By Tim Stone on March 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm.
In between annoying booksellers and creating a philosophical justification for urban rambling French Situationist Guy Debord did a spot of wargame design. His chess-like Kriegspiel is now available in a free Java form thanks to experimental software collective RSG. There’s no AI, which is sad, but those in the market for a cerebral two-player TBS with stylish art direction, a slick interface, and a lovely logistics mechanism, should download at the double.
I am all over this.
KG
report
Napoleonic turn-based wargame based on Von Clausewitz’s On War?
Gimme!
report
Is that an ingame screenshot :O
report
I loved the look, and the rules are really interesting, but after trying to play it, I was sorely disappointed. The UI is incredibly frustrating!
report
Keith, what’s frustrating you about the UI? I found it excellent.
report
That is a nice art style.
report
My thoughts after a few games…
1)Ten years of RTS playing has rotted my brain. Kriegspiel’s clever supply line system renders my usual instinctive probe/attack/defend/flank wargame approach all-but useless. Protecting and constructing supply lines is everything in this game.
2) I’d be interested to play a variant where cut-off forces lose their ability to fight but not their ability to move. The current rules kinda ignore the ability Napoleonic armies had to live off the land.
3) This is probably sacrilegious (sorry Guy) but I’d also be interested to play a variant where combat included a small random factor. At the end of a round you could choose to attack any unit within range of your forces, each side’s attack/defence totals being modified by a single six-sided die roll. That dash of chance might help make the game a little less intimidating/brutal.
report