The computer AI causes some head-scratching, but does make the game entertaining. (Shorter turns would remedy this problem immeasurably.) The sound effects of combat include simple splashes and booms.Īs it stands now, the game is a faithful conversion of the old board game. It's quite common to give sailing orders that force you to continually grapple with another ship. This turn-based system has some weaknesses, the biggest of which is your inability to respond to the movement of the other ships until the next turn begins.

You give the orders, then tell the computer to execute them. Control is simple - a couple of clicks of the mouse enable you to change course, load the cannons, or reassign your crew to stations. The ships look good when the view is zoomed in, but you'll rarely be able to see your opponent's ship from here. When your ship runs out of supplies, the game is over. Since you can't replace injured crewmen during the voyage, a charge into the guns of the English ship-of-the-line would be truly insane.

You may encounter many enemy warships, and fleeing from combat is sometimes the best course. The campaign is presented as a Captain's Journal. As the commander of a US ship during the War of 1812, your job is to sink as many English ships as possible. The campaign mode is definitely the road to take with this game. (It's pretty average - simple to use, but limited in the types and names of vessels.) If you're happy with the canned scenarios, you jump straight to the combat view once you've made your selection. If you choose the Scenario option, you can also visit the Scenario Editor to create your own missions. You begin the game in a Pirates-style main screen from which you may play a scenario, a campaign, or a game via e-mail. Wooden Ships & Iron Men is a turn-based game that allows you to recreate naval battles from the 18th and 19th centuries.

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