Cauldrons of War - Stalingrad
This game is a good sequel for the last game of this series CoW barbarossa and it seems to have improved a lot. The AI seems much smarter in this game than in the last one and there are a lot more actions to do than before.
I intend to play this game for a long time just like I did with Barbarossa.
I RECOMMEND that you check the game out if you are interested in a large scale operational strategy in a WW2 setting.
– Real player with 92.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy World War II Games.
Pros- URAAAAAA!
Cons- the 6th Army is surrounded in Stalingrad please send help.
I’ve had the game since the beta dropped, and I’m happy to say I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. It gives fresh perspective to the massive amount of challenges both sides face during 42', while still being very tasteful or pulling punches, which I respect.
It’s not a game where one strategy works every time, where yesterday’s blitz straight to Stalingrad means today’s attack will also proceed flawlessly. It’s not a game where the AI will sit and let you roll over them; it’s a fight, sometimes for every inch.
– Real player with 58.3 hrs in game
Cauldrons of War - Barbarossa
This is a highly abstract wargame where the abstractions combine elegantly to become more than the sum of its parts. For example, the game has a concept of command points each turn. Each area also has a number representing rail capacity. A rail capacity of 3 means 3 free supply points per turn. When rail capacity decreases in certain area of operations, you are forced to make decisions around prioritizing supply (via truck or horse, which is not always successful) vs. attack/movement. The player is thus forced to tradeoff meeting supply vs. achieving objectives which I think does a good job of conveying a decision that a general would actually need to make.
– Real player with 101.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Grand Strategy World War II Games.
Cauldrons of War is brilliantly designed wargame that puts you in total command of either the Axis or Soviet forces from the German Invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941 until the Soviet Counter offensive in the Winter of 1942. It is one of the most tightly designed wargames on the market and yet its surprisingly complex. The game worries you primarily about issues that would worry a General In Chief, (Supply, Type of Operations, Force Composition of those Operations, how hard and far to push etc…) without worrying you about things a lot of wargames try to force on you, even if your rank doesn’t make that make much sense (micro-management) and in that sense this might be the closest experience to being a Field Marshall during the Second World War of anything that’s been released as a game. There are only a few things I’d change to make this game even better, 1. I’d like higher resolution maps, the games imagery does what it needs to do but it could be even better with an eye popping military style atlas with a great resolution. 2. The campaign needs to extend a bit further into 1942, playing as the Russian’s is nowhere near as fun as playing as the Germans because you’re the punching bag for the entire game and only have a few weeks at the very end of the game to counter strike, the game should extend a bit further, in line with the historical Soviet counter offensive in front of Moscow. 3. At times some key information about why certain tactics work and why later those same tactics don’t work, feels hidden. The game might benefit from displaying combat modifiers or other items that help inform the player why things are working and why they aren’t. Those are minor issues however, overall this is a brilliant game and for only $5, you can’t go wrong with it.
– Real player with 20.6 hrs in game
CONFLICT OF NATIONS: WORLD WAR 3
BUT - Alright another 300 hours down the tube and I have to amend nearly all of the below. There are mechanics in the game that allow for players that are in your coalition (Alliance) to move freely through your territory. Which is great in theory; until it cannot be revoked. There is a leave timer for your alliance set at 24 hours; the player leaving can start and stop this timer as many times as they please to get just the right amount of time to land in your homeland cities effectively removing you from the round. You will find a great many people hanging around trolling with this mechanic. So much so that any alliance made in a round is more dangerous to you than helpful. In speaking with staff, I’ve been told the same rules apply here for people legitimately playing as those whom are trolling. So; what this boils down to is if you want to invest upwards of 40 days in a round where someone will gleefully destroy themselves and you for the joy harassing another on the internet; or not. If you want to pay for this experience or not.
– Real player with 2675.0 hrs in game
I like to play the game but it has a option for total paytowin. It destroys most rounds if someone spent alot gold to repair units, sabotage your city you cant counter. I understand that deployers need money but like in most games pay to win is the wrong way. Shame since it is a grat game.
Play Example:
I played Japan it is round 18 on a 24 hour cycle so i spent around 2 1/2 weeks in this round allready.
I managed get a coalition going with surrounding neighbors.
A few Ships are defending the Coasts and Industry is looking good.
– Real player with 612.5 hrs in game
The Conquest of Go
Edited: Sep. 15th, 2021.
The game is getting better so far. So I think now I would change my vote to ‘RECOMMEND’. Let’s give it a try. And share your opinion to help them make it better for you.
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Edited: March 9th, 2021.
I’ve played the latest update and think the game is much better now. It’s getting in shape.
I’m looking forward for big features in the future. Please keep up good works.
Ps: to players, you could join forum to share your experience and ideas with the Devs to make the game better.
– Real player with 35.6 hrs in game
First, let me say that I dig the game, and I like that it is put together from a lot of open source / royalty free resources. I have enjoyed playing against my old pal GNU Go, and I particularly like the review portion after games are completed where I can see key moves the computer would have suggested, which has helped me get a better sense of advantageous moves under different circumstances. The approach of the campaign as being a literal conquest for territory is also really cool. However, it doesn’t feel particularly polished at this stage. I would like to see more of a story, perhaps some Go puzzle mini games in between matches. A larger map would be nice too, and it might be cool to have a zoom-out view of the ‘world’ that shows conquered regions as an actual game of Go, but that might be wishful thinking on my part. Finally, its a little nit-picky, but after matches, I feel the resource icons are too small, and sometimes I miss them. Other uses for resources might be worth exploring as well.
– Real player with 17.9 hrs in game
Twilight Struggle
I’m coming up to 1000 hours of online play over a twelve month period. Despite the lack of support from Playdek, this is a great game well worth buying. Hands down, one of the best strategy games ever released.
This is an excellent port of the boardgame and is the better alternative for frequent play. I save my hard copy for special occassions because this is just so convenient. Set up and play are a snap. AN entire game can run in just under an hour. Even better, it functions well on tablets so you can play in bed or generally while relaxing. Much better than being stuck in front of a desk or laptop.
– Real player with 1304.9 hrs in game
I’m going to write two reviews, one for fans of the board game of which this is an adaptation, and one for people who have no experience with TS at all.
If you have never played TS before, I highly recommend you play against a human opponent (preferably one who is a competent player) before you try going up against the AI. You’ll have a few moments of fun, for sure, and if that’s all you’re looking for you would probably get a better value for your money elsewhere. But in the process of having that fun against the AI, you’ll learn all kinds of bad habits which, ultimately, will make you a worse TS player. I recommend definitely should NOT buy this game UNLESS you have a friend to play against, but if you do, then I think you SHOULD consider buying it.
– Real player with 144.6 hrs in game
Dominus - Multiplayer Sim Turn Based Strategy
Dominus: collect technologies, troops, and heroes with unique abilities as you build up a powerful tribal civilization and out-think your opponents in 4 player simultaneous-turn-based battles.
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Simple and quick to learn, even if you have no experience in turn-based games
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Set in a lush fantasy world of floating islands, savage tribes and raw elemental magic
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You are the warlord of a tribe bent on survival, expansion and ultimate domination
Revolutionary Simultaneous-turns system:
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All players plan their actions at the same time
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Then watch the results unfold in a cinematic action scene
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Skillful play is about predicting enemy moves and actions
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This leads to a lot of suspense, crazy bluffing and mind games!
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Also makes combat highly skill-based and tactical, without being overly complex
We’re currently in beta, keep track of us on Discord and be the first to find out the exciting features we have planned- taking this insanely fun core gameplay and transforming it into a huge multiplayer world of clans, empires and adventure!
We’re racing to deliver the game on steam as quickly as we can, don’t forget to add us to your wishlist to stay updated!
Warhammer 40,000: Regicide
‘The King is Dead. Long Live the King’
‘Warhammer: Regicide’ is a gloriously bloody reimagining of one of the world’s oldest turn-based strategy games - Chess - set against the violent backdrop of the Warhammer:40K universe. Gorgeous visuals, tactically diverse gameplay and unapologetic violence elevate a classic board game to quite something else entirely.
Campaign: Act 1 - consisting of 10 playable missions - is currently active in Early Access. Act’s 2 and 3 are to follow shortly. (This section will continue to be updated)
– Real player with 162.9 hrs in game
I bought Warhammer 40,000: Regicide last Summer when I was on a Games Workshop kick. It was my intention to go for a complete collection of all the Games Workshop licensed games, and Regicide had the added benefit of me having seen some coverage on it from TotalBiscuit. It looked more of an oddity than anything else, but I managed to see it through to the end.
The game is essentially Chess set in the 40K universe, using the Space Marines and Orks as chess pieces to simulate the battles. How Regicide differs from Chess is that once you have moved, you can use abilities of your pieces on an Initiative Points system to attack your opponent. This works on a percentile mechanic, and usually amounts to shooting them, or attacking them in close combat if you’re in an adjacent square. It takes longer to eliminate a piece using this method, but if you focus enough attacks in one place, you can take out entire armies without having to capture anything; the usual method for Chess. This is augmented by additional abilities from the various pieces: Devastators (Bishops) have the ability to focus their attacks to do more damage at the expense of being able to move, Assault Marines (Knights) have increased attack power after they move and can also throw Krak (anti-armour) grenades, and so on. This creates an additional strategic layer to the game and sets it apart from either Chess or 40K in a way that, for the most part, works reasonably well.
– Real player with 68.0 hrs in game
Shadow Empire
Shadow Empire is an incredibly crunchy 4x planetary empire simulator. That’s the short version. Please also note that I purchased my copy on the Matrix site about a week before the Steam release, and I have basically been playing it non-stop since then.
A word of warning. If you are not into highly complex 4x games, you might as well stop reading now.
Still with me? Good. Here’s the TLDR. If you can imagine Civilization, Total Annihilation, Railroad Tycoon 3, and Mad Max: Fury Road all getting together and somehow producing a baby, then you aren’t too far off the mark. Shadow Empire is a love letter to those deep, complex 90’s-era strategy games that have become almost extinct in the mainstream today. Even the quaint and simple graphics reflect this. Remember when games like this came with a big instruction book? Well, this thing’s E-manual is 365 pages long. Three. Hundred. Sixty. Five.
– Real player with 930.9 hrs in game
tl;dr: Mechanics excellent, usability middling poor, visual style atrocious. It’s one of a kind. If you can stomach its looks and a lot of micromanagement, get it.
I’ll not even start talking about the positives, because that would leave me with no time to play the game any longer. Instead, here’s what’s bad.
UI is a sin. Functional, but as ugly as it can be without forcing you to turn your head in disgust. I’ll say no more on the subject, let’s just state that the screenshots, which almost dissuaded me from even giving the game a try, are carefully selected to show its more presentable views. Apart from its aesthetic shortcomings, it’s also cumbersome, inelegant, and sometimes buggy. And you need to pay very close attention to every part of it, because much important information is presented in very unassuming ways.
– Real player with 850.0 hrs in game