Game for the Weekend 4 Battle for Wesnoth

You know it must be Friday when I’m introducing a new game for the weekend. This time it is a strategy game called Battle for Wesnoth. Maybe some of you know the classic games Shining Force by Sega, Final Fantasy Tactics by Square and Fire Emblem by Nintendo. All are turn based strategy games – so is Battle for Wesnoth which can be downloaded for free for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Wesnoth offers a charming fantasy setting full of elves, orcs and magic. You may try the tutorial first which gives you a good understanding of the games basic features and commands. After that I suggest you head right for one of the four campaigns which can be best described as a series of battles.

You begin each battle with a certain amount of troops all with their own distinctive advantages and disadvantages and may recruit new troops if your leader is currently in a castle. Think of the medieval ages and you know the types of troops available. Add to this mixture magic and from the fantasy settings non-human beings and you are set to go. Some units possess special abilities like the Trolls who heal their wounds over time.

Units gain experience by fighting with enemy troops and reach a new level once they have accumulated enough experience points which makes them tougher.

Terrain has influence on battle outcome as well. If your archers are attacked by knights on a plain field they are more likely to loose many hitpoints whereas they might loose less hitpoints if they are attacked while standing in an area with lots of wood.

Another great feature is the multiplayer part of Battle for Wesnoth. Once you got sick of beating the AI you might want to try and beat some human opponents in the multiplayer mode. You may join the official server, host a network or hotseat game or join a game. Multiplayer is were the real fun begins, it is always more awarding to beat a human player than the computer and even if you loose you learn some valuable lessons that the computer can’t teach you at all.

To conclude everything I said. Battle for Wesnoth is a great game. And it’s free, what are you waiting for ?

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Friday December 15, 2006 -
Tags:battle-for-wesnoth, freeware, game, Linux, mac, Open Source, pc, strategy, turn based