Middle Earth
A great game run by Clint and crew at Harlequin Games in which 2 teams
of 10 players compete for dominance of Middle Earth, with 5 neutrals who
need to be wooed by careful diplomacy. The game works on characters who
belong to 1 of 4 classes (Commander, Mage, Agent or Emmisary) or are muticlassed,
and has strong elements of military and economic warfare, with magic,
smooth talking and skulduggery needing to be balanced in a successful
team to gain success. The game rewards team play and a strong community
has grown up with experienced players passing on their collected wisdom
to newcomers and many face to face meetings in Cardiff and, increasingly,
abroad. No software is needed to run the game but a series of utilities
have been developed by Clint and the team, all of which are free, which
help both new players and veterans alike.
Run by Harlequin Games at Middle
Earth Games
Loads of good info is available at Bobbins
More stuff at Middle
Earth PBM 1650
Napoleonic Empires
A game of grand strategy based in the Napoleonic era with each of 10
players taking the role of leader of a major or minor power in 1792. Each
turn the players must recruit their armies and capture territory to both
gain dominion and the resources for further expansion. The game encourages
active diplomacy and winning can only be achieved by building strong coalitions
whilst avoiding the inevitable stab in the back. It is possible to play
as both for free (as a Commoner) or for a small fee (as Royalty) for which
you gain greater abilities and potential, not the least by getting access
to Leaders, in either case, the software to run the game is free and the
map that is generated has to be one of the games stongest selling points
- it's gorgeous. Though the game is relatively new, there is a growing
community providing support and swapping strategies as well as sharing
the collective knowledge of the first dozen games.
Available from Lords
of Conquest
The Diplomatic Pouch
What wargamers haven't played Diplomacy at some stage in their career?
The ultimate game of smooth talking, grand strategies and the well placed
stab in the back is available online, for free, with a large and active
community and free software to facilitate the moves. Diplomacy lends itself
well to eMail play as you're never quite sure about your neighbours intentions
and a healthy sense of paranoia reigns.
Available at The
Diplomatic Pouch
Aide De Campe (ADC)
Not a game in itself, but an aid to playing all those board games that
have been sitting on the shelf for so long over the internet. You need
to own a copy of the game you are playing and the program doesn't enforce
rules but does have a dice roller. As with all such games you need to
have a degree of trust in your opponent, but what fun is there in cheating?
Whilst there is a small fee for for the software itself, there are plenty
of gamesets available for free as well as a number of utilities to help
you design your own. We've had loads of fun with this and at time of writing
are just coming to the end of a very close and tense game of Breakout
Normandy from Avalon Hill.
The software is available from HPS
Simulations
A number of gamesets and utilities are available via Die
Hauptkampfline
Cyberboard
Another Play by eMail facilitator program, this one is free and has a
considerable number of gamsets available, though the help files have not
yet been developed. There is, however, a large and active community supporting
this one and it does provide a slick interface which, once mastered, is
easy to use and fairly intuitive.
The software is available at Cyberboard
Gamesets are available from the excellent Yankee
Air Pilots
