On the table, the war game in all its facets has enjoyed great popularity for centuries - one of the most prominent representatives is called chess, which was also played in medieval Europe. Somewhat less known might be "Field of Glory: Ancient and Medieval Wargaming Rules". Nevertheless, these tabletop battles by Richard Bodle Scott, Simon Hall, and Terry Shaw continued the long ancestral line of turn-based wargames in 2008. The simulative approach is commendable.
FoG2:M advertises 100 "historical" units and 29 factions from the Scots to the Teutonic Knights to the Volga Bulgarians, but in the end, you can't be too specific if you're a bit of a military history buff - nevertheless, this is a game that at least takes a historical approach. After all, you can also replay Hastings (1066) and other famous battles, using authentic contingents on the side of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons.
In full zoom, you can watch the motions of the motley bunch, but the presentation seems both wooden and sterile - anyone expecting mud, blood, and sweat will be disappointed. Also, despite standards and color-coding, it can be difficult to immediately distinguish friend from foe. Nevertheless, the game mechanics are very solid: A tabletop rulebook has been digitized, which can only be studied in English in the 212-page and nicely designed PDF manual. In addition, beginners are familiarized with all essential aspects of the tutorial. And these should be heeded urgently because FoG2:M requires patience.
You have to consider the terrain in terms of height and ground as well as the orientation of your units, which are mostly organized in units of hundreds, you should attack flanks and use the troop types from knights, spearmen to peasants according to their strengths.
Positioning and attacking units is done through their action points, and turning them also costs something - so you can't just pivot 180 degrees and attack, you have to plan your movement in the terrain well, which requires some forethought. It helps here that you can zoom out and pan the camera a long way, as well as take back moves. There is something of chess feel as you activate and move your heavily armored cavalry, king and army commander, archers, spearmen one after the other before the computer makes its moves; so there is no shifting initiative.
Conclusion
Field of Glory 2: Medieval is a rock-solid wargame, but quite woodenly presented in terms of animations and scenery. Based on the tabletop rulebook by Richard Bodle Scott, turn-based medieval battles are staged, which provide a certain chess feeling in the terrain that requires clever moves and precise knowledge of the rulebook. Unfortunately, the differences to the four-year-old ancient model are limited, the archers go down a bit, there are some illogical situations and the four historical campaigns can hardly develop any pull because you ultimately only fight one battle after the other. The bottom line is that old-school tacticians will still be entertained, especially since you can also compete against each other and create your scenarios. It's a pity that digital wargames rarely capture the timeless fascination of these mechanics and interpret them in such a fresh way those modern classics are also created on the screen.
