If you like turn-based tactical combat you will enjoy Hell. If you like fantasy turnh-based tactical combat (me), you will really really love Hell

The tutorial was easy to follow, and I admit to thinking that it seemed a bit oh um. Then I got to the first mission. Oh yes! The difficulty on hard is challenging.

The game makes you feel like you are battling a demon horde when playing the good guys. The skills are interesting and useful for your units. Support and flanking are absolutely necessary. Some of your units will need to be sacrificed for the greater good.

I hope and pray that Slitherine make more and more campaigns. One of my favourite games right now.

It's still early days but after playing the first scenario (A Dark Omen) in the Defenders of Gilrand campaign, I have to say that I'm very impressed with the game. Playing on the default Hard level, I found it to be extremely well balanced, not too difficult, not too easy.

http://youtu.be/Ej8JlhXXgeM
Based on the Battle Academy engine I had a good idea what to expect before I began playing, namely that it would be good, and I wasn't disappointed. It's not a reskinned clone of Battle Academy though, there are quite a few new game mechanics that enhance it.

In particular I was impressed by the in-depth zone of control (ZOC)and support/flanking system, which requires considerable thought as to how best to arrange your troops to support one another, and in which order to make your attacks. Without even considering the detailed unit stats and abilities, this ZOC/support system puts this game in another league when it comes to tactics. There are also many abilities that various units possess that help to differentiate them and make the tactics even more interesting, like for example the spearmen's "lance" ability which allows them to strike enemy units behind the target square.

The 30 page manual is colourful and comprehensive, detailing the key game mechanics and listing all the unit stats, making it a very helpful reference. Although the game can be played without reading this, it would be far more beneficial to do so, in order to fully understand how these game mechanics work. There's only about 8 pages on the mechanics and it's an easy read.

Although this is not usually important to wargamers, the graphics are pretty good by wargame standards, very pleasant and colourful to look at. However, I did find when fighting in amongst forests that I couldn't always see my units very clearly. The red colour of the autumn leaves on some trees was easily confused with the red colour of the enemy units.

View options are good. The standard view is 3D where you can zoom in and out and and rotate the map. There's also a good map view option (press M) which gives you a top down 2D view of the battlefield which can make it easier to plan your tactics. Finally there's also an Action Camera view (shift-3) which gives you a close up view of the action, which looks a lot more exciting but isn't so practical for general movement and planning.

I still haven't mastered all the game mechanics yet, and will need to re-read the manual to get them all clear in my mind, but there's obviously a great tactical challenge to be had in this game. I'm looking forward to encountering more advanced units as I progress through the scenarios.

Multi-player maps have been included, which will be more challenging against other humans, but they are play-by-email style battles where you finish your turn, send it off to the other player, then get a notification when they send it back to you. It's a simple, effective system, but you can't watch the other player as they take their turn. There is a hot-seat mode so that you can play against a friend on the same computer.

So far, there's no Skirmish mode for creating random battles, but this has been promised, along with the ability to play scenarios co-op (not sure how that will be implemented). There is a map editor included though, which creates the possibility for lots of fan-created scenarios, which will extend the life of this game considerably. More campaigns are promised to be added in the future too, as DLCs.

To sum up, if you're a fan of serious wargames, like Battle Academy, this is a no brainer, buy it now! For non-wargamers it may be a more difficult decision. The fantasy theme will no doubt appeal to many people, but be warned, this is not an RPG. If you like turn based games of any kind this is an excellent choice and is well worth looking at.

Just finished playing my first game and its amazing how much of a classical wargame feel HELL has. Reminds me of those old fantasy war games from the 1970s with the stat and rules depth of a Avalon HILL NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO etc. Sound effects are also nice with plenty of light hearted dialogue while not distracting from all the grim killing.

Love the huge amounts of stats and modifiers delievered in a non-intrusive manner feeling very natural. Zone Of Control alone adds a huge amount of strategy to battles along with many other battlefield conditions. The Combat Log in the advanced options menu is a real treat displaying modifiers and battle outcomes on the fly for those who love the old style feel of rolling dice would give after doing all the mental math of modifiers for terrain, range, weapon type etc etc :D

Graphics are typical SLITHERINE affair with a board game feel to them which is plenty for strategy gamers who have been playing war games since the days of board games.

Detailed intuitive gameplay mechanics which draw me into the scenario and dont let go. Before i know it an hour has passed and am high with gaming euphoria whether i win or lose. Plenty of battlefield carnage with bodies littered all over the ground by the end of the mission. Audio brings out the evil scheming diabolical nature of the demons as human soldiers groan and moan in agony falling to the demonic hordes death touch.

Music is inspiring and never tiring acting like a battle tonic to keep me playing. Reminds me of the retro orchestral masterpieces of the 1990s WARHAMMER 40k FINAL LIBERATION and WARLORDS BATTLECRY III.

Stunning war game in a fantasy setting well worth your coin.

I made a video, kinda long at 40min. http://www.twitch.tv/alienpickle/c/5504760
Skip to 10:00 where I start actually playing it. We cover multiplayer and the editor first.

Have you played any other games that were made using the Battle Academy engine? If so, all the mechanics here are immediately familiar. There are 2 campaigns of 10 scenarios each. Essentially the game is "army of devils vs army of paladins". There's no strategic campaign map that ties it together, and you can play any of the 20 scenarios at any time. Multiplayer is via Slitherine's online "assisted PBEM" system. I don't like that you can't do anything but sit and stare at a menu while your opponent takes their turn but such is the nature of PBEM. I would *much* rather that players could watch each other or review the last turn's replay. But it does allow for asynchronous gameplay, and conducting multiple games at once with other players.

Units break morale, get knocked back, and there is an interesting and quite powerful "support" mechanic here where all units in contact with an enemy lend their attacks to each other. Also, units in contact with other friendly units get bonuses for having nearby allies. This makes the game have a lot more tactical depth than just slugging it out 1v1 with the enemies. Placement and grouping matters considerably.

If you already know you like this sort of game, and you like D&D style fantasy settings, this is pretty much a no-brainer. Especially if you have a friend to play with as well. Suggestion: Download the PDF of the manual and give it a looking over. You'll know right away if this is your sort of game or not.

Update.. They have indeed added a skirmish mode to the game. Also, if you haven't tried Slitherines PBEM (play by email) multiplayer yet, do so! Take your turn at your pace, click end, and when your opponent takes their turn, whether 5 minutes or a day later, you get an email. Log into the game and go!
`First review of the game. Who knows, it may change. This is a set scenario tactical turn based war game. If you found it, you likely know that or play strategy games already. There is a base "story" that the scenario goes thru. The rule set is very good. The "zones of control" that limit movement around enemy lines really change tactics up. I am only on the beginning few scenarios of the "good" side, but so far,the unit choices are normal. People complain that they arent varied enough, but most other games don't have many more options, unless they are reskins of similar units. Far ranged longbowmen, mid range crossbowmen, knights, calvalry, grunts (men at arms), heavy infantry (spearmen) and more.

The only thing I can't praise is the feeling of rails. Being a limited turn scenario, it really forces your hand into one or two main strategies, especially if you want the bonus objectives. I assume this is to keep the difficulty up. This is, and may be, easily fixed with patches, dlc, or user generated content (dev kit included as usual these days). Some wargamers like the feeling of being pressed for time by the turn limits, however, I feel as if it makes the scenarios into puzzles, that barring horrible luck on many dicerolls, make it so once solved there is little reason to replay. Once you've been thru the scenario and know about the behavior of the AI, you know how to approach the level. It's also likely that I dislike turn limits because I have always been a "sniper" tactician and really like to set up before I attack. In Hell, I can't waste turns being timid. I'm sure more campaigns will be made available at some point.

This game uses the Battle Academy engine. I am not an old school slitherine fanboy, I just found out about them. I got this game for $20, and that price is great for what we get. At $30, it is still a good game. If the developers support it with small content changes for free, it would definitely be worth it. There is already a patch coming, and eventually a skirmish mode, as mentioned on the forum by the developers. If they release full campaigns as dlc for $5 or less, then that would be ok as well. All in all, there are many games that I paid much more for that are not as good. The tactics are solid, the unit variety is there, and although it is presented in a "Blizzardesque" cartoony way, the subject of saving the world from hell, or bringing hell upon the world, is different than some made up warring factions. The demons aren't scary, or funny. More board game styled (obviously..slitherine makers digital boardgames) I highly reccomend if you like tactical wargames, and aren't married to AAA graphics. These games are all in the system, not the graphics. Hunted Cow seems to have taken the BA engine and gave it a different kind of feel, which I like.

Entertaining wargame based on the Battle Academy engine. If you like wargames like Battle Academy, you should like this- why buy this if you already have BA? Well, the shift from an emphasis on ranged combat to (mainly) melee provides an interesting twist. You still want your archers etc in optimal support positions but you really need to pay attention to melee formations, providing support to interlocking units and restricting the enemy freedom of movement with zones of control. Although flanking and support don't always get you the successful strike, over the long term these sort of bonuses add up to make a big difference to your success.

The original BA was set in WW2 which is both a strength and a weakness, the weakness being that sometimes the "historical" scenarios are a little too abstract for something that is supposed to be based on the real events. In "Hell" the fantasy theme means that the scenarios or expectations of them are unfettered by historical contraints.

Definitely entertaining and well worth the price of admission in my view.

Awesome game so far!

This is a true tactics game where positioning, character level, unit stats and abilities all matter. There are different moves for each unit, elevation plays a role in combat, terrain type effects movement, positioning of your troops to one another can effect damage via flanking or as support. There's a zone of control system...

It's a pretty fun game and the missions take quite a while to complete.

I just hope the multiplayer gets more active and we see more community content soon.

This is a great turn-based game. Easy to get in to for beginners, and deep tactics for the advanced gamer. Graphics and sound is 1st class. And the multiplayer PBEM system is also really nice. I also like that you can save your turn on the server before you actually complete it, come back later, finish your turn, then submit it to your opponent when you are ready.

Mixed feelings. First mission of the campaign starts per default on hard. First attempt gets me wiped. Second attempt and I'm too slow. Winning on the third, but it still lacks the personalised feel where you can customize your army: you get what you get and that's it.
What really annoys me is that the computer generated opponent gets ranged attacks with almost any units and they're very arbitrary. Deamons spawn (very slowly animated) flames and spawn more and more. It all flies slow as hell and after a few times it gets pretty old to watch the same old boring animation. Wish I could speed it up like 10x.
Also their ranged attack has very low chances to hit, but it's so darn arbitrary. In one game a bunch of deamons spawns flames to no effect, in the other the flames kill a third of my force in a turn or two.

Slow animation, lack of customization, pretty hard difficulty, but due to low numebr of pretty crappy raged units you got very little chance but to rush into mele. Hmmm.