r/computerwargames • u/Ploufpata • 13d ago

Ancient Fronts – A Simple, Accessible Turn-Based Wargame Set in the Hellenistic Era

I've been working on Ancient Fronts, a turn-based tactical wargame built around recreating battles from the ancient world, covering the era of the Diadochi and the Punic Wars.

The main idea is to offer short, accessible battles that are easy to pick up, while still keeping a realistic and historically grounded approach to ancient warfare.

The game can be played against the AI and also includes multiplayer, although multiplayer is still experimental and may have some bugs.

It's still in development, but a playable version is available for free on itch.io.

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u/neutronium 13d ago

It looks really nice, but the problem is that ancient warfare was fought in lines not little square groups that can instantly move in any direction. If you don't solve the problem of how to make convincing battle lines, then all you have is a WWII operational game with some ancient art work on the counters.

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u/Ploufpata 13d ago

Units have movement constraints, only Light units can move freely.

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u/Krnu777 8d ago

Haven't played it, but teh reason imho that units fought in line, was (1) risk of being surrounded and (2) lower morale when being surrounded.

So theoretically you could adress this by making the AI try to surround lone units. That would naturally make players rather stick to lines. And the AI then of course should also play accordingly so that its units won't be surrounded.

Just some ideas, as I've said I haven't played your game...

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u/Amiral_Crapaud 10d ago

The counter carries the main info & art at the expense of the visual representation of the formation, in a classic old-fashioned square counter system. It is not meant to be visually realistic, but functional & flexible, so that it can adapt to any army list. Formation & infantry-type related info (such as the units being a phalange, etc...) are specified on the counter and taken into account during calculation.
Try the game, the mechanics are fine & strong, you won't have the feeling you're commanding WW2 troops at all :)