I LOVE the FOG 2 sandbox campaign. Exactly what I wanted.

[slithpile]

I'm crossposting this post I just made to my local gaming forum, because I wanted to let the developers know how much I'm enjoying the sandbox campaign mode in FOG 2.

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Lots of Turn Based Tactical games and Card Games are now tied to some kind of overarching campaign. (Think Battle Brothers, Into the Breach, Slay the Spire etc). I really enjoy this structure, especially when the higher level stuff is kept fairly simple. I mostly just want an excuse to carry units over for one battle to the next, and give my skirmishes stakes beyond this one battle. But I don’t want the higher level stuff to become the main game, or steal the spotlight.

But occasionally we still see games that just have the Tactical Layer with no overarching campaign. When these games come along I think “I don’t need much, just give me a chain of randomly generated battles, let me carry some units from one-battle to the next. That’s it. It doesn’t have to be elaborate.” I welcome games that put more effort into it, but even something as basic as what I just described would give a straight-up tactical game a lot more longevity.

Well I’ve just been playing a game that delivered exactly what I described. And I’m loving it. Field of Glory 2 (FOG 2) is a digital adaption of a historical miniatures game. You play Roman V Carthage V Macedonia V Egypt etc. There's a ton of ancient armies to choose, from Britain across to India, and down to North Africa.

The sandbox campaign is really bare bones. First you pick an army, then you pick another army who will be your main rival over the campaign. You choose how long the campaign will be (how many battles). You choose how big the first battle is, and how big the final battle is (battles get progressively bigger between these two values). Then you go. Units and Generals are carried over between battles, gaining experience. At the start of each battle you get the opportunity to buy reinforcement troops, with your carried over troops increasing in cost according to their experience.

Between each battle you have to make one binary strategic choice. For example, do you press on in your campaign while the enemy is on the back foot, or wait for reinforcements? Or maybe your home territory is threatened by another faction. Do you return home to fight them, or bribe them to keep the peace?

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. I’m guessing that the sandbox campaign was pretty straight forward and inexpensive to develop, given that the game already had points-based battles against the AI on randomly generated terrain. But I am SO grateful that they included this mode. For me, its given the game longevity, when I would have tired quickly of endless one-off battles.

[rbodleyscott]

Glad you enjoy it. We are still working to improve it, as will be seen in the next update.

[MVP7]

Well put slithpile. FoG2's campaign system is great at generating interesting battles with consequences and sense of progression. In most tactical battle games with strategic layer (E.g. Total War, Sword of the Stars) being good at the strategy layer mostly produces un-enjoyable battles fought between operational Benny Hill chases and bean counting. Usually that means a few massive battles with max sized armies and then a ton of one-sided cleanup fights to end a campaign that has already been decided.

[Bombax]

I'm really looking forward to the next update