Pike and Shot Campaigns Load Your Muskets
If you like you war games with a bit of history then Pike and Shot Campaigns 1494 – 1698 is going to be right up your street, as you get the chance to play out some of the glorious campaigns of that era including The Great Turkish War, the Thirty Years War and the English Civil War.
As well as having the option of playing one of the campaigns above, you can also play in skirmish mode selecting a single battle of your choice, or if you’re feeling really brave why not take on another playing in a head to head with the multiplayer feature.
Ok now we have got the introduction out of the way let’s take a closer look at the game itself; beginning with the start-up interface, here you can make your choice of play historical, skirmish, campaign, multi-player and editor which allows you to customise your own scenarios, now it should be said that this particular version is the latest and includes the previous version of Pike and Shot plus the expansion Tercio to Salvo so if already own the original you get a saving of 75% when you upgrade to Campaigns.
Before you jump straight into playing the game, I highly recommend you run through the tutorial not only does it give you a clear understanding of the gameplay, but it also teaches you a lot about the units and types of terrain in the game which will greatly enhance your combat readiness.
The game itself is turn based with a really easy to use interface where all movement and play is controlled via the mouse. Each side will start with a set number of units mostly made up of Pike Men and Musketeers combined with a number of Calvary and Artillery units of various types.
Placing the mouse cursor over a unit will give you its statistics, close combat, shooting, armour, action points, number of people in unit and type of unit all of which come into effect when planning your attack; a little note – control clicking on a unit will bring up a detailed report on how well they shoot or how much they impact against other units which is very handy for planning your strategies.
Each battle takes place over a large squared map with players being able to map out their armies at the start, combat being once a unit is either close enough to shoot or commence melee with the idea being to rout your opponents units from the field of conflict, this happens first by disrupting a unit then fragmenting and finally routing, sounds easy? Trust me it’s not as you will often see your own unit follow your opponents off the field as it gives chase.
There is a lot to like about this game the more you play it, the more you will get from it, with even the smallest piece of ground having an effect on the outcome of battle, that being said do not expect to be wining straight off, you really will need to get to know your units and use the lay of the land well to accomplish any real success add the multiplayer option that allows you to accept and post challenges on Slitherine’s easy to use PBEM server and the historical snippets of information make this game one of my favourites that I am finding very hard to put down as I take one more turn at gaining victory.
Matrix Games is part of the Slitherine Group
About the Slitherine Group
The Slitherine Group is the world’s leading producer and publisher of digital wargames and strategy games. Under the Slitherine (www.slitherine.com), Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) and Ageod (www.ageod.com) brands it has published literally hundreds of games, with many award-winning titles in its portfolio and spanning all digital platforms, from home consoles to modern Smartphone’s and Tablets. Slitherine is also involved with book publishing, board gaming and works with a wide array of key licensing partners, such as HISTORY®, MILITARY HISTORY®, Games Workshop®, Horrible Histories™, Showtime, BBC, Osprey, Scholastic, Buzz Aldrin Enterprises and many others to deliver the best blend of historical accuracy in an exciting and entertaining way. Together the Group companies form the world’s largest organization specializing in this important and vibrant niche. The Slitherine Group’s mission over the coming years is to lead the way in innovation and growth in an ever expanding segment of the entertainment industry.