Historyline: 1914-1918

Historyline: 1914–1918 (published in English as The Great War: 1914–1918 ) is a turn-based strategy game published in 1992 by the German software manufacturer Blue Byte . It uses a modified version of the game interface of the game Battle Isle , which was released a year earlier . The First World War , more precisely the Western Front , acts as the scenario .

Gameplay

On fictitious cards, which are divided into a hexagonal grid , the player moves units against the computer opponent or a fellow player and lets them fight against each other. A player can take either the German or the Allied (French) side. For example, infantry, cavalry and various types of artillery, transporters, tanks, aircraft and ships are available for units. These differ in their fighting strength (differentiated into fights with land, air and water units) and in their speed (number of fields they can cross per round). The units gain experience points with every fight and are therefore more successful in later fights. Some cards contain factories in which supply units can be produced. In the factories, in so-called depots and in the headquarters , units that were partially decimated during fighting can be repaired.

The aim of each card is to take the enemy headquarters or destroy all enemy units.

Historical correctness

Although the playing fields are fictional maps, the developers stuck closely to the historical facts:

The units are actually used models. For example, models from Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deperdussin are available as aircraft types on the Allied side and from Gothaer Waggonfabrik or Junkers on the German side . The combat strength and speed of these units were determined based on actual technical data.
Each card corresponds to two months of the course of the war. Only units that already existed at the time are used. Tanks were only available from 1916. In addition, the maps represent the seasons correctly, e.g. B. There is snow in winter and the units progress more slowly.

Another special feature of the game is that it provides extensive information about the First World War:

At the beginning, the prehistory is presented in an animated intro that was complex for the time ( alliance policy of Otto von Bismarck , collapse of the alliances under Wilhelm II , assassination attempt in Sarajevo ).
After the conclusion of each battle, the development of the war in the two months, as well as current cultural events are presented in brief. For this purpose, many historical photographs were scanned.
When new units are used on a map, a photograph with historical background information is shown. For German units this is accompanied by the Wacht am Rhein , for Allied units by the Marseillaise .

The historical correctness of the game and the renouncement of any martial saber rattle has been widely praised. An editor who tested the game for Power Play magazine said in the review that he learned more about World War I through the game than he did when he was at school.

Balancing

The later published English version has been significantly improved in terms of balancing. For example, ranged weapons are weakened compared to the German version. Furthermore, the effects of terrain and chance were given greater consideration.

Republication

Historyline: 1914–1918 was made executable for modern MS Windows PCs by Good Old Games in 2009 and re-released as a package together with the first three parts of Battle Isle and Incubation as a download .

Web links

Historyline: 1914–1918 at MobyGames (English)
http://www.kultboy.com/testbericht-uebersicht/388/

Individual evidence

^ Christian von Duisburg: The iron hexagon: Historyline 1914-1918 (JPG) In: Power Play . kultpower.de. 1992. Retrieved November 10, 2011.

[powerplay-1] Christian von Duisburg: The iron hexagon: Historyline 1914-1918 (JPG) In: Power Play . kultpower.de. 1992. Retrieved November 10, 2011.