PR: Ancient Warfare – Gallic Wars

Armchair General

ANCIENT WARFARE – GALLIC WARS
Produced by HPS and developed by Paul Bruffell

This is the second title in the new Ancient Warfare series of games and significantly extends the face of warfare.

“All Gaul is divided into three parts.”

One of the most famous episodes in ancient history was when Julius Caesar led the disciplined Legions of the Roman Republic against the mighty warriors of Celtica, Belgica, Germania and Britannia. These nine years of terrible bloodshed are known to us today as the Gallic Wars, which climaxed at the siege of Alesia. Caesar’s victory there resulted in the expansion of the Roman Republic over the whole of Gaul and paved the way for Caesar to be sole ruler of the Roman Empire.

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The time period chosen (100-50BC) is principally focussed on Caesar’s war in Gaul but also includes actions from the slave rebellion led by Spartacus, and the Mithridatic Wars in the East. You can be Caesar, a confident general who is prepared to gamble when the stakes are high, or Vercingetorix, the great Gallic commander able to fuse the different Gallic tribes into one nation in their fight against Rome.

An enhanced computer A.I. plays an aggressive strategy that requires you to use the best formations and tactics history has to offer in order to win each battle. You may also face off against an opponent in a balanced hypothetical match from the "table top series” of battles or join in a multi-player PBEM battle with hundreds of units.

Features and Scenarios:

From Roman palisade camps and fortifications to Gallic strongholds, this game includes caltrops, stakes, pits and the famous Garden of Death at the battle of Alesia.
Siege warfare is a major element of this game with stone throwing engines, battering rams, wood towers and stone walls.

There are 52 scenarios included (21 historical, 9 hypothetical & 22 from the Table Top Series) covering actions such as Alesia, Sambre, Vosges & Chaeronea. The Table Top Series (TTS) are scenarios made up of evenly matched armies based on points. Many miniature wargamers will recognise the structure of TTS battles.

In addition to the main game engine there is also a scenario editor included which allows players to create their own scenarios from scratch, edit existing scenarios and also create their own Order of Battles. Detailed instructions are included on how to use the editors but also on how to calculate points for your army and even how to modify the stock graphics if a player so desires, called “Paint your own army”.

58 maps are also included in the game covering historical locations and random ones, so a large amount of terrain is available for scenario designers to use creating custom battles.

The Ancient Warfare engine is a hex based, tactical, plot – simultaneous resolution engine. A game turn is composed of three phases – Each player assigns commands to his units; movement, changing formation etc. The computer then determines the net effect of these orders as the move is played out. Shooting and combat is automatic. At this point the players watch the outcome. The game then moves on to the next turn.

Game Scale: Each hex represents a distance of 20 metres.  Each turn represents 15 minutes of real time.

The game may be played against the computer AI or via E-mail against one or more players.

The battles can be viewed in either 3D, 2D zoom-in (plan view) and 2D zoom-out (strategic view).

Minimum PC System Requirements:

1GHz Pentium  256 MB RAM
300 MB Hard Drive Windows 2000/ME/XP/Vista

Pricing

MSRP is $49.95

The UPC is – 7 13061 00902 7

GALLIC WARS: Major Changes from Punic Wars

For those players who have already purchased Punic Wars (first game in the Ancient Warfare series), the key changes / improvements in Gallic Wars are listed below –

Major Changes –
1 – Siege warfare (stone and wood fortifications) added with new units – assault tower, battering ram, stone throwing engine, civilians.
2 – Winter terrain features added plus caltrops, stakes and pits for defences.
3 – New unit types added – Gallic chariots and gladiators.
4 – Roman Legionaries can now build palisades.
5 – Multi-player PBEM game option added.
6 – Option provided to view battle losses at the end of each turn on the map.
7 – Option provided to jump (bypass) combat phase.
8 – LI units are in loose formation so ‘Line’ and ‘Column’ symbols removed from 2D unit counter. LI can now shoot with 360 degree fire arc instead of limited frontal fire arc.

Small Changes –
1 – ‘Intelligence Briefing Report’ facility added. These are created in the Scenario Editor.
2 – Units can make assault ladders to scale enemy defences.
3 – Unit formation and direction not shown on 2D counter or unit info box for LI, leaders & civilians.
4 – Replaced Victory Hex 3D flag with another picture when occupied by Barbarian unit.

Key Scenario Editor Improvements –
1 – Map scrolling speeds increased.
2 – More unit options added for Roman army
3 – Toolbar button added for rapid creation of new groups.
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