Scenario Review Scenario Title: Homeric Age Author: Allard Höfelt Reviewer: Stefan Härtel Historical Scenario Based on "The Illiad" by Homer, this scenario pits several civilizations against Troy. Download from csc.apolyton.net

Overall Rating 26/30 SYNOPSIS: The map is quite OK, however I've seen a better map of Greece on the internet, but it uses modern coastlines. The cities are well-placed, all of them very accurate (as accurate as possible with the map). The scenario starts off with the leading powers of the Mycenaeans, the Cretans and the Aiolians fighting against Troy, just as described by Homer in his world-famous "Illiad".

Playability Rating 8 / 10 COMMENTS: This scenario plays well, however it is quite difficult to conquer enemy cities. This is because the ground unit's attack strength isn't very high, but the defense of the Hoplites and archers is very high. This is good to simulate the difficulty of conquering an almost immortal fortress such as Mycenai, but is quite stupid if you want to attack a small city (such as Abdera) with a chariot and don't make it because it's protected by an archer, the city isn't even walled though. When I played with the Cretans, I had a terrible time at the start, losing two cities to the Barbarians. Later, however, I conquered some cities on the mainland, but couldn't conquer Argos, after attacking it with a Polyreme two times and making sure it was empty, the time I got a Hoplite there to conquer it, I attacked it with my polyreme again, lost it and lost my Hoplite as well! This can happen all the time in the scenario, and it can be very annoying.

Level of General Care 7 / 10 COMMENTS: What disturbed me in this scenario was that Allard didn't make too much use of the events. He had a beginning text, and sometimes a few recruit forces for Mykenai or the Aiolians. However, I almost laughed when Troy was conquered and the only thing depicting it was a simple one-line text "Troy falls.". Afterwards, I checked the events and found out that the attacker got 500 gold for that, but that was everything! Allard also tried to add some difficulty to the Cretans by making Barbarian uprisings on Crete, which didn't work however. On the other hand, Allard did a tremendous job on the research, and found out things that even I didn't find in my 4 books on Greece and 2 historical atlases. There are several (unannoying) inaccuracies, but he describes those in the Readme, and said why he did those. I can accept this, and hope that all others can do it as well, because if you look above this, it's a very good and very accurate scenario. The cities are also well-placed, however there seemed to be lacks in his research material once in a while, 'cause he gave the Trojans cities such as "Military Camp". This doesen't disturb however, because everybody had camps like these all aorund the area. Another thing was that he didn't mind to alter the tech tree in the rules: he deleted it completely! This was very disturbing, because I use the german version of Civ2, and it is not really nice if you have a message like "Aiolans receive Die Republik". I was also able to change my government types.  A last critic: The scenario turns are 10 years. I didn't like this because the "Homeric" age went well into the 4th century BC, and I had troops sitting around in enemys lands for over 100 years. This could be easily changed by modifying the turn rate to two years for instance.

Art and Originality 9 / 10 COMMENTS: The artwork of this scenario is outrageous. By now, however, they are Allard's oldest ones, because it was his first scenario. However, they match the time very well, and the units for example give the feelingof 1300 BC. I personally think that Allard makes some of the best units around, and here he proves it to me. The terrain and icons are also very well, the only thing disturbing me was that the cities graphics didn't match: I would have given all civilizations the Minoan/mycenaian style from the "Atlantis"-scenario. Also, he gave the Phrygians an Islamic-based city style, but Islam appeared only in 633 AD, and much, much later on this corner of Asia Minor. I also liked the concepts of the wooden horse, the many ship styles (Greece would not have survived without that naval superiority) and the huge variety of units. I think he has done a very good job all in all.

NOTES: (None)

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