Advice Wanted : The Renaissance

[daisy]

Hi Guys

I like the period and and am thinking about buying this one. I have tried to read as much as I can about this title.

But I want some advice from someone who is actually playing this.

1. Is it any good ?

2. Or is there another game covering this period that I should rather be looking at?

3. Does Ren come with enough scenarios/campaigns to keep a single player occupied for some time?

4. Are there any extra/new scenarios being made/developed for this?

I have always received excellent advice from Blitz members in the past (like the advice to buy some titles from the Squad Battles series) so I would value your input/advice.

[Colleoni]

Hi Guys

I like the period and and am thinking about buying this one. I have tried to read as much as I can about this title.

But I want some advice from someone who is actually playing this.

1. Is it any good ?

2. Or is there another game covering this period that I should rather be looking at?

3. Does Ren come with enough scenarios/campaigns to keep a single player occupied for some time?

4. Are there any extra/new scenarios being made/developed for this?

I have always received excellent advice from Blitz members in the past (like the advice to buy some titles from the Squad Battles series) so I would value your input/advice.

Hi Daisy,

following your points:
1) it is a good system, close to the HPS Nap titles but with some interesting adaptations to the period (units have separate melee/armor values in addition to the weapons they bear, this giving the possibility to simulate unit performances in a more detailed way with respect to other games I played- just for example, I'm thinking about the rodeleros ability to stay up agaisnt pikemen) and some, at least in my opinion, improvements (cases in which you can capture and use enemy cannons are broader just to note one).
2) to my knowledge, it is the only PC game covering the Renaissance period (there is FOG but stops to 1500 AD and is a far less detailed game system).
3)scenarios: 126 (around all different battles so a lot of meat on the table). campaigns: 5
4) you can find some additional scenarios (6) in the SDC: I made a pair of revised versions of Early Italian wars (Agnadello and Ravenna), they're stored in the scenario design subdirectory of the black powder forum.

My suggestion: it's worth the price, would buy it.

Hope to have given you a clear picture about the game: If you've additional question I'll try to answer them to my best.

Cheers

Enzo

[agmoss99]

I was on the playtesting team. I'd say a lot of work went into playability and game balance, as well as historical detail. Yes, worth the money....the AI isn't up to much so you'd probably want to play a real person to get the most out of it.

[daisy]

Colleoni & agmoss99 : Thanks for the assistance. I am also looking at Fields of Glory. But for now I think I will get The Renaissance.

[Vincent]

I rather enjoy Renaissance, although it has a rather niche playerbase. I think it was very well done, and does an excellent job of representing the combat of that period.

If you'd like an opponent you can always hit me up.

[Sgt_Rock]

REN is a fine game. Really covers a LOT of material too. There are so many different armies in the game it is really astounding. Rich White did a great job on this game.

I have played a lot of the scenarios and about the only ones I found a tad unbalanced were the French Wars of Religion situations. I rarely can win with the Huguenots.

What this program does that is different from the ACW, EAW & Nap series is that each unit has its own movement point and victory point values. Also there are different ratings for armor too.

The program is based on the Napoleonic main program but for instance you have BLOCK instead of SQUARE and the BLOCK formation can move more than the normal ONE hex for SQUARE.

Cavalry have firearms as this period saw the use of the cavalry caracole, that is the use of advances by formed cavalry up to pistol/small caliber weapon range of the enemy and then a turn about to retreat after firearms have been discharged. This tactic was not very useful for the most part but was part of this period so this is one of the differences in the abilities of cavalry in the game.

Cavalry are further divided in this series too. You have the super heavy cav types and then you find very light cavalry at the other end of the spectrum, truly not battle worthy either. They were used mainly for recon or as skirmishers.

All of John's series lack a cavalry skirmisher type. Maybe someday ... ;)