Have You Played... Fields of Glory?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

In an era where wargaming mostly meant hex-grids and counters, Fields of Glory seemed to fulfill the promise and possibilities of the PC. Long before the Total War series or Sid Meier's Gettysburg!, it gave us real-time battles on gorgeous battlefields, covered with little miniature-style soldiers wearing detailed and historically accurate uniforms.

Does the AI work? Not really! Fog of war? Dubious to nonexistent! But who can worry about little things like that when there are mixed formations of French infantry bounding across the fields of Belgium, drums beating double-time, while artillery booms from across the battlefield and little red-and-blue corpses begin to litter the ground?

Fields of Glory is still impressive when you compare it to many of its contemporaries, and while it didn't really work as a great wargame, it was vivid and exciting. It's a game that more wargame developers should have taken a cue from: Fields of Glory brought history to life, and even if it made a hash of the details, it felt true.