Wargame Construction Set III: Age of Rifles 1846-1905 + Campaigns

I've been waiting for GOG to release this one for years. I'm so glad they did. This game is one of the most comprehensive war games of an era that does not get covered enough. It very easy to get into as far as the interface which is surprising for it's age. The game covers a broad range of conflicts and also has an editor to make your own battle and a "skirmish" mode to easily generate a battle in one of two clicks. Game runs flawlessly on my Windows 10 system. If you're a wargamer, please do not hesitate to pick this one up.

I think the title say it all. WGCS - Age of Rifles is probably the wargame/strategy game after Steel Panthers. I love the style, the art and the sounds. I'll say that its 80% beginner friendly. The provided campaigns and scenarios are great, but the fun doesn't stop there. The customizable armies and highly functional map editor makes AoR a game that is sure to be replayed.

Simply put one of the clearest strategic game. The rules are easy to understand due to very advanced graphical interface for the time (1996). Being able to both fire from a distance or melee dragging the unit on nearby adversary adds a lot of tactical and strategical options that make the game very funny and enjoyable, and the graphics and sounds makes the action very engaging and exciting. And this is not a surprise because behind the game there is the developer and designer Norm Koger, which later will became notable for Operational Art of War games series. But this game has a special fashion itself. Highly recommended.

This game is a product of its era and it shows its limitations as a result. The ruleset the wargame engine is built on is quite solid, and all mechanics you might expect from the genre are to be found here. You have morale, you have ammo supply lines, and unit commanders have a limited range so units too far away from their leaders become isolated. There is a lot of subtle minutia regarding rules about formations, skirmishers and the advantages of certain weapons against others. For example, muzzle-loaders are harder to reload and fire back from a prone position, so a unit trying to do so is at a disadvantage against soldiers armed with modern rifles. Most of the complexity runs underground, concealed by the engine, but I certainly recommend reading the manual if you want to make the most out of the game. Still, the basics are very easy to learn and a new player will pick it up in no time. Complex mechanics can be disabled or enabled at will anyway. The main issue this game suffers is that the AI is not that great. I find it quite ok at defending, but it has issues when playing the role of an attacker. I have seen the AI prioritize its movements quite badly, preferring to chase routed units which were not a threat anyway instead of securing strategic objectives which were needed to win the scenario. AI difficulty can be adjusted, but it does not modify the quality of its brain: it just provides a statistical handicap for things such as morale checks. As a curiosity, the game has an email mode which allows you to play with Internet opponents via email. I doubt anybody is using it in this day and age, but I find it noteworthy. Most of the music is above average and scenarios are well designed for the most part. There used to be a sizeable modding community for this game. Fan-made scenarios and mods can be still found if looked for.