My Historian Heart and Brain Loves These Underrated Gems
One of my favorite aspects of this job is the number of games you come across, many of which you had no idea existed in the first place. It’s quite an amazing experience to just stumble upon something new that, by fortune or fate, you happen to just enjoy tremendously.
This is an article for those of you who want to find out about some of the best underrated Historical Strategy Games that you might not have heard about, or if you did, you have forgotten. This is a list whose focus is on discoverability, so grab your shovels and pickaxes, and help me unhearth these absolute gems that go above and beyond to recreate History in the most faithful and fun way possible, from the ancient battlefields that pitted phalanx against legionnaires, to medieval shield walls and cavalry charges, the fleeting age of Pike & Shot well into the 20th and 21st centuries of Modern Warfare.
10 – Field of Glory II
Every player out there knows about Total War, the historical series from Creative Assembly that created a massive fan base in the early 2000s due to its commitment to portraying History as spectacularly and authentically as possible, especially with the release of Rome: Total War, Medieval, and Shogun 2. However, as of late, fans of the series have found themselves lacking a lot of high-quality options if they want to play around with History. Enter Field of Glory II, a turn-based strategy game developed by Byzantine Games and published by Slitherine. It’s the most detailed simulation you’ll ever find when it comes to fighting in Antiquity. With hundreds of factions, thousands of units, historical campaigns, and a very easy-to-use skirmish mode, Field of Glory II is the perfect game for those of you who want to test anachronistic “what if” scenarios while maintaining the highest level of authenticity possible.
Add to that the fact that Field of Glory II has a fantastic stand-alone expansion called Field of Glory II: Medieval, and both games can be integrated to play battles with armies from antiquity squaring off against medieval hordes. Very cool.
9 – Squad Battles: Eagles Strike
There are thousands of World War 2 games out there, with first-person shooter and strategy games being the most prevalent. However, most of those tend to be simplistic and Hollywood-esque portrayals of what real World War 2 combat and tactics would have been like. For the players craving a higher degree of realism at the tactical scale, my suggestion would go to any of Wargame Design Studio’s Squad Battles series, with my favorite being Squad Battles: Eagles Strike. With 120 scenarios, playable by both sides, it’s a comprehensive collection of the struggles American paratroopers had to endure while liberating Europe, from their first moments on D-Day, to their desperate struggle in the Ardennes, and beyond. Have in mind that Eagle Strike is a wargamer’s wargame, so if you’re not looking for that kind of complexity, take a look at the game below.
8 – Close Combat: Panthers in the Fog
At one time, the Close Combat series used to be the hottest thing in historical gaming, and was one of the most successful World War 2 franchises ever, but all good things must come to an end, and after its successes during the 90s and early 2000s, the franchises has laid mostly dormant, except for a couple of releases here and there, with one of the most recent ones being Close Combat – Panthers in the Fog, from 2012.
What makes the Close Combat series so beloved among players is it’s unwavering dedication to simulate the psychological aspects of warfare, with soldiers refusing to act as mindless drones, but instead attempting to behave as real humans would do in a combat situation: they’ll take cover, hide, be suppressed, lose or win morale, be brave, get tired, etc. This alone means that no scenario will ever play the same, and that the outcome of a battle will be a combination of your tactics and the capability of your men to overcome when face-to-face with the enemy.
Leave a Reply to JoeCancel reply