Field of Glory II

Field of Glory II has been updated to version 1.0.2! This is a significant and important update as it adds tons of improvements and changes, among all:

• You can now review the battlefield at the end of a battle
• Units that have evaded off map count as half their routed value added to their side’s rout %
• Close Order Warbands no longer get +1 Cohesion Test modifier for being Heavy Foot.
• Bows can now shoot over other units if on higher ground

You can download the patch from HERE.

Check the full changelog HERE.

“Famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.” – Pericles

Few games have been able in the past to truly capture the magnitude and the complexity of Ancient Warfare.

Field of Glory II, the latest masterpiece from the creators of gems like Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai, is one of these games, and it is finally available!

Fight in over two centuries of constant warfare, witnessing the Rise of Rome to become the dominant power in the Mediterranean Sea, from 280 B.C. to 25 B.C.

The game offers an incredible degree of choice: With over 78 Army Lists and 48 Factions to choose from, randomly generated maps, and a wealth of different scenarios, no two battles will look or play the same.

Your skills will be tested against a challenging AI through 4 historically-based Campaigns where strategic decisions will have a real impact on the upcoming battles, and decide everything from your opponents and allies to the kind of map. Or jump into one of the most flexible systems to create your perfect Custom Battle or Campaign!

Do you want to know more about the different gameplay modes? Click here!

The game ships with a wonderful full-colour hardcover manual, but if you want to wait to see what it looks like, look at this abstract!

You can view the Field of Glory II release trailer HERE.

Are you still on the fence? We’re having a live stream on our Twitch Channel and we may have some spare keys to give away, so be sure to come have fun with us!

Last but not least, we have a new Discord channel for whoever wants to join this game’s community, you can find it HERE! (You can use Discord on your browser, but we suggest you to download the desktop version since is way more stable and reliable)

Get more information about the game from its official product page!

Welcome to this AAR for Field of Glory II, the upcoming sequel of the original Field of Glory and developed by the legendary game designer Richard Bodley Scott (Field of Glory Tabletop, Pike and Shot, Sengoku Jidai).

For this After Action Report, I decided on a Custom Battle, with the AI at the highest difficulty level: Deity (sounds intimidating)!

In Field of Glory II, Custom Battles allow players to build their favourite battle with a wide range of options at their disposal. You can choose between 78 army lists of the period (check here for the entire list!), you can set the force size, the map type, and many other settings. An interesting thing when you select your enemy is that you can restrict the selection to geographical and historical consistency (or you can just go ahead and make the Ancient British fight against the Sarmatians!).

I picked up the Roman Army (219 – 200 BC) and, for my opponent, I decided to face the Macedonians (260-148 BC).

Read the After Action Report HERE.

Here we are today to have an in-depth look on Field Of Glory II’s Game Modes.

FOG2 has a number of game modes, designed to give the maximum amount of variety and replayability.

Tutorial
The tutorial is in the form of three hypothetical battles between historical opponents – Ancient British vs Romans, King Pyrrhos of Epeiros vs Carthaginians, and Hannibal’s Carthaginians vs Romans. These are actual battles rather than being “on rails” so that the new player can get a real feel for the game. However, they have lots of context-appropriate popups that demonstrate the UI and rules as the game is played.

Read the full Game Modes Developers Diary HERE.

The AI for Field of Glory II has been developed by building on the knowledge gained from developing the generally praised AI for Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai.

Deployment
For non-preset scenarios, it is important that the AI can deploy its army in a sensible formation, taking account of the prevailing terrain. Generally speaking, most ancient armies would deploy with an infantry centre in one or more lines. (Usually three for Romans, usually only one for Hellenistic armies). They would then have cavalry on both wings and perhaps in reserve, plus light troops both in the centre and on the wings. Except for cavalry armies, the “autodeploy” routine therefore starts with the infantry centre, in one or more solid lines. If the army has a mixture of heavy and medium foot, it will deploy the heavy foot where the terrain is most open, and the medium foot where it is most uneven. This takes into account not just the deployment line but also the map in front of where the line will advance.

If it is possible to rest one flank of the infantry on a river or a coastline, it will do so.

Cavalry are then assigned to each wing depending on the amount of adverse terrain on each wing. More cavalry will be deployed on an open wing than on one with lots of rough or difficult terrain or a river. Some cavalry may be assigned to a reserve behind the infantry.

Light troops are then assigned in a similar way to the cavalry, but more light foot will be deployed on the wing with more terrain, and more light horse on the more open wing.

For cavalry armies, the cavalry is divided into centre and two wings, and the usually weak infantry deployed at the back in reserve.

Read the full A.I. Developers Diary HERE.

As the developing process is marching quickly along the beta testing phase, it’s time to dig a bit more into the main differences and improvements players will find from the original game released in 2009.

“Field of Glory II is a complete reboot of the franchise, based on the original tabletop Field of Glory rules as a starting point, rather than on Field of Glory I” says Richard Bodley Scott, the main designer of Field of Glory II. “There are therefore many differences from FOG1 – which we hope are all improvements. Being co-author of the original tabletop game, I am in a unique position to create a fresh take on the system”.

Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

New graphics!

The game has vastly improved graphics. All of the terrain and unit models are true 3D. They are all fully animated – firing bows, throwing javelins, charging with lance, meleeing with sword or spear and so forth. Arrows and javelins fly. Men fall mortally wounded to the ground and die. The battlefield is littered with their corpses. Rear ranks shuffle up to replace the lost men.

Formations become disordered, and men turn to face their opponents when a unit is fighting in multiple directions. Pikes visibly form square. Each unit type has up to 4 variants within the unit, but also has multiple variant texture sheets, allowing the units of each side to be easily distinguished even in civil war battles.

New AI!

The game has vastly improved AI, drawing on the experience of developing the (generally praised) AI for Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai. There are six levels of difficulty, allowing all players from novices to experts to enjoy challenging games against the AI.

Read the full developers diary HERE.

We have received a bunch of new screenshots showing some intense fighting more closely!

Thanks to these images, you can have a clear vision of the amount of detail developers at Byzantine Games are putting into Field of Glory II!

Field of Glory II is a turn-based tactical game set during the Rise of Rome from 280 BC to 25 BC. Which allows you to fight large or small battles for or against Rome, or between the other nations who are as yet unaware of the Roman threat, or what-if battles between nations that never actual came into conflict historically, but might have if the course of history had been different.

Get more information about the game from its official product page!

Award-winning wargame designer Richard Bodley Scott is back. The mastermind behind successes like Pike and Shot and Sengoku Jidai, returns to his roots and is busy at work on the sequel of one of the most successful wargaming systems ever: Field of Glory.

“The first digital adaptation of the most popular ancients and medieval tabletop wargaming rules served as a stepping stone in the foundation of the Slitherine Group as we know it today”, said Iain McNeil, Development Director of Slitherine. “We are happy to have RBS working on the next iteration of this PC game as he is both the father of the original tabletop game and the creator of its digital conversion”.

It’s 280 B.C. The Republic of Rome has just finished defeating its Italian neighbours and already the Southern territories are menaced by King Pyrrhus of Epirus. Carthage, to the South-West is also a threat to the newborn Mediterranean power. In the north, the Gaul’s continue to see the rich Roman cities as inviting targets.

A new age of war is coming.

Set during the Rise of Rome from 280 BC to 25 BC, Field of Glory II will accurately simulate the battles of the Ancient World, before the full establishment of the Roman Empire. Boasting a set of unique and detailed Army Lists for each faction, the game offers a wide variety of tactical choices with more than 80 beautiful and fully animated 3D models, each with multiple uniform variations.

“We really wanted Field of Glory 2 to be a big step up both in terms of visuals and in gameplay. We knew that with RBS on board, gameplay would fit well with both the historical setting and the nature of warfare at the time. For the visuals, we have put together a team that includes Pat Ward, formerly Art Director at Shenandoah and our Art Director Richard Evans. The result is a wargame that will please the fans, but also attract a brand new generation of gamers”.

Players can already join the beta of Field of Glory II by applying here.

Expect to experience a Classic Age that’s more vibrant than ever in this tabletop miniature wargame brought to life to PC! Field of Glory II is set to release this fall.

Find out more about Fields of Glory II at the games official webpage.