Seeking final group of pre-release testers for "Brother Against Brother"

[Gil R.]

I am one of the developers for *Western Civilization Software's upcoming release "Brother against Brother: The Drawing of the Sword," and wanted to let those of you who might be interested know that we would like to have an additional surge of testers -- especially for PBEM play -- in the coming weeks as we get the game into optimal shape for release. (The date of release has not been announced, and I am not authorized to announce it, but I can at least announce that there will be an announcement -- no one has told me I can't do that!)

If you are unfamiliar with the project, here is the sub-forum: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=808
The best screenshots can be found in http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3367636 and http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3585094 and http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3630741 (with this last one being done by one of our testers, and showing a bit of his playing strategy).

Details of the game can be found in that sub-forum, but here are some basics. We plan a series of releases -- the overall number to be determined by how successfully the game sells -- that will each have several battles. The first release, devoted to opening battles, has 1st Bull Run/Manassas, Wilson's Creek, Mill Springs (with the Beech Grove encampment thrown in for kicks), and Williamsburg. The tactical engine is a greatly changed version of the one used for our game "Forge of Freedom," and is based on 75-yard hexes. We have come up with some rather innovative command & control rules that simulate the difficulty of commanding an army of that era: it is not enough to have strong, well-armed units, since one must also get them into position and have them attack at the right time. We also are especially proud of our maps, not only because of their visual appeal, but their level of detail and size (the largest of which will be around 50 square miles). And in the case of Williamsburg, our map is the most extensive and detailed of any map out there (better even than the ones published in books on the battle and campaign). So we think this game will appeal to a lot of you.

If you think you might like to be involved, please go to this webpage and register: http://matrixgames.com/beta/cnda.asp?gid=505 (Matrix will be giving access to the latest batch of volunteers this weekend or early in the week.) As I like to tell potential testers, everyone can make a contribution, because there are different types of testers: some love to look for historical inaccuracies, some want to find bugs, others focus on game-balance issues and quality of play, etc. We welcome any and all sorts.

If you have any questions about the game I would be happy to respond. Thanks!


*  WCS is the developer behind "Crown of Glory," "Forge of Freedom," and the computer version of "Conflict of Heroes." Plus I personally invented a poker variant I call "Two-front War," but that's not relevant here.