The closer infantry and cavalry get to artillery, the greater the damage, therefore this writer learned early to outflank artillery and not march right up to it as grapeshot inflicts horrendous casualties. The game comes with historical leader units as well, which affects morale, rally, and command. The scenarios are fairly smaller ones, with each turn representing about 15 minutes of time. After each turn, the player gets to read how well (or bad) he is doing as there is an end of turn report which is displayed. One annoyance found was that it is easy to misdirect units. Once a unit is selected, it gets some getting used to the interface to unselect it or the unit will find itself being moved to a location which the player did not intend for it to be moved. The game also comes with a scenario editor which let’s players create their own scenarios.

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A.I.:

The AI was found to be adequate. In one scenario, I played as the Prussians, and the Austrians (AI controlled) were on the defensive. The AI played well, keeping his units behind entrenchment, but at times failed to move up reserves to plug gaps in the Austrian lines even though these units had been activated.

Historical Context:

The game has a solid historical base. It has 21 scenarios divided into 5 battles which took place during the First Silesian War (1740-1742) opposing Prussia and Austria, Second Silesian War (1744-1745) opposing Prussia and Austria/Saxony, 7 Years War (1756-1763) opposing Prussia and Austria. In this day and age, 21 scenarios for a wargame falls somewhat short of the norm. A scenario pack is already in the works and is due for release soon. It is unknown as of this writing what the cost to purchase these scenarios will be. Hopefully it will be minimal in view that there was only 21 scenarios with the original game.

This game has very good replay value and has depth for strategy and realism. This writer must point out though, that the graphics are below average, if not mediocre when compared to similar game systems. But this doesn’t diminish the quality of the game. Boku Strategy Games and Shrapnel Games produced a solid wargame, based on a seldom seen era of warfare. A further plus is that Shrapnel Games ships games in a DVD case with a printed, pocket-size manual.

Armchair General Score: 82%

53/60 — Gameplay
14/20 — Graphics
06/10 — Sound
10/10 — Documentation and Technical

Dragoon: The Prussian War Machine @ Shrapnel Games

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