Yeah looks good, but when did they start Beta again? A few weeks ago? I hope it works out...

Downloaded demo at work, I''ll try it out tongiht...

Is this is anywhere near as good as it seems, it will be...well glorious!

Oh my! Can''t wait to get home and dl the demo and try it.
Thanks for the brief Certis. It''s sounding good.

Btw, here''s a thing from GameSpy on it:

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/imperial-glory/600439p1.html

I haven''t played a Napoleonic-themed strategy game since.. Actually, I''ve never played a Napoleonic-themed strategy game. I''ll d/l the demo this evening.

Played the first (easy) scenario through twice. 9:40 to finish first time, 10:48 second time. The scenario has two farms seperated by a large stream that is bridged. As the English, you have two artillery batteries, 3 battallions of regular infantry and one of Black Watch, and two squadrons of cavalry. You face a division of Austrians on the defensive, with one less arty and cavalry unit than you have. You have to push them out of the farm they have occupied.

The map is fully 3d - trees, roads, fences, buildings, bridges, streams are all represented well. I think of this as perhaps more like Combat Mission than RTW, but it still looks very good and conveys the essence of the battlefield, as CM does so well. Sound is good - not quite as good as Bull Run but it fills the space and conveys the right feeling of troops in motion, firing, taking casualties, etc. Uniforms are excellent, and you can zoom up and down and get good closeups of the troops if you want. Dust and smoke make appearances during movement and firing, and fire leaves shell marks and bodies on the ground. You can see where a battallion was slaughtered by the bodies and black explosion marks left behind.

As soon as this scenario starts, the opponent takes his position and waits. I''ve seen a bit of variation in initial deployment, but not enough to tell if there is true variety yet. You can select multiple units, or go one at a time. Cavalry can easily cross the stream; not sure about infantry, I used the bridge.

The first time I tried, I ended up with units crossing piecemeal, and the enemy pushed forward on my right with his cavalry, threatening my isolated infantry battalions. I pushed back with my two columns of cavalry, and fought his to a standstill, but then his artillery pounded the remnants of my cavalry to pieces very quickly. At the same time, he advanced his center and right, and started shelling my two battallions that had formed line. I moved one forward, and was able to massacre a battallion with that infantry and my arty, but I took heavy losses as the rest of his infantry piled into my troops, artillery hitting them badly. I won with about 50 guys left; clearly I''d have been cashiered, even with the odds.

Second time, I formed up just past the bridge, out of range, and pushed my artillery up on the left, with my cavalry on a small rise to the right. I marched my troops nearly within range, then opened by shelling his right. He responded by advancing a battallion towards my artillery, and crossing the field with his cavalry to threaten my lines. I counter-charged and slaughtered the cavalry; his advancing infantry was trapped by two of my battallions and my arty shooting at it, and with the Hussars prancing around, they formed square and then tried to retreat. They were shot where they stood.

In the meantime, his artillery had hit my cavalry and killed it, and his infantry (2 more battallions, with a reserve in the farm itself) was maneuvering. So I charged the remaining Hussars into his center line, and used the time to form a double line and advance, with a third line in reserve. This force hit his center unit, and my reserve covered his left. My artillery advanced, unlimbered and started shelling his arty and the farm.

My troops were able to beat them in melee, and advance on the farm. We meleed the remaining guns, and fired on the farm building. For some reason, I could not assault it, but the fire eventually killed the remaining soldiers. Unlike the previous game, I still had nearly 170 men left of close to 300, and had killed or run off every opposing soldier.

So proper use of tactics is beneficial, and tempo is very important. Both sides will react to events, starting a chain of decisions that defines the battle. Artillery kills infantry; infantry takes artillery; cavalry threatens infantry; infantry hunkers in square; artillery kills infantry. And so forth. It''s up to you to lead the enemy by the nose, or be led yourself.

The game only has a few formations in this scenario - with the promise of more that can be developed in the strategic game - but they get the essence across. You have line, column and square. Troops seem to move faster in column, but I did not see an explicit double-time. I don''t know if the French attack columns are modeled; I''m not going to march an English column into combat to see how they do. Troops default to attack with firearms; shift-click sends them into melee, from which they cannot be recalled until they win. The game tracks the gain and loss of ""flags"", which I take to be regimental standards or French Eagles.

I still feel that time has been compressed, but I didn''t have to pause the game to win. The AI was reasonable, but this was an ""easy"" scenario, so I don''t expect much. I find this a very satisfying game so far, and look forward to the actual release.

I''ve play both scenarios several times. It has a bit of a ""toy soliders"" feel in that these units change formation waaay too quickly, and under fire as well. Whoever designed this game never read The Face of Battle.

It reminds me of a recent review of some new book on Waterloo I read in The Economist, which described the book as like a retired brigadier pushing salt and pepper shakers around on a dinner table describing how the battle went just so.

That said, it''s a helluva lot of fun, not dealing with messy reality and playing around with brightly colored units who move too quickly, change formation too neatly, and charge cannon fearlessly.

It is a bit clunky on the control side as well, and naval warfare and the strategic game are a complete mystery as to how they play, but they''ve got my money when they go gold.

I like toy soliders.

The Naval battle video looked promising although I dont know whether they are actually usingship of the line tactics from the videos - seemed a little off, but maybe that was just the video. The land game was fun and my 3 matches played out much like Robears except I managed to get his troops to charge and then sent one unit of my cavalry in from the flanks pillaged his cannon and then brought them back in from the rear. My cannon were deadly to his initial cavalry charge and pretty much decimated his unit at the first 2 salvos - 1 from each cannon... Not sure if he was coming for the cannon since there were 2 lines if infantry in front of them waiting . I used two lines of infantry to hold and bloody his nose and the other two basically flanked him and poured gunfire into his troops engaged in melee. I sent my second cavalry unit in and that ended that .

This is out May 17 and new, cool looking screen shots.

Wargamer:

http://www.wargamer.com/news/news.asp?nid=1933#

EDIT: I just hope it''s anywhere near as good as it looks.
It''s been a loonng time since a half way decent Napoleonic
grand strategy game has been out. Let alone one with a
decent (or stand alone) tactical engine. (although I heard
a very good mod for MTW was to be had).

Ack! May 17? Oh well, I''ll point my broswer to it on that day.

But I want it now!