Hex-based strategy online?

The Game Room
1

I’m looking for online games that play like the hex/chit games I used to play as a kid, beginning with quick games of Waterloo and culminating with weeks-long battles in Rise and Decline of the Third Reich. I have looked around the web from time to time but haven’t found much. I already play Civ, but I’m specifically looking for turn-based games that simulate wars of the past using units that have a combat and movement strength (or attack/defense/movement) on a hex map.

Thank you for all suggestions.

2

Panzer General forever is a free remake of the old Panzer General game. There are mods for World War One, and even an Austro-Hungarian campaign. It’s ugly as sin but a great game. And you should be able to find Panzer General III (with graphics!) at good old games.

If you don’t mind fantasy elements Battle for Wesnoth is another free game with great gameplay and interesting units.

3

This looks interesting:
http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/hex-wars/

4

There is a game system named vassel that has modules for various games

http://www.vassalengine.org/

Brian

5

Fantasy Wars uses a hex format. I don’t know if it fits your other qualifications. I own it but never played it (came in a game bundle).

It’s on sale for $9.95 from Amazon for DRM free or Steam key. They also have a demo you can download.

6

Another fantasy-themed hex-based game is Battle for Wesnoth (too lazy to google it for you); it’s freeware and quite good. I believe there are some fan mods to adapt it to Napoleonic battles, though honestly I don’t see how that would work.

7

Fantasy Wars is bundled with nine other games for less than $2.50 from Bundle Stars.

Bundle includes some other military sims (not hex based though, although Kings Bounty is a hex based RPG) and assorted other games. Really, for $2.50 it’s hard to go wrong.

8

Norm Koger’s Operational Art of War is great if you want tons of scenarios and are serious about hard-core war gaming. It’s not pretty, but it’s well-designed and plays great. It’s ugly though. It just gives you images of what the old tabletop maps and counters looked like.

9

The above Norm Kroger link is missing the : after the http… just FYI.

10

Mechwarrior tactics online, https://mwtactics.com/. It’s in beta atm but i think its exactly what you were asking for.

11

VASSAL is a fantastic way to play board games you already know how to play with others online. But the interface is open source and the modules are made by the games fans which may or may not have programming experience. It’s free and there are tons of modules available so it’s worth a shot, but it sure is frustrating to get started.

12

On a semi related topic, does anyone know where I can get a copy of Civil War Generals 2 that will run on Vista? Free would be great but I’d be willing to pay for it, is old-games.com worthwhile?

13

Thank you for all the recommendations and to clarify, I don’t care about the look, just want games that have that old-time feel.

14

I’ll suggest Hero Academy, just because I’m (still) addicted, and it’s been a year. =p

15

That’s a great game (actually, all games mentioned in this thread that I know of are good games) but I wonder what the OP meant by “online” games? Free games? Games that still can be played online against human players?