Field of Glory – Expansion Packs

Rise of Rome
Storm of Arrows
Immortal Fire
and
Swords and Scimitars

 

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By Slitherine, Osprey, and Matrix Games

 

Field of Glory Expansion
Rise of Rome

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Field of Glory – Rise of Rome is the first expansion pack for the Field of Glory game. This expansion brings new content and adds new features to the core Field of Glory game such as a Line of Sight rule. In addition, Rise of Rome introduces the Digital Army Generator (DAG) which lets you create your own armies from scratch. As if all this wasn’t enough, Rise of Rome also adds 5 new terrain types, 6 new battles, a random battle generator and over 100 new units into the game, including camels, scythed chariots, and artillery to name a few. Now that you have an idea of the new features that have been added, let’s take a look at how it’s all integrated together to make the Field of Glory core game a better game.

To begin with, let’s look at the Baggage camps that have been added to the game. These Baggage camps can be attacked and looted for additional bonus points. Some of the armies also have the option to fortify their baggage camps which makes them even more difficult to attack. A quick mention above about the Line of Sight (LOS) rule means that units can hide in forests, behind hills, or in back of other units and spring traps and ambushes on unsuspecting enemy units. Then there are the temporary fortifications such as palisades that can be defended from attacks.

New civilizations are also introduced in this expansion. The new armies include;

Mid-Republic Roman Late Republican Roman Gallic
Pyrrhic Later Carthaginian Ancient Spanish
Later Macedonian Attalid Pergamene Numidian
Later Seleucid Later Ptolemaic Pontic
Spartacus Slave Revolt Early Armenian Parthian
Later Jewish Bosporan Illyrian

Finally. to put the expansion in perspective, Rise of Rome provides the gamer with the following new features;

  • A comprehensive Digital Army Generator which allows you to design armies to a specific number of points!
  • Over 100 new unit types including camelry, scythed chariots and artillery!
  • 6 new battles from the Greek & Persian wars, Macedonian & Punic War’s and from Rome’s expansion.
  • A new Line of Sight option. Games can be played with or without LOS. Hide battlegroups in terrain, behind hills or other troops.
  • Baggage camps which appear in battle and can be looted for bonus points. Some armies are allowed to fortify their baggage camp.
  • Temporary fortifications such as palisades which can be defended.
  • 5 New terrain types:
  • ◦ broken ground
  • ◦ impassable terrain
  • ◦ open fields
  • ◦ vineyards
  • ◦ steep hills.
  • New random battle generator using armies created in the army builder for single and multiplayer games.

Field of Glory Expansion
Storm of Arrows

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Field of Glory – Storm of Arrows is the second expansion pack for the Field of Glory game. This expansion pack also adds new core features, armies and units to the core game of Field of Glory. This expansion covers the armies of Western Europe from 1300 to 1500 AD. European warfare during this time was characterized by a rise of infantry and a decline of the role or mounted knights. Over 100 new unit images are included with this expansion. Also, Archer Stakes and the ability to deploy your cavalry either mounted or dismounted in DAG games is introduced. Finally, the new units that are introduced with this expansion are; Knights, Crossbows, Medieval Artillery, and Battle Wagons.

New civilizations are also introduced in this expansion. The new armies included are;

100 Years War English (Continental) 100 Years War English (Britain) War of the Roses English
Medieval Welsh Later Medieval Scots (Britain) Later Medieval Scots (Continental)
Later Scots Isles and Highlands Later Anglo-Irish, Medieval Irish Medieval French
Later Scots Isles and Highlands Later Anglo-Irish Medieval Irish
Medieval French Ordonnance French Free Company
Navarrese Later Low Countries Medieval Burgundian
Ordonnance Burgundian Swiss Later Medieval German
Later Medieval Danish Later Medieval Swedish Condotta Italian
Medieval Crown of Aragon Medieval Portugese Medieval Castilian
Santa Hermandad Nueva Castilian Later Granadine

Finally. to put the expansion in perspective, Rise of Rome provides the gamer with the following new features;

  • Over 100 new unit images
  • Archers stakes to protect ranged units and present a nasty surprise for enemy cavalry
  • Ability to deploy troops mounted or dismounted in games created with the Digital Army Generator
  • Four new unit types: Knights, Crossbows, Medieval Artillery, Battle Wagons

Details about each of these armies can be found on the Slitherine website at http://www.slitherine.com/soa_armies .

Field of Glory Expansion
Immortal Fire

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Field of Glory – Immortal Fire is the third expansion pack for the Field of Glory game. Immortal Fire covers the armies of the Classical and Hellenistic eras. In this expansion you will follow the development of the hoplite system in Greece in the 7th century BC until the break-up to the Hellenistic successor kingdoms came into conflict with Rome in the 3rd century BC. This expansion includes the armies of the wars of the Greek City states against each other and against the might of the Persian Empire. It also includes the Greek counter-offensive against Persia under Alexander the Great. Finally, Alexander’s successors are also included in this expansion. This is a period of tremendous variety as there are many different colorful troops fighting for tactical dominance during this time period. Each army has its own special character making this one of the most fascinating periods of history to explore.

As with the other Expansions in this series, Immortal Fire adds an additional 21 armies to your base game. The armies that are added are as follows;

Classical Greek Early Achaemenid Persian Thracian
Lydian Late Dynastic Egyptian Kyrenean Greek
Early Carthaginian Skythian or Saka Classical Indian
Late Achaemenid Persian Syracusan Alexandrian Macedonian
Early Successor Early Ssrmatian Galatian
Hellenistic Greek Graeco-Bactrian Indo-Greek

There are a total of 55 different lists based on the above armies that are included with the expansion. For example, there are four different Thracian lists that represent critical changes to their historical armies composition.

New graphics for over 200 battle groups and their supporting information for use in the Digital Army Generator are included There are now over 300 new Battle Group images that can be used with the scenario editor for creating historical battles. Finally, there are six new battles that are added to the base game that are only available to purchasers of the expansion pack.

Main Features included with Immortal Fire Expansion Pack are;

· Enhanced A.I. opponent

· 60 new random maps for large DAG battles

· New optional game rule of “double” moves

· Units can move more than once if they have unused movement points after their initial movement action.

· New generals flags

· Improved line of sight/Fog of War rules.

· Changes to the evade and pursuit rules.

· Ability to cut and paste battle group information in the scenario editor.

Field of Glory
Swords & Scimitars

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The latest release is Swords and Scimitars which is an essential add-on covering the armies fighting for and against the Crusades during the 11th to 13th centuries. This was a clash between opposing cultures and religions. Additionally, this was a clash of very different military strategies. The Crusaders depended on the armored knights and on heavy horses that would charge in close order with lances to create a shocked effect. The Infidels (as they were referred to) believed in the mobility of their units and used both foot and horse archers to their advantage. This contrast between equipment and tactics of the opposing armies makes for interesting and challenging wargaming.

There are also a number of new game features that have been added with the Swords and Scimitars release. A new terrain feature call “Soft Sand” has been added to terrain for those creating their own maps. Also 10 new maps have been added to the DAG map system that all include soft sand. Next, a player can now set if they want to always evade with skirmishing battle groups, to never evade, or let the AI handle the decision. A whole new interface has been created for the Scenario Editor, making editing existing or creating new battlefields even easier. Finally, 218 new historical unit images have been added to the game system with the addition of Swords and Scimitars.

As with the other Expansions in this series, Swords and Scimitars adds an additional 21 armies to your base game. The armies that are added are as follows;

Early Crusader Later Crusader Fatimid Egyptian
Georgian Seljuk Turk Cuman
Komnenan Byzantine Cilician Armenian
Syrian States Arab Cities Bedouin
Khwarazmian Ayyubid Egyptian Middle Serbian
Middle Bulgarian Medieval Cypriot Post Latin Conquest Byzantine
Latin Greece Ilkhanid Mongol Mamaluk Egyptian

Allowing for all the different historical variations on the above there are 40 different D.A.G. army lists included in the Swords and Scimitars expansion.

Finally, with the arrival of Swords and Scimitars, when loaded with the other for Field of Glory expansions, the gamer is provided with a total of 89 historical Scenarios and over 1100 different digitized historical battle group images and their associated data. Gamers can create their own scenarios from the wealth of historical information presented. The list of Scenarios a player can choose from are;

Agincourt 1415AD Agricola moves North AD79 (PM) Allobroges 218BC (PM)
Akragas 406BC (DC) Arausio 105BC (JMS) Bagradas 253BC (MA)
Baecula 208BC (GM) Beneventum 275BC Caer Caradoc 51AD (MS)
Caesar at Bay 55BC (MA) Caesar in Gaul 54BC – 1 The Eburones (MA) Caesars Landing 55BC (MA)
Cannae 216BC (IA) Carrhae 53BC Carthage Cramped 327BC (LG)
Chaeronea 86BC (MS) Cisapline Gaul 105BC (GD) Clastium 222BC
Clusium 225BC Corinth 146BC Crimissos River 341BC (DC)
Crocus Plain 353BC Cynoscephalae 197BC Dertosa 215BC
Ebro 216BC Gabiene 316BC Gaza 312BC (WA)
Gerunium 217BC (KB) Great Plains 203BC (IA) Gaugamela 331BC
Harlaw 1411AD Hecatombeaum 226BC (AD) Hellespont 321BC
Heraclea 280BC (JC) Himeras River 211BC (KK) Hydaspes 326BC
Ilipa 206BC (JT) Indistavio 16AD Invasion of Macedon 279BC (IB)
Lake Trasimene 217BC Lautulae 315BC (GD) Lylibaeum 276BC (CR)
Lyginus River 335BC (CW) Magnesia 190BC (IA) Marathon 490BC
Medway 43AD (ND) Metaurus 207BC Mons Graupius 84AD
Nahel el-Haramiah 166BC (CR) Orchonenus 86BC Otterburn 1388AD (TW)
Paraitacene 317BC (KB) Pharsalus 48BC Philippi 42BC (MS)
Rhone Crossing 218BC (JB) River Thatis 310BC Roosebeke 1382AD
Sambre 57BC (JC) Scirthaea 103BC Sellasia 222BC (MS)
Sentinum 295BC (GM) Silarus River 71BC Sparta 338BC
Starter Army Battle – Carthaginians vs Romans Starter Army Battle – Indians vs Macedonians Starter Army Battle – Seleucids vs Romans (WA)
Starter Army Battle – Swiss vs Burgundians Tagus 220BC (DC) Taurus 39BC
Tewkesbury 1471AD Thames 43AD (ND) Towton 1461AD (KB)
Ticinus 218BC Ticinus River 218BC Trebia 218BC (CL)
Trigranocerta 69BC Tunis 255BC Verulamium 60AD
Antioch 1098AD Arbaq 957AD Arsouf 1191AD
Durazzo 1081AD Dysert O’Dea 1318AD Manzikert 1071AD
River Indus 1221AD Starter Army Battle – Ilkhanid Mongol vs Later Crusader Starter Army Battle – Komnenan Byzantine vs Ayyubid Egyptian
Tinchebrai 1106AD Hattin 1187AD

In the event these are not enough scenarios for you, there is the Slitherine website that has hundreds of player created scenarios that you can download and install on your computer. You can access the Forum Area where these files are located from either the Matrix Games website (http://www.matrixgames.com) or the Slitherine website (http://www.slitherine.com) by selecting the Forum menu item at the top of the page and looking for Field of Glory. Once you select that Forum, the next page you see will show a Forum “Field of Glory: Scenario Design”. Once in the Forum, you should register so that you will receive all the benefits of being a Forum member.

A question you may have is where should I put the downloaded scenario? You will see that a File Folder with the name “Slitherine” has been created in “My Documents”. In this “Slitherine” folder you will see 3 sub-folders which are “FieldOfGlory Armies”, “FieldOfGlory Saved Games”, and “FieldOfGlory Scenarios. The best place to put any downloaded scenarios is in the “FieldOfGlory Scenarios” folder. Unzip the files to this folder and you can load the game from the “Custom” drop down menu as seen below.

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Conclusion

The Field of Glory Expansions open up a whole new world of Ancient battles to the gamer. If you enjoy one historical period over another, you can choose which expansion to purchase, or you can load all 4 if you enjoy multiple historical time periods. Also, if you combine the Field Of Glory Supplement books by the same name, you will receive background information on the different armies and their unit compositions.

If you are a miniature gamer, you can use any of these and future expansions to test Field of Glory Miniature Armies. The Digital Army Generator allows you to create armies on the computer, controlling the size of the army with a point system. You can then pit armies that you create against one another to test which is the strongest.

Field of Glory and the Supplemental Expansions provide gamers with an open ended game system. At the moment, there are 13 Supplements http://www.fieldofglory.com/catalogue/) or (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/text_search.aspx?TextSearch=field%20of%20glory&Group=1) for the Field of Glory miniature rules. Only the first four supplements have been computerized and then these are not 100% inclusive. However, with the four expansions, you have hundreds and hundreds of hours of challenging games that will test your strategy and tactical skills in battle. Whether your playing the highly popular miniature rules, or the highly rated computer game, Field of Glory with its supplements and books provide the gamer with quality, substance, and replay value that is second to none.

(http://www.slitherine.com/http://www.ospreypublishing.com/http://www.matrixgames.com/ )

Available from Matrix Games ( http://www.matrixgames.com/ )

MSRP Physical Shipment $49.95

MSRP Physical Shipment & Digital Download $49.95

MSRP Digital Download $39.95