HistWar: Les Grognards, the truly epic wargame by Jean-Michel Mathé, is nearing completion after nearly 10 years of research and development! Histwar: Les Grognards brings to life the pageantry, savagery and brilliance of the Napoleonic era like no other wargame before, putting you in charge of a Napoleonic army on the battlefields of the early 19th century (1805-1814). From its innovative three tiered AI system, the overwhelming level of editing and customization, its unflinching depiction of period combat in gloriously detailed 3D brilliance, and it's wealth of historical knowledge and accuracy Histwar: Les Grognards is going to be in every way the bleeding edge of Napoleonic combat simulation.

HistWar: Les Grognards is one of the first - if not the first - FPC (First Person commander) game, and allows you to simulate almost all the battles of the Empire between 1805-1814.

HistWar: Les Grognards has three game modes: single player, play by email (PBEM), and multiplayer (up to 8 players). In single player, a player can choose to fight for one of the two armies, can choose to play both armies (for example for training purposes), and there is also a mode where both opponents are under AI control fighting each other. It gets better: in this last mode the player can command units as a colonel in first person mode. He is then in the middle of the conflict without knowing all the parameters.

HistWar: Les Grognards offers different difficulty levels. For example, battle conditions vary greatly with the level of fog of war chosen (none, partial, or total). The choice of seasons and weather conditions alter the behaviors of units, movement speed, and fatigue accumulation. Visibility takes into account smoke clouds released in combat, and so the artillery may have to interrupt its bombardment. These few examples illustrate the level of realism found in HistWar - but are merely scratching the top.

Various game options allow users to customize their game based on their experience. Some options are especially useful for beginners: One option allows you to adjust the reaction time of corps commanders. New players can start with immediate order transmission (which is like most other startegy games work) whereas true Grognards can play with historical communication times (via rider/messenger for example) that can take up to two hours; organizing an army corps of 40000 men necessitates a little bit of time.

In addition to the ten of the most prestigious battles that will ship with the game, the player can recreate battles of his choosing with the fully featured army and map editors. These two editors also include random generators to instantly create balanced scenarios where two historical armies engage each other.

The army editor (“order of battle”) uses multiple historical databases (uniforms, commanders, regiments, organizations). Hardcoded quotas, based on historical data, put some restrictions on the percentages of different types of units. Thus, the distribution of the three branches (infantry, cavalry, artillery) remains within historical limits.  

Scenario and doctrine editors are also available. The latter is a true commanding tool, allowing you to pre-determine the reactions of your units under different circumstances. An army commander takes care of the overall tactical plan and does not micromanage his units!

Les Grognards Features :

• Authentic Napoleonic style combat from the years 1805-1814.
• Thrilling 3D battles with over 50,000 Infantry soldiers, Cavalry and Artillery crews - all fully animated!
• Single player action against the computer and multiplayer with up to 6 players
• Internet, LAN and PBEM multiplayer modes.
• Variable speed play from real time 1 minute = 1 minute to accelerated 10x time where 6 seconds of game time = 1 minute of real time. PBEM mode played in 15 minute turns.
• Environmental effects such as, rain, fog, snow and smoke.
• Units organized into historically accurate and individually controllable Regiments, Brigades, Divisions, Corps and Armies.
• Huge variety of troops types including; Sappers, Skirmishers, Grenadiers, Fusiliers, Chasseurs, Imperial, Middle and Young Guards, Hussars, Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Gendarmes, Carbiniers, Lancers and Mameluks among others.
• Variety of individually modeled and animated "personalities" such as Captains, Majors, Colonels, Flag and Standard Bearers and more.
• Play as any of 15 different major, minor and city state military powers including France, Russia, Austria, Wurtenmberg, Saxony, Poland, Italy and Naples.
• Exhaustively researched Table of Organization and Equipment for all the major combatants included.
• Over 1150 historical Regiments, 4000 unique commanders and 550 accurate military uniforms included.
• Comes with 10 historical battles including Austerlitz, Eylau, Friedland, Wagram, Borodino with the ability to modify or create all new battles with included editors.
• Innovative 3 tiered Artificial Intelligence system models the difficulty and challenges of command in the early 19th century battlefield.
• 3 different game editors (Map, Order of Battle and Doctrine) allow you to build your own battles or modify the included ones, create your own armies and customize specific characteristics and abilities of any unit or commander.
• Create maps in size from 6 x 4.5 Km to 30 x 22.5 Km (over 660 square kilometers)
• Ability to create and design your own custom uniforms.
• Variety of camera views supported including exciting 3D Real World and Bird's Eye views plus a 3D Symbolic map and 2D Strategic Overview mode.
• Realistic combat resolution and modeling which takes into account such factors as orientation and density of unit formations, their training, combat effectiveness, fatigue and moral.
• Advanced morale engine accounts for a variety of elements including proximity to friendly commanders and units, weather effects, level of sustained losses, overall fatigue and more.

Histwar: Les Grognards is currently scheduled for release in Q3 2009.