Free war / strategy board games
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Free war / strategy board games
I've been looking for a free war / strategy game that isn't to hard to understand, and should be meant to be played in one sitting. Diplomacy is sort of what I'm looking for, but It was meant for a lot of people and to be played by (e)mail. So it needs to easy enough to understand how to play within an hour, has to be meant for a small number of people, and it can't drag on for hours on end (axis and allies is great, but while not free, it doesn't consume an incredible amount of time). So, any ideas?
EDIT: Oh, and I have to be able to make all the assets myself. Just a map and pieces would be nice. I can print an unlimited number of pages, so that isn't a problem...
EDIT: Oh, and I have to be able to make all the assets myself. Just a map and pieces would be nice. I can print an unlimited number of pages, so that isn't a problem...
Re: Free war / strategy board games
So you're looking for a tabletop game?Dveman115 wrote:I've been looking for a free war / strategy game that isn't to hard to understand, and should be meant to be played in one sitting. Diplomacy is sort of what I'm looking for, but It was meant for a lot of people and to be played by (e)mail. So it needs to easy enough to understand how to play within an hour, has to be meant for a small number of people, and it can't drag on for hours on end (axis and allies is great, but while not free, it doesn't consume an incredible amount of time). So, any ideas?
EDIT: Oh, and I have to be able to make all the assets myself. Just a map and pieces would be nice. I can print an unlimited number of pages, so that isn't a problem...
Wesnoth Bestiary ( PREVIEW IT HERE )
Unit tree and stat browser
Canvas ( PREVIEW IT HERE )
Exp. map viewer
Unit tree and stat browser
Canvas ( PREVIEW IT HERE )
Exp. map viewer
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Board game, table-top game...it's all the same in my book. Any suggestions?
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Settlers of Catan?
Carcassone?
These aren't "war games" per se, but they are strategy board games, and they are quickly played, and lots of fun. IMO strict "war games" diverge from being playable in a short amount of time.
David
Carcassone?
These aren't "war games" per se, but they are strategy board games, and they are quickly played, and lots of fun. IMO strict "war games" diverge from being playable in a short amount of time.
David
“At Gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.” -- Ian Fleming
- Sgt. Groovy
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Re: Free war / strategy board games
Chess?
Tiedäthän kuinka pelataan.
Tiedäthän, vihtahousua vastaan.
Tiedäthän, solmu kravatin, se kantaa niin synnit
kuin syntien tekijätkin.
Tiedäthän, vihtahousua vastaan.
Tiedäthän, solmu kravatin, se kantaa niin synnit
kuin syntien tekijätkin.
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Wallenstein should be a good fit (currently on the market as Shogun, a remake in a feudal Japan theme). Economics and strategic assessment play a big role, and are cleverly implemented (you'll never be able to do as much as you want in a turn). There are custom rules for 2-player games, I believe.
Wallenstein can be tried out on http://www.spielbyweb.com, where you can also check out the rules.
I don't know any "free" games of this type that are really any good (and most strategy games have a lot of components which need to be of a certain quality to enjoy the game and stay on the board).
Wallenstein can be tried out on http://www.spielbyweb.com, where you can also check out the rules.
I don't know any "free" games of this type that are really any good (and most strategy games have a lot of components which need to be of a certain quality to enjoy the game and stay on the board).
Try some Multiplayer Scenarios / Campaigns
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Axis and Allies is indeed free.axis and allies is great, but while not free, it doesn't consume an incredible amount of time
http://triplea.sourceforge.net/mywiki
- Dragonchampion
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Re: Free war / strategy board games
Or, if you look long enough, you will find the 1998 version free.
Ehhhh... don't mind me, I'm just the annoying little modder who gets on peoples nerves. I'll just lurk till Someone says my name. :P
Oh, and also Creator of The War Of Terrador
Oh, and also Creator of The War Of Terrador
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Battle for Moscow
I would kill for this many free prints.Dveman115 wrote:I can print an unlimited number of pages, so that isn't a problem...
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
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Re: Free war / strategy board games
Yes, yes it does. Great game, but I've seen it last well over 6 hours. In fact, most people can't set it up in less than an hour.jb wrote:axis and allies is great, but while not free, it doesn't consume an incredible amount of time
Oh no look out its a ray gun.
You should move to avoid the rays
the rays are coming out of the gun
if you are hit by the rays
you will be shot by the rays
the rays are fast so you should be fast to
can you win against the fast rays from the gun?
You should move to avoid the rays
the rays are coming out of the gun
if you are hit by the rays
you will be shot by the rays
the rays are fast so you should be fast to
can you win against the fast rays from the gun?
Re: Free war / strategy board games
I'll put my vote for Puerto Rico. Definitely not war and very much strategy, it's resources based, in the Caribbean of course.
And not only is the tabletop version awesome, there's a free online version too.
http://www.phial.com/puerto-rico/
(Should be Win, Mac, and Linux.)
And not only is the tabletop version awesome, there's a free online version too.
http://www.phial.com/puerto-rico/
(Should be Win, Mac, and Linux.)
Wesnoth Bestiary ( PREVIEW IT HERE )
Unit tree and stat browser
Canvas ( PREVIEW IT HERE )
Exp. map viewer
Unit tree and stat browser
Canvas ( PREVIEW IT HERE )
Exp. map viewer
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Games like axis and allies, Risk, etc, were just made to be played on a computer. They succeeded as board games only because strategy games are very addictive, as we all know, and people were willing to put up with the time cost to play them the only way possible.unsung wrote:Yes, yes it does. Great game, but I've seen it last well over 6 hours. In fact, most people can't set it up in less than an hour.jb wrote:
It was always barely tenable, except for the few freaks who could actually afford the time cost. I'm not sorry to see the physical/traditional strategy gaming genre die to computer equivalents of the exact same games. Good riddance. Playing them on a physical board sucked - I've been there, and I know.
Play Frogatto & Friends - a finished, open-source adventure game!
Re: Free war / strategy board games
I would disagree. There are some things that the computer does make much more convinent. However there are also many things that always feel better when you're playing them in person. Admittedly, I don't like playing risk on or off a computer and I whole heartly agree that Axis and Allies works better on a computer. However there are some war games that just wouldn't be as fun to play through that interface and without the interaction.
"There are two kinds of old men in the world. The kind who didn't go to war and who say that they should have lived fast died young and left a handsome corpse and the old men who did go to war and who say that there is no such thing as a handsome corpse."
Re: Free war / strategy board games
Agreed, I've played them on a physical board as well (they are not that old), and I have good memories of getting together with some buddies and sitting down to play through a game for a night. If it took longer than that, you can just put it up somewhere to finish later or tally up who was in the best position to win, and that was that.Velensk wrote:I would disagree. There are some things that the computer does make much more convinent. However there are also many things that always feel better when you're playing them in person. Admittedly, I don't like playing risk on or off a computer and I whole heartly agree that Axis and Allies works better on a computer. However there are some war games that just wouldn't be as fun to play through that interface and without the interaction.
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UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
Re: Free war / strategy board games
You can play videogames in person - It's called hotseat. Or a 'lan party'. It's exactly like playing board games in person, except the games suck less. I'm not arguing that it was impossible to have a good time doing tabletop games; I'm arguing that it's better on a computer. It's like the argument between reading news on paper, versus reading news on a computer.Turuk wrote:Agreed, I've played them on a physical board as well (they are not that old), and I have good memories of getting together with some buddies and sitting down to play through a game for a night. If it took longer than that, you can just put it up somewhere to finish later or tally up who was in the best position to win, and that was that.Velensk wrote:I would disagree. There are some things that the computer does make much more convinent. However there are also many things that always feel better when you're playing them in person. Admittedly, I don't like playing risk on or off a computer and I whole heartly agree that Axis and Allies works better on a computer. However there are some war games that just wouldn't be as fun to play through that interface and without the interaction.
Seriously. Imagine if wesnoth took 2-4 times longer to play than it does now (no rule changes). Be honest with yourself - would you still be able to play it? I know it would be so slow that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it at all. For me, once I played risk on a computer, it was "once you go black, you don't go back." The first time I played a computerized version, I pretty much permanently swore off the board version. It was like taking rocks out of my shoes. I haven't played a non-computer strategy game in years, and I'm not looking back.
Believe me; if anyone is a canonical case for someone who should like this stuff, I am. This is coming from a guy who designed about 2 (primitive) wargames when I was about 10. I have the natural urge to do it. I didn't call them 'wargames' then; we were just looking for something more interesting to do during our lunchbreaks than tabletop football or "pogs", but looking back, it's exactly what they were. I even had hitpoints, terrain, and movetypes. (The terrain was drawn onto a sheet of graph paper, and the units were little "multiple of a cell-size" cutouts of graph paper. We had infantry, tanks, planes, and each of them had different rules for moving over different kinds of ground. It was like Advance Wars on graph paper, for a modern comparison.) It was fun to design it, but the actual play of it was all a sham. It sucked; we got like 2-3 moves into it and the lunchbreak was over. We tried it for several weeks and finally stopped playing it in disgust. It was vaporware; we liked the idea of it, but actually playing it wasn't fun because it took too long.
Play Frogatto & Friends - a finished, open-source adventure game!