Praetorians

If you are looking for some old RTS game that differs from most games in the same genre, Praetorians is probably what you are looking for. The game was made and released back in 2003 by Pyro Studios and Eidos Interactive. It is a different RTS game. As soon as you start it, you'll notice that there are no resources to micromanage. The only "resources" in the game are your troops. They can be purchased when you capture new settlements/villages. And, the more they fight (and survive, of course), the better they become. Think of it like some sort of an experience-gaining auto-upgrade system. The game features three single-player campaigns and also multiplayer. You can play as the Romans, the Barbarians or the Egyptians. The missions are fun and can be at times a little hard for some players that are well into the RTS genre. I don't know if the GOG version has them, but few unofficial patches have been released that fix bugs left in the game. You can search for them on the net, they should still be available for download somewhere.

One of my favorite game, probably the only RTS who used the terrain like that, you can make ambushes everywhere: forrest, wheat fields, hills ... The campaign is hard, long and tactical, with epic sieges: you'll have to defend your garnison from barbarics tribes who'll come at you with ladders, rams, siege tower. Considering the game only allow you to play 3 Factions (Romans, Gauls, Egyptians) i suggest you to install the Imperial mod that add Greeks, Carthagenes, Persians.

That was my first PC game quite a long time ago. I was absolutely thrilled! And despite the now outdated graphics and quite minimalistic gameplay compared to modern games, this is still my all time favourite! Nothing better than 8 (very tall and adult) boys sitting in one room, crying and killing enemy legions en masse!! But if you're younger than 25 and ecpect a total war like game you'll surely be disappointed. For the Senate and the Roman People!

I remember playing this game online frequently with my friend. The barbarian faction and the Egyptian faction are far weaker than the Roman legions even when flanking. The game however is extremely fun and there is nothing like jumping out ambushing with your units or charging with the cavalry into the thick of combat. For this price its well worth the buy if you like strategy if just for the single player campaign itself.