Some Preview Screenshots

All the UI elements, icons, sprites etc are not final, but all is taking shape nicely

World Map!

Thanks to the awesome donjon RPG Tools (which you should know already if you into anything even remotely related to fantasy) here finally a map of the world - and the first blog post with an image whoo-hoo!

The history of the world page has also been updated with it (and some minor retcon typo fixes)

A bit of background...

If you want to know a bit more about the background of the game here you can read an history of the world so far (and also get some hints at what the playable factions will be...)

Dev Update 1

So, what is the current stage of the game?

The main gameplay mechanics are settled. They works well on tabletop and while changes may come up I have a feeling the direction is right. I will not go over too much details as too many things could change before a first playable release, but I'm particularly happy with the dual Endurance/Morale system and how it interact with other mechanics.

Morale is not a fixed number that barely change during a game, but a core resource that you need to manage carefully. This will open to a lots of different approach like whole armies built around destroying the enemy morale rather than focus on raw killing power. On the other hand an injured unit may suddenly receive a morale boost in certain situations, allowing to hold the line long enough for the reinforcement to come and save the day. 

On more technical news, the battle engine is almost done. The foundations are in place, the GUI is taking shape and the movement phase is already working. My current focus is on the combat phase, with main priorities being the charge and units collision routines and to create or find some nicer assets to replace the placeholder ones - once that is done will be able to start post some early screenshot :)

About the Game

Battalions - Fantasy Battles is a project to port the experience of tabletop wargaming on PC.

Based on a fantasy setting (but with plans to made the engine reusable in future for historical or any other setting) the target is not to create just a generic turn-based strategic game, but something that have the full feeling of a tabletop miniatures game, with great focus on the strategic and tactical aspects.

To this the main targets will be:

• A tabletop simulation experience. All the mechanics and gameplay must be replicable on a real tabletop miniature game - no shortcuts are taken just because something can be done by a software easier than on real: if cannot be done on a tabletop it will not be in the game.

• All must work well on a tabletop too. All the gameplay is tested before on a tabletop with miniatures and dice. If something don't work well there, it will not be in the game.

• Strategy, not powerplaying. There's no fun in fight an army that's hard to beat not because its player is a good tactician but because he's good at math. You should always have the upper hand against that powerhouse netlist if you are a better player.

• Throwing dice is fun. While too much random in a game (real or on a PC) is almost always bad, every wargame player remember that day when an humble unit of peasants hold the line against those elite soldiers, or that lonely archer got a lucky shot that inflict the last mortal wound to a dragon. While the majority of the games will never see anything like that happen, and strategy and tactic are the kings of the battlefield, knowing there's a chance of those moments is part of the wargaming fun.

• No useless units. It makes sense that some units are stronger that others in terms of raw power, but no units should be just a dead weight: every unit down to the weakest one should have a specific role in the battlefield where they are considered more useful than a stronger one in that specific situation.

• No rock-paper-scissor gameplay, no hard counters. Also called "the spearmen problem". Spearmen may be stronger against cavalry and may usually beat them on normal situations, but it does not makes sense when fifty knights lose after a charge on ten spearmen only because they are an hard counter to it. Spearman should have a strong advantage, but not auto-win on every situation.

• Fun allowed! Kinda the whole of point of all this is create something that is FUN to play. If a specific mechanic sounds great on paper but turn out to just not being fun, then is out.

Some notes about myself:

• English is not my native language, so feel free to correct me about any typos or errors you may find around :)
• I'm developing this alone ground up, I'm putting all my heart in this project but I have only so much hours in a day - if you are interested in help contact me: any help, idea or feedback will be appreciated.