Libertad o Muerte! Reviews

Gr8t reasearch

Based on the quick and patient response from the game designer in trying to rectify the main issue (AI not paying maintenance) and his reasoned explanations for the other game choices I'll give it a tentative thumbs up hoping they can identify and fix the bug. Other than that issue a good game covering an interesting period. Appeals to my old style board and miniatures games tendencies with good historical chrome.

Excellent game! Incredibly well researched historical data and fun to play.

This is a likable game on a not oft gamed subject. It is a bit buggy and somewhat hard to learn/follow at the start. It is worth the effort alone due to the subject matter. Worth getting on sale, in any event.

Short review but as things currently stand, no I can't recommend this game. There are bugs that break the game and the battle simulation is a step back from the one that works so well in Wars Across the World. I may well upgrade my score later if there are fixes but for now, I've got to down vote this

I've been playing only Bolivar scenario for many hours both sides. I finally learned mechanics and it is great enjoyment. I'll play grand gampaign and try pbem soon after. Map is similar to Ageod games and card system very nice. I didn't see any crash or bug. Highly recommend.

Hailing from the English world, I knew pretty much nothing about this war which shaped the future of South American history. Once you get to grips with the game's interface, there's a 'gem' of a game waiting for you. I have only played as the Patriots so far, and scored a 38 Pt strategic victory in the 'Bolivar' campaign (where I managed to strangle the Royalist's campaign by using my large Patriot fleet to limit Spanish supplies from Cadiz) I highly recommend this game , and hope to see further South American conflicts (War of the Triple Alliance & The War of the Pacific) using this game engine from the developers in the future. Miguel at the developers has been great at resolving any early problems that I had with the game (I must admit that I'm a bit lazy in reading through a game manual thoroughly)

Below is my "official" and abbreviated review for Agrippa's website. The bottom line for those not wanting to peruse the details is this: I have found the game generally "robotic" vs. the AI half way through the grand campaign, and bland overall. It is one of those games you can play inebriated and push through just fine. Meaning, there is not much deep thinking or strategy involved, per se. Multiplayer may be a different story, however. Graphics, UI and game design We suspect that owners of Wars Across the World and Winter War might naturally gravitate toward this game, as it holds a few things in common, in addition to it coming from the same publisher. Those players may also have to overlook a couple of things when first firing up this wargame. While LoD's graphics feature a period-feel of sorts, the resolution maxes out at 1900x1080, which results in a rather low-res look for the map, cutscenes, cards and unit counters compared with Avalon's previous releases. This is doubly so in comparison with WW. In that game, the struggle between Finland and the USSR in 1940 is played out with the most wonderful looking and detailed unit counters around. Hover the mouse over one, and up pops a zoomed-in counter with highly detailed unit data and tooltips everywhere. In LoD, unit strength is shown in green-colored dots representing steps, but combat factors, movement, morale, etc., requires a peek at the 52-page manual. In fact, as with most games, it's recommended that owners considering this release download the manual from the game's Steam page to get a feel for the design before purchase. The game does inherit the relative simplicity and smoothness of play inherent in the other releases. The UI does a good job of leading the player forward through the game's various phases. Simply look for the > arrow in the upper right corner of the interface. If that arrow appears missing, then consult what is most likely a "flashing" card in the bottom left, which must be played before continuing. Beyond that, there are no hiccups that will stymie most wargamers, and the release version was free of game-breaking bugs. What's in the cards? Pretty much a big part of the historical immersion. One will learn quite a bit about a rather esoteric group of commanders and events that occurred during the time period covered. But here's the thing about the event cards in this game: they pretty much play themselves, literally. The program will remind the player using a flashing green or purple outline that a card must be played before the game can continue. On one hand, allowing the program to chose the appropriate cards for use at the proper time moves the game forward without a lot of fuss. But some may miss a card design that allows players to make difficult choices in terms of what card to play, which would add another strategic layer to the game. However, adding this feature would require a complete redesign, as the events and bonuses would need to made optional in order to give players a choice on when to play their cards. The way cards are used during the combat phase may be a more questionable design decision. Cards can only be played if a friendly leader is present. Here again, the cards are automatically selected and used by the program. While this design makes leaders that much more important to have in a stack, potentially interesting tactical choices are taken out of the player's hands when it comes to playing their cards. In fairness, this choice does force the player to pay more attention to the order in which he resolves each combat in the combat selection screen. For example, it always pays to resolve the larger, key engagements first, in order to ensure the combat cards are used to greatest effect. There's nothing like seeing two powerful combat cards wasted during a tiny battle or a complete walkover. However, based on this reviewer's observations, card play does not have a dramatic affect on the outcome of battle unless it is an inordinately close affair. Overall, the implementation of the event and combat cards may be seen as a mixed bag. The historical flavor provided by designer Miquel Santacruz on each of the cards is brief but generally good, and the game speeds along on rails partly for this reason. But the whole process may be a bit too automated for those looking to both study opponent's cards and use their own to the greatest effect. Unit movement and attack Beginning with the movement of units on the strategic map, the entire combat system is quite streamlined. We advise those considering the game to do the obvious, however: watch a few youtube videos first, as this type of combat resolution won't be for everyone. But there's one thing almost everyone can appreciate. And that's the game's ability to avoid the horrendous "wack a mole" routine, whereby a player or the AI uses a "doom stack" to clear enemy units from the board. With approximately 80 regions on the campaign map and reinforcements popping in on a regular basis, there was a real risk of game play devolving into such a senseless struggle. Instead, the player focuses on building a few reasonable-sized stacks of four to five units and a leader and maneuvering for either attack or a better defense. And the leaders are important, because in this game one cannot attack without them. In addition, land units are realistically limited to one region per move based on the actual time being simulated. (Naval units can typically move two to three sea regions per turn.) This also encourages players to choose their moves carefully, as the game map remains open to a variety of strategies. Movement itself is accomplished by holding and dragging units to an adjacent region, while holding the left mouse button. The region changes color and a crossed-swords icon appears if the move triggers combat. If the region is devoid of enemy units and contains a city, a siege takes place. Otherwise, the region is merely taken over. Naval units that move into an enemy-controlled sea zone that is unoccupied trigger a pop-up that announces a naval blockade, but the results are not readily apparent during game play. Presumably, this cuts down on enemy resources, but the player never knows by how much. Again, it's a good reason to consult the manual. One missing feature that hopefully will be addressed in a patch is the ability to show detailed counter information in every phase of the game. In the movement phase, a right click on a friendly unit counter brings a pop-up, which shows combat effectiveness, movement, morale, etc. However, in the combat resolution phase, this feature is missing. On the battle summary screen, it works, but the pop-up box is mostly blocked from view. Finally, when placing reinforcements, it is sometimes difficult to see the highlighted regions and click on them due to the reinforcement box being in the way. A poor showing here. Veterans of the WaW series are likely to be familiar with the "automated" system used for combat resolution in this game, as well as how the unit counters are displayed on the screen. In this game, when a unit fires, a puff of smoke appears below it and the target enemy unit "shakes" this way or that depending on whether it is hit. While some may miss a more detailed combat report, with a little practice the eye moves from the "smoke" to the target, and the result is displayed as a text message below. Albeit, a rather quick text message that cannot be paused. And now comes the tough part, and I will quote my Steam home page on this one: "Would you recommend this game to other players?" If those players had only $25 to spend, I could not. This writer can recommend a number of superior wargames at, or close to, that price point.