A missile-tipped military miscellany

MicroProse’s last ocean-going release was a bit of a stinker. Their next, however, looks awesome.

Sea Power: Naval Combat in the Missile Age aims to transmute historical and fictional Cold War naval/air confrontations into subtle real-time wargaming challenges, and should be with us in Early Access form in November. Features to look forward to include “advanced flight and ship physics”…

spacious dynamic campaigns…

impressive coastlines…

mobile land units…

nocturnal action…

remarkable modability…

and, of course, missiles and eels galore.

* * *

I visited Narnia last night without the aid of a wardrobe.

Released earlier this month, the £4 Hannibal 218 is Wars Across The World’s take on the Second Punic War. Unpredictable neutral factions, colourful event cards, and a roomy, multi-theatre map led to a five-minute reconnoitre morphing into an hour-long “I wonder if I can take Rome before bedtime” play session.

My cosmopolitan (Carthaginian, Insubrian, and Boii) elephant-equipped invasion force met relatively light opposition initially, which was a tad concerning. ‘Is this yet another WATW adjunct blighted by over-generous victory conditions and ineffectual silicon opposition?’ I wondered as I nudged my counter stacks closer and closer to the Roman capital.

Happily, on arriving at the critical* VL, I discovered a city pretty resistant to sieges and assault. When I eventually retired to bed, enemy activity seemed to be increasing – albeit in piecemeal fashion – and The Eternal City was showing no signs of throwing in the towel. Maybe Hannibal 218 has teeth/mileage after all.

* The North Africans can also win by taking all other Roman fortresses.

* * *

Talking of Ancients aggro, the Arete recommendation that turned up in my inbox recently, feels like something worth passing on.

While Ada gets extremely jealous if I get my groggy kicks elsewhere, if I did wargame on phone or tablet, I suspect this hexy homage to Alexander the Great’s generalship is precisely the sort of thing I’d be seeking out.

* * *

The Enemy on the Tail! demo baffled me until I watched the trailer on its Steam page, and realised that I needed to drag manoeuvre cards onto the ‘board’ to instigate actions.

The simple mechanics and the apparent absence of a campaign leave me wondering if the full game, due to arrive on October 23, will keep my interest for more than an evening or two, but while playing the trial I did find myself wishing Until the Last Plane had shipped with something similar to this (minus, the nasty AI-generated art) instead of those dull combat mini-games.