Early medieval strategy game?

[.Sigurd]

Something like Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion. Turn based or real time.
Suggestions?

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

So a Dark Ages game... didn't Mondblut have this thread like a month back?

 

[Ruprekt]

Yep and the conclusion was there aren't any.

For medieval there's tons: crusader kings and knights of honor are my faves.

 

[fastjack]

re

there was the dark age game by the designer of the europa universalis board game, Great Invasions. Last time I tried it it was hopelessly buggy, though I'd be interested in hearing if it has gotten better since then.

 

[Malakal]

Nope, its still a buggy mess. You cant even play specific nations but some random coalitions too... Not a very good example of a dark ages game. Not that there are any other.

 

[mondblut]

Yes, we had that thread a while back. If you can tolerate a great deal of fantasy with magic, giants and humongous pauldrons, get Celtic Tales or King Arthur: The Roleplaying Warcraft Wargame. If you want it honest to death, your only options are Mount&Blade mod Brytenwalda and the below-mediocre Great Invasions.

 

[Trash]

RTW with the Viking Invasion mod is nice. Not to mention that the original MTW is great if(!) you can get it to run properly.

 

[spectre]

if(!) you can get it to run properly.

Just patch the shit out of it and it should work. For some unknown reasons, the loading times can get nasty (ie. you'll have to wait whole minutes for the battlemap to lad), compatibility mode and disabling multiple cores sometimes work.

 

[Ladders & Snakes]

Lords of the Realm 2

 

[Malakal]

Lords of the Realm 2

Ahh a true gem. I loved it back in the days. Pity that 3 sucks. But its very much worth playing, even if enemy AI is far from impressive.

 

[mondblut]

(somehow people always miss the "EARLY" part...)

 

[Ruprekt]

I think to most people medieval means 9/10th to 14/15th C?

 

[Zed]

Knights and Merchants

 

[Malakal]

I think to most people medieval means 9/10th to 14/15th C?

Nope, its from the fall of the western Rome. At least here in Poland. But when you thing medieval you imagine plate clad knghts with kickass maces or something alternatively vikings...

 

[Ruprekt]

Yeah the nomenclature probably varies form country to country and historian to historian.

According to wikipedia medieval - as you say - covers a thousand years from the 5th to the 15th C.

But the common usage here is to describe the "early medieval" as the dark ages.

I guess it's like the term "antiquity".

You can have:

ancient history -> classical history-> dark ages -> medieval history

or you can have:

early antiquity -> classical antiquity -> late antiquity -> early medieval -> high medieval -> late medieval

 

[JarlFrank]

I associate with early medieval: anything between the End of West Rome till the splitting of the Frankish Empire or till Hastings.

So, 565 AD till about 1066 AD. Or till 1095 if you take the First Crusade as the beginning of the high middle ages.
Then again, some people include the dark ages before the fall of Rome in there, too, so it might start before the 560s.

 

[Malakal]

Rome was collapsing for a long time, the capture and pillaging of the city is just a good time stamp.

One could as well argue that the introduction of Christianity as official religion of the empire was the more important starting date. Or that the empire ended when last successor states in the west stopped calling themselves as the Roman Empire (not including the HRE).

But again there are almost no games in the period.

 

[ChristofferC]

I learned in school that the middle ages didn't start until the 12th century. The time before that was the viking age. This picture is basically ingrained in my brain.

 

[Codexlurker]

Rome was collapsing for a long time, the capture and pillaging of the city is just a good time stamp.

One could as well argue that the introduction of Christianity as official religion of the empire was the more important starting date. Or that the empire ended when last successor states in the west stopped calling themselves as the Roman Empire (not including the HRE).

But again there are almost no games in the period.

Or rather after Adrianople. Try the IBFD SAI mod for RTW BI. Interesting settings and named legions/auxilia.

 

[.Sigurd]

I always thought that dark ages = fall of the Western Roman Empire -> 10/11th century.

 

[JarlFrank]

I learned in school that the middle ages didn't start until the 12th century. The time before that was the viking age. This picture is basically ingrained in my brain.

Location = Sweden

Well yeah, every country has its own periodization. In England, the transition from Early to High MA is in a different year than in Germany. Scandinavians use Viking Age instead of Early MA. Middle Eastern and Far Eastern countries have completely different eras, too.

Era-transitions differ between all the European countries as far as I know. Usually it's a date where "something important happened in my country", which is why in Germany the early modern age starts with Luther, while for Spain it starts with the discovery of America.

 

[mondblut]

But when you thing medieval you imagine plate clad knghts with kickass maces or something alternatively vikings...

It's like being suggested Panzer General and Combat Mission everytime you ask for a WW1 game :/

 

[mondblut]

I learned in school that the middle ages didn't start until the 12th century. The time before that was the viking age. This picture is basically ingrained in my brain.

Hey, in Africa they probably teach middle ages started in 19 century with the coming of white massa, and all the time before was the nigger age

Or used to, anyway, nowadays they probably teach niggers knew space travel since times immemorial, until the evil white man arrived and made them forget.

 

[curry]

Crusader Kings

 

[abradley]

If your willing to accept 1000 to 1400 AD there's SSI's Medeival Lords 1991.

Although quite well received upon first release, Medieval Lords had many bugs that were not fixed until patch 1.1, which was not widely available and so this game never took off. It is a very historically accurate recreation of the period from 1000 AD to around 1400 AD. Advise a king or sheik from any nation in the world and deal with taxes, war, diplomacy, the Pope, real historical events and personalities, plus many other things! Overall, a far more effective use of the Storm Across Europe game engine.

Review ©Home of the Underdogs

The game and patch are available on the net.

IIRC it was originally developed by a High/College School teacher as a teaching aid.