rate the game

[clayton ballentine]

i like RTW way better than the STW and the MTW

[Irinami]

I rated STW a 7.

It is a good model, but when you get down to the simulation and wargaming aspects it starts to fall short, and certainly lacks in the historical accuracy regards.

6 Daimyo clans, "Rebels and Ronin" being one of them, seriously detracts from it to me. To my understanding, the concept of armies of samurai is at best pinned upon a loose (and poor) usage and/or mingling of the terms "samurai" and "bushi," and the idea of them being uniform is often (but not always) laughable. Some of the units themselves are laughable--having "No-Dachi Samurai," for just one example, is like having "Pistol Fallschirmjaegers" in a WWII game. Yes, many FJ's did have pistols, but that was far from their only--or even primary--weapon.

A lack of independent unit AI is quite questionable, as is the lack of any ability to specify "the big picture." A commander who must babysit his units is laughable for any disciplined, trained force (it would be understandable for ashigaru units to lack independent thought save for fleeing).

Generals' loyalties and politicking would have greatly improved the Strategy aspects. The abilities to 1.) disengage, 2.) about-face/change what the unit's "front" is, and 3.) split forces, would have made for a more believable and, to my understanding, historically accurate wargame. The absence of naval combat of any sort (yes friends, it did play an important role) and the absence of actual marine assualt is disappointing, but understandable.

Instead we have an excellent game centered upon battlefield tactics using a rather Greco-Roman filter to view the military structures of the Sengoku-Jidai era. While lacking in specifics, including some very important specifics, in the end it models the period well and in a fashion which, while a bit too fast-and-loose for the serious wargaming/military simulation crowd, is enjoyable to anyone with interest in tactical wargames or in the setting.

How's that?

[Quietus]

In terms of popular internet review standards (relatively speaking):

STW - 9.5
MTW - 8.2
RTW - 9.2