, a website that will make Internet connections easier and put you in touch with other people from a similar background. "Having a small area oriented specifically for on-line wargamers" is something that Tiller says he has discussed with Russ Lockwood of Magweb. Until that happens, the best option for on-line play is right on the game disk, direct Internet play that requires only your IP address and willing opponents.
Before you invest in a library of computer wargames, you should consider that all of the games require the Windows 95 family: Windows 95/98/2000/ME. They do not run on Windows XP, although some players have reported success using XP's ability to emulate Windows 98. Check the system requirements of a game before buying it.
These games are especially good for history and gaming buffs who have limited space or live far from other wargamers. Nothing will ever replace the face to face camaraderie of the table covered in green felt and well-painted buildings and troops, but when that is not an option, it's good to have something to fall back on. Whether it's solo wargaming, gaming with friends who have moved to other parts of the country, or gaming from your home in the Montana wilds, these computer games fill a niche for many historical miniatures wargamers.
No computer game will ever replace historical miniatures wargaming! This is not the cry of modern day Luddites, heirs to those rebels who smashed of the engines of early industrialism. It's the truth. It's too much fun to shop for lead, build and paint armies, and then use them in refights of historical actions or dreamed-up scenarios or a multiplayer campaign game with friends.
Tiller's Campaign series games are played in turns, and the familiar elements of movement, formation, fire, and melee are essential to play. You move by clicking on a stand of troops to select it, then dragging it to the desired location. Formation change, fire, and melee are just as easy. The computer will automatically fire your opponent's opportunity and defensive fire, or you can set the game so that your opponent can designate his own defensive fire by creating a defensive fire phase. The battlefield is mapped in hexagons.
Unless you have a computer network or want to play other human players on line, you are limited to playing the Meier-engine games against the computer's AI. This is not such a bad thing, as the AI is a tough opponent. But you probably won't want to refight the entire battle of Gettysburg against the computer. The computer can control its troops everywhere on the battlefield, whereas the human player can only control what he can see on the screen. Thus, you could be stabilizing the situation on Little Round Top while the computer is breaking your line at Culp's Hill. The computer won't apologize for its omnipresence and omnipotence. To counteract this tendency, most of the scenarios are designed to isolate a small part of the battle and give you a local command, so that you aren't kept scrambling from one end of the map to the other. There's plenty of scrambling, even when you're only controlling Buford's cavalry and the leading elements of Reynolds' corps or Heth's footsore division.
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