Good, but not too loooong, wargames?

[skeezix]

I'm a big fan of Civilization and other long winded turn based wargames. I keep buying the Civs, but I never actually play them much.. who has time to burn on a 20 hour game? I shoudl go play Master of MAgic or Civilization 1/2, since you can rush them, but sometimes you want a modern game, that is good quality, but not long winded. Heck, someone adopted the code for Empire Deluxe, so you can get newer versions of that, but it still lokos and feeld 20 years old.


Theres Wesnoth of course; theres aslsdo the PSX-derivatives such as Final Fantasy Tactics, which has a billion re-re-releases (ie: on PSP, and about to be on iphone).


What other good modenr turn based _wargames_ are there? (where you have units, you conquer cities, that sort of thing)?


PC, iphone, linux...


I know I know, Advance Wars (too cute for me), and I really shoudl try FFT, but I'm hoping to find something more wargamey like Civ, but not taking 20 hours, you know?


Civ Rev is faster, but still seems to take 10 hours a match; I'd like somethign like that, that you can do in 2 hours...


Anything?


jeff

 

[Nintendo]

What about RTS war games like Age of Empires and WarCraft/StarCraft?

 

[Orion4874]

They're pretty long but Rome: Total War or Star Wars: Empire at War are both very good games. If you start now you could be done by the time the twins arrive!


Pretty much most games from that genre are usually pretty lengthy. There's always Jagged Alliance which may not be as long as most.

 

[DaMummy]

ive enjoyed the earlier Settlers games, similar to civ, might be a little cartoony at times and it also doesnt revolve around war, but is a part of it. would be fun to replay on pandora, but its closed source and all that jibber jabber

 

[foxblock]

There is a new, Advance-Wars-like game made for the RIOT competition, it should be out soon for at least the CAANOO and Wiz and probably the Pandora:


http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/59360-paper-wars/


But actually that is even "cuter" than Advance Wars so might not be what you are looking for.

 

[bzar]

Come play Wars (my browser game) with me, you already have an account . Takes only minutes per day

 

[stratego]

Don't know if it fits, but I loved Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty. I played that on MS-DOS for hours and hours. In fact, I'm going to rescue my old copy and try to run it on DOSbox on the OP

 

[dgame]

Risk: The Game of World Conquest


Risk iPhone:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/w9xJwKIrxus?feature=oembed

Risk II PC:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfCXtJotoNc


Though I prefer the classic 1980's Macintosh version:

 

[mcobit]

Get modern warfare2 shortest wargame I ever played

 

[Timstertoo]

I've always wanted to have an online version of Colonial Conquest where you can play with friends and when it's your turn you just make a move when you have time for it.


Now that I've started my bachelors in software engineering I might be able to do this myself one day.


I understand it's not exactly what you mean but you'd be able to play it without being glued to it for hours on end.


It's hard for adults with a life to get fully immersed in games as you could when you were younger. I simply haven't got the time for it anymore. There is just no way I can drink beer, smoke weed and eat junkfood at my friends place for three days sleeping whenever we topple over and play Heroes of Might and Magic III on an XL map like I used to 15 years ago.


And the fact that I can't just sucks monkeyballs as I certainly do have serious attacks of melancholy thinking about it


So I guess people in our situation need games that give us the immersion without the time drain and there is a contradiction in there that would be hard to beat.


One idea I've been having for a while is to build shorter games but in a series. Best example would be a point and click adventure you would be able to buy for your pc/Android/iPhone whatever for just a couple of €'s and can finish in 2/3 hours. Then a month later you can buy the next installment that will continue the story but once again will have a clear beginning and an end.


That way you can have the satisfaction of "finishing" a game, have no problem with the price and still get the immersion by following the series for longer time.


I'm not only starting to ramble, but getting off topic too so I'll stop now

 

[skeezix]

Colonial Conquest ftw


Settlers has an iphone port, too..


On the run right now, I'l respond in full soon


jeff

 

[skeezix]

I used to be annoyed by shorter games.. when I laid down my $60, I wanted a good 100 hour game; CoD and such now that are 6 hours long are insulting..


.. but I also don't mind shorter games if they're high quality now, since I might actually see part of them now


--


On the PSP there was a Adv Wars 'clone', but what stood it apart was that you could hang a game multiplayer up on a Sony server, and when you did your turn it'd notify the other guy and he coudl do his turn; you could do it in near realtime, or do it one turn when you got a chance, of hours/days/weeks. Surprised no one else adds such functions to their turn based mP games...


jeff

 

[foxblock]

What about Defcon?


It's certainly a wargame and a very interesting and different type of one at that.


Won't probably make you feel better after you played it though...

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5TfETZiFxq8?feature=oembed

It's by the guys of Introversion - you know the ones who made Darwinia.


http://www.introversion.co.uk/defcon/

 

[darfgarf]

It's certainly a wargame and a very interesting and different type of one at that.

A strange game, the only winning move is not to play

 

[ikreos]

Cannon Fodder!


+1 for Dune II

 

[slaeshjag]

It's certainly a wargame and a very interesting and different type of one at that.

A strange game, the only winning move is not to play

It's not about winning, it's about loosing the least.

 

[dgame]

Cannon Fodder!


...

What I thought when I read Cannon Fodder:

If I recall correctly this one is two player only so bring a friend.

 

[Thorium]

In my opinion Battle Isle 2 is the best RBS game ever created. It's a lot like Advance Wars just more advanced. ^^


They are very similar because both games are inspired by another game: Nectaris.


You should check it out. It's DOS only, maybe it runs in DOSBox on Pandora.


There is a Battle Isle 3 and even a Battle Isle 4 but stick with Battle Isle 2, it's clearly the best of the series.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWqgmAk17KI

 

[ikreos]

Cannon Fodder!


...

What I thought when I read Cannon Fodder:


<snip image>


If I recall correctly this one is two player only so bring a friend.

I never had a Mac, I was always an Amiga person. Though from that image it looks like one of the many tank battle games. Scorched tanks was one of my fav Amiga games. Blast Doors Is an old Windows only game that was unique at the time since you could create your own custom weapons and it is on a 3d playfield. I spent many hours with that game.


Also Dicewars is a flash game but it's a nice risk like game using dice.


@Thorium: Battle Isle 2 was also on the Amiga

 

[Thorium]

@Thorium: Battle Isle 2 was also on the Amiga

No, it wasnt. Only Battle Isle 1 and the data disks for it.


Battle Isle 2 was advertised for Amiga but never released.