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Wages of War: The Business of Battle

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
Have you had the joyful experience of growing up in the 90s? Or even being a grown-up in the 90s?

Have you then also had the not entirely timeless experience of playing Wages of War: Business of Battle, made by Random Games, and published by New World Computing? If yes - what an awesome experience we share! If no - what were you even doing with your life back then?? Establishing a family??? Busy not even being born yet!?!?!?!? Pffff...

This game, although dated by today's standards, and not really aged all that well, was (and still is, in my opinion) a true gem of a game! I shudder at saying it's XCOM-like, or Jagged Alliance-like. It's in the same genre, but it certainly stands on it's own feet! I remember coming over to a friend's place one day, and he had somehow managed to acquire a pirated copy of this game. And we played it. So. Damn. Much. He gave me a copy of it, but over the years I lost it - but not my wish to play the game! So, when I found it in a working condition after some googling, as it is now abandonware, I just had to get into it again! Playing it on a modern computer has it's issues, but nothing game-breaking.

So, have you been able to experience this, like me, when it was fresh and new, before it's mechanics got dated?

If not, I have a few videos out of it on youtube, and I intend to play through the entire campaign and upload an episode of each of the 16 total missions it has to offer. I've been trying to find some videos over the years of it on youtube myself, but there has never really been any out there. There was for the longest time just a one minute clip of some gameplay, and a video of the intro of the game. There's been some video uploads from an American guy about a year ago, but... and I'm not trying to bash him or anything - the quality of those videos are not the best (probably mine aren't either). In videos of the game, he has the TV running in the background at all times, and even plays other games in the same videos!

No! I couldn't take it! I had to make some videos of a proper playthrough myself! And hopefully I have been able to do so in a way that respects the game. Youtube was lacking content on this game, and I will now provide it! Certainly someone can come along and do better - and I encourage anyone to do so!

Here is the first couple of videos I've got out - more will start appearing rapidly. Heck, by the time you read this, I might have already finished the playthrough!





Let me know; did I respectfully present the game? Do you have any stories from the game yourself that you'd like to share? I'd love to hear about them from someone that might share my fascination for this beauty of a game!

Well, that's all I've got for now. Have a good day, folks!
 

oscar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,038
Location
NZ
Just finished the first episode and will watch the second later.

The dud grenade was quite amusing. Even compared to Jagged Alliance your mercenaries seem to start off as some real bum outfit using old bargain bin WW2 surplus equipment in the '90s. To the point a random South American drug lord's security guards are far better armed than you.

"We're not the Marines or anything we're just gonna leave you behind.." :lol:

You've got a good voice and sense of humour.
 
Glory to Ukraine
Joined
Nov 22, 2020
Messages
2,199
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming!
BTW any tips on how to make this run on Windows 10? I got my hands on an ISO, but it wont even install.
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
nice voice bro, asmr tier.

Not quite sure how to respond to that, but thanks I suppose :oops:

BTW any tips on how to make this run on Windows 10? I got my hands on an ISO, but it wont even install.

I think I got my copy of the game off myabandonware.com - there are a few different ISOs and such out there of the game if you google for it. It's been a few years since I installed it, so I'm not quite sure how I got it, or got it to work anymore at this time I'm afraid.

There are a few different file sizes going around on what you can download also, and I can at least say that my game folder is 467MB, with the save files. It also contains these three files;

- "!Read_Me_First!"
- "1. SETUP THE GAME ONCE"
- "2. RUN THE GAME"

Not sure if this helps - I don't think I used an ISO to get the game working. It could have been a ZIP file with these files in the first folder within it.
If you provide me some place to upload it to, I could send you my folder, if that would help.

Hope you get it working, it's a great game!
It's like Strike Commander and Jagged Alliance had a love child :incline:

I haven't tried Strike Commander myself, but I'll take your word for it! And based on what you're saying here, I think I might have to look into Strike Commander as well! :)
 

Kwota

Augur
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
123
Location
Ostfront
Still have the original game somewhere, I found the instruction booklet tho.

d3JGkWa.jpg


I distinctly remember playing through a mission underground/in some kind of bunker. I know that I never finished the campaign either from lack of money or failed due to timeframes.

Calling for Koala Pizza always made my day back then.

Authors of this game also made "Soildiers at War" which was also turn-based tactics set in WW2 but it wasn't as fun as this one.
 

zool

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
897
Yes, Wages of War: The Business of Battle (1996) was developed by Random Games, which subsequently made slightly better known WW2-themed Soldiers at War (1998) and Squad Leader (2000). Sadly, I haven't found the time to play them yet but they look like lost (though possibly flawed) gems. That being said, Wages of War certainly looks more original and, being released in the same era than Jagged Alliance and Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games, didn't get the opportunity to get a fantastic sequel like the latter two did to lift up the franchise to new (and so far unrivalled) levels.

Speaking about lost and flawed WW2-themed squad tactics games from the same era, be sure to check out 101: The Airborne Invasion of Normandy (1998) by Interactive Simulations - I wrote a super short review here a couple of years ago for those interested.

The end of the 90s was such an interesting era for videogames, before the 3D wave struck.
 

Kwota

Augur
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
123
Location
Ostfront
101: The Airborne Invasion of Normandy;

Now this is something that I do have physical media on hand. Such a wasted potential of a game.


dV2EeP4.jpg


I never knew that squad leader was made by the same team, the more you know I guess.

Soldiers at War was a shitty game, only possible saving grace was that it tackled scenarios that are rather under utilized in games (first mission is landing in Sicily iirc ).
 

agris

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
6,810
Kwota why was soldiers of war bad? I remember being hyped for it when it was released but I never played it.
 

Kwota

Augur
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
123
Location
Ostfront
It looked worse than it's predecessor. Nonexistent A.I. Retardation with inventories due to class system.

Nevertheless if you find it go play it.
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
I see Soldiers at War is described online as the sequel to Wages of War. I find that statement a bit hard to believe, but if it's from the same developers, I have to thank you guys for bringing it to my attention!

I'm definitely gonna look into getting that game working as well, and maybe I do some youtube playthrough of that as well! If it's made from the creators of Wages of War, surely it can't be too bad? I looked up some videos on it, and it seems a bit more "messy" than Wages of War tho, but hey, deffo wanna try it!
 

Strig

Learned
Joined
Oct 29, 2021
Messages
877
Location
Between the pages of Potato's "Republic"
TheFjordFox, I commend you on your patience. I wanted to play Wages of War ever since I saw the review in one of the magazines. The office screen sold the concept for me, even if the combat graphics didn't scream "quality game" (I like these old stabs at immersing the player in the role, Transarctica in a similar "office" setting offered the best way to quit the game I've ever seen). Unfortunately, upon trying to play it on a modern hardware I encountered the same problems as you. They were a bit too much for me and it still remains one of the games I can't play (at least not without significant hassle). So thanks for sharing your gameplay, t'was a pleasant watch.
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
Can't wait for the rest of the play-through!

It is already completed! :P I just haven't been putting out the episodes on the forum here as I've played along - you can find them all on my youtube channel tho, which should be accessible from the initial couple of videos I posted. Glad you like them! :)

Still have the original game somewhere, I found the instruction booklet tho.

I distinctly remember playing through a mission underground/in some kind of bunker. I know that I never finished the campaign either from lack of money or failed due to timeframes.

Calling for Koala Pizza always made my day back then.

Authors of this game also made "Soildiers at War" which was also turn-based tactics set in WW2 but it wasn't as fun as this one.

You gotta give it to the Koala Pizza guys! Still delivering pizzas even tho they get shot at! That's some dedication! I love the fact that you actually got the hard copy of it back in the days. Sadly all I had to work with was a pirate copy copied off another pirate copy that in turn was copied off yet another pirate copy. Where it came from past that, is beyond me! I'm just happy I even got my hands on it!

The bunker level you remember is a tough one, due to how some of the limitations of the game. :p Can be quite the wall to bang your head at early on in the campaign.

TheFjordFox, I commend you on your patience. I wanted to play Wages of War ever since I saw the review in one of the magazines. The office screen sold the concept for me, even if the combat graphics didn't scream "quality game" (I like these old stabs at immersing the player in the role, Transarctica in a similar "office" setting offered the best way to quit the game I've ever seen). Unfortunately, upon trying to play it on a modern hardware I encountered the same problems as you. They were a bit too much for me and it still remains one of the games I can't play (at least not without significant hassle). So thanks for sharing your gameplay, t'was a pleasant watch.

Yeah, it can unfortunately require a bit of determination to enjoy on modern hardware. Once you get used to the fact that you have to click around the minimap rather than scrolling tho, it isn't so bad. But certainly I can understand that it would be offputting to people. The games is a bit sped up as well, which means you can miss some stuff happening across the map at times, but hey - my nostalgia for it was so strong that I had to power through it for the sake of youtube actually having a playthrough of it out there to offer people with the same nostalgia feelings towards it that I have! :)
 
Last edited:

Papill0n

Educated
Joined
Dec 11, 2021
Messages
53
This game looks pretty cool.. some nice isometric sprites there. Any way to extract them from the game? asking for a friend :)
 

TheFjordFox

Novice
Joined
Oct 15, 2021
Messages
32
My pleasure :) as I've probably stated already, it is a bit dated today, but it truly is a gem of a game!
 

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