HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval released!

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

This may come as a surprise but today HISTORY Great Battles Medieval has released! You can download and get playing now. It has been decided to release the PC digital download before the holidays.
The PC, Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft XBOX 360 retail versions are still scheduled for Q1 2010.

You find more information about HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval here:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval page (http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com/site/?page_id=30)

The game also includes a unique ranking system. If you register your game all games you play can be reported to the server, even single player. This lets you compare your progress to other players around the world. The rankings system can be seen at:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval ladder (http://www.slitherine.com/ladder/)

Or visit our website at:

The Lordz Games Studio (http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com)


https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4568/gbotmapcdv3v2.jpg (https://img14.imageshack.us/i/gbotmapcdv3v2.jpg/)


Overview

The History Channel Great Battles of the Middle Ages is a blend of role-playing and turn based strategy set during the Hundred Years War between France and England. It is being developed for PC and next generation console systems.

Features
* Advanced graphics engine optimized for the capabilities of each platform
* Free form quest map that allows players to decide when and where to fight within a historical framework
* 70 Medieval battles, including 26 historical encounters from the Hundred Years war (like the well-known siege of Orléans or the Battle of Crécy)
* Weapons and shields are added to each unit by the player, giving an almost infinite number of equipment combinations
* Over 100 unique skills to customize your squads.
* Next generation engine with advanced shader effects and lighting.
* Free form quest map that allows players to decide when and where to fight within a historical framework.
* More than 40 different units all accurately researched and carefully modelled in amazing detail.
* Weapons and shields are added to each unit by the player, meaning an almost infinite number of equipment combinations are possible.
* Every equipment change changes the appearance of the models. Never before has this kind of customization been possible on such a scale.
* Specialise your squads with over 100 unique skills.
* Animations and behaviour change to match the equipment you have allocated.
* Play as the English under the Black Prince or the French under Joan of Arc.
* Historical events effecting game play.
* Innovative Battle Card system that gives bonuses and penalties in battle.
* The most detailed and realistic medieval combat model ever created.
* Special ambush missions.
* Story movies created from hundreds of hours of The History Channel's library combined with in game engine footage.
* Completely new control and battle system designed to work on console and PC.
* Multiplayer over LAN & Internet.

Screenshots:

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_180798868.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1405978242.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1305715560.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_496482404.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_2097366759.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1370348286.jpg


Guys,

Because HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval is so different, you will know what you get before you buy it. We have decided to put up a cool Users Guide, that really explains more in depth the cool game mechanics and features of this game.

So there are no mistakes this is not a TW clone, different and a lot of fun... and this game is easy to mod.

You can find it here:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Users Guide (http://forum.thelordzgamesstudio.com/index.php?topic=730.0)


Thank you all very much for the positive feedback. But it is getting harder for us to manage multiple forum threads on different websites.

So when you have feedback, see bugs, have suggestions, comments, questions or simply want to have more info please try and go to our official support forum.

It is easier for us to keep track of things, as we watch it closely.

We have a policy to really try and listen to our public and customers and value any feedback, negative or positive, as it will only help to improve our games.

We will keep patching, supporting and improving our games as long as there is interest.

So I invite people come and post here:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Official Forum at Slitherine (http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=19)




Have fun and enjoy the game!


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[frogbeastegg]

Will there be there a demo?

Will it be available from services like impulse, gamers gate or steam, or just your site?

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

For now only through our own sites, but I know Slitherine Publishing have been talking to Gamersgate and Steam.

It is a tricky world though, so I leave it to Iain from Slitherine to make any announcements on this.


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Mailman653]

Oooo that looks nice.

[Ser Clegane]

This looks very interesting indeed.

Congrates on the publication

:bow:

At the risk of coming across as a nitpicker - you might want to do some changes to the feature list on your website as there are a number of points that you are repeating, e.g. the 100 skills

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Thanks all,

I collected some comments and replies from other forums, that give more info on this game.


There is head to head multiplayer over the Internet.

Men are organsied in to squads of 32. Each squad can have its own custom equipment. There are only 3 basic units in the game, infantry, cavalry and archers. Whether you customize them to Armoured Speamen of Shielded Axeman is up to you. You can always switch them back if you don't like how they worked out. New equipment becomes available as you progress through the game. There are 20 squads a side maximum in a battle.

Squads fight as a unit - not individuals. There are lots of factors in battle, terrain, morale, flank attacks, equipment, skills, fatigue etc. Command chain is not really represented as it was not a fun feature. Instead you have a leader who can use battlecards to influence a battle. We've taken real events from historical battles and used them as inspiration for the cards. These are a way to get the gameplay of a magic system in to a historical framework. E.g. you can Dazzle your opponents archers reducing their firing ability. You can make an opposing squad Drunk and they'll wander around aimlessly attacking anyone in their path. My favourite is Rabbit Warrens - these can cripple a cavalry charge.

It is not magic - the idea is that you play battle cards (some before, some during) which make real events happen. These are all taken from history so are in no way magic, but they give an extra layer of strategy to the game, which has not been done like this in a historical RTS. You need to try it really before you judge it

You can always choose not to use them!

There are 2 main colours red & blue, but within those you can customize the shield designs. There are 8 to choose from with 4 variations each.

It is like neither game mentioned really. While it is an RTS it has been designed to be played by people used to turn based games or new to RTS games. You do not have to drag select anything, the map is grid based to make unit selection and movement very easy. The battle pauses when entering orders so you never have to try and catch that pesky fast cavalry while they are rushing across the screen.

One last thing - there are a huge number of modding options and the scenario editor ships with the game Campaigns and scenarios are driven through text scripts so you could create an entire new campaign with a bit of work and it just drops in and the game recognises it.

The game is set entirely during the Hundred Years War.

On the harder levels you can have your ...ss kicked. The tutorial and first missions are simple, so people can adapt to the new gameplay style, but the levels go up!

One of the cool features I like is you can manage and customize your armies to your own liking and even during the campaign alter your favourite squads, in stats, looks, skills, weapons...

It is something different, so do not expect anything close to TW. Once you get into the play it is quite addictive.

And we are especially proud on the story telling movies!

The console versions of GBM will be released Q1 2010 BTW. Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions with even better graphics. Specs for the PC are kept a bit lower so this game will run well on lower to middle machines and not only on high end.
The graphics on consoles are quite higher, the entire art and engine have been rebuild for the console versions and redesigned and adapted to get the most out of both platforms. If all goes well Xbox 360 and PS3 come out February 2010.

On PC the game will be the same in retail or digital download. PC retail is released at the same time as the console versions.

Minimum Requirements:

Windows® XP/Vista
Pentium 4 or equivalent
512Mb RAM (XP) or 1GB RAM (Vista)
128Mb DirectX video card
DVD ROM Drive (not required for the digital version)
DirectX Compatible Sound Card
DirectX 9.0c or higher (included in installer)

Recommended Requirements:
1GB RAM
256Mb DirectX 9 video card with shader model 2.0 or better

GBM is indeed a co-production of The Lordz Games Studio and Slitherine.

Here at the Lordz Games Studio we designed, balanced and produced the singleplayer and multiplayer battles, scenario`s, campaigns, tutorials, scripts and maps, the movies, music and soundeffects.

It has a campaign map - you choose which missions to fight and in which order. Mission earn you rewards you can use to develop your army further. Some missions are key events that move the high level story forwards. Others are just as fun but not required to complete the game. It is not linear, but it is not a resource management empire building game. Some missions get unlocked by completing sub quests in side a mission, so there are hidden missions only some of your will find It is a blend of RPG and RTS.

Equipment wise wise we had to give some form of uniformity to units on a side as when we tried realistic colours it was impossible to tell who was who. We have the facility to recolour the armies in many other colours (you can unlock these with mods and scenario editing) but we found in practice it made it too hard to play the game so we went for side colours. You can argue that one back and forth but we don't want to break the game for historical accuracy.

You really need to think of this as a RPG with battles between armies instead of skirmishes between a few characters. You customize each squad to the extent you would a character in an RPG and you get attached to them in the same way.

You can modulate your squads into your own liking. So that will be no problem at all. Heavy, Light, Archer based...Equip, arm, cloth and train your units to your taste and wallet.

You will not start the game with that kind of elite troops. That is a real fun RPG aspect to the game, getting attached to some veteran squads that you can equip, arm and train better and better over time. Loosing one of these nourished veteran units will be something to avoid.

There are several money and side missions that can earn you some extra cash, like pillage a village or loot a baggage train in case you badly need some extra cash to buy new mercenary units or upgrade one of your veteran squads.

We have included the game upon release with the necessary editors and a full modders guide, that makes this game very mod friendly. Something I believe the great modding community here will appreciate.


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Ibn-Khaldun]

This looks great! ~:thumbsup:

Will buy it when it becomes available in my country.:yes:
If it doesn't then I'll just have to download digital version.

[Mailman653]

I'll be looking forward to the 360 version.

[Incongruous]

Yay!

Just in time for the end of the Trimester!

I have been looking foreward to this ever since you announced it, well done:2thumbsup:.

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

I have put up some more screenshots on our forum this morning:

Some more GBM screenshots (http://forum.thelordzgamesstudio.com/index.php?topic=721.0)

[frogbeastegg]

Looks good. $39.99 = £25 so it's a good price too. I doubt steam or gamersgate will beat that since they charge in our native currencies.

I hate to ask but it's a question that's important to me and I know some others feel the same: does this game have any form of limited activations or installs as DRM? I know one of your prior games did. I have some holiday coming up at the end of the month so I shall probably pick up a copy to play then if there's no limit on activations or installs.

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Ordering from the shop

* You can log in at any time, but you will not be able to complete your purchase until you have logged in. If you are already a Slitherine passport holder you can now enter your username & password in the login box.
* If you have not yet registered, you will have to register, using the sign up button. If you have already signed up for the forum, then you have a Slitherine passport, as it uses the same login ID. You will then be sent an e-mail with your activation code. Click the activate account button on the right of your screen.
* You can now browse the list of Slitherine games. When you have found the game you wish to purchase just click the buy link for digital download or boxed copy.
* You can continue to add items to your shopping cart.
* When you are finished, click the checkout button.
* You will now be able to review your order in detail and make any final changes. Once you are happy click the Checkout button again.
* You will now be taken to a secure payment page and asked for your credit card or Paypal details.
* Once your payment is approved you will receive an e-mail from us with the details of your order to review.
* The email will contain a unique serial number, with this number you will be able to install the game and immediately start playing.
* Digital downloads are available immediately. Boxed orders are dispatched on Fridays, though any pre-orders will not be dispatched until the games are in stock.

So we use serial numbers what is a very simple system and much easier for customers. No DRM, just a serial number. The only thing what sometimes happens is that emails send from the server are automatically removed by some spam filters, so check your spam if emails do not come through.

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

I have put up some more screenshots on our forum:

Some more GBM screenshots (http://forum.thelordzgamesstudio.com/index.php?topic=721.0)

[Ja'chyra]

Sorry, I'm probably being thick but if I buy this can I have it on my laptop and my pc at the same time?

It looks pretty good to me, I especially like the outfitting your units to suit yourself but I travel quite a lot so would need to have on both computers to get the best effect.

Thanks

[Quintus.JC]

My mouth is watering... I want that game!

[Ja'chyra]

So I didn't wait and bought the game today, only played a little so far but it's quite good.

The campaign isn't like TW where you go where you like and do what you want, it's more like Warhammer where you have a few options and you choose the one you want to do. I've only played the first couple so the battles have all been quite easy, and I've been playing on normal difficulty.

The Ai seems quite good so far and it'll wait on reinforcements before charging but as I say I've only played the first couple and I've always overmatched the enemy. The battle screens themselves are based on grids so your units only move in straight lines, it might take a bit of getting used to.

All in all, after only half an hour or so it's seems good but I'll post again after I've played some more.

Oh, and I do like the way where you arm and armour your own units so you can tailor them to your style.

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Here some first players feedback:


The application file is 1.17 GB. I agree that the downloader is surprisingly slow, compared to the Gamersgate one and others. 8 euro's for extended download service is also quite a lot compared to, say, Matrix.

That aside, the download went smoothly and the installation was no problem.

The manual is very limited, which is not a bad thing per se, but it could be expanded. I had to puzzle for a while before I figured out how to move troops during deployment. Click and drag also isn't ideal, I would prefer being able to place the unit a la the PG series. As in: I pick a hex and the unit appears, the units don't start on the map.

As to the gameplay: I'm pleasantly surprised. Very pleasantly surprised, to be honest. I thought it would be fairly RTS like, but it's more like pausable hex based WEGO, which is nice.

The upgrade system for equipment is nice too, although in the early stages most of the weapon options you get will simply be improved versions of weapons you can already purchase, but there are already signs that will change soon, and I'm only a few missions in.

The skill system is logical for the period: units can become proficient in using various kinds of weapons, or can learn special attacks or moves that give them an advantage in melee for example. Your units gain experience as they fight, and get varying amounts of skill points when they level up. Most skills simply give a statistics bonus, like Attack +2, to show how that skill will impact the performance of the unit.

It's all quite clear, although the "wheel" type menu takes some getting used to. Basically, when in the army management screen your units are placed in a wheel. You can select units and when you double click the unit icon, you go to another wheel with options like "armour/mount", "attack skills", "weapon", "shield/missile" and so on. Those icons take you to another wheel with the actual skills and upgrades. It's quite clear when you get used to it.

I like the re-enactment movies in the briefings for the important missions, they give the game a lot of atmosphere, and thus far they're not cheesy or repetitive.

The quality of the AI is difficult to judge at this point, as all the scenarios thus far have had enemy units placed on certain points of the map, which more or less means they'll come in waves. I haven't fought a larger set piece battle yet where the AI could show its prowess.

I have around 15 squads in my army now. Initially I intended to limit my army in size as it would mean the fewer units would each get more experience, but the scenarios do require a fairly substantial force in most cases. There's also a "raid the countryside" scenario which you can repeat as often as you like to gain 100 gold each time and get some experience for your units. "Powerleving" isn't going to happen, as you're facing peasants (who all flee the field after a few volleys by longbowmen are aimed at them, butchering the "receiving end" of the volley) and a grand total of 2 squads of light infantrymen with no shields and basics weapons. Units can gain a few levels in that map, but after that you'll have to fight the major battles in order to progress and unlock new equipment.

The only issue I have currently is that the controls are not always responsive, as in: when I order a unit to move somewhere, sometimes the unit will acknowledge the order but won't actually move as no waypoint is placed. That's a very small problem as the battle pauses as soon as you click, it just means you have to stay focussed at what you're doing. The manual states that the instant-pause when you click is an aid to players with slower responses, but it actually makes the game a lot better in my opinion, as it gives it more of a wargame feel. Besides, we all hate clickfests over here I believe, so pausable combat can only be a good thing in this case.

All in all, after a few hours of gaming, I feel that thus far my money was well spend on the purchase.

I would like to add that this is, in some ways, a niche game and you have to be able to enjoy hex and semi-turn based strategy, with many customization options for the player. As I enjoy Panzer General, many of its spin-offs, and enjoy turn based strategy, this is the game for me. I'll try to post more impressions and perhaps an AAR tomorrow.

Its essentially turn based, you need to issue orders to your troops for them to move. As soon as you begin to issue an order the game progress is paused, you can click the unit and then click the area you want the unit to move to, or you can right click the enemy you want the unit to attack, a waypoint and path will be displayed. You can give the unit multi-waypoints if you want to path its progress more tightly. There are also behaviours you can set up, aggressive, defensive, or passive. So if they meet an enemy on the way to the waypoint, then depending on the behaviour set, they are likely to attack, defend themselves or move on by. When the pause is lifted (by pressing the space bar) then all units move at the same time, event he enemy, along their order paths.


The map can be zoomed in and out, rotated, and you can scour the whole of the map. There are areas with differing terrain, and some scenarios include capture points, or strongholds to take. The thing to understand with the game, is that the map is divided into unit sized square shaped chunks. So not hex, but squares. A single unit can be surround at four points, although all 8 points can be taken around the square, and units seem to be able to attack in any direction from the square they are on, dependant upon their range. I've had archers fire volleys or arrows over Stronghold walls at troops on the diagonal, so its not a rigid 2d tile based calculation for attacks and defense.

The cards are like slight boosters that you can place on your troops. You select the card and right click on the troop and its effects are applied to that unit. Like an increase in Attack+2, or Rally the unit to gain some morale back.

Graphically its very nice to watch close up. The animations are a bit stiff in places, but they look impressive at the ground level, although units tend to be full of clones of the same type. The zoomed out view is ok, you can certainly see whats up ahead, and the terrain conditions you have to be wary of. The troops look very small at max zoom, but when you pause, they are coloured for you, so you can easily make out where your troops are, and where the enemy is. The zoom from max to close is a long zoom, and can take quite a few strokes of the mousewheel to get down to the action. I'd prefer two presets, max and close that you could just flick between. But there is a number of gradations you can zoom in to, to encompass all the troops in the current skirmish for you to anticipate enemy movement changes.

There is morale and fatigue measures, and if morale drops too low the unit will rout. As far as I know there is no supply model. But there are scenarios where capturing a certain structure or unit rewards you with money, to purchase more troops, or equipment.

As far as I can tell, there is no higher level strategy played out on the campaign map, other than selecting which battles to play through. Theres no miniature moving or economic grand strategy going on at this level at all (unless I've missed something).


My guess is the graphics will look better on a PC tweaked up to the max. From what I remember, you can max shadows and textures. But I don't think we're talking Empire Total War level of graphics.

I'm very pleased with the game, with its Slitherine usual of RPG army building elements thrown in to a decent boardgame like strategy wargame. The History Channel snippets of video footage do add to the ambience of the game, and the wheel based unit upgrade menu is a little jarring at first, coming from previous Slitherine titles. Down close, it looks like the older Total War series, but it plays a lot more like a traditional hex based wargame with orders being given, and then turns playing out simultaneously.

[Beskar]

What is amazing is that 'Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come' just came out at the same time, which is curious.

http://www.neocoregames.com/

[frogbeastegg]

What is amazing is that 'Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come' just came out at the same time, which is curious.

http://www.neocoregames.com/
The game's been out for ages. I had a topic (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=108611&highlight=crusaders) on it last year. Not a game I'd recommend.

[Beskar]

The game's been out for ages. I had a topic (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=108611&highlight=crusaders) on it last year. Not a game I'd recommend.

Sorry, my mistake, frogeggbeast. Being honest, it had an awful name which just speaks "tackiness".

[Ja'chyra]

Well I played a bit more this morning and moved the difficulty up to Hard, and it did move.

The post above speaks of the raid the countryside quest, I had to do this quite a few times to buy more troops and upgrade them.The strategic side of the game isn't really there, for those who played Warhammer:Shadow of the Horned Rat it plays very similar to this where you are given between 1 and 5, so far, options of which battle to do next and when you make your choice it takes you to the batle screen.

The battles themselves I quite enjoy although I don't like the grid (Hex) set up, mainly for the reason that only one unit can occupy any one square which means if you want to move your units around they may have to go all the way around the edge of a battle when the square you want is only 2 spaces away. The battle screen themselves are quite small, I reckon most of them are about 10x10ish, and could be doing with being increased. The AI isn't bad and soesn't feed it's troops in piecemeal but with such a small map the initial deployment seems to be more important than tactics in battle. I tried to go for small well equipped armies and this didn't work out too well so I ended up having to expand my roster.

I do like the upgrade system where you can tailor each of your units equipments and skills and you do become quite attached to them, although even if they are wiped out in a battle they don't disappear from your roster and you can use them in the next turn.

And just for the record it seems you can download it as many times as you like in the first 30 days but if you want the extended download option, up to 2 years I think, it costs you an extra £6(?) which is a bit of a con.

All in all I like it, but then I liked WH:SOTHR.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Sounds interesting, got a demo?

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Guys,


Thank you all very much for the positive feedback. But it is getting harder for us to manage multiple forum threads on different websites.

So when you have feedback, see bugs, have suggestions, comments, questions or simply want to have more info please try and go to our official support forum.

It is easier for us to keep track of things, as we watch it closely.

We have a policy to really try and listen to our public and customers and value any feedback, negative or positive, as it will only help to improve our games.

We will keep patching, supporting and improving our games as long as there is interest.

So I invite people come and post here:

http://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=19


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Hi Guys,

Because HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval is so different, you will know what you get before you buy it. We have decided to put up a cool Users Guide, that really explains more in depth the cool game mechanics and features of this game.

So there are no mistakes this is not a TW clone, different and a lot of fun... and this game is easy to mod.

Welcome to HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval!

Great Battles Medieval is a unique blend of Real-Time Strategy and Role-playing that allows you to develop your army; gaining experience, abilities and equipment to customise your troops. Success can never be guaranteed but to give you the best chance we recommend careful preparation and equipping your squads to meet every eventuality. Tactical planning before the battles are fought is also essential; as even the best General cannot rectify every error once battle is joined.

In Great Battles Medieval you play as a general in control of English or French forces during the Hundred Years War. The English campaign is designed for new players and the French campaign is much harder so best tried once you have some experience. As the English you will fight under the Black Prince, Henry V and other heroic characters from history, and as the French you fight for Joan of Arc and the King.


http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1405978242.jpg


Great Battles Medieval is split in to 4 main areas, which we will explain in more detail later.
• Quest Map – where you choose which missions to undertake and travel around the game world.
• Army Camp – where you recruit, equip and train your troops.
• Deployment & Battle – where you create battle plans and engage the enemy.
• Battle Cards - where you select the Battle Cards to take to the next mission.

The game offers a unique RPG experience on a massive scale. Instead of playing with a few characters, the player has up to 20 squads under their command. Each squad can be equipped and trained by the player, selecting their armour, weapons, fighting styles and much more – there are an almost infinite number of combinations. As your men fight they gain experience and new skills. Pretty soon you have a unique army customized to your tactics, and different to any other army out there.

The tutorial campaign will explain the basics so all new generals should start here.

Get HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Now! (http://www.slitherine.com/games/thcgbotma)


QUEST MAP

The Quest map is where the story of the Hundred Years War unfolds. As you play, key missions will be introduced by movies and these must be completed to progress the story, while others are optional. Some missions are hidden away and only unlocked when you achieve special mission objectives in battle. You can scroll around the Quest map by pushing the mouse to the edge of the screen.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/CampaignMap.jpg


When you first arrive, only one province is open to you: Flanders. It is marked with a flag. In this province, you will see the Battle of Cadsand is available to fight. As more provinces become available, you can select them with the mouse to find out details about them and decide if you wish to fight. As you complete more missions more flags will become available.

Before you start Cadsand we recommended you explore the Army Camp and Battle Cards. At the top left of the screen you’ll see a button that takes you to the Army Camp and at the top right a button to take you to the Battle Cards.


ARMY CAMP

This is where you customize your army. In the middle of the screen is the selected squad. Icons arranged in a wheel around him represent your other squads. Click on these icons to select these squads. Your general’s icon has a crown on it.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/ArmyOverview.jpg


By clicking on the selected squad’s icon you enter the customization mode. In this mode there are many options open to you. You can choose a squad’s armour, weapon, shield, attack skills, general skills and defensive skills. You can also change the livery of a squad using the small arrows at the bottom of the wheel, which changes the shield designs. Each time you click on a choice you go deeper in to the customization menu. For example if you choose weapons you’ll be shown a list of weapons available. When you mouse over a weapon it will tell you the cost and benefits of the weapon and compare it to your existing weapon. If you cannot afford an item then it will be greyed out.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/GeneralsArmour.jpg


Squads gain experience for killing opponents and when they gain enough experience points they go up a level and gain skill points. These skill points are used to further customise the squad. The skill points a squad has are shown on the squad’s icon, but at the start of the game you won’t see any numbers as your squads are all new recruits with no experience of battle.

http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/ArchersSkills.jpg

You can recruit new squads and disband existing squads using the buttons on the left of the screen. There are only 3 basic unit types in the game – infantry, cavalry and archers. How you equip them determines how they behave – give them a pike and they becomes fearsome cavalry killers, but equip them with a sword and shield and they are best suited to fighting infantry. There are millions of possible combinations.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/CavalryWeapons.jpg


As you progress through the game new weapons, shields and armour will be unlocked and you’ll receive more money to purchase equipment and squads. You will spend a lot of time customising your army later but for now return to the Quest map and look at the Battle Cards.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/InfantryShields.jpg


BATTLE CARDS

Battle Cards represent those key turning points that occurred in many famous battles. They represent things such as weather, leadership, bravery and much more. Battle Cards can be played on your own or enemy squads or even on the terrain itself, depending on the card.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/BattleCards.jpg


The effects of a Battle Card are described when it is selected. The number of cards you can take to a battle is limited by your leader’s skill. Battle Cards are awarded for completing missions and by the end of the game you will have found a wide selection to choose from, but initially you have only 2 cards and 2 card slots. This means you can take both with you in to battle. Later on you’ll find you have more cards than card slots and will have to select the best cards for the upcoming battle or for the tactics you wish to use.
To select a Battle Card, first select the slot you want it to occupy. Next select the Battle Card to place in that slot.


DEPLOYMENT & BATTLE

When you have decided you want to undertake a mission you are taken to the battlefield. Battles are split in to 2 phases. Before the battle starts, there is the deployment phase. This is where troops may be repositioned, last minute alterations to equipment and Battle Cards made and your initial disposition of forces set. The green tiles show the possible positions you can deploy your troops. The yellow squares show a route this squad has been ordered to take when the battle starts.

Once you’re happy with this, you move on to the real-time battle. To begin the battle press the Start Battle button. From now on you are no longer able to change your equipment or Battle Card selections and the only way to reposition troops is to order them to move to the desired location and wait until they arrive.

Whenever you want to enter orders click the mouse button and the battle pauses. This makes it easier for new players and those with slower reactions to play the game tactically. It is not about the speed of your mouse – it is about the speed of your mind!


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/DeploymentOrders.jpg


You’ll notice that the battles are split in to a grid of tiles, which further simplifies the selection and ordering of units. It also allows players to set up more refined battle plans knowing how many tiles a unit can move or shoot, removing the guess work associated with other real-time strategy games.
At the deployment stage you’ll see the battlefield from behind your troops. At the top of the screen you can just see the enemy army. If playing as the English your men are red, and the French enemy are in blue livery. Across the bottom of the screen are your Battle Cards, and beneath this is an icon for each squad you have in the battle. These icons show the status of your men. If the squad becomes shaken or routed then blue and white symbols will appear on top of the icon. Once the mission’s objectives have been completed or failed or all the squads on one side have routed, the battle is over.

Squads will attempt to follow the route they have been given but if an obstacle blocks them they will try to find an alternative route. If they encounter enemy troops, they will engage them. Any orders given before combat are forgotten in the heat of battle, and so any waypoints that were issued before a combat began are cleared.


http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1305715560.jpg


Each time a man dies, a small skull floats up to give feedback about the progress of a combat. The skulls are colour coded for each side to provide an overview of who is winning or losing.
Morale is a key feature of the game and breaking the enemy army’s morale is a quicker route to victory than just killing them. Units are susceptible to their own and others' successes and failures on the battlefield, while Battle Cards and special skills acquired through the game also play their part. A squad can be ordered, shaken or routed. Once routed, they will run away and, unless rallied, will leave the battle and play no further part. Every time a squad drops a morale level you’ll see an effect over the squad. You’ll also see effects played when a squad is attacked in the flank or rear or a when a Battle Card is played. Resting your squads is a good way for them to recover from fatigue and poor morale.


POST BATTLE SCREEN

When a mission is won (or lost!), you get a report of the battle. This shows you information about how many squads you lost, how many the enemy lost, how much money you earned, what rewards you won (or if you see a large ‘?’ symbol, what rewards you didn’t win!). If you lose a battle you won’t win any rewards. If you win a battle you may get some but not all the rewards, depending on whether you achieved all your objectives. Rewards range from money and Batle Cards to unlocking new pieces of equipment and even special hidden missions.

Losing a mission is not a disaster. You can just try again. There is no penalty for losing a mission other than you have to replay it.

If you win a mission it is a good idea to go straight to the Army Camp to spend your loot and select skills for any squads who have gained a level. Squads with skill points to spend will be marked with a bright halo.


ARMY EDITOR

You access the army editor from the main menu or inside Skirmish and multiplayer menus but you cannot do it while you are playing a game. The army editor is almost exactly the same as your army camp. It allows you to recruit, equip and train your squads in new skills. The only real difference is that the amount of gold you have to spend and experience points available are set when you create the army – the army does not gain experience or get better. You have the choice of editing one of our pre-set armies or you can create an army from scratch.
In the army editor all pieces of equipment are unlocked so you can try out things you’d never be able to do in single player.

Once you have customised the army you can save it for use in Skirmish and Multiplayer games.


SKIRMISH MODE

Skirmish mode is intended as a practice mode for multiplayer. First select your campaign

* Sandbox has a variety of scenarios but never ends so you cannot win or lose it. The scenarios are not balanced and so you can end up with some very interesting and unusual match ups.
* 3 node tug-of-war. In this there are 3 battlefields to fight over. You start on the middle one and the winner pushes the loser back to their base camp. If you lose when fighting on your base camp you lose the campaign. On your base camp you will get artillery support!
* 5 node tug-of-war. This is the same as the 3 node tug-of-war, but with more battles to fight.


http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_715781263.jpg


When a battle occurs in skirmish mode you must select which army you wish to use in the battle. At this point you cannot edit an army, only load up an existing army – this is intended to keep the game flowing fast and avoid delays, especially in multiplayer. You can either use one of the pre-set armies that we designed or an army you designed in the army editor. You can use a different army for each battle. Note that some battles limit the size of the army you can take while others allow any army.


MULTIPLAYER

Once you are logged in to the server you’ll be able to see any games that are being hosted by other players. You can either join a game or host your own game. You can play Great Battles Medieval in 2 player head to head only.
Once you are connected to your opponent you can chat. To chat press the Enter key, type your message and press Enter again. You can see chat messages from your opponent.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/Multiplayer.jpg


Multiplayer games are set up in exactly the same way as Skirmish games, except that the client must approve the host’s settings before he can proceed.
Once in a multiplayer game there is a slight difference to the single player and skirmish game. Notice the order bar that appears on screen. Every time you pause the game to issue an order your order bar will go down. This bar recharges over time but if you enter order mode too often you’ll find you run out of points and have to wait before you can issue any more orders.

When you pause, your opponent also pauses AND they are also allowed to enter orders. There is a lot of strategy in working out when to pause and making best use of your order bar.

Other than this multiplayer games work in exactly the same way as single player games.


TIPS AND TACTICS

There are lots of things to take in to account in battle. Here are some hints and tips, but you will learn more as you go.

* Weapon & Unit Match Ups. The core concept of Great Battles Medieval is that all units have strengths and weaknesses. Spearmen are good against cavalry. Cavalry are good against infantry without spears, but best at the initial impact so suffer in drawn out fights. Archers are good at ranged combat but weak in melee. Artillery is lethal at range but cannot turn to face and have no melee ability at all. Large shields are great protection verses missile fire, but poor in melee. You can specialise your units with equipment and skills so there are units they are great against but you will also end up with a unit that is very vulnerable to some units. Alternatively you can create an all round unit with no strengths or weaknesses. The combinations are endless and so are the strategies. Try things out and see what works for you. Always take in to account what enemy squads are equipped with as there is a huge different between enemy infantry with Large shields and spears to those with small shields and axes – one will ruin your cavalry and archers, the others will be a tough match for your infantry.
* Battlefield Terrain: The terrain affects the combat abilities of your units. Forests reduce the effect of missile fire and give combat penalties to mounted and bonuses to lightly armoured infantry. Rocky ground is some protection from cavalry, but defensible terrain such as stakes is best. Try to get your units in terrain they like and your enemies in terrain they don’t like.
* Aggression: You units can be defensive, normal or aggressive. Passive units will only defend, they will not engage any enemy on nearby tiles. This is the default aggression for archers. Aggressive units will chase any enemy nearby, sometimes getting themselves in trouble when doing so – this is the only aggression setting for cavalry and not possible for units that are shaken or previously routed and rallied. Normal aggression is the default for infantry and in this mode they will engage adjacent opponents but not chase off after enemies without orders. Aggression is set using the icons on the right of the screen in battle. Be sure to choose the correct aggression settings as too much or too little autonomy for your units can win and lose the day!
* Fatigue & Walk or Run. Units get fatigued if they run or fight too much. You can toggle whether your units run or walk on the right of the screen in battle. The default is to run, but fatigued units cannot run. When fatigued units receive large combat penalties so it pays to rest your troops and rotate the units in the front line if possible. The fatigue is shown by a bar on the unit’s cards at the bottom of the screen.
* Morale. When a squad takes casualties its morale drops. Over time it’s morale will recover so rest shaken units and they may recover. If a unit routs it is beyond your control and will run from the field. Sometimes it may rally before it leaves the field and in this case you can control it again but bear in mind is probably quite fragile.
* Flank Attacks. Once a unit is engaged in combat it faces that direction. Even if attacked from behind a unit can turn quickly to respond. However if a unit is attacked from 2 directions at once this counts as a flank attack. Flank attacks are shown by a blue effect over the unit in battle. A large morale penalty is caused when a flank attack occurs and it is a good way to break enemy units.
* Trample. Cavalry units, especially lance armed cavalry, have a chance to trample enemy infantry on contact. This trample attack is applied before combat and gives cavalry a chance to sweep the enemy infantry away. Infantry armed with spears are very resistant to trample attacks, and skills such as Stand Firm further reduce their chance to be trampled.


http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1370348286.jpg


MODDING

There is a lot of great modding support in Great Battles Medieval. You can create new campaigns, new scenarios and even edit unit data. See the modding folder in your game install path for detailed information on how to do this, but here is a quick overview.

New Scenarios

The scenario editor lets you edit and create new scenarios. It is the same editor we used so anything we can do you can do. You can place units, choose their equipment, skills, even their textures and give them initial battle plans. You can set the weather, set rewards and more. Note – to use the scenario editor you need to have .Net, which can be downloaded for free.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/ScenarioEditor.jpg


Scenario scripting
All events that occur in a mission are set out in a script file. These script files are in text format so can be edited, added to and completely new scripts created.


http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/screens/Scripting.jpg


Campaign Creation
The game supports modded campaigns. You can create new maps covering any area you like, even fantasy maps. All campaign events are set from a text format script file so you can set up anything we can set up and create an entirely new game!

For more support visit the forums where other modders will be there to help you get the most out of this.

Editor Source Code
We have included the source code for the scenario editor in the modding folder for the more hard core modders.


Get HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Now! (http://www.slitherine.com/games/thcgbotma)


Cheers,
Tim aka LZ

[edyzmedieval]

Fantastic! Finally a competitor for TW! Can't wait to buy and mod this game out.

Congratulations Lordz. :bow:

[Azathoth]

Was that Java in the last screenshot?

[Krauser]

I'm wondering is that History like the History Channel? So we can expect great historical accuracy compared to the TW series? Did they have history experts for you to consult?




Was that Java in the last screenshot?

You can see at the bottom "C source file". Java syntax is considered to be "C-like". Actually, most modern programming languages are C-like. It's easier to attract programmers to a new language if they already know the structure.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I'm wondering is that History like the History Channel? So we can expect great historical accuracy compared to the TW series? Did they have history experts for you to consult?


I think this game is most certainly more historically accurate than the TW series! And as much as I've heard then yes, History means History Channel.

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Great tips from Robbie, Slith`s main Betatester, who played this game to death, so knows what he is talking about:

I am having to write most of my suggestions from memory, however since I have played the game so much it is almost ingrained in my mind.

My army selection for the English campaign:
- Keep all original units that you are given and do not change there weapons except to upgrade them to better version of what they have. (i.e. keep your two infantry units armed one with a spear and one with a sword).
- As soon as you can, purchase another archer unit.
- After this I try to purchase at least another 3 infantry units armed as follows: axe, sword, warhammer. Only purchase the next unit once the previous one is armed with at least light armour, a weapon and a shield (sometimes it can be better to arm them all with heavy armour before upgrading).
- Once I have these 8 units (the general, 2 archers and 5 infantry), I now ensure that they are equipped with the best weapons, armour and shields as possible before buying any more. Although you might need another archer unit before upgrading all of these fully.
- From then on I do not think it is that important what units you purchase, although I will tend to ensure that I have at least another archer unit, possibly 2 more, and at least another one or two cavalry units (the second one you only really need when lances become available).
- Ensure every unit is armed with the best weapons possible.

General Tips:
- The best way to fight dismounted knights is with warhammers. A unit armed with warhammers is one of the only ways to defeat dismounted knights with a single unit, even then you tend to have to be a half decent level. I tend to swap the weapons round of the axeman unit and the warhammer unit (mentioned above in army selection) so that the highest level one is armed with the warhammer.
- Always try to ensure that knights armed with lances never get fatigued. Cavalry units that are fatigued cause no trample damage on their first impact, and since lances are only really any good on first impact, you need to try and make sure they have at least a little bit of energy left for that first impact hit.
- It can quite often be good to arm your archers with decent close combat weapons as they will probably at some point end up in combat. If they engage an enemy unit once it has been fighting one of your other units for a while, the chances are the enemy will be fatigued and therefore your archer unit will win the fight. They are especially useful when armed with warhammers and engaging dismounted knights from the side or rear. Since their ranged attacks to very little to such heavily armoured troops, giving them warhammers and charging them into combat can be a good way to defeat the heavily armoured knights.
- In the "Rescue the Hostages" mission as soon as one of your units moves adjacent to the imprisoned units you gain control of them. As soon as they are under your control it doesn't matter how many casualties they suffer, you cannot lose the mission for them taking casualties. Therefore it is a good idea that as soon as you engage the enemy units around them, to send one unit to move adjacent to them.
- Winning the "Fight off French Raiders" mission. As comradep said in a previous post, having four of your best infantry units and placing them in / behind the defensible positions in the village is the best idea. Although one unit preferably with warhammers needs to be placed to the right of the forest on the left side of the village to deal with the dismounted knights that attack there. The way I did it though was to swiftly move all my units up the left side of the village and avoid the charge of the French units down the right side of the village. I move my archers to the north west of the village and shoot the French archers that are north of the village. As the French units move from the right side, round the bottom of the village I use my archers to shoot as many as possible before trying to engage them one-on-one in the village with well placed infantry units. This should hopefully help a bit with this mission.
- Winning Agincourt a bit easier. Before the battle begins I maxed out the remaining slots in my army with as many archers as possible, this usually left me with around 6 archers units in total. You can see what each of the French knights are armed with and so make sure that your spearman units and your cavalry are matched up in line with any French unit with a lance. This should ensure that your units take minimal casualities from trample damage. Then obviously line up the rest of your troops with the rest of the knights, try to use units with warhammers against the most heavily armoued knights. Deploy half of your archers to the left side of your army, and the other half to the right. Advance them up the flanks a couple of squares but so they are still not in the muddy ground. As the enemy units advance, ensure that they first shoot at any unit that is not equipped with a shield, this should ensure that you destroy as many units as possible so you do not have to fight them. Also, any enemy unit that is bogged down, suffers a combat penalty drop so as long as they are not too far away from your main line you can advance out to attack them. Once the knights are destroyed it is a simple matter of arranging your troops so that they fight against units that they will be effective against. This should help a little bit with making this mission easier.
- The easter egg mission took me a while to find and unlock but it is worth getting as an easy way to earn some money to upgrade your troops, aswell as the battlecards that will come in handy.
- I spent all of my skill points for my general to ensure that I could take as many battlecards into the battles as possible, they are very useful at turning the tide of a battle.
- Do not waste battlecards. You can see what units the French have on the map so do not take cards such as "Receive the Charge" if the French have no knights on the map. This wasted slot could be used for a battlecard that can actually be useful in battle.
- I found "Sudden Panic" to be the best battlecard available. If you surround a powerful enemy unit from all sides, cast this card on it, it will have nowhere to retreat to and so will be instantly destroyed completely, ensuring that it does not return to the battle.
- You will tend to find that once you have purchased all upgrades relating to bows for archers that you have a lot of skill points unspent. I tended to spend them on the ward skills which are not weapon specific and will increase archers performance in combat.
- I also found that in the English campaign you only get handguns available and not hand culverins. Although they are powerful against armoured units they have a short range and usually only get off one shot before they are engaged in combat or the enemy engages another unit and so firing at that unit become less effective. That's why I tended to keep my archers with longbows and use them to destoy unshielded enemies and weaker armoured units. Possibly arm them with warhammers and charge them into combat against well armoured troops.

I usually attempted the English campaign on hard and managed to play all the way through. I have tried to respond to all the points that people have brought up in previous posts, I know I have repeated some points that have already been answered but I thought I would answer them anyway. If I have missed out answering anything, please post another message and I will try to check regularly to help answer them.

I will not post any tips regarding the French campaign yet since it appears that most people started by playing the English campaign. If anyone has any questions / needs any tips regarding the French campaign I will try my best to help.

Happy Gaming!

[econ21]

Interesting tips - thanks for posting. This game does sound good. I like that the tips imply what seem to be realistic tactics (e.g. archers with warhammers helping out against bogged down knights at Agincourt).

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Here is the first HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZiBwgQ04UI

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[HopAlongBunny]

This looks like a winner!

I was going to ask a question about replayability but then I read your section about modding.

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

We have some great news. We've listened to your feedback and made some great changes to Great Battles Medieval. We've even created an entire new campaign for you to play! You'll be amazed!

Download the Beta patch here:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Beta Patch v1.01 (http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/gbm_patch_v1.01.exe)

Change list
• New play mode – Blood mode. In blood mode you take casualties in battles and get no free healing, so must recruit replacements. This was the most requested feature change so we did it! This makes the game much harder! You can play any campaign with this turned on or off. After each battle you must pay to recruit replacements so be very careful as you could easily end up with a situation where your army cannot win. This is not for the feint hearted.
• Complete new campaign – “The honourable Knight”! Load up the patch and you'll see a new icon on the campaign wheel. This campaign has been designed to be played in Blood mode so beware!
• Completely new ambient sound scape. All maps have new ambient sound effects and triggers. Much much better!
• More army customization options. You can have a choice of 3 different basic colours for your men. English troops can be red, yellow or black. French can be dark blue, light blue or green. 2 new shields patterns per side have also been added. This really adds a huge amount to the army design. Very cool.
• When in blood mode you'll see new UI button to heal individual squads that are damaged and the entire army.
• There is a fix for the NVidia drivers issue so you should be able to go back to the latest drivers and it will work. We could not get NVidia to fix their driver bug so we worked around it!
• The in battle morale bar now shows the points at which a squad will become shaken and rout. Useful for planning when to use battle cards.
• The mouse zoom rate has been improved. You can also tweak the rate from inside the user settings file.
• The Scenario editor allows you to customize enemy army uniforms more easily.
• The Scenario editor allows you to set up the banner and tile colours for enemy sides. E.g. in the new campaign the English have been coloured Black.
• Tutorial 1 – fixed a big where the players general could get killed by peasants.
• Tutorial 2 – fixed a bug where rallied enemy troops broke the flow of the tutorial.
• Hostages scenario bug. Stop routed enemies rallying and killing the hostages.
• Tourney scenario bug – this now ends when the general has lost all its men.

We think this is an awesome free upgrade and we'd love to hear your feedback. The new campaign has been played but needs some more feedback on the balancing side. Is there enough money or not. Give it a try and let us know if you feel it needs any tweaks.

Good luck and have fun!

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Some new pics:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2601/4133366126_59a1ce0728_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2759/4133366490_c8007955fa_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2733/4133366188_8c56298597_b.jpg

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Thermal]

looking good! :smash:

[HopAlongBunny]

Yes! It does look good :)

Bought it a few days ago; graphics are very nice; gameplay is logical ie: there are consequences for doing things.

Have yet to get through the campaign but am enjoying the battles. I can see a lot of potential for modders here; the battle maps are constricted, but they do give you quite a variety of scenarios.

It's lean! Weighing in a 1.6gb and change, I compliment the programmers on putting together an elegant package. Grats! :D


Finished 1 (English) campaign.

Set piece battles, only thing different is what you bring to the party. You customize your army; quite a few options to experiment with...I think the number of successful options is much more limited.

Gameplay is easy to get used to; Larger maps would be welcome; with the tight setting your options for maneuver are limited.

Interesting format; it will not eat up months of your life like MTW did.

I will soon find out how restrictive the "re-load policy" is as I add a HD and attempt to transfer the game to the new drive :)

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Download the latest patch here:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Beta Patch v1.01 (http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/gbm_patch_v1.01.exe)

Change list
• New play mode – Blood mode. In blood mode you take casualties in battles and get no free healing, so must recruit replacements. This was the most requested feature change so we did it! This makes the game much harder! You can play any campaign with this turned on or off. After each battle you must pay to recruit replacements so be very careful as you could easily end up with a situation where your army cannot win. This is not for the feint hearted.
• Complete new campaign – “The honourable Knight”! Load up the patch and you'll see a new icon on the campaign wheel. This campaign has been designed to be played in Blood mode so beware!
• Completely new ambient sound scape. All maps have new ambient sound effects and triggers. Much much better!
• More army customization options. You can have a choice of 3 different basic colours for your men. English troops can be red, yellow or black. French can be dark blue, light blue or green. 2 new shields patterns per side have also been added. This really adds a huge amount to the army design. Very cool.
• When in blood mode you'll see new UI button to heal individual squads that are damaged and the entire army.
• There is a fix for the Nvidia drivers issue so you should be able to go back to the latest drivers and it will work. We could not get Nvidia to fix their driver bug so we worked around it!
• The in battle morale bar now shows the points at which a squad will become shaken and rout. Useful for planning when to use battle cards.
• The mouse zoom rate has been improved. You can also tweak the rate from inside the user settings file.
• The Scenario editor allows you to customize enemy army uniforms more easily.
• The Scenario editor allows you to set up the banner and tile colours for enemy sides. E.g. in the new campaign the English have been coloured Black.
• Tutorial 1 – fixed a big where the players general could get killed by peasants.
• Tutorial 2 – fixed a bug where rallied enemy troops broke the flow of the tutorial.
• Hostages scenario bug. Stop routed enemies rallying and killing the hostages.
• Tourney scenario bug – this now ends when the general has lost all its men.

Good luck and have fun!

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Some cool fan screenshots and feedback, thanks to Destraex. :thumbsup2


This game keeps me coming back. I just love collecting the armour and weapons while customising my units and colours.
I just fought the battle of Poiters and earned as a result lances and half plate/half mail.

This game is just great when you have a spare 15minutes for a quick battle or just a bit of time upgrading your army skills etc in the army manager.

Shiny Half Plate... mmmmmmm

I think one of the reasons i like this game so much is that the men really do look like what you would expect historically.

Those Frenchies were everywhere! Next time I will be playing a campaign in blood mode..... so I will be more worried about losing good men.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2529/4170422942_a048fcd7fc_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2518/4170423646_cdfacba560_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2633/4170421346_48ebb74c3a_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2639/4169662419_243d62693b_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/4170422158_a9c3bba840_b.jpg


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Great news for all you Great Battles Medieval Players. The game is now available in French, German, Italian and Spanish!

Anyone who buys the game from now on will automatically receive the multi language version. If you already have the game and want to upgrade to v1.02 with all the new languages then download it here:

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Beta Patch v1.02 (http://www.slitherine.com/files/gbotma/gbm_patch_v1.02.exe)

If you do not want the new languages you do not need this patch and as its about 500MB it is probably best not to bother unless you really want the other languages!


The WW1 theme of this card is no coincidence but a small hint, expect some exciting new strategy games coming out in 2010!


http://www.thelordzgamesstudio.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/card_01.jpg


A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us here at The Lordz Games Studio!

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

The retail versions of History Great Battles Medieval are coming near. The boxed PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions are coming your way.

Pre-orders are now available at Slitherine, Amazon and various other places.


HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval PC version (http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Great-Battles-Medieval-DVD/dp/B002AS9VEG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1262770897&sr=1-1)

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval Xbox360 version (http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Great-Battles-Medieval-Xbox/dp/B002AS9VDM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1262770897&sr=1-2)

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval PS3 version (http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Great-Battles-Medieval-PS3/dp/B002AS9VDW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1262770897&sr=1-3)

Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Hi guys,

Here some nice sneakpeak screenshots of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of History: Great Battles Medieval. Both versions are currently into final submission at Microsoft and Sony, so our part is played. ;)

If all goes well both console games will hit the retail market soon together with the PC boxed version, all at the same time.

For now enjoy the pictures, the console games look even better in real time. Gameplay is rock solid as in the PC version that is already available as a digital download from Slitherine:

http://www.slitherine.com/

If you want more info about demo plans or the exact release date, please ask Slitherine directly, that is their soul decision to make and not mine to reveal. But the game is finished.

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264696795.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264696838.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264696822.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264696770.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264698933.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264698888.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264698914.jpg

http://www.slitherine.com/screenshots/original/game_1264698851.jpg


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

HISTORY™ Great Battles Medieval got an excellent review from Now!Gamer. The game really made a good impression with the guys at Imagine publishing and they’ve also given it an award. That’s the Dark Horse Award, given to a game that has successfully hidden its greatness right up to the moment of review, where it has been found to be flippin’ marvelous!

A few mouth-watering quotes:

‘It’s perfect for gamers looking for an accessible turn-based strategy game with a more historical bite’.

‘The History Channel footage, gives a fascinating context to your campaign’.

Check the full review:

http://pc-mmo.nowgamer.com/reviews/pc-mmo/9021/history-great-medieval-battles


Cheers,

Tim aka LZ