Scourge of War: Waterloo

Scourge of War: Waterloo
N/A
Metacritic
79
Steam
66.862
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$19.49
Release date
19 November 2015
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
79 (234 votes)

Scourge of War: Waterloo follows in the footsteps of its American Civil War predecessors and takes the action to one of the most famous battles in history. It is by far the most detailed game about the final battle of the War of the Seventh Coalition.

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Scourge of War: Waterloo system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Vista, 7, 8, 10
  • Processor: Dual Core 1.5 GHz CPU or higher
  • Memory: 2 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 256 MB Dedicated Video Card with DirectX 9.0c or higher
  • DirectX: Version 9.0c
  • Storage: 512 MB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX Compatible Sound Card

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Updated
App type
Steam APP ID
369390
Platforms
Windows PC
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stuki
stuki

game doesnt work properly, units dont move, sandbox campaign is broken unit just stands no matter what you do, since i couldnt get a refund on this game, because it was on the 3rd week, i decided to have it removed permenantly from my account.

Are John
Are John

Sit on your arse and wait for a courier that never arrives simulator 1815.

Anonymous
Anonymous

This game is fantastic I just love it so much fun hours and hours of fun.

BIG SHNEE
BIG SHNEE

I think this is a great game but it just keeps crashing! i dont know why kos my pc is a beast n way more powerful than recommended! but good game worth gettin!

Beowolf garret
Beowolf garret

The game is very good but hard to understand the multiplayer is very confusing same with the scenrios. Think it needs abit more work for the price of the game tbh.

Bootn3ck
Bootn3ck

For those wishing to play battles on a grand scale this is for you. Play as brig,division corps or whole army!

Strategos
Strategos

EPIC Game. Massive interface improvements over Gettysburg, and despite a few minor bugs and a courier system that doesn't really work (unlike Gettysburg... come on Norb), this game passes inspection with flying colours. THE Napoleonic wargame with AI that can trounce even the best Total War player, all played on an epic (even 1:1 if your system can handle it) scale on accurate battlefields.
Oh, and there's a campaign mode.

Vanarius11
Vanarius11

This is an excellent game for those strategy gamers who want the feel of old school maps with card board counters in a
3D/2D form. The complexity and style of this game are superb. I have not graduated to using the courier command system but this is a realistic Napoleonic experience at lower levels. Playability is almost infinite.

henry.ford1
henry.ford1

POOR GRAPHICS . VERY OLD STYLE OF GAME.

Erazer
Erazer

Considering the fact that I have no problems waiting for a 50-75% discount on AAA games, I think the price is a little high - even with the 20% off. 20-25,-€ yes, not higher than that. But price is always a personal thing.

To the game:
Graphics are bad, no kidding, they are bad - really bad - as are the animations...
Sound follows the graphics... not synchronized, just random sound.

Having said that, the gameplay itself is really really good. You want to micro manage all - this game has it. You want to macro manage the war and let the AI do all the micro management - this game has it. I have only played for about an hour. Reason was the price tag and I wanted to refund. I am going to consider buying it at a later time. I loved all the litte details (Riders running off to deliver and receive orders or support requests. Requesting reenforcements at a certain flank might be granted by your higher generals and suddenly there is a battalion helping out, all the different uniforms and flags,...).

Learning and mastering this game is challenging. But if you do, it will be extremly rewarding and you will feel as if you actually deserved that victory (or loss).

Do not expect a good looking game for some fast action. You need to bring time and even more time. I would say, if you love Hearts of Iron and all the other games of that kind, you should have a feeling if that game is for you. Man, if the graphics wold have been a little better, I could actually see myself paying the current price...

Anonymous
Anonymous

1995? Interface from hell, I get flashbacks to how games were 20 years ago. Impossible to control the game, I gave it up. Never spent money on a game and given up so quickly. Reviews said it was a good game. It's not! I can't believe anyone is charging money for a game that is so totally out of date. Stay away!

Amerlock
Amerlock

Great strategy game, very fun. Graphics don't mean everything, but this game still looks pretty nice to me. The figures are well drawn, and the battle sound effects are decent in my opinion. It's really good when you have a lot of time to kill.

Pirate
Pirate

This game is great, it is challengeing, realistic, interesting(To me) and probably one of the greatest RTS games I have ever played.

Elesium
Elesium

I wouldn't look much further if you are looking for large scale tactical combat.

Graphics are minimal but suit it perfectly.

Gameplay wise, not many games give you the feeling of an actual battle taking place, artillery firing, bodies littering the ground and thousands of sprites firing away at each other.

A must buy for all strategy lovers out there!

tell
tell

Do not buy this game what a waste of money, if the game play and control system was even soso you could let the 10 year old graphics go but there not even close to this. if you are looking for a game to waste your money on then by all means purchase this and kill about 50 minuets of your time trying to work the controls.

[24th] Shadow
[24th] Shadow

This game cannot be compared with Napoleon Total Wars. Although this game doesn't have the richness in graphics i believe this game feels more realistic on the battlefield. This game allows you to have tens of thousands of men on the battlefield. It is a game you could easily spend a few hours just deploying your troops. The maps are a lot bigger than total war maps. The great part of this game is that you can be in control of anything from a brigade to a divison upto a full scale army. This game allows you to ask for aid through mounted messangers .

The only downsides to this game in my eyes are the graphics and the navigation. Although you can alter the settings to change speed and controls.

If you are after a game with large scale and is realistic to battles fought in that era, then this game is definately for you. I really enjoy it and haven't fought a different battle yet. I have this game instaleld on my old steam account as well.

zoomboy27
zoomboy27

Picked this game up after hearing the Scourge of War had a Napoleonic option after Scourge of War: Gettysburg and always like to take a chance on an evolving engine.
I like both levels of the Napoleonics - both battles and the politics.
This hits the spot that I like for battles allowing you to dig into the OOB (Order of Battle) structures and various tactics and formations (column, line square, double-speed, etc.)

Graphics: I usually play this on my laptop and even with lower specs it plays quite well.
The ground is solidly displayed and the units are colourfully done.
Good graphics and has plenty of graphical options - things like draw distance, trees transparency, and objects control.
Sound is good and classical and keeps up with the battle.

Controls and Gameplay: Camera Control has a lot of options with options to spped up camera movement(at first I found the default too slow) And with the OOB button, you can find units in your command structure.
A lot of the direct unit control has been done through a Context Toolbar menu(moddable). After you select the unit, you right-click the ground where you want to that unit to go and a menu comes up giving the formation options(that you can chain together.) And off they go.
There are lots of scenarios that are not easily winnable(replayable) and for both sides as well(France/Allies). There is a sandbox that I found impressive with many options, different levels of complexity, and starting terrains. On top of that there is a sandbox campaign that allows you to string together scenarios.
And at the higher levels of difficulty, you have limited views and have to send couriers to get your commands done(HITS HQ In The Saddle). I ain't good enough for that.
There are some OOB mods and many in the community use the Grog Mod that expands the Context Toolbar(often shown in the YouTube videos)
http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/waterloo-modifications/68686-expanded-…

Learning Curve: You need to go through the tutorials and to keep the fairly thorough manual nearby.
You can select any of the seven difficulty levels(Untrained, Militia, Normal, Seasoned, Veteran, Historical, and Grognard) and can tweak AI effectiveness. You can select brigade, corps, and division levels for your scenarios.
There are more than a few tutorials on Youtube for different subjects.
For any questions, there are both the Matrix and NorbSoft Developer forums
Matrix - http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tt.asp?forumid=1385
NorbSoft - http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum
Check out both for answers, mods, and After Action Reports

Overall: For Napoleonics, it is worth it to get into the nitty gritty of the tactical.
The AI offers a challenge. The game is stronger than most tactical games for content - many scenarios are available with both sandbox and sandbox campaigns.
Mmmm ... this HITS the spot.

vezina99
vezina99

A truly unique game series from the rest of the modern games available.

This game takes on the tactical genre from Sid Meier's Gettysburg back in the day with all of the improvements of 20 years worth of game design. It also adds in the ability to play a subordinate commander - something that I find immensely enjoyable. There's nothing like being able to handle just one part of a combat action while the entire battlefield rages on without requiring your micromanagement skills. However, for those so inclined, you can absolutely command the whole ordeal - either micromanaging everything, or once again role-playing your spot and sending orders to AI subordinates who will carry those orders out however they deem appropriate. In my opinion, it gets you as close to the experience of commanding armies in a game as what it would feel like to a real general doing the same.

Flintlock
Flintlock

After 8 hours of gameplay, I'm ready for a review. (sorry but English is not my main langage).
First of all, this game has A VERY steep learning curve. I went through the short tutorial as well as the player manual and still, I had some frustrations on my first battles.
The graphic could be better but are nonetheless accurate.
All the army uniforms, regimental flags and commanders are there and they are very accurate.
I went through a couple of custom games as well as 2 missions from the Waterloo Campaign both at normal mode.
The AI act very strangely sometimes but is very good.
Overall, it is an excellent wargame.
While Napoleon Total war is very good and fun, the battles in Scourge of War: Waterloo are far more realistics. SoW:W is a pure wargame made for pure wargamer.
If you love the era of muskets and blackpowders then this game is for you!
Expansive but worth it.

Vicomte de Turenne
Vicomte de Turenne

Amazing. As many wrote before this review, you truly get an immersion of Napoleonic Wars simulation. I wonder, is there any players on multiplayer ? I 've seen none, I'd like to see one and try it.

If you are a fan of Total War Napoleon, this game will bring you to another level. A micro-management game where you can choose a very section, a tier of a huge army such as the Grande Armée, like playing as a Brigade, Division, Corps, etc. For those who wish to play everything, you can take the total control of the full army, with all the managements going with.

Anyway, great game. Thumbs up for the devs !

Pyrrhus1717
Pyrrhus1717

LOOKS LIKE IT Could be good , but well its not . From the bad controls ,to the even worse choppy running . .This Game plays like Obama's health care works .I think part of the problem is the senarios the other part is the really bad AI ( by ai I mean your own Ai . seems like it works well when defending against cav or deploying into line but that is it . you troops will march into the enemy held town taking hvy loses , they will face there backs to the enemy etc etc .) the way in which youu attack a held hamlet or town is JUST BORING !!!!!!!!!! stand and shoot them out you have no control over supporting artillery or troops at all . no assualts just stand and shooting make for a boring time this game could be so much fun . I DONT NEED THE BEST GRAPHICS . just a well thought out game . I dont want robotic control over my troops but if my troops acted this way i would be famous for shooting officers. It would be nice if you had more combined arms senarios .also if you had some free set up senarios .

°•♥•° MissBex °•♥•° - New PC ^.^
°•♥•° MissBex …

I have never played a real time Strategy game where you can control as many units as you can with this game. Probably only the American Conquest series comes close in terms of micromanagment. But what excels in this game most of all for me is the accurately detailed command structures of all Armies involved in the 100 Days War. The Napoleonic Era is one of my favorite points in history, so to be able to play a game on the topic is so damn good.

Buy this game if you're a Strategist and the idea of controlling 100,000 men (literally) excites you.

Also buy this game if like me, you're a fan of this certain point in history and would like to enjoy it even more.

Don't buy this game if the only thing you look for in a game is good graphics and well run, because it's buggy and the AI can sometimes be incredibly stupid but I enjoy this for its historical purposes, rather than it being a well run game, because it's not.

I will give this game a 10/10 because it suits all of my needs in regards to what I am looking to play in a game like this, and I'm certaintly now a fan of this developer and I will be keeping a keen eye on their future titles and past titles (maybe) they will be coming to Steam in the future...

Zebedee
Zebedee

Think of this as a command simulation with 3d sprites and terrain and you'd be closer to the strengths of this game than to think of it as a RTS in the Total War mould.

This has huge benefits for those who wish to explore just what it was like to send orders by courier and sense the flow of a battle. And it can be an exercise in frustration as the interface seems to fight against attempts to micromanage things such as precise placement of units.

The game has been stable for me so far. The graphics aren't bling, but do the job more than adequately. And the AI varies from 'clever girl' as it pulls a surprise from the hat to making you want to take it behind the woodshed as your subordinate divisional commander totally misinterprets what you wanted him to do. Just about right really.

My biggest gripe with the game is the rather sluggish performance at times. One of those times where a powerful single core could perhaps be of more benefit than a multi-core CPU.

Otherwise, I've been enjoying the game so far. It's one for taking your time with and over. Adjust to the pace of early 19th century warfare.

Ned Capitalist
Ned Capitalist

The sheer scale of battles in this game is amazing. If you want good visuals, and a fast paced experience I would not recommend this game. However if you want a highly accurate, large scale, (and with the Grognard difficulty) highly realistic experience I would definitely recommend this game, and I would highly recommend Scourge of War: Gettysburg, but you have to purchase it from matrixgames.com

Crazy Bear
Crazy Bear

I have a head trauma from years back so please excuse the spelling /Grammer .. that said , I have bought the Scourge Civil war serise about a year ago, just when this came out . I loved that one so I thought I get this one this year when it came on sale . I really like the game and this is a nice "upgrade" if that is how you want descride some of the mechanics graphics , game play . Although with just 10 hours or so into the game I feel I know the game already to write a good review. I would read the manual , or look at a few videos on you tubes before playing as some of the mechanics are diffrent from the other versions . The came out with a nice Campign generator though I only messed around with it for a 1/2 hour or so it shows great added game play as well as the random battle maker . I have not loaded any mods yet . but like the Civil war version there are plenty of extra battles .
I have a medium I5 quad 8gig computer with a intergrated graphics card / plays fine and noticed no drag on the stock settings ...
It is worth it to me on sale and at full price if I made more money would say yes it is as well . since there is a LOT I mean lot of game play and the replay is going be forever random if you want .

I have read comparisons to Total war serise there is none this is the Jaguar , the other the Volswagon Bug . when comes to historical play and graphics . Want the best battle sim in this era this is by far it nothing else comes close
9.5/10

Bluestrategist
Bluestrategist

It could be fantastic, but my experience was greatly marred by crashes and freezing. I gave up.

viper827
viper827

Don't buy this game. The mutiplayer does not work. it is bat wank!!!!

Hokie
Hokie

Apologies, as this is my first review and this is long...

Bottom Line up Front: I wish there was a "mixed feelings" rating. As much as I want to love this game (and I do get enjoyment out of it, especially fighting Division-level skirmishes) I do not believe it meets expectations based on how it's advertised (Large scale Army vs Army Battles). Most of these let downs are from a poor AI, especially on the friendly side.

First off I'm a big Napoleonic buff. Besides doing ungodly amounts of reading, I've played the John Tiller Battleground series games Waterlooo and Napoleon in Russia back when they were new and I've played Waterloo and Austerlitz based off the good ole Sid Meier Gettysburg engine. When I came across SoW: Waterloo I was extremely excited. I will say I do not mind the graphics engine since the amount troops portrayed more then make up for it. I'd summarize my experience so far as thus:

PROS:

+Excellent and historical troop representation. All the various units are in their unique uniforms. Especially impressive are the British battalions have their unique regimental facings (1st "Royal Scots" with Blue, the 28th in Yellow, etc.) and the few British regiments that still wore the older Stovepipe shako at Waterloo are portrayed as well. French units are shown in their grand uniforms,which makes finding certain units (Curassiers, Imperial Guard Units, etc) easier when you have large formations.

+Scale. The default 1 sprite to 6 men really sets the mood of the late Napoleonic Wars. Nothing beats having thousands of men marching across a open field during an assualt (...if you can get them to actually advance...)

+Sounds. The sharp rhythm of musket fire interrupted by the boom of a cannon, especially when zoomed to ground level, really adds to the atmosphere. Many battles I simply parked the camera POV beside a line of my artillery and listen the the sound of fire while watching enemy formations take casualties. Really makes you feel like you're there.

+Courier system. If you can figure it out it really adds to the feeling of being a commander. In the larger sandbox battles, it's exciting sending off messages to your far-flung subordinates, ordering them to consolidate at a terrain feature, only to have your first arriving units make contact with enemy troops. Lots of exciting moments wondering if that last division will make it in time to save the day.

CONS:

-The "Friendly" AI is compeletely incompentent. I understand the game's creators believe they've made a system that simulates having subordinates, with all their personality traits. Some of your junior leaders are supposed to be more aggressive, others more cautious. This is supposed to determine how they will react to the enemy whether that means conducting a counterattack or simply establishing a defense and requesting reinforcements. However I find that friendly AIs either don't react at all or will execute completely moronic orders you didn't give them. I've ordered units not even in enemy contact to advance straight ahead, only to have them not move, move in the wrong direction, actually fallback some, and in many cases simply turn away and exposing their rear to enemy. I've ordered a brigade to form a simple line in defense, only to have the units criss-crossing each other in a jumbled mess. I understand the point is to have the frustrations of being a commander with real humans, but it's so awful as to be completely unplayable several times. Most of my battles become exercises in micromanaging and simply "Taking Command" (the button to turn off the AI) of each individual unit. The friendly AI couldn't find it's way north, even if it was smack dab at the south pole.

-The Enemy AI, however, seems to know your subordinates are idiots and reacts in ways that seem to take advantage of your inability to command your subordinates. I've had several battles where the AI simply sacrifices it's cavalry, sending them to parade in front of my troops but never attacking. No matter the orders given, my units refuse to do anything else but form square and suffer hundreds of casualties from artillery within a matter of minutes (see notes on artillery below). Should you actually get your men to stay in line and advance, the small decimated squadron (less then 80 men) of enemy cavalry then simply brushes your battalions of 600 men aside, despite the battalions firing a full volley.

-The enemy AI is especially crafty with a his artillery in that you can never seem to overrun his own guns unless you can get a lucky cavalry charge in. Even as your infatry sprites cover the guns, suddenly the enemy battery appears limbered up a hundred paces to the rear and races to safety. Amazingly the crews are able to unlimber and fire more canister before you can close the distance before retreating again. I've surrounded enemy batteries on all four sides only to have them simply ride away. Musket fire appears to have little to no effect on the artillery for some reason.

-The artillery is also way overpowered. For some reason the creators and most of the mod makers for this game are obsessed with the supposed killing power of artillery, possibly due to the game engines roots in the American Civil War (when artillery began to approach the deadliness that became it's hallmark in WWI) . I've had many battles were up to 70% of casualties are from only a handful of gun batteries. A little research into this shows that in the extreme cases, like at Waterloo, artillery inflicted 20-25% of the casualties at most. see Dr. Rory Muirs "Tactics and Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon" for a great explanation of casualty statistics and causes.

-Sandbox Campaign engine. Everything about the Campaign map is clunky. Armies are only able to move on the primary roads, so no overland marches are possible. Time on the campaign map freezes once two armies meet, and will not move forward until you resolve the battle. What this means is it's absoltely useless to split your forces to attempt a diversion. In my case when playing as the British in defense of Brussels, I had split off and sent forward several cavalry brigades to locate the approaching French. Finding them, I kept my cavalry in place to screen, while moving my main forces towards the location. When the French and my screening cavalry made contact, time on the campaign map froze, with my main army only 30 seconds away from joining the fight. However, I was forced to fight a 4 hour long battle against the whole French army with only the single cavalry brigade. Despite being only a moments march from the fight, you apparently can't receive any reinforcements during a campaign battle. Furthermore, should you not win the battle, you apparently have no effect on which way you retreat. I've tried fighting defense in depth, inflicting heavy casualties and withdrawling before the enemy can mass against me. However I'm then frustrated when the game has my army retreat *BEHIND* the enemy army I just fought, completely exposing the objective I was trying to defend. It means you have to win every battle you fight, which means it's not really a strategic campaign.

-Poor community reception of new players having difficulty figuring the game out. I have never posted the developers support or discussion forum becuase I've watched other people get shot down for even minor criticism (mostly from long time fans from the game's American Civil War days). People with what I would consider valid complaints are told they haven't bothered to learn how the game works.

In closing, I REALLY wanted to endorse this game. While I understand they want to give you all the frustrations of being a commander, that seems to be the focus of the game as it is right now. It simply becomes a clicking simulator as you have to take over the lowest level of units, while you're left wondering the AI commander you've just ordered still won't move 30 minutes later.

Ganja
Ganja

i love the Gettysburg version of this game which i downloaded the demo of years ago and i always wanted a newer and better version. then waterloo came out and i was happy but the price was way to high for a game like this. it came on sale and i bought it and was overjoyed to play!

upon entering the game i immediately could tell i was going to need to watch some youtube videos and read some information on how to play, so i spent all night watching videos instead of actually playing.

i could not be more disappointed.... not only are the controls almost impossible to learn they are very frustrating and clunky and rarely could i get my troops or AI in control to do what i wanted.

the campaign is seriously confusing even with the tutorial and help options the game offers i could not understand

in the end i gave up and requested refund i would rather just keep the free version of Gettysburg and enjoy playing that over and over.

poor graphic
poor controls
poor AI
Poor content

good game if you have many hours to dedicate.

Simon Lancaster [ANWF]
Simon Lancaste…

You need to have some patience to get into this game. Let me get the negatives out of the way first. The graphics are poor to very bad. You often hear wargamers say that graphics aren't important for strategy titles but they seem to conveniently forget what the origins of tabletop wargaming are all about - a painstaking focus on colour, detail and having visually attractive models to use on the battlefield! The sprites in this game are poorly rendered. They move around quite jerkily, and soldiers walk through walls. It is also hard to move units properly because you have to wheel the line around and sometimes it doesn't move as it should. A battalion will often line up on a diagonal when it should be in line with the enemy. Movement is quite slow as well.

Some of the scenarios are quite frankly stupid. I chose one scenario where I had to repel a mass French cavalry charge. I moved my infantry forward and put them in squares. The French had zero infantry and the cavalry didn't even charge my squares it just milled around them for 30 mins. I went off to make a cup of tea and came back to see that I had won the battle. I couldn't even see a way to speed up the battle. For gameplay purposes there should have been a little infantry support just to make it interesting even if we were supposed to be following a historical event. Artillery should have been pummelling my squares.

In light of everything I mention above, I am finding that fighting on the defensive is much better. You can get your troops set up and with minimal movement the game becomes more enjoyable. You don't have to watch soldiers plod along to the top of your screen or watch artillery keep slipping away even when metres in front of the enemy. The scale of the battles can be awesome. You can be commanding a division and under severe pressure only to see reinforcements come out of nowhere to help you out. This is when the game really shines and gets you engaged. Over the years Total War games have almost become skirmishes with the size of armies dropping quite dramatically (I remember in Medieval I when you sometimes had a third rebel army to fight plus allies). This game returns us to the proper battlefields of yesteryear when huge numbers of men fought each other over a whole day as there is a choice to command the full army at Waterloo, instead of just brigades and divisions, and this takes 7 hours to complete!

I will have to play this game more but at the moment I can only give it a 7/10. If the designers could spruce up the animation and sort out the movement mechanics then you could have a really good game to play.

Barticus
Barticus

i have bought and played every nord game since the beginning. After Gettysburg i was excited for this. I could not be more disappointed. How could you make it worse omg. Poor clunky controls. The player ai is horrible. I order my corps to attack, and divisions(manually because for some reason even though the corp commander orders an attack i now have to tell all the division commanders to do it). In Gettysburg at least they pretty much responded. I had to manually move the artillery but the infantry and cav would get going on the attack. Here they turn face rear and let the enemy pound them. The graffics and engine seem to be no better. Total fail. But they sure know how to charge for every single order of battle upgrade and map mod lol. Do not buy.

lastonehendryclan
lastonehendryclan

game is not fun. Can't move around very good and wait to long for troop movements. Don't buy...$49.99 paid and it's should have been $5.99!!!

ur doing gr8
ur doing gr8

Wow what can I say about this game? Wow, just wow. That pretty much says all there is to say about this game. The first thing everyone says about this game is look at the graphics and you are right these are some graphics. This game looks exactly like my memory of the original Operation Flashpoint but with pixelated sprites corpse-walking around like they were drilled day and night by assholes from Vienna. These devs are serious about muskets and it shows but they need to make friends with someone who went to art school--and not art school at community college this needs to be an art student in serious debt. Just one would do the trick & make this game look like something you could sell your dad on.

People who know me know I am serious about my grogs & this game has pretty much all the grogs you could have. First off there are hundreds and hundreds of soldiers shooting at each other in this game & most of it has nothing to do with you. This game is what it feels like to get serious about commanding a division of Austrians & when you look around there are frogs everywhere with sharp things and Prussions in the distance getting serious and I really can't say much more than that about this game.

The best thing I can say about this game is that it is halfway to Graviteam Tactics style 1800s shit. This game models a lot of stuff and I'm not even sure about a third of it. This game is a simulation if you ever needed stimulated if you went out and tweeked a reenactor and then did the same thing in this game you would see that these devs are serious but have no idea about even simple art design this game has an interface that looks like your gramps made it in knock-off photoshop & that is not even hyperboll.

davidbmr2
davidbmr2

An UnderRated Game, give it a go and learn the UI and you will see what I mean !!!

azaris
azaris

The Scourge of War series has superb attention to detail as always. Unfortunately, SoW:Waterloo suffers from the limitations of the series raised to the power of two.

Worst of all, the unit AI near buildings is atrocious. Unlikes in the Civil War series, fighting near forts and in cities was a major aspect of Waterloo. I cannot make my units enter buildings and not get stuck in walls and other obstactles. The AI has no problems and will wipe the floor with you as your units repeatedly bonk their heads into the wall.

The unit AI is still dubious. Giving units normal movement order cancels immediately if there are enemies even remotely close by, meaning you have to either order forced attacks or take command of every single unit you want to move. The AI simply refuses to move units to effective fire range, preferring to keep them 100s of yards away. There's no proper AI unit facing either, meaning that half your units will be facing the wrong way unless you constantly babysit them. This will likely get them mowed down from the flanks. I cannot imagine leading an entire army with such half-baked unit AI.

The scenario time limits are way too strict and every scenario will end in a defeat, making it pointless to play them.

Half the UI commands were invisible so I could never figure out how to unsplit my units or even how to order a charge! The manual gives is nothing but text, making it impossible to figure out where these actions are supposed to be performed.

Avoid this at all costs unless you're a veteran of the series.

Tanelorn
Tanelorn

The command and control in this game is so awful, so useless, so... pointless... it's like all the other developers did their job but let their 12 year old kids code the command and control system. It looks good and seems good but is not worth the hours you will spend just trying to get units to get into proper positions, let along get cavalry to charge.

Totally, utterly unplayable.

Lord of Death
Lord of Death

This game is really good and there is no way I could not recommend it. However I will say if you are not into strategy, and you play simple strategy like civ and want to stay simple, then this may not be for you. The depth of command structure is amazing and gives the game a unique feel. While I do like total war games, this for strategy really out does TW and makes you feel in the saddle more. While the graphics are not the best, I feel for this game they are good enough, and it makes up in game play. There are however some problems with it. For instance I think there needs to be a tutorial for the campaign because it is a bit confusing. Yes there is a huge manual for learning stuff, but you sometimes have to really dig to find stuff. Don't let that put you off though, sandbox battles are still pretty easy to get used to. There are some small bugs like the couriers spamming you with the same message in sandbox battle. But overall I would suggest you get it, maybe on a sale, and hopefully the great devs do some more updates to fix some issues.

Emperor Rocket
Emperor Rocket

The game itself is interesting and fun, but the camera mechanics are awful. I have 0 clue where im looking on the battlefield.

LHookins
LHookins

This is a wargame and isn't ashamed of it. It is a good representation of the Napoleonic battlefield. With the three DLC it covers the entire Waterloo campaign. The best praise for the game I can think of is that descriptions of game battles read exactly like descriptions of the real battles (see the end of this review for an example). Watch some videos, read some after action reports, see what the game is like. You will know very quickly if this is a game for you.

There are a lot of options on how to play, and there is even a game mode that puts you in the saddle of your commander so that you can only see what he sees. There is also a mode where commands have to be given by courier. The experienced Napoleonic wargamer (or historian) will find that he can do pretty much everything in the game that would have been done in the original battle.

Be aware that the game has a steep learning curve, because there is so much you can do, but you can get into it quickly. While you can launch into the full battle of Waterloo after completing the tutorial and a couple of Sandbox games, and even be successful at the Militia difficulty (one below Normal), to get the most out of the game you'll be reading the manual and experimenting for a long time. But if you're a wargamer, the game is fun at any experience level.

The graphics aren't state of the art (the soldiers are sprites, for example), but they are better than I expected for a game of this scale. In a battle you won't be examining individual soldiers but massive formations. Buildings look good and are accurately portrayed. There is a game setting to allow you to set the number of soldiers represented by each sprite, and you can set this to 1 soldier per sprite if you wish (the default is 6). If you've never seen a game at this scale, you will be impressed. Imagine the entire battle of Waterloo with each individual man depicted on the field. Often the game looks better than contemporary paintings of large formations.

There have been complaints about the AI, but I found it to be quite good, especially when fighting a large battle and only giving orders to my highest level commanders. If you leave the conduct of the battle to your generals, you'll find they're quite good at what they do and you'll see a fair amount of sophistication. It is when you try to do too much micromanagement that you get into trouble and the AI won't always do what you want. I prefer to give my corps commanders objectives, occasionally send a division in support, and only take local command when I'm trying to take and hold an objective. See the report at the end of this review.

The stock game left me thinking I was missing a number of formations and some commands I expected to have. Then I discovered that the game comes with a mod that expands the toolbar and adds all the formations and commands I had expected and a few I had not. This is an essential mod. If you are using the version that is included with the game you'll need to use the included user scenarios that come with the game rather than the stock versions, but there is an update at the developer's site that combines the scenarios so that when the mod is active only the correct modded scenarios are displayed. No game files are changed, so you can disable the mod with a button click and have the stock game back.

As far as I know, the only other game that covers Napoleonic war at this scale and level of detail is Histwar (and it is extremely good), but at the present time it does not feature the battle of Waterloo.

I'm currently fighting the full battle of Waterloo with 1:1 sprite scale and Normal difficulty. I sent Jerome to attack Hougoumont (eventually I had to take local control to clear the woods south of the compound) and to attempt to secure a crossroads at the Allied right. I sent the Young Guard to the east of Plancenoit in anticipation of the arrival of the Prussians; Lobau to take Papelotte and defend against the expected Prussian assault there and hopefully drive the Allied right back a bit; and sent d'Erlon's corps forward with some cavalry support. d'Erlon's divisions properly advancing in columns looked like paintings of the battle.

At this point d'Erlon has taken La Haye Sainte and pushed the Allies back from the ridge, but the Union Brigade cavalry has begun their attack. I have ordered Reille forward in support of d'Erlon and to keep pressure on the Allied center.

Although Jerome's troops occupy the buildings at Hougoumont and the woods is cleared, he is still experiencing resistance from the garden. The crossroads is well defended by enemy cavalry and some infantry and will be a tough nut to crack. Lobau has secured Papelotte but is facing large numbers of cavalry from the Allied left to his north. The Young Guard will need cavalry support to scout ahead to determine the eventual Prussian line of advance which I anticipate will happen around 18:00.

I have fought this battle many times in many games, and this has been the best so far. I have followed Napoleon's attack plans (which I have found to be the most successful) with some minor modifications such as supporting d'Erlon's advance with cavalry and deploying Lobau and the Young Guard early. So far the game has followed the actual historical battle. Since I can trust my generals to fight the battle I don't have to be everywhere at once and can concentrate on points of interest or where my intervention is needed. I intend to drive a wedge north to separate Wellington from the Prussians, then hold the line there while concentrating my attention on the Prussian attack from the east.

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. By 14:00 d'Erlon's attack has been repulsed and I have withdrawn him to near the Grand Battery to provide protection for the guns and hopefully rest. I sent him too far to the left, and instead of driving a wedge between Wellington and the Prussians he split Wellington's force into two halves. Lobau holds Papelotte but cannot take the crossroads at the Allied left. The crossroads at the Allied right has changed hands many times. I did get to see d'Erlon's supporting cavalry dealing with the Scots Greys, a glorious sight. The Grand Battery has inflicted about 12% of the casualties in the entire battle so far, but I got him deployed late because he didn't follow my initial orders. I have cavalry to the east to watch for the Prussians. The battle continues but I have no expectation of getting a better result than a draw.

At 16:00 I have sent Napoleon himself to supervise the defense against the expected Prussians, who have not yet arrived. He currently has three "orphan" battalions of infantry which have been separated from their commander, considerable cavalry and artillery is on the way with one battery of horse artillery deployed. I have left the remainder of the army to hold the Allied forces at bay. A combined force of cavalry and artillery can delay Prussian infantry very nicely, but if the Prussians have much cavalry (unknown at this point) it will be a quick delaying action while we fall back to Plancenoit. The only other infantry available is the Imperial Guard and I won't commit them until the end. The Young Guard continues to guard Plancenoit.

If the main French force can hold Wellington until I can stabilize the Prussian attack, it will all boil down to an attack on Wellington's center by the Imperial Guard, much as happened historically. Winning the battle will depend on the results of this attack.

The Prussians arrived at 16:30. They had considerable cavalry but my cavalry drove them off, and what cavalry and artillery remains can hold off the Prussian infantry almost indefinitely. At 18:00 I'm confident in the situation and am starting the Imperial Guard attack.

Highly recommended for all wargamers interested in the Napoleonic period.

wolnaj
wolnaj

The thunder of the Great Battery, long lines of units awaiting your command, the Highlanders forming squares, with a cannon in between to gun down your cavalry ... - This is the battle of Waterloo in all its glory on an unprecedented scale.
As I am fascinated by the Napoleonic Age, this is the kind of game I was waiting for since I first played “Fields of Glory” back in the ‘90s. And it offers all the depth and historical accuracy that is missing in TW:Napoleon.

Why I disagree with nearly all “negative” reviews here:
- I didn’t find it hard to get into the game. All I did was playing the tutorial and after some fiddling with the commands in smaller scenarios and learning from my blunders, I got right to the grand scenario of Waterloo. Even throughout the learning phase, the game was a charming experience: as a corps commander, advancing till you hear cannon fire, then detach a unit to see what is going on and find out it is not the enemy but a friendly unit . At Ligny, seeing a huge mass of French units advancing onto you from the distance, knowing you have to hold the village at all costs – this is closer to what Napoleonic warfare must have felt like than anything I played before.

- The AI system is quite good and much more realistic than in other RTS games. Wellington won’t attack but stay defensive; on the contrary, the Prussians will press you hard once they arrive at Waterloo. At some occasions, I sent my commanders forward and it was great to watch them attack the enemy “on their own”, even the officer rode back and forth all the time to encourage at every moment the unit that needed him most.

- Unlike Total War, once you learn to use combined forces of artillery, cavalry and infantry, lots of interesting possibilities open up. I really spent my time with strategic gameplay instead of testing my reaction skills. At first, you may feel a bit lost because the battlefield is huge but then you can choose to micromanage a particular assault and let your commanders hold your other positions, which would be unthinkable in TW. My best moment in this respect was when I commanded a unit to attack a square manually and the AI cavalry commander assisted my charge with a flank maneuver at the precise moment the enemy had to abandon its formation to fight in melee – I had moved the cavalry close as I had planned exactly this move and the AI acted all by itself! - And, unlike stated in some reviews, cavalry can charge effectively and the units’ behavior always makes complete sense if you have some basic background knowledge on warfare of the period. (For example, it is absurd to try to make infantry charge a cavalry battalion to fight them in melee like suicidal lemmings.)

- Of course, some players will still argue that the UI and graphics are outdated. The UI is not so clunky after all once you learn how to use it. One reviewer even stated that there was no WASD command, which is untrue and moving the camera around is easy, there are even more options to do so than in other comparable games. As for the graphics, I prefer to zoom out a bit to have a better overview and, at this level, the game actually looks not too different from what I am used to with TW. I close an eye on units marching into walls, as I have never seen a wargame that even tried to do animations of soldiers jumping over walls, kicking in doors etc. At some point, one has to be reasonable instead of expecting the developers to hire ten extra animators for that kind of thing.

I still haven’t gone through all options of the game (like courier command system, multiplayer, sandbox campaign, all of the DLC...) but so far, it was never frustrating and always rewarding.

Cons:
- Outdated graphics
- User interface requires some learning

Pros:
- Huge battlefields and tons of units to command
- No bugs encountered so far during battles
- Focus on strategy and tactics instead of micromanaging every unit
- Good AI (AI that actually works!)
- Different possibilities to interact with subordinate commanders
- Historical accuracy and real battlefield feeling

CapnGrizz
CapnGrizz

Amazing battle simulation. Command 1000's of troops i mean like 60000 at a time. Have to plot moves way in advance as troops need to march to the areas to fight like they did back then. This game is for players who enjoy history and actually attempting to fight battles as the way they were fought from a saddle using couriers to deliver orders. The game can be overwhelming as managing a battle as such a massive scale can be frustrating at times like it would have been for the generals of that day. Highly recommend!!

boldin_day
boldin_day

Is it me or are controls and camera very poor in this game? I wanted this to be like or superior to NTW. However, with the controls in place like they are, I had to abandon the game after 15 minutes. If you can get through controls, I am sure it will be a fine game to play.

Zolk Ironblood
Zolk Ironblood

its prety damn good at what it does

Tired
Tired

Short and to the point, crap in a box because of lazy design. If the designers had taken the time to make the interface better as well as the AI then they would have had a gem.

makelele48
makelele48

Great long and really historicaly accured game and i was looking for some game like this for really long time and if you are a fan of napoleonic wars like me or you maybe just like the combat of that times this is a great game for you! - the only problem what ussually people have is that the AI is stupid and when i first played this game i tought that it will be not fun to play with or against such opponent but when i played some time (mainly core vs core or army vs army) i imagined it is not a problem because you can still enjoy the game. Totally unique thing is the main waterloo scenario where you really have over 70 000 soldiers on both sides and its just something that you wont find in other games. Some people have a problem with that the battles are too long and it is true that you need to spend it some time but because you can save the game in middle of battle and than resume on the next day it is not that big problem. It is a great fun in multiplayer but this is not a total war where you still have some players to play with but if you have a friend you can play with him or if you dont you can always add someone!

p
p

Game Time is not correct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNtXDVoNTvE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVznt9lHRHE

Scourge of War is an unbelieveable good game. But you may wonder how the "Best Battlefield Simulator" can end up with mixed reviews? If you check them out you will notice that the main concern is that the AI isn´t doing what they want while it is often obvious that no time was invested to manual, tutorials, let alone some video playthroughs with many trying to manually direct an attack of some dudes vs a single cannon in an army battle. Sure you can command every element of your 150.000 strong army if you wish for by taking away AI command from everything and everyone but this game isn´t intended to be a arcade RTS "who has the highest clickrate" game nor will it be fun because it is impossible to watch over the complete battlefield spanning several kilometers. Thus many things work differently in SOW, many orders behave different in SOW compared to RTS like Total War an such. Sure it can be very fun to take over command sometimes, as a Brigade Commander I usually take over command from the handful of regiments you have which isn´t with much work involved and you have to understand how orders like "charge" work before utilizing them. Nevertheless, when you start to take over divisions, corps, or armies you´re not supposed to command the hundreds of regiments on your own like many try and fail. What would a real commander do? He would focus on the grand picture, tell his high level commanders where to go, where to defend, where to attack and leave most of the rest to them. And this is exactly what you´re supposed to do and it works well in SOW. Also some of your commanders require thinking time before executing orders, granted it isn´t visualized by a symbol but impatient people tend then mass clicking the buttons messing things additionally up. Imagine yourself being a division commander and receiving following dispatches in quick succession from your superior commander: ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK, PROBE, HOLD, PROBE, HOLD TO LAST, OBLIQUE LEFT, GIVE ME YOUR COMMAND.

In addition to this I recommend you to play with the courier setting on the lowest command level which is possible for your pleasure, in best case brigade. Sure the game is lacking some transparency what orders in what succession you handed out to your units and thus requires you to memorize a bit which shouldn´t overtax your brain and no it doesn´t require an notepad. However it requires and will teach you to carefully think what orders you may hand out completely. Contraty to these Starcraft and Co clickfests in SOW you will considering your orders whith courier settings active as it may take 5 minutes to reach your unit in which the battle could completely change its face.

Once you figure out how SOW, its order system, and its AI work under the hood you will have the pleasure to observe the in my eyes best tactical AI seen in a RTS to date. Being frustrated with the same awful AI over a decade in games like Total War that (no matter what AI modifications you utilize) is barely able to point the facing of a couple of hundred soldiers towards the enemy let alone do them something productive or completely unable to keep 5 ships in a line without ending sitting ducks in a mess, I was predicting that the AI in this game can´t do that much better. Some battles requiring you to take command of 10.000 to 150.000 men I needed assistance and finally entrusted the AI officers with the job.

What can I say... I was truly impressed how well my division commanders´ AI handled the situation incorporation different command styles such as leading from the front or from the back, keeping artillery in the back or offensive, keeping reserve units, charging or probing, flanking maneuvers. I never seen such a capable AI in a real time strategy game and even though you weren´t seeing me, let me tell you I was constantly smiling out of impression and unbelieve. I never heard from NorbSoftDev ever before Scourge of War but what they´ve created here is art. These games aren´t just awesome but also a technological achievement.

I am happy that somewhat simplistic (but still beautiful) graphics were chosen to allow for the simulation of such huge battles. Seeing this first hand allows you to grasp how a 50.000 man battle must´ve unfolded. Something that even movies aren´t able to achieve due to technical and personnel limitations. It is probably exactly the product of my fantasies on how the perfect Total War would look and feel like when playing TW, placing me in the role of one commander and simulating the hardships and challenges that come alongside this duty but being aided by competent subordinates. Playing this battle felt like being in a movie, so high the immersion was, with couriers trying to bring important orders, seeing them unfold, and simply watching how much was going on the battlefield. Awesome.

From what I´ve seen this game comes with hundreds of battles featuring most noteable encounters of the civil war from both perspectives not incorporating the sheer possibilites the quick battle generator brings with it. Can´t imagine that there is a living man who played all main, DLC, custom, and bonus scenarios.

Taken everything into account I can tell everyone reading this, get SOW Waterloo (or Gettysburg if you´re more interested in the US Civil War). 10/10 double worth every cent as this is the best battlefield simulator and one of the best games overall ever made.

Make sure to get the latest Grog Toolbar, the Collectors seems to come with a "Lite Version" but there is a newer one on the NorbSoftDev forums as it is commander´s heaven to play with it.

prymus
prymus

Better than Total War Napoleon, but not by much. Very focused content, wish it covered more of the era. Nice graphics but starting to show its age. OK control set up. Just really like the era, and therefore maybe a little biased, but recommended.

Thyrampantpigeon
Thyrampantpigeon

I really like this game, largely because orders are carried by couriers to various leaders to have them execute orders, if they are intercepted, no orders are carried out, you can fight leading the entire army or just a regiment while the rest of the army is led by the AI.

I do, however, wish that this game was bigger, I know the game is based on Waterloo, but if they had a grand campaign, like the TW series or a Paradox game, I think this battle format would be a winner!
I also think it would be really nice to see an Antiquity or Medieval game use this engine, the columns of marching Redcoats remind me of Legionary Cohorts.

Archie
Archie

I bought this game during a sale, and I am really impressed. I'm far from an expert, but within the time I have played this game, it has been quite the ride. There isn't a game like it on the market: its a mix of Total War and turn-based tile games. The intensity and excitement of this game honestly comes from the HITS mode. In the heat of battle, it's really easy to get turned around, get confused on which marshals are engaging where, and you make mistakes. The most exciting moments come from the unknown; you have no control. While storming Hougoumont, you might make a mistake, like me. Your armies are being pushed back, Jerome hasn't left the farm in 30 minutes, and that order you sent 5 minutes ago trying to get help from 1st Corp feels like an eternity. There's a hill in the way, so you have no way of ensuring that help will come. This story would continue, but I have a horrible computer, and I didn't enable auto-save. So remember folks: turn auto-save on before you start long battles, or at least save periodically!

|||-[17VaBattl]Capt.Clay
|||-[17VaBattl…

i want to know why the Civil war one isnt on steam or who i can talk to about getting to my account with sleathern or norbsoft and get my downloads back

Bob_Americana
Bob_Americana

If you are into eye candy and not a tactical wargame then i suggest you go look at total war....this game is dated in regards to graphics and UI but it is still involved and entertaining.

i simply wish i could have some of my AI commanders shot for countermanding my orders.

Brendan
Brendan

I don't leave many reviews, so pardon my poor formatting, but I think this game is deserving of some more positive ones. As the game is extremely interesting, and although it seems lacking in general quality, (i.e. music, graphics, etc.) the game makes up for it with its sheer size and potential for new scenarios, putting into perspective the realistic importance of cavalry, artillery, infantry, communication, command structure, etc.

The game's strongest points (in my opinion) are founded in its meticulously researched order of battle and, in relation to that, its courier system. Unlike most historical RTS games, SoW does not focus solely on micromanaging individual units. Although it is possible to play this way and still enjoy the game a fair bit, especially at brigade command level, it is also encouraged to try playing in a more realistic fashion, making full use of the command structure offered by the OOB. Essentially, if you're meaning to assault a building, rather than try to wrangle an entire division by selecting the units one-by-one, you can instead send a courier message to your subordinate commander(s) to carry out the assault to your liking.

By virtue of how stances and couriers have been implemented in the game, commanding even an entire army is not nearly as intimidating as it seems, considering you can simply provide general orders for your corps commanders to follow (essentially "micromanaging" three formations instead of one hundred). Furthermore, the sandbox settings are also highly customizable. The player is able to set how much information is presented on their maps (unit locations/fog of war), whether or not they are restricted to saddle-view (another strong-point of the game for those interested in realism), what levels of command require courier for correspondences, and much more.

In terms of the game's cons, its most obvious issue are the very basic graphics. Although some players may be charmed by the board game aesthetics, I have personally seen many turned away by the 2D sprites among other things. However, I feel very strongly that this can be overlooked in the knowledge that this game simulates hundreds of thousands of troops at a time if the player so chooses. The other most obvious con is the audio, simply put, all sound effects act more as an ambience than anything else, they are not very well synced to their origins by any means.

Before ending my review, I highly recommend that, if you do decide to purchase this game, you spend time exploring tutorials, forums, and mods to best optimize your UI and how you play (most people play on the settings they find most comfortable). If you try to enter this game completely blindly, you may find it quite lacking.

I could go on for several more paragraphs of why this game is worth purchasing, as I have piled up quite a few notable experiences in my one hundred hours of gameplay so far, but I think it is best to learn and explore on one's own in such a massive game. So, to summarise, this game is, without a doubt, the best Napoleonic era battle simulator I have ever been able to play. I do recommend buying it on sale nevertheless, as $55 (CDN) is quite steep for any game, especially for one that appeals to a more niche community.

dsuttonreynolds
dsuttonreynolds

good game but only when it works

ImHollywood101
ImHollywood101

Wow. This is a great game. Massive scale battles, realistic strategy, buy this now.

MOMO & YUNA
MOMO & YUNA

** YOUR GAMING LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME **
---------------------------------------------------------------

MY BACKGROUND

A hardcore Total War player since the first Shogun TW in 2001, and every main title of TW series. I am also the founder of an early TW fan community.

MY SYSTEM

i7, RAM 16GB, Nvidia 1050Ti 4GB, SSD
Windows 10

REASON OF BUYING THIS GAME

TW games have become boring and repetitive to me. Watching tons of turns go by building the same buildings. Every battle is the same where I just keep my units in line watching the AI charging and flee and I send my cavalry to wipe them out. It's like you play chess with someone who always makes exactly the same moves every time he plays. And imagine you have to play with him 100s or 1000s times. TW games have much better graphic quality than this game, but after watching it for years, it means nothing at all. So I started to search for a historical RTS game, exactly like this !!!! If you have played a TW game, you probably know what I mean.

OVERALL

I will not talk about the graphic because you can see from the advertisement pictures above, and yes it looks like S_H_I_T back in 1998. But what makes this game shines as the best game in the world for this genre is what no other games have. The idea and the concept of this game are brilliant, BUT .... (yes very big BUT) the implementation is very poor.

From my personal opinion, this game is meant to be played as you are a general/commander in chief sitting in a luxurious headquarter very far away from the battle, sipping wine, playing chess with your lieutenant's wife, playing a violin while waiting for dispatch to arrive with the news. Then you write a letter telling your inferior generals, colonels what to do next. And then you go back to the lady and wine. (Yes, this game really should add the lady and wine part).

I mean, if you want to babysit your soldiers every step they walk, turn, facing or even wipe their a_s_s, you should stick to TW games. TW games do very well for babysitting your soldiers as if they march in battle blindfolded, they don't even face the enemy unless you tell them to do so, and they always end up getting their a_s_s busted by enemy cavalry.

In this game, you trust the generals/colonels under you to accomplish the objectives under your policy and plans. You give them the policy and plans, then leave the rest up to their judgment, then you go back to the wine and lady.

Many people are complaining about the AI generals/colonels not doing what they are told to do? Let's be honest, it happens a lot in real life too. I'd rather have an AI general who changes my orders (as he sees fit) rather than TW's AI who just stands still unless told to move. I am very glad that the AI generals/colonels of this game think that they know better than the player and think the player is a foolish commander in chief. (And yes, let's face it, we would be a terrible commander in chief in real life too). Ok, let's go back to the wine and the lady.

THE PRO

- The idea/concept (only one in the world)
- AI that actually thinks and comes up with their own initiatives
- The only game in the world where you can play as the commander in chief, enjoying the wine and lady, while sending your AI generals/colonels to do the dirty work for you, and you are the one who gets all the credits and fame back home, of course.
- Endless replayability as you can use the sandbox mode
- Highly customizable via the game options menu in almost all aspects of the game.
- Literally 10,000+ soldiers in a battle, it is possible in this game (with 18FPS on my system).

THE CON

- The graphic quality that looks like ..... (you know) something back in 1998. But this can be easily overlooked by the charm of the Commander in Chief role ... and of course the wine and the lady.
- The poorly implemented UI and functions that are NOT user-friendly, I highly recommend you to read the manual thoroughly (about 100 pages). This is NOT a game where you can learn by doing alone. Even I read the manual before playing it, it took me 6 hours to know enough to put up a decent fight (as a TW expert).
- The sound quality is slightly better than nothing at all, a bad speaker is highly recommended
- Very poor campaign mode, this game is focused on the scenarios and sandbox battles
- With Windows 10, I get CTD (crash to desktop) occasionally while loading only. Never crashed while in battle.

CONCLUSION

The full price is too high if you are not really a Commander-In-Chief wanna be. I was very very reluctant to buy this game because of the full price and I did not know that it would be this good. The graphic quality shown in the pictures really made me think twice. But luckily, the Chinese New Year came after a few days with a 30% discount on this game, so I grabbed it immediately. To be honest, after the first 2 hours I almost asked for a refund because of the poorly implemented UI and functions. But I decided to dig very deep into Youtube videos, forums, googling for 6 hours, then I was able to fight one of the most addicted and exciting battles in my life.

If you dream of playing as a Commander in Chief where you can sit back and relax with the wine and the lady, this is the only game in the world. The full price is not really too expensive if you can promise yourself that you will be patient in learning, digging Youtube, forums and googling like mad. If that is not you, then you probably wait for a big discount or buy a TW game instead.

That's it folks, now I go back to the wine and lady :)

Reinzhell
Reinzhell

Very good tactical game and reflects the Napoleonic period very well.

VADER332
VADER332

Still learning but a great game so far.

Jesus was a Libertarian
Jesus was a Li…

I cannot make a video game. I lack the skills, patience, and intelligence to do so. It's these reasons why it is always hard for me to write a bad review. A group of people worked hard on a product that I only spent 11 hours on. Yet, this game is like trying to drag an anvil up a steep hill. It is a nice shiny anvil, and the view on the hill is amazing. However, all my effort is in pulling up the heavy ass anvil.
When I read the description several years ago about what this game is my jaw dropped. A Napoleonic battle...to scale? A game that lets me issue orders via courier? A game that lets me control the entire army, corps, or division? To me, that is the essence of war gaming. In comparison I bought all the Total War series games and was so disappointed in the Napoleonic battles because they were not to scale and the sense of realism was completely lost. The graphics and UI were seamless, as most of the Total War games are. It just didn't do it for me knowing the actual scale at which these battles were fought. So when I discovered this game I thought I had found the "ONE".
It was not.
You can do all the things the game says you can do, but it is far from what you would imagine. I can't really put my finger on what it is I didn't like. It wasn't the graphics that bothered me. They are actually decent considering the large scale of the game. I won't applaud the graphics either. It wasn't a completely awful UI, because of the incredible amount of options you have available required a convoluted set up. Although, the learning curve on your options is significant (which in many aspects is fantastic in a battle simulation) it lacked a smoothness.
This game is like getting a decent haircut and then waking around all day with itchy hairs in your collar.
I wanted to love this game. I really did. It just couldn't keep my interest.
There was no real confirmation of your orders. There was no real feedback on anything you did. In many ways it was a click and hope situation. I would send one small element to do a simple movement and scratch my head on why they did something entirely different. I am sure it was user error based on my input, but why should I work so hard on such a simple task. I have an entire army to worry about. Wellington isn't just going to surrender to me.
The premise, the ambition, and the essence of this game is what I am looking for. Alas, it falls way short of its attempt and I cannot recommend this game to anyone except masochist...and family members of the developers.

Rhodesian
Rhodesian

This is a masterpiece I always find myself going back to. I just wish they would add the Scourge of War Civil War titles on Steam.

misterrosco
misterrosco

Masterpiece! With the KS Mod installed, any fan of Napoleonics will be in heaven.

453=Yarra
453=Yarra

The graphics are terrible but it's still a great game, even if you just want to get a feel for how the battlefields looked. Unlike the Total War games, Scourge provides a sense of realism. Huge armies slogging it out. Slogging is the key word here. This isn't a fast game, but it is a good game.

Coolmoon25
Coolmoon25

AMAZING Epicly Huge battles, strategy and maneuvering Love seeing the uniforms and down to the smallest detail like the trims on the different uniforms between regiments. There is a small learning curb when it comes to the controls.

Sensei
Sensei

Not for the casual gamer. If you're interested in this time period its a solid battle sim, you can send orders via couriers and watch in dismay as they run into enemy fire. You can also play the ENTIRE battle of waterloo, something like 9 hours pretty crazy eh? can also play as a brigade commander on a smaller scale if that's more your thing. h

3 Jab MAP
3 Jab MAP

An interesting and deep strategy game hidden behind an aged and unhelpful interface. Worth it for when you finally "Get" the game.

Anonymous
Anonymous

No sound, for no apparent reason. Asked for refund, they did not respond. Do not buy, $50.00 wasted. Vlad

danieldibonaventuro
danieldibonaventuro

it is very fun and you can trade cards

stelxm2
stelxm2

you will love it if you are over 35 years old, or older, fan of sid meiers gettysburg old games.
you will hate it if you are a casual young gamer.
Infinite replay value, in any size of army you want to command.

Sweet for my balls
Sweet for my balls

Seems extraordinary, suposed to work in Multi for max effect, buy it (55$.....?), only Direct IP is still Up and Solo is Sheet.

bogey
bogey

If you're an old table top player and always wished you could put the whole battle on the table with masses of troops, not just a couple of men per brigade you'll love this.
The game looks great. The scenery and look of the sprites look very "period." When the battle passes over an area, there are dead bodies all over the place.
Even better, the troops, both yours and the enemy can think for themselves while you concentrate on another area of the battlefield. Just give em orders, wind them up, and away they go. They really don't even need you that much.
And hey, no clean up after the battle and no boxes to store.
The AI is excellent, though it has its limitations. No rolling a bunch to dice to see if the men will stand or move up. They'll tell you "No way Man! Not gettin' MYself killed today." Cavalry comes into view, they go into square. Tell the Brigade or Division commanders to take an objective and off they go.
Plenty of options, you can control things as much or as little as you like.

LOVE THE GAME!

starwars12345
starwars12345

I give it stars only for its mostly very accurate battlefield terrain. I didn't find the game's battle mechanics to be beyond so so. Soldiers walk through walls instead of battling at them with defenders. A few of the MODS have quirks - such as units not following orders properly in the bigger sized scenarios. The game's visuals and background sounds are the best aspects of the game - BUT, there are no DRUMS to be heard - only bugles??? Some scenarios are not accurately portrayed regarding battle phases, such as, the French Imperial Guard attack historically attacked several front-line battle-worn Allied Infantry Brigades at the end of the day that were half-strength, but the game puts them at full strength.

Also, the game puts Allied infantry battalions fighting in extended two-rank lines, whereas historically, at the battle they used 4-rank line formations - this is important because in a mod or two, Allied cavalry units have no way to pass friendly infantry in long lines in order to charge nearby enemies.. Some units are in the scenarios that were not at the battle - such as the British 82nd regiment in Lambert's Brigade in the Allied army center. It's worth the buy, but it's not the best Waterloo gaming battle system.

In further review; you should use the latest community mods; such as Grog's most recent mod, and/or the KS mod. Search for them in this game's discussion area or in an online search. The systems of the mods makes the games more problem-free, and realistic.

mortarian
mortarian

Enjoyed playing scourge of waterloo until i bought Quatra Bra DLC now the game constantly crashes

montycjd117
montycjd117

Best Napoleonic game published

I recommend this game to all serious war game players out there

Mig_Hospitalier
Mig_Hospitalier

Absolutely fantastic game,
Probably the most realistic napoleonic warfare simulator (aside from histwar which will NEVER get finished anyway)
Please enjoy it. Too bad the studio closed.

ALSO: check the mods.

dave
dave

Great authentic feel to the game

Lord Sluggo
Lord Sluggo

Bad Total War knockoff. The AI actively works against you - not the enemy - your own troops. This game still needs a lot, lot, lot of work

Nantz
Nantz

Dragging, worthless, awful experience for $50. It has a worse UI than Combat Mission for the same price. You've got to jump through hoops to make it work, and that isn't mentioning the likelihood of it crashing the second a musket fires. Awful graphics, awful optimization, mediocre gameplay. March for 20 minutes and crash. It's an insult for $50. Do not buy it.

ToteMagote
ToteMagote

Complicated but if you love Napoleonic/Post-Napoleonic warfare and tactics or are just a fan of history it doesn't get any better than this. Not for the amateur battlegamer looking for another Total War clone or a campaign./

Ælfric
Ælfric

I would definitely recommend this game if you are interested in the era and/or you have played Napoleon or Empire Total War and want more realism and more of a challenge. The game offers a lot more complexity and realism than NTW.

Do not be deterred by the simplistic graphics, which are just to prioritise scale rather than visual detail. However, even with the limited graphics, it is still cool watching soldiers fight.

The game is great overall, but there are two main drawbacks.
1. The price:
For 51.39 USD, it does not have much of a content-to-price ratio. Apart from the DLCs (which I have not played), the singleplayer dries up relatively quickly. Yes, one can theoretically be a completionist and grind personal highscores, but it is nevertheless too much for just a few dozen singleplayers battles. I am not necessarily saying that it is a bad game, that it is too short, or that it lacks content and gameplay (I personally have had fun playing sandbox); I am just saying that relative to price, it lacks enough playability to justify it.
I understand that a lot of effort and craft has gone into it, but I would suggest buying this on sale if you do not want to be disappointed.
2. Multiplayer:
Maybe it is because I am doing something wrong, but the multiplayer is completely barren for me on the steam version. I know that there are groups out there that organise events, etc., but I would like to just log on and join a room with some random players like one would do in most multiplayer strategy-games like NTW.

john
john

10/10 one of the best wargame on steam

Furlosifur
Furlosifur

Great for any armchair general who loves the Napoleonic or the blackpowder era.

[vBDs]Todtmacher
[vBDs]Todtmacher

No other game comes close to the level of playability and realism as the scourge of war series.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Overall good Napolonic experience for all the Napoleon fans. Has some drawbacks, especially in controlling of the units, which is very unintuitive and hard at times. But it is all compensated through good music, making you feel like you are actually on the field by yourself and good tactical options presented with each battle scenario.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Fantastic game. I have about six war games. This is the best one yet. I have a masters degree in history and did Civil War reenacting for 6 years. THIS GAME GIVES ME THE MOST FUN.

Jorsonner Iscariot
Jorsonner Iscariot

Leading a battle from the saddle of a horse is the most unique and immersive thing I have ever done in an RTS. If you are a hardcore Napoleon Total War player, this is a must try.

CA -[1st SC(A)] Pvt SSGSteveT
CA -[1st SC(A)…

I have been a student of the battle for a while now. I have been trying to buy this game for a long time. When I finally did, I could not stop playing and I still cannot stop. Highly detailed units, tactics, and operational level tactics on the grand scale. Cannot recommend enough.

ubique66
ubique66

A difficult and poorly designed command control and movement interface make this a tedious and frustrating game to play. Initially playing the sand box scenarios I seemed to spend most of my time trying to work out which units were where on the map marching all over the place and the map didn't offer much more clarity. The command, control and movement structure through generals and brigade commanders didn't make sense and command control/ orders were awkward to execute. Confusion and chaos reigned supreme. The over all concept has promise but I must say I was left disappointed by a game play which I felt I couldn't always control and didn't always understand what was going on. If you think you're playing an engine similar to 'Total War' think again. I cant see the situation improving by playing it either as there are fundamental game play issues that make it more of a challenge than a pleasure.

Dominus
Dominus

This game is old...REALLY old... If you're looking for the latest and greatest of computer graphics, go elsewhere. However, that said, this game really makes you feel like the commander in a Napoleonic battle. You'll march in columns as you jockey for position and set your regiments in line, holding back one or two to ensure you have troops available to fill in gaps or guard your flanks. You'll want to set aside plenty of time to play - this is more of a simulation than most RTS games, so don't expect to just dash from one end of the field to the other, there's no advantage for simply clicking faster either. These battles take time and organization.

Historically accurate flags accompanying each unit is a really neat touch you just don't see anywhere else too.

Trains
Trains

this game sucks please steam let me refund it