Battle for Wesnoth

[TheCommandTent]

Has anyone else heard of or played Battle for Wesnoth

The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based tactical strategy game with a high fantasy theme.
Build up a great army, gradually turning raw recruits into hardened veterans. In later games, recall your toughest warriors and form a deadly host whom none can stand against! Choose units from a large pool of specialists, and hand-pick a force with the right strengths to fight well on different terrains against all manner of opposition

Best of all it is a free open source game.  I downloaded it last night played for about an hour.  Its a fun little game with some interesting concepts.  I enjoy the campaigning and being able to recall seasoned troops the next battle.  Worth checking out if you enjoy the genre.  The worst that could happen is you waste an hour or two  :)

[bayonetbrant]

I've lost many, many hours to Wesnoth.

The basic campaign is very, very good, but the Rise of Wesnoth campaign is also freakin' incredible.
I like it because it's a great blend of fantasy adventure and wargaming, and there are a LOT of great mods for it, too.

[son_of_montfort]

There is also a iOS app version if you want to play on mobile devices. It is not free, however.

[bayonetbrant]

There is also a iOS app version if you want to play on mobile devices. It is not free, however.

Haha bitches!  There's a free one for Android phones!

(OK, to be fair, there's a better paid one for 'droids, too.  I just wanted to poke fun at Monty :P )

[son_of_montfort]

IIRC there is a free version for iPhone too, but it is like a "demo" version.

[TheCommandTent]

I've lost many, many hours to Wesnoth.

The basic campaign is very, very good, but the Rise of Wesnoth campaign is also freakin' incredible.
I like it because it's a great blend of fantasy adventure and wargaming, and there are a LOT of great mods for it, too.

I am playing through the basic campaign right now but will definitely try the Rise of Wesnoth next.

I am enjoying the challenge so far.  I like being able to carry over troops it helps me not needless throw their lives away.  Although it really hurts when one of them is killed

[JasonPratt]

I have had this for the Mac (and installed) since last year, but have been too busy at work to get around to playing it.

(I... I guess that's a good thing... <<....<< )

At home I have far too many other games competing for my time, including Elven Legacy currently.

Still, I do love the game, so in conclusion:

[TheCommandTent]

I have had this for the Mac (and installed) since last year, but have been too busy at work to get around to playing it.

(I... I guess that's a good thing... <<....<< )

At home I have far too many other games competing for my time, including Elven Legacy currently.

Still, I do love the game, so in conclusion:

Make sure you are prepared to lose some hours when you start to play.

I was told about Elven Legacy after talking about liking Wesnoth.  I dld the demo and gave it a spin but wasn't really that impressed with it.  Im not sure what I was expecting.

[JasonPratt]

If you weren't expecting Fantasy General (i.e. the Panzer General engine uptweaked and with a high fantasy storyline--except not the original "Fantasy General" storyline because the deal to get the rights to the name and storyline fell through while the game was in development), but with nice 3D graphics... then... um........ that's what you didn't get?

I kind of lost the logic of my sentence after composition there. 

It's Panzer General but with knights and orcs and dragons in a colorful 3D engine and stereo sound.  (And with really really bad dubbing, for Elven Legacy anyway. The dubbing for Fantasy Wars was quite decent in the first two campaigns, until they got to the elves. The music is unfortunately mediocre for both games so far--I turned it off early in FW, too.)

The elves are a rather unsympathetic faction, too, compared to the humans (or even the orcs). So I would have recommended the FW demo instead. But I've never played either demo per se, so neither one may do a good job promoting the game.

Anyway, I love the PG mechanics, and I'm fond of high fantasy, and aesthetically I like the graphics and sound effects, and while technically I would have preferred a real remake of Fantasy General (for the basic storyline) I do have to admit the FW/EL storyline so far is much more detailed and nuanced.

But back to Wesnoth. (Sorry.)

[Huw the Poo]

I was about to start a thread about this game.  It's been a long time since I last tried Battle for Wesnoth.  I don't know what it was like a year ago when this thread started, but it's come a very long way since I last played it.  It looks really good now (after some initial frustrations getting it to run in the correct resolution) and it's packed with features.  The interface is also a lot better, and most of the information you need turn-to-turn is displayed precisely when you need it - such as amount of cover the terrain provides when you mouse over it.

To all of you playing a year ago, has it improved a lot since then?

[TheCommandTent]

After starting this thread I played the crap out of the game but eventually burned out on it and haven't really played since then.  It would be interesting to pick it back up and see if I could tell a difference.

[RooksBailey]

I think BoW remains a better fantasy game that Fallen Enchantress.   :)  I played the heck out of it about a year ago and really loved it.  The only reason I stopped was due to the graphics - they started to give me a lot of eye strain and headaches.   :(

[FarAway Sooner]

Wesnoth is a fun title.  The campaign games are really quite good, but the AI struggles badly to preserve units in more open-ended games.  Also fun to play with and against other human players.  Definitely a keeper of a title!

[bbmike]

Battle for Wesnoth is now free on Steam!  O0

[bayonetbrant]

it's been free everywhere else for 15 years ::)


;D