I remember fondly the arguments on the internet of old. Which titles were wargames and which didn’t rise to the honor of such appellation? For example, I remember that EU/EU2 was declared not to be a wargame while Panzer General was*, albeit with the “beer and pretzels” disclaimer attached to it. The debates were a product of a time when we believed high-fidelity historical simulations were on their way to our PCs and it seemed to be important to distinguish those who were getting it right from those who were not. If for no other reason, we wanted to be able to encourage those who were starting to get it right to do so even better in the next iteration.
The argument itself seems far less important these days. Perhaps we are no longer concerned that someone will sell us a pig in a poke – an unserious game dressed up in the uniform of a serious military simulation. Maybe we no longer worry because we’ve proven we don’t have the market power to be worth pitching to. It is also true that some of the metrics that we used to evaluate games 25 years ago probably seem silly today. For example, individual tracking of shells would have seemed like a holy grail in 1994, but the ubiquity of 3D game engines makes it a given for any game with a gun.
Let’s get back to Panzer General. I think a big part of what made this game was its novelty. For its time and place, it had good graphics – not looking so much like the pixel art of, let’s say, Perfect General. The interface was simple and straightforward – no studying a manual for days just to prepare yourself to play. The game was also challenging. At a time when we witnessed “brain-dead AI” and complained bitterly about it, the Panzer General campaigns were tough to beat. We historical gamers liked the combination of challenge and historically-themed units, even if nobody would mistake the scenarios for simulations.
At some point, we came to understand that Panzer General was more of a puzzle to be solved than a “strategy game” à la miniatures on the table top. As the game progresses, it’s not so much that the “intelligence” of your opponent challenges your wits as that there are fewer and fewer well-selected moves that will result in a win. This goes a long way to explain the waning enthusiasm for the game as we got in the Panzer General 3 (the titles were actually Panzer General 3D Assault and Panzer General III: Scorched Earth, just to piss off the OCD types) territory. The game got demonstrably better and less abstract, yet players still fondly remembered and preferred the original.
Recall also that the game was ported to PlayStation and to a 3DO console project that I never even knew existed. Panzer General was very successful, selling a quarter of a million copies during its first couple of years. It continued to sell in its later years and inspired more than its share of clones. Way back when, I had a not(
Panzer General)
on my DS hand-held that I would play on airplane trips. The ubiquity of this game meant that, for many, Panzer General was not only their introduction to wargamming but maybe even their definition of wargamming. Clones continue to be released today. I, for one, bought Panzer Corps, now 10 years old, probably in a Christmas sale a season or two after it came out. That particular Slitherine/Matrix iteration continues to be refined to this day, mostly being faithful to the original design concepts.
For all of that introductory text, this post is not about Panzer General. It’s about the first set of sequels that came out between 1994 and the 1997 release of Panzer General II. Ultimately, those games became known as the “5 Star series,” so named after the golden stars that decorate your veteran units in the game. For myself, I assumed that it referenced the fact that there were five games in that original series; two more WWII titles (Allied General and Pacific General), a space game (Star General) and a high-fantasy game (Fantasy General). Of these, the only one I actually** bought was Fantasy General. This one was also, for me, the high point*** of the series. If nothing else, it fixed some of the hard-to-swallow simplifications as a World War II game. Once you’re in the realm of magic and elves, you probably no longer concern yourself with “realism” and “historical accuracy.”
I still have the original game CD but I wound up repurchasing the game on GOG. I probably grabbed it in a sale, but it is only $6 full price. The repurchase gives me a no-CD version (I don’t remember if the original used CD-in-the-tray as copy protection or not) along with a preconfigured DOSBox setup. Definitely worth $2-3 and probably worth $6. Over the past couple of years, I’ve embarked on play-throughs of Fantasy General‘s original campaign. I’ll admit that I’ve never actually made it to the end – I suppose that says something about me.
As I said, of the original 5 Star series, Fantasy General quickly became my favorite. I’ve definitely played it more and longer than the “other” sequels. In fact, Fantasy General may have more of my play time logged with it than all other Panzer General incarnations combined. Even today, the graphics and interface are passable in DOSBox (my only complaint being a slightly-disorienting color map). Perhaps its strongest feature, however, is the soundtrack. The production recorded versions of a number of hymns, including the medieval Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) quoted in the title. Several feature the work of American soloist Marisa Lenhardt, known for her forays from the world of opera into the popular culture.
![](https://ettubluto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/fgeneral1.jpg?w=1024)
It’s old news by now, but 2019 saw Fantasy General reworked into a new, modern version, cleverly titled Fantasy General II. As one might expect after a quarter of a century, the recoding involved considerable change. It is certainly not a “graphical facelift,” or even a re-implementation using modern programming engines. FG2 uses the earlier game as a hook to start a new story taking place some three centuries after the original. The hex-based tactics are similar, but almost everything about it shouts “state of the art.” The graphics and the interface not only look much improved, but help streamline gameplay substantially.
![](https://ettubluto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/fgeneral3.jpg?w=1024)
Reviews of the original series mentioned the feeling when one lost one of the experienced “core” units. I never got too emotional over my units, except to acknowledge the damage to my game – when an experienced unit is killed, it can not be replaced in kind. However, there is something about either the graphical facelift or the way that the unit names are featured which changes things for me in this iteration. When a group of long-time companions is killed in an ambush, I feel a sense of loss that goes well beyond the implications for my game. My “Newer Newts” (so-named because some older newts were killed in combat) have become like friends to me during my journey through the world of Aer. I don’t want them to die.
![](https://ettubluto.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/fgeneral2.jpg?w=1024)
To this latter point, while the new iteration literally covers the same ground as the original game, it also includes RPG-like details which add choices and depth. Rather than just fighting the baddies, you have to make decisions that illuminate your own character. In game, this determines who might be willing to ally themselves with you further along in the campaign. It also helps invest you in this imaginary quest. Unlike the original, where defeating the Shadowlord is the obvious goal all along, the new campaign starts you on a journey which might lead you anywhere. We don’t even know who is for good and who is not. To put it tritely, you not only must discover the story but also must define yourself. Part of it is the evolution of game design since the siloed genres of 1990-or-so and part of it is just jolly-good game design.
Although I am mightily pleased with my purchase, I wound up buying the game through a bit of a misunderstanding. I had been fiddling with Field of Glory II and the moddability enabled by its underlying Archon Engine. I had assumed that Fantasy General II, being a Slitherine product, was also developed under Archon. I kind-of wanted to see how the game handled the switch from squares to hexes in tactical battles. Short answer – it didn’t. Fantasy General II is a Unity-built game and is entirely unrelated to Slitherine’s Archon family. It also does not appear to be user-extensible.
If you are familiar with the game, you’ll see I’m still in the early stages of working with it. The product family follows Slitherine’s familiar reliance on DLC expansions – there are currently three DLC packages available for purchase plus what looks like a free demo version. These days, FG2 is sucking up most of my spare time. It will be interesting to see if this ends in joy or ends in tears.
*If you’re looking for accuracy, rather than just vague recollections, you’ll realize that Europa Universalis was a contemporary with Panzer General III, not the original “5 Star” series. This release followed the East Front / West Front games and looked similar (but better) than those titles that were considered “serious.” At the same time, players who fondly remembered the fun and challenge of the original Panzer General began to see through the design. So even as the games improved, our esteem for them ebbed away.
**Nevertheless, I have this vague memory of playing Allied General as well. I don’t know if there was a demo version of it, or if it was something that was lent or given to me by a friend, but I’ll take credit for experience with the title even if I’m 95% sure I never owned it. For what it is worth, I did own Panzer General II and the several imitators that I talk about above.
***The PC Gamer review of the title calls Fantasy General a “wargame for people who rightly felt that the otherwise excellent Panzer General didn’t have enough dragons.” Well put.