More front than Blackpool (These two hex wargame demos show considerable promise)

Two of itch.io’s latest TBT tasters prove that hex wargames don’t need exotic themes or unorthodox mechanics in order to entertain and evoke. The two-scenario Broken Front alpha demo recreates the kind of small-scale post-D-Day clashes that most of us will have orchestrated thousands of times before. And yet, somehow, chaperoning the game’s predictable cast of Shermans, infantry squads, mortars, and AT guns, still manages to be engrossing.

Simple board game-style rules keep things intuitive, and dinky battlefields and small force sizes ensure zip. As units only sport two strength steps (units can suffer disruption in addition to reduction) and combat is conducted with a pair of ten-sided dice, luck is fairly significant. However, so too are traditional wargame factors such as cover, LoS, and range.

Assaulting undisrupted foes? Generally a bad idea. Attempting to cross open ground eyed by undisrupted foes? Also unwise.

Judging by KOArtist Games’ progress reports, the demo is now pretty outdated. The current alpha build boasts improvements such as smarter AI, a scenario editor, and a skirmish generator.

More generous than BF’s trial but just as pacy, uncluttered, and visually appealing, the Ancients Fronts demo showcases seven army lists (late Carthaginian, Hellenisitic Greek, mid-republican Roman, Gallic, Iberian, late Macedonian, and early Parthian), a solid map generator, and rules and AI that, in combination, produce pleasingly organic aggro.

The way lines and formations surge, recoil, reorientate and fragment without player intervention brings to mind Byzantine Games’ oeuvre. At times you’re herding cats rather than moving chess pieces, which seems apt.

The control limitations extend to missile troops. Your archers, slingers, and javelin chuckers select their own targets and auto-evade.

According to developer Pataplouf75, flank attacks in AF are less decisive than they are in Field of Glory 2 , morale modelling is more granular, and movement is slightly more flexible.

In time players will get historical battles and a scenario editor. Unlikely to find their way into Ancients Fronts are any additional elements that risk compromising the game’s carefully nurtured pace and fluidity.