Detailed, Well-Researched Game of the American Revolution
Birth of America is a big, sprawling wargame of the American Revolution and the French and Indian Wars, with a map covering the whole eastern portion of the North American continent (including Quebec, and up to the Mississippi). Though strategic in its approach, you play at an operational level, ordering individual regiments on a detailed map of the area. Although it's turn-based, enemy units move and fight at the same time as yours, so unlike many turn-based games, there's a real sense of the fluidity of combat. (Or to put it another way, it's not an "I go, you go" game--rather, both you and the AI plan your moves, and then you watch as the results of those plans play out.)
Designed by Philippe Thibaut, who was one of the co-designers of the superb game Europa Universalis, Birth of America has something of the feeling of games like Heart of Iron (without the somewhat rococo complexity of that game--18th century warfare is a simpler beast, after all). Mind you, this is not a simple game--as an example, each unit can be put into one of four 'postures', ranging from "attack" to "passive"--and reading the manual is not a bad idea; but it does contain a decent tutorial, the UI is fairly intuitive, and it is far easier to come to grips with than most wargames.
The Revolutionary War is not a subject that has received much attention in the game industry (and the French and Indian Wars even less so); it's nice to see so robust and detailed a treatment.
The Developer Says:
Birth of America is a historically realistic game that is set in the 18th century during two of the most important conflicts of that time: the French & Indian Wars and the War of American Independence. The action takes place in North America and the battles take place between Florida and Quebec and from New England to the Mississippi.
The map is divided into more than 700 provinces and features diverse terrain, climate and varied levels of civilization. Players control all aspects of the military for their nation such as drafting forces, building forts and depots, setting up sieges and blockades, raiding enemy settlements and controlling battles that take place on both land and at sea.
Features
- Simultaneous turn based engine that accurately recreates the uncertainty of war.
- Wide diversity of troop types including: light infantry, dragoons, siege artillery, rangers, Indian warriors, marines, militias, ships of the line, frigates and lake flotillas.
- Troops are controlled at the regiment level and can be arranged into various needed detachments.
- Naval units come in the form of warship squadrons and flotillas.
- Over ninety different models of units that are rated for various aspects such as offensive and defensive strength, morale, experience, troop quality, geographical origin and movement type.
- Political aspects of the conflicts (especially during the War of Independence) are taken into account.
Reviews
"The game looks pretty complete in this preview version, and it’s a global strategy game that can rival EU, Hearts of Iron, or any of the other big titles."
- Out of Eight PC Game Reviews
"Fortunately, the game is pretty intuitive. It uses a grab and drop interface to make moving your armies a piece of cake. The various map modes allow you to quickly get the larger strategic sense of things...The game is very stable - much more than either of Thibaut's ancient themed games. I experienced zero crashes, and the only technical problem was some slow scrolling over the map in some modes."
- Portico
Awards
Silver Laurel, Strategy Game of the Year 2006, Cyberstratège Magazine
Click here to visit the Birth of America forums.