Cary, NC, 28 June 2005 - Fans of ancient naval warfare will
be pleased as Shrapnel Games would like
to announce that we will be publishing Galley Battles: From Salamis to Actium,
a turn-based computer game covering the very early days of naval warfare. Developed
by Spanish developer Hyperborea Studios (lead designer Xavier Rubio and lead artist Ruben Zubillaga), Galley Battles:
From Salamis to Actium is expected to ship summer of 2006 and will be available
for the Windows and Linux operating systems. It will also be the first
multi-lingual game published by Shrapnel, with gamers being able to play in
either English, Spanish, or Catalan.
Galley Battles: From Salamis to Actium is classic hex and turn based wargaming
while taking advantage of everything a computer can offer a wargamer.
Scale-wise each hex represents 50 meters, a turn will be about five minutes,
and each ship will be represented individually. Maps can be as big as 512
x 512 hexes, and battles can involve as many as five hundred ships!
Multiplayer action is possible through either hotseat or PBEM play, and a full
featured scenario editor will be included. Turns are simultaneous WEGO
phases, and thanks to the innovative command structure in Galley Battles: From
Salamis to Actium, players will easily be able to manage massive
engagements. What the system does is allow players to sketch out the
basic general orders at the start of a battle, and once in the heat of battle
more detailed orders via individual squadrons are then given.
Galley Battles: From Salamis to Actium will cover the Greek-Persian Wars, Peloponnesian
Wars, the First Punic War, and ends with the Roman Civil War featuring Actium
in 31 BC. Your fleets are not manned by automatons, as the game system
places a strong emphasis on fatigue and morale, with the battle actions that
ships witness affecting their morale up or down. Likewise, just because a
ship may have the capability to move ten hexes in a given turn it may not do
so, as the sailors can be worn down, or show their inexperience.
Plenty of chrome will be found in the game, such as beautiful animations
showcasing ramming and boarding, the ability to capture and recapture ships,
unique leaders, specialized units, and more. Galley Battles: From Salamis to
Actium also features realistic and diverse tactics for the combatants, as
fighting against the Greeks in 480 BC will be quite different than fighting
against the Romans four hundred years later. There are plenty of orders
to give, from individually commanding ships to turn to ordering an entire
squadron to adopt a hedgehog formation.
Designer Xavier Rubio had this to say on his game: "Galley Battles: from
Salamis to Actium will recreate the most famous naval battles of ancient
history, from the Greek and Persian Wars to the Roman Empire. This is a
personal project, made by a wargamer to wargamers, where we have put plenty of
hours and effort to create the game that we wanted to play. Our objective is to
create a serious wargame focused on the problem of morale and command instead
of purely micro-management. The command system is truly original. The
player will be able to give orders to big formations in the beginning of the
battle, and create smaller squadrons after this phase, when the battle will become
more chaotic and detailed orders are needed to manage engagements. The
possibility to reform the ships on a new battle line is given, as well as the
capture and reuse of
enemy ships."