Looks interesting, not sure what to make of it..
http://www.hpssims.com/Pages/Products/JLSSG/Vengeance/Vengeance.asp
Tactical combat from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance.
The dark raven with horned beak, and the livid toad, the eagle and kite, the hound and wolfin mottled hue, were long refreshed by these delicacies...
Over a thousand years of Vengeance!
From the Dark Ages to the advent of gunpowder, return to the dayswhen war was the sport of nobles and ravagers who understood thatcourage, guile, and leadership were the main principles of warfare.
Interesting OOB and list of heroes. Could be interesting...who is going to find out?
All gonna depend on how the mechanics work but I don't see any way to closely examine that before purchase.
Might be interesting. Tactical combat with emphasis on leaders (You can play as Vlad Tepes himself, well, well - second screenie). But the graphics... I really don't need bloom and mega antialiansing, but HPS should after all acknowledge that we live in the XXI-st century...
Looks so old school. :D Nice platform for a Japanese mod.
Wow...love the time period. But my eyes...
Quote from: PAK on February 10, 2015, 08:36:45 AM
Might be interesting. Tactical combat with emphasis on leaders (You can play as Vlad Tepes himself, well, well - second screenie). But the graphics... I really don't need bloom and mega antialiansing, but HPS should after all acknowledge that we live in the XXI-st century...
Yep. Nice winged Hussar. The thing is that even boardgames have gotten so pretty that if I just gotta play some medieval battle, I can haul out plenty of those and at least enjoy the artwork. Prettiness is pretty important in a game I think, which is why I'm playing a lot of To End all Wars these days -- now that is a very pretty game.
The price is below what they normally charge :)
The colours are dull instead of the Luminous greens and yellows :D
Looks interesting though
Never bought download version from Hps, does anyone know if it is an immediate download and being able to play? Or is there some waiting period?
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on February 10, 2015, 11:24:29 AM
Never bought download version from Hps, does anyone know if it is an immediate download and being able to play? Or is there some waiting period?
I think it's an immediate d/l link. Or one that is automatically sent to your email. I can't recall which, it's been well over a year since I last ordered one there. But I do recall that it was pretty much instant. Just make sure you back it up quickly because I don't think you can go back and d/l it again after a certain period of time without some hoop jumping.
Looks just like Medieval 2 with slightly better graphics.
Quote from: magnus on February 10, 2015, 12:38:11 PM
Looks just like Medieval 2 with slightly better graphics.
Do you mean medieval 2 total war or some other game?
Quote from: Gusington on February 10, 2015, 09:19:48 AM
Wow...love the time period. But my eyes...
Only hope, it would be moddable
I might, i might.... ^-^
Its a Jeff Lapkoff game
http://www.digitalgameworks.com/vengeance.html
Dev log
http://www.digitalgameworks.com/devlog.html
It looks like a more up to date version of his Custers Last (Stand) Command engine, only different time period etc.
http://www.digitalgameworks.com/custer.html
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.digitalgameworks.com%2Fimages%2Fclc2_1.jpg&hash=af8a63dc7c1c99efe83ee8d0b3359308f3cf3653)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hpssims.com%2FPages%2FProducts%2FJLSSG%2FVengeance%2Fvngss03lg.jpg&hash=0cd469903d1db102fe2ee0e88691ca6046ed048c)
I've been a fan of his Anglo-Zulu War games (Zulu War, and The Drift 1879) in the past - and his games are playable, but the interface usually leaves a little to be desired. Think sort of old-school Visual Basic style. I think he's getting a lot better design wise.
His Alamo game is very much the forerunner for The Drift 1879.
I've bought the games (Zulu War, The Alamo and The Drift 1879) direct from Jeff, and its usually a pay and wait for an email. One or two times I've had to mail him and remind him to get the code to me, but its only even been a day or two. Now that he's teamed up with HPS (and I think he works on other HPS titles, as well as his own) perhaps its all a little more smoother?
I've been trying to decide whether to give this a punt or not, but I might wait and see.
I like the idea, but damn, that is one ugly game. This coming from a guy that regularly plays JTS/HPS games.
The content really waxes my carrot, despite the rough graphics. And on second view, they don't appear that bad. They aren't great...but the impalements are an interesting touch. Growing more interested.
Quote from: Gusington on February 10, 2015, 07:18:57 PM
The content really waxes my carrot...but the impalements are an interesting touch. Growing more interested.
This is why I hang out here.
Quote from: panzerde on February 10, 2015, 07:26:08 PM
Quote from: Gusington on February 10, 2015, 07:18:57 PM
The content really waxes my carrot...but the impalements are an interesting touch. Growing more interested.
This is why I hang out here.
To watch Gus talk himself into buying every game mentioned?
>:D
Haven't bought Vengeance yet. It would be my first ever HPS purchase too. 8)
Quote from: Gusington on February 10, 2015, 08:23:03 PM
Haven't bought Vengeance yet. It would be my first ever HPS purchase too. 8)
Better take those sunglasses off or you will not be able to see the game.... ::)
Sorry... couldn't resist... The colours are so ....brown...
Oh man, this is just what I've been waiting for. I do believe I will be the test huckleberry for this one! O:-)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rcgroups.net%2Fforums%2Fattachments%2F1%2F6%2F9%2F8%2F4%2F9%2Fa2213358-88-mister-burns-excellent.jpg%3Fd%3D1228774795&hash=d13f4d6e501102194a0a0e125a867a6edb9e97f9)
Just bought it. The mod-ability of this game pushed me way over the edge, and I didn't need much pushing.
I don't know how much I'll play it tonight, but I'll get some thoughts up when I have a chance to put in some time.
Id like to know what can be moddable.
Well it says:
Make History Your Own
Vengenace lets players jump back into history with both feet with a full integrated symbol, map and battle editors.
(Nice grammar).
So it sounds like there is a lot for modders to play with. I guess I'll have to wait and see.
And off topic, but that is the worst website I have ever seen in my whole life. Seriously.
Dunno whether it was missed, but there is a free trial of his Vengeance game available direct from Jeff's website
Here's the direct link:
http://www.digitalgameworks.com/download/vengeance_setup.exe
So those trying to decide can try it out..
Toonces, I have to ask. Is that clip from the TV series or some dark nasty part of the WWW?
Quote from: magnus on February 11, 2015, 12:46:17 PM
Toonces, I have to ask. Is that clip from the TV series or some dark nasty part of the WWW?
It's in the episode The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire :)
LOL. I saw it as some dude's avatar on some RPG website and I copied it for my own.
I wasn't sure if it was real or not, but I figured it was. I love Family Guy! :smitten:
Ok, I just played a quick battle- Falkirk as the English. This was probably a poor choice as the Scots are totally outclassed in this battle.
Overall I enjoyed the game, but I don't know if everyone is going to find this game $30 awesome. The battle played pretty quick- about 15 minutes or so. It seems very straightforward and I'm not sure how much depth the tactical layer has. I need to experiment some more with a better battle.
Some things I like:
- Graphics are simple but clean. There is an option to use counters or miniatures.
- The UI is very straightforward.
- Nice choice of battles.
- The editor looks pretty cool. You can build your own maps, counters, OOB, etc.
On first glance it appears fairly beer and pretzels medieval warfare. I'll try to get in a bigger, more complex battle soon and post some more thoughts once I've explored the tactical options more thoroughly.
Any weather effects to speak of?
How is the sound?
I'd buy this just to make another japanese samurai mod. Looks like the perfect platform but I've not made any progress in my Pike and Shot mod. So I better not get distracted.
@ Gus- there is a weather setting in the scenario set up, so yes, you can set the weather but I don't know what the effect is. I'm guessing it applies a movement modifier. I haven't read the rulebook yet. There is nothing graphically to indicate differences in the weather.
@ JH- the sound is very basic. It's there, but it's very plain and basic.
@ Jomni- the game very much seems like a game creation kit as much as an actual game. I don't see any reason why you couldn't make a Japanese mod.
I just finished a couple of additional battles: Arsuf (Richard I vs. Saladin) and The Battle on the Ice (Nevsky vs. The Teutonic Order). I finished Arsuf as the Crusaders in 5 turns...very simple and anti-climactic. The Nevsky battle was more involved, with more units and three wings. It took 21 (of 30) turns and I eeked out a morale victory, but just barely.
My overall impression is that this is definitely a beer and pretzels treatment of medieval warfare. Battles play very quickly, something like 10 to 30 minutes tops to complete a battle. Unless I'm missing something there is not much tactical depth to the game. It is simple I-Go/U-Go. You can move, attack, and fire. There appears to be opportunity fire and you can set preferences as to how your characters react, for example fallback, attack if favorable, and so on. There are a few different AI settings (I've been using balanced) including aggressive, defensive, and so on. The game gives you modifiers for flank and rear attacks.
It is hard for me to find a good frame of reference or similar game to compare it to. In boardgame terms it is alot like Chainmail, but without any of the special stuff on the cards. I kind of wish I had played Field of Glory so I'd having something to compare it to. It is nowhere near as complex as something like XIII Century or Real Warfare. I like the boardgamey feel of the game, but maybe I'm missing something...it feels awfully shallow.
This is definitely a "try the demo first" game because I don't think this is going to appeal to everyone at the $30 price point.
Thanks for checking it out, Toonces. Based on your experience I think I'll wait awhile on this one.
Thanks Toonces...sounds interesting enough to consider as a toolkit like you said. For 15.00 or 20.00 I would grab it.
Apart from the editor that someone alluded to -and I have not messed around with - the graphics files in the game look like they are all bmp files stored in the symbol sets folder -meaning that you should be able to mod them at will (probably assuming that you 'colour within the lines' -otherwise I imagine you probably would have a bunch of fail on your hands.
I won't be doing it - but you know as the saying goes where there is a bmp (or fill in a graphic file name of choice) present-then you can pretty much bet you can mod it at will (but probably want to keep to the same x,y axes as was in the original -or in other words, probably don't try to reshape a hex.
Anyways ... have at it.
I have not played it yet (don't know when I will get a chance) -however it sort of reminds me of Berg's Men of Iron series from GMT -but that is a pretty superficial comparison considering I have not actually played it -just going by the look.
Yes, lots of brown ... I get that... not a fan of excessive browns in games myself...
-Considering that I have no idea at all how you post an image hosted on a Farcebook page -I can't really do it directly, but fwiw I added an image of one of the map resolutions, just so as any prospective modders out there might be able to get an idea about what is involved. I think there are 3 native resolutions -and everything on the map I think is all located on this one type of file (disclaimer: I did not look at all of the files). Not a spruik for the SDC FB page but it is on there I guess search Scenario Design Center Facebook on the Googles or something.
Quote from: jomni on February 11, 2015, 10:49:59 PM
I'd buy this just to make another japanese samurai mod. Looks like the perfect platform but I've not made any progress in my Pike and Shot mod. So I better not get distracted.
I'd like to see your P&S mod completed eventually. Looks like it fits the system pretty well.
No pressure!
Quote from: southern_cross_116 on February 12, 2015, 08:43:11 AM
I have not played it yet (don't know when I will get a chance) -however it sort of reminds me of Berg's Men of Iron series from GMT -but that is a pretty superficial comparison considering I have not actually played it -just going by the look.
I'd give it a whirl if it played like the Men of Iron series. Those are fast playing games but have some nice depth.
I was actually thinking of breaking out Men of Iron and seeing how this game stacks up to it.
With the modding tools available it seems like you could also do stuff like create fantasy armies; LotR and stuff like that.
I guess I should read the Vengeance rule book before I comment much more, just so I have more background information. Certainly the game can be played without much rulebook reading (or in my case, none).
A favorable mini-review from Rock/Paper/Shotgun's 'Flare Path' article. It's about halfway down in the article, with screenshots.
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/02/13/the-flare-path-dave-does-dovetail/#more-270161