Interactive Magic have released the first CD-ROM in their The Great Battles series of Ancient wargames for the PC and it is superb.
This really is the first true tabletop wargame to be transferred to the PC monitor from the dining room table. Whereas Empire Interactive`s Battleground series gave the impression of 6mm figures, Interactive Magic place you in command of fully animated 3-D, 15mm sized figures who actually march, fight, die and even throw their weapons away before routing.
1 figure = 70-100 men, 5-7 chariots or 5 elephants. Each hex is 50-70 paces. A phalanx might have up to 20 figures, whilst cavalry units have 6 or so. Units are divided into historical classes, for instance heavy infantry can be classed as phalanx, hypaspist or hoplite.
The game comes with a comfortably sized manual which took 10 minutes to read and an equal time to learn the icons which control the action on the screen playing a trial game. 10 battles are recreated including Granicus, Issus and Gaugamela, with the full campaign once you`ve mastered the system. Play can be solo with you taking both sides, or you can try and outwit the PC`s artificial intelligence. You can change the scale of the view point to zoom in, to watch a particularly important assault or even change the direction of view throughout the game. All the Army Lists and Combat Resolution Charts are reproduced in the booklet - which means you can even convert the rules to the tabletop if you wish !
For around £30, this is a steal. All the figures and terrain you require, ready painted and raring to go! I can`t wait for the next installments - Great Battles of Hannibal and Great Battles of Caesar.
The Technical Bit
Requirements : Windows 95 / 16MB RAM / 2x CD-ROM / SVGA
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© Copyright 1997 by Craig Martelle Publications
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