The Best Way for PC Gamers to Meet Their Waterloos

[Cyrano]

Well, tomorrow is the 197th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.  I intend to be elsewhere at the 200th (Belgium, specifically) so the question before the house this evening is: what's the best digital version of this well-known battle?

My candidates (and a few animadversions):

1.  HPS' "Campaign: Waterloo":  Probably the best groggy Waterloo going.  Its deficiencies are well-known (graphics, UI, &c.) and, no it still really doesn't have an A.I., at least not a good one, but head-to-head, its got a ruleset that an active community agrees on and it gives you a nice sense of the sweep and scope of the battle or, if you're really ambitious, the campaign.  "Battleground:Waterloo" is prettier by a sight -- and the music remains the best of any game in this list, if only because Talonsoft had the budget to sample actual marches -- but I far prefer the streamlined turn system and single-man casualty count in the HPS version.

2.  "Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Battle":  This child of "Sid Meier's Gettysburg" was a remarkable game for its time.  The problem, for me at least, is that modern processors make it play far too quickly.  I've tried any number of processor retardants and, in the end, it's still herky-jerky battalions springing over Mount St. Jean.  There was also a bit too much (grognard in-joke coming) Scotty Bowden-esque Francophilia for my liking...and I usually play the French.

3.  SPI's "Battles of Napoleon": If you can get past the graphics, there's still an excellent game in here.  It's got the best A.I. of the games listed here -- remarkable given its age -- and is #1 with a bullet on my list of games that, when I win the lottery, will be re-made.

4. "Waterloo"...the Amiga version:  I don't know as I ever played this game all the way through, but I spent days just wandering around the crudely-rendered 3D playfield.  I wanted to love this game so desperately -- the order system was ages ahead of its time -- but the limited feedback on a turn-by-turn basis eventually put me off.  There were hours of game time in which I didn't have the foggiest idea why one unit had run off and another had advanced in triumph.

5.  "Fields of Glory":  Yet another game that I really wanted to love.  The closest, I think, that we've come to making a PC screen look like a Napoleonic gaming tabletop.  The rules, though, were ultimately broken and, like "Napoleon's Last Battle", the game is man-handled by modern processors.

6.  The scenario as provided in "Napoleon:Total War".  This one completely Jeckyl and Hydes me.  There's no better looking, sounding, feeling Napoleonic game anywhere...no exceptions.  I, no joke, bought a new PC to make sure I was ready for this one.  When a single regiment -- I'll give them regiment even though they should really be battalions -- stretches from La Haie Sainte to nearly the Chateau Goumont, however, I can't quite suspend that much disbelief.

And, since I have the podium for a moment more, what I would really, really, really like is for the Norbsoft crew to make a little Napoleonic magic happen.

Have I missed any?

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Grim.Reaper]

I think histwar also has a mod for Waterloo....haven't played the game myself though.

[jomni]

Mount and Bland Napoleon :P
Not exactly Warterloo but you get the feeling of being in a Napoleonic battle.

[Sir Slash]

You're right about Battles of Napoleon, it was my all time favorite on my Amiga and a real challenge. But I never got around to playing the Waterloo scenario. I wanted to try to concentrate on taking-out Wellingtons weaker Dutch and German units to give me an numbers edge but I figured that AI would probably hand me my BVD's anyway.

[spelk]

I'd prefer Norbsoftdev to do Napoleon over Histwar, which is a bit of shame, but it's mainly down to UI design.

Hexwar do two boardgame style Waterloo games, although I haven't played them.

Waterloo Campaign
https://www.hexwar.com/secure/games/napoleons-last-battles/the-waterloo-campaign/default.aspx

Napoleon at Waterloo
https://www.hexwar.com/secure/games/napoleon-at-war/napoleon-at-waterloo/default.aspx

I wish emphasis would fall away from Grand Strategy around the Napoleonic era, and some new developments happened in this sort of battle scenario game that didn't involve the creaking engine of Tiller.

[Cyrano]

@spelk:  I wish I felt differently about HistWar than I do.  I was involved in testing its predecessor and not-quite-so-directly involved in the Battlefront experiment that crashed and burned.  JMM is a one-man dynamo who has all my respect, but the product is just too opaque, which is a profound shame because his fidelity to things like troop frontages and terrain distances, grades, &c., really shames most other developers.

As to the HPS/JT warhorse, I don't disagree, but no one's stepped up to challenge them.  Surprising, really, given the popularity of Napoleonic warfare -- I always figured it a third behind WWII and the ACW, at least in America.  In fairness to them, though, they're catering to a pretty deep niche and continuing to bring measured improvements -- mouse zoom!! -- to the system on a shoestring budget.  I'm glad theyre out there or we'd, quite literally, have nothing.

And, wow, those SPI games gone digital...now THAT takes me back to High School.  I generally dislike Decision Games and what they've done with and to the SPI catalog, but, again, wow...

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Cyrano]

Oh, and, @jomni:  I love that thing.  Only two problems, one of which I am ashamed to confess:

1.  The on-line version isn't really Napoleonic.  It's any number of team-based FPS' with slow-loading weapons and snappy uniforms.  It's great fun, though, especially if you imagine you're Richard Sharpe or Rifleman Harper.

2.  The off-line version is AWESOME, but it makes me horridly motion-sick...working on figuring out why..

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Nefaro]

2.  The off-line version is AWESOME, but it makes me horridly motion-sick...working on figuring out why..

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

I eventually figured out why First-Person games started making me seriously motion sick:  A smaller 4:3 (or console) sized Field Of View on a widescreen monitor.  A good way to check is to start fresh some day, on one of these FPS games that make you ill, while forcing it's video resolution to a 4:3 window size and force it to keep that ratio with the black bars filling the sides of your widescreen monitor. 

If you play for awhile and it's much better, then that's the issue.

Over-the-shoulder games can have that effect too.

[Jack Nastyface]

Nice post Cyrano...

I personally tend to prefer small unit / platoon level action games as opposed to army / brigade level games, and the tactical offering in Waterloo - Napoleon's last battle therefore makes it one of my favorites.  I'd really like to see another game on this scale, as I agree with your comment on Total War.

[bob48]

I seem to remember playing a bit of the old SPI 'monster' Waterloo game, which I seem to recall used a system based on the Great Battles of the Civil War series?

[Cyrano]

Probably "Wellington's Victory":

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4974/wellingtons-victory-battle-of-waterloo

I've set it up on my dining room table -- one time -- but spent the better part of a weekend clipping and sorting the chits...only then realizing there was a slightly broken game to be played.  Looked AWESOME, but I would much rather play HPS' Waterloo on the home LAN.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

[Marty Ward]

Probably "Wellington's Victory":

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4974/wellingtons-victory-battle-of-waterloo

I've set it up on my dining room table -- one time -- but spent the better part of a weekend clipping and sorting the chits...only then realizing there was a slightly broken game to be played.  Looked AWESOME, but I would much rather play HPS' Waterloo on the home LAN.

Best,

Jim
"Cyrano"
:/7)

I knew a guy who loved that game so much he made a 3-d map of it. He bought like 8 extra maps from SPI to do it. It was really cool. There was never a lone of sight question  :)

[bob48]

Yep, that's the game, as you say, it look terrific set up, but was hard work. There was also an (S&T?) mini game for it, which was a lot more manageable - Quatra Bras. I played that a few times, but its going back a few years.

SPI used to do a one map 'introductory' game as well, although I can't remember what it was called, but it had simple mechanics but not bad for an evenings play.