Welcome to Scourge of War. We hope you are ready for a fight. This game places you in command of the units of armies and allows you to refight the many historical bloody clashes during the age of regimental base warfare. This is a type of wargame that we call real time command simulation. Real time command simulation combat begins with Sid—as in Sid Meier, who released the now legendary wargame Sid Meier’s Gettysburg (SMG) in 1997. This game established a new genre, freeing players from the confines of the earlier wargame conventions of the hex grid and dice roll. It placed the units on a 3D battlefield and lets the player/commander move units around. There were no turns—combat happened in real time and could be interrupted only by putting the entire game on pause. It also included a multi-player (MP) feature that is still in use today. Then came Sid Meier’s Antietam in 1998, an evolutionary release that introduced players to the deceptively rolling terrain outside of Sharpsburg and included other battles in the Antietam Campaign at South Mountain and Crampton’s Gap. The next step in the evolution of the genre was Breakaway Games’ transfer of the game engine to the Napoleonic Wars with the release of Waterloo: Napoleon’s Last Battle, in 2001. The final chapter for the Sid Meier engine was Austerlitz: Napoleon’s Greatest Victory, released in 2002. A new chapter in black powder era combat simulation opened in 2005 with the release of Civil War: Bull Run by Mad Minute Games. This game is built on the traditions of the Sid Meier games but was an entirely new generation. It was noted for its highly capable Artificial Intelligence (AI) opponent and careful attention to historical detail. The second and final game from this very small company was Take Command: 2nd Manassas, appearing in 2006. This release also included the battles of Cedar Mountain and Chantilly, the bookends of the campaign. Both games received multiple awards reflecting the historical accuracy and intensity of the real time command experience.
Then came the start of the Scourge of War series. Recreating Gettysburg and Waterloo in the same fashion. It’s been many years since those initial releases and old men need something to do in their twilight years. So, we figured we’d take our time and fix some issues, rebrand the game, get on Steam, upgrade the art, and see what we can do to improve performance. There are improvements to the graphics engine and a large number of next generation art assets. The AI has improvements that build on the experience from previous games. The AI is smarter, meaner, and more likely to run you off the battlefield unless you are a skilled wargamer. This game now uses the Steam multi-Player features to allow you to match your skills against human opponents anywhere in the world the AI or both at once. So, make sure your guns are clean, your powder is dry, and get ready for battle on the legendary battlegrounds of history!
