HPS announces two new games: Musket and Pike-The Renaissance, & Chancellorsville

[KG_Jag]

Can Steve save Jackson?

Here's the press release:

Renaissance covers a fascinating century of warfare, from the close of the Medieval era to the eve of the Thirty Years War. The period starts with the French invasion of Italy in 1494 with the armies still largely Medieval in weaponry and organization. While firearms and artillery are present on the battlefield they have yet to secure a dominant tactical role. However, by the close of the sixteenth century, traditional missile weapons such as the longbow and crossbow had been supplanted by arquebuses, muskets and pistols, while the proportion of firearms to pike had greatly increased. The pike, once the primary infantry weapon for many armies, and often a decisive battle-winner in the hands of professional Swiss and Landsknect mercenaries, was, by the close of the period retained primarily as a protection against cavalry, a role it continued to perform for another century until the invention of the bayonet made it redundant. Meanwhile, artillery was coming to dominate the battlefield.

With Renaissance, you can refight the Italian Wars between France, Spain and the Habsburgs, as well as cross swords in the various Anglo-Scottish battles of the 16th century, or lead Ottoman armies against Persians, Mamelukes and Western Christendom! Experience the pike & shot warfare of the French Wars of Religion and the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule. These conflicts involve a wide range of different troop types and weaponry, providing a diverse and rewarding gaming experience.

The Renaissance

• 112 stand alone scenarios and 5 campaigns to choose from with another 115 scenarios specifically for the campaigns.
• A wide sampling of battles from small to large actions.
• 60 unique maps ranging in size from 480 hexes to 76,800 hexes providing ample ground for scenario designers to create their own actions.

This title is the first in a new series of games by John Tiller and his team, called “Musket & Pike”. Fans of the other pre-twentieth century games offered by Mr. Tiller will feel a sense of familiarity in this new engine, but there are also quite a few differences from anything put forth before, such as:

• A vastly expanded style of OOB that allows for many attributes to be set on a unit by unit basis instead of globally, such as:

· Movement allowance
· Victory point value
· Melee bonus value
· Armored value

• 26 different weapon types, plus a new weapon.dat file allowing customization.
• Multiple additions to the PDT file for weapon flags such as:

· Soft & hard targets
· Reduced melee effectiveness
· Can fire indirect
· Single use
· Requires setup
· No defensive fire

• Earthworks, trenches & abattis.
• Ability to reflect army coalitions of 8 to 7, with a maximum of 3 to 2 armies facing off in any given OOB .

Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play. A Scenario Editor is also included so existing scenarios can be altered or new ones created.
The Renaissance has 2D zoom in and zoom out modes and a large Units.bmp file to represent the vast array of forces covered in this title.
The Renaissance is scheduled for release on March 6th, 2009.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
-1 GHz Pentium CPU
- 256 MB RAM
- 300 MB Hard Drive
-Microsoft Windows 98/2K/XP/Vista operating system.
-Microsoft DirectX 9.0+

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Following Lee’s failed invasion of the North in 1862, and McClellan’s inability to destroy the Army of Northern Virginia near Antietam Creek in September of that year, President Lincoln tried and failed to find a commander who could defeat Lee. He chose first Burnside, then Hooker. During the next eight months each Union general would in turn fight two major battles which they hoped would win the war and end the Southern rebellion. History records these battles as Fredericksburg (December 1862), and Chancellorsville (May 1863). They would later be known as Lee’s greatest victories, the “high tide” of the Confederacy. Now comes your opportunity to repeat these victories for the South, or take command of the Federal army and crush the rebellion once and for all. Be bold and never look back!

HPS’s Campaign Chancellorsville faithfully recreates first the battle of Fredericksburg and then climaxes with Lee’s bold move at Chancellorsville. Many other smaller battles are also included that will help lead the way. Take charge and defend your country, whether it be North or South.

SCENARIOS

Campaign Chancellorsville (ACW #11)

• Over 100 stand alone scenarios and 89 campaign scenarios <LI style="MARGIN-TOP: 4.95pt; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 4.95pt">4 different campaigns for a varied campaign experience, each also has a "weather variant" to choose from.
• Historical scenarios include: Kelly’s Ford, Marye’s Heights, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Salem Church, and more...

· Dozens of "What if" scenarios: Including meeting engagements, cavalry fights, and equal force battles.

· Many scenarios specifically designed for a tough challenge against the A/I.

· Many meeting engagements using the new random hex feature. The extreme effects of FOW will be more fully demonstrated.

· Detailed maps accurately showing the heavily forested terrain, rivers, towns, and important individual homes.

• Inclusive orders of battle offer unlimited possibilities for user-created scenarios.

Changes for Campaign Chancellorsville

- Added new Proportional Opportunity Fire Optional Rule that causes
Opportunity Fire generated by firing units to be more proportional to
the total strength of the units firing.
- Added new Parameter Data value that controls when artillery crews are
killed.
- Added new Alternate Fixed Unit release Optional Rule that releases Fixed
units within 5 hexes of an enemy unit regardless of Line-of-Sight to that
unit.
- Improvements to AI bridge crossing, and firing

Scenario and Campaign editors are included to allow the player to create their own situations to play out. Play modes include A/I, Hot Seat, PBEM, LAN & Internet play.


Campaign Chancellorsville is scheduled for release on March 6th, 2009.

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

-1 GHz Pentium CPU
- 256 MB RAM
- 300 MB Hard Drive
-Microsoft Windows 98/2K/XP/Vista operating system.
-Microsoft DirectX 9.0+

[KG_SSpoom]

No night recon for my Generals!