CoViD19 Quarantine Games - for PC, consoles and/or tablet/iPad?

[WuZhuiQiu]

Although this may be a great time to work on some hobby projects, the thought of PC gaming has reared its ugly head after many years' absence, ha ha. What are some current historical PC games that have modest PC requirements? Is the TotalWar series still viable? What is there that is set in ancient times, or in ancient China or the late Roman Republic, to be more specific?

[N.C.S.E]

Total War remains a strong series and worth your time. If your requirements are truly modest however they might be beyond your computer. If you buy them through Steam, Steam will allow you to refund it no questions asked if you play it for less than 2 hours. Something to keep in mind if you're unsure if the games will run.

Rome II TW will do you for ancients. Attila for late ancients and the lastest instalment: "3 Kingdoms" will do you for China. However, since it's new, it might require a more powerful PC then you have.

Other games to consider include "Field of Glory II" (a relation to the ancients game) which I believe does ancients at the least, not sure about China or late roman periods.

[President Buer]

Whilst Total War is fun it does have a habit of a lot of battles turning into a massacre/pyrrhic victory. Of the bunch I found the earlier games - Rome: Total War, Total War: Medieval II, and Shogun:Total War - to be a bit more fun than the newer entries. Plus with them being over 10 years old they usually work on 'potato' PCs.

I also recommend Field of Glory II if your PC can play it. There is a sister game to it, Field of Glory: Empires, a grand strategy game that allows you to export battles into FoG II. (Empires has a more basic battle system built in but FoG II has a full one built around the tabletop rules)
Another game using the same engine, but lacking a grand strategy level, is Sengoku Jidai which covers Japan, Korea and some of China.

And if you think your PC may struggle with them then there are also the old Great Battles games which cover Hannibal Caesar, and Alexander.

There's a hundred more games to recommend but most are in the black powder and WW2 eras, if you are curious google "John Tiller games" and "Scourge of War".

P.S. I've tried to post the cheapest outlet for each game, GOG is having a sale right now so it may be worthwhile poking around the strategy section of their webpage.

[Ninefingers]

I've played Medieval Total War 2 for more hours than I would like to admit...

[Hu Rhu]

I've played Medieval Total War 2 for more hours than I would like to admit...

Sadly me too!

[N.C.S.E]

Sadly me too!

It's the best of the series.

[Byblos]

HEGEMONY GOLD is a must-have !



And the 2 (Caesar campaigns) and 3 (Pyrrhus campaigns) are OK too !

And the AGEOD wargames are really goods ! (RUS, Civil War 2, To end all wars, Etc ...)

[Cubs]

I know it's seriously old school, but Civ 3 has yet to be topped as far as I'm concerned, for sheer time-thievery.

[Arrigo]

As games set in ancient china are concerned I have found Oriental Empires quite entertaining. Mind you nothing fancy as 3 Kingdoms Total Wars, but it works well. Also Three Kingdoms 13 from Koei.

Fields of Glory II has reasonable system requirements, pleasant graphics, massive amount of armies (with the expansions), and some good chap even added Chinese armies. Certainly it fully covers late roman republic!  If you want to move a bit up on the time ladder, Sengoku Jidai (Fields of glory renaissance in asia).

PS: what you mean for viable?

[Ninefingers]

It's the best of the series.

And it runs on my Windows XP PC!

[Doug ex-em4]

Following on from the question about PC games, has anyone recommendations for iPad games? Especially (but not exclusively) free ones....!

Doug

[Westfalia Chris]

Chaps,

A little reminder that strictly-speaking, computer/video gaming is out-of-scope for this board except if at least tangentially related to the minis focus of LAF (e.g. as inspiration for a project).

Given the exceptional situation, though, I'm okay with having a thread on this for the time being, but merged the two.

[Doug ex-em4]

Chaps,

A little reminder that strictly-speaking, computer/video gaming is out-of-scope for this board except if at least tangentially related to the minis focus of LAF (e.g. as inspiration for a project).

Given the exceptional situation, though, I'm okay with having a thread on this for the time being, but merged the two.

Quite right and thank you....

Doug

[Sir_Theo]

For a zoomed out Tactical experience the Paradox games are great. They look like CIV games but play very differently.

Crusader Kings 2- Dynasty simulator set in the Dark Ages-medieval period. Great fun when your heir turns out to be a Damien like spawn of Satan.

Victoria 2- 19th century Colony building

Hearts of Iron 4- Grand Strategy WW2

Europa Universalis- Picks up from where Crusader Kings leaves off.

Stellaris- Space EMpires

Also I second the suggestion to search GOG.com, particularly if more modern games may tax your PC. The CIV  3 complete collection (which I agree was a great game) is currently £1.19! also worth a look are the old Warhammer games (shadow of the horned rat and Dark Omen)

[thebinmann]

Age of Empires 2 on Steam is as good as it was 25 years ago

What type of ipad game do you want:
Puzzle: Patchwork (3 quid?), Friday (3 quid), Tusro
Board:
Dice: Elder Sign (4 quid?)
Wargame: Warbands Bushido, Civil War Battles by John Tiller (he has loads)

Not game, but just to let you know that in France the cable channel Canal+ and OCS are free, perhaps Sky might do the same?