Songs of Steel: Hispania

Must have for everyone who likes tactical games

The creators of this game attempted to create a strategy game with some verisimilitude vis-a-vis the Roman conquest of Spain. There were fun parts to this game - but I can't recommend it for two major reasons. First, numerous bugs - I can no longer progress my campaign because of crashes after I complete a side mission in Chapter X. The second is more nuanced: there are issues concerning the depictions of the Romans and the Celts. Playing as the Romans, one gets a glimpse into the difficulties of the campaign, the real loss of war, and a challenge to the myth of Roman hegemony in battle. All of that is to be praised. That being said, following certain romantic, post-Roman notions concerning the siege of Numantia, the game breaks down at least in the Roman campaign - the Celts are far more numerous and powerful than their battle-hardened Roman adversaries to the point of breaking the verisimilitude towards which the devs aimed. Celtic skirmisher units or basic infantry take down Triarii simply because they are "ferocious Celts." Celtic heroes abound and have special abilities that the Roman units do not have. Rather than commend the player for making use of combined arms warfare, one often wins simply by just attacking skirmishers until the battle is over. The overpowered depiction of the Celtic units follows Roman (and later) Orientalism and romanticism in a way that breaks the verisimilitude to which the devs aimed. I think this was a good effort, but a player may have more fun just playing Rome II instead of this.

All achievements achieved in under 30 hours, review time. Neat and sweet game that kind of reminds me of Expeditions: Rome, but shorter and more grounded in historical reality. Story is short, yes, but still sufficient to get me immersed (and also serve as a mini history appetiser for those who don't know about it, though if you're buying a Rome game you probably already know the history). Combat involves very little RNG; you hit your enemy, you deal damage. You fight on rough terrain or low ground, you get penalties. You flank an enemy, you deal more damage. Your missile troops have obscured line of sight, they deal less damage. No 50% chance to miss at literal hugging distance because you didn't luck out on dice rolls. The hand drawn graphics are charming. Soundtrack is wonderful and deserves its own paragraph. The English narration sounded awfully familiar, until the credits showed that it was done by Guy Michaels who also sometimes does narration for the Kings and Generals channel, so if you've watched K&G you might like the narration. Conclusion: game good deserves more attention, buy if you are a Rome enjoyer, soundtrack amazing go listen to it.

Very good!! well rounded experience. The graphics and music get the attention, they are cool. Then the game mechanics introduce some fresh air in the genere. You can really feel the differences between the two factions. I was not expecting such a good experience, I am enjoying it a lot!

Story is sparse, but well written and more than enough to paint the picture. Combat is 100% ahistorical, with nary a trace of the "triple line", directions or anything resembling actuall tactics, I was actually surprised height difference affects combat resolution. Unit tactics as such are very barebones. Alghoritms are bad enough for the Numantian campaign to fall back on Romans having numerical rather than doctrinal and equipment advantage. That being said this game is more about the story than tactics, and it fulfills it's objective well enough to be bought even at full price.

Good game. Interesting historical setting, nice art and story. The battles are perhaps a bit too easy sometimes but I like that there is no randomness.

Nice tactical games. It is something like slitherine's Field of Glory 2 but not that complicated. Nice graphic. animation, voice, sound and music. Gameplay got 2 campaign and each got 32 missions. Heroes, units all got upgrade path and also inventory slot. A lot of fight is not easy and quick challenge.

Excellent game considering the price. It's pretty cool that you can play the campaign on both sides and see their perspective to the conflict.

Un juego de estrategia indie por turnos que se centra en la conquista romana de Hispania. La campaña es la misma, pero se juega desde el punto de vista romano o celtíbero, cada bando con un estilo de juego muy marcado y diferente del otro. Se le echa en falta más modos de juego, quizás un modo escaramuza o una campaña libre que permita jugar sin necesidad de seguir la historia. Aún así sigue siendo una compra muy recomendada si te gustan los juegos de estrategia e indies.

ta buenisimo. el mejor juego de estrategia por turnos.