Comments on: Great Battles of History Series (1997-98)

By: XPav

XPav — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:24:26 +0000

I beta tested Great Battles of Hannibal (my one and only credit on Mobygames!). I had no idea what was going on, because my Punic War knowledge was, well, puny.

I enjoyed it, but never really “got” it.

By: Bill Abner

Bill Abner — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:58:23 +0000

I loved this series. I recall playing Issus with 3 other people, two on two and we assumed command of certain leaders — one of the best wargaming experiences on the PC I have ever had.

By: Michael A.

Michael A. — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:57:12 +0000

Well, GBoH were board games first, and only virtual games second. I have to say that I have never liked the games much (the unofficial GBoH page has some excellent critiques of the system that point out most of what I dislike). Then again, this is a period for which there are many conflicting views about history (as is inevitable, given the paucity of material). As you observe, the game does push its “agenda” rather strongly – in my case, enough to get in the way of the enjoyment of the game.

Strangely, I’ve always loved the strongly GBoH inspired “Hoplites”. It’s a pity Zak never got around to completing the campaign module he was building around that game.

Commercially, I suspect the problem may have been that the computer games were essentially made for the same market who also bought the board games, and in that respect brought little new to the table. It had a rather active community on the Wargamer at one point, though.

By: Caesar series (1993-2006)

Caesar series (1993-2006) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:06:15 +0000

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By: A History of the Ancients Game

A History of the Ancients Game — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 02:05:37 +0000

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By: JonathanStrange

JonathanStrange — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:53:23 +0000

Great article – again. I,too,am fascinated by battles and tactics of the ancient world – everything from logistics, weapons, organizations, command & control and am intrigued by games that model that era. I think you made a very important point that these games were serious attempts to test tactical theories concerning ancient warfare. You knew the game’s creators were really trying to recreate history and not Hollywood.

One has to sympathize with a game creator striving for virtual realism only to have his digital warriors leave their flanks unguarded, not react to missile fire, abandon strong positions, randomly roam the battlefield: I’m all for confusion, and limited control of ancient troops, but come on…

Great series of articles!