Fire and Fury: English Civil War Reviews

Excellent gateway drug to traditional wargames. Nicely detailed sprites. Decent variety of scenario types.

Miniatures without the Testor's...fun, fun, fun...

Solid game with easy mechanics and some tactical depth. You won't win this one by just clicking around. You'll have to plan and manage/use your different units wisely. If you're interested in the conflict, you'll appreciate the short battle descriptions and historical generals. In short: A must buy if you want a hex style tactical game about the English Civil War.

By the time King Charles I entered Parliament in January 1642 in order to arrest five members of the elected House of Commons for supposed treason against his increasingly autocratic rule, he had already managed to alienate two thirds of his subjects across England, Scotland and Ireland. The ensuing war between Parliament and the Monarch dragged in the entire British isles for seven terrible years that matched Europe's own Thirty-Year War (that Charles managed to keep out of) in terms of death and destruction. When Charles went to his execution after his defeat in July 1649, his powerful legacy made certain that the war ground on for another two years because of Parliamentarian support for their former enemy against the increasingly fundamental religious dictatorship of Parliament's own Army under General Cromwell. If you are in any way, shape or form confused as to which side you should join, I suggest you fight for both and see at the end whether or not you are satisfied by the result. For more, I suggest that you follow one Private John Bunyan in his travails as a soldier in those days.

This is the only game I could find based on the English Civil War although it only covers 1642-1645. Decent game play, though it has limited (if any) replay value. There is a tutorial (Parliamentarians/Roundheads only) and 4 campaigns (excluding the tutorial there are 28 total playable scenarios which are playable by both sides). However these campaigns are simply series of scenarios and your play in the previous scenario has no impact on the next one. In 5 hours of play I'm about a third of the way through completing everything though. In summation, decent game even though it feels a bit railroaded and there's not much content.

As an amateur historian with a more than passing interest in the period and subject matter I find this a challenging and fun game.

The game is entertaining enough, though I wouldn't say especially detailed, though it's good to see some of the lessor known 'battles' (I'm not sure some of them really rise to that tile) being available to play. The 'campaign' element doesn't really follow through, it just means that year's campaign and there are some oddities, in that I managed to kill Charles I (and Prince Rupert) and Edgehill which one would have thought would mean battle over for the Royalists, but they kept fighting, yet when Cromwell was KIA at Marston Moor it was game over for the Parliamentarians. The AI is pretty poor and it will quite happily throw troops across a bridge or ford into an enfiladed position and even in 'Hard' mode victory is not that much of a challenge - though I do recommend not attaching your generals to units as it is too easy to lose track of them, which was why Oliver was a 200 at my first attempt at Marston Moor. I paid £7.19 for the game, worth £5 in my book.

Standard HexWar Games battle simulator. If you’ve played one, you know how it goes. In this case, the subject is the English Civil War between Parliament and King Charles I. Decent for what it is.

This is not a game with massive depth but then that's not really the point. It gives a good flavour of the time and the use of combined forces to manouvre and develop your position against the enemy. It plays fast and true and rewards the use of decisive tactics. A lot of fun as a 'light' wargame and set in an era not often visited elsewhere.

If you love the hex war hex style then you will like this. the combat is great and feels diffrent to the tank battle series in which i mean the pike and shot theme shines through and its not just a re skin. the campaigns are fun and some of the battles take place on large maps that allow for tactical movements and replayability. the only con is the music which sounds HORRID to put it bluntly but otherwise a great little gem 8.5/10